A Canadian friend sent me the link to this great Greenpeace video spot (1’30) for Earth Day, April 22nd, 2013. Very well done!

A picture from the Greenpeace video.

Yesterday a friend informed me that Irvin Schonbrun from Vancouver, Canada, passed over peacefully to the subtle spheres beginning of December 2012.

I came into contact with Irvin in 2005 and soon he started helping proof-reading, first with the Lunar Messenger, later also with the Paracelsus Magazine and books. He often did the proof-readings during the free time of his night job. He was very committed to this work and he felt deeply drawn to it. And all who came into contact with him appreciated his ever reliable cooperation.

He once told me this contact helped him overcome a profound frustration on his spiritual path and gave him back joie de vivre. He had a big heart and a deadpan humour. We often exchanged jokes.

I already suspected that something had happened with him when he didn’t react on my mails in December. And while I was in India I got a message that his mailbox was blocked. I was thinking for a way to contact him, I knew none of his other friends and colleagues. The German friend who informed me did a web-search and contacted one of the places where he had been working. And so she got the information about his passing-over…

I will keep him in a good memory. May his soul ascend to the blissful planes of Eternal Light.

Extract from a photo on Irvin’s website, by Nancy McLean / Thi Vu

Today I got the Newsletter of the Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI) reminding of the “International Day of Peace” today, 21st September, which I would like to share:

This year thousands of organizations (local and global) are holding tens of thousands of events for the International Day of Peace, involving hundreds of millions of people – teaching, serving, praying, working, celebrating, helping and more. Some events will continue until Oct. 2nd the International Day of Non-Violence (Gandhi’s birthday); and some have been going on since Sept. 11th.

There are many ways to observe peace: government and security; education and media; economics and business; health and relationships; religion and spiritual teachings; environment and habitat; personal and cultural; science and technology. The United Nations urged people around the world to make their voices heard to strengthen peace and democracy. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon called on individuals to speak out for social justice, the rule of law, and the right to a say in one’s own future.

We remind people of our three guiding principles: Peace inside – find and act from a state of peace within ourselves; Peace outside – engage in practical acts of peace for the good of others; and Peace year round – commit to an ongoing peacebuilding practice. Together we are helping humanity to create a worldwide culture of peace.

Mur de la Paix

The Mur de la Paix (Wall of Peace) is  a monument in Paris built in 2000 on the southern part of the Champ de Mars.  It consists of twelve glass panels where the word PEACE is written in 32 languages and 13 alphabets. It is 16m long, 13m wide and 9m high.

The location has a high symbolic value. In the past each village in France used to have a Champ de Mars, a large field dedicated to the Roman God of War and used for military exercises as well as local fairs and festivals. So the wall of peace is on the field of the God of War.

You can leave there a personal message of peace or digitally post a message on the site of the Mur pour la Paix and see it displayed on the monument.

The newsletter ends with the words: “We look forward to a future that holds more peace, for more and more people; and we leave you with messages of peace from around the world.

Here is the word “Peace” in 130 languages:

Peace, English
Paz, Spanish, Portuguese
Paix, French
Pace, Italian, Romanian
Friede, German
Mír, Russian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Serbian, Slovene, Ukrainian
Shalom, Hebrew
Salam, Arabic
Heiwa, Japanese
Pingan, Chinese
Shanti, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu
Amaní, Swahili
Alaáfía, Yoruba
Achukma, Choctaw
Amaithi, Tamil
Aman Malay, Urdu
Amniat, Pashto
Anachemowegan, Mohecan
Ashtee, Farsi
Asomdwee, Twi-Akan
Bake, Basque
Barish, Turkish
Béke, Hungarian
Boóto, Mongo-Nkundu
Búdech, Palauan
Chibanda, Ila
Däilama, Sa’a
Damai, Indonesian
Diakatra, Maranao
Dodolimdag, Papago/Pima
Echnahcaton, Munsterian
Emirembe, Ugandan
Ets’a’an Olal, Maya
‘Éyewi, Nez Perce
Fandriampahalemana, Malgache
Filemu, Samoan
Fois, Scots, Gaelic
Fred, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
Friður, Icelandic
Goom-jigi, Buli
Gúnnammwey, Carolinian
Hasîtî, Kurdish
Hau, Tahitian
Hedd, Welsh
Hmethó, Otomi
Hoa Bình, Vietnamese
Ilifayka, Koasati
Innaihtsi’iyi, Blackfoot
Iri’ni, Greek
Írq, Amharic
Kagiso, Setswana
Kalilíntad, Magindanaon
Kapayapaan, Tagalog, Filipino
K’é, Navajo
Kev, Thajyeeb Nyab Xeeb, Hmong Daw
Khanhaghutyun, Armenian
Khotso, Sesotho
Kiñuiñak, Northwest Alaska Inupiat Inuktitut
Kiba-kiba, Rapanui
Kunammwey, Chuuk
Kupia Kumi, Laka Miskito
Kutula, Fanagolo
‘Kwam, Sa Lao
La Paqe, Albanian
La Patz, Aranés
La Pau, Catalán
Lapé Haitian, Creole
Layéni, Zapoteco
Li-k’ei, Tlingit
Linew, Manobo
Lùmana, Hausa
Kapayapaan, Tagalog
Maluhia, Hawaiian
Meleilei, Ponapean
Melino, Tongan
Miers, Latvian
Mina, Wintu
Mtendere, Chewa, Nyanja
Muka-muka, Ekari
Musango, Duala
Mutenden, Bemba
Nabad -Da, Somali
Nagaya, Ethiopian
Nanna Ayya, Chickasaw
Ñerane’i, Guaraní
Nimuhóre, Ruanda
Nirudho, Pali
Nye, Ntomba
Olakamigenoka, Abenaqui
Paçi, Maltese
Pardamean, Indonesia
Paco, Esperanto
Pax, Latin
Pokój, Polish, Slovak
Pyong’hwa, Korean
Rahu, Estonian
Rangima’arie, Maori
Rauha, Finnish
Rerdamaian, Indonesian
Rukun, Javanese
Saanti, Nepali
Sai Gaai Òh, Pìhng Yue
Salama, Swahili
Santipap, Thai
Saq, Uighur
Shîte, Tibetan
Sholim, Yiddish
Síocháin, Irish
Sìth, Gaelic
Soksang, Khmer
Solh Dari, Persian
Sonqo, Tiaykuy, Quechua
Sulh, Turkish, Afghan
Taika, Lithuanian
Tecócatú, Nhengatu
Thayu, Gikuyu, Kenyan
Tsumukikatu, Comanche
Tuktuquil, Usilal Kékchí
Tutkiun, North Alaska Inuktitut
Udo, Igbo
Ukuthula, Zulu
Uvchin, Mapudungun
Uxolo, Xhosa
Vrede, Afrikaans, Dutch
Wâki Ijiwebis-I, Algonquin
Wetaskiwin, Cree
Wolakota, Lakhota
Wôntôkóde, Micmac
Wo’okeyeh, Sioux
Zhi-bde, Tibetan

See also the UNESCO-site on the Culture of Peace. The Manifesto 2000 for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence is also on the Good-Will website.

12 August is the 181st birthday of Helena P. Blavatsky and a good occasion to write some lines, especially about my experiences with her opus magnum.

It took a long time for the Secret Doctrine to get into my life. It must have been around the end of 1973 that for the first time I saw the volumes on the bookshelf of an acquaintance who for two decades played a strange role in my life. He told me that they contain very profound wisdom, but it is difficult to unlock. With a frisson of awe and at the same time a sceptical distance I looked at the books. Over the years I saw them again each time I met this peculiar friend. In 1982 he tried to “initiate” me into secrets of the teachings, but I refused – the time wasn’t ripe yet.

In 1986 I started teaching languages in a Rudolf Steiner school, and there were annual Christmas bazaars. At the bazaar there was an antiquarian bookshop, and there I saw again the black volumes – 6 big books including the index. I wanted to buy them, but didn’t dare – I didn’t want that the other teachers in the school knew about my interest. Next year, the books were still there, and again I didn’t dare. The same the following year.

In 1989 my mother-in-law was also at the bazaar, and I asked her if she could buy the books for me, which she did. So I got “my” volumes, put them on the bookshelf – but still couldn’t start reading. I had read about the importance of these teachings in the books of Alice Bailey – but they kept closed. I read great amounts of other books, I felt the thrill of these black volumes which I sometimes opened, but still I couldn’t start reading them.

In the beginning of the 90ies finally the time approached. I set up a daily discipline of reading 2 pages and making synopses which I later typed down. In about 2.5 years I had finished reading them, had tried to understand what I had read, but many things I didn’t get. I read my abstracts, got a vague idea of the topics. In the later 90ies I set out for a second march through the books, with the same method – and a little more understanding grew.

Around 1994 I read a number of biographies about H.P.B. and thought, some movie director should make a film about this extraordinary women. I wrote an article about her life and send it to two film makers, but without any reply. Later, in 2005, I made a little booklet from this script – “H.P.B. – Trailblazer for the Aquarian Age” and put it online. In 1995 I was at a spiritual conference in Santa Fe and saw there the biography of H.P.B. by Sylvia Cranston, which just had appeared, and “devoured” it. With the time I discovered there were more and more materials online. But at the same time a lot of “dust” and delusion.

On June 27th, 2004, at a meeting of the Executive Board of WTT-Global (at that time WTT-Europe), Sri Kumar gave us some hints how to study Secret Doctrine in a group. He recommended:
–    Start studying the “Laws” given in Secret Doctrine, the law of alternation, periodicity, time cycles….
–    Then study the Races / Root Races
–    Then the Manus
–    Then the Globe Chains
–    Then read “Anthropogenesis”, till the end of the book
–    Then “Cosmogenesis”
Thus you will have a sound foundation of the Secret Doctrine.

In our local group we started reading like this, everything about the laws, the races, and then decided to go through “Anthropogenesis” – where we still are. We meet every Sunday and read, after morning meditation and a short fire ritual, just for 30-40 minutes. Slowly a deeper understanding dawns. I read the books in English, the others in German – and sometimes we see that the translation was unclear or even irritating. Though it seems to be “a long march” the three of us who come together want to stick to it. And I read some pages every Saturday morning in the 3rd volume published by A. Besant, which isn’t counted among the “orthodox” 2 volumes.

It was fascinating for me when in January 2005 Sri Kumar gave a 2 weeks’ seminar about the Secret Doctrine, and I often came back to my notes. It was a grand panorama and a deep explanation of the interrelations.

I have gone through so many books in my life, studied so many eastern and western philosophies, but there isn’t any book which has left such a lasting imprint, though I don’t dare to say that I have fathomed the depths of the teachings.

I have seen that there are now videos and presentations on YouTube about her life. For me, however, it is more an inner “film” which stirred me and gave keys to a deeper understanding.

The black (German) and white (English) books in the bookshelf

Video: Who are you Madam Blavatsky?

Last week Sri Kumar invited me to meet him on his stop-over from the seminar in Miami back to India. So last Sunday I went to Hergiswil at the Lake of Lucerne. There is now the new location of the seat of WTT-Global at the new apartment of a friend. I took the route via a mountain pass to enjoy beautiful views of the Alps. And the apartment was at a location with a fantastic panorama over the lake surrounded by mountains. The house is still a bit under construction – the door bell wasn’t yet working. I luckily had my mobile with me.

Sri Kumar had just arrived from the airport a few hours ago. I asked him if he was tired and he said, it’s ok – the others were sleeping. After some exchanges I showed him my albums with photos of the paintings I had done in the 80ies and recently digitally restored. With great interest he went through all the pictures and took much time for it. I was very happy about it – at a moment 9 years ago he had saved the photos. And now he said that such gifts of light should never be destroyed but given free.

Looking at the photos

We later turned to administrative questions I wanted to clarify – while the other members of the Executive Board dropped in. It wasn’t planned like this, but it turned out to be a good organisational meeting.

At the end Sri Kumar spoke some inspiring words about relating to each other through communication. I quickly took some notes – they are not literal:

“It is good to stay in a regular contact. It can be a phone call. It should not just be a mental relation, but expressing on the physical plane. When it stays in the mental it can easily become the illusion of a contact.
All we do to the others is done as an offering. Through this a chemistry in the psyche happens, an adjustment. Unless you go through this process there is no transformation. If you escape from it, that chemistry stops.
Our working is semi-physical, semi-etheric. Striving is working beyond what you think you can work. Unless you stretch, you don’t create the fire. Striving is important. Striving, striving, striving. The mind says, I can’t do it. To say I can’t do is refusing transformation. I can do as much as I can do. We have to strive as long as we have breath. To say, it is not possible, is very easy.
Keep contact with each other. It is the easiest thing. If we don’t keep contact, we unconsciously build strong walls around us. Asking, Who should communicate with whom? is ego. To communicate with the others is an act of good will, of expressing love.

A friend sent me the link to this impressive video about good will: “Change For A Dollar“, by Sharon Wright (see also here). The description of this price-winning short film says:

“Is he asking for Change, or is he asking for CHANGE?” Follow a man as he affects multiple peoples’ lives with just one dollar, proving that it doesn’t take much to be the change in someone’s life.

And Sharon Wright writes: “If you enjoyed this film, please help me make my next one! Click the link below and donate a dollar. Let’s keep making films that inspire the world!” So here is the link.

There are parallels to the video: “Life Vest Inside – Kindness Boomerang – “One Day””.

A good initiative of “Life Vest Inside” about the power of kindness. They say: “Kindness is a universal language that has tremendous uplifting power. Life Vest Inside is based on the philosophy that increasing kindness in society will lead to more connectedness and a better, happier world” – how true. They have an education program to introduce living kindly into schools, for it can be taught and should begin in one’s youth. See the video inspiring video and read more about the campaign.

Some meditative thoughts I received today from an Indian friend:

I Believe…
That just because two people argue,
It doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.
And just because they don’t argue,
It doesn’t mean they do love each other.

I Believe…
That we don’t have to change friends if
We understand that friends change.

I Believe…
That no matter how good a friend is,
they’re going to hurt you,
every once in a while
and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe…..
That true friendship continues to grow,
even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.

I Believe…
That you can do something in an instant
That will give you heartache for life.

I Believe….
That it’s taking me a long time
To become the person I want to be.

I Believe…
That you should always leave loved ones with Loving words.
It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe…
That you can keep going long after you think you can’t.

I Believe…
That we are responsible for what
We do, no matter how we feel.

I Believe..
That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe…
That heroes are the people
who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done,
regardless of the consequences.

I Believe…
That my best friend and I
can do anything or nothing
and have the best time..

I Believe….
That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re
down will be the ones to help you get back up.

I Believe…
That sometimes when I’m angry
I have the right to be angry, but that
doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe…
That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had
And what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.

I Believe…
That it isn’t always enough,
to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes, you have to learn
to forgive yourself.

I Believe…
That no matter how bad
your heart is broken,
the world doesn’t stop for your grief.

I Believe…
That our background and circumstances
may have influenced who we are, but,
we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe…
That you shouldn’t be
so eager to find out a secret.
It could change your life forever.

I Believe…
Two people can look at the exact same
Thing and see something totally different.

I Believe..
That your life can be changed
in a matter of hours
by people who don’t even know you.

I Believe…
That even when you think
you have no more to give,
When a friend cries out to you,
you will find the strength to help.

I Believe..
That credentials on the wall
do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe…
That the people you care about
most in life are taken from you too soon.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything;
They just make the most of everything they have.

(Author unknown)

Autumn morning light seen from the bathroom, 2 weeks ago – now all the leaves are gone

An inspiring video on changing one’s perspectives by considering others’ troubles when we are troubled by others. You can also see here the Spanish version.

I today came across the “Unify Earth” initiative (URTH), which is planning to organize “History’s largest synchronized gathering” on December 21, 2012: simultaneous TV, internet & mobile streaming, with a duration of 4 to 6 hours live feed from around the world. It is meant to celebrate humanity’s journey through the ages in an epic musical media spectacle that brings fantasy and reality together to inspire a new chapter for human civilization: “URTH is about us – where we’ve been and where we’re going.”

The celebration wants to be a counter-pole against all soothsaying about doomsday prophecies. So the motto is “On December 21, 2012 experience the beginning of a new story for humanity. The End is the Beginning. The hero is you.”

Among the founding team is Violaine Corradi, one of the three main composers at Cirque du Soleil.

People from all around the world are stepping up to become a part of the unify earth movement. Quotes of current featured luminaries:

“There are a lot of negative prophecies about 2012… but prophecy is questionable. I think the future is what we make it to be.” (Sting)

“Outside of Fear… A Moment in Timelessness.” (Carlos Santana)

“Currently, there is an emphasis in our consciousness that places the highest regard on money, competition, and materialism. Maybe we can open our minds to consider and realize other models and ideas focusing on the whole of our planet, enabling us to move forward, in a way that is beneficial to all of us.” (Rob Garza, Thievery Corporation)

I added the Circle of Good Will on the map of this inspiring global initiative. – You can join as an individual, an organisation or as a host of a get-together on December 21, 2012