Some days ago a friend sent me a beautiful powerpoint-story called “Such a beautiful story” (3.5 MB), about two men in a hospital and how the power of imagination can give inspiration even at times of hardship. I transformed it also into a pdf-file, for quick viewing, though without music… Enjoy

Installation with Japanese umbrellas in the Elfenau-park, summer 07

The last six days I was on a seminar and celebration of 25 Years World Teacher Trust-Global, with our spiritual teacher, Dr. Kumar. About 170 people from different countries of Europe, the USA and India had come for the meeting in Engelberg, a beautiful village surrounded by high mountains in the center of Switzerland.

It was a very intense time with a lot of exchanges and networking – and of course the seminar. It was again excellent, with very subtle topics, though partly too complex to give here in the blog an adequate understanding.

The theme of the seminar was “Service and the Law of Liberation”. Here is short extract from my notes of a talk of Sri Kumar, from a caption on inner and outer freedom, with the example of Sri Aurobindo. The text is a bit adapted for the blog:

“Freedom outside is political freedom without freedom. The freedom has to come from within. That is why there is not much demonstration on the roads by those who are working for inner freedom. Sri Aurobindo is a good example for someone first working for the political freedom and later working for the freedom of personality. Sri Aurobindo was working for political freedom, then he was thrown into prison. There he prayed to the divine, “When I was working for the freedom, why have you imprisoned me?” The divine said, “I have built an outer prison, so that you continue to work with the inner freedom.”

Before he was imprisoned he received a message in which he was warned that it would be better for him to fight inside for inner freedom than to fight outside for political freedom. He saw a beautiful form appearing to him, while he was constructing a bomb against the British. He received a dream in which Master KH appeared and said, “This is not the freedom to work out. The inner freedom is more important.”

But he did not listen and was imprisoned by the British. In prison he prayed, then again he saw and he heard: “You are forewarned to work for inner freedom, not for outer freedom, it is more important. We have organized the imprisonment for you to protect you.”

And then Sri Aurobindo continued his contemplation while in prison, and he reached the state of consciousness, where he could see within and without the same consciousness. He could join Krishna consciousness, divine consciousness, Christ consciousness, naming is not the problem.
We put so many labels everywhere. Somehow the labels are of more interest to us than the content. He could see the One Divine within. When he saw the guardian of the prison as Krishna, his attitude changed so much. There are so many barriers that the personality builds inside, to such an extend that one gets distasteful of the divine energy. That means the sickness is complete, the imprisonment is complete. Something has to happen.

In many cases a strong event has to happen to solve the imprisonment. Service is the solution. If you start service, gradually the inner freedom comes and the outer shackles go. You feel so free. That is why all great workers for political freedom, when they gained inner freedom, they also gave the knowledge to others freedom workers…. You see the simplicity of Mahatma Gandhi, highly respected for his knowledge, of high qualification. This simplicity comes through service…

Be joyful while you serve. For this reason many times I say, the old way of saying is, I have to do this. The new way is, I like to do it, I love to do it. If you turn the “I have” to the “I love to do it”, you are much more in tune with the doing. A joyful way of doing.”

Lake Truebsee near Engelberg – photo of a friend

After a cold day yesterday with stormy rain and sometimes even snow, this morning the sky was blue and the daffodils in the garden were glowing in the early morning light. In German the jonquils or daffodils are called “Easter Bells” – and this year also ringing in the start of the new solar year. This is much more the starting point than January 1st – March 21, the start of the sign of Aries, bringing in the energies of a new beginning.

Some time ago I got an inspiring story by an anonymous author called the Daffodil Principle (and when googling the title, there were of course a great amount of posts. I’ve posted it as a PDF and also translated it into German. It is about a woman who planted a big daffodil garden, creating something of indescribable magnificence and inspiration:

“When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.” – Enjoy.

This morning’s daffodil in the garden, recovering from the cold

 And a last story sent by my Indian friend :

“5 important lessons to learn from a humble pencil:

1. It tells you that everything you do will always leave a mark,
2. You can always correct the mistake you make,
3. The important thing in life is what you are from inside and not from out side,
4. In life you will undergo painful sharpenings which will make you better in whatever you do,
5. Finally, to be the best you can be, you must allow yourself to be held and guided by the hand that holds you.”

And one more story sent by my Indian friend :

An old Master instructed an unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. “How does it taste?” the Master asked. “Awful,” spat the apprentice.

The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake, the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”

As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the Master asked, “How does it taste?” “Good!” remarked the apprentice. “Do you taste the salt?” asked the Master. “No,” said the young man.

The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said, “The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the ‘pain’ depends on the container we put it into.

So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things ….. Stop being a glass. Become a lake!”

Picnic of a young couple at the Gerzensee near Berne, Switzerland

Another story sent by my Indian friend :

“This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen…

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: ‘I don’t believe that God exists.’

‘Why do you say that?’ asked the customer. ‘Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn’t exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can’t imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.’

The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt.

The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:

‘You know what? Barbers do not exist.’ – ‘How can you say that?’ asked the surprised barber. ‘I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!’ – ‘No!’ the customer exclaimed. ‘Barbers don’t exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.’ –

‘Ah, but barbers DO exist! That’s what happens when people do not come to me.’ – ‘Exactly!’ affirmed the customer. ‘That’s the point! God, too, DOES exist! That’s what happens when people do not go to Him and don’t look to Him for help. That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world.’ ”

He was not at the barber, but is in search of the Divine: A hermit in the Himalayas. Photo of a friend, India 2005

My Indian friend sent me yesterday some other stories, and this one that is also quite widespread in the blogosphere (the world of blog writers). But it is worth while adding:

“When you see geese flying along in “V” formation, you might consider what science has discovered as to why they fly that way:

As each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in “V” formation, the whole flock adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are travelling on the thrust of one another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone, and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front.

If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those people who are headed the same way we are.

When the head goose gets tired, it rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.

It is sensible to take turns doing demanding jobs, whether with people or with geese flying south.

Geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

What messages do we give when we honk from behind?

Finally … and this is important … when a goose gets sick or is wounded by gunshot, and falls out of formation, two other geese fall out with that goose and follow it down to lend help and protection. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly or until it dies, and only then do they launch out on their own, or with another formation to catch up with their group.

If we have the sense of a goose, we will stand by each other like that.”

You might like to read the Lunar Messenger about “Groups and Group Consciousness“.

Some birds like flying alone – an eagle (?) in front of a mountain in the Alps near Thun

An Indian friend sent me today the following excellent story (and then I saw that it is posted in many blogs…):

A giant ship engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure out how to fix the engine.

Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a young. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work. He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom.

Two of the ship’s owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!

A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars. “What?!” the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything!”
So they wrote the old man a note saying, “Please send us an itemized bill.”

The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a hammer $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap $ 9,998.00

Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference!

Knowing where to tap… Statue in front of the BEA Fair building, Berne, this afternoon

I just got the following story from a Canadian friend:

One evening, an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside all of us. One wolf is EVIL… It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is GOOD…it is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked the grandfather: “Which wolf wins?” and the old Cherokee answered: “The one you feed.”

Not just wolves: 2 painted dogs in front of a farmhouse

A friend sent me the link to an incredible interactive movie of The Story of Stuff, that explains very well and simple how life is organised and consumerised on this planet. The presentation shows that

“all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.”

Have a look at :