Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Words are not just words. Words are magic spells. They can turn you into a right-winger or a left-winger, they can turn you into a catholic or a protestant, they can turn you into an atheist or an New Age spiritual seeker. They can make you feel miserable and unhappy, they can make you sick or furious. They can make you kill. But they can also make you feel better.
They can give you reasons for living. They can provide excuses and explanations
they can change the world and build empires, they can make people go to war and they can make people end the war.

Monday, December 22, 2008

This diagram shows the population growth the past 9000 years.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

There is a mental judge in your head
who judges everything around you.
This judge is particularly active on commuter trains
and if you recently have given up smoking.
“Oh, what a big red nose she has. That’s not pretty.”
“And look at him. He looks like a complete idiot.”
“And what about them? What boors!
They have probably sold their souls long ago.”
Then another voice might pop in:
“Don’t judge other people.
You know damn well that you have to wake up from such nonsense.
Remember that this unjust judge is also judging yourself.”

OK, now you have two inner voices.
Who will win this trial?
What do you think?
Isn’t it about time now to stop listening to both of them?
Or is it better to let them go on with their debate as they like
but not get caught up in it?
Is this a third part of you watching the other two?
It's getting crowded.
This is ridiculous.
Haven’t you more important things to deal with?
Can't you find a better strategy?
You can pick up a book or a newspaper and read something.
You can listen to some good music in your iPod?
You can go online on your laptop.
Maybe you can get some work done.

Sometimes the inner voice start to sing idiotic little songs
like a drunkard on a park bench?
"Jingle bells, Jingle bells..."
Jesus Christ. That’s too much.
Now you really have to tell him to shut up.
It actually works sometimes.

But don’t worry.
All this is completely normal.
Most people are sick and tired of their inner voices
They are sick and tired of their inner debates.
Remember that you could always have been much worse off.
I mean, some people have to take heavy drugs
or drink a lot of alcohol to escape them
and some people go completely crazy
To some people the inner voices are so bad
that they can't take it
and they have to kill themselves.

Friday, December 19, 2008

The 650 commandments.

You shall love yourself.
You shall not be judgmental.
You shall be positive.
You shall not be miserable.
You shall not complain.
You shall not beat yourself up.
You shall have a optimistic outlook on life.
You shall be focused and goal orientated.
You shall exercise.
You shall have self-esteem.
You shall radiate health.
You shall look good.
You shall be orderly.
You shall be consistent with your meditation practice.
You shall be decisive.
You shall be self-confident.
You shall be relaxed.
You shall not broad on the past.
You shall plan for the future but live in the now.
You shall be realistic.
You shall improve yourself.
You shall not be jealous.
You shall not be envious.
You shall not panic.
You shall not feel sorry for yourself.
You shall have stamina.
You shall not think to much.
You shall brush your teeth at least twice a day.
You shall love your enemy because he is your best teacher.
You shall have trust in our economic system.
You shall find an approved meaning to your life.
You shall find an approved direction to your life.
You shall get yourself approved values.
You shall be street-smart.
You shall look gorgeous.
You shall always try your best.
You shall be grateful.
You shall pay attention to your body posture.
You shall not be sloppy.
You shall not drink to much alcohol.
You shall not smoke.
You shall eat vitamin supplies.
You shall not be sarcastic.
You shall be attentive in school, and later in life, at work.
You shall be wide awake, always.
You shall not watch to much nonsense on television.
You shall not read too much.
You shall not drink too much coffee.
You shall get enough sleep.
You shall be creative.
You shall not be a jerk.
You shall believe in yourself.
You shall wear a hat when it's cold outside.
You shall breathe deep slow breaths.
You shall have a good sex life.
You shall not mistrust.
You shall not...

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Some people are convinced that they are inferior
and some people are convinced that they are superior.
Some people you meet look down on you and some look up to you.
You can’t change that.
How can you expect from others to change their beliefs
when you can’t even change your own?

Some people see themselves as miserable losers
when they actually are the winners in the game of life.
What a joke!
People with good jobs and family have to eat Prozac pills
because they are so unhappy with themselves and their life situation.
They expect more from life.

Extroverted people believe
that introverted people try to escape reality
and introverted people believe
that extroverted people are superficial and try to run away from themselves.

Some people live with terrifying beliefs.
They have to stay drunk or drugged until they die.

It is wrong to criticize people who deceive themselves.
Maybe they would have to kill themselves if they had not had their delusions.
Maybe they have nothing else to live for.
What do you know?

Most people don’t know that their thoughts are not theirs.
They don't know that they have got them from their parents, teachers and friends.

This means that the decisions you make are not really your decisions.
Your goals are not your goals
and your dreams about the future are not your dreams.
Isn't this weird?

Some people try to guide you because they think that you have fooled yourself
and you feel sorry for them because you think that they have fooled themselves.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

We lived as apes and hunters and gatherers for millions of years. Then we suddenly settled down and became farmers. At some point we began to build cities, civilizations and empires. 500 BC or so, something happened. In China, India, in the Middle East and in Greece fundamental changes in our ways of looking at ourselves and the world took place. Logos replaced Mythos. Moral replaced sacrifice and rituals. Karen Armstrong speaks about this period in her book “The Great Transformation”.

Then the scientific revolution took us to another level. The age of enlightenment begun in the middle of the seventeenth century. Beliefs lost its meaning. Reason became important. We stopped listening to the Church when it insisted that the sun revolved around the earth. We had proof now that the earth is revolving around the sun and the church had to back down and admit that they were wrong. The church was no longer infallible and that was a very important realization. If they were wrong about this they could be wrong about other things.

Anyway, now we find ourselves again living in the beginning of a new era. We have left science, religion, superstition and ideology behind. We begin to wake up to the Now, as Eckhart Tolle puts it. It is not that science is wrong or bad, we still depend heavily on it, it is simply too limited because it is only dealing with what can be measured, the world of form. (The totality is so much bigger. We can only measure small, small fractions of the totality.) And what is also important, all scientists live their life according to an ideology. They are not unbiased. They are right-wingers or liberals or sometimes even socialists. They live comfortable upper middle class lives in comfortable upper middle class areas of the world. And they gladly sell their soul to anyone with power, like dogs. They don't care who the master is as long as he feed them. They don't mind working for the arms industry, for a Hitler or a Stalin, or for the Devil himself.
But their time is up now.

So. This is the dawn of the age of awakening. Though science, religion, superstition and ideology seem to be stronger than ever, wherever you go you will meet people who have had enough. I have met Arabs, Jews, Indians. Africans, Europeans and Americans who say: "I don't care about religion or politics anymore. I don't care about a career in any field. I simply want to live my life in peace."
Such people belong to a new kind of human being.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Rubin's vase



You can look at life and say to yourself: “Life sucks and then you die.”
And you can look at life and say: "It's amazing! A human being consists of forty thousand billion cells. How can all these cells be synchronized? Every second is a miracle."
These two ways of looking at life is like looking at "Rubin’s vase"- both ways makes sense.

One part of you comes up with one kind of explanation, another part comes up with something else. One part of you can easily deceive the other part. Whom is cheating whom? Isn't all this strange? A human being have so many different voices in his head and what is even more strange, they change over the years. Nothing is permanent. There is no permanent you.

It is therefore important to remind yourself, over and over again, that none of these explanations is the truth. They are explanations, mental speculations, concepts, theories, ideas, stories, maps, castles in the air, call them what you want, but don’t mix them up with yourself or the reality. Don't believe everything you hear from yourself. Don't trust yourself completely.