Ginger Magnum

All we can ever know for certain about death is that a living person grows strangely still. We each have a fantasy about what happens after death and this fantasy determines how we see the purpose of life. If we see death as the end of our identity, the purpose of our life becomes making this life satisfactory. There is an infinite number of ways in which we might choose to define "satisfactory", but whichever we choose becomes our purpose. If we see death as the doorway to another life, we have to decide whether this next life will be better than this one. To give us hope, we decide that the next life will be better. This raises the question of justice. Do all people go on to this better life, or are there standards that have to be met? A sense of justice leads us to choose standards, and in doing so we condemn ourselves to living this life in terms of the next. If you set standards which you can easily reach, you limit the amount of self-inflicted pain you will suffer, but ...

To know it and to live in it is man's true destiny. His point of contact with it is personality: the inward fount of his being: his heart, not his head. Man is real, and in the deepest sense alive, in virtue of this free personal life-principle within him; but he is bound and blinded by the ties set up between his surface-intelligence and the sense-world. The struggle for reality must be a struggle on man's part to transcend the sense-world, escape its bondage. He must renounce it, and be "re-born" to a higher level of consciousness; shifting his centre of interest from the natural to the spiritual plane. According to the thoroughness with which he does this, will be the amount of real life he enjoys. The initial break with the "world," the refusal to spend one’s life communing with one’s own cinematograph picture, is essential if the freedom of the infinite is to be attained. We are amphibious creatures: our life moves upon two levels at once—the natural an...

Malaysia. Durian, Depeche Modes, Roti Canai and Coco Loco. Wish I was still there.

But it is the eating of domestic animals that causes particular controversy in western society - the thought of Tiddles, or Fido served up on a dinner plate is not too popular. In Asia, however, dog is considered something of a delicacy and Arthur Boyt insists he can see why. "I have had dog, they are tasty, they border on lamb," he says.

Wales. September. Mushroom foraging equipment: A knife, ideally one with a hooked inward blade to make cutting the stem easier, similar to a pruning knife. A brush to dust of any debris. A basket or paper bags, never use plastic as they sweat and spoil. Ideally a wicket basket. A walking stick, this is really useful to move foliage back to save bending down when loooking under plants etc. A wide brimmed hat, helps the eye to focus and cuts down glare from morning sun A flask of tea ;-) foraging should be done at leisure and made enjoyable with time to assess the finds so far. Mushroom field guides (usually more than one for reference) Can't wait.

If a solution to the problem can be found, then there is no need to worry. If a solution to the problem can not be found, then there is no point worrying.