Outlined in the simplest possible non-religious terms — Existence is, when all is said and done, something of an unpleasant affair. Yes life can give you good times, but if you have a certain very specific sensitivity — which doesn’t necessarily mean that you are a good or saintly person — then no matter how good the good…

You really need to want to know the truth for yourself — First of all, before we even begin (!), you have to realise that this is all going to be about using your mind — that is, your discriminating intellect, and your thinking ability — to ‘set you free’, because you have no other capacity at your disposal with which you…

Ground zero, knowledge-wise? — Let us imagine a machine so intelligent that it ‘knows’ everything, in terms of up-to-date, fact-based, transferable, objective and subjective human knowledge. Is there then anything left for it to know? Can it answer the question ‘what’s existence all about?’ …

And why is it a ‘hard problem’? — What is ‘consciousness’? In simpler terms, what are we — as ordinary people, or as philosopher/scientists — referring to when we employ the term ‘consciousness’? What imagery or ideas do we call up, or rely upon, when we think about the concept of ‘consciousness’? And then, on top of that…

Is the ultimate spiritual/gnostic question — If you have the answer to the question, then you are ‘enlightened’, as there is nothing further that can be asked of anything, and everything is illumined. …

It’s the only ‘instrument’ we have — (This is just a sketch — we couldn’t possibly do justice to a subject as crucial as this in a short article.) Why is this? Why is the intellect the only spiritual implement/instrument/agent/vehicle we have? Surely that’s too extreme? Surely we can also pray and meditate, be mindful, be full…

Spiritual metaphysics #3 — How do we get our ordinary, familiar, everyday minds to help us think the ‘right kind of thoughts’ which will send us in the right spiritual/metaphysical direction? In other words, how can we make sure we aren’t deluding ourselves, and ‘getting spiritual insight massively wrong’? There is a way. And…

Let’s take a look — It shouldn’t be beyond the wit of human beings to come up with a few clear thoughts on this topic. If nothing else, we can treat this as a basic exercise in sceptical spiritual exploration. But how exactly do we ‘take a look’? What ‘capacity’ do we use to do…

It’s not hidden, yet it takes a real effort to ‘see’ it — We’re picking up a thread here from where we left off in the previous article (Spiritual metaphysics #1) and taking another look at an aspect of the features of any basic perception. Disregarding (for now) the fact that all perceptions (of whatever kind; mental or sense perceptual) are always, as…