The Philosophy of Being

A circular abstract design

Exploring Ancient Greek Concepts | Dr Simon Robinson An in-depth exploration of ancient Greek concepts of existence and consciousness The Platonic Explanation of Being The Platonic explanation of being offers a profound insight into the nature of existence and consciousness.…

Being, Personality and the Self

A human figure with a world within their mind

A Comprehensive Philosophical Examination of Consciousness and Human Identity It can be helpful for those trying to make sense of the ‘mind’ to recognise that these three concepts, being, self and personality are quite distinct and different things. Once you…

Resentment of the Innocent

A feature of unresolved trauma is an intolerance of a certain innocence that seems to arise in non-traumatised others. This intolerance can be unbearable and lead to aggressive and hurtful reactions to those that are perceived as ‘delightfully unaware’ of…

I asked Chat GPT…

I asked chat GPT… …to complete a very abstract poem I wrote called ‘Disappearance’. I thought I’d share it’s response.  Artificial Intelligence is going to have a huge impact on nearly every aspect of life. Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect…

Helmsley Market Day (circa 1960’s)

Helmsley Market Day (circa 1960’s) Helmsley at the time that this memoir is set was the hub of the local farming community and there were still several working farms scattered within its boundaries. It was a less ‘refined’ town than…

Gladness and Addiction

One of the biggest questions regarding addiction is ‘why are some people susceptible to addiction?’ We know that many people can try addictive substances or activities yet only a percentage find these overwhelmingly addictive. Here I hope to present my…

Growing up in West Yorkshire

I remember . . .    Going to school on a trolley bus, with one of dad’s white hankies tied round my face. It was the smog you see, turned the hankie black from the mills. Bradford, originally called Broad…

Strange Land

 What am I doing in this strange land, where ‘bar’ means gate and ‘gate’ means street? There’s a funny floating ‘t’ that I think means ‘the’, as in t’poet or t’pub, and I’m assured that  ‘thou’ and ‘thee’ are alive…

What is the personality?

One of the ‘mistakes’ we make in understanding mental illness is assuming that our identity and personality are the same thing. This becomes really confusing when, because of previous psychological trauma, our heightened response to threats become labelled as a…

Vietnam – First Impressions

Poor old Ho Chi Min. He wanted to be cremated with his ashes scattered throughout Vietnam, but here we are in front of an architecturally brutalist mausoleum in Hanoi, reputed to contain his embalmed body. Thankfully, the mausoleum is closed…