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Some people have called it a form of pornography or prostitution. Others say it is the world’s fastest growing religion. Most of us happily engage in it without question.

I am talking about ‘Consumerism’ – attaining in excess of what is needed for sufficiency in life, and building our lifestyles around it.

Originally the Latin word consumare meant to finish or conclude - the end or termination of something. In health terms, consumption was a synonym for TB, often known as the wasting disease and a huge taker or destroyer of life.

So how can a word with such a...

In order to learn how to take good pictures of nature, read on for some tips sure to get you the results you want. One thing’s for certain — it involves far more than merely pointing and clicking.

1. Seek and You Will Find: One of the most important things you can do if you want to up your game with nature pictures is to start to identify the beauty of nature around you. Scenes that might on the surface appear to be so ordinary might actually represent ideal opportunities for great photographs . Whether it involves a group of deer huddled together as they eat the foliage, a bee...

As has happened in other periods of history, we are now witnessing a surge in the growth of ‘tribalism’. This is partly the consequence of a culture which anonymises people to such a degree that it produces pervasive loneliness and alienation. We do not know where we belong and we thrash about in the water of isolation seeking a lifebelt.

There is a tension between the individual and the collective, and at present our society is pushing enormously towards individualistic atomisation. We feel lost in a world that seems unloving, uncaring and, at times, unforgiving.

The...

The matter of self-awareness and who we believe we are is probably the most critical, and yet frequently ignored of our lives. Generally speaking we do not think much about our identity and for most of the time are content to go with the social labels and titles ascribed to us – neighbour, friend, parent, child, sibling, relative, colleague, and so on. We rarely give a second thought to our roles other than the obvious, and how we relate to the wider community around us is usually determined by these narrow functions. However, who others say we are (who do you say that I am?) is...