Fate, karma, causality, laws of nature, determinism – these are all different expressions of the idea that the universe follows a predictable logic. They imply that what has happened has logically arisen from what preceded it, and that the present is likewise determined by the past. We consider this logic to be reasonable and rational, logically sound. Yet, when we assume that the future is equally determined by the present and the past, we dismiss it as superstition, irrationality, or unscientific. We resist it…
Yesterday, I ended the year with a shared meditation. It was beautiful, peaceful, focused. And shortly, I want to go to the sea for a little swim; it seems like a good start to me. I'm letting what I've experienced in the last few years and decades pass before my inner eye. I've lived in different places in different countries. It was exciting: different customs and traditions, languages, cultures, different sensory impressions, from nature and cuisine, to architecture, celebrations, etc. I...
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...
I grew up in the country where cars were invented. The roads and cars here seem safe, at least everything is done to ensure you are safe. Accidents are anticipated, risks calculated, potential collisions computed, and damage minimized through modular construction, or so they say. We want to be prepared for everything, here. This logic of safeguarding, risk calculation, and prevention is why I want to leave this country again. There is no room for the unexpected, this…
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