SubscribeIt has been suggested that I look like a Neanderthal. Some people might see this as an insult. Recent research has, however, shown that Neanderthal was not the brutish ape, but a sophisticated human species. I am thus proud to be Neanderthal!
The Horizon of Reason
Exploring the boundaries of logic and perception
Category: Miscellaneous Debris
Vietnamese selfishness
Asian cultures are usually characterised as being collective in nature. This basically means that people prioritise the objectives of a group over their own individual objectives Sitting on a fifth floor café in Hanoi, sipping a Bia Ha Noi and watching the traffic, I would almost contradict that age old wisdom about collective cultures. As [...]
First day of the Tour of Duty
We arrived in Hanoi yesterday afternoon and it feels great to be back in Asia after so many years. In a manner, Vietnam is a mythical place in contemporary culture. It is the place where the Vietnam War took place and the sage of many great products of contemporary culture, such as Full Metal Jacket, [...]
Hanoi expedition
Yesterday I left Australia to join a group of MBA students from La Trobe University on an expedition to Hanoi. The purpose of this trip is to find out about how Vietnamese managers deal with human resource issues.
I am in Singapore now, waiting around between flights. Singapore is my home away from home in Asia. [...]
Why I am not an Australian
Australia is a rather strange country in that on the one hand it is quite hard to obtain a residency permit, but once you are in the country the government actively advertises to convince people to become Australian citizens. This is the only country I have lived in where there is ‘moral pressure’ on people [...]
Does God have a sense of humour?
This photo arrived in my mailbox with the subject line: “FW: Someone’s going to hell for this!!!”.
I found this statement a bit strong because, I figured that if God is by definition a perfect being, then he (or she) surely would most certainly have a great sense of humour.
He or she would be rolling on [...]
The Spirit of Uluru
Uluru, or Ayers Rock as it is known to westerners, is a place of deep spiritual and cultural significance to the local aboriginal people, the Anangu. The many visitors to the National Park who come to see Uluru does, however, cause great tensions, as the values of the Anangu are not always recognised by the [...]
Pyramidologists or pyramidiots?
One of my favourite past times is reading different theories about the Egyptian pyramids. I am collecting books on this topic from every available perspective – from the factual archaeological approach, to the, sometimes outlandish, alternative approaches.
An interesting spin-off of this phenomenon is the debate between the rational scientists and the proponents of alternative theories, [...]
Satanism
I have been writing some copy for the Dutch Wikipedia in the last few weeks. Most interesting was some work I did on articles on Satanism, specially the contemporary Satanism of Anton LaVey (Church of Satan) and Michael Aquino (Temple of Set).
I have come to respect the satanic philosophy, specially as developed by Michael Aquino. [...]
The Occult in Modern Culture
The occult – literally the hidden – plays a very minor role in contemporary society. This is , however, only a recent phenomenon as esotericism has played an important role in Western culture until the early twentieth century.
Several well known artists such as Mondriaan, Duchamp and Kandinsky were heavily influenced by esoteric traditions. Nowdays, believers [...]
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