There is a philosophical theory that things only exist when they are being perceived. Sort of similar to Schrödinger’s cat, if you can’t see it, it doesn’t exist.
Hopefully you can appreciate the humour of the above picture!
Today is the traditionally the first day of Advent. Advent is the closest Sunday to the 30th of November, which this year falls today on Sunday the 28th of November.
Advent is the period which leads up to the Christian festival of Christmas. Many Advent customs involve counting the days until Christmas begins. In modern times this is marked (especially among children) with the opening of a door on an advent calendar, which, depending on the calendar, may reveal a picture, piece of chocolate etc.
Some churches display a wreath for advent which bears five candles, one for each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Day, and then one for Christmas day itself – sometimes the wreath only bears four candles.
Many people will put there Christmas decorations up around this time of year, whilst others wait until the night before Christmas. Not all Christian families decorate their homes, but it is common.
Here are two great quotes to start the Christmas countdown
“Remember, this December, that love weighs more than gold.” – Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon
i.e. Love is greater than any gift you could ever possibly receive 
“It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.” – W. T. Ellis
i.e. You must ‘feel’ the festival, for the festival to be a festival!
“The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge”
Elbert Hubbard
“See a penny, pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck!”
If you picked up every penny you ever found, how much richer would you be by the end of your life?
If you find a penny twice a month and you live for 80 years, that’s almost £20 that you could earn!
Okay, you probably wouldn’t start picking them up until you were around 4 and at about 70 you would probably have to stop because of the strain on your back.
Also £20 really isn’t that much in a lifetime is it anyway? But still, its the thought that counts!
You can’t help feeling lucky when you find a penny can you, just a silly little practically valueless coin, but it can make all the difference, especially if you find two
If a turtle or a tortoise doesn’t have a shell, is it naked or homeless?
Maybe it’s neither…
You are currently browsing the Christopher Roberts Philosophy Blog blog archives for November, 2010.
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