I come by way of the roads of Western thought. Since Roman times they have been well paved; they connect centers of power and have established a logic of knowledge exchange all their own. They connect points. Their nodes are central, while the path itself is bothersome, laborious. On these roads, a culture of monuments developed; they led to accumulations of knowledge and power. Division of labor led to specialization and progress. A society emerges in which the individual is…
Sometimes I react strangely. Someone does something unexpected, and an insecurity in me is awakened. How do I classify it, and how do I react to it — and what does reacting mean here? It is therefore about expectation, about a being in the world that anticipates. The future is considered predictable, and is also seen as such. If I do this or that, then someone will perhaps react in this way or another. But sometimes it happens that the…
Play — Misstep In the West, I used to think that play had to do with games, and that games had to do with rules. To play a game means to enter a space restricted by rules, and within those parameters the player can develop strategies in order to act according to the rules, with the aim of winning. There is the larger field of game theory, which has been applied to sociology and other disciplines; there are computer simulations…
Discover the importance of asking oneself the question “Why are you here?” in the context of life and the city. Explore the concept of Auroville, a unique city that prioritizes this question and the service to divine consciousness. #MeaningOfLife
Standing in the back of a small truck, I have spent the last few days driving through Auroville to collect various things for the Pottersmarket. These small trucks are the big brothers of the tuk-tuks. Sometimes you see six or seven dozen people standing on them when another big festival is coming up. They are a popular means of transport for people in the villages when they travel long distances together to be close to the gods. It is surprising…
On a boulevard in Paris, a café and bad music, sun and many people. So many people want to be seen. They present themselves as busy, sexy, cool, knowing, adventurous, athletic, educated, cultivated, or indifferent. Many want the others to take notice. They see this as what they want to be. Perhaps they live their lives in a particular way, happy and content, or controlled by others and bored, cast out or privileged. That is the beautiful thing about Paris…
Life is so complex, and there are so many different ways of living. There is no right or wrong life. Life is a gift. But what do you say about the negative energies, destruction and aggression, greed and resentment? All of that belongs to it. There is only acceptance. But acceptance does not mean approving of everything, nor tolerating everything. If a community decides to establish rules and sanction violations of these rules, that too is a form of acceptance.…
I live in a hypercomplex society. I notice this already in political and social issues, which nobody can really grasp in their complexity anymore. We can hold on to principles, such as justice, equality, freedom, consideration, sustainability, etc. But in concrete terms, things already become difficult. In a conflict, should I take one side or the other, or is there a third possibility? Which of my own ways of acting should I change, and how radically should I do so,…
