Having grown up in a Bavarian village, I learnt a lot about the ideas and values of Christianity. I read the bible many times so far, the old and new testament. While I felt God as described in the old testament was revengeful, unforgiving and angry, I liked most of what Jesus had to say.…
Looking at “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, I encountered an interesting question: the lead character Lisbeth makes choices of revenge, retaliation and kills mercilessly. We, the audience, are supposed to route for her and accept her brutality. Her adversaries have been victims of abuse themselves. Still, we are supposed to withhold understanding or mercy…
True to old concepts of the cold war, society at large is still mainly ruled by constructed fears of common enemies (Terrorists, Third World countries, etc…) in mass media propaganda. Political philosophers starting from Sartre (“Freedom can only be achieved by violent revolutions”) to the Neo-cons (“Freedom means free market economy”) provide no answers for…
Meditation is an urgent need of the soul, as food, drink and rest is for the body. Meditation aligns your body, your mind and your soul into the large, eternal entity you are. It heals mental, physical and soul imbalances, without you having to “do” anything. I sit in a comfortable position on a chair,…
We grow out of this world like mushrooms grow out of a mycelium. In case you haven’t heard that word: there is little known about mushrooms – it might surprise you that biologists categorize them in between plants and animals. Even though we believe mushrooms only “appear” during rainy seasons and then die, the underlying…
Every individual, every material being dies at some point and joins the non-physical part of existence. Just as we live life, we live death. We re-join the infinite pool of information that people call the big spirit, God, Allah or their divine identity. On this side of the invisible veil, there is a heated debate about whether…
A friend recently told me that she is the last one of her kind – all her relatives are dead and she feels lonely. Left behind in this world. I told her about what my grandma had said long time ago: Families fluctuate from the side of the living to the side of the dead…
Sometimes I wake up from a heavy dream and catch myself doubting everything. I feel angry, fearful or disappointed and question the value of whatever I’m planning and doing. In moments like this, I don’t just wipe away this feeling and go to work. I take time to sit down by the ocean and take…
Every now and then I read philosophers, mystics or religious books. I enjoy their attempts to explain this world. There must have been a questioning, wondering mind behind these theories and so I sympathize and identify with their quest. One thing I always disagree with though is the all-present, underlying criticism of this world. No…
Today, Obama declared a National State of Emergency. I wonder if people are aware that the next step is martial law in the U.S. It feels like in one of those apocalyptic movies: every order and law seems to break down around me. But people I ask about it don’t even know nor care because…