Tag: philosophy
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The One, the Many, and the Absence of Gods
People sometimes ask about my spiritual beliefs and I struggle to answer concisely. My views are not conventionally religious, yet neither are they atheistic in the straightforward sense. I find myself somewhere between mysticism, pantheism, symbolism, and philosophy. What makes the question difficult is that there are at least three different levels involved: metaphysics, experience,…
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The State, the Nation, and Stewardship
Much political discussion becomes confused because it treats the state and the nation as the same thing. They are not. The state is an institution. Its legitimacy comes from the functions it performs. It exists to protect life, liberty and the conditions necessary for human flourishing. It maintains order, administers justice, secures borders and provides…
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On Nationalism
Nationalism has acquired a bad reputation. To some people it means xenophobia, ethnic exclusivity or hostility to outsiders. To others it means little more than patriotism. Neither understanding is quite correct. George Orwell drew a useful distinction between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism is love of one’s country and way of life. Nationalism, by contrast, becomes…
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A Theory of Limited Foreign Policy
Introduction In my earlier essay I argued that government is not sovereign but a delegated authority. Its legitimacy derives from a limited number of functions that require collective action, including security, dispute resolution, basic infrastructure, and certain public goods supported by broad consensus. The same principles must apply to foreign policy. The mere existence of…
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A Theory of Limited, Delegated Government
First Principles 1. The individual is the primary moral unit Moral duties arise first from concrete relationships: Government does not create these duties. They exist prior to government. 2. Individuals owe one another non-aggression and toleration People should not: Because individuals have different values, beliefs and interests, peaceful coexistence requires mutual toleration rather than ideological…
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Being Considered in Itself: A Formal Ontological Sketch
Preface This post presents a formal metaphysical paper developed over several months of reflective work. Although my background is in Religious Studies and writing rather than academic philosophy, I have attempted to articulate a clear and rigorous ontological structure beginning from the simplest possible insight: that Being must present itself in order to be intelligible.…
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The Nation as an Operating System — and Why Tolerance Is Enough
Most of my adult life has been spent inside institutions: corporations, trade unions, chapels, clubs, political parties. Each had its own rules, officers, expectations, and rituals. Each was, in effect, an interest group — a collection of individuals and families coordinating their behaviour under a shared operating system. Eventually I realised that the nation is…
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Experience, Speculation, and the Space Between
There’s a tension I’ve lived with for years: the gap between the mystical experience I actually have and the metaphysical systems I enjoy constructing. They coexist, but they don’t meet. One is lived; the other is intellectual play. My spiritual experience is modest and quiet. What I actually feel is a unitive ground of being,…
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The Thin Metaphysics of the Steely Age
Triangularism For years I carried too much metaphysical weight: hiraeth, land‑mysticism, ancestral echoes, perennial philosophy, the ache for unity and eternity. All of it stirred something in me, but none of it changed how life actually works. None of it strengthened discipline, clarified duty, or stabilised a household. It enriched thought, but didn’t improve behaviour.…
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The Philosophy of Steel
The older I get, the clearer life becomes. Not mystical, not bardic, not wrapped in ancestral fog — just clear. For years I carried a soft, atmospheric worldview: hiraeth, land‑mysticism, cultural memory, psycho‑geography, the old stories. They stirred something in me, but they didn’t guide me. They didn’t heal anything. They didn’t change how life…
Hearth and Heart Magazine 