I’m quite reserved as per political activism and campaigning for social change ideas, believing in the fact that the change I want to see outside has to grow within me first.

However, the last months I have changed a bit my position when I came across an inspiring movement called “Sum of us” (sumofus.org). )I know other such campaigning movements fighting against social and environmental atrocities and violence, and I’m also a bit active with the well-known Avaaz.)

When reading about SumOfUs, I had to think of what I read many years ago in the book Esoteric Psychology Vol. II, p. 742 from 1942 by Alice A. Bailey / The Tibetan Master:

“Their united good will (at present latent, unused and unorganised) can become a world force and through sheer weight of numbers, these people can make their presence effectively felt.  It will be a force which can mould public opinion through the expression of intelligent love (with the emphasis upon the word intelligent) but which will employ no separative devices, no armed force, no coercion and no political scheming and manipulation.  Is it not possible so to evoke the spirit of good will, present but oft inactive in the hearts of all men, that there will be such a vast number of men and women of good will in the world—consciously in touch with each other throughout the planet—that their voice will not be negligible, nor their expressed desires impotent?”

Many initiatives carry this spirit of good will. I have reported about some in this blog. SumOfUs is clearly in this spirit -here are their last campaigns:

• A campaign against Nestlé patenting the fennel flower.
• A campaign against Nestlé going into poor countries like Pakistan and buying up whatever clean water is available.
• A campaign against corporate agribusiness wanting the Canadian parliament to give them long-term patent rights over seeds.
• A campaign against Google not paying taxes to governments around the world.
• A campaign against bee killing poisons.
• A campaign for Sumatran orangutans – giant food corporations drive them to the brink of extinction by massive palm oil plantations.
• A campaign for calling on European leaders to make sure the Robin Hood tax passes (to make bankers pay and benefit the poorest in the world).
• A campaign against Nike firing workers for forming a union.
• A campaign for the State of Vermont against Monsanto who is fighting hard to kill GMO labelling in Vermont.

See what they write on their website:

“Here’s what we stand for:

• Governments that answer to citizens – not corporations
• Fair treatment of workers and the right of every human being to make a living, safely and ethically, for themselves and their family;
• The right of ordinary consumers to products that are produced and marketed ethically, sustainably and transparently;
• The right of communities to manage and protect their own environment and natural resources;
• Business models that put people and the planet first instead of being driven by shortsighted greed.

Yeah, take that deep breath, close your eyes and imagine what kind of a world that could be – and then crash back to this one.

We’ve witnessed again and again what happens when powerful corporations get their way:

• Environmental and health catastrophes like Fukushima and the BP oil disaster;
• A global financial crisis that destroys entire economies;
• Rising food prices and starving children;
• Families from Kalamazoo to Timbuktu losing their houses and land;
• Poisons pouring into our air and water.

You name it, corporations are behind it. But rather than being held accountable – their CEOs are often walking away with bonuses. And these injustices are largely left to continue unabated.
But the world doesn’t have to be this way. And here’s the secret: We own the corporations that are causing all these problems. They rely on us to buy their products. They count on us to buy their stock. They need us to work for them. They need us to continue to elect governments that let them get away with murder.
We are SumOfUs.org, and we’re not going to take it anymore.

So these are forces of Good-Will which counter-balance destructive trends.

Last week during the meeting with Sri Kumar and the WTT Executive Board, there was a short sequence of conversation which this morning came again to my mind:

I told Sri Kumar that I had several Skype and email exchanges with a doctor who is very much interested in meeting him during Sri Kumar’s tour to Europe. I said, “He is also engaged in the (XX) School and very seriously committed to the spiritual path.”

Sri Kumar replied, “Yes, there are many students of this school very serious with spirituality and I have first to get them away from their seriousness. Without joyfulness, not much can be done on the path.” And he looked at me with his soft, smiling glance.

A day after the talk, Sri Kumar arrived at Spain, Barcelona Airport, 6 June 14 – picture of a friend

We all face challenges in life and learn to overcome what is blocking us. Striving to overcome obstacles is mainly an inner process, and all the more when you tackle your inner barriers, weaknesses or wounds. We chose the challenges ourselves, as a program of our soul, even if the situations seem to come from the outside.

Since my childhood I got dizzy when looking down from a rock, a bridge or a high building. There was an ache in my belly and I had to step back.

October 2012, a new pedestrian bridge had been inaugurated in Sigriswil near the Lake Thun, leading over a deep gorge. The bridge has a length of 340 m and the gorge is 182 m deep – and you have a gorgeous view of the lake and the Bernese Alps with the Jungfrau.

My wife and I went there shortly after the inauguration. There were a lot of people crossing the bridge, and though it is very solidly constructed it is vibrating and swinging. While walking over the bridge I felt so dizzy that I had to half-close my eyes, cling with one hand anxiously to the banister and with the other hold the hand of my wife. Thus I managed crossing the abyss but did not dare to look down. With the head I knew that there was no danger but my system responded otherwise.

Yesterday I proposed to my wife to go for a walk in Sigriswil and then also cross the bridge again.

View of the bridge from above the village, the the background you see the Lake of Thun.

My wife had just done a formation in EmoTrance in Germany and she proposed doing an exercise with me, when the dizziness would come again on the bridge. So we entered the bridge. After about 100 m I stopped and looked down to the lake, softly breezing: The dizziness and the ache in the belly were there but not extreme.

Looking down from the bridge

The pathway with Mount Jungfrau in the background

My wife made me locate the centre of the ache in the lower abdomen and visualise the blocked energies getting into a circulation and search for a way out of the body. I let it flow down towards the feet and out. The unpleasant feeling in the abdomen remained. After several turns it became a little better. We crossed the bridge and continued with the exercise standing on firm ground again – letting the energy circulate and “wash out” the blockages. Then we had an ice-cream in a panorama restaurant.

Mount Niesen overlooking the Lake Thun

On the way back I entered the bridge and fixed my gaze on the persons ahead. I was astonished that I could walk over the bridge and even look down without getting dizzy. The unpleasant feeling in the abdomen had disappeared. My wife commented, “It is an energetic thing, and when the energy is no more blocked, the emotion is no more there.” For me it was a big step of overcoming an old inner barrier.

Like other organisations, the WTT also has an organisational structure. And since the seat of WTT-Global is in Switzerland and it is an association, we also have an Executive Board and General Assemblies… This sounds much like paper, paragraphs and paraphernalia. That’s true but it also has a fascinating part of contacts and cooperation.

Two days ago, Sri Kumar arrived in Switzerland for the beginning of this year’s tour to Europe. And yesterday we had our Executive Board meeting with him, to review what has been going on during the last year and to prepare the General Assembly – it will be in two weeks in Germany. I love these meetings; they are always a good occasion to observe Sri Kumar how he deals with organisational matters, and in this he has been a great role model for me – leisurely, clear, inspiring and constructive.

We discussed the Annual Report and the topics of the General Assembly. And we spoke about the May Call Day celebrations; I told Sri Kumar of our meeting at the Paracelsus centre. He was very positive about it and proposed that we should do there regular celebrations at the cardinal points of the year, the solstices and equinoxes. I will see with some group members how this can be put into practice.

After the evening meditation all of us went for a little walk at a beautiful way along Lake Lucerne. And the evening ended with a tomato soup + rice dinner with Indian chutney 🙂 before I returned home again.

Cooperation on the lake. In the background you see Hergiswil, where there is the seat of WTT-Global.

The children born in the last decades are much more electric and have a faster reaction time -through the influence of Uranus their bodies are becoming lighter and more refined.

Last Saturday I was invited to a “Generation Workshop” (GenerActions) at a regional trade fair in Grenchen. A friend working at Infocklick.ch, the Swiss child and youth promotion, had invited me for this encounter of different generations: Young persons who have ideas and projects meet experienced people of the elder generation and can tap on their knowledge and experience. A fascinating approach.

The stand of the workshop was in the huge hall of the Swiss Velodrome. Members of three projects and some  experienced adults were there. One project was a magazine called “und” (and), of young and old working together in a “generation tandem” magazine. Another project was about launching a youth parliament in a Swiss canton. And a third one was a web radio.

I joined the two 14 years old boys who are running since 2 years the web radio “WRS1” (Web Radio Switzerland 1) – youngsters for youngsters. With their team of 4 boys Dominic and Noah realise two broadcasts of two hours per week. I was fascinated by their technical knowledge and cleverness. Beside the broadcasting they are actively using different communication channels: website, YouTube, Facebook…

I went with them through their website and gave them hints how to optimize the site and the way they are communicating. They were very attentive, taking notes, asking. And while the other workshops were already over we were still sitting together and intensely discussing. There was a breeze of Aquarian wind in the air – I’m sure these young people will bring fresh innovations in the near future. Thank you Dominic and Noah for allowing me to use the photos of you.

The two members of the web radio team

In action

In 1993, on a flight to Europe, Sri Kumar read an article in an inflight magazine about Paracelsus, the great occultist, alchemist and healer. At that time, there were celebrations in Switzerland of the 500th birthday of Paracelsus. Sri Kumar decided to visit the birthplace of this great initiate. So together with Jesus and Tiziana they walked the 5 km from Einsiedeln to the place where Paracelsus was born. Lying on a meadow, he had the vision of an Eagle with the inspiration that some day there would be a centre dedicated to Paracelsus at this place.

On 29 May 1999, the May Call Day, Sri Kumar made a trip with the group members from Mt. Rigi to the Paracelsus centre and suggested the next day that it would be good to dedicate some activity to Paracelsus at this place. Two weeks later, members of a Swiss group rented a small apartment in the house – the start of the Paracelsus Centre. And in December 1999, Sri Kumar gave a fascinating seminar on Paracelsus in Einsiedeln, and we all visited the new centre on the birthday of the initiate. Since about 10 years, the Paracelsus centre is now rent by the WTT – offering a space for meditation and study at this sacred site.

The Devil’s Bridge over the Sihl river and the house at the birthplace of Paracelsus, where the Paracelsus centre of the WTT is located.

Sri Kumar visiting the Paracelsus Centre, 17 Dec. 1999

Now, 15 years later, we gathered there as a group of 9 persons from Germany and Switzerland for a May Call celebration. The days before and after were clouded, partly it was raining but on May Call we had brilliant weather. And a beautiful meeting filled with subtle energies which images better describe than words. So here are some impressions of our small group living.

View from the hill behind the Paracelsus centre

Walking up the hill to the hotel on the top of the Etzel Pass

The memorial stone with an image of Paracelsus

Inside the Paracelsus centre – our little May Call altar

Early morning on May Call – walking to the river to do a fire ritual

A thrilling ambiance at the board of the Sihl river

Apple flowers sending spring greetings

Gathering for a photo with self-timer at the Paracelsus memorial stone

Do you like reading reports, annual reports, for example? And if you open one, would you read more than 2 lines?

I think most would answer both questions with a “no”. Clicking a “like” on Facebook is easier and faster than understanding what a report like the Annual Report of WTT-Global is really about.

12 years ago, Sri Kumar told me on two occasions that such an overview of the activities of the movement is very important. And he remarked that it had taken him years to convince the Indian members of its significance so that they started preparing such reports.

I felt the impact Sri Kumar was giving to compose an Annual Report but I didn’t really understand. I had just been called by him into the Executive Board of WTT-Global. For the previous 2 years I had translated the reports – they were more reviews of the tours and activities of Sri Kumar  in different parts of the world. Since I wasn’t touring this could not be my approach. I would collect information about the tours but rather gather reports about what the groups are doing.

Since 12 years, I am now editing the Annual Report of WTT-Global. The first report had 24 pages – short inputs from activities from 31 groups – the last one, published on May Call, has 81 pages – reports from 38 groups and committed individuals, partly very long ones, with insights into a huge variety of activities of service and meditative work; furthermore short insights into Sri Kumar’s tours in the West, the Paracelsus magazine project and the activities of the Executive Board.

The work for the Annual Report – writing, compiling, translating, and editing – turned out to be full of subtle dimensions. It was not only a kind of taking the pulse of the various groups – I can strongly feel the echo of the qualities of the different groups. The seemingly administrative exercise is a fascinating instrument of weaving a network of cordial relations around the globe. You feel a difference whether the contributions are a “copy-paste” of the previous year (“we are just doing the same like in the years before”) or from a group which reflected on their own work, discovered the scope and complexity of what they are doing. You easily forget this in the currents of everyday life. By sitting down to formulate and to translate, to gather photos and inputs from the other group members, you receive new impulses, for re-sharpening the focus and cooperation: When you look at a thing with loving attention, a further unfolding develops.

Last Tuesday, the day I wanted to get the report printed, I received the biggest group input, a very impressive read which I included just before I drove to the copy centre. And two days ago another interesting contribution arrived which I could include only in the soft-copy version – I started gathering the texts in March but it seems it is not so easy for the groups to organize themselves. And some groups didn’t react at all – no problem, all are free to decide what they want to do.

Sri Kumar gave two mottoes for this year’s Annual Report, one for the cover and one as an “Editorial”: “There is no higher purpose than serving the Plan and the Hierarchy.” and “Let us Strive to Beautify the Personality To be Temple, the Solomon’s Temple.” They describe not only two guiding lights of the spiritual path but also of the work the Annual Report is all about: An instrument of alignment and transformation.

>> Read the Annual Report online / Download PDF version

16 years ago, in May 98, I participated for the first time in a “May Call Day” – an international, or better intercontinental group living of the WTT with Sri Kumar on Mt. Rigi around 29 May. I was deeply touched by this get together in the spirit of synthesis. So it was in a way the beginning of a “love affair”.

I came to learn that the energy of synthesis was received by Master CVV in 1910 in Kumbhakonam and anchored in the planetary ethers. The Master started distributing it on 29 May 1910 by transmitting some of the energy to those ready to receive it – for a quicker transformation. Many things sounded fantastic to me but I also experienced a touch of the energy in form of profound meditations  – and by coming into contact with many people with a similar orientation. Sri Kumar explained that this energy is related to the qualities of Uranus – “bend or break” – and that it might cause a speed-up of inner and outer changes.

When I look back I see that in my life it has become quite true – rapid changes, sudden breaking away of relations and situations, emerging of new ones with other qualities… The meeting on Mt. Rigi was for me a kick-off for annually participating in nearly all following May Call meetings. They brought me to different corners of Europe and even twice to South America. I blogged about some of these meetings in previous years.

Early morning sunrise at “May Call Day” on Mt Rigi in 1999

Group photo of the May Call meeting 1999 on Mt Rigi

These thrilling big May Call gatherings in the West ended in 2012 when Sri Kumar declared that at least for the next 8 years he will do these group livings in India – in Bangalore. Here, too, came a change – me and others had supposed they would go on in the West. Sri Kumar recommended me better not to come to the May Call in India, not only due to my private situation which also had changed. Also for many others it was not possible to go to India for the May Calls. And so last year we organised a meeting in the Vosges, France, a beautiful get-together. At the same time there were many other regional celebrations.

Last January, while in India,  I had an e-mail exchange with Martine, one of the co-organisers of last year’s May Call, and I asked her, “What about organising again a meeting in the Vosges?” She replied, “Let’s wait if Sri Kumar says something.” I thought, he won’t say anything if no-one asks, and so I sent him an e-mail. His answer was quick and direct: “Dear Ludger, let others decide for themselves as you decide for yourself.”

I felt irritated, a bit disappointed. I thought, so let’s wait and see – and I supposed nothing would happen. And nothing of a joint May Call celebration in the nearby countries seemed to pop up. It took some time before I realised the deeper meaning of Sri Kumar’s answer.

When meditating together with a friend beginning of April I told her about Sri Kumar’s comment and mentioned that this year there probably won’t be a May Call group living. She proposed to do a small one with a few friends in the holiday house of a friend of hers. But a week later, at our little group meeting with another friend, she told me that we won’t get the house. The other friend said that last year she went alone for a silent May Call Day to the Paracelsus centre of the WTT at the birth place of this great initiate in Einsiedeln: “Why don’t we do a May Call there?” All three of us said, “Yes, let’s do it.”

Since the Paracelsus centre doesn’t have much space we sent the invitation just to a circle of friends – in the end we are now 9 persons, from Germany and Switzerland, who will gather this week for “our” May Call, including two night stays. And I heard from others that they will also gather in their local groups for meditating and aligning with the energy. So the impulse goes on, and we will join in.

“The Avatar of Synthesis coming from Sirius to Earth via Uranus”, 25 Dec 2009
Download print version

We are just entering into the sign of Gemini. Gemini is related to the mind. So for the picture of this month I tried to illustrate an aspect of the universal mind principle. Our mind is its reflection. And both unfold in great cycles of time. Sounds complicated? So come on for an exploration.

The Eastern wisdom describes the unfoldment of the creational activity in tremendous time cycles called Manvantaras. They cover periods far before the creation of our present earth and go into cycles of far distant future times. A Manvantara is ruled by a solar intelligence called Manu and the Manu presiding over the present cycle is called Vaivasvata. Vaivasvata is the son of the Sun; he is the mind of the Sun and is also called the light of the soul. The Sun is called the weaver, Vivasvata; he weaves the globe of light around itself. The very meaning of Vaivasvata Manu is “the weaver of the light of the soul”, of the divine plan on earth.

This painting visualizes Vaivasvata Manu as emerging from the Sun in the background. Behind his head you see the radiance of the solar light and his headpiece has the form of the solar material shown in images of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT). His youthful face reminds of him being the son of the Sun.

The sages describe the creation as emerging from out of a golden egg. You see a golden egg-shape in the background and the Manu surrounded by a wheel of 14 egg-shaped figures each containing the colours of the rainbow, representing the 14 Manvantaras and the 7 planes of each creation. The whole is contained in a huge lotus, the symbol of unfoldment. Vaivasvata is in the midst of the lotus, and inside the Sun you see a higher octave of the lotus out of which the Manvantaras emerge.

Creating this picture was a strange experience. It seemed that it didn’t want to come out. And while working on it, I wasn’t satisfied with the way it developed and on several occasions wanted to destroy it. In the end, I realised that my concepts of how the picture should look like were blocking its emergence.

See more pictures on the site with my paintings.

09 February 2014, pencils and photo work

Whenever I experience Sri Kumar doing a fire ritual, I feel a fascinating magnetism spreading throughout the space and uplifting all who participate. I once heard Sri Kumar explain that invoking the presence of the Devas creates this magic appeal which does not manifest otherwise. Yes, that’s the energy of Agni, the foremost of the Devas, the Lord of Fire on the various planes of creation. (Last year I did a blogpost on a case study of the environmental impact of the fire ritual.)

I love the fire ritual but what Sri Kumar does is a complex thing. However, today 14 years ago, at Taurus Full Moon 2000, he gave a short version of the fire ritual, saying “You can do it once a week, once a fortnight, or once a month.” He further explained that it is thought for all and does not take more than seven minutes. He explained some more details and taught us the easy version with a step-by-step introduction of the intonation (MP3).

Sri Kumar and his wife doing the fire ritual in Kandersteg, May 2003

I was “fire and flame” and said to myself, this I will do! The next days I started learning the details. I bought a small vessel and camphor, cut pieces of pine-wood, prepared ghee, and, on 28 May there was the first test run – it worked. So on May Call, 29 May 2000, I did the first “real” fire ritual. And continue to do it regularly till today.

However, there were some difficulties: The burning pine wood made noises and sometimes pieces of the little wooden sticks jumped out of the pot so that we had to be very alert. Later we did it with birch wood which burns quietly. During a later visit to India I also bought a little larger copper vessel, and to avoid a cumbersome cleaning of the vessel I used covering it with aluminium foil.

Our family was living in a 4 room apartment without a chimney or anything like a fire place. Doing fire rituals is not just what an ordinary Swiss family would do, to say the least (on many terraces and balconies you see barbecue devices for that kind of fire rituals), and what about the house administration?

So I decided to do it in my office room with the roller blinds closed. I constructed a canopy with curtain fabrics and an insulation film to catch the soot. This only worked to a certain degree – slowly the soot settled all over the room. I tried to keep it clean but… all 2 years we secretly painted the room.

One day in the last year at that place I got an e-mail from the neighbours living the floor above telling that there were strange clouds of smoke coming up and we should please stop it! Oh, we gave them a big excuse – and aired the room now from the other side of the apartment… When in 2011 we finally moved to another apartment , I had done 4 painting sessions with the office walls – and we got a painter doing it again before handing over the apartment…

Luckily the new apartment had a chimney, and I enjoyed it very much. When we knew we had to leave this place the first months of 2014, a chimney was at the top of my wish-list but we couldn’t find such an apartment – they were too expensive.

When we found the one we are now living in, I saw that it has big flower boxes in front of the balcony and that it was possible to remove the barriers. I did some web search and finally found a potter not far away doing nice earthenware terrace ovens. I gave her a ring and she said that 10 days later she and her friend would be on a craft fair at the Berne cathedral. The oven she brought there was too small but they had a used one, just the right size. They told me that in the morning the police had stopped them doing fire on the market but I could get the oven for half the price of a new one – and in the evening, after the market had closed, they brought it to our home…

Now I enjoy doing the open-air fire ritual early Sunday morning – with sometimes a curious eye from a balcony of a neighbour house. The fire in the little oven is burning well, even when there is wind and rain. Also this morning.