On death and inspiration

The word “inspire” means “to breathe in”. 

I became acutely aware of the literal meaning of the word when I read a safety warning about oxygen inspiration levels printed on the side of the incubator that was home to my daughter for the first days of her life. 

“Inspiration” is, literally, the process of drawing in energy through the breath.

I reflected on this word again last week at the funeral of a friend from university days. His death was a tragic case of someone with great talent and heart taken from life too young. 

But while people mourned this loss at his funeral, something else was very clear – people also felt inspired.

If there is one sentence in the Simunye Hypothesis that has attracted a lot of comment from friends and colleagues it is the statement that “death is the liberation of energy from form”. Many people seem to like this statement, take comfort from it and recognize that “death” is the counter-cycle to “life”, a process of organizing and maintaining energy within form.

David’s death seemed to unleash his own particular brand of energy over all who knew him.  People who breathed that in have become inspired by him.  


If this isn't an example of how one should properly understand "life after death", then I don’t know what is.  Click here if you need further explanation, Stephen Hawking.

Making Sense of the "Royal Wedding"

People want to be inspired.  That’s the only sense I can make of the “royal” wedding that took place on Friday.  The bride and groom have, to date, done little in their young lives to actually merit the affection of the public.  So why do people cheer them?  It must point to some part of our psychology that wants to believe we are part of something bigger and more important than our daily lives might suggest and “royalty” are easily identifiable apex points of "kingdoms" or systems people can feel they belong to. That’s why occasions like “royal” weddings or even national sporting events inspire a sense of patriotism and pride.  People are cheering from their own sense of purpose and pride in belonging to something bigger than themselves.

But that instinctive sense of wanting to belong is both a natural and dangerous thing.  It’s natural because it’s true. We are all part of something bigger than our own narrow selves.  But it’s dangerous, because the craving to belong can be manipulated and abused.  One thing about the royal wedding that disappointed me was the military gear that the groom chose to wear. It’s a subtle infusion of pride and passion with warfare and it’s the sort of emotive blend that has been abused for centuries by kings and rulers to turn people into subjects and citizens into soldiers.

I know it might have been "protocol", but I will respect William more if he chooses at some point in his life to break with protocol and forge his own path, hopefully one that promotes unity and diversity and desists from glamourizing the military, as “kings" and "princes" have been known to do.