Ben Wood /|\✝️🔶️💚☮️
@cosmichope.bsky.social
Husband, Quaker, theologian, Hedge Druid, "Aristotelian Liberal" in @greenparty.org.uk. Woodbrooke Programme Coordinator for Applied Theology and Biblical Studies. Lover of dogs, Guild Socialism, Dutch beer, old musty books, and slow autumn afternoons.
"Let no man think lightly of good, saying in his heart, It will not come nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled; the wise man becomes full of good, even if he gather it little by little." (Dhammapada, 122). ☸️
November 28, 2025 at 10:16 PM
"Let no man think lightly of good, saying in his heart, It will not come nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled; the wise man becomes full of good, even if he gather it little by little." (Dhammapada, 122). ☸️
Also the idea that the ancient Romans never undertook public welfare is manifestly untrue. Is no civilization immune from the horrors of Socialism! 😉 See below 👇
November 28, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Also the idea that the ancient Romans never undertook public welfare is manifestly untrue. Is no civilization immune from the horrors of Socialism! 😉 See below 👇
Two observations:
1) We didn't have penicillin or heart transplants in 100 AD. What's your point?
2) It may interest the Leader of the Opposition to learn that during C2nd (during a lethal pandemic in the Roman world) Christians set up hospitals for the sick & hostels for the poor.
1) We didn't have penicillin or heart transplants in 100 AD. What's your point?
2) It may interest the Leader of the Opposition to learn that during C2nd (during a lethal pandemic in the Roman world) Christians set up hospitals for the sick & hostels for the poor.
November 28, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Two observations:
1) We didn't have penicillin or heart transplants in 100 AD. What's your point?
2) It may interest the Leader of the Opposition to learn that during C2nd (during a lethal pandemic in the Roman world) Christians set up hospitals for the sick & hostels for the poor.
1) We didn't have penicillin or heart transplants in 100 AD. What's your point?
2) It may interest the Leader of the Opposition to learn that during C2nd (during a lethal pandemic in the Roman world) Christians set up hospitals for the sick & hostels for the poor.
'The closer you get to truth, the more paradoxical it becomes. So, my sense is that at the heart of the universe – the source of all life and spirituality – is love' (Philip Carr-Gomm). 🌟🌻
November 28, 2025 at 6:28 PM
'The closer you get to truth, the more paradoxical it becomes. So, my sense is that at the heart of the universe – the source of all life and spirituality – is love' (Philip Carr-Gomm). 🌟🌻
"No admittance except on party business"
November 28, 2025 at 4:17 PM
"No admittance except on party business"
Amongst the trees 🌳
November 28, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Amongst the trees 🌳
'A healthy society is one that manages on the one hand to satisfy each individual's desire for recognition...& on the other hand to prevent that desire from degenerating into excess & hubris & instead fosters an attitude of cooperative openness to the other' (Convivialist Manifesto, 2013) 🔶️🌻
November 28, 2025 at 11:05 AM
'A healthy society is one that manages on the one hand to satisfy each individual's desire for recognition...& on the other hand to prevent that desire from degenerating into excess & hubris & instead fosters an attitude of cooperative openness to the other' (Convivialist Manifesto, 2013) 🔶️🌻
'[Spontaneity] forms no part of the ideal of the majority of moral and social reformers, but is rather looked on with jealousy, as a troublesome and perhaps rebellious obstruction to the general acceptance of what these reformers, in their own judgment, think would be best for mankind' (J.S. Mill) 🔶️
November 28, 2025 at 9:34 AM
'[Spontaneity] forms no part of the ideal of the majority of moral and social reformers, but is rather looked on with jealousy, as a troublesome and perhaps rebellious obstruction to the general acceptance of what these reformers, in their own judgment, think would be best for mankind' (J.S. Mill) 🔶️
A little Mary Oliver poem 💚🌳
November 27, 2025 at 9:10 PM
A little Mary Oliver poem 💚🌳
I'm old enough to remember when Starmer ejected MPs for voting for the very policy he now praises. Starmer is actually a deeply un-serious politician. What his "long-standing ambitions" are is anyone's guess. It seems to depend upon when you ask him.
November 27, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I'm old enough to remember when Starmer ejected MPs for voting for the very policy he now praises. Starmer is actually a deeply un-serious politician. What his "long-standing ambitions" are is anyone's guess. It seems to depend upon when you ask him.
T.H. Green affirmed the #Incarnation, but reinterpreted it via Hegel. Green says: 'Christ is the necessary determination of the eternal subject, the objectification by this subject of himself in the world of nature & humanity'. For Green, Chtist is the Ultimate Self. #Mystical #Liberalism 🔶️🌻
November 27, 2025 at 4:17 PM
T.H. Green affirmed the #Incarnation, but reinterpreted it via Hegel. Green says: 'Christ is the necessary determination of the eternal subject, the objectification by this subject of himself in the world of nature & humanity'. For Green, Chtist is the Ultimate Self. #Mystical #Liberalism 🔶️🌻
'[We] know not why the eternal subject of [the] world should reproduce itself, through certain processes of the world, as the spirit of mankind, or as the particular self of this or that man...We can only say that...it seems that so it does' (T.H. Green) 🌻🔶️
November 27, 2025 at 4:03 PM
'[We] know not why the eternal subject of [the] world should reproduce itself, through certain processes of the world, as the spirit of mankind, or as the particular self of this or that man...We can only say that...it seems that so it does' (T.H. Green) 🌻🔶️
'[Negative freedom]...makes itself felt in certain prohibitions e.g. of slavery but it has no such effect on the ordering of life...[People] are left to sink or swim in the stream of unrelenting competition, in which...the weaker has not a chance' (T.H. Green, "Prolegomena to Ethics", 206). 🔶️
November 27, 2025 at 7:29 AM
'[Negative freedom]...makes itself felt in certain prohibitions e.g. of slavery but it has no such effect on the ordering of life...[People] are left to sink or swim in the stream of unrelenting competition, in which...the weaker has not a chance' (T.H. Green, "Prolegomena to Ethics", 206). 🔶️
Tonight I explored the #Christian #Platonism of #Quaker philosopher Anne Conway through the life and novels of another Platonist, the English novelist Mary Renault. Sessions like this remind me what a delight and privilege it is to teach for @woodbrooke.bsky.social. 📖
November 26, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Tonight I explored the #Christian #Platonism of #Quaker philosopher Anne Conway through the life and novels of another Platonist, the English novelist Mary Renault. Sessions like this remind me what a delight and privilege it is to teach for @woodbrooke.bsky.social. 📖
'[The] essence of Christianity [is]… the thought of God not as ‘far off’ but as ‘nigh’;..not as terrible outward power...but as one of whom we may say that we are...the spirit of his spirit; who lives in our moral life...[We] live freely...in obedience to a spirit which is our self' (T.H.Green) 🌻
November 26, 2025 at 8:26 AM
'[The] essence of Christianity [is]… the thought of God not as ‘far off’ but as ‘nigh’;..not as terrible outward power...but as one of whom we may say that we are...the spirit of his spirit; who lives in our moral life...[We] live freely...in obedience to a spirit which is our self' (T.H.Green) 🌻
'[Wordsworth's philosophy] led man up to the recognition of his own greatness, as universalised by communion with nature & intercourse with his kind...[Through] the obvious, the habitual, with the common earth, the universal sky...[man is lifted] out of his animal self' (T.H. Green) 🌎🌷
November 26, 2025 at 8:09 AM
'[Wordsworth's philosophy] led man up to the recognition of his own greatness, as universalised by communion with nature & intercourse with his kind...[Through] the obvious, the habitual, with the common earth, the universal sky...[man is lifted] out of his animal self' (T.H. Green) 🌎🌷
'All will surely realize God. All will be liberated. It may be that some get their meal in the morning, some at noon, and some in the evening; but none will go without food. All, without any exception, will certainly know their real Self' (Ramakrishna) 🕉
November 26, 2025 at 7:50 AM
'All will surely realize God. All will be liberated. It may be that some get their meal in the morning, some at noon, and some in the evening; but none will go without food. All, without any exception, will certainly know their real Self' (Ramakrishna) 🕉
According to T.H. Green, the Apostle Paul is the great visionary of #positive #freedom: '[In Christ all] live in freedom, as having the mind of God for an inward principle, not an outward restraint' (JF 196). For Green, New Liberalism sought the same inner freedom of self-mastery. 🌻🔶️
November 25, 2025 at 8:51 PM
'Spinoza filled him with awe, he had never before come in contact with a mind so noble, so unapproachable and austere; it reminded him of that statue by Rodin, L'Age d'Airain, which he passionately admired' (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage").
November 25, 2025 at 8:32 PM
'Spinoza filled him with awe, he had never before come in contact with a mind so noble, so unapproachable and austere; it reminded him of that statue by Rodin, L'Age d'Airain, which he passionately admired' (W. Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage").
It's Spinoza's birthday! If Spinoza had ever fallen in love, perhaps furtively, perhaps far from home, I often imagine him whispering these words from Mary Oliver into the ear of his beloved: 'So every day I was surrounded by the beautiful crying forth of the ideas of God, one of which was you'.
November 25, 2025 at 8:07 PM
It's Spinoza's birthday! If Spinoza had ever fallen in love, perhaps furtively, perhaps far from home, I often imagine him whispering these words from Mary Oliver into the ear of his beloved: 'So every day I was surrounded by the beautiful crying forth of the ideas of God, one of which was you'.
Today is the feast of Catherine of Alexandria. Its a good day to remember the intellectual & spiritual richness of ancient Alexandrian Christianity (the sublime faith of Clement & Origen). But its also a good day to remember Hypatia (who may have provided the nucleus for Catherine's legend).
November 25, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Today is the feast of Catherine of Alexandria. Its a good day to remember the intellectual & spiritual richness of ancient Alexandrian Christianity (the sublime faith of Clement & Origen). But its also a good day to remember Hypatia (who may have provided the nucleus for Catherine's legend).
This government has no-longer term strategy It's trying to fill short term "black holes". Labour will continue to fire fight. Why? Because there's no system-thinking. What's going wrong? Where is the economy going? What should our model be? How do we get there? Labour has not done the analysis.
November 25, 2025 at 12:04 PM
This government has no-longer term strategy It's trying to fill short term "black holes". Labour will continue to fire fight. Why? Because there's no system-thinking. What's going wrong? Where is the economy going? What should our model be? How do we get there? Labour has not done the analysis.
This vision of the Tory Party no-longer exists. It barely exists in the Labour Party. Where is the case for 'profit for a purpose'? Where is the implacable opposition to inequality in the two old parties? It will be the task of the 'minor parties' in the years ahead to reassemble this perspective.
November 25, 2025 at 11:24 AM
This vision of the Tory Party no-longer exists. It barely exists in the Labour Party. Where is the case for 'profit for a purpose'? Where is the implacable opposition to inequality in the two old parties? It will be the task of the 'minor parties' in the years ahead to reassemble this perspective.