The Personal Website of Michael Foord

I'm a body with a brain, that's all I am. A physical being, a small part of everything. I've never been a very physically aware person. From a young age it was clear that I wasn't very physically gifted but that I had an extraordinary mind, so I devoted all my psychological energy into academic achievement and understanding - at the cost of empathy, social understanding and physical awareness. I focused on what I knew I could be good at and ignored the things I found difficult. It turned out this wasn't a particularly good life strategy and a very painful decade, directed by some unfortunate external experiences and a great deal of very bad personal choices in the light of those experiences, forced me to learn empathy and character strength. One of the things that surprised me about mindfulness meditation (an exercise of the psyche) was that it forced me to start to become more physically aware. In order to bring full focused attention to the breath I have

"Woe to you who teach law, who preach rules" Conventional Christianity does not have an acceptable answer to the problem of evil.  Typical Christian doctrine attributes evil to the fall of man and the devil, a consequence of Satan's hubris and a deceived humanity's free will. This current travail is therefore a consequence of a fallen creation. But , we are working towards the dawning of the New Age where Christ returns and creation is perfected with no possibility of sin and evil. So, if that state of nature is possible, a perfect creation with no possibility of sin and evil, why did the all powerful creator God not start with that? Why go through all this awful horror and pain to get there? Conventional Christian doctrine offers no real answer to this beyond the "ineffable" (or inexcusable as some may say...) will of God.  When Christians pretend to have all the answers people tend to see right through them. Recently a dear friend told m

"No fate but what we make" -- Sarah Connor, Terminator The ideas in this article are an attempt to reconcile science, psychology, religion and philosophy. A lofty, perhaps too lofty, goal and an extension of the ideas I was reaching  for in " Evolutionary Spirituality: A Personal God ". Modern physics tells us that uncertainty and chaos are fundamental properties of the universe we inhabit. Evolution tells us that, in regards to life, change is driven by randomness. Specifically changes are the result of random mutations. Which changes persist is not random, but the driving mechanism is random and chaotic. Evolutionary biologists will tell you that success, fitness, is not "progress" (which they would say is an illusion) merely the accumulation of random changes that are more fit to survive in specific environments and circumstances. Yet given the arc of history (and human culture as part of history) it looks and feels like progress is being made.

Life is so much more fun when you master your desires. So, this is probably highly sexist but it's a small peak into the inner workings of my strange psyche. Sorry. I notice that I have certain "labels" that I use to express how I feel about certain people, and I do this much more frequently for women than I do for men. I don't really know why but I don't *think* it's a particularly bad thing. I mention this now because whilst meditating I just thought of a new one and a handful of women it applies to (names withheld to protect the magnificent). Here are the labels I use (obviously a one dimensional summation of someone's character, a gross generalisation of any individual and all generalisations are wrong): A good person (speaks for itself) A capable person (implies good but adds skill and capacity for getting things done) An impressive person (implies capable but with great skill or capacity) A formidable person (implies impressive but with

To be able to love people, what a delight and a privilege God is love. Love is all around us. That's God! Stop searching for God and search for love. And bam , there he is. Everywhere! So close. He was there all the time. In everyone you meet. In the love of a mother for her children, in your family. So love love. Worship love. Adore love. Love the love of your friends, love the love of your family. Hold it as sacred and precious. That's God! And when you love love, it grows! And the darkness simply cannot hold. And fuck other people's rules, other people's ideas of what you have to do to know God. Fuck it all. Just love love. I'm a bit hard to cope with, so full of intensity. I salute those who manage to get close, I love you all! With a fierce and passionate love if you'll let me. God wants us to be happy. Unhappiness is not his plan. But you don't find lasting happiness by searching for it. Pleasure, happiness and certainty - none of these th

"Love's heart breaks. Love's heart bleeds. Love's heart even dies, yet lives." In " Soul Healing " I looked at the process of soul healing (finding psychological wholeness) for the individual; allowing your personality to "unfold" through a determination to face yourself. In this article I explore the edges of some "technical" aspects (practical techniques) for bringing soul healing to others. Being able to help one another psychologically is one of the promises of faith. Bringing soul healing is a great confirmation of the reality of our faith, " Crossing the Soul Gap " as I term it, but also potentially a beautiful way of being able to make a positive difference to people's lives, always treading carefully of course. I'd like to discuss two aspects of soul healing, and they're both based on empathy. These techniques have at their heart "just being a decent human being". The motivation must alw