John Lerwill has been an historian and a published writer since his retirement, though he was an active genealogist for many years before that. He was employed in the computer industry for 40 years, essentially as a business applications' software developer and project leader but also as an independent consultant. In later years, he was a specialist technical writer within I.T.
This website is devoted to John's considerable interests in history and practical philosophy, which he hopes you will find to be of great interest and enjoyment. In addition, there is a substantial portion of the site devoted to the history and records of Aston Villa FC and to John's family history.
The option buttons to the right represent John's main interests:
In the Philosophy and Wisdom Teaching of all ancient civilizations, human beings and the Universe were seen as being interconnected and inseparable. In contrast, Modern Empirical Science is only a net of observations that permit the development of a smoggy outlook of the reality, a tiny window to the Universe, always incomplete in this vast endless search for the meaning of existence.
Modern Empirical Science and Secular Education are blind without spirituality, ancient heritage and the teachings of past and present spiritual teachers.
Modern Empirical Science lacks a practical value system.
For the survival of humanity, a spiritual and ecological consciousness entwined with moral and ethical values is needed. There is a great need for putting Wisdom Teaching into practice in every day life in all areas of human thought and action. This is the time in which we have to address the survival of humanity. Wisdom Teaching needs to integrate into world educational networks to connect universal human values and spirituality into the various moral and cultural codes of world societies.
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There are five human values we cannot see...
five human values common to you and me.
The first is truth which rings a bell inside;
the second is love to give and not to hide;
the third is peace we feel when the mind is still.
Fourth is working to do right -
not only when in view but also out of sight.
Fifth is non-violence which means being kind -
in what we say and do, and think in mind.
But ... something is not right.
"... We are becoming a country of anger, selfishness and fear. It doesn't have to be like
this. Let's try to stop it."
- reported in the UK press, March, 2009.
These were the words of a parent, stricken by the senseless murder of his son.
"What can one person do?", you ask (the eternal conundrum)
Well, you are the light of the world. Do you not know this?
Everyone is, when they choose to be.
Fear is the issue of the day ...
All we have to do is wake up to our situation.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead
I know that I am not a category,
a hybrid specialization.
I am not a thing - a noun.
I seem to be a verb -
an evolutionary process -
an integral function of the Universe.
And so are you.
Harold Pinter (2005 Nobel Prize speech):
I believe that despite the enormous odds which exist, unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination, as citizens, to define the real truth of our lives and our societies is a crucial obligation which devolves upon us all.
It is in fact mandatory.
