Today I got the latest newsletter of “The Soul Journey“, from friends in the States, this time on “Wabi-Sabi”:

“Beauty in simplicity – that’s what wabi-sabi is. In Japanese, wabi means humble and sabi suggests the presence of beauty in the natural progression of time. In short, wabi-sabi can be seen as an aesthetic appreciation of all things, no matter how humble or simple. Or it can be seen as connecting with the essence or soul of all things, especially in their lack of adornment.
Soulful wabi-sabi is about appreciating the form that naturally occurs such as in the weathering of wood, the shape of landscapes, the colors of rocks or flowers, the flight of a bird, and other natural appearances. The wabi-sabi mindset also uses recycled materials, often in ways that are creative and unique, for waste is contrary to this aesthetic approach. Hand-crafted items are also present in a wabi-sabi environment, because of their frequently found soulful characteristics.
When the form is appreciated for what it is without the compulsion of changing it, then we can be at ease in our environment. It also encourages us to create comfort and to enjoy the experiences of our senses. It has something to say to us about simplicity and clutter as well. Simplicity has a Zen way of evoking the soul within us all since it shows the soul of things when we do not surround ourselves with excess. There is now a movement in house design based on this wabi-sabi idea. It is more than a fad since it reflects a growing soul consciousness among people.
Wabi-sabi is also about appreciating time, as having something to enjoy and value in each moment. When we do not try to cram as much as possible into the shortest amount of time, we can perhaps savour the riches, the beauty and the insights that each moment offers. This is when we can access soul naturally and spontaneously.
Let the ordinary speak to you in new ways, revealing its soul, and evoking yours. Remind yourself to live in the moment, open to inspiration and the joy of being present to your life and soul.”

Another e-mail from a German friend brought a link to a German website on the great Russian artist Nicholas Roerich (the site of the Roerich Museum in New York), where you find a short Quicktime movie about the pictures of Roerich. Roerich is for me really an example of Wabi-Sabi, beauty in simplicity

For its 50th birthday, the science magazine New Scientist has asked over 70 of the world’s most brilliant scientists for their ideas what will be the biggest breakthrough of the next 50 years. As to be expected, the answers show the specialities and disciplines of the scientists -and are often marked by the materialistic paradigm of today.

The oceanologist Daniel Pauly, gave an interesting reply reflecting a thought from the wisdom teachings which say that humanity will become more and more sensitive of all forms of life:

“In light of the time span considered here, I think the most important development for the oceans would be a device that could detect, amplify and transmit to us the emotions and fleeting, inarticulate “thoughts” of animals in such a form as to evoke analogous emotions and thoughts in human brains. This would first work with primates, then mammals in general, then the other vertebrates including fish. This would cause, obviously, a global revulsion at eating flesh of all kinds, and we would all become vegetarians.”

A vegetarian diet has to do with good will, for this way we contribute to reduce violence towards the animal kingdom. You might want to read our booklet “Ideas and Recipes for a Lacto-Vegetarian Diet“.

I yesterday read an interview with Jean-Daniel Gerber, director of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in the “NZZ Executive“, which made me heartily laught. Mr. Gerber has a beautiful sense of humour.

Q: Which formation would you make up for if you could? A: Astrology, to give a scientific basis for the economic prognostics.

Q: How many e-mails are you answering per week? A: About 53.4. And in a good mood 2 more.

Q: From which failure did you learn most? A: When I once applied for the role of the donkey in a nativity play and was rejected as unqualified.

Q: Your favorite film? A: Kodak.

And he also shows a good sense of right values in life:

Q: As a citizen, what bothers you most? A: That politics is given priority to expertise.

Q: What is your professional example? A: Jimmy Carter, who after his failed presidentship reached the real height of his career with the Carter Institute for Human Rights.

Q: Which qualities with you collegues do you estimate most? A: When they prevent me from my own stupidity.

Yesterday evening I was discussing with my wife the difficulty, how people can find access to and a place in voluntary work of good will, especially in a spiritually motivated work: A short time ago I had heard from two persons who, due to different reasons, had withdrawn from publication projects with which I am co-operating. And two months ago the person who had helped me translating the monthly Lunar Messenger into English had withdrawn due to work overload with other professional and private commitments, so that I am doing these translations myself again – though not “living” in the English language. And for the person who also two months ago had withdrawn from the Spanish proof-reading, again due to work-overload, quickly another person had stepped in. Recently in my team at the office a web-developer had resigned from the job, so that I’m now searching a replacement.

In professional life you just publish an advertisement, if you are looking for new collaborators. In good-will work it doesn’t work like that. People come to help when they see a function where they could find self-unfoldment (see the blogpost on The Future of Volunteer Work.). Like with an apprenticeship it needs quite a time and monitoring before people can be charged with more responsible work, for example for translation or in publishing. It needs skills, flexibility and readiness to co-operate in a rhythmic, persistent manner. For a spiritually motivated individual it is quite a step to start working. And it is more demanding working in a group. People often drop out after an enthusiatic start, because they meet difficulties or they suddenly have other priorities.
You need to develop such a co-operation and commitment to a voluntary work, that a qualitatively high standing result is produced, and this takes time. I observed it with the Paracelsus Journal or the Vaisakh Newsletter, both projects of the WTT with which we are co-operating. It is the experience that people are attracted to such a co-operation through the magnetism of spiritual wisdom. In-spiration is the best and lasting power for such a commitment and self-commitment.

By the way: The WTT movement started today 35 years ago, on 18th November 1971. It grew in slow bur sure steps out of the underlying spiritual seeds. It has given inspiration and a platform for many a spiritually inspired activity of good will.

In the last two days I got two beautiful powerpoint presentations from friends in Spain, one with photos from a journey to Tibet (3 MB), another with most delicate motives from China (5.9 MB). Have a look at them, if you like to make a journey in your imagination.

The European edition of the US weekly mewsmagazine Time has chosen Linus Torvalds, father of the Linux system, on its list of heros of the last 60 years. By giving away his software, the Finnish programmer had earned a place in history, Time writes. They chose him in the category “Leaders and Rebels”. He was just 21 when he changed the world by writing the kernel of a new computer operating system called Linux. He posted it for free on the internet and invited anyone interested to help improve it.

“Today, 15 years later, Linux powers everything from supercomputers to mobile phones around the world, and Torvalds has achieved fame as the godfather of the open-source movement, in which software code is shared and developed in a collaborative effort rather than being kept locked up by a single owner”, Time writes.

The power of giving is a central spiritual principle. You can read more about it in the issue on Giving and Taking of the Good Will in Action.

A beautiful new photo of the Hubble space telescope looking like a modern painting shows the Orion nebula in an explosion of infrared, ultraviolet and visible-light colors. It was “painted” by hundreds of baby stars on a canvas of gas and dust, with intense ultraviolet light and strong stellar winds as brushes.

This morning I saw in the customer magazine of the “BKW Energie” an article about the Swiss artist Urs-P. Twellmann, who is creating beautiful artworks in nature – circles, spheres, spirals… He is working mainly with wood and ice. You might like to have a look at his website:

Yesterday I came across an article in the NZZ (New Zurich Newspaper) about the missing co-operation between doctors and building biologist (in English they also use the word Baubiologie, as the word was coined in Germany). Often general practitioners don’t recognize morbid environmental influences and see the causes of unspecific functional pains as psycho-somatic diseases. The people don’t fimd themselves taken seriously and turn to paramedicals or building biologists. There is a whole spectrum of possible influences, from asbestos, radon to electromagnetic pollution, which building biologists take into account. Electromagnetic pollution, from mobiles, computer micro-waves and the like is much disputed and the pro-advocators of mobiles see the symptoms of diseases often just as existing psychiatric diseases.

In Switzerland an association of doctors for environmental protection has just been formed who is trying to sensitize medical practices in the whole of Switzerland for the questions of building biology. If you would like to know more about the spiritual dimension of buildings you might read the issue on “Body and House” (pdf) of Good Will in Action.

Yesterday while surfing in the noon pause I came across a note on the Computerbild-website, a German computer magazine, telling that there will be compatibility problems between older and the new version of Microsoft “Office 2007”, which will be launched probably next February (for enterprises: from end of November 06 on).

Documents produced in the new version of the software are saved in a file format which normally cannot be read by old versions of word, excel or powerpoint. Therefore Microsoft has now published a free “Office Compatibility Pack“. The software can be inserted in “Office 2000”, “Office XP” and “Office 2003”. After the installation loading and saving of Office 2007 documents is possible.

Remembering well the problems I had with the documents of the recent 2003-version, when I still had the older 2000 version, I immediately installed the file (27,1MB) and informed my friends about the problem. I hope that Microsoft doesn’t have more “surprises” for other or older system users hidden in the new Office and Vista versions, with their quasi market monopoly.