Credos - Institute of Reflection

Beliefs govern every facet of our lives and it is well to be aware of precisely what ours are, how deeply they actuate us, then winnow out chaff not fit for purpose.

So many different beliefs; yet so few unanimously held! Are those that are not our beliefs entirely wrong or is there something in them, root or branch, that we may glean to advantage? There may be comfort in following a herd – ask any lemming or sheep – but as you act on your beliefs why not ‘look before you leap’ into them? A journey of careful thought about principles and prejudices may be as important as an arrival at a provisional universal truth.

There may be matter for reflection in some of the views that are set out here but they must be only a tiny fraction of systems of belief that are held by people and they may be the a springboard to help you dive into this endlessly fascinating area.

Who knows in advance what musty nook in our thinking conceals a nugget? Pack a torch for your voyage of reflection to light up more clearly alternative paths.

Note: It is mainly visitors to this website who curate it. Ideas featured are not claimed to be ‘the truth’ or ‘the whole truth’ nor is there a pecking order in the catalogue. Suffice that their initiators or exponents devote much thought to them.

More on this Subject

Review: ‘Who Am I’ by Brian Mayne

Brian Mayne has written lucidly of his spiritual journey. His life style is testimony to the efficacy of his ideas, combining as he does his work on himself with a successful business career ‘Just a few ever wonder who they really are, even fewer seriously explore the topic, and only the rarest manages the direct experience of realizing the core self. Although becoming conscious of it is a rare attainment, this ‘core self’ is accessible to all and naturally part of what we each are as ...

Review: Allon Bacon – Out of my Hands

Bacon is discussing ‘a part of man’s total presence and energy which is on a finer or higher level than the merely physical .,,, There are energies, levels of communication, and forces at work both within and without, which are wondrous in the extreme. One of these forces is man’s capacity to self-heal.’ This is a man of an analytic mind, well-educated and coming from an affluent social mileau. He was training to be a doctor when struck down by life-threatening ill health. He allowed ...

Consciousness

One of the conundrums that nowadays particularly intrigues the reflecting world in that of consciousness. We all have it but what is it and what if anything is particular to the human race in possessing it? Is it likely that we alone have the key to understanding what is going on - - or perhaps the key is illusory?

Review: Dennis Bardens – Ahead of Time

Dennis Bardens was the least likely ghost chaser. He was a man with his wits about him, plugged right into the unforgiving present. He knew human nature in all its foibles. He had been a spy behind enemy lines during WW2; perhaps his ingrained suspicion of how people could behave went into the notice he hung on his front door in Horbury Mews, Kensington: ‘OUT TO LUNCH….BACK IN FIVE YEARS…PLEASE WAIT!’ His was a ready wit. He was a distinguished journalist and broadcaster – the initiator of ...

Two Confessions

I’m an ordinary bloke. So why do I think there might just be something in the ‘unseen world’ that might be ‘t/here’. When I was five years old, I told my Nanny that we did not know how long my parents would keep us at home so we might as well make preparations to leave. It wasn’t just a stray remark. It was a profound belief that persisted up till my twenties. As a teenager my wealthy parents visited me at boarding school and, without any antecedent conversation about the subject, made me ...

Humour

Some Meditation sects in the East kick-start sessions with a bout of belly-laughing to ginger participants into a happy mood and generally imbue their thinking with a sense of proportion.

Doubting Thomas

In secular terms Doubting Thomas may be more justified in his doubts than in scripture. Treat with caution many ideas of the new way of looking at the World.

The Baha’i Religion

There are plans for an Abrahamic Family House, a centre comprising a synagogue, a church and a mosque, that are being unveiled in New York, and being discussed in Abu Dhabi. The idea that the Abrahamic Faiths should co-exist peacefully as do the Hindu and Buddhist faiths where the respective temples can be placed side by side has recently received a fillip from a new religion today that seems to take more account of most of the above issues than most others. It is the Baha’i faith. If ...

Western vis-a-vis Eastern Meditation

There are many paths to enlightenment and many meanings of that word. You wish to Reflect? Stand tall on your right to do so! It is an allowable, rewarding way to spend time. You do not need to Meditate in the way that is a trend unless it speaks to you. There are teachers and traditions from the West to draw upon.

In a Session of Reflection

Why should ‘one size fit all’? What are you thinking when you reflect? Can your own thoughts be prescribed for you by anyone else? Are they the same as thoughts that anyone else may have in a similar context or are they more personal to you? This is a subjective voyage. One individual’s ideas during one sitting are here. Do you think in the same way?

Medicine

Who in the West sits up at the name of Ms Youyou Tu? Malaria is a killer epidemic with records in traditional Chinese medical literature dating from the Zhou Dynasty. Three thousand years ago Zhou Lia published his findings. Youyou Tu took from them what she found relevant for a cure in the twentieth century. And if ‘Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold’ was published more recently in the Tang Dynasty of 618–907 A.D., Youyou Tu was not fussed A trove of ...

Democracy vis-à-vis other Political Systems

The spending bill is actually the creation of a national debt so massive that it has the means to destabilize a democracy dependent on a functioning economy. - Lawrence Kadish The above quotation arrests attention, as do thousands and thousands like it. Serious commentators commenting on serious issues - some doomsayers, some constructive analysts - are everywhere, urging on readers attention and, on policy makers, action. Which men of vision have it in them, or does fate intend, to be ...

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