“May you be blessed”
Saturday, May 13th, 2006A friend from Munich send me a link to an inspiring sildes-movie by Kate Nowak: “May you be blessed“, if you like to see it. See also the text of it.
Archive for the ‘Art, Culture and Beauty’ Category
Our Daily Bread
Thursday, May 11th, 2006I yesterday read an article in the Swiss Coop consumer-magazine about the film “Our Daily Bread” of the Austrian producer Nikolaus Geyrhalter (pdf). It is a shaking, award-winning documentary film, without voice-over commentries, about food production in Europe. You can see pictures or trailers from the website. It is a ilm about why the food today is so cheap, whil in other fields the prices are rising. He shows how plants and animals are instrumentalised and integrated into a production process in a totally dehumanized form. While the hygiene in the enterprises is high and the production processes are very efficient and standardized, they are entirely inhuman, just oriented towards keeping the costs low.
They have filmed in about 20 companies in many countries of Europe, but don’t mention the names, since the processes are similar; many companies had refused to cooperate, while others were proud to show how they work. The film is not judging, but just showing the actual work situation, providing enough space for reflection and sensibilising for where our food is coming from.
Some time ago I had published an issue of Good Will in Action about “Food and Drink” to show the importance of a right dealing with food on the spiritual path, hinting at the dimension of the food production. I think it is of utmost importance to be conscious of what we are doing and which are the consequences thereof. Through our individual decisions which food we buy and how we consume we can contribute a bit for a change.
Washing off the Graffiti from the Walls of the Inner Nature
Sunday, May 7th, 2006Two days ago I got an e-mail from a friend from Minnesota, USA. She is a graduate student in the English program of St. Cloud State University studying creative writing. Since several months she is doing the English translations of the Good-Will “Lunar Messenger” and cooperating with the editing of the Paracelsus- Health and Healing magazine.
She now wrote that she is just celebrating her first publication as a managing editor with the Kaleidoscope, a literary arts publication with a multicultural theme It is annually published through the Write Place at St. Cloud State University, and now for the first time in print and hyper-text. Each year, a graduate student takes charge of the publication, and this year it was her turn. She has contributed some poems and the editorial.
Though German by birth, a few years ago she went to the States. Her shamanist affinity and her reflects her deep inner bond with nature and in part of her poems or the editorial – echos from previous incarnations?
She is an intense searcher and worker, striving towards a sensitive, soul-filled attitude in life. For a long time she has been working to overcome shadows of the past – this motives are also echoing in other poems. On the spiritual path, when the light of the soul is growing, these graffiti-like imprints on the walls of the inner nature are slowly being washed off, so that the pureness of the original state can start shining forth.
Traces in Sand
Saturday, April 8th, 2006Many things we are doing seem to be ephemeral, without leaving any traces. The desire to leave behing something lasting is with many people, not only politicians. It often reminds one of building castles in sand, being washed away with the next tide. A fascinating play with creation of out of sand is on sandfantasy.com, where you find videos of an artists drawing in sand.
Not all “traces in sand” however are ephemeral. There are landmarks of the Great Ones surviving thousands of years, like those of Buddha or Christ, who haven’t even written a book themselves. They came from the depth of the source of creation, with the full power of spirit behind. There is a beautiful legend from the Leaves of Morya’s Garden about the Signs of the Christ, with a painting of the Russian artist Nicholas Roerich. It is an inspiring tale about the founding of the inner temple, which is not made of sand or by bricks and mortar, but of the tissue of the eternal.
Perspectives and Illusions
Sunday, April 2nd, 2006Everyone has his or her own perspective, which is not the total view. Dealing with my wife, our children or at work I am often astonished how different one can view the same thing. In the “Occult Meditations” of K. Parvathi Kumar I just came across the following thought:
“Each one’s life carries another perspective. If one circumscribes oneself and looks to one’s life, one’s pan, one’s pleasures, one’s problems, it gives a totally limited and narrow perspective. If he sees life in general and equates his life with life general, he gets a much better equation of understanding…
For example if a person has an incurable sickness, he may suffer much when he looks only to his suffering. If he observes life in general he would find many like him and sometimes he may even find many in deeper suffering than the suffering he is in. Life as a whole when equated with, man relives himself from the suffering of self-circumscription. He joins general life and moves on in a state of joy instead of moving in suffering.
A few days ago I got from Joyce, an American friend, some photos of incredible chalk drawings from Julian Beever. This artist has to have an extraordinary sense of perspective and proportion to make them appear 3-D. Have a look at his website.
A great way of creating an illusion of a specific perception (through the camera).
Aries Festival – “A Resonance of Great Gratitude”
Saturday, April 1st, 2006Friends in California from SouledOut.org have posted on their website a beautiful calendar for Aries Full Moon Festival with a new graphics for each day and thought for “A Resonance of Great Gratitude”. You might like to see it.