The last weeks there had been several contacts or situations, where couples were separating, divorcing or going through a crisis, some of them after long years of marriage. Everywhere there was a process of becoming aware that there wasn’t anymore basis for the relation. They had drifted apart or realised that it would be better so end the situation by one of the partners leaving the common flat.

My wife observed: “Over years they had suppressed emotions or closed the eyes to certain situations. It is like putting them into a storage room, or rather putting them into a safe, locking them thrice and then loosing the key.”

But you cannot cut away by means of surgery parts of your life, they start leading a life of their own: In some of the cases unwholesome forms of behaviour had developed, in another there was an emotional ice age freezing certain parts of perception.There remains a more or less subtle feeing of sickness of the situation, and like with cancer, emotional metastases develop. The origin isn’t the metastasis which you perceive somewhere in the relation, but the underlying blockages of life energy.

My wife said, that in the talks with the persons she feels like a mining rescuer going down into the mine with a headlight and bringing miners back to light: “I had to learn not to interfere with the concrete situation by way of giving advices, but by helping them to align to their soul, to the light. When this alignment is gained, they themselves find their way.”

And even if the way seems to be painful at the first look, it is like re-integrating long lost parts of life back into the greater whole. And this has a deep healing impact.

Figure of a troll in a Norwegian museum. Blocked emotions sit in us like in a cellar.

A friend wrote me that she see so much competition and rivalry within spiritual groups gives her problems: “Why are there always so many divisions and splits? Why can’t you just work for a common cause, to express synthesis in practical life?”

She tries to keep contact with the different groups and to get people exchange, but it seems to be a long way. A friend of her is in a deep crisis, because she has just been excluded from a group. She told me she sent her the last Lunar Messenger on “Dealing with Obstacles“, since the text was very fitting.

I answered her that sometimes these divisions are like cell divisions and bring about something new, sometimes old things / attitudes fall off, or people with another vibration frequency separate. I had this experience several times in my life. It is like in the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, who was excluded from his flock only to find a way to groups of a higher order.

Often it is a “clashing of personalities”, which causes groups to exclude members, especially with dominant leaders or with fix ideas about how things should be. Like with an individual, groups also have their personality… Freedom of the individual and ruling oneself and not the other is most important for a good cooperation in a spiritual or good-will group.

Group conflict sometimes end with broken relations….

Yesterday evening we had the first of our evening themes on Meditation – Experiment and Experience. I was a bit nervous in the beginning: It took some time until the beamer was set up and the room well prepared. By an by people came in, at the end we were all together 17 persons filling the small room: members of our group, friends of friends, a colleague, and one person who came via the newspaper advertisement.

When starting to talk, slowly the inner tension dissolved and after a while the words came more like a flow. Using the powerpoint presentation was a good help, though I think next time I will go more to free speech. It was a bit dense: My wife commented afterwards: “You have done a concentrate of a concentrate, it can be a bit less dense. But one could feel that it is a result of long years of pondering, and it was genuinely you.”
The input took 45 minutes. Then, after a little pause, my wife continued with a guided meditation, so that people could experience what had been said before. A deep silence and relaxation entered the room, from far only the noise from the restaurant above resounded. I hadn’t heard my wife do this kind of guided meditation before. It was inspiring, for it gave a step-by-step intro, good for the new-comers.

Afterwards she asked each one, if he or she would like to say a bit about their experience. Some just drowsed away, some experienced relaxation, some a deep silence. One person couldn’t relax due to a cold. So we had a bunch of experiences, reflecting the individual dispositions.
Some points could be cleared: We don’t try to stop our thoughts, yes, it’s ok to sleep, for afterwards you feel refreshed. And don’t try to keep an uncomfortable position… It seemed to me that on the face of a lady a question mark of scepticism, which before meditation was very visible, had dissolved a bit. The face had relaxed and showed a tinge of a smile…

The time was quickly over: People expressed their thanks and slowly left. When clearing the room I thought of the energy expressing through the group. There was a certain coherence, which was carried through by the whole group. It was a beautiful presence, and I felt, it was a gift from higher circles.

An inner experience can be the start for a new direction on one’s path.

Yesterday we had staff trainings on IT security. An instructor showed us different ways intruders try to break into a system and how they manage to change or steal information. Some new security measures were presented, and the head of our ITC services encouraged us to keep an eye on our systems at home, too: “Do at least a monthly scan of the hard disk…”

Well, I thought, I have some active measures, firewall, anti-virus, … I’m on the safe side.

Nevertheless I started a hard disc scan in the evening. Two times it got stuck half-way through and the system was blocked. The third time the scan went on, for a long time, through all the programs and folders. And indeed, somewhere in the system trays different malwares had crept in since the last scan. I don’t know what they’d been doing, but now these little cyber-animals had to give up their pernicious activities…

It reminded me of the subtle noxious thoughts creeping in when you aren’t on your guard. Vigilance and discrimination are very much needed to keep these virus-infections away from your inside.

Today is Scorpio full moon, and secret activities going on hidden under the surface are qualities of this sign. It rules over venomous creatures that try to hide in holes and do their stinging and attacking from there. The worms and bugs stealthily infiltrating the PC and the ones operating with them, aren’t they real Scorpions? You might like to read about the qualities of Scorpio in the “Letters on Spiritual Astrology” or in the book “Spiritual Astrology” by Dr. E. Krishnamacharya.

Keeping creeping creatures out of the system – spider and ladybug on an artichoke.

Today a friend of us, a young student and daughter of a long-time friend, came for a visit. Some weeks ago she started her studies at the university, and one of her subjects is philosophy. In the 70ies and 80ies I had studied philosophy for about 10 years. I stopped reading  philosophy books after my high school teacher graduation 21 years ago, and a head reeling from theories. I felt much more attracted to practical spirituality than to mental concepts, though an inquisitive nature and a joy with words have remained.

A big box with philosophical books had been slumbering over the years  in the basement. My friend was happy to take a number of books, which might help her in her studies, and I was happy that finally there was somebody to whom they could be of help. I felt relieved. Taking the books into my hands, images of old came up – battles of ideas, searches for meaning, discussions, irritations. Giving the books away was like freeing blocked energies in the “basement” of my mind and putting them into a flow.

Waterfall at the Beatus-Caves, Bernese Alps

A bit over a month ago, at a seminar in Montserrat, our spiritual teacher, Dr. K. P. Kumar, made to me the proposal to start going out and to speak to interested people about the wisdom teachings, about meditation or other topics.

In the meantime I pondered on it, also in our local group. The impulse worked out to the idea of a series of 4 evening themes on “Meditation – Experiment and Experience”. The title was the outcome of a group discussion.

We then looked around and found a nice seminar room in a nearby hotel. Next was to prepare the announcements, then to structure the content and put it into a good form. Luckily over the years quite a number of topics had been dealt with in our monthly publications of the Good Will newsletters. I had collected photos, also from friend, which I use for illustrating spiritual subjects. So I prepared a number of powerpoint slides on different subjects such as the relation between soul and personality, dealing with thought, the use of sound. It was for me a fascinating experience, a synthesis of many things I had been occupied with since many years. 30 years ago I had participated in a meditation teacher training course, and then taught meditation for some years, before leaving that movement and stopping speaking about meditation.

Looking back, I feel that it was much too early, with too little experience of my own. In the meantime my understanding has deepened over the years, and I’m now looking forward to next week, where there will be the first evening.

Buddha teaching – Ajanta Caves, India, photo of a friend

Last week the management body of my office decided to introduce MS-Sharepoint for our intranet and document management, and I’ll be in charge of the project management. It had been quite a way until this decision came about, and I breathed a sigh of relief, for our old system is a bit run-down… As soon as the contract documents with the agency who will do the implementation is signed, the project can start, and it will keep me busy for the next months.

The contract documents… There was a draft of the agency, but our internal lawyer didn’t agree with it: He just wrote another draft, with some specifications I added: “He who pays the piper calls the tune” he said, “I’m sure they’ll agree if they want to have the job.” Now it’s their turn. A power play shaping the conditions of the relation.

In business it is quite normal that when you want something you start exerting power in a direct or indirect way. Often you don’t recognize it, and it’s very common. In spirituality you learn not to exert personal power, but let things evolve, recognizing the trend of the plan or time and acting along that line. Personal power normally creates polarities, integration or synthesis requires inclusion of opposite viewpoints. Whether an act is to be a confrontation or a clearance depends on the underlying motives. You might like to read a bit more about the Power of Motives.

E-waste, the flip-side of our progress

On October 9th, Yoko Ono, the wife of late John Lennon has unveiled the IMAGINE PEACE TOWER on Videy Island, Reykjavik, Iceland. It is dedicated to the memory of John Lennon, and the day would have been his 67th birthday. The IMAGINE PEACE TOWER will shine as a beacon for World Peace.

The IMAGINE PEACE TOWER is a work of art conceived by Yoko Ono. It is dedicated to peace and bears the inscription ‘IMAGINE PEACE’ in 24 languages. The work is in the form of a wishing well from which a very strong and tall tower of light emerges. The strength, intensity and brilliance of the light tower continually changes as the particles in the air fluctuate with the prevailing weather and atmospheric conditions unique to Iceland. The electricity for the light comes entirely from the Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant. Every year it will light up between October 9th (Lennon’s birthday) and December 8th (the day of his death). In addition the IMAGINE PEACE TOWER will be lit on New Year’s Eve, during the first week of spring and on some rare special occasions agreed between the City and Ono.

At that occasion of the inauguration Yoko Ono said:
“Our work to shift the axis of the world has now begun. From here on, let’s not waste even for a moment on depressing thoughts about our future. Negative thoughts are luxury we can’t afford. The future of the world is in our hands. It’s time for action. Action is love. I love you!”

There were greetings from many around the world. Michael Moore wrote:
“I believe in the basic goodness of all people. I know that inside each one of my fellow human beings there exists an enormous capacity to love and do good for each other. I also know that that goodness can be snuffed out, and that the world can start to look like a dark place. It is up to each of us to create the world we were meant to live in, a decent and just place where all have the oppurtunity to live in peace. This peace can be obtained once every soul has been given a seat at the table, and fruits of this life are shared so that all are nourished and can thrive. Thank you, John Lennon, for living this every day of your life. Happy birthday to you and to all of mankind.”

Imagination is a very powerful instrument to foster good will, so may this initiative of Yoko Ono bring inspiration to action for the well-being of all.

The Peace Tower (c) imaginepeace.com

Today a friend sent me a beautiful powerpoint presentation (not the sound…) about the Giant Crystal Cave in the Naica Mine of Chihuahua, Mexico. It is said that these are the largest natural crystals on Earth. The pictures are awe-inspiring, very impressive. You can read more about the crystal cave here or find more information and links at Wikipedia.

An addition: A friend sent me a comment on the giant crystals from an intellectual colleague:
“You do know this is bullshit. Yes they are ‘actual’, but they are not verídicas (please excuse the bit of show-off pedantry). A clever but still fairly obvious cut-and-paste hoax. Pay careful attention to light angles and shadows, also different levels of focus. And, like all other similar fakes, if they are real why haven’t we already seen them in National Geographic? Still, interesting bullshit.”

It seems that this colleague didn’t read his “National Geographic” bible well enough, for they posted an article on the caves on April 6th, 2006, also with a photo.

This crystal isn’t from the mine, it is in the house of a friend.

The pictures of the Crystal Cave remind me of the famous painting of Nicholas Roerich “Most Sacred – Treasure of the Mountain” of 1933. He is combining in his pictures sublime spirituality with extraordinary beauty.

Courtesy Roerich-Museum, New York

During our talk yesterday with our spiritual teacher, Dr. K. P. Kumar, we touched the point of two persons living from teaching spirituality and/or astrology. He was laughing when I mentioned a friend just told me that one of the persons is even offering to give initiations: “He has a strong Mercury, so he has a good sense of business…”

I know from Sri Kumar’s teachings and from previous talks with him that he strongly advises not to live on teaching wisdom, but to have a normal job in society. He says: “The Masters of Wisdom give the wisdom for free, they do not claim it for themselves, because it belongs to all. It is very grave if you earn money with conveying wisdom.” (See: Good Will in Action 11, Giving and Taking) Today people everywhere only think of earning money, and even in esoteric circles they take the knowledge given by the Masters, add their own language, and give it as their own thing.

This is the case of the other person. Sri Kumar remarked: “Teaching is somehow a life-insurance for her. What would happen to her if the people run away…” So she is clinging to them, not letting them free. It is a subtle way of controlling the people.

Of course people have their own logic legitimizing what they are doing: “It is my profession, I have to live from something, it is a job like any other… I need all my time to do good work, so this is my job…” But logic doesn’t change the spiritual principles. It is interesting to observe that by trying to do so they create subtle clouds of confusion and barriers for their progress. Sooner or later they will have to clear them away.

My wife said: “When there is a commercial motive involved, I feel myself regarded as a customer bringing money, but not as a soul, as I AM. I become a supplier of work or attention, a follower, being used for someone’s purposes.” It is a purpose foreign to me. In spirituality we want to experience the soul and be touched as souls and not as something else. Normally we come to know this difference only when we have experienced someone, who sees us as a soul and behaves with us as a soul, a genuine teacher This is touching you deep from within.

Madonnas in Montserrat: Commercialized spirituality