Were it strange coincidences that I came across the topic of raising awareness for wisdom issues in the younger generation in apparently unrelated situations during the last week?

The topic is already longer in my mind since long but mostly in a dormant state. In a talk with Sri Kumar four weeks ago he gave some proposals concerning youth involvement which I carry in me in a germinal state since then.

Ten days ago, a group of younger people contacted me. They are developing a communication project to reach people who are not in new age groups and they wanted to share their plans with me, and so we had a Zoom meeting last Wednesday. I felt thrilled by their enthusiasm and I decided to accompany them in their project.

Last Friday, I was informed that the website of the youth forum Mithila will be closed on Saturday – inspired by a proposal of Sri Kumar it started 16 years ago and was first intended for a Jupiter cycle of 12 years. And so, it yesterday came to a close.

“Mithila” is the name of the ancientmost school of Wisdom and of wisdom education for the young generation. There are various groups giving Mithila classes and even Mithila schools in India for children from slum areas.

And there is a group in Venezuela especially dedicated to Mithila education who had a comprehensive website on wisdom teachings which, in a series of great challenges, had to be closed some years ago, and I supported an initiative to bring it back to life. Some days ago, I received a call for help due to another new difficult situation, and so I tried to initiate a group of members to support. The project is very dear to me, and there is much goodwill of the members behind.

I thought, one impulse dissolving, another coming up, others continuing and transforming.

About 15-18 years ago, we had a small Mithila group in our town. I was teaching the two boys of a friend and also our two boys basics of living ethics. My wife gave yoga classes to youngsters and we tried to lay a foundation for right living in a time with lot of counter-currents.

Over the years, I had tried to accompany a few young friends through the times of growing up and early adulthood. I felt they are carrying seeds for the future – but it needs much time and crises for growth. Flowers need time to develop.

Also my youngsters have become adults going their ways into life. The contents of what we tried to teach them has transformed into character and attitudes but not the contents – it is part of the transformation of life.

Four years ago, I read an article about Hilma Af Klint (1862-1944) in a Swiss magazine by the Swiss director of Serpentine Galleries, London. It was written on the occasion of an exposition (see here a video about it: “Hilma af Klint: Painting the Unseen – Serpentine Galleries“).

At that time, I felt touched by her images inspired by occult experiences, and so I did some research on Hilma on the web. I was moved by her experience of the non-recognition and the non-reception by her contemporaries of her grand contribution to beauty and to unveiling doors into the subtle world. Together with some friends, she experienced inner guidance and followed it. She was inspired by H.P. Blavatsky and Rudolph Steiner. She met him, but he too, did not recognize the sublime depth and greatness of her work; he could not interpret her paintings (here a video of a theosophical researcher).

Others also did not see her qualities and contributions to modern art and to life. Hilma created a grand work of about 1300 paintings, partly of very great size, and many drawings – it was never shown during her lifetime. She felt that the time was not yet ripe, and thus, in her will she decided that her work shall not be shown until at least twenty years after her death. Patience beyond the physical.

Some weeks ago, a friend from Munich told me about Hilma and asked me if I knew her – and so memories came back. My friend had just seen a German TV report about a new book and three times seen a movie on Hilma in a cinema in Munich.

It took 40 more years before the international recognition of her work started with a travelling exposition starting in Los Angeles in 1985. Many more expositions in famous museums followed. In 2019 there was even an exposition in the Guggenheim Museum, New York.

You now find a lot about her life and work on the web. You can see many of her pictures, in Wikimedia or Wikiart on Pinterest and elsewhere. You can discover about her on the website of the Swedish Hilma af Klint Foundation. Now, she has been discovered and her relevance for modern art researched and the difficult role of women in art reflected.

Still today, time might not yet be ripe to discover the relevance of present day contributions of esoteric and occult dimensions to beauty, beyond the fanfares of the art business.

This is the 1500th blog-post. I started blogging on 31 March 2006. I called the blog “Flowers on the Wayside”, along the roads of Good Will.

This post is about incense. Recently in an online-meeting with friends someone said, “But please don’t bring these black heavy ones…” They preferred light, Japanese incense. I also like but I silently thought of “these black heavy ones” which had become my trusted companions since many years. And I thought to write some words about them.

Of course, there’s no arguing about taste, and we can also add, no arguing about smell. Smell has a profound influence and you can remember it over many years. I know of a sandalwood fragrance which was used at a meditation seminar in summer 1975. I got one package, and it was so delicious… I never found that species again.

Many others followed. In a way, it became a dear meditation habit to light an incense. And when once one of my sisters told me that it was a dangerous habit, that the smoke is harmful to the lungs, that in India, living with open windows, it might be OK but here it is not – I thought, then may it be my little addiction… I especially like some of the kinds manufactured in the Sri Aurobindo ashram – they are striving for perfection.

I came to know the “black heavy ones” when I first came to the WTT group lives end of the 90s. They were not my favourites in the beginning. But I heard that they are made according to a recipe given by Master EK. I had felt a long, long calling by Master EK, over nearly 2 decades, before I approached and joined the path. And the incense became something linking me to this. And they became dear to me.

I heard from others saying, “I do not like them” – but I started liking. Maybe it was similar like with coffee, tea or smoking; it often does not taste well in the beginning but you can get accustomed. There are different flavours, and each time I am in India I get a good amount of them – for myself and also as a gift to friends. There is also one kind called “Sandal” – it does not smell much like sandal; however, I also like.

Incense supports alignment of the mind in meditation, to get the divine presence. In a group life in Argentina 2015 Sri Kumar said : “As far as incense is used it is to help you to get the presence. Once you are so well established in your prayers that you can relate to the presence even without incense, the incense shall not bother you.” Master CVV recommended incense, saying incense is important because the Master energy works through air, it is the permeating principle of the air. Therefore, having a good odour in the ambience is important.

Among all perfumes, sandalwood is considered to be the most sacred, because it supports the will in an excellent way, and it opens doors into super mundane much more effectively than any other perfume, than any other incense. There should be no artificial perfumes, only natural ones. Also before going to sleep you should light an incense and then go asleep, having conducted a prayer. Lighting a candle and an incense would dispel negative elements from the room. Sandalwood is also helpful for an easy departure and entry into the subtle planes at the moment of death.

Whenever we read a scripture about subtle topics, we should have incense and a candle. It is helpful to pray for the cooperation of the author of the scripture, as his presence is with the scripture. It is like a big light that can show us the intricacies of the text.

At winter solstice, the sun begins its northward journey. It marks a significant change of energies, and therefore it is celebrated as an annual ritual. Winter solstice is a symbol of spirit rising again from dense matter. Inwardly, you can experience this in form of inner light shining through, and therefore this is the actual time of esoteric Christmas.

Like the last years, we celebrated on 22 December the winter solstice with a small group at the Paracelsus-Center of the WTT in Einsiedeln. The weather was cold, rainy and on the mountain ridge of the Etzel Pass it was very stormy. In the afternoon, we wanted to make a walk but after some minutes we had to return – indeed a time of turning inward.

Here are some impressions of the group life.

When seeing the lights of the Christmas illuminations during the last weeks, a painting done nearly 23 years ago came back to my mind – “Light over the City.” It was done in February 1987, dissolved in 1997, and digitally restored from a photo in 2013.

I was trying to portray the “light”, which here comes from above and shines all over and through the city – a vision of an enlightened society, but at the same time full of apocalyptic inklings, which are shaking in the underground.

I was fascinated of the inter-penetration of spiritual energies and everyday life. The scenery contains elements from the old town of Münster, Germany, where I lived for years; and the figure of the Eiffel tower together with the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

A sentence for this came to me yesterday during the morning walk – “May the light in space guide us safely over the bridge crossing the madness of our time!” The light in space is the manifestation of the subtle world touching us when we open ourselves.

A very blessed Christmas and much momentum for 2020!

For 19 years, 1990 – 2009, I didn’t paint anything. I felt I would never paint again. The creative streak was frozen, hidden under a veil deep within.

In November 2009, during a deep and long crisis, I experienced two intense night inner openings. Suddenly there was an urge to express these experiences on paper, and so the series “Images of Synthesis” started.

On Friday the 27th of November 2009, I bought paper, colours, and paint-brushes. The next day I started the first painting, not knowing that it was a new beginning. I started painting on a photo which I had shot some days before. After painting, I scanned the picture, printed it, worked on it with pencils, scanned it again and then worked again on it on the screen, increasing the brightness of the colours: My new technique was born. I use it to this day, refining the procedure with every work done.

More and more, I realised that the images were not from me but through me. Often I was much surprised about what came out. Doing these paintings is an activity full of unforeseen, done besides many other activities.

Upto now, there are 151 images. They are available for free download on the website with the paintings (I had done about 80 prints on aluminium dibond and framed hi-res prints – resting in the basement – I stopped doing so; there was not much interest in them).

Since April 2010, I have been working on the “Spiritual Astrology Paintings”. I recently finished the 10th annual cycle, with 12 paintings each – 120 paintings – as part of the Images of Synthesis series. I did a photo-book with the last three annual cycles, until Pisces 2020 – so it will have to wait for some more months.

The “Images of Synthesis” are also published on the Good-Will website, with short extracts of the wisdom teachings of the World Teacher Trust, giving the inspiring idea. You find them also on Facebook and on Flickr.

Will the work continue? I do not know. It is not my planning but depends on the inner impulse. But upto know there is a “green light” to continue.

Here you can see the first five images of the series – and you find explanations on the ludgerphilips.org website (series “Subtle Worlds”).

The last months, many roads and footpaths in our community were digged up. Also the pavement in front of our house was opened for a while: A fiber optic cable network is being installed successively in all quarters: ‘fiber to home’ – also to our home.

The marketing slogans highlight: “With fiber optics you surf faster and more stable; you can consume data over several devices at the same time – watch movies, play games or book holidays…”

Consuming data – until indigestion? Yes; I will also profit from it. And I observed what was going on – with the streets and with me.

The roads were opened, work was going on, the cables installed,the roads were closed again. And you could see some traces on the roads.

A little later, the roads and pavements were tarred and the wounds of the surface disappeared again. The cables were inside, ‘implanted’.

It made me think of the nadi system, the subtle energy network in our body which is not visible to the physical eye but which you can trace in meditation. Medical science considers them as inexistent but yoga science explains their details – if you try to dissect a magnet, you won’t find the magnetic field nor see any electron-magnetic waves but you can discover their functioning.

Of course, the fiber optic cables are more dense than the nadis, you will find them in the streets. But just like the subtle lines of force the cables are part of a great network of intelligence steering our consciousness.

The flood of stimulations is increasing. Information and the stories of the next generation multi-channel entertainment will do their best to keep us attracted – whereto?

It is difficult to withdraw the attention, to find the way through the hyper-active vibrations inside and outside. To discover the inner light and life.

But that is what is nourishing, not the maelstrom of busy-busy-busy. We need to learn swimming against the stream which is powerfully rushing from all sides. To turn inward, again and again, regularly and persistently .

A kind of wilful stimulation fasting helps keeping away from unnecessary pace-makers. You will be rewarded with experiencing your Self and the greater whole of life.

I recently had a phone call with a friend in the course of which she told me she would never again join a spiritual group. The experiences she had with a group and its teacher 2-3 decades ago had marked her for her whole life. And another one lately told me: “I no longer recognize myself in the group where I was (of an Indian teacher) and so I left it.” She added, “For my spiritual quest, I have always been fascinated and attracted by the Masters, and the WTT is a beautiful synthesis.”

From my own experiences in various spiritual groups and contexts I know how delicate it can be to associate with a group and a teacher. In public here in the West, it is mostly disparaged as Guru cult. And when you come in closer contact with a group you unavoidably also meet shadow aspects – be it of the teacher or the group. You can call the shadow the personality. And what makes the thing even more tricky is that we mostly have blind spots towards our own shadows and like to project them on others.

Spiritual groups and teachers are no exception to this. I very well understand people who want to keep aloof from getting into such situations.

However, when you are fairly well grounded in yourself, you can take it as an excellent field of training – how to evolve if you don’t work on yourself and on developing friendly relations with others? For me, the obstacles were a challenge to get more committed.

In my life, I came to know a number of spiritual teachers directly and a few more by way of books. It was an odyssey and a great way of meeting people with many different attitudes – the devotional type, the sceptic type, the indecisive one, the impractical intellectual, the fervent apologist, and even the spurned love…

For a while, I myself was a mixture of several of these. I learnt much by observing and putting to practice what I learnt. And so I approached my present teacher, Sri Kumar, who more and more became the role model for me. A lot of transformation happened – I would call it an occult process because it mostly went on within, very slowly. Or was it more the outcome of my work with meditation and persevering activities, with others, with groups in various contexts? In a way, I ended up to come to myself, not to the teacher. The teacher, the teachings and the group were instrumental in this. On the other hand, it’s an interrelated thing.

A close friend said to me, “I don’t need a teacher for this. I want to rely on the inner guidance and autonomy – no dependence or pressure of rules.”

I understand and respect and I also feel the same – inner guidance of the soul and putting to practice what I have realised as right – not because of any dependence of pressure of rules.

At the same time, I receive great support by following my teacher and the teachings (and leaving other things behind). They are giving strength and orientation and help me not to get side-tracked and stuck. Joy is the compass in this.

Did you notice? Unbounded space disappeared! It seems to be so inconspicuous that nobody seems to take note of it.

This morning, when I came along the construction site in our neighbourhood, I noticed it again. When the walls are put up, suddenly the sky starts disappearing and the unbounded space seems to condense into a tiny hall called a room.

I very well remember how, as a little boy, I several times run from the garden into my parents’ home and then came out again, and I wondered how it can be that space disappears in the house. And how it feels being inside, cut off from the freedom of vastness.

It is like getting into the mother’s womb. From out of the unlimited space of the subtle dimensions shrinking into the narrowness and confinement of body, with its heaviness. As a child, I had the feeling that I did not really want to come down. And it took me many years to get accustomed to live in such a narrow thing like the body.

Yes, the curtain slowly falls and you get used to it. As you get used to live in a room.

At the beginning, you can still see the larger space. Space…. another word for spirit. Slowly you forget that you are not an island, in a corner of space, but contain in you the great whole.

In the morning, when I walk over the field, looking up to the blue sky where just some clouds block the view, and where on the one side the ring of the horizon is limited by the residential area and on the other by the mountain range of the Alps in the distance, I feel like opening up my subtle bodies which envelop the encased spark of the Sun called I AM.

And when I come back into the street of the settlement, it narrows down again, a kind of crippling. Do the people living here notice it?

But when I go down the stairs into the house where I am living, and then the staircase up to our apartment – although it gets really narrow outside, it feels like having re-connected to the vault of heaven. And that the cosmic vastness is also here.

Morning sun shining on some dahlias from the nearby farmhouse, with the Sripada statue in the background, in my study.

Last week a man from France contacted me via e-mail: Sylvain wanted to bring me a gift from friends living on Ko Pha-ngan island of Thailand. (I had written a blog-post about their activity of spreading the knowledge about rudrakshas.)

Last Saturday evening, Sylvain arrived – a tall young man with a special present in his hands, caringly enveloped with a fine string. I opened it and discovered inside two light-brown rudrakasha seeds (called “white rudrakshas”), embedded in a rudraksha shell and embedded in white cotton-like fibres.

It is a very special special gift and the messenger had travelled quite a distance – it was his way of giving thanks to our friends with whom he had lived for some months on the Thai island.

We were not prepared for an overnight stay in our apartment but somehow could arrange. And this was very good. Sylvain and I had an intense exchange. Sylvain told me about adventures on a bicycle tour from France to Kyrgystan, nearly to the Chinese border, about other journey to North and Central America, about his spiritual search and a project related to Ayurveda he is trying to realise in the French Alpes. He carried a fresh energy of bringing inspiration to people and of knowing how to realise his visions.

Sunday morning, he joined the meditation and fire ritual; afterwards we did a walk over a nearby field and enjoyed the magic of the sunrise. Before he left again back to France, we did a selfie with my wife on the balcony. A hearty encounter.