Having access to the book of Psalms is something that I take for granted in my work as a chaplain and counsellor. Within its pages one can find encouragement in times of trial, solace when facing tragedy and much more.

In this the final instalment about the concept of the "differential of life" I am hoping to expound how this concept can come into play within the context of the spiritual or religious environment of the Christian church.

As I delve into this paradigm of "The Differential of Life" the second topic they want to explore is how this mechanism works when we have people from totally different cultural and economic backgrounds. As I mentioned in my previous blog entry the philosophical implications of sacrificing self for another have a great impact on how we live our lives and understand their own existence.

The "differential of life" is what allows all human beings to relate to one another even though we each exist in our own reality. It could be called a master or common reality. When looking at how someone who has lived and experienced reality on one extreme can ever find a common ground on which to identify with some one from the other extreme we see this "differential of life" in use.

I am often struck by the quantity of time and how as you get older it seems to pass more quickly. I can remember when I was very young and even into my teens that time seemed to pass so slowly that days sometimes seemed like months. As I have grown older being now on the doorway of 60, time seems to run away from me at a pace that I cannot catch up with.

Over the last week I have been able to catch up with some old friends who I had not seen for quite some years. As we exchanged our own personal experiences over the years since we last met I was greatly troubled by the fact that so many of them felt estranged from the very ones that they sought to care for.

I am often puzzled by the way that people treat those who are enduring prolonged illness. What are the philosophical questions that are behind the way that we treat others. Some might say that there are no philosophical questions at all to do with this but I would beg to differ.

I have just watched the closing episode of The Voice Australia where a young lady by the name of Karise Eden has won the title of The Voice Australia. It was a very close competition between four very capable singers: they were Rachel Leahcar, Darren Percival, Sarah DeBono and Karise Eden. From the very start it was obvious that two of these would make it all the way to the final. Both Karise Eden and Rachel Leahcar made such an impression with very strong performances in the auditions and they impressed all four judges with their performances. The other two finalists Darren Percival and Sarah DeBona were not so obvious yet in the end they to were able to overcome all the hurdles along the way.....