Two days ago I went buying a new laptop with my eldest son. Through a colleague from the scouts who works at an electronics discounter, we got quite a reduction and my son was looking forward to start gaming at home. My wife is going to inherit his old PC… Unfortunately his old mouse didn’t work with the new laptop, so both of my sons went yesterday evening to another nearby electronic discounter, one with his bike, the other with his moped. Half an hour later we got a phone-call with a cry for help: “My moped lock is blocking, I can’t open it again.” He had tried again and again, but it didn’t unlock. So I went there by car, tried myself, without success. I wondered why the key didn’t slip in, but thought, it’s because of some deformation.

We packed the moped into the car and arrived at the last minute before closing at the motorbike shop of our village. The mechanic took a power saw and cut open the lock. And then we had to buy a new lock…

At home we hardly had told the story to my wife and showed her the broken lock that she found, my son had tried to use the – identically looking – bicycle key instead of the moped lock key…

It reminded me of the many times we are looking for a solution with a fix idea in mind and try to go into the “locked” direction. Sometimes it helps that a friend, looking from the outside, gives us a hint to see that the easy solution is very close.

Last Wednesday I had a “business-lunch” with some executives of the IT-agency, which is realising the new intranet of my office and where I’m the project manager. During the talk one of the members told me that two years ago, from 05 to 06, he had been on a one year’s journey via land to India. I was astonished: In my youth some of my friends had been hitch-hiking to Goa, India, but I had thought that because of the geo-political situation it wasn’t anymore possible or at least dangerous to go via land. The IT-engineer said, that they had a very smooth journey, without any disturbances.

They had gone via Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan to India and Nepal. They never had any problems at the frontiers, and also during the journey there weren’t any burglaries or accidents. He told me that the most cordial and hospitable people he met in Iran. He was impressed that even on the country people were very open-minded, very hospitable and well-cultured. At home, the women weren’t wearing the chador and joined talks. People felt quite distant to the official rulers and openly spoke about it. It reminded me of my talks with an Iranian colleague, with whom I had published a series of documents about Iranian and Muslim culture, for Swiss social workers working with Iranian refugees.

The IT-manager said the only uncomfortable situation was during their passage through Balochistan, where they joined with other travellers to go through undisturbed. He further spoke about his experiences in India and Nepal. There, even during turbulences with the Maoist opposition which blocked them for a while, they hadn’t experienced any adverseness. I asked him how they could manage to drive through the partly chaotic traffic in India: They just took it slowly and went with the general flow. Only in the villages they had sometimes to stop and somebody had to climb on the top of their car to lift up the electric wires…

When I asked him how he could manage to be away from office for such a long time, he said that the management of their agency, of which he is a member, started with the agency during their studies, and since they didn’t have much free time the first years, now one after the other takes a longer time of vacation to go around the world – to see other cultures and to experience very different ways of living.

A jeep at the coast of Senegal, photo of a friend.

Some time ago we heard that in our settlement all flats will be given notice within the next two years, so that the apartments can be renovated and rented at a higher price. So we started looking for a new flat.

Two and a half weeks ago we saw an old, but charming flat in a neighbour village, where the price wasn’t that much exorbitant like the normal level here in the area. The building manager showed it to us, it seemed that we had good chances to get the apartment, and so we applied for renting it. Some friends with a “penchant” to clairvoyance confirmed: “Yes, you will get the apartment, I’m sure about it.”

Our imagination started organising the rooms and the removal. Inwardly there was already a feeling of saying good-bye to the old flat – until yesterday morning: A letter returned our application saying that they had given preference to someone else… So the bubble burst.

Again it was astonishing for us how a desire can create an illusionary feeling of a mock-reality. We said, o.k., something else and even better might come. And will there also be some other flat-bubbles?

My wife added: “I had talks with a friend who was very much convinced that then man she met was her future new husband. I asked her how they deal with resolving problems, and she answered, that it is going very good – until half a year later the relation bubble burst: She somehow had totally suppressed the difficulties in the relation and tried to live on the easy side.” Life, however, easily gets us back out of the rosy clouds, down to earth again.

Someone remarked in a talk some time ago: “I don’t need to study anything about meditation or spirituality to get knowledge. That’s only mental. We have everything inside, and whatever I need to know will come to me by way of intuition.”

I thought, well, if a child thinks, “I have everything inside, I don’t need a teacher”… Or a pianist: “All comes to me by way of intuition, I don’t have to practice, I don’t need a teacher”… you can imagine the output. It is my experience that if you don’t have a right and profound understanding of what you are doing with meditation or on your spiritual path, you’ll quickly land in a deadlock or in the wilderness. A right understanding and a wise teacher help clearing the obstacles on the way to experience.

Thursday night the first new snow fell in the city, and the following morning the roads were very slippery, when I went to work with my moped. The day before I had a flat tyre-tube which I luckily got quickly repaired, plus a new tyre. I jokingly had told the mechanic: Now I have a winter tyre for the snow – and it came faster than I thought.

First new snow: View from the rest-room at the upper floor of our office building in Berne

This Scorpio-time is a time of letting-go, of working on old burdens: The heritage my father had left over he had distributed quite uneven, and the part assigned to me was quite a lot below the legal share. I had spoken with the notary, who told me that he had been unable to convince my father that what he was going to decide was not along the rules. He nevertheless did the final version of his testament according to his own convictions and without the notary’s assistance.

A second notary involved in family affairs told me the same, with more details. Speaking with my brother and sisters showed me that they weren’t happy with the situation, either. But since the affairs are more complicated and I didn’t want to get into a legal procedure with the family, with costly expert opinions etc., I informed them about what the notaries had said and that I don’t want to insist on the legal minimum.

There had been quite some reflections about the backgrounds of the situation, of what is the right way of proceeding without emotional entanglements, and also with balancing other expectations around. A lot of pictures came along, with thoughts of past situations, about the relation with my old family, of discussions with my father, of karmic inheritances. Clearing the wastes of the past and laying sound foundations for steps of future growth helps letting-go the shackles of unresolved emotional ties.

Similar Scorpionic situations came along with a friend who went through a crisis of inner birth: long-frozen emotions came into a flow after a talk with my wife. It was like a baby being born within, which quickly started growing. Throwing loving light into abysses of the past, while keeping close contact with the light of the soul, helps triggering transformation processes. Scorpio really is the month of the phoenix, going from death to a new life.

Yesterday evening we had the first of our evening themes on Meditation – Experiment and Experience. I was a bit nervous in the beginning: It took some time until the beamer was set up and the room well prepared. By an by people came in, at the end we were all together 17 persons filling the small room: members of our group, friends of friends, a colleague, and one person who came via the newspaper advertisement.

When starting to talk, slowly the inner tension dissolved and after a while the words came more like a flow. Using the powerpoint presentation was a good help, though I think next time I will go more to free speech. It was a bit dense: My wife commented afterwards: “You have done a concentrate of a concentrate, it can be a bit less dense. But one could feel that it is a result of long years of pondering, and it was genuinely you.”
The input took 45 minutes. Then, after a little pause, my wife continued with a guided meditation, so that people could experience what had been said before. A deep silence and relaxation entered the room, from far only the noise from the restaurant above resounded. I hadn’t heard my wife do this kind of guided meditation before. It was inspiring, for it gave a step-by-step intro, good for the new-comers.

Afterwards she asked each one, if he or she would like to say a bit about their experience. Some just drowsed away, some experienced relaxation, some a deep silence. One person couldn’t relax due to a cold. So we had a bunch of experiences, reflecting the individual dispositions.
Some points could be cleared: We don’t try to stop our thoughts, yes, it’s ok to sleep, for afterwards you feel refreshed. And don’t try to keep an uncomfortable position… It seemed to me that on the face of a lady a question mark of scepticism, which before meditation was very visible, had dissolved a bit. The face had relaxed and showed a tinge of a smile…

The time was quickly over: People expressed their thanks and slowly left. When clearing the room I thought of the energy expressing through the group. There was a certain coherence, which was carried through by the whole group. It was a beautiful presence, and I felt, it was a gift from higher circles.

An inner experience can be the start for a new direction on one’s path.

Today a friend of us, a young student and daughter of a long-time friend, came for a visit. Some weeks ago she started her studies at the university, and one of her subjects is philosophy. In the 70ies and 80ies I had studied philosophy for about 10 years. I stopped reading  philosophy books after my high school teacher graduation 21 years ago, and a head reeling from theories. I felt much more attracted to practical spirituality than to mental concepts, though an inquisitive nature and a joy with words have remained.

A big box with philosophical books had been slumbering over the years  in the basement. My friend was happy to take a number of books, which might help her in her studies, and I was happy that finally there was somebody to whom they could be of help. I felt relieved. Taking the books into my hands, images of old came up – battles of ideas, searches for meaning, discussions, irritations. Giving the books away was like freeing blocked energies in the “basement” of my mind and putting them into a flow.

Waterfall at the Beatus-Caves, Bernese Alps

The reason I went to Berlin was to meet the Ayurvedic specialist who is treating me with chronic ear problems and a dysfunction of the digestive system. I had seen him 18 months ago and it became necessary to do some adjustments in the therapy, and the pulse diagnosis cannot be done by phone…

My friends in Berlin had arranged everything for me and saw that I was brought to the place where the Ayurvedic therapist was working. He explained to me that Vedya is the title for an Ayurvedic healer, and not doctor. He is from a long tradition of healers and has a deep knowledge of medicine and healing.

I was again impressed how by feeling the different rhythms of the pulse he was able to locate several problems, some of them were known to me. I was to visit him 4 times during the three day’s stay in Berlin. He first gave me another combination of herb powders and tablets to be taken during these days and explained some health advise.

He trained with me a number of breathing exercises to strengthen the oxigen circulation and to cast off unhealthy mucus. And the exercises expelled quite some mucus from the lungs.

In the next meeting he checked again the pulse and gave some Yoga exercises to stimulate the digestive system and certain energy channels. So some more exercises are adding to my daily routine. Trying them out this morning showed a good energizing effect.

The last pulse check this morning indicated some betterments. So with this “multi-pack” of natural medicines and therapeutical exercises there is a good chance of stimulating a curative effect counteracting the physical defects.

Shiva Shop in Berlin

Ganesha greeting at the entrance

Last Thursday I was flying with Swiss to Berlin. During the flight they are showing on a flatscreen a map of the route with the position of the plane. Different cities in Europe were marked, but neither Berlin nor any other German cities. When we landed in Berlin it was on the map as if we landed on a green lawn. I had to smile…

It reminded me of the maps we have in our mind, especially the one of our life. We are often heading towards a goal without knowing where and how we are going. But nevertheless we are on a way. If we know the goal, we can orient and adjust the direction.

The plane arrived well, though the sky was clouded. It is incorporated into a network of navigation systems and guiding impulses. Even if the sub-map in the cabin isn’t showing the goal, in the bigger chart system of navigation we were well on the track. So there is also a bigger cartography system, to which we can link up and follow the lines.

In the last blog on Mood Infections I wrote about some experiences with clouds of moods coming, where you might be receptive to an energy wave, which isn’t originating from you. A friend sent us the following reply:

“I was amazed to read about both your experiences, because I had a similar one this past weekend! On Tuesday last week, my aunt left her physical vehicle for this time, and I was trying to cope with my feelings of guilt for not being around my family during times that I know for them to be difficult. It took me a couple of days to find my inner balance again, yet even after being back to a more grounded state I was still quite open and vulnerable. More so than I was aware of:

On Sunday, I met with my ex-boyfriend for supper and a chat. Because of past experiences, I usually meet him with my guards up so not to be affected by his energies. The meeting was fairly pleasant, except for a few comments he made.

When I came home, I had a heavy headache and my sinuses were stuffed as if I’d developed a full-blown sinus infection within the past three hours. On Monday morning, I could barely get out of bed because my lower back was aching so much. On Tuesday, I still wasn’t my full self. I was lacking in energy and felt overall very weak. However, by then I had realized what had happened. My ex-friend had intuitively picked up on my openness, and clawed his hooks into me just like he had done for many years during our relationship. And just like back then, he was sucking energy from me again. The moment I realized it, I cut the energetic connection off and I felt better immediately. But when I started to develop a pain in my left shoulder that sent shooting nerve pains into my jaw, I knew I needed outside help because that was his symptoms. For years and years, he’s been having those problems with muscle tensions in his left shoulder that affected the nerves that run up to the jaw line.
he has a constant toothache in his left back teeth. Now I had that too!

I called a friend of mine, who is a wonderful Reiki master and massage therapist with a lot of experience in energy work. She worked my back for over an hour. It took some work and meditating together until I was in tune again and felt like myself again. I guess I could have accomplished that myself, but I had only half a day until the semester started and I really wanted to be on top of things for that. I recall that Torkom Saraydarian calls this negative psychic energy that builds up through negative thought forms and actions, Imperil.”

In the book on “Agni Yoga” (§ 15) you read about imperil:
“Imperil, which attracts danger, is the poison resulting from irritability. This poison, a quite substantial one, is deposited against the walls of the nerve channels and then spreads through the entire organism.
If modern science would try to examine objectively the nerve channels, giving heed to the astral currents, it would encounter a strange decomposition of the astral substance during the passage of that substance through the nerve channels—this is a reaction to imperil. Only rest can help the nervous system to overcome the dangerous enemy that can call forth the most diverse irritations and painful contractions of the organism.
He who is afflicted with imperil must repeat, “How beautiful everything is!” And he will be right; because the flow of evolution follows immutable law, it is beautiful. The more refined the nervous system, the more painful is the deposit of imperil. This same poison, by the addition of one ingredient, may contribute to the decomposition of matter.”

Water and lightfall in the Himalayas, photo of a friend