Do things happen for a reason? (I was meant to teach in Japan on earthquake day!)

Is there a higher force looking after us? (A skeptic confronts his extraordinary good luck)

In a recent post I shared my view, consisted with Tao philosophy, that there is no inherent meaning in the universe. Things don’t happen for a reason. Things happen. “Life Is.” It is humans who add meanings to things.

As you know I am not someone who reacts to every little mishap by wondering “what is upstairs trying to tell me?” I don’t believe that there is an upstairs (or anything outside of self or Beingness) but that’s another story for another day.

My story for today is this: Evette and I woke up to the news about the Japanese quake, and our first thought was “Gosh, we were meant to be teaching a seminar in Japan today!”

Sometimes, even a committed skeptic like me starts to wonder, (a) how lucky we are and (b) is there someone up there looking out for me?

[The answers are:

(a) yes! We are responsible for our own luck; and

(b) someone up there likes me and it’s probably Me (*). * Footnote: that’s a Terry Pratchett joke borrowed from his immortal classic, Small Gods.]

Why we aren’t in Japan

So here’s the funny story. We were promoting a course in Japan, we had a translator and promoter who translated our website and videos into Japanese, we had a great magazine ad, we connected with lots of people. And no-one booked. (well 3 people to be precise.) We couldn’t figure out what went wrong. It got to the early bird deadline and we had no choice but to cancel the course and refund people.

And then we found out – the booking page on the Japanese website had a mistake, and people’s bookings and payments were going to the wrong email address! Several people contacted us after we canceled the course. Unfortunately we have no way of knowing how many other people tried to book.

Of course I was pretty upset about the cancellation and the fact that such as small and stupid thing – a typo in an email address – could lead to the cancellation of a course we had been promoting for months.

It’s at those times that you start to ask the question “Why?” What is the meaning of these things? Why did this happen to us?

And then the day before I was meant to be in Japan, a massive earthquake strikes, the 5^th largest in recorded history, causing massive chaos and upheaval.

It’s only natural that Evette and I should start to think “no wonder we weren’t meant to be in Japan right now. No wonder the bookings went wrong etc.”

I have been thinking about this all morning and I have some strong opinions on the topic of why things happen. I’ll share them with you tomorrow.

But first I’d really like to hear from you, dear reader. What do you think?

Is there an inherent reason for why things happen? Was I just lucky or was there a “higher power” guiding us to safety? What are your spiritual / metaphysical views on the subject?

Looking forward to your comments.

Simon

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37 Comments

37 Responses

Reply

Shane Marsh
March 12, 2011 at 4:32 pm

God to hear you and Evette are safe and well

Interesting timing eh? I think you know my view – I’m a believer in the law of attraction model That model is pretty much consistent with your current beliefs (you make your own luck, the universe is neutral, life just “is”, you make your own luck, there’s no god judging or dishing out rewards and punishments etc.). The main differences seem to centre around the existence (or lack thereof) of a non-physical aspect of reality and whether the physical universe is independent from consciousness. I note that there are some things you teach in RPT that also seem to suggest that the world isn’t as independently solid as it appears (such as clearing beliefs and chronic habits of thought in others intuitively and remotely) so I have to say that your views about randomness and chaos confuse me.

Just going back to what I wrote in the “more about me” thread:

“…It’s then not so much a case of “attracting” precise things into your experience but more a case of “rendezvousing” with people, events and circumstances that are of a similar nature to your predominant vibration…”

Prior to the cancellation of the Japan course, would you say you and Evette had a strong feeling of safety and well-being?

It’s not proof but more a case of things that make you go hmmm…

[Reply]
Shane Marsh Reply:
March 12th, 2011 at 4:47 pm
Sorry, forgot to mention that you’ve also taught “manifesting” but wasn’t sure if that was more of a TH thing that you were obliged to teach as part of your license agreement with VS

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
March 12th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
we teach manifesting in RPT though it’s a totally different technique. Pretty sure you’ve seen me do the RPT version? Instead of believing there’s a funny man on the 7th plane granting wishes, we believe that we are creating it, and attracting it, from the body mind (the R-complex is programmed to get our needs met). I see nothing incongruous about this method.

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
March 12th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
hey mate, feel free to hold me to any inconsistencies. I mean I’m just making this stuff up – sorry, Sourcing it from Within – as I go through life. Just like everyone else.

I real daily with the internal conflict of being a spiritual atheist. I am both very spiritual and I have no belief in invisible friends.

That means my atheist friends think I’m a spiritual woo-woo who teaches healing and manifesting, and my spiritual friends think I’m an atheist traitor, blind to the existence of their invisible friends.

Let’s just say this blog is my way of regaining sanity by exploring that middle ground. Some day I hope that we will establish a respected position, where leading scientists like Richard Dawkins can respect our branch of scientific spirituality, and that spiritual and religious teachers wont be too threatened by us.

(Of course this will require religion realizing that evolution is not a threat, but considering the Church now accepts that the world is flat and the earth revolves around the sun, I have to assume that there’s a mere 500 year delay in religion catching up to science.)

What was it you were asking?
> whether the physical universe is independent from consciousness.

I say no. You?

> Prior to the cancellation of the Japan course, would you say you and Evette had a strong feeling of safety and well-being?

Safety – no. I mean it was obvious that something wasn’t write, but I didn’t get deeper than the business aspect – like holy smokes we spent all this money on advertising, why no bookings?

Given that (in the triune brain model), safety and abundance-support issues would be felt in the same place, it can be hard to know the difference if you aren’t specifically looking. So I’m not ruling it out, just saying I was not aware.

blessings
Simon

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Wendy Lowe
March 12, 2011 at 8:54 pm

David and I wanted to check that you are both Ok, so pleased that everything worked out for the best.
We often find on workshops that we have cancellations and new people joining in for apparently random reasons but then when you get the group together they have lots of common ground. According to a science programme we once watched atoms have a tendency to gather together at the stable point of iron. So everything wants to be iron or stable? The Law of Attraction brings things into balance- bully to bullied etc.
Shane above says,
“The main differences seem to centre around the existence (or lack thereof) of a non-physical aspect of reality and whether the physical universe is independent from consciousness.”
Why shouldn’t the universe have a consciousness that connects with/is part of our consciousness. Surely this is the Oneness?
Sorry no answers here just a deep feeling that there is a consciousness that we connect to when we are in our Be-ing, working by its own laws.
Love and Light
Wendy

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
March 12th, 2011 at 10:45 pm
hi Wendy and welcome to the blog.
Interesting point about iron, I had never considered its metaphysical implications.
I suspect the science show you watched was about radioactive decay? Iron isotop Fe-56 is the most stable isotope there is. I guess you could call it a “convergence point” for both nucleur fusion (of smaller atoms) and nuclear fission (of larger atoms). As to what this means for us – well it’s too late at night for me to speculate on that one!

G’night everyone.
Simon

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Shane Marsh
March 12, 2011 at 9:16 pm

Hi Simon

> I’m just making this stuff up – sorry, Sourcing it from Within – as I go through life

Me too Like you said, everybody’s beliefs evolve as they progress through life

> Instead of believing there’s a funny man on the 7th plane granting wishes, we believe that we are creating it, and attracting it, from the body mind (the R-complex is programmed to get our needs met). I see nothing incongruous about this method.

The incongruity is with the concept of creating / attracting versus randomness. If you’re attracting something from the body mind then, ipso facto, the resulting experience is not random. If an experience is random then, ipso facto, you didn’t create it – it’s something that has been imposed upon you from outside without regard to your input.

>What was it you were asking?
>> whether the physical universe is independent from consciousness.

>I say no. You?

I think you already know that my answer to that is no. So if we both agree that the physical universe is not independent of consciousness then we both must agree that consciousness has the ability to affect the physical world beyond what one would expect from our physical actions.

When you refer to “body mind”, do you mean the physical brain and nothing else? If so, that must mean you consider whatever force consciousness exerts on the physical world to be physical in nature (like electromagnetism), albeit undetectable with current measuring devices.

Please correct if I’m wrong but it seems that we both effectively believe in something along the lines of LOA. The difference seems to be that you believe that it only works some of the time ie. when you “put your mind to it”. Also, you seem to believe that it’s entirely physically based ie. the mind is the physical brain and nothing else and that there’s no such thing as a “spiritual” non-physical reality ie. you’re born, you die and become dust and your consciousness is obliterated. I guess that then begs the question about what the word “spiritual” even means (good idea for an article ).

>Safety – no. I mean it was obvious that something wasn’t write, but I didn’t get deeper than the business aspect – like holy smokes we spent all this money on advertising, why no bookings?

I wasn’t talking about how you felt about the cancellation of the course or how your business was going. I was talking about your predominant feelings or mood in relation to issues of safety and well-being. In your articles about moving to Vanuatu you discussed the freedom you felt from being in a place where “There are no parking inspectors. You never hear a police siren. There’s almost zero murder/rape/assault. The weather is always warm. It rains at night and the days are sunny. It’s cooler in winter, but never cold. There are zero poisonous animals – you can walk barefoot through the rain forest. In short, I live in paradise.” Given what this current article is about, I was just interested in the correlation between your “vibration” on issues of safety and well-being and the subsequent events that caused you to not be in a place where your safety and well-being would have been at risk. By “vibration” I simply mean your predominant day to day mood or feelings.

Anyway, coming back to your original question “Do things happen for a reason / Is there a higher force looking after us” my answer is yes and no because there’s a false premise in the question. These are actually two independent questions. The phrase “higher force looking after us” implies some sort of benevolent being who intervenes from afar in our daily lives and my answer to that is “no”. However, in relation to “Do things happen for a reason” I think you really meant to ask whether there’s a reason beyond the mechanical/physical cause and effect aspects. My answer to that is “yes” but that doesn’t mean I believe in benevolent beings or fairies. I think we’re responsible (which is not the same thing as “blame”) for what happens in our lives and that we also co-create when it comes to shared experiences (aka rendezvous with others of a similar vibration in relation to the subject that we’re having a sharing experience of).

Juicy subject

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
March 12th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
great stuff! BTW “body mind” is just shorthand for the R-complex or animalistic mind. Terminology may have evolved since you last did the RPT course.
cheers
SR

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Ben Ralston
March 12, 2011 at 10:08 pm

Almost all spiritual traditions (before they became religions with dogma) said the same thing: consciousness is all there is.
God = consciousness.
Trouble is that both words are tricky. Some people speak of God / consciousness as energy, others as Tao, others as Great Spirit, and so on. But there is a higher power, and it’s been spoken of by many people using many names.
The real question is not ‘is there a higher power?’.
The real question is: ‘is there anything *other than* a higher power?!
When you live in alignment with truth (consciousness, God, etc) you sometimes sidestep trouble in this world because you don’t need it to get back into alignment: you’re already there.

[Reply]
Shane Marsh Reply:
March 12th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
Perfectly said

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Renee Hawkins Reply:
March 13th, 2011 at 4:26 pm
I agree.

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Dmitry Yeschenko Reply:
March 13th, 2011 at 6:14 am
Yesterday, while translating RPT manual I’ve got one bright cognition. It was about that in RPT we clearing not traumas or instincts but wrong associations. At the same moment I’ve remembered info about Structural Differential from Alfred Korzybsky. His “Science and Sanity” was really a kind of bible for most of modern technologies including NLP, Scientology etc. (And I recommend to read it to anybody who still didn’t). There he shows how all sorts of problems rise up to wrong identifications and associations.

And now what I’d like to comment – There are some words or conceptions which most of people use without any exact definition. This brings us real harm ’cause it’s a strict way to misassociation. The conception of “God” is one of such undefined ones.
When and if you clear this conception – then a lot of questions simply fall away. And until it cleared any questions about it are senseless and harmful.

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Simon Rose Reply:
March 13th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
Ben,
> The real question is: ‘is there anything *other than* a higher power?!

I think the dangerous words are “higher power”

I don’t believe in a higher power.

But if you had said “is there anything *other than* our Inner Power, or the Collective Unconscious, I would have said “no of course not.”

I guess it’s the word “higher” that bugs me. too much duality, too much big/small, ruler/servant, god/man dichotomy.

SR

[Reply]
Ben Ralston Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 12:43 am
Simon,
Inner – Outer!
The power is not inner any more than it is higher is it?
As soon as we open our mouths we create duality because language is based on dualism. But here we are blogging, and there is no other way – only silence, and to be honest that’s why I haven’t written anything for a long time. I prefer to keep my mouth shut these days and just enjoy the silence.
Ben

[Reply]
Shane Marsh Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 12:44 am
Hi Simon

Do you think your atheist beliefs may, in part, be fueled by your negative experiences and rebellion against the dogma and hypocrisy that goes along with religion and some spiritual practices (such as TH). When I think of “higher power” I think of my higher self which, in turn, is just another way of referring to the part of the “all that is” consciousness that’s focused in my direction. Another way of saying it is that the higher self is the gateway through which one can access the infinite intelligence of the “all that is”. Yes there’s a sense of big/small but not in the sense of master/servant. It’s just like saying my fingers are smaller than my arms but that doesn’t mean my fingers are submissive or inferior. They’re both part of the my whole body and I need them all for the whole to work properly. Without one, the whole is diminished.

I know you’re a fan of the Neale Donald Walsch books. I like the description in CWG about the “all that is” wanting to understand itself so creating a game whereby it splits itself into multiple parts so it can experience itself from different perspectives. To know what you are you need to know what you’re not. In that sense, each perspective is just as important as any other part and can never be obliterated because it is the whole just pretending (for the moment) not to be.

To use a legal analogy, I don’t see the association between “higher power” and working under a “spiritual contract of service”. We all have equality of bargaining power. We’re all the master in servants’ clothing.

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Sascha Tscherni Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 12:48 am
hi ben, hi all

great how you put it.

and “higher” could maybe be translated as “higher than our thinking, reactive feeling, individually distorted, limited way of perception”-?

I love the discussion. Just yesterday I was watching DVDs from stephen wolinsky talking on nisargadatta maharaj. it is said that all our acting is just based on some condensed abstractions. he explains why there can´t be any free will. this “not knowing position” is in my feeling the best gateway to the reptile brain, the fundament of the individual distorted view on what is.

love, sascha
P.s: the question for me also is:”Can we stand the “not knowing” without getting ignorant but staying in the vibrant moment ??? – or do we really need concepts upon which we work on”

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Dmitry Yeschenko
March 13, 2011 at 12:50 am

Hi Simon.

I think that intuition etc. are not myth. Everybody as a Creator or, as you may be prefer to say, as his Magnificent Beingness have full knowingness about what’s going on. It’s not knowledge as we used to understand it (on neocortex level). It’s much deeper. While looking for an additional info about Triune Mind I’ve found interesting teaching that R-complex, as a first mind that been evolved, is responsible for our connection with higher, multi-dimension universes and also with our subconscious. So if you clear your stuff from R-mind then it should help you a lot. It’s not necessary to info to go through full chain up to neocortex where we became aware of and make conscious decisions and actions.

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
March 13th, 2011 at 7:47 pm
Absolutely right Dmitry. That information was core to the creation of RPT. In fact I think I can guess the source of the additional information you are referring to (McFetridge). Back when I was teaching TH, it was his research that made me realize how obvious it is that belief work cannot clear our stuff, because the R-complex is not only non-verbal, it is pre-verbal (by like 100 million years’ evolution). If you don’t deal with things pre-verbally (no beliefs, no muscle testing etc), then you are not connecting with the source of our unconscious, and as you said, our multi-dimensionality.

As you can guess, that was pretty core to how RPT evolved.

SR

[Reply]
Dmitry Yeschenko Reply:
March 13th, 2011 at 11:38 pm
>>In fact I think I can guess the source of the additional information you are referring to (McFetridge).
No.. It was from Ramta lection about brain. And where he get it from – I don’t know

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 12:00 am
awesome – I love it when many teachers get the same great message. Is there an online link for that particular lecture or quote?

thanks
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Ilnona Goltman
March 13, 2011 at 4:21 am

Hi Simon! It probably surprises you that a stranger addresses you like this. In a way we are not strangers. I am a student and a friend of Dmitry (not necessarily in this order ). And I have been reading about RPT a lot lately, watching videos on your site, and have been fascinated by it. I also started to read your blog. And this topic made me jump in my chair. You are talking here about being spiritual and skeptical at the same time. And, you do not seem to have a conflict between these two aspects within you. That is really remarkable, because I do. I do have a severe conflict within myself between a spiritual and skeptical “me”. Talking about things happening for a reason (or at the right moment). As a matter of a fact, I just have been able to define and spell it out for myself, a few days ago. I am talking about that inner conflict. I realize that I have this part of me (I called this part -”The controller”), which is very skeptical and judgmental about my spiritual aspirations. And it is very suppressive and invalidates every single effort I am trying to make in my spiritual journey. Even my self-esteem (feeling of worthiness), which definitely belongs to my spiritual part. But at the same time, I do not view it as something negative in my personality, it is definitely a part that is valuable to me and has its purpose. It is just a conflict, which troubles me. In this post you described a very similar set of sub-personalities as I have. But you do not seem to have any conflict between the two. I would appreciate if you can elaborate on this aspect.
As far as the “guy upstairs” who is watching over us, I believe in the higher being, but I also believe that I (my soul, or what-ever you prefer to call it) is an integral part of it. This brings us back to Terry Pratchett’s joke that you quoted.

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
March 13th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
hi Ilnona
> It probably surprises you that a stranger addresses you like this.
not at all. That is what everyone calls me.

> You are talking here about being spiritual and skeptical at the same time. And, you do not seem to have a conflict between these two aspects within you.

Sometimes that is true my friend. But at other times there is a huge conflict. I think I could say that I balance this every day of my life. Some days I am more “spiritual” (I really mean I am more open to the invisible), other days more skeptical.

Regarding the controller, you are right about it being a sub-personality, or what could be called a “soul piece.” I also agree that I have these voices but without the conflict. In you there is trauma associated with the soul piece, that’s why it’s creating conflict.

Without knowing the full RPT process for clearing trauma, here’s what you can do:
a) find the secondary gain – acknowledge how this critical voice keeps you safe. See if you can acknowledge this gain
b) acknowledge the voice. Never suppress it. Put a hand wherever in your body you feel this voice and be with it. Let it speak to you. Ask the controller “What is it you want to say? What do I need to hear?”

It’s the suppression that causes the disharmony. I am at peace with my inner skeptic. We are friends. There is no suppression. Another way to put it is that I only have one voice in my head, not 2 (or more). But I still am working out what I believe, and that can very day to day as I learn and evolve.

Thanks for sharing,
blessings
Simon

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Ilona Goltman Reply:
March 16th, 2011 at 3:25 am
Thank you very much for replying to me Simon! And thank you for starting this wonderful series of posts about the interaction between “spiritualists” and “skeptics” (both inner and outer). It has been most enjoyable reading for the last couple of days. And just to see how other people can relate to the issue and being able to relate to those people is very inspiring. Maybe one day I will be able to contribute too. It is just I feel like everything I want to say have been said already by someone else. But at the same time that it the beauty of it, makes me feel less isolated in my dilemma. I also have a question to ask you, although not sure that this is the best place. I am very interested in purchasing your new DVD for level 1. You are stating that it might be available soon. Do you have any estimated date of release at this time?

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
March 16th, 2011 at 11:37 am
Sorry about the DVD. We have canceled this project for now because we weren’t able to give people the same results from the DVD as from the course. For now the only way to learn RPT is from a certified teacher. I am sure this will change in the future as I get better at communicating.

Blessings
Simon
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Sue Healy
March 13, 2011 at 8:46 pm

I’m with Terry Pratchett. I have a god, angels, guides,fairies and leprechauns if you like, but they are all just me. I don’t use the word “just” in a diminishing way, only to get across that it was me all along. And it was each of us. That’s what my gut and my heart tell me. My head would sometimes like a helping hand from a benevolent outside agency that chose me specially. My own self meets that need, too. It’s hard not to use the word “higher” because I think we all contain or have access to all vibrations and it’s the higher vibes of ourselves to which we areascribing god/angel/guide/fairy status.
Does it matter? Maybe. because there’s a smattering of victimhood in there if we don’t own what we really are and therefore take responsibility.
So whatever is “outside over there”, we all created. I think the universe IS consciousness. I think that the particle the LHC is looking for is consciouness ( actually, I think it is consciousness as observer – you need one of those to change things). Maybe we’ll create a particle just so it can show up and give us some kind of explanation.
Take a look at TED – the empowermebnt dynamic model, not the fabulous talks – which talks about viewing yourself as a creator rather than a victim ie. escaping the drama triangle. Both redaily googlable.
Really interesting discussion.
Holding a perfect space for Japan xx

[Reply]
Ilona Goltman Reply:
March 14th, 2011 at 1:22 am
Precisely! And beautifully put, Sue. It has been yet another missing piece of the puzzle for me, which is now in place.

Thank you.

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Renee
March 14, 2011 at 9:58 pm

Hello Simon and Evette,
Great to hear you guys are safe and well! What an interesting topic. Like most people I have my own brand of spirituality. I am a believer and a skeptic in surprising ways just like I am a modern woman with modern views also, with some old fashioned values.
Is there a God or higher power? Maybe. I think God is divine energy and this is in us all. This energy presents itself when we are aligned with who we truly are. I do not see God and I being separate – unless I choose.
I also believe that every soul has a job/mission that is agreed on before coming to the earthly playground.
In every disaster or accident there are always people that should have been there and there were circumstances that lead them away from where they were ‘supposed’ to be. So, what is it that keeps us safe? – is it living your truth, vibrating divine love and compassion, your soul purpose, right timing (there is a time for everything) or a wise old man who is never further than an arms length away from you directing traffic? For me it is a bit of everything. It does not really matter what you believe, just because you believe it makes it so.
Love to you xxx

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Rebecca Dettman
March 15, 2011 at 3:06 pm

Hi Simon,

Long time no ‘speak’ and so thrilled you’ve moved to one of the most sacred, mysterious, magical and breath-taking places on the globe… Vanuatu! I visited there age 23 and cried when I had to leave
I am putting in a special request for you to write a blog solely devoted to describing your spiritual scepticism — I’d love you to explain to myself and others exactly how this works, your belief paradigm etc etc. I find the idea FASCINATING… and I’d also be curious to know how you view ‘where the world’s at right now’. Do all these increasing(?) natural disasters hold any significance for you? (This, I suppose, ties into your ‘nothing has any meaning’ thread.) Do you adhere to the popular spiritual idea that the world is ‘ascending’ or evolving spiritually right now? 2012 stuff… or is that a dirty word?

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
March 15th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
hi Rebecca, thanks for visiting us again. You’re our celebrity reader right? For those who missed it, please click the link on Rebecca’s name to access her great blog, Psyched in Stilettos!

I promise lots of articles on spiritual skepticism, I’ve just been struggling with figuring out what I believe. I’m OK in conversation but writing about it seems to solidify things and since I know I’ll believe something different next year, and maybe even next week, that makes it harder to write about. I see the fluidity of my beliefs as a huge plus, except in this context. The only solution is to write about the process behind my thinking. Not so much what I believe but the underlying logic. That takes more time, and in fact that’s what I’ve been doing and working up to in the last 5 articles.

As to 2012, the only accurate explanation is that the Mayans ran out of rock to carve their calendar on. My wall calendar lasts till December and even my Outlook Calendar only lasts x00 years. The Mayans only forecast as long as they needed to. This end of the world hoo-ey is not a Mayan idea, it’s a stupid Hollywood idea invented to sell C-grade movies and bamboozle some gullible New Age types. This has been the consistent answer of every single Mayan authority and non-New Age fool that has been asked this question.

No, there is no connection between 2012 and a string of natural disasters for many reasons such as:
- * the 2012 thing doesn’t exist anyway (the obvious reason);
- * natural disasters happen all the time. We have what’s called “recency bias.” We remember the really bad stuff from the last year but forget how much worse things were before, like the 2004 tsunami, or last century’s killer floods, cyclones, flu viruses, etc.” There is nothing statistically worse about what’s happening now. Japan was over-due for that earthquake the same way Los Angeles is, statistically speaking.
- * there may be an underlying cause behind global warming and other events like earthquakes and cyclones. It has to do with solar flares and changes in the sun’s surface. There’s amazing research which links global warming to the sun and not carbon dioxide. I think we are going to see some crazy stuff in the next few years which could interfere with satellite communications and really disrupt our weather. There’s a whiff of conspiracy theory about all of this so I’ll leave the topic for another day. Plenty on the internet for those who are interested.
By the way I didn’t say “nothing has any meaning” I said “nothing has any inherent meaning” – everything has huge amounts of meaning, it’s just that we are making it up as we go along! (which is a good thing.)

thanks for contributing here and keeping the blog interesting and dynamic.

blessings
Simon

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
March 15th, 2011 at 5:37 pm
Not long after replying to you I saw this article in a Melbourne newspaper – seems to be saying the same thing:
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/earthquakes-and-tsunamis-are-not-the-planet-taking-revenge-on-man-20110314-1bue6.html#poll

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Liz BArnard
March 18, 2011 at 12:41 am

Hi Simon
Thanks for the blog, very interesting and food for thought.
Read the article too thank you for posting

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Koen
March 23, 2011 at 8:50 am

Ramana Maharshi would answer to the question : “who is it that asks this question ? “Where does this question come from ?” Then for me it ends in silence, nothingness, not knowing, now, conciousness, presence , god, whatever you want to name it

Warm regards,

Koen.

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pelin
March 31, 2011 at 11:18 pm

everything happens for a reason, that’s for sure. as nothing is as it seems to be nothing is bad either. love

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Irma Keskinen
June 1, 2011 at 10:04 pm

I find it fascinating that a couple of weeks before the Japanese tsunami hit I had a very deep discussion with a close Japanese friend in Kyoto regarding the economic and political situation in Japan – I was trying to understand why there has been little real change in this society for hundreds of years – while he was explaining the roots of the bureacracy and public service being tied to the traditions way back in the Tokugawa period. I said “Wow! There seems to be a need for something really big to happen, to shake the society to it’s very foundations. My friend agreed…… and then I heard about the disaster. Interesting….

[Reply]
Simon Rose Reply:
June 2nd, 2011 at 9:11 pm
so you created it then?
(just kidding)

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