Category: Random Thoughts

I took the direct scenic route through country villages from Colchester to Cambridge. It would have been the route that people pre-motorways would have journeyed, including William Gilbert, who has a monument at St John’s College.

My ears always pricked up listening to Born Slippy at the repeat “going back to Romford”, as that was where I was born, in Rush Green hospital.

Question: A Greek philosopher with name starting with M. Answer: Mr Plato?

It’s nice when you meet someone for the first time and there’s a sort of recognition in the eye that you know each other.

These days I want people to be happy. I’ve gone through phases of degrees of jealousy and “what about me” nonsense. It’s a lot better to be happy for other people’s happiness.

My interpretation of the Jungian shadow: Use any aggressive impulse within you as your personal drill-instructor, your internal defiance against adversity. Have the awareness to acknowledge it, control its utility and put the shadow to gainful employment.

Humans evolved hands to pet animals. Nothing can pet like humans can.

At Christmas I went back to the town I grew up in. It’s now a decaying shanty town. Woods and grasslands paved over, community facilities pulled down, buildings and walkways not repainted in decades. No football posts or meaningful play areas in sight, just concrete and potholed roads.

I see the sorrow in the corners of your smile waiting to be kissed away.

Science, through theory and experiment, gives the ability to detect rules and predict phenomena that hold true under set conditions; it doesn’t explain what things actually are or why they are.

It’s worth trying, but why is there an assumption that the universe is ultimately comprehensible? What if its inexplicability is the essential aspect, the prime condition for existence, that makes all things possible?

In sci-fi films and TV, why is Earth always shown aligned vertically on its axis? Isn’t there a tilt? And wouldn’t Earth be viewed from space from any angle – the continents are never shown “upside down”?

When I’m sitting still, calm and relaxed, my heart rate is about 50 beats per minute.

“Please can you recite all the digits of pi” is a type of “just a quick question.”

Imagine the potential of humanity if billions of people have the opportunity to flourish within a culture of invention and curiosity.

I do a lot of wandering in circles. Occasionally I break the loop.

Life has a way of challenging assumptions, especially about yourself. What if things you think to be true are the other way round? Being open to possibilities is aliveness, in contrast to the rigidness of supposed certainty.

Adventures, like good stories, need uncertainty. The adventure of each life is a story within the story of the universe.

There are a lot of lonely people out there, even when in relationships. In fact, it’s rare when two people in a romantic relationship understand each other at a deep level and contribute to each other’s wellbeing. Short-term excitement from physical attraction leads to greater loneliness if it’s with someone who is not compatible at the deeper level.

Since Imperial sometimes features higher than Oxford or Cambridge in university league tables, should “Oxbridge” change its name to “Oximbridge”? Or maybe forget about that and realise that most people with talent and potential have had no connection with those institutions.

Same question asked to me five times in one week: “Are you a fellow?” To which I respond, “No, I’m still a student because I’m very slow at reading, although I am an old fellow without a capital ‘f’.” Any bemused awkwardness is a bonus.

“Necessity is the mother of invention.” Maybe, but more generally: Necessity creates the conditions for change.

“If you’re the smartest person in the room, then you’re in the wrong room.” Someone has to be in the wrong room otherwise the place will quickly empty. Anyway, intelligence isn’t one-dimensional; insight from lived experience isn’t a monopoly. It’s possible to learn something from anyone.

I was introduced as “This is Rob. He is a genius.” It’s flattering but I know it’s not true. Many people have abilities that are never developed because of how they have been socially conditioned to think and behave.

Dear God, please help me to appreciate the blessings that arrive each day. Help me to live with gratitude, to see the joy in life. Help me to truly know that it is okay to be happy.

My dear child, understand that joy does not come from your circumstances but from a heart that is aligned with Me. Put down the unnecessary burdens you carry and let your soul dance free.

I’m a brooding artist, not a conformist. (I laugh when I write this, so I’m not too far gone.)

New habit: no more looking at social media. It doesn’t make me happy, so why do it? I’ll read instead. I will occasionally read TwitterX because the posts can be interesting/funny/informative if filtered well.

In my life, I have produced interesting creative things from 1998 to 2002; then from 2017 until now. I think I have accelerated this year.

A scandal about a scandal concerning a gate is called a “gategategate”.

In archetypal drama, a theory is raised (the theme) and is tested through opposition. Out of the drama comes a transformation of understanding.

An uninteresting story is “I want something, so I get something”, or “I imagine something and that’s how things turn out.” Struggle, setback, and surprise improve the drama. Ever wonder whether the world is one big soap opera?

Life is, beneath all the bad and good that happens, compelling.

I never used to like to rehearse with other people. I wanted to work on my own character palette and understanding, and not repeat elements of scenes like it was a contrived process. Live was where the performance spontaneously arose, after having done all the work, responding to real people and the imagined situation. That approach would piss off other performers because they didn’t know what to expect.

How is a culture fostered where people question, think independently, create and innovate? Tribal thinking is not reason or compassion; it is a primitive impulse to seek acceptance by a herd.

Well-spoken idiots are who well-spoken idiots often refer to as “the elites”. Insight is not the same as being able to string sentences together by repeating phrases from the current dominant paradigm.

The single biggest mistake people make in life is treating a romantic partner as a personal fulfilment creature that must act within a set list of expectations, rather than as a human being who is understood and cared for at a deep level.