I am in a sesshin, a two-and-a-half-day short form of intensive Zen meditation. Thoughts and images keep coming to me about the artificial general intelligence (AGI) we are currently creating. More and more people from the humanities, psychology, or team organization are expressing admiration, surprise, and fear at the capabilities of AGI. It seems that the Turing test was passed some time ago, and that we are now watching an intelligence develop that appears to be superior to us. This…
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…
I woke from a nightmare at four in the morning. I was talking with Will in Apt about a strange disturbance in my perception of time. I described how time broke into fragments and some were simply missing. These were seconds or minutes, and while I tried to immerse myself in time to describe it better, everything went black. I cried for help, I was blind, and woke up. It was another of those dreams in which I seemed to…
For several weeks now, I have been living with a neurotic dog. She barked a lot, as long as she still perceived me as a stranger. She kept her distance, was frightened. After a few weeks, she accepted me, approaches and wants to be petted. Now she lies in front of my door and keeps watch; she protects me. What happened? I did not change my attitude towards her. I have little connection to dogs and pay her little attention.…
Recently I stumbled upon David Hume again. I remember how intensive the study of his writings in Heidelberg was. We went very deeply into the text, very meticulously and systematically. It was the opposite of those Anglo-American lectures on the history of ideas. So I stumbled upon the concept of taste in Hume, as the core of his “aesthetic” theory. I thought of rasa and began a conversation with AI. Larger connections became clear to me, lines I had never…
The series of conversations with AI is unedited; it is the machine (ChatGPT4.0) speaking… Translation by DDeepL Prompt: Please write a conversation between David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Abhinavagupta, Bharata Muni, Zeami Motokiyo, Gilles Deleuze and a Brahmin priest. Begin with the question: What is taste? ChatGPT Setting: A serene garden with a round table in the middle. The philosophers and the Brahmin priest sit there, each representing a different era and culture, yet the timeless question of aesthetics connects them.…
Experience the world of Dhrupad, a complex and meditative sound art. Explore the connection between vibration, consciousness, and music in Nada Yoga. Discover the ancient tradition of Dhrupad, the original form of classical Indian music.
But Hitler did build highways! I hear this more and more often lately. It is difficult to go on talking at this point, because a certain argument that I find very important is quite complex and is rejected by people who want to relativize fascism and the Holocaust. The argument, prompted by Adorno, is: after Auschwitz, no more poems can be written. In rough outline, it goes like this: The scale of the horror of the Holocaust is so great…
