It’s Eastertide, so let’s see if there’s anything new to be found in religion — which can be a touch boring at times.

The old platitudes of Christianity fail to impress the majority of people for most of the time. The same goes for most other “faiths”.

Is there a different way of looking at them?

Biology understands evolution as a random physical system which eventually created the human body — almost by chance. It scarcely pays attention to the evolution of consciousness, except as a by-product of physicality. An afterthought, if you like.

The world is a very different organism than that. Time is continuously created as a field in which the evolution of consciousness can take place. Indeed, that seems to be the sole reason for time to exist at all.

Speculating further, our human role is to function as the eyes and ears of the originating mind so that it can become conscious of itself.

In Meister Eckhart’s resonant phrase, “The eye with which I see God is the eye with which God sees me” — a sentence as profound as anything ever uttered or written.

The physical world we know is part of a continuum of existence based on consciousness, or spirit, if you’d prefer. Once we accept that mind precedes and therefore creates matter, all then is mind.

At that point, mind can be experienced as matter, and we can begin to imagine realms of being other than our own. The phrase “infinite possibilities” rises unbidden.

We all exist in time, even if we don’t know exactly what time is. We can only describe time using mechanical comparisons — a clock, for example. But that doesn’t touch the essence of it.

Time is indistinguishable from consciousness in the sense that the passing of time is the product of consciousness.

In the end, everything manifests as consciousness, which is the heart and soul of existence. Without knowing that you exist, what else exists?

Ultimately, consciousness is what we call God, even if we don’t know it.

We should therefore respect and revere our own consciousness as part of, and indistinguishable from, God. Without, of course, imagining that we are God!

Life was never meant to be easy.

John Evans

… who is the author of The Eternal Quest for Immortality: Is it staring you in the face? Available from Amazon and all good booksellers.

Coming soon: Practical Mysticism: A different way of looking at the world.

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This is a question often asked since Dave became Prime Minister. Bloomberg seems to have come up with the answer: a discreet “yes”.

Like all middle-class Englishmen he has been shaped by his education and upbringing not to talk about religious matters beyond acknowledging a link with the Church of England.

However, recent events seem to have overcome the inhibition: “The Bible tells us to bear one another’s burdens. After the day I’ve had, [the Maria Miller sacking and PMQs] I’m definitely looking for volunteers.” *

According to Bloomberg, “he thanked churches for their work in society, including the growth of food banks to help the poor, and urged them to speak up for persecuted Christians around the world”.

He also referred to Jesus as “our saviour,” and went on to talk about his Christian faith in general. Moreover, the PM admits slipping into the sung Eucharist at St. Mary Abbots church in Kensington “every other Thursday. I find a little bit of peace and hopefully a bit of guidance.”

I love this next bit: “In a 2009 set-piece speech in opposition he borrowed the structure of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount.” He was clearly aiming high, even then.

Linking his Big Society message with Christianity in general, he went on: “Jesus invented the Big Society 2,000 years ago; I just want to see more of it. If there are things that are stopping you from doing more, think of me as a giant Dyno-Rod clearing the drains.”

Watch out for the cartoonists take on that one. Let’s hope they are not too risque.

It is good to see a major leader going beyond his professional brief, without the excruciating self promotion of a George W. Bush.

* Miller, the former Culture Secretary, drove the policy of gay marriage, which has split the Tory party down the middle.

John Evans

… who is the author of The Eternal Quest for Immortality: Is it staring you in the face? Available from Amazon and all good booksellers.

Coming soon: Practical Mysticism: A different way of looking at the world.

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What is it with Ed Miliband? His “cost of living crisis” must be the most ineffective campaign ever waged against a sitting government.

In what way do ministers affect living costs or set wages and salaries for the majority of the workforce? Most are done in the private sector.

Taxes, which George Osborne would love to bring down, have been a Tory target for decades. They only go up when Labour are in office, or when a Conservative government has to clear up Labour’s last mess.

True, the government does set benefit rates, and Tories tend to bear down on them to get people back into jobs. But that should be the function of all governments. Brownism failed catastrophically last time it was tried, and Miliband was right there in the Prime Minster’s office at the time.

Ed Miliband wants to “create the conditions for the high-wage, high-skill economy that tackles Britain’s productivity gap, helps businesses succeed and allows people to fulfil their potential.” And what’s he going to do on day two?

The man seems to lack all sense of proportion. He would need to win three consecutive elections to get close to fulfilling it. He might also remind himself that after Margaret Thatcher did precisely that, Labour set about dismantling it when they returned to power.

Credibility gap, or what? He should try living in the concrete world, not a Marxist wonderland.

* * * * *

What gives Labour the right to go into the next election with a substantial advantage in the electoral rolls. Some say it could amount to six seats, others fancy it’s more.

Why doesn’t David Cameron make more of a fuss about it, first with his Lib-Dem “partners”, who spitefully reneged on a promise to reset the electoral rules more fairly, and then with the regulator?

Sometimes gentlemanly conduct becomes a form of suicide.

John Evans

… who is the author of The Eternal Quest for Immortality: Is it staring you in the face? Available from Amazon and all good booksellers.

Coming soon: Practical Mysticism: A different way of looking at the world.

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A few of us were chatting recently about the best period in their lives. You might be surprised, but it’s fascinating how many people pick the 1980s. I’ll tell you mine if you’ll tell me yours. (john@syntagmamedia.com).

It was the late ’80s and early ’90s.

I was living in Farnham in Surrey — a real nostalgia-jerker for me — and commuting to London by train to work in the City. It was the time of that great British film Chariots of Fire. Every chap I knew was into running. I even set up a company producing computer programs on running and fitness.

Each morning at 6am, I could be found limbering up in the street before being joined by a bank manager and an accountant for an early morning run. They were more interesting than they sound.

The banker was a bit of a dramatist and would quote Chariots freely: “God made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure.”

They don’t write them like that any more. As I recall the writer played one of the cops in TV’s Z Cars. A man of many parts.

I remember the period as one of great optimism and enthusiasm. The Falklands had been recovered by British forces — we had a real Navy then — and possibly the best Government in modern history, at least in peace time.

The economy was going gangbusters (as we say now), and we were as prosperous as any generation before or since. The gods smiled on us daily, and we smiled back, especially when we were running.

But I don’t want to get all nostalgic about the 80s. I’m sure we had our problems — Arthur Scargill is an example, for whom happiness and contentment were alien emotions.

Looking back, it was the combination of relative youth, prosperity, relevance and … there was something in the air: Magic!

Whatever happened to that?

John Evans

… who is the author of The Eternal Quest for Immortality: Is it staring you in the face? Available from Amazon and all good booksellers.

Coming soon: Practical Mysticism: A different way of looking at the world.

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The easiest and cheapest way for a small or medium-sized business to advertise online is by inline text link, set in compatible copy. For an example, follow this link: Drug abuse at work

The piece is about drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace, and the advert is for a drug testing company that specialises in workforce testing for drugs.

The advertiser usually provides relevant information, while the site’s copywriter assembles it into a short piece for the website. There are many ways of doing this, depending on circumstances and the advertiser’s wishes.

The system was originally set up to protect the ranking of the site, but was found to be an effective way to advertise in its own right.

It is also a simple introduction to internet marketing for anyone not familiar with the technicalities.

Give it a try. We’re here to help: john@syntagmamedia.com