Before Trying To Change the World!!.

I am in no doubt that you are all aware of the horrendous events taking place in the UK at present. Gangs of wild youths roaming the streets at night, looting shops, committing arson by setting fire to property. It is indeed sad to watch and to read about.

Yes there is much to be said about what is wrong with society. But I think we need to be aware that no matter how bad things are there is never an excuse for such greed and reckless behaviour. It broke my heart to watch a young lad who had got caught up in all of this sitting at the side of the road with blood coming from a wound caused by some missile. As he sat some other louts came along, rather than help him they stole all of his possessions and swaggered off.

Even as I write my heart feels heavy, where are we heading and how did we ever get here.

But it is not all bad. I began by saying taking place here in the UK. Sadly that is what is said in the press and on TV day by day. The truth is it is not the UK it is only in England. Yesterday some lout opened a webpage in Facebook here in Scotland, “ Lets start a riot in Glasgow.” Almost instantly another site opened,” Lets not start a riot in Glasgow.’ This site was swamped with people saying NO loud and clear. Today two young persons are to appear in court for trying to incite unrest, thanks to the goodness of people who still care about society. It returns you faith in human beings.   

There is a lovely little story that makes a similar moral.

 Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a trip to some distant areas of his country. When he was back to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather. Definitely, this would need thousands of cows' skin, and would cost a huge amount of money.

Then one of his wise servant dared himself to tell the king, "Why do you have to spend that unnecessary amount of money ? Why don't you just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet ?"

The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a "shoe" for himself.

There is actually a valuable lesson of life in this story : to make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself - your heart; and not the world.

Have a good day and lets not have a riot in Glasgow.

This blog is linked to my other .   The Mirage

The Winds of Change

If the last week made me think of anything it made me aware of how much things can change in the flash of a moment. There I was a week ago running on a daily basis and this week hardly able to walk any great distance and longing to feel my feet hit the ground at pace.

Such is the way of life. I was walking one day in the hills, I stepped up on a small rise to see the view from a better angle. Having seen what I desired I stepped back onto the path. As my foot hit the track I felt it slip from under me, within no time at all I was hurtling to the bottom of the ravine some fifty feet below. The journey from the top to the bottom was the start of an even longer journey.

At the top I was a parish minister, a preacher, by the time I arrived at the bottom I had decided that if I lived I would no longer be doing this. Having been rescued and ambulanced to hospital the next day I awoke a different person in more ways than one. My hair had turned almost white overnight, but more importantly I had decided that I was no longer able to remain as a parish minister. That day I applied to become a teacher of philosophy and world religion and my new life had begun.

We live in an age when advertisers tempt us to make changes. Change to our product and you will never regret it. You should have this product, “Because you deserve it.” Or, “You should have this because you are worth it.”

Yesterday the government was planning to introduce legislation that will make all smoking products be sold in plain brown packaging. This I think was the strangest ever idea I had heard in ages. It has always been the case for me that more secretive and unknown something is the more attractive it becomes. When I played in a band I would never ever have desired to smoke pot, if like cigarettes I could purchase it over a counter.

I have said many times before and will no doubt say it again, life is full of change. Some we welcome with open arms, others are thrust upon us. But in all things we are masters of our own destiny. But do not tell the marketers and advertisers that because they are now busy wondering how to make brown boxes seem even more attractive.

On my other blog I discuss the above artwork and the thoughts that lie behind it and its inspiration.

West Wind Blows

The First Step

I was amazed yesterday in so many ways some I will share some, I will keep to myself. That is life. It was though a day of amazing events. I had a day with many milestones. As a runner I am aware of things like milestone, yesterday while running I passed six of them and then while out walking I passed another six. I do not of course mean that I passed actual markers, than goodness the roads and country are not blighted by too many of those. I do though have a watch that records my runs and tells me as I hit each mile.
One of the amazing things of yesterday was that once again another blogger and I were on the exact same themes. This has happened before. I read Katherine’s blog and like me she was talking about change. It made me consider further that topic. Why is it we are afraid of change? is it because we are afraid of the possibility of failure?

Some of the thoughts I had about that;

Most people know Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine, but few realize he had to fail two hundred times before he found the right one. Thank goodness he kept on trying.

Nearly everyone who watches professional basketball agrees Michael Jordan is one of the greatest players of all time. But most people don't realize he failed to make the basketball team in high school. He didn't quit playing because he had a teacher that failed to see his potential.



Henry Ford went bankrupt five times before he finally succeeded.



Thomas Edison failed over ten thousand times in his attempts to find the correct filament for the light bulb. When an aide urged him to quit after several hundred failures, he replied, "Why quit now? We know of at least a hundred things that won't work."



It seems that we should never be afraid to fail because failure is just the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.



I thought of this as I walked along the side of one of our famous lochs yesterday, Loch Leven. I remembered visiting this loch as a young boy while camping not far from it with the cub scouts. I must have been about 9 years old at the time.



I had been agreed we would all go swimming in the loch. As I stood on the edge I remembered somebody shouting, “Come on in it is great.” It looked like it did yesterday, very cold. I remember putting my foot in the water and jumping back. It was freezing. Eventually I did get in, and then after a minute or so not wanting to get out, it was marvellous. Since the, I just get right in there, why stop and think it will only be cold for a second or two.





Whenever we first break through a comfort zone, we will probably feel uncomfortable at first. But not long after we make the change, we experience a new-found freedom on the other side. Then we wonder why we didn't break through sooner.

There is never ever a time not to contemplate change. So, we might fail, but then we will have learned something.

I better stop at this point I think maybe the ministerial collar has slipped back on under my shirt today.

I hope today hold a point of discovery for you, and know it is going to for me.

Have a wonderful day.

This blog is linked to my other.  1812

Is It Time For a Change?

Yesterday I went walking with my daughter. We walked a path I had walked not so many weeks ago. It was not the longest of walks lasting only about three hours. The fact that I had walked it before was comforting though, in the sense that I knew what to expect. I knew there were some narrow paths and some big drops, but having been there before I knew what to expect and so able to warn my daughter. The known path is the easy path to take, it contains no surprises. Now that is not always the case. On this occasion I was telling her we were coming up to a very narrow path which had on one side a drop and on the other an electrified fence to protect horses. The last time I had walked there I felt it was dangerous enough for me to write to the council about. To my surprise they had taken heed, as they had promised. The fence had been moved back and the path cleared.

A pleasant surprise! That does not detract from the fact that the rest of the walk held no surprises for me, an easy walk. It might have been more enjoyable to share an adventure of a new route with my daughter. She loves the unexpected, the hint of the unknown and maybe even a bit of danger.

It is a bit like life, is it not? We feel comfortable with the known, the expected, the every day. It can be comforting, the daily routine.

It is easy to get into the position that we just do the same things as before. Some times we have to be forced into change.

It is like the prisoner who said to me one day. “I am going to change my ways. No more of this breaking the law.” “Good,” I said, “have you seen the light?” “No,” he said, “I have felt the heat.”

There are two reasons why people change, they either feel the heat or see the light. Feeling the heat forces us to change. Seeing the light inspires us to change

It is in the unexpected that we discover the person we have yet to meet. That inner person we all have waiting to be released.

From 1900 to 1967, the Swiss were the leading watchmakers in the world. In 1967, when digital technology was patented, the Swiss rejected it in favour of the traditional ball bearings, gears, and mainsprings they had been using to make watches for decades. Unfortunately, however, the world was ready for this advance, and Seiko, a Japanese company, picked up the digital patent and became the leading watch manufacturer in the world almost overnight.



Fifty thousand of the 67,000 Swiss watchmakers went out of business because they refused to embrace this new technology. It was not until years later that the Swiss caught up and regained their position in the marketplace with the creation of Swatch watches



I am about to head out for a run. I think I might go and try a new route. You never know it might be better than the usual ones.

Never be afraid of change, it is after all just the next episode in your life.

This is the way of the Tao.

Have a good day. Oh and I am sorry if you have heard some of my stories before, I am aware that some of them are a bit like me, greying at the edges. But one a day it is almost impossible to be new all the time.


This blog is linked to my other. Apocalypse

Time Change

I am aware that it does not happen in every country but twice a year we change the clocks, either back one hour or forward one hour. It is easy to remember which way it goes with the little reminder, “spring forward, fall back.” So this weekend in the UK it goes forward one hour. This happened first during the First World War it had to do with blackout time. Like so many things it has stayed the same ever since. Each year there is the discussion about whether it happen or should or not. There are all the arguments about children going to school in safety and farmers getting more daylight hours. All of it seems a bit odd to me because no matter what we do with the clocks and no matter what the arguments are it is different in Scotland than in London where the decision is made.


There is a story of the monastery cat. The monastery had a pet cat who did not like silence very much. So every time the monks went into their daily periods of silent meditation the cat would come into the temple and make all kinds of noises to the distraction of the monks. It was decided that during these time the cat should be tethered outside the temple for the duration of the times. This worked well and the cat was repaid with extra attention by the monk who tied and untied her. He always had a special nibble for her at those times. The cat lived to a ripe old age seeing off many of the monks. When she died she was buried in the grounds of the monastery. The monks got a new cat, and at meditation times it was tethered. Nobody wondered if it would be like the cat before they had just always done it that way. As the years rolled on each cat in succession was tethered and people used to try and work out why this was so and what significant meaning it had.

I remember when I was minister in a church with a much crowed chancel area. There were two rows either side of the chancel where seldom did anybody sit. When I suggested removing them I was told we could not, they had always been there. Certain people had once sat there. One person even said she remembered her grandmother sitting there, even though she herself was now a grandmother. After much deliberation the seats were removed and the chancel opened up. The space became so much more versatile and worship was enhanced in so many ways. Now it is just accepted that is how that building is, few remember it as it was before.

It is so easy to get stuck in ruts, but to break free now and then opens the doors to creativity. Paint something different, write something in a new genre try new things and find new meaning. You might even find a new you.

This is the way of Tao

Apologies if there are errors in this blog today yesterday I was washing my caravan and fell from the roof. Today I find myself in extreme pain. This was written butt not checked. I have managed to put it online before crawling back to bed. So sorry I will not be viewing blogs today will miss doing so.

This blog is linked to my other where I discuss the artwork used. :-The passage of Time