Yesterday my wife and I were at a photographer, for she needed some professionally done pictures, also for her future website. The studio was in an ancient classroom of a former school in the centre of Berne, where now a number of artists and the like have small places. In the high studio room there was still the blackboard on one wall, but on another there was a huge linen sheet as background. Some chairs and a sofa were standing in one corner.

The photographer, a young lady, listened to what my wife told her about the purpose of the photos, asked questions, then they started shooting test pictures, before the real shooting started. After each series we had a look at the selection on her laptop to select a few. The photographer spread a good, leisurely atmosphere and very well arranged little details. Sometimes I had to stand behind her to make some jokes to provoke some subtle reactions with my wife. Then she took some pics of my wife and me.

Though I hadn’t planned to get some pics of me, I liked the way she did the pictures. So I asked her also to take take some shots of me: Different perspectives and facial expressions… And again selecting the best ones.

It is always strange for me – like for most others – to see myself from the outside. Though I know the body quite well – living in it already for a while – there is always a feeling it’s an envelope and not myself. And it’s getting older, while I’m not 🙂

She now wants to do some image editing before we will get the photos the next days….

A picture taken just in the moment the flash of the other camera shone forth.

And here is a picture from the shootings 🙂 …

A friend sent me a powerpoint with the following story about friendship and sharing:

“A young lady was waiting for her flight in the boarding room of a big airport. As she would need to wait many hours, she decided to buy a book to spend her time. She also bought a packet of cookies. She sat down in an armchair, in the VIP-room of  the airport, to rest and read in peace.

Beside the armchair where the packet of cookies lay, a man sat down in the next seat, opened his magazine and started reading. When she took out the first cookie, the man took one also. She felt irritated but said nothing. She just thought: “What a nerve! If I was in the mood I would punch him for daring!”

For each cookie she took the man took one too. This was infuriating her but she didn’t want to cause a scene. When only one cookie remained, she thought, “ah, what this abusive man do now?”

Then, the man, taking the last cookie, divided it into half, giving her one half.

Ah, that was too much! She was much too angry now!

In a huff, she took her book, her things and stormed to the boarding place.

When she sat down in her seat, inside the plane, she looked into her purse to take her eyeglasses, and, to her surprise, her packet of cookies was there, untouched, unopened!

She felt so ashamed! She realised that she was wrong… She had forgotten that her cookies were kept in her purse. The man had divided his cookies with her, without feeling angered or bitter, while she was very angry, thinking that she was dividing her cookies with him. And now there was no chance to explain herself… nor to apologize.”

The moral of the story…
There are four things that you cannot recover:
The stone ….     after the throw,
The word …. after it’s said,
The occasion … after the loss,
The time …. after it’s gone.

Hello, nice person, did anyone ever tell you just how special you are? The light that you emit might even light a star.
Did anyone ever tell you how important you make others feel? Somebody out there is smiling, about love that is so real.
Did anyone ever tell you that many times when they were sad your e-mail made them smile a bit, in fact it made them glad.
For the time you spend sending things and sharing whatever you find, there are no words to thank you, but somebody thinks you are fine.
Did anyone ever tell you just how much they like you? Well, my dearest friend, today I’m telling you.
I believe that without a friend you are missing out on a lot.
Have a nice day, and I’m glad we are friends.

This morning a beautiful golden light spread its magic and made things glow in a very special hue.

Krishna greeting the morning sun, in the meditation room

Sun and crystal reflecting through the tetrahedron

On the balcony

The walnut tree is spreading its gifts

Through the kitchen window

A last sunflower

Acorns at the hedge

Autumn colours

Sun rays over the neighbour farm

An improvisational piano concert by Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji in Mysore, India, 13th February 2010. A fascinating encounter of an eastern teacher with a western instrument.

A very interesting video about ancient pyramids, underwater structures and artefacts hinting at our mysterious past. Beautiful cosmic artworks from different South American countries.

I yesterday came across this video about a young woman playing harp and singing with an angelic voice. The person who put the video on the web wrote:

“I came across this beautiful girl in Strasbourg/France in August 2007. Sorry for the poor quality, but as I heard this clear, sad voice and the whispering of the harp all I could do was grab the camera and save as much as possible from this poetic scene. – In the meantime it has turned out that her artist name is Yasmeen.”

You find more songs of this pure voice on her website. Here is another street recording with her, and and one more. And a little longer one. Sublime.

I just came across the beautiful video: “Musical Rapture…A Healing Gift for Humanity”, by Joao Cota-Robles. A free mp3 download of this sacred music is available on Frederic Delarue’s website: www.eraofpeace.org. The complete CD of Musical Rapture is 62 minutes long and can be downloaded at the website of the mother of the author: www.FredericDelarue.com

On the website you can read more about the background of the music, it starts:
“At the age of 13, a year after my first Near-Death Experience when I encountered Angels and Beings of Light in the tunnel reaching to the Bright Warm Light, I was guided to start playing people’s soul songs… On December 29, 2010 Joao Cota-Robles made his transition to the Light, from a sudden pneumonia. I did not know him personally but know his dad, Dick and his mother, Patricia Cota-Robles, whom invites me to perform my music each year to a big Spiritual Conference she organizes in places high in frequency, or ‘vortexes’.” Enjoy

Today I was on a staff excursion into the Swiss Jura, which I had organised together with a colleague for the team of our Marketing and Communication department. About 30 persons came for the tour. As the train entered the mountains the clouds dispersed and gave way for a beautiful clear autumn sky. We stopped at Saint Imier, where the world-famous watch enterprise Longines is located.

The Longines building

We had the good luck that the “patron”, the director of Longines himself gave us the presentation – thanks to the good relations of my colleague who knew him personally. A very impressive presentation about how Longines has worked over 160 years building up not just a watch empire, but emotions about watches. He showed us the many stars and sports-people working as “ambassadors of elegance”, high-ranking names from the fields of cinema, sport, adventurers (Lindbergh proposed to Longines the development of a special watch for his first transatlantic flight in 1929…). So glamour is not just a casual emotional result, but the outcome of long-lasting and highly directional strategies.

Later we had a guided tour through the Longines museum – fascinating watches and insights into how chronometers developed over the last 150 years.

A watch-angel from the beginning of last century in Art-Deco style

A golden pocket-watch with masonic symbols and a diamond in the cover

An Art-Deco watch with birds

Every watch since the beginning carries the same logo, a number by which it can be identified, and the details are registered in books with the name of the seller, the date and the price – hundred-thousands of watches – a unique library.

The guide in the room with the watch-registries

Later we had our lunch in the village and then proceeded to the “funiculaire”, a funicular railway driven by solar energy bringing us up to the “Mont Soleil”, the sun mountain – and really, it was very sunny today.

The Funicular

After a 20 minutes walk we arrived at the solar energy park, where they are testing different kinds of photovoltaic systems as per their efficiency.

Two guides gave us insights into the technologies and difficulties of creating energy from the sun.

A beautiful reflection on the surface of a sun collector

In the background and farther away on the mountain there was a park with wind turbines – the only one up to now in Switzerland.

We had a 30 minutes walk along the mountain and stopped at a barn, where a farmer woman had prepared for us a little picnic with different kinds of cheese, bread, water and wine from the area. A bus then picked us up and brought us to Biel, from where we returned by train to Berne.

Last weekend I visited friends living near Lake Constance. On the highway I was listening to the radio and “blindly” following the navigation device and not so the road signs. I suddenly realised I was near Constance, from where a ferry crosses the lake, and not on the way around the lake as I had planned. I really enjoyed the surprise, for it was short, but very beautiful crossing.

My friends had organised a seminar and workshop with Anton Styger, a Swiss architect, geo-biologist (ecological builder) and, above all, clairvoyant since early childhood whom some people call a ghostbuster. He wrote 3 books about “Experiences with the Intermediate Worlds”, where he tries to help people to understand the invisible aspects of life, so that they too can help themselves when they have problems.

I picked up a young friend at the station and then went to the seminar house, where he was going to conduct a workshop for liberating souls. He is 64 years old, an impressive, translucent and energetic person. He was speaking quite fast, decisive but with a very humble undertone. Numerous stories about “strange encounters” with beings of the subtle worlds illustrated how he is working, helping “shadowy being” to let go of earthbound orientation and orient to the light.

He then did a “group detachment ritual”, where he spoke a prayer and then commanded the elementals present to go. It was a very intense experience.

I then went to the house of my friends, where Anton was also staying. A dinner and a nice conversation concluded the day. And continued next morning at the breakfast table.

Later we went to the  place where about 50 persons had gathered for the seminar. Anton spoke about how a healer works, what are his attitudes and how he can be of help for suffering persons. He explained how you can use a wobble or a tensor for realising the problems from a subtle plane and how clairvoyance can be of help. In the afternoon he went deeper into explaining different causes of diseases, like electromagnetic pollution, and geo-magnetic fields, then more subtle influences from departed souls, astral beings, curses, influences of objects and elementals. For each case he gave fascinating stories to illustrate the problem and how he dealt with it. Many questions were asked and he answered them patiently.

Anton Styger in a conversation with seminar participants.

A beautiful sunset seen from the seminar centre

After the seminar we sat together in the house of our friends for a chat, and I asked him about a problem I had. He explained to me the cause as he saw it and confirmed it with his tensor. And he recommended to use a prayer from his prayer-book – impressive invocations of God and his healing angels for concrete situations.

Later we sat together in a nearby restaurant enjoying the conversation.

View from the window of our friends’ house to the Lake Constance

Next morning after meditation and further talks we visited the nearby village where an autumn fair attracted many visitors. Colourful impressions of flowers, fruits and handicrafts were a beautiful close of this very rich visit filling me with gratitude.

Today I was at a management workshop of my office at Red Cross. In the morning we were informed about the results of a staff survey done by an external institute. The lady who presented the results mentioned that she has done numerous surveys and always there was a higher job satisfaction with women than with men. This is found across different professions and countries, and they can’t definitely explain why. Also part-time employees generally have a higher satisfaction than full time workers…. The satisfaction at our office is generally quite high… People very highly appreciate when they feel accepted in how they are.

In the afternoon a university philosopher spoke to us about power and leadership. It was partly a dialogue with the audience about what are the attitudes and values determining how we deal with other people – superiors, subordinates, team members. We read short extracts from philosophers like Marx, Macchiavelli, Socrates and Kant where he showed attitudes we encounter in our everyday lives: It is normal that we are being used at a job, but what happens if we start feeling we are only used, like objects and not like personalities? What happens when the use is getting less, be it through disease or old age? Do you meet the other as a fellow being or as a function to be filled out? When you notice that you are just being used, you feel unwell and easily being misused.

The philosopher had a brilliant mind and raised many questions. I liked his style but at the same time the image of a mental juggler, a player rose up in me, and memories of the times of my studies of philosophy came where I felt fed-up with these and those concepts. Listening to the philosopher I felt tattered with the time, and I sensed the need to be centred in me, to get aware of the foundations of values for which I take my stand and which guide my actions.

In the evening when meditating I felt well diving into silence and leaving the waves of mental agitation back at the shores of the ocean of the mind. I later thought that reliability and meeting the others on a fair and equal basis and with trust in one one another is essential for being and working together.

When opening my computer I found an e-mail of Sri Kumar just with the words “Thank you Ludger.” I had written him twice the last 2 weeks asking for the next texts of the Vaisakh Newsletter (VNL). He wrote yesterday: “I was touring a lot. In two days time I will send you the text. Please bear with me. There are too many issues happening here demanding frequent tours. All were emergencies.” I answered him: “Yes, emergencies always have priority. At my work there is also a flood of emergencies…, and the VNL will come when time gives a window.”

I highly appreciate his reliability in our cooperation and the attention he gives to minute details. It has been an inspiration for me since years in my dealing with others, especially via e-mails, be it at my job or at home, with the good-will activities. I thought, you don’t need big philosophies, but a loving, reliable and consistent relation with your fellow beings to create trust and comfort. A short feedback expresses a lot of caring attention.

A bee using a flower, but fertilising it at the same time