I have published From the Burning Archive: essays and fragments 2015-2022. You can buy it as print or e-book here at Amazon and also at other online retailers. Here is an excerpt of the introductory essay of that collection. It tells how a dream image became a poem became a blog became a podcast and then an author platform.
Empress Zhu wrote, “Once I lived in heaven above, in pearl palaces and jade towers; now I live among grass and brambles, my blue robes soaked in tears. I hate the drift of snow.”
The story of Arthshastra is similarly fit for the Burning Archive. It was composed some time between the 2rd century BC and 3rd century CE. It was known to be influential until the 12th century, but then was lost or went underground, perhaps due to the Persian, Mughal or Muslim rule over India. It was known of, but considered lost by colonial era scholars. Then in in 1905 a Tamil Brahmin from Tanjore walked into the newly opened Mysore Oriental Library with a copy of the Arthashastra in Sanskrit, written on palm leaves.
Sadly one of the tragic, compassionate lessons of history is that sometimes people can destroy themselves. There are many examples in history where people become possessed by strange ideas, and when these possessed elites follow a path of ruin.
Tagore's essay, ‘Nationalism’, was published in 1917. It is a scathing denunciation of the war of Western nations who controlled empires that raged in Europe at that time.
All ordinary citizens of the world desire peace, even if their leaders conspire for war. All ordinary citizens of the world need to see war as it is, even if the media dream machines narrate stories of good and evil.
I have posted this evening on my podcast and on Youtube a special episode. Here I talk openly for the first time about how I wrote my book, From the Burning Archive, which you can buy at the Amazon affiliate link or other online book retailers.
I will be publishing weekly this newsletter with seven glimpses of the multipolar world - its history, culture and geopolitics - and how to stay calm and sane amidst the turmoil. I encourage all the readers and followers of this blog to subscribe to the newsletter here.
If such fundamental deceptions, such as the USA President is 'a Russian agent' or Ukraine is 'the beacon of democracy', becloud the voting public, how secure are our political institutions, our halls of public reason, or our means of public choice?
This week was the beginning of the next stage in my new life, la vita nuova as an independent author. After a ritual week on the liminal beauty of the Bay of Lorne in South-Eastern Australia, I transformed from a government official, wounded and now retired, to become an independent author.
I have produced three episodes of the podcast/channel on the state of play of the war in Ukraine. How do we make sense of the events leading up to the war in Ukraine, and throughout the year of 2022? There have been many news stories, many podcasts and many channels looking at the unfolding events in Ukraine from day to day, In these episodes, however, I step back from the daily news cycle, and explore what it means for us as ordinary citizens looking on at these distressing events and wanting states to find their way back to diplomacy and dialogue.
I wrote this essay on the renunciation of the political world in 2019. It is even more true today as well all face our world we cannot control and choices about how to husband and not derange our minds and the gardens of our culture. I was editing it for my next collection of essays, Thirteen... Continue Reading →
My latest podcast takes a look at the influence of the Mongol Empire on Russian history, and indeed on world history.
The Burning Archive 