In a showcase of a shopping gallery in Berne I saw some doll houses done in most minute details – replica scenes of paintings of Carl Spitzweg like his famous Bookworm or the Poor Poet, but also models of an old blacksmith’s shop or street scenes. A fascinating model was that of a bank robbery in the “Swiss National Bank“, where the robber had tied up the clerk, and in the underground there was a partner carrying away great sums in a miniature wheelbarrow:

I asked myself how much time the constructor had to invest to build these doll houses, to sew the clothes, to prepare the bundles of money. The doll houses didn’t look like toys for playing, but like models you just put somewhere, where they will collect dust. A Sim City of another time…

Though the robbery scene isn’t that peaceful like the others, the doll houses somehow look funnily playful and the “actors” lost in their little worlds.
Not only the semi-realistic pattern reminded me of our tiny worlds in which we live. When you look at them from above, from an inner distance, you have to smile how easily we lose ourselves in games with “little toys”, seeming so important to us. Doll house scenes.

My wife and I yesterday were at the vernissage of an exposition of Hugo Lizandro Godinez, a Guatemalan painter living in Switzerland, whose wife is a colleague of mine. The exposition exhibits watercolour pictures of old alleys in Antigua and Berne. The beautiful paintings show houses, flowers, water reflections, painted in subtle, but luminous colours full of different shades.

Though seemingly painted in a realistic manner, they have something dream-like, and though luminous, not only the titles indicate an ambiance of solitude and yearning. Some titles are “Melancholy”, “Reflections of Sadness” or “Lonely Wanderer”. The pictures are nearly all without any persons. The paintings reflect the undercurrent mood. The alleys are like symbols of search – old and lonely alleys. The painter is not old, but old might be the soul’s wandering.

My experience from my own youth time as well as from observing others is: This feeling of yearning and sadness results from an inner urge, which has not yet found the direction. This might cause restlessness, but also frustration and depression. You somehow sense that there must be a higher light, but you don’t know how to get there, how to find the way out of the cocoon of personality. You haven’t yet realised that there is the cocoon of the caterpillar blocking.

People might stay in this stage for very long, or they search in outer or erroneous directions, like drugs, workaholism, adventurism. When, often through crises, you have taken to the path of the soul, the higher self, you feel like getting replenished from within. The “reflections of sadness” of the lonely wandering dissolve into the fresh flow of energies: The wanderer has come home.

I got an e-mail from Maja Thommen, a Swiss artist living in Italy, inviting for an exposition which will be in the garden of the Parkhotel Delta in Ascona, Switzerland (the vernissage will be on April 13th, 07). (I had already written about her in a previous blogpost.) Here is a picture from this new exposition.

Though she told me that she is not working with a spiritual background, her work breathes a sensitivity for subtle perceptions of etheric structures and social relations. So see her “Little Emotional Medicine Chest“.

This photo I took at an exposition here in Muri/Berne 4 years ago could be a presentation of the incarnating soul enveloping into the dense physical tissues. You might like to read about “Etheric Existence” of the Good Will in Action-series.

A friend sent me the link to a good UN-initiative for children:

As part of the activities to celebrate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and the end of the First Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, the Division for Social Policy and Development at the United Nations invites children from all over the world to participate in an art competition on the theme “We can end poverty”. The competition aims at raising awareness about poverty and inequality in the world, in particular among children.

The best 6 designs selected by the Panel of Judges will be presented during the commemoration of the International Day on the Eradication of Poverty, on 17 October 2007, and will be issued as stamps of the United Nations Postal Administration. In addition to the best 6 designs, another 20 designs will receive special commendation. The total of 26 winning entries will be displayed in a special exhibition at United Nations Headquarters in New York in 2007.

Flyers containing the rules of the competition in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic. The flyers are also printable from the web. Further information can be obtained from Renata Kaczmarska, Associate Social Affairs Officer Division for Social Policy and Development, UN-Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York, kaczmarska@un.org

A friend just sent me pictures of incredible body paintings. With some Google search through different blogs I found out they were from Guido Daniele, an Italian body painter and multimedia artist. The pictures show different kinds of animals painted on fingers and arms of models. Have a look at his website.

(c) Guido Daniele

Today a friend from Califonia sent me a link to a fantastic video (8-9 min.) of a pantomime/puppet act, if you can call it that.� It is an art that leaves you wondering like a good magic show, but it has the beauty and awe of Cirque du Soleil. The artist is Jerome Murat, from France, also called “The Man with Two Heads”.

Pantomine is acting in silence, thus focussing on the action, and often like here masks are used to sharpen the focus. In the show Jerome Murat even reduces the colours and uses only white. This reduction to the essential is something very much needed on the spiritual path. Though here it is a pantomine “show”, it is showing very basic elements, playing with illusion. Enjoy and keep aware.

I just got a link from a friend of a beautiful animated short film (7 min) called “The Potter“, done by the young animator Josh Burton and a team of friends. The film was Josh Burton’s final senior thesis project for Savannah College of Art and Design completed in 2005.

The Potter is an ancient creature who gives life to clay. In his care is an apprentice who wants learn how. It is a story full of magic, about how to learn using the heart. Here it goes directly to the film.

I yesterday read in the Swiss Coop Consumer magazine – which is publishing besides theirs ads some contents of general interest to attract the attention of consumers – an article about the restauration of the papyrus of the Gospel of Judas (for details see the National Geographics article). In five years of a crazy detail work Florence Dabre and others have restored 66 pages of the old codex dating back to the 3th or 4th century a.d. which was about to decay. Part of it is now in the Bodmer Foundation near Geneva, where many original manuscripts are kept.

According to the canonical Gospels, Judas betrayed Jesus to the Jewish authorities, who then turned him over to the Roman authorities by whom he was crucified. This newly discovered Gospel portrays Judas as acting at Jesus’ request when he hands Jesus over to the authorities. Wikipedia says: “Like many Gnostic works, the Gospel of Judas claims to be a secret account, specifically ‘the secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot’.” And: “The Gospel of Judas describes Judas as being the favourite disciple of Jesus, just as the Gospel of Mary describes Mary as the favourite disciple, the Gospel of Thomas describes Thomas as the favourite disciple, and as the Gospel of John describes its author as the Beloved Disciple.”

This discussion reminds of the feeling of most of the jealous religious believers that their belief is the best and only right one and the others are wrong – an attitude which has to be overcome on the spiritual path. When seeing things from a synthetic point of view, you can discern what is right for you and respect what is right for the others without judging what is wrong and right. And you accept a multitude of different points of view as the many facets of the one reality.

A friend sent me a link to a beautiful video on YouTube with Chinese female dancers representing in a performance the Thousand-Handed Goddess of Mercy. It is the female representation of the Buddha Avalokiteshvara, known in China as “Kuan Yin” and in India as the Boddhisattva of Compassion. All 21 dancers are deaf-and-dumb. Inspiring !

Yesterday morning before work I made a short detour through the old town of Berne in order to look for a subject for the Christmas picture of our newsletter. In the last days they had installed the Christmas illuminations in the streets and I was looking for a subject with a 5-pointed star, because of the subject of the Lunar Messenger of Capricorn (to be published around Dec. 20th). It is about “The Secret of the Dawn” – the awakening of self-consciousness, the 5th principle of man, and the symbol is the 5-pointed star.

At first I took some shots of illuminations in the lower old town, then I went to the cathedral. There I saw that the road next to the church was decorated with nice large 5-pointed stars. While some workers started preparing the stands for the Christmas market, I used one of their lorries as a “tripod” for my digicam, and also some walls. However there wasn’t the “shot” I was looking for. Then I made a few shots from the middle of the road – and yes, there it was: The stars looked like descending from the sky. In the afternoon at home I could cut out from one shot just the right part. Though it was quite a number of photos, only one proved to have hit:

You can click on the photo to send it as a Christmas card.

We pass by so many situations without realising the difference between the normal and the extraordinary. Messenger of the higher world often reveal in a second, the door might close again right away. People were passing over the street on their way to work, looking downward to the ground. May some also look up and see.