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

A friend from Buenos Aires today sent me the link to an article of NY Times from Sept 16 on “The Holy Grail of the Unconscious”, about the “Red Book” of the psychiatrist C.G. Jung, unpublished up to now and which is going to appear soon. The book looks like a medieval volume, with paintings and decorations. There is a screen which gives some impressions. The writer describes the content: “Between the book’s heavy covers, a very modern story unfolds. It goes as follows: Man skids into midlife and loses his soul. Man goes looking for soul. After a lot of instructive hardship and adventure — taking place entirely in his head — he finds it again.” An interesting article about a life along the borders of genius and madness.

The dream stories reminded me of another person who lived nearly 900 years earlier, Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179), a great German visionary, healer and naturopath, composer, herbalist and abbess. Her impressive mystical pictures resemble Eastern paintings. There is a film about her life (in German) coming out this week, “Vision“, and you can see some trailers. Her images have impressed me very much already years ago.

Both sources are deeply spiritual journeys which influenced many people on their path.

“Cosmos”, by Hildegard von Bingen

A few days ago I got an e-mail from an acquaintance from another country, with whom I had stopped correspondence some years ago. He asked me if I already heard that 2012 there would be the end of the world.

I answered him that I had heard about these rumours and that I already had outlived several ends of the world in the 70ies, 80ies and 90ies.

He then replied with a long e-mail telling about a book of David Icke, which would make change the world, about extraterrestrials in reptile bodies, about illuminati conspiration, ufos, and the background of weakening humanity through the separation of sexes. He asked my opinion about it – I doubted it was my opinion or if it was convincing me. So I answered him that long times ago I had read about such theories and that I don’t care about them any more, wishing him a good way through the clouds.

He then answered with a longer e-mail about the infiltration of governments and that my indifference shows obviously that the extraterrestrials already have implanted a microchip into me, controlling my mind, or that I’m one of them. There followed some more explanations about the work of the ETs and their dangerous efforts towards 2012 and that the masses have to be awakened, and for this, men and women have to be re-united again, because we have been separated against our wills through the work of the ETs.

I replied that as per the separation of sexes in the human race I more follow what the Masters of Wisdom are teaching. He answered that I seem to support the existing reality, that humanity is divided and controlled by the will of an extra-terrestrial race and that the teachings of the Masters are also part of their intrigues, as per the policy of “divide and conquer”. He wants to fight against this and that the horrible separation between man and woman has to be overcome. Then followed lines about his great love of a TV-star, being his soulmate.

I won’t answer anymore. I somehow feel helpless towards such mental constructs and confusions. You can express your sympathies with an errant brother, but how to help finding out of a maze of speculations? Maybe there is some truth in some of these thoughts, and maybe I’m blinded by conventions – but so what? I have stopped trying to stumble through lofty chimerical theories and prefer walking my steps through my next neighbourhood of thoughts, letting me guide by the light of my soul.

Buddha meditating in the night – in the garden of friends

A friend just sent me the link to a video of Ani Choying Drolma, a Buddhist nun from Nepal, singing a beautiful mantra of Compassion Buddha, to develop one’s own compassion qualities to heal oneself and to heal others. Ani Choying uses the income from her songs to finance a school in Nepal. Another beautiful song is the Ganesha Mantram.

Photo from the video