A very touching video (5.5 min) by the Greek film director and producer Constantin Pilavious about patience and understanding between a father and his son. The beauty and depth lies in its simplicity. Greek with English subtitles.

And I saw another video by Constantin Pilavious, with silent beauty. Well done and worth seeing. He writes:

“Once upon a time in a country far far away a boy lived, very different from all the others. His name was Eftichis. Everything ran smoothly in his life until one day, many many years ago an incident made him see life from a different perspective. And suddenly, a big secret was revealed.”

An impressive morphing video with pictures from the different stages of the life of  Queen Elizabeth II. You get an impression of how the role she played shaped her personality and her outlook – and she did it very gracefully throughout her life. Click on an image to see the video in full screen.

The Young Queen

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.

I regularly get e-mails forwarded by friends containing a warning about some imminent danger or about a “once-in-a-lifetime” situation.

So I just got a warning:

NASA America predicts total blackout on Earth from 22-25 Dec 2012 during alignment of Universe. If possible, please avoid travelling during the third week of December 2012 as all modes of communication may fail. … The 3 days blackout is predicted to happen on Dec 22, 23, 24, 2012. During this transition, the entire universe will face a big change, and we will see an entire brand new world… (of course everybody would like to know what will happen in these days – just wait some more weeks….)

Some weeks ago I received a warning about a new virus which has been discovered recently and it has been classified by Microsoft as the virus most destructive ever….

And another one telling that you should watch out for Mars in the month of August supposed to be closer to earth than ever before. Or that plastic in fridges produces cancer and the like…

Always there is a call to forward these e-mails as quickly as possible to all of our friends – and mostly the mails have already a large number of recipients.

Whenever such messages drop in, I google for a hoax-info website like Hoax-Slayer, Snopes (about rumours), Urban Legends or (in German) the Hoax Info site of the Technical University of Berlin.

Nearly in all cases I find out within seconds that the supposed catastrophe or unique occasion are nothing but a web rumour, a misuse of the credulity of well-intentioned contemporaries. I just send an answer to the sender with a link to the hoax-info website.

If, however, you come across an urgent information that the earth is going to crash in the next days, I hope that I’ll find out just in time that it isn’t a hoax and be prepared.

Reflections in a silver vessel

This looks humoristic, but isn’t: An Indian friend sent me the link with the words:

This is actually pretty scary stuff..They hate each other…..
This is how the border between India and Pakistan is closed every evening!!
This is not a Monty Python comedy skit, but it sure does resemble one.
Keep in mind that each of us have nuclear weapons…

Update: A friend who attended the ceremony herself sent me an insightful comment. Please read

Read more about this “Wagah border ceremony” of the evening border closing of the only road connection between India and Pakistan on Wikipedia.
May the energies of the New Age blow away the pomp and show of separatism and overcome rituals.

Last Friday, Good Friday and Aries Full moon day, the weather report announced an interim high with good weather in the mountains. So we went to see the Ballenberg open air museum, where I had been 3 years ago for the last time. In a beautiful valley they have collected and restored over 100 historical buildings from all over Switzerland. A stroll through the past, where you encounter different styles of architecture and different ways of living and working – farm houses, mills, a pharmacy, a hairdresser, charcoal burners… And plants and farm animals.

What fascinated us most was a last residence room where they presented how a person was laid out, with a decorated young lady dummy, candles burning, prayer songs in the background, and in another house a birth room with the midwife equipment of the 19th century – birth and death in the midst of everyday activities…

When we started in the morning there were still the raindrops of the night glittering on the grass in front of our house and the clouds hanging deep.

But in Ballenberg, 75 km away, the sky had cleared up.  Friday was the first day after their winter pause and many families were enjoying the excursion.

A ram greeting for Aries full moon!

Relaxing in the sunlight

A view from the balcony of an old pharmacy

Picture of an old drug book showing Mandragora (mandrake) in the form of a woman.

There were two herb gardens where first flowers were sprouting. Here: Adonis flowers

Fresh mountain water

Producing easter eggs

A fairy’s meadow

On both sides of the valley – high mountains covered with snow

Waterfalls coming down the cliffs

Walking through”Ticino”

Looking up

An old merry-go-round in the forest with children enjoying the ride

A little chapel from Ticino. Inside it was clean but old astral clouds seemed still to hang around.

St. Michael fighting at the altar, with the balance of justice, of karma, in his left hand

Some old Alpine houses – with a lot of “open air” and very little comfort inside

An old mill – inside two millstones were grinding the grain – which was for sale. And an old man explained us how they used to operate the mill.

The old mill wheel moving around with the noise of the mill stones

Not torture instruments of for Easter bunnies, but chocolate moulds. In the Chocolaterie you could cast your own bunnies.

An Argentinean friend sent me today the link to this beautiful synthetic video with the words: “It is Time to be One”. The video contains the simple and direct message of an Israeli to the Iranians: “We love you.” Very good!

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.

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

On July 24, 2010, thousands of people around the world recorded videos of their lives on YouTube to take part in “Life in a Day”, a cinematic experiment to document a single day on earth. From all the material – more than 4,500 hours of footage – Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald and executive producer Ridley Scott created a 90-minute feature film that offers an entertaining, surprising and moving view of life on earth.

After having been presented on different festivals “Life in a Day” is now available for free with subtitles in 25 languages (here is the one with German subtitles). More information on the Lifeinaday-Channel.