It is now definitely time to rethink. What our fathers and grandfathers called progress is destroying our planet. Science is not an end in itself, not everything that is technically feasible is good, not everything that is fun and satisfies our senses is meaningful. Now we hear from many sides repeatedly to concentrate on the small steps ahead, and that only then will we move forward together. This may be right occasionally, but it distracts from what is essential. Where do we actually want to go? Power…
Last year, I participated in a Zen meditation circle. Less because I consider myself a Zen Buddhist, and more because I was seeking the quiet community to pursue my practice. During dokusan, I engaged with actively sensing my questions. I let go and left behind a lot. That was surprisingly easy. The ‚teacher‘ pointed out to me that the homelessness I am actively initiating is also a spiritual state. That was liberating. Instead of dedicating one's self to an identity...
An intense month is ending. Moving, separation, friends parting ways, the love of godchildren, new friendships, longings, waiting... I could write a screenplay about the last few weeks in Provence. Each day filled with pain, compassion, and love – collectively in various constellations. But I don't want to tell these little stories, even though Marcel Pagnol might have enjoyed them. What occupies me is the question of pain. Life is suffering, Buddhists say – very simplified. The wanting...
The Kena Upanishad describes how the Self as such does not exist. Who sees in seeing, who hears in hearing? This is unanswerable. In the Christian tradition, a Self has been constructed for this. I see, I hear, cogito ergo sum, imago ergo sum... What is this cogito (I think), this imago (I imagine)? That Self which establishes identity, possesses responsibility, acts, and interacts. That thinking, when it becomes aware of itself, ...
For so many years I've thought about Marx. Who hasn't? The idea of an equal and solidaristic community, free from ideological superstructure, or irrational will-o'-the-wisps. A world that only knows matter, and sees in it a scientific, progressive movement. Its goal? A world in which humanity is perfect, i.e., harmonious, without envy and resentment, solidaristic and equal, without alienation and external determination, which alone enables the unfolding of the individual within a collective. This dream of a better...
When the internet became publicly accessible, meaning in the mid-90s, there was the phenomenon of people putting their deepest secrets online. The anonymity, the simplicity, and the speed were alluring. The confession was quickly made, anonymity largely preserved, and perhaps there was even that little thrill that someone one knows might be reading the secrets without knowing who was behind them. These tele-confessions were cathartic. Today, it has reversed: everyone is supposed to see what you're doing, without noticing...
Today I heard a quote from Sri Aurobindo. He said, in essence, that each of us has multiple selves. That was clear to me. For decades, that has been my experience, that the different aspects of a personality are many and the idea of a subjective identity is a construct. I always saw the principles of construction as ideological, serving the logic of passports, individual responsibility and jurisdiction, but also of guilt and atonement, the idea of a soul in the Christian context, etc. My reaction...
Can large topics be approached with small texts? The Mediterranean region is the birthplace of monotheism – Judaism, Christianity, Islam. India is the birthplace of Hinduism. Countless gods are conceived here, or else the absence of God, or the universality of the divine, depending on which of the numerous strands one follows. Two principles are visible here, however: the maxim of individuality, which continues even beyond death, and the idea of being part of something much larger, within which the...
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