Hritual spaces such as Catholic churches offer contemplation and silence. Temples in Italy, France, Greece and Egypt are impressive ruins that provide a connection to nature and history. The spirit of polytheism characterizes these places. OM expresses this.
Culture shock and the abodes of the gods: my experiences in India
En this article, you can find out more about culture shock and the connection between consciousness and the body in India. The Vedas play an important role in this.
Kolli Hills
Dhe land of the Malayāli
Tiruchirappalli
Images from Tiruchirappalli 3.5.2023: Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple Sri Veera Anjaneya Temple Lalitankura Cave Temple and Rock Temple Tiruvanaikovil Arulmigu Jambukeswarar Akilandeswari Temple
New Year
Gesterday I ended the year with a joint meditation. It was wonderful, calm and focused. And right now I want to go to the sea for a swim, which seems like a good start. I let my mind's eye run through how I have lived over the last few years and decades. I have lived in different places [...]
Art beyond darkness - Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2022/23
Why do we need a biennial? I have often asked myself this question. Before COVID-19, I visited many places with international cultural events. During lockdown, I co-organized an artist residency program to reflect on the impact, threats and opportunities of COVID-19 for cultural workers. Everything went differently than expected. Now everyone is trying to get back to normal. Have we thoughtlessly spent trillions of euros and dollars to maintain a system that desperately needs a change?
CADALFEST at Adishakti
Dhe CADALfest took place in Adishakti from December 16 to 20, 2022. I hadn't planned to go, but I was very surprised by the four days of round-table discussions, poetry and film screenings, concerts and theater performances by a fascinating group of artists, activists and academics. I cherry-picked a little bit and ended up [...]
Shiva Tiruvannamalei Deepam
Gesterday I followed something in my mind that I find difficult to describe. In everyday language, I would perhaps say that I followed my intuition. But it's a bit more complex than that. I went to Tiruvannamalai again. It was the last day of the Karthigai Deepam Brahmotsavam festival. So on December 6, 2022, a fire was lit on this mountain [...]
Sleeping
Gesterday I went to sleep expecting to get up early and meditate. I set the alarm for 6 o'clock. In the evening, a French yoga teacher and mountain guide told me about the early morning hours in India, that they are the best for meditation - I already knew that they are good for ryas. She told me [...]
Mantras
Me are still at a loss for words. The last few days have been characterized by thoughts about the Vedic scriptures. A companion from another life took me to visit Nishtha Muller, an Aurovillian who has dedicated his life to the Vedic scriptures. He spent almost 2 hours telling us in his very humble abode in the forest that he himself planted [...]
Temple building
II recently met a young Indian here. He comes from Delhi and for him, South India is also a foreign world, although not as foreign as it is for me. He doesn't speak Tamil and his spirituality is also a bit more serene or enlightened, as you might say. I met him again on the street [...]
From the archive
In 2017 we were in Varanasi. Varanasi is the spiritual center of Hinduism. Those who are burnt here in the fires that Shiva lit 2500 years ago and which have been burning ever since are freed from the cycle of suffering.
Center guest house
Iany films feature good hotels that are centrally located and where the political, intellectual and economic elite meet. I have always perceived this as something very elitist, colonial and power-hungry. What I missed in the films, and was probably rarely a topic there, is the networking that takes place in such places. [...]
Arriving in Auroville
MMy perception changes when I arrive in India. The smell, the sounds, the slowness, the intuition, the acceptance, the hope are wonderful things that I see. Others may see stench, noise, inefficiency, irrationality and doom and despair. I think it is this different view that allows me to feel comfortable in India. So I have quite [...]
Birdsong
Auroville was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfasse. The architect Roger Anger developed the city plan for it. It is based on a cosmic spiral nebula. The land that was made available to Auroville was a dry plateau. A forest has been planted since the early years. There is a beautiful, slow documentary about it (Ever Slow Green (2020) - S.O.S. [...]
Attention
An a boulevard in Paris, café and bad music, sun and lots of people. So many people want to be seen. They are busy, sexy, cool, knowing, adventurous, sporty, educated, cultured or indifferent. Many want others to take notice. They see themselves as what they want to be. Perhaps they live their lives in a certain [...]
Flusser
Goday, after many years, I finally drove to the center of Roubion. Vilém Flusser lived here for many years. I quoted his books a lot in my seminars and used them as a basis for discussion. Especially his philosophy of photography. Flusser is a wild theorist. He has written a lot about images, media, language, technology, signs, history... It seems to me that [...]
Packing
What should I take with me to India? I want to live a different life, in a different society, with different ideas and goals. It's warm there, life will be easy. Apart from the basics like a few items of clothing, I'll need my technical devices such as my laptop, cell phone and camera. And what else? A good flashlight, because the field paths there [...]
Encounter
SI've been waiting for some time now. Actually, I like waiting. Waiting is a space and a time in which there is nothing else to do but wait for time to pass. As a rule, there's not much else to do apart from read, talk or think. Waiting times are therefore always free spaces for me. [...]
Kinematograf - Images of thought
While meditating, I often watch my thoughts come and go and try to slow them down. Thoughts come and go, and often I don't understand where they come from and why they are replaced at some point by a completely different thought. What chain of associations is at work here? These chains of thought seem to [...]