When listening to the inner, there are sometimes tunes coming up from encounters with people. Qualities assume shapes stimulated by the impressions given by these friends. With some of them I am in an actual present exchange, and the subtle impressions reflect thoughts stimulated by these contacts. But there are also exchanges with persons, where for the time being there is no outer exchange, but nevertheless an inner exchange is going on. I call them my “inner circle of friends”.

It often takes to the form of qualities these persons represent to me, like subtle echoes of encounters. This is mostly not in form of mental articulations, but in form of qualities or feelings associated with the persons. Often they have touched certain strings in my inner and the thought of them causes a resonance of feeling linked to the experiences with these persons.

It reminds me of an Aeolian harp where the wind blowing across the strings produces sounds. The resonances are sometimes linked to undissolved emotional situations, where there seems to be no way to dissolve them in the present. Some I have gone through myself, some I have just witnessed with my friends. The echoes of their processes, often only hinted at but not clearly expressed, leave these imprints resonating from time to time. It gives a melody of a certain mood.

When inner light streams through these forests of resonances, there is an upliftment happening. It reminds me of the beautiful sentence from “Occult Meditations” by Sri K. Parvathi Kumar (Meditation 31):

“Vena, the Gandharva, is wiping off the pictures of the subconscious mind on the walls of my nature with the hieroglyphs of sound from his seven stringed lyre.”

Gandharvas are the musical intelligences beyond the creation. They are the blissful ones and bestow the bliss causing the muse of the souls with the Super Soul.

Here are some autumn impressions, which the last weekend brought:

A wall near our house

View from a hospital window

Autumn scene on the table of the hospital’s visitors room

Lamas – since several years new guests on Swiss farms

Curious calves

A goblin greeting from the wayside

A playful farmer’s tree monster

A friend forwarded to me the newsletter of SHARAN, about curing diseases through diet. SHARAN is an Indian “Sanctuary for Health and Reconnnection to Animals and Nature”, a  non-profit organisation initiated by Nandita Shah, an Indian homeopath. My friend said she had participated in seminars with Nandita and that she is a very modest and fine woman and teacher living and working in Auroville and giving seminars. There was a good quote by Victor Hugo (1802-1885) on their website:

“First it was necessary to civilize man in relation to man. Now it is necessary to civilize man in relation to nature and the animals.”

And another quote, by Ruth Harrison, says: “In fact, if one person is unkind to an animal it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot of people are unkind to animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people.”

My friend told me that Nandita is working together with an Austrian lady, Barbara Nath Wiser, a doctor leading a clinic of her deceased husband at the foothills of the Himalayas, working for the poor Indian and Tibetan people with ayurveda, homeopathy and acupuncture. She has founded a charitable trust called Nishtha to support the activities. The organisation says: “The main objective for which the Trust has been established is to work for the benefit and development of society as a whole by improving the welfare of families with particular focus on women and children… Our approach is holistic and our philosophy is based on an integrated approach that is inclusive of physical, social and spiritual growth of people and nature. ” A good work.

A cow in a small forest ashram in India

Time is not flowing like an even river, there are rapids as well as stagnating times. The qualities are constantly changing, but there are rhythmical movements of smaller and larger cycles, be it the daily succession of dawn, noon, sunset and midnight, be it the monthly cycle of full moon, new moon and the two half-moons, be it the annual rhythm of the ascending and descending arc of the sun with the solstices and equinoxes. If you are not attentive to these rhythms, you will not feel their pulse in your life and make use of the ebb and flow of vital energies. But if you live with these rhythms, you become more and more sensitive for the currents of time and their subtle changes of motion – during the day and in the succession of events. Everything has a beginning, an unfoldment and a reflux into dissolution. (See: Basics of spiritual life, on Rhythmical Living, and the Lunar Messenger on “Rhythmical Living“.)

Yesterday there was the new moon of the month of Libra. In the annual movement the fresh vital impulse starts with Aries around spring equinox, especially the first spring full moon, where Easter is celebrated. In spirituality Aries is regarded as the noon time, where the new manifestation of spirit is at its maximum. On the reverse side we reach the low point at autumn equinox, the midnight of the year, and Libra new moon is considered to be the darkest time of the year – not winter solstice, that’s the time of the new dawn, the rising of the light celebrated as the birth of the saviour.

At Libra new moon they celebrate in the East Dipavali or Divali, the festival of light to disperse the darkness. It’s good to remember the inner light, so that it can grow and shine through. So may the light spread around and give some rays to you, too.

An American friend sent the link to a very inspiring and encouraging story of a 16 years old boy from West Bengal, India, teaching in his spare-time about 800 children for free who otherwise wouldn’t have any school – a BBC news from their series about “Hunger to learn across the world”. It is a beautiful example of selfless help and of growth through a dedicated activity, even at a young age.

Photo of Indian children, January 2009.

The daily routine tends to narrow down one’s perspectives and thoughts just run along beaten tracks. So we like going out the weekend on a hill, where the horizon is larger and the wind helps clearing the mind. It is also a good time to reflect on what has been going on the last weeks and get an “over-view” of the events. This afternoon we were on the nearby Belpberg and enjoyed beautiful old farm houses and the Bernese countryside.

An old farmhouse with a beautiful garden

Another farm around the corner

Tête à tête

A ladder to nowhere

Landscape waves

Entrance of an old villa

Angel over the entrance

An Indian friend sent me a very impressive powerpoint about Doug Landis, a quadriplegic artist paralysed from the neck down. He is drawing the delicate pictures of animals with his mouth, thus demonstrating a great mastery of his will in spite of the limitations of his body. You can see the pictures on his website.

From the website of Doug Landis (c)

Yesterday we had a beautiful excursion with our department of my office to Ballenberg, a Swiss open air museum with old farm houses and crafts. I joined the guided tour group with an experienced druggist through the medicinal herbs garden and the old pharmacy and drug store. He showed us many different herbs, explaining their beneficial effects and use in homeopathy or Spagyric medicine. We had a smell of different fragrances  in smelling bins and mixed teas as a souvenirs… In the afternoon we had a beautiful boat ride over the Lake of Thun…

Here are some impressions – without the pics with my colleagues…

Sign of an old drugstory

Inside the drugstory

In olden times herbs were ground with machines like this one …

… or with a mortar

Dried linseed plants – used for linen, for linseeds in Muesli or for linseed oil.

The guide – a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic herbalist.

Echinacea – imported from America only some decades ago.

Some onlookers…

In the souvenir shop: Swiss tourist folklore

An Indian friend sent me the following story about our being a pencil in God’s hand, for writing our story – an encouragement.

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box.
“There are 5 things you need to know,” he told the pencil, “Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be.”
“One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone’s hand.”
“Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil.”
“Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.”
“Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s inside.”
“And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.”
The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.

Now replacing the place of the pencil with you.  Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God’s hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.
Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but you’ll need it to become a stronger person.
Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.
Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s on the inside.
And Five: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.

Allow this parable on the pencil to encourage you to know that you are a special person and only you can fulfill the purpose to which you were born to accomplish.
Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot make a change.

Wood “Pencils”, from a powerpoint, author unknown

Today my wife and I made an excursion into the French part of Switzerland, about 70 km away from our home. We wanted to go for a hike on the Moleson. On the way, after leaving the highway, we came into a traffic jam, which became more and more stagnant, until we saw the reason why: There was an “Alpabzug”, a cow train back into the valley from the mountains, where they had staid over the summer. Young and old farmers in traditional costumes were accompanying the beautifully decorated cows:

Most of the cows were wearing big bells producing a loud ringing.

All the roads were blocked and the cars had to stop for several kilometers.

Finally we could go on to the downhill station of Mount Moleson (2002 m). The sky and the air around was full of clouds, and we wondered how it would be on the top. At first a funicular brought us half way up, then we changed into an aerial cableway. On the way up suddenly we came through the clouds and saw a beautiful blue sky.

After lunch we started our downhill tour along a beautiful mountain crest.

On the way clouds from the valley mounted up and crossed for a while our way, caressing us with a tender breeze.

Along the way: carline thistles

The whole way downhill was filled with a golden light, an enchanting atmosphere full of beautiful impressions and a good talk.

At the midway station

Magic light over the top of the Moleson, from the middle station

On the way back at a highway service area: another kind of a cow train

And more rotating cows in a work of art inside the service station

I came across fantastic photos of the Omo People in Ethiopia, by Hans Sylvester – very poetical expressions of a dream-like union with nature. You can also see these photos in some beautiful YouTube videos or here, with music.

A comment said: “Enjoy the photos for what they are: STAGED. These people do NOT adorn themselves this way naturally. They do paint their skin, but not this way. It’s okay for this guy to have ‘collaborated’ with these people, but then identify it as such.”

Friends of mine had been in Ethiopia last year, probably also at this Omo valley, and brought some photos of these people with their body paintings, not staged, but probably also dressed for tourists. Nevertheless, they are beautiful. So these photos here are not from the video, but from my friends.

Photos by a friend