For a while I’ve had a growing conviction that atheism, in it’s modern day form (as espoused by militants proponents such as Dawkins) is in fact a religious movement, bar the belief in the divine and supernatural. I will one day collate the reasons why I believe this, but for now here’s an important one.

In reading Albert Einstein’s biography by Walter Isaacson, the chapter “Einsten’s God” provides some answers to the question he was plagued with again and again by adoring fans who wanted to know if he believed in God. Here, in this chapter, lie some quotes by Einstein that articulate some of what I’ve been sensing about the New Atheism (religious) movement: Read the rest of this entry »

A bumper sticker caught my eye as I was driving to a client today. It read: No one actually gives a shit what you think!

This got me thinking (again) about what Richard Rohr has to say about the two stages of life, narcism, ego development and whether we think we are the centre of the world. For a toddler, they have to be the centre of the world. It’s a prerequisite for ego and identity development. It’s the incessant “Look at me, look at me!” of toddlers at play. Daniel, at nearly two, is all about that. His daily word count is made up primarily of “Look Daddy!”, repeated ad nauseum. He jumps. Look Daddy. He sits. Look Daddy. He goes to sleep. Look Daddy.
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This year has kicked off with a flourish and I’ve been left with a few sensations of things that were brewing in my sub-conscious over the holidays (that I would have ordinarily reflected upon and processed while sitting on the beach, but alas, parenting requirements too precedence).

What has been lurking below the surface is best described as a feeling of loss regarding novelty. Let me give you an example. I love epic movies. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy  was a serious highlight for me during the years in which they were released. There is just something about the opening scens of an epic movie that move me! Movies just don’t move me like that anymore. The novelty of that experience has now become, well, bland. I’ve been drawn to Richard Rohr’s teachings on Adult Christianity where he teaches about the two stages of life and spirituality. I’ve now realised that feeling associated with a loss of novelty in life is actually a symptom of my transition into the second stage of my life.  Read the rest of this entry »

I woke up on the 1st of January, jumped onto my mountain bike (yes, that’s how low key our New Year’s Eve was!) and  wondered what the year ahead would entail as I pedaled through the majestic contours of Ballito. Ordinarily one would consider possible New Year’s resolutions during the course of December, in the build up to the coming year. However, I’ve discovered that parenting changes that oft loved practice. Holidays are no longer the contemplation filled retreats that they used to be with long walks on the beach. They are instead now action packed sojourns, allowing precious little time for one to recede into the cognitive hallways of reflection and thinking.

One aspect of 2012 I chose to influence, knowing full well that the majority of the year would escape my will and end up panning out the way it will, was to refurbish my portal into the interweb. And so, thanks to the design prowess of Anthony van Beek, the new look aidencholes.com is open to the world … enjoy.

If we are ‘friends’ on Facebook I’m really quite interested in what you think & what you’re up to, but it often means I’ve got to be exposed to EVERYTHING you’re up to. This is potentially a very good thing. If you’re a friend that lives overseas we don’t get to see each other much (or at all) so I thrive on your updates. I feel privileged to be alive in this day and age, one in which we can enjoy unprecedented connectedness in the face of geographic constraints.

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There are many interesting facts about Albert Einstein. One of them is that he did not in fact fail maths at school. He was an impudent scholar for sure, but he was almost always top of his class. Perhaps the most significance life fact is that he generated his most telling theories in a 7 year period during which he was not an academic. Instead, he was employed as a patent officer in the Swiss Patent Office where he assessed applications.

Einstein would finish his day’s work within a few hours and spend the rest of the time “hatching [his] most beautiful ideas”. His desk would be littered with papers containing scribbles that he would stuff into his desk drawer when colleagues would come by. His boss over looked this. His work was being done. Read the rest of this entry »

Sam and I have begun a journey with some friends over the last few months where we are interested in assessing our faith in Jesus. Trevor Hudson is helping us do this. In last week’s discussion he encouraged us to read the Gospel of John as a ‘beginner’, without the expectations, pressures, perceptions and hangups we’ve picked up in our journey as Christ-followers thus far. It’s both a challenge and a blessing doing this. One of Richard Rohr’s daily meditation’s popped into my mailbox this morning, and I thought it pertinent to the journey I’m on. Here’s the quote: Read the rest of this entry »

Being this side of 30 years of age has made me a little more serious about life. So, in an effort to restore some fun into my life, in a serious kind of way, I decided to play the share market a little. I haven’t been able to invest millions, but the little bit that I have invested has been hard earned & I watch it daily to make sure the companies I chose treat it nicely.

Here are some reflections on the experience of being a first time share investor – it’s a story of frustrations (mainly) and a bunch of unanswered questions (that no one seems to ever tell you about). Many of these reflections would be “duh, didn’t you know?” kind of things for the experienced traders, but I am a novice and hopefully these reflections will assist some newbies in cracking it into a generally unfriendly field.

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At 22h15 this evening I would have been a father to Daniel James Choles for exactly one year.

Happy birthday my boy. Read the rest of this entry »

I received a call from SANRAL about a 18months ago wanting to guage my opinions on the new tolling system they would implement as a part of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP). When I asked what the fee they were considering was, they told me 50c per kilometre. It sounded steep at the time. Now, they have announced a 66c/km fee that will be implemented in June 2011. Read the rest of this entry »