Many displaced Christians in the West are often people in search of a more plausible philosophy than Christian supernaturalism. They need to carry on the essentially Christian search for the miraculous. The same “I am the Truth, the Life and the Way” has its parallel in zen Budhism.

Although not a Buddhist, I find the following strangely re-assuring, “In Buddhism there is no place for using effort. Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water, and when you're tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand.”

I think the danger is, we can over intellectualise, craving a raison d'être – the ‘West’ seems to forget, the ‘East’ as an equal part of our hemisphere, puts intuition, perception and instinct ahead of reason. Politics, as a separate entity, needs to be ‘informed’ and influenced by this.

Relda - now you're really talking!