I am back in Europe for a short time, and I see a busyness here, an energy of constant doing. Working, discussing, tidying up, running errands, fulfilling obligations, organizing, optimizing, presenting, questioning, exchanging. Something is always being done. To do something seems important; to do nothing seems unproductive and in need of justification. Yet not being productive has many important qualities. Sometimes non-action is a form of resistance, and a quiet turning inward can be understood as inner work —…
I am thinking about Deleuze, about the movement of becoming. In order to extinguish the sound of the stream, I must become the sound; in order to enter the stream, I become part of it. When I dwell in the forest, I participate in the stillness and the chirping, the rustling of the leaves. I become one with nature. That Romantic idea — becoming one with nature, with a beloved person, with the cosmos, with God — produces blessedness, rapture,…
A koan, then. I had often heard of them, those mysterious riddles of Zen that are meant to lead the mind out of the purely rational and open new forms of insight. I decided not to read much about them, nor to ask others about them. I wanted to receive one from a Zen master. During Doksan he asked me a few things about myself. We closed our eyes, he smiled, and said I should imagine a forest with a…
Bodhi Zendo I had ordered a book to take with me to Bodhi Zendo: “Zen in der Kunst der Tuschemalerei” (“Zen in the Art of Ink Painting”) by Katharina Shepherd-Kobel. It is a beautiful book; it speaks to me and nourishes my longing to learn ink painting and deepen my meditation. When I first entered into Zen meditation three and a half years ago, the impulse to go to Auroville awoke. The meditation in Bremen was strict. We followed the…
This is Tantra. This is divine. The decisive question is whether such a sacred encounter is possible only in romantic love, as tradition and Romanticism suggest — or whether it can arise when we open our being completely, beyond intellect and reason, beyond ego, desire, or obligation. I believe it can. But it has nothing to do with climax as a goal. It is about intimacy. It can be as simple as a touch, a smile, a heartbeat — sparks…
The spider brings forth its own web. This image from the Upanishad invites deep meditation on how nature brings out a thread that it forms into a complex symmetry. Looking at the spider, the thread, and the web—its function and the source of the complex pattern—we have an image that invites deep speculation about mantra, tantra, and yantra, about art and knowledge, about creation and information. The 5th lecture explores art and scientific visualizations of sacred symmetry in a field…
Auro Art World organized a series of 6 lectures at the Centre d’Art multimedia room in Auroville. These lectures, conducted by Dr. Christoph Kluetsch, explore connections between art, philosophy, and spirituality, bridging Eastern and Western traditions to illuminate the enduring questions of existence, consciousness, and creativity. The series is offered on the first Tuesday of every month. Fourth lecture – Tuesday 7th January 2025 at 5pm Who in our consciousness experiences sensations? How are sensations synthesized? How do matter, vibration, consciousness, and self connect? And how can we share sensations…
The snake in paradise seduced Eve to eat a fruit from the forbidden tree of knowledge that holds the distinction between good and evil. Why was the tree of knowledge a forbidden tree? Why did the snake seduce Eve? What did the fruit taste like? When I asked myself why I want to talk about this, I felt like Eve standing in front of the tree, talking to a snake who attempts to seduce me to eat the fruit. Do…
