User:Colin MacKenzie

I'm Colin MacKenzie. Having edited several pages, I thought it was time to create my own user page. The fact that there is or rather wasn't a user called Colin MacKenzie is slightly more than surprising.

OK, a little about me: Born in the late 60's in the beautiful seaside town of Montrose on the north east coast of Scotland, from 2 born and bred Scottish parents.

So far, I've traced my father's line back over 300 years to my ancestor 11 generations back named George MacKenzie, born in Inverness in 1714.

My mother family are MacLeods. With 250 years of MacLeods living in Montrose, and before that the north west Highlands. Mum always said her Granny told them to wear the yellow MacLeod of Lewis tartan as that is out roots. However after visiting Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye, I saw that the old paintings look remarkably like our family. Either way, the MacKenzie's are Scots back into time before written records, and the MacLeods go back just as far, either to Lewis or Skye.

I now live and work in the City of London, but love my heritage, and am forever grateful for being Scottish.

In life, I've done some stuff. I'm 100% vegetarian for over 30 year's now and would describe myself as a vegan if the title wasn't so pretentious. Still... I do what I can within the limitations of my ability to minimise the suffering to other sentient beings.

In addition to 30 years meat/cruelty free, I've also spent my life since the age of 15 practising martial arts. First Shotokan Karate, then for the past 30 years primarily Chinese Kung Fu. It's definitely one of the things that has guided me to a better physical and ethical life style.

My religious/spiritual beliefs are often conflicted. I want to believe in God, but am unsure of the existence of a sentient super being who created everything. However I do believe in the energy of life and creation that flows through every living being, so perhaps I am a Pantheist. With a lifetime of searching for the truth, I've read the KJV Bible from front to back (a beautiful book that contains much wisdom and the fundamental values of all western society). I've read an English translation of the Koran from cover to cover ( not such a nice book which contains confusion, hatred, repetition and a lot of anti-semitism. I read huge amounts of the Veda's too, but my real spiritual ideology is far closer to Theravadan Buddhism, having worked my way backwards from Zen through Chan, and Tibetan & Mahayanan to what I describe as the true source of Buddha's teachings.

Other things about me of interest are I love motorbikes, mainly Italian. I own Ducati's and Benelli's, Lambretta's and a Vespa.

Then there are cats. I think they're amazing. Special almost magical animals that choose to share their lives with us. I am blessed to share my home with my partner, and our 3 feline companions.