of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi – Sir Richard Burton
bcweb In her autobiography Doris Lessing quotes an American expert on paranoia, Dr Jerrold Post which was written in the Tom Mangold’s book Cold Warrior. This was about James Jesus Angleton who ran the CIA for many years. Jerrold Post defines paranoia as: ‘a fixed conclusion searching for confirmatory evidence and rejecting disconfirming evidence. Paranoia is … Read more
A Meditation on Individual Philosophy, edited by John H. Moore Published by Turnstone Books. First published 1973. Paperback: 0 85500 014 7 Many years ago, I was put in touch with an elderly man who had who helped me in my search into the areas of deeper meaning of our existence. He gave me a … Read more
Many years ago I was taken in by the Uri Geller phenomena. In my defence, I wasn’t alone with some of the scientists of the day also falling for his charm and chicanery. When The Amazing Randi came along and debunked the Israeli showman, I refused to believe he could duplicate all of Geller’s activities … Read more
The science of augury certainly was no exact science. But it was as exact as our sciences of psychology or political economy. And the augurs were as clever as our politicians, who also must practise divination, if ever they are to do anything worth the name. There is no other way when you are dealing … Read more
A Man had a wife the fame of whose beauty was spread abroad and his neighbours said: “Indeed this man must be happy for he has more good luck that the king as he possesses the Queen of Beauty as his bedfellow”. Now it so happened that within his own house this man knew no … Read more
Unless you are following the spiritual journey of Huysmans’ hero Durtal OR would like to know much more about Chartres Cathedral, this book may be of little interest. Much of it consists in conversations about the history of the architecture of the ancient church, reputed to be built on an original ‘Druid’ place of worship. … Read more
En Route is the second part of Huysmans’ Durtal trilogy and describes his battle with his old desires (mainly his mistress, Florence), how the desires get worse whenever he begins to pray and how his life is changed by a retreat he undertakes in a Trappist monastery. Much of this works is obviously autobiographical and … Read more
La Bas is a disturbing book. The hero is writing a biography of Gilles de Rais, commonly and incorrectly thought of as being the origin of the ‘bluebeard’ legend and a thoroughly nasty piece of work. Durtal meets one of the most bizarre creations of a femme fatale ever attempted in literature- Mme Chantelouve. There … Read more
Joris-Karl Huysmans was a French writer writing mainly in the 19th century. He wrote a trilogy of books centering on Durtal who undergoes the change from a dissolute disaffected youth who at one time participates in a black mass (supposed to be based on a real life experience) to a conversion to catholic mysticism. This … Read more
Sir Richard Burton was a Victorian adventurer, linguist and seeker of truth. He was one of the few Europeans to visit Mecca, translated The Arabian Nights as well as the Kama Sutra. This site has been named after one of his poems, The Kasidah which sums up his personal philosophy. According to some sources, he … Read more