If my ultimate goal is to be in tune with the silent symphony of existence what can I do?
To vibrate in harmony I have to be in harmony.
The illusion weaves a net of perceptions that throws me off balance all too often.
I feel ignored, I feel incompetent, I feel disliked and I act accordingly.
Disharmony in me engenders distortion of tune.
The seed of disharmony was given to me at birth by giving me eyes to see, ears to hear , touch to feel, a tongue to taste, a nose to smell and a mind to process those sensations.
I cannot make it disappear lest deny being human.
All I can do is see my actions
All I can do is grow
All I can do is discipline my ego
Not to conform to the web of illusion, but to conform to the silent symphony
The overflow has to be channeled
The little has to be tended to grow more
The whole has to find focus to anchor.
Accepting my limits doesn’t mean stop striving,
it means stopping to put myself down.
Accepting the limits of the world around
means developing compassion
Accepting the tune means
not controlling the orchestra
but going with the melody
In humbly accepting the purpose
being beyond my ego.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
the silent Symphony
The world is illusion.
Yet it is not illusion in the shape of a soap-bubble, ready to burst at any moment.
Rather, there is a law to it that does not only emanate from one being but from the multitude of existence.
The totality of existence creates a cosmic dance.
In this dance there is harmony: rhythm and melody.
Each part has the inner desire to be in tune with this harmony.
Mankind has the tendency to vibrate without listening to the whole.
We too often what to be the director of the orchestra and thus we create a great distortion in the tune- like a wound-opening.
But the great symphony is such that it integrates the dissonance into the harmonies and they are but one.
In infinity, dissonance destroys itself.
What do you do to be in tune?
Yet it is not illusion in the shape of a soap-bubble, ready to burst at any moment.
Rather, there is a law to it that does not only emanate from one being but from the multitude of existence.
The totality of existence creates a cosmic dance.
In this dance there is harmony: rhythm and melody.
Each part has the inner desire to be in tune with this harmony.
Mankind has the tendency to vibrate without listening to the whole.
We too often what to be the director of the orchestra and thus we create a great distortion in the tune- like a wound-opening.
But the great symphony is such that it integrates the dissonance into the harmonies and they are but one.
In infinity, dissonance destroys itself.
What do you do to be in tune?
Sunday, November 12, 2006
inner logic
The functioning of the mind has fascinated mankind since there was an awareness of existence. In former times it was rather a matter for priests, magicians, oracles, doctors and sometimes exorcists ; since Freud there has been the psychologist .
The psychologist studies the ways of thinking while his counterpart, the neurologist, examines neuronal structure and chemistry of the brain that enable thinking processes. Recently psychologists are being discredited by neurologists with the claim that everything is biology and chemistry , that there is no human genius and disfunctioning is just bad chemical control.
Curiously, few look at it in a holistic way- if there is a chemical and biological function it is there for a reason. Aparent malfunction might also be there for a reason- maybe it isn't just some form of illness.
Let's take for example depression, one of the largest spread mental diseases. It touches people from all backgrounds, cultures, situations. It has little relation to external circumstance. And aparently it is not a new thing but has existed through the ages.
What if depression had a function ,a role?
Let's assume that there are different mental/spiritual phases in life to go through ( there is evidence that this is genetically pre-programmed). What happens if for some reason the individual doesn't move in his mind? What if depression was a means of the subconscious to force evolution upon the conscious?
Depression lowers certainities and beliefs, habits , attachments in such a way that there is only a way out if something new is shaped. In a way the inner 'hard disk' is erased to create new space. Depression could be a natural mechanis created to make us evolve.
Treating depression then is not a question of how to stop the disease by blocking mental chemistry, but how to accompany the process to be sure that it evolves without risk toward a new phase of life.
I wonder if there are other psychological processes that can be reconsidered.
My hairdresser saw me this week do a Sudoku. 'I've been doing those all the time for months!' she exclaimed-' today I don't do them anymore!'
That reminded me of the learning process of children discovered by Maria Montessori: Maria discovered that children if not forced to occupy with certain games will stick to the same thing until they have learned to master the task and then loose interest . In a Montessori school you can see for example a child that will do nothing than maths for months- and he will do it at home, in his free time, on the week end, on the loo- he doesn't let go.. and then, after a couple of months, he stops and turns to grammar for example.
Now is there a way to examine adult obsessions in the same way?
If you're hooked upon a video game, you can't close a book, you are up to an activity in a comulsive way- there might be something in it your brain considers worth spending time on, something to learn.
It would be an interesting question not to look at such a behaviour with suspicion ( because the obessed person isn't 'available' for other occupations) but ask what it is that is learnable, that the brain considers important, for which a need is felt. That would enable enhancing a possible learning process or understanding and helping if the addictive activity is exercised for a psychological reason.
Medicine is more and more convinced that illness has a link with the body and might be a non- verbal way of expression of suffering or a forcing of the mind by the body.
There might be more sense in psychological and biologic disfunctioning than we think.
The psychologist studies the ways of thinking while his counterpart, the neurologist, examines neuronal structure and chemistry of the brain that enable thinking processes. Recently psychologists are being discredited by neurologists with the claim that everything is biology and chemistry , that there is no human genius and disfunctioning is just bad chemical control.
Curiously, few look at it in a holistic way- if there is a chemical and biological function it is there for a reason. Aparent malfunction might also be there for a reason- maybe it isn't just some form of illness.
Let's take for example depression, one of the largest spread mental diseases. It touches people from all backgrounds, cultures, situations. It has little relation to external circumstance. And aparently it is not a new thing but has existed through the ages.
What if depression had a function ,a role?
Let's assume that there are different mental/spiritual phases in life to go through ( there is evidence that this is genetically pre-programmed). What happens if for some reason the individual doesn't move in his mind? What if depression was a means of the subconscious to force evolution upon the conscious?
Depression lowers certainities and beliefs, habits , attachments in such a way that there is only a way out if something new is shaped. In a way the inner 'hard disk' is erased to create new space. Depression could be a natural mechanis created to make us evolve.
Treating depression then is not a question of how to stop the disease by blocking mental chemistry, but how to accompany the process to be sure that it evolves without risk toward a new phase of life.
I wonder if there are other psychological processes that can be reconsidered.
My hairdresser saw me this week do a Sudoku. 'I've been doing those all the time for months!' she exclaimed-' today I don't do them anymore!'
That reminded me of the learning process of children discovered by Maria Montessori: Maria discovered that children if not forced to occupy with certain games will stick to the same thing until they have learned to master the task and then loose interest . In a Montessori school you can see for example a child that will do nothing than maths for months- and he will do it at home, in his free time, on the week end, on the loo- he doesn't let go.. and then, after a couple of months, he stops and turns to grammar for example.
Now is there a way to examine adult obsessions in the same way?
If you're hooked upon a video game, you can't close a book, you are up to an activity in a comulsive way- there might be something in it your brain considers worth spending time on, something to learn.
It would be an interesting question not to look at such a behaviour with suspicion ( because the obessed person isn't 'available' for other occupations) but ask what it is that is learnable, that the brain considers important, for which a need is felt. That would enable enhancing a possible learning process or understanding and helping if the addictive activity is exercised for a psychological reason.
Medicine is more and more convinced that illness has a link with the body and might be a non- verbal way of expression of suffering or a forcing of the mind by the body.
There might be more sense in psychological and biologic disfunctioning than we think.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Human relations and hazard
Let's face it- the more people are physically apart the more a real relationship needs some kind of planning and organization.
You run into the people next door all the time. You can decide to have a drink together or spend time together on a whim.
The same exists with virtual relationships: what a pleasure to meet a friend on messenger and to start a ramdom chat for a few minutes or longer, keeping you from work, but that is what human relationships are about...
Things get complicated when you want to make virtual and real ends meet- For suddenly real life limits become important: the time spent on transport, other obligations, work to do, ...
suddenly relationships become choices in between alternatives: see the close-by friends or travel to see the far-away. Choices can't be made anymore on a whim, encounters at that level aren't subject to accident anymore.
Those small continuous choices become a big choice of life- stay on local level for real life and leave the virtual level in the dreamsphere? or broaden the view and look out for the new in risking to loose spontaneity?
You run into the people next door all the time. You can decide to have a drink together or spend time together on a whim.
The same exists with virtual relationships: what a pleasure to meet a friend on messenger and to start a ramdom chat for a few minutes or longer, keeping you from work, but that is what human relationships are about...
Things get complicated when you want to make virtual and real ends meet- For suddenly real life limits become important: the time spent on transport, other obligations, work to do, ...
suddenly relationships become choices in between alternatives: see the close-by friends or travel to see the far-away. Choices can't be made anymore on a whim, encounters at that level aren't subject to accident anymore.
Those small continuous choices become a big choice of life- stay on local level for real life and leave the virtual level in the dreamsphere? or broaden the view and look out for the new in risking to loose spontaneity?
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
folkloric traditions
Today is a Catholic Christian holiday : Toussaint- All Saints.
I asked my daughter if she has some idea about its meaning- she doesn’t.
Somehow, in between cultures, in the big cities far away from the dwellings of our ancestors, rites and customs somehow drivel into insignificance. Only the fact that it is a public holiday is a pale reminder of significance. Maybe our society lacks rites and customs that keep us grounded to our roots.
All Saints actually is a merger of pagan rites with Christian traditions. Originally a commemoration-day for martyrs of the Christian faith at the end of spring in Orient it was decreted by a pope as general holiday at the beginning of the V century and fixed as day of honour of all saints and Mary on the 13th of may . The date was suspiciously close to the Lemuria, consecrated in ancient Rome to the pagan tradition of honouring the ancestors.
Louis the faithful, a 9th century French king, changed the Toussaint for France to the 1st of November, as a counter measure to pagan rites during that time of the year. And 50 years later this date was adopted by the pope, again under French influence.That didn’t erase ancient traditions though and the pagan ancestor cult continued until the 10th century .
France then decided to integrate this tradition in instauring a special mass on the 2nd of November for ‘ all who died in Christ’. Nowadays the first of November is a public holiday because it is a commemoration day for those who died for the country in France.
The first of November also happens to be the beginning of the Celtic New Year- the Samain. During the first 7 days of November ritual feasts were organized – rites of the renaissance of the world to restore the foundations of cosmic order. The evening before all fires were extinguished, and the new period started with the lightening of new fires the next day.
The caste of warriors was at the centre of the celebrations because the consumption of consecrated food during this time was considered rendering invulnerable. The feasts in commemoration of the dead were an obligation and missing out on them considered bringing bad luck. The death were said to come to earth and had to be turned from a potential danger to the living into helpful forces for their descendance.
The Catholic relicts of this tradition is the visit to the cemeteries where family members are buried and the lightening of a flame on their grave. Less and less people keep up this tradition now, for a lot don’t live next to the graves of their family members anymore, but far away.
I wrote this to light a virtual flame in commemoration of:
Xavier de Lutzel, Oskar and Henriette Schneyder, Wolfgang Schneyder, Christoph Schneyder Karl and Else Schnelle, Paul and Resi Schnelle, Mariele Jahn, Magdalena, Liesel, Maria Schnelle, Michael Schnelle
and for all of my ancestors that I didn’t know but whose amazing stories are kept alive.
I asked my daughter if she has some idea about its meaning- she doesn’t.
Somehow, in between cultures, in the big cities far away from the dwellings of our ancestors, rites and customs somehow drivel into insignificance. Only the fact that it is a public holiday is a pale reminder of significance. Maybe our society lacks rites and customs that keep us grounded to our roots.
All Saints actually is a merger of pagan rites with Christian traditions. Originally a commemoration-day for martyrs of the Christian faith at the end of spring in Orient it was decreted by a pope as general holiday at the beginning of the V century and fixed as day of honour of all saints and Mary on the 13th of may . The date was suspiciously close to the Lemuria, consecrated in ancient Rome to the pagan tradition of honouring the ancestors.
Louis the faithful, a 9th century French king, changed the Toussaint for France to the 1st of November, as a counter measure to pagan rites during that time of the year. And 50 years later this date was adopted by the pope, again under French influence.That didn’t erase ancient traditions though and the pagan ancestor cult continued until the 10th century .
France then decided to integrate this tradition in instauring a special mass on the 2nd of November for ‘ all who died in Christ’. Nowadays the first of November is a public holiday because it is a commemoration day for those who died for the country in France.
The first of November also happens to be the beginning of the Celtic New Year- the Samain. During the first 7 days of November ritual feasts were organized – rites of the renaissance of the world to restore the foundations of cosmic order. The evening before all fires were extinguished, and the new period started with the lightening of new fires the next day.
The caste of warriors was at the centre of the celebrations because the consumption of consecrated food during this time was considered rendering invulnerable. The feasts in commemoration of the dead were an obligation and missing out on them considered bringing bad luck. The death were said to come to earth and had to be turned from a potential danger to the living into helpful forces for their descendance.
The Catholic relicts of this tradition is the visit to the cemeteries where family members are buried and the lightening of a flame on their grave. Less and less people keep up this tradition now, for a lot don’t live next to the graves of their family members anymore, but far away.
I wrote this to light a virtual flame in commemoration of:
Xavier de Lutzel, Oskar and Henriette Schneyder, Wolfgang Schneyder, Christoph Schneyder Karl and Else Schnelle, Paul and Resi Schnelle, Mariele Jahn, Magdalena, Liesel, Maria Schnelle, Michael Schnelle
and for all of my ancestors that I didn’t know but whose amazing stories are kept alive.
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