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

Yesterday afternoon we went to Einsiedeln. Our spiritual teacher, Dr. K. P. Kumar, who just returned from a 6 weeks’ tour to Spain and the Caribbean, had invited my wife and me to come over for an evening. We had a long talk, going from the present political situation between the super-powers, Burma and India, to a number of private questions and general points of spirituality. As usual, it was very uplifting.

We discussed the plan of our local group to organise a few meetings about meditation and everyday life. He suggested that we also explain to the people the meaning of the circle with the cross (which you see at the top of our blog):

It is one of the ancient-most signs representing the totality of life. The 4 arms of the cross are symbolic for the four stages of expression of life: as existence, awareness, thought and action. We know the dimension of action very well. All the day we are acting. And we fairly well know the dimension of thoughts, for they are guiding our actions. As per the other two dimensions we normally don’t know, but we get into them through meditation. The experience of pure existence is called Samadhi in the East. Normally we experience existence without awareness: When we awake in the morning we know that we have existed during the night, but without conscious experience. Pure awareness is also normally not known to us, because one thought after the other passes through our mind.

I asked him why it is so difficult for people here in the West to approach spiritual concepts, it sometimes gives me a feeling of a burden of heaviness. He said, that here in the West the focus is on the material side and that it is much easier in the East to get into the spiritual dimension: “But the West is needed as well. It is part of the whole.”

We have here a very dense atmosphere, which is difficult to pierce through. But with the help from higher circles we can magnetize it slowly. “The internet is a great facility to connect the searchers dispersed all over the globe.” He then explained how the work with colours – from violet flame to rose, to green, orange, and we can slowly get into more subtle planes. Orange colour helps to clean the mental. Then from colour to sound: “OM is creating a funnel through which subtle energies can manifest.” It needs stable channels for the energies to manifest. For this we work.

After the evening meditation and dinner we went back home. He, his wife and an Indian friend who had accompanied them left today, back to India.

Piercing through the clouds: Durga-Mountains, Nilagiris, India

Last Wednesday the team of our division at my office made a works outing to Augusta Raurica, an ancient Roman city located about 20 km east of Basel near the village of Kaiseraugst. It is the oldest known Roman colony on the Rhine. Today there is a large archaeological site with a museum.

It somehow touched me to see how, over a period of about 300 years, from about 40 BCE to 260 CE the city developed to a prosperous place, with a big amphitheatre, numerous temples and commercial centres. Then, after battles with invading German tribes, the upper village was destroyed and a small fort and settlement remained over the centuries. It was the biggest Swiss city until the 19th century. In the last decennies archeology has restored parts of the ruins and tried to reconstruct how people lived at the flourishing times. Many layers of mud had covered the ancient sites, often several meters of debris.

Reconstructing bygone splendour: How did people live in the past? A lot remains speculation. And what about our way of life? How will people think about it in some thousand years?

We often have the impression that the society where we are living in is a stable situation, with all the infrastructures. But things can quickly change, and there have been so many empires coming and going. Also in our lives the qualities of time cycles keep on changing, often without our noticing it.

In Kaiseraugst people had found precious silver plates on fields, without knowing their value, and had even thrown some away into the garbage. It’s not so easy to discover a rare value, when you don’t have the eye to see. Some had taken silver treasures to their homes, but had to give them back, because these are common good. Also a very “normal” human trend of “appropriating” things…

Mercury, the messenger of God – for long periods he was waiting hidden in the earth. Likewise for long centuries the ancient wisdom, symbolised by the statues of Gods, was in the West lying deeply buried under orthodoy and materialism.

The reason I went to Berlin was to meet the Ayurvedic specialist who is treating me with chronic ear problems and a dysfunction of the digestive system. I had seen him 18 months ago and it became necessary to do some adjustments in the therapy, and the pulse diagnosis cannot be done by phone…

My friends in Berlin had arranged everything for me and saw that I was brought to the place where the Ayurvedic therapist was working. He explained to me that Vedya is the title for an Ayurvedic healer, and not doctor. He is from a long tradition of healers and has a deep knowledge of medicine and healing.

I was again impressed how by feeling the different rhythms of the pulse he was able to locate several problems, some of them were known to me. I was to visit him 4 times during the three day’s stay in Berlin. He first gave me another combination of herb powders and tablets to be taken during these days and explained some health advise.

He trained with me a number of breathing exercises to strengthen the oxigen circulation and to cast off unhealthy mucus. And the exercises expelled quite some mucus from the lungs.

In the next meeting he checked again the pulse and gave some Yoga exercises to stimulate the digestive system and certain energy channels. So some more exercises are adding to my daily routine. Trying them out this morning showed a good energizing effect.

The last pulse check this morning indicated some betterments. So with this “multi-pack” of natural medicines and therapeutical exercises there is a good chance of stimulating a curative effect counteracting the physical defects.

Shiva Shop in Berlin

Ganesha greeting at the entrance

Yesterday my friend where I staid in Berlin asked me if I would like to go with her to the “torture rack”: An automatic massage system developed in Korea. I was a bit sceptical, but thought I might give it a try. When we entered the small studio, there was a gentle smell of exotic herbs in the air. Two rooms were filled with thermal massage couches, where people were lying, covered with a blanket. We were offered a tea by an elderly Korean lady, and after some minutes one of the couches became free. It was now my turn.

As soon as I had laid down on the warm couch and was covered, a little mechanism with jade stone rollers started moving along the spine, pressing it up a bit at certain points, rolling to and fro. At first it gave me a certain tension, but then it was more and more relaxing. Pleasant smells streamed into the plastic capsule which was put over my head. At the same time another mechanism was waruming my feet. The pressing, kneading and stretching of the jade rollers all along the spine went on for 40 minutes. Their with gentle movements were massaging the different vertebrae from top to bottom – a very vitalising and harmonising feeling.

At the end we got another cup of tea, this time by the Korean husband, who explained us a bit about his work and plans of spreading this innovative massage system, combining different therapy forms with modern technology (they have won a number of prizes with the DWZone-Master massage system) – and this at a very reasonable price.

Last Thursday I was flying with Swiss to Berlin. During the flight they are showing on a flatscreen a map of the route with the position of the plane. Different cities in Europe were marked, but neither Berlin nor any other German cities. When we landed in Berlin it was on the map as if we landed on a green lawn. I had to smile…

It reminded me of the maps we have in our mind, especially the one of our life. We are often heading towards a goal without knowing where and how we are going. But nevertheless we are on a way. If we know the goal, we can orient and adjust the direction.

The plane arrived well, though the sky was clouded. It is incorporated into a network of navigation systems and guiding impulses. Even if the sub-map in the cabin isn’t showing the goal, in the bigger chart system of navigation we were well on the track. So there is also a bigger cartography system, to which we can link up and follow the lines.

Some days ago a web-acquaintance wrote to me asking about a website on “The Real Jesus”. The link he sent brought a site of a domain grabber, but with Google I later found the “real” site. My friend wrote: “The channelled stuff from Jesus and other ‘ascended masters’ is quite fascinating. If you have the time, please browse their pages. I would like to know your opinion on this.”

I answered him that without looking into the site, the hints he had written gave me the impression of another illusionary cloud: “A person boasting to channel ‘the real Jesus’… Channeling by itself demands a high purity. Many claim high contacts, and you aren’t able to check the claim. Look at the good work to humanity, not any lofty words and see the fruits in transformation of character, and then judge by the fruits of the work / transformation and not the words. This might give you a guideline when you come across glittering gold, to distinguish it from genuine gold. Normally when you look at the seed, you will know how the tree will unfold. And there is the original sun, reflecting on the moon, which again is reflecting on the water and that light then on the eye, giving us the impression of direct spiritual light when not knowing that it is a reflection’s reflection’s reflection…”

My friend answered: “My point is: the moment one partakes in a movement which is guided ‘behind the curtains’ by Masters -ascended or not- which are not part of the everyday world, a lot of contrary information springs forth. One can see it with the masters made popular by the theosophists, one can see this phenomenon with Babaji… (He gave a few encounters with people of different movements) They all believe their ‘truths’ on the authority of someone else. And that ‘someone else’ is a special messenger/disciple from one of the masters or from the Christ himself. For me, all this is fascinating and I appreciate very much the wisdom coming from your tradition and masters. But for my peace of mind, I could never wholeheartedly follow such a system. Doubts would always be there…”

I replied to him: “There are of course many ways, and people may enjoy what they like to enjoy and to belief being right. Creation is manifold, and also the ways. There is no need that you follow my way, if you don’t feel well with it.”

When I later had a glance through the “Jesus”-site, I found there many teachings on different topics, but nothing about the importance of service and good will activities for practical spirituality (see our Good Will in Action on The Value of Service). There were more questions remaining besides a feeling of vagueness.

In earlier discussions my friend had written that he doesn’t want to limit himself to a teaching but to stay open to all kinds of teachings. I had answered him that in order to go into a greater depth that according to my experience it is necessary to develop discrimination and an understanding of guiding principles. A mixture is not synthesis, and openness doesn’t come into the way of clearing one’s understanding. It is not a matter of just following a tradition of teachings or Masters, for this will keep you as blind as before, if you don’t develop discrimination and deepen your understanding by putting something you have understood into practice.

Mask with gold ornaments, Museum of Delphi, Greece