Something about me

This brings me to say something about myself. My name is Geoff Fielding. I have no claim to fame. However, having been born before the end of World War II before the onset of the atomic/nuclear era, many of the most extraordinary developments in human history have taken place during my life. The world itself has seen dramatic change.

Placed against this background my life has been ordinary. I have, for the most part, fitted in. On leaving school I began a physics degree but dropped out because, as I realised, I had no wish to be a physicist. Not knowing what to do, I took up auditing and accountancy, which I did for fifteen years. Not feeling comfortable in that role either, I became a social worker with offenders. This was good and fulfilling. However, under the growing pressures of neoliberal dogma, I subsequently took early retirement through stress.

This was the time I realised I hadn't a clue what life was really about, and, with time on my hands, I decided to find out. The trigger for this, as will be described in the first main post, was world events. Subsequently two things happened that motivated and supported me on this path.

One was an Open University course. Half way through, the next module was called "A world of whose making". This, I realised, was exactly the question I wanted answered. However, the module's focus on the World Bank, the IMF and the World Trade Organisation was not convincing. Again I again dropped out and sought the answer myself.

The second, that should be acknowledged, is I became a Quaker. For discovering "the meaning of life" this, it might be imagined, would have provided ready made religious answers, and would have given what follows a religious slant. Quakers, however, are seekers, not knowers. Quakers seek "truth" wherever it can be found — and I am agnostic. In facing the ultimate metaphysical questions of why?, I happily acknowledge I haven't a clue. My human brain has no capacity to understand, much less to know, "truth" on such a level.

However, I do have a real sense of awe and wonder at the magnificence and the goodness that nature has created, seemingly of its own volition. This, science tells us, and I agree, we can understand. And so, the bug having finally bitten, and with the backing and encouragement of family, Quaker communities, and many others, I have pursued this course now for quite a long time.

From this description it will be apparent that I am not a qualified expert on most of the things about which I will be writing. Then again, nobody is. Because the story draws upon, and finds links between, insights from a very wide range of scientific and other disciplines, nobody can be. In this sense the book is a collaborative effort. It has been built upon the amazing dedication, hard work and wisdom of vast numbers of researchers across many different specialisms.

For myself, all I can say is that, having been researching these things now for almost twenty years, I've done the best I can to understand, draw together and make sense of, the many different strands of wisdom that they have found, helped, I should say, by many kind and generous friends.

It is from this perspective, I am hoping the comments section at the end of each post will provide a space where people, with very different understandings, and coming from very different backgrounds can both air their views and engage in critical and constructive discussions that will help evaluate and refine the understandings I have discerned. My hope is that this will help build bridges between those having different views so reducing misunderstanding, and help us, as humanity, with humanity, to move forward together.

This is said with the acknowledgement that I, in getting on a bit and slowing down, will have little capacity to oversee the comments sections while I continue writing the many sections of the blog. It is from this perspective that I ask, please, for the sake of us all, be courteous and patient in these exchanges! Please try to approach them with an open mind. My very many thanks.