A black box is a whimsical term used in science to describe something whose inner workings are mysterious, either because they cannot be seen or because they’re just incomprehensible. Charles Darwin’s black box was the cell.…
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Listening – at Christmas and always
A few years after I left my secondary school in Manchester, I was invited to help out with the school’s Christmas Fair and I decided to have a go at being Father…
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Nothing is written unless they write it
My all-time favourite film is ‘Lawrence Of Arabia’ and, if I have a favourite scene from the movie, then I guess it is the one of Lawrence’s triumphal return from the Nefud…
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The secret of happiness
A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for 40 days, and finally came…
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A meeting of minds
Martin was returning to work in his London office after spending two weeks with his brother over in New York. He was coming back with a heavy heart. It was not just…
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The seeker of truth
After years of searching, the seeker was told to go to a cave in which he would find a well. ‘Ask the well what is truth’, he was advised, ‘and the well…
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The great fire and the little water
Among the Aztec people of Mexico, it is said that a long time ago there was a great fire in the forests that covered our Earth. People and animals started to run,…
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Bad by name; bad by nature?
During Nelson Mandela’s 19 years imprisoned on Robben Island, one particular commanding officer was the most brutal of them all: “A few days before Badenhorst’s departure, I was called to the main…
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The three races
In old times, fable retells the story of the young athletic boy hungry for success, for whom winning was everything and success was measured by such a result. One day, the boy…
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Different perspectives
The Minister travelled for days by train and car and boat to one of the furthest islands in the nation. As he surveyed the bleak but inspiring landscape, he turned to a…