To complete the project I began two months ago, at a most tardy pace, I present this collage of the remaining seven albums. The question again - "What ten albums most influenced you by the age of 20?" It was a difficult winnowing process, to be sure, since I had to try to give some balance to the decade. Truthfully there would be at least one other Elton John album represented, but one cannot have too much of a good thing. Or can one?

We are currently revisiting behaviours that first occurred with the Covid outbreak about three months ago. There was panic buying of some staples, such as tinned food, sauces and dry spaghetti, which makes at least a little sense. But another product that produced an almost hysterical agitation was toilet paper, which disappeared from the shelves almost as soon as it was put there.

There was much talk about this strange phenomenon for it is in all honesty really, really odd. It doesn't take a lot of people to clear a shelf if they are hoarding or planning to resell at a profit, so the number of folks actually doing the buying is unclear. It might be quite small. But the psychology behind it is puzzling, for what is the connection between a viral outbreak and the need to have 200 toilet rolls in the linen closet?

If you think about it, it is not difficult to think of ways to replace toilet paper in the short term. It is not something you have to have, for you won't perish for the lack of it, and you can't eat it. It is not worn on the body to ward against the elements, except, embarrassingly, by accident. Moreover, the panic to buy seems to have been triggered by scenes of people who were panic buying themselves, seen on the daily news and far less reliably on social media.

Is it the case that not buying somehow means "missing out"? Is a crisis really felt "in the bowels", as was the case in medieval times? Is one of the Riders of the Apoocalypse (surely, apocalypse? - ed.) in the saddle and shortly to be upon us?

I don't know. But if this is the extent of human endurance, to be able to think clearly and rationally even when the emotions are in the ascendant, then we are doomed. This is a mere paper-cut compared to what may be ahead.

The trials of Hercules.

The Australian Government has decided that in the near future, degrees in the humanities at university will be vastly more expensive, whilst science and maths (and so forth) will become a lot cheaper. I have no truck with the latter, since we need people skilled in these areas in a modern economy. But the former is an outrage, revealing the deeply philistine nature of the Federal Government.

Considering that the Arts includes subjects such as History, English Literature, Classical Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, Archaeology, Linguistics, Foreign languages etc, this is a mighty blow to the ambitions any society claiming to be a champion of Western modernity. I know that there has been concern at the influence of Postmodern ideas on tertiary curricula, and I share some of those concerns. However, much of the criticism is based on a poor understanding of postmodern thinkers and it seems likely that the fever will abate anyway.

The Humanities is critical to an understanding of ourselves, both as individuals and as members of a society. This blog is a testament to the abiding influence of ideas and writings that explain how we got to this place. There is already a radical forgetting of what is worth filling your mind with, if popular culture is anything to go by. Taking away the skills and habits that allow people to think critically will weaken this country and leave us open to charlatans of all stripes.

Both my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees came at important moments in my life and gave me the skills and motivation to learn more. I would be loath to kick that ladder of opportunity away from anyone, though it seems that there are those who cannot wait to do so.

There is a movement afoot called 'cancel culture', one which seeks out anyone or anything perceived to have transgressed a particular standard and sets out to put things right. Let me start out by saying that all things change over time and that very little remains of civilisations and cultures of the past but what we can excavate and stumble upon. Great statues of famous rulers, manuscripts and proclamations in stone lay buried and forgotten until found, often by chance. There is nothing that we have today that will not suffer the same fate or worse.

So why not change the names of buildings, tear down statues, bowdlerise books, ban texts and so forth if they cause offence to a group of people? This seems quite reasonable, especially if the disgruntled group has been oppressed in the past, or subject to pogroms, extermination, discrimination and so forth. Why not clear the air? Things will disappear anyway, over time.

The first reason is that the mob, no matter how righteous their anger or cause, is never the best vehicle for seeking any kind of justice for past wrongs. People get too worked up in large groups. Moreover, those with genuine grievances are often accompanied by hangers-on, faut supporters or the easily outraged. Things get thrown in the river without a real conversation about their context or significance.

And that is the point. A 300 year old book banned for its racial attitudes may have been written at a time when such attitudes were society-wide. It is a mitigating circumstance and a great teaching opportunity too. History is messy.

Here is the other thing. Looking at the past through the lens of modernity is a fraught activity. Stripping the past of its (perceived) offences against the present is both foolish and dangerous. It is also arrogant, presuming a superiority where none exists.

Today is the winter solstice, the day with the least daylight hours. It does not mean a lot for modern societies as we seem to have lost that fundamental connection with the changing seasons. If you want, you can create your own micro-climate that excludes most external factors, though personally, I can't imagine living in such a cocoon.

The day started out with showers but has morphed into bright sunshine, with the westering sun sending long shoots through the neighbours bamboo. Winter sun has that lovely yellow tinge that throws the garden into sharp relief, the shadows and bright patches jostling for supremacy. But the dark will win out today.

I was reading again a haiku anthology that I bought in Japan and found the following one by Ebba Story. It seems somewhat fitting today.

winter solstice
sheen of the cherry's bark
streaked with rain

I could almost have written the same thing myself, just substituting plum for cherry.

One of my favourite poetry books is 300 Tang Poems, a collection that I could read from cover to cover and then start all over again. In fact, that is just what I do. Of course I am reading the English translation (W.Bynner) and I understand that something will always be altered in the process. But still, there are so many gems amongst them - observations and sensibilities that seem lost to the modern mind - that one is left, often as not, in a kind of altered state.

Anyhoo, here is a seven character quatrain by the master, Du Fu.

The Garden of the Golden Valley

Stories of passion make sweet dust,
Calm water, grasses unconcerned.
At sunset, when birds cry in the wind,
Petals are falling like a girls robe long ago.

from stoves of valleys
smoke rises and falls and stays-
winter mist

bruised by the twilight
a pink fist of cloud hangs,
then, kapoof

I often think about how happiness, so striven for, is so elusive. There is no doubt that to be happy is a desirable state to be in, but it seems that the modern way to achieve it falls well short of the mark. Partly I think this has a lot to do with what Marxists would call the alienation of labour (people separated from finding any real meaning in their work life) and the way capitalism has so successfully hijacked the happiness narrative. Abetted by popular culture and the advertising industry, happiness has been narrowly defined to reflect the consumption of goods and services. Any fool must know that such a search is bound to fail, with disappointments being heaped upon disappointments. I could go on but there is plenty of analysis elsewhere if you are interested enough.

Perhaps it is happiness itself that is the problem. If we seek a state of being that is derived from outside stimuli( a new job, car, holiday, partner etc) then it will always fall flat to some extent. The magic soon wears off. It is not sustainable. Better to seek contentment, a more deep-seated, abiding acceptance of self and circumstances, linked of course, to meaning and purpose, as an ongoing project in our lives. You can be grateful for an old car - that it still goes - a warm conversation over a cup of tea, for a fallen leaf in autumn. You can have other things too if you want them - material things - but they won't be a means to feeling better about yourself, and you will be able to do without them if need be.

Or, if you want to be an activist, you can challenge the system that tells you how to be happy when it knows that no such thing is possible.