Sailing to Byzantium
The website and blog of Dr. Albert Haig, Independent Scholar, Townsville, Australia
Men, too, when their power of contemplation weakens, make action a shadow of contemplation and reasoning. Because contemplation is not enough for them, since their souls are weak and they are not able to grasp the vision sufficiently, and therefore are not filled with it, but still long to see it, they are carried into action, so as to see what they cannot see with their intellect.
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Plotinus, Ennead III.8.4
The one who is deluded by egoism thinks, "I am the doer".
Bhagavad Gita 3:27
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Consume my heart away; sick with desire
And fastened to a dying animal
It knows not what it is; and gather me
Into the artifice of eternity.
William Butler Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium
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WELCOME
Welcome to the website of Dr. Albert Haig. I am an independent scholar based in Townsville, in Tropical North Queensland, Australia. I have six degrees in neuroscience, philosophy, theology, and mathematics. I trained originally as a neuroscientist, and graduated with a PhD in Psychological Medicine from the University of Sydney in 2002. I have published seventeen peer-reviewed journal articles in that field, including in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, and Psychophysiology. After leaving neuroscience more than two decades ago to pursue other interests, I completed, amongst other degrees, an MA in Philosophy at the University of Sydney (for which I won the award for best postgraduate essay in metaphysics, 2006), and a Master of Divinity from the Australian College of Theology. I have published seven peer-reviewed articles on philosophy and philosophical theology, most recently in the International Journal of the Platonic Tradition (2023), and have two more articles currently in press. I read ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Sanskrit.
My current research interests cover two main areas. The first concerns Neoplatonism (especially Plotinus), Gnosticism, early Christianity, and mysticism. The second area of current research interest involves mathematical modeling of macroevolutionary processes. I have just commenced a second PhD, in mathematics at James Cook University, to pursue this area of interest.
I am 55 years old, and am married with four children, two at university and two still at school. In my spare time, I enjoy playing mandolin and guitar, and occasionally getting out on my very small boat. I hope over time to gradually populate this website and blog with more discussion on some of these areas of interest, but that will take time.
I am not on most social media platforms, however, I can be found on academia.edu, at ResearchGate, and at Humanities Commons. I am a member of ISNS (The International Society for Neoplatonic Studies), AASR (The Australian Association for the Study of Religion), and ANZATS (The Australian and New Zealand Association of Theological Schools).
Albert R. Haig, BSc, BMedSc(Hons), MTeach(Secondary), MDiv, MA(Philosophy), PhD(Syd)
ORCID: 0000-0002-3436-6890