Words, words, so many words..

Words are dead and yet they carry life within them, like pills that encapsulate the life-saving substance in their cold dead plastic skin. Words, language… in my opinion one of the most impressive inventions of humankind, the one that fascinates me tremendously.

Words are in themselves only meaningful in the context of meaning we ascribe to them, otherwise, they are empty and meaningless and yet, they are maybe the most helpful thing we as a species have ever brought forth.

Without them, Lovers couldn’t surrender themselves to each other, they couldn’t pour their hearts into letters that transcend the limitations of distance.

Without them, there would be no jokes being told around the table and the joy and laughter that would echo through the room would go unheard and unfelt, what a loss that would be.

Without them, we couldn’t enjoy the dance of the poet’s pen on paper, onto which he poured his very soul during a dark night when Spirit breathed inspiration into his tired body.

Without them, a silent prayer of gratitude whispered into the night’s sky being carried by the winds could not reach its destination in the ethereal regions.

We talk so much, so so much, every single day, so much that we have forgotten the sweet taste of silence, we have forgotten, that silence has a language of its own and it sounds beautiful if we would be able to hear again.

But nevertheless, I love it, that meaningless blabbering coming out of our mouths.

Cup of Truth

A poem inspired by an experience I had a while ago, that had a life-changing impact on me.

I drank,

Unknowingly leaving behind myself,
Laying open before me the mess of what I was, that I am.
A journey into an ocean of unknowing,
Leaving behind the burden of knowledge,
Witnessing the birth of wonder within.

Facing the demons that lurked in me,
No help, no guidance, just facing the mess of myself in silence,
Facing Truth, cutting through the layers of my lies,
She threw me into the dirt of my own selfishness,
Offering her loving hand to help me stand up,
Before me, a vision of what can be.

Washing off the dirt with tears of Love and Grace,
She held me high, in the immensity of her loving forgiveness,
Me, holding the knowing of what I may become,
Awakening of potential within, I stood firm on the ashes of what is left behind,
I see the world anew, beauty all around, I see, with eyes washed clean,
Your manifestation, nothing but Love overflowing.

I stumbled across the floor,
Trying to reach the warming fire to warm the cold I touched within me,
Sitting in the darkness of the night, there was light glowing within,
Sitting next to each other, more has been said with silence, than words are able to,
Immersed in Life’s song I let myself fall into the moment, letting go,
Time stood still as I witnessed the mystery around.

Exhaustion and nausea led me to my place to rest,
Her whisper following my every step,
Closing my eyes, She paints pictures in my mind’s eye,
Colors and sounds of immense beauty where my lullaby,
Reflecting on what I just experienced, I laughed with tears,
Life is much more beautiful than it appears.

 

 

What does it mean, to be human?

I think, that this is a question we all asked ourselves. I mean here we are, humans, this species walking on two feet on a floating island called earth, what a mysterious and rather odd situation when we think about it – like holy shit, you are alive! Just take one little moment and acknowledge this. You are alive and in front of you is nothing else than the possibility, to embrace what is right in front of your face, there is no guidebook, no manual for how to be alive. We are born into a mystery and the only sane thing to do is to embrace it for what it is.

So what does it mean to be human, to be alive? Is this life not more than mindless consumption and neurotic gratification through all kinds of things we distract ourselves with? To fill this horrible emptiness that is lurking within us, if we don’t do anything at all? If we allow ourselves to just be, we all feel it to some extent, a feeling of isolation, of meaninglessness, of not being good enough, a subtle sense of fear – it is the background noise of our lives, it is the underlying sense of knowing that there is something wrong, it is the human condition today.

Being human means more than consuming and buying one goodie after another while carrying the illusion, that this will make you happy or whole. Our lives have grown shallow and loose their substance. People are frustrated, full of anger and fear, the light in their eyes has vanished.  It is almost like they need sticks to hold their eyes open because they are so tired.( Just like in the picture above 😉 )We are in desperate need to be woken up to the miracle that is in a continuing process of unfolding around us. We have, to a large extent, grown cold and insensitive to ourselves and the world. Looking around I ask myself – and that is what it means to experience human life? This has to be a joke that I fail to find funny in any way. WAKE UP!

This feeling tries to tell us something, if we are courageous enough, to listen, it will tell us that we have to stop. We have to stop wasting our time, we have to stop forcing us to be anything else than what we are right now, we have to stop letting fear make our decisions for us, we have to stop worrying about what other people think, we have to stop trying to fulfill their expectations, we have to see that life is so much more than what we have been told. This is so amazing, it is so precious, so fragile, life is a gift and you are a gift to life.

Being human means, to be full of mistakes and to be vulnerable. There is no strength in keeping up your shield, there is tremendous strength in dropping it and to be open. Nothing is more strong and courageous than to reveal yourself to this world as you are. No filter, no makeup, no bullshit, just the beauty of raw humanness. To be human means, to create, not just to consume. To be human means to help your fellow men, to live life to the fullest because there is nothing left to do other than that. You are not the character this world wants you to be – not these limiting beliefs, these doubts, this fear that has been injected into you since you were born. Shake it off. You are brilliance itself, you hold more potential than you were told. We must do life the favor, to be fully alive, to create, to add to its majesty. A life will have gone to waste if it didn’t bring more beauty to the world.

To be human means, to explore your inner world, to face the darkness that lives there, to move beyond it, to make as many mistakes as possible, fall on your knees as often as possible and stand up again. Life here is challenging, it will always be and it’s good that way because that’s the only thing that makes us grow as human beings. Now go and stand on your own two feet, because no one will do it for you. You stand alone, there are friends, family, and relationships, but you have to stand alone, they can’t be there forever and they won’t, but to be able to stand alone without someone else as a crutch to help you do that is something incredibly important, it will remove neediness and the feeling of being dependent on others out of your life experience and only then true human relation is possible, then they are rooted in freedom, in acceptance and maturity.

This is it. This is life, your life – live it your way, not someone else’s way. You have nothing to lose. You can do anything you want, everything is just open for you to explore. Just have trust and there will be doors opened for you, that otherwise would have stayed shut.

Life, our universe, our planet and our place in all of this – the miracle of existence

Life is a wonderful thing, it is really a great and sacred miracle, that we experience in every second of our lives, but when do we actually take the time, to drop our worries, doubts, fears and plans – even just for a minute – to just recognize that? Just take a deep breath and take in with all your senses what is around you. Let that sink in: You are alive, a human being, part of the human family, unique in your expression you share an immense sameness with everyone around you. Life is so amazing.

Now when we look around, we often see the symptoms of a disease, that has befallen so many of us, all around the world. The symptoms of this disease are environmental pollution, wars, poverty, racism, sexism – any form of suffering inflicted on human beings or nature. I asked myself quite a while, what the root cause of those symptoms might be and I could only find an answer by looking at myself and what I found as the root of all those problems we face and what I found is the overall sense of separation from ourselves, each other and our surrounding world. This hallucination of separation that has been culturally conditioned in front of our perception and our experience of reality is one of the main causes of all the problems we have in our world.

Look around you. The trees you see, they are your lungs, because they clean the very air you breathe.

The seas, lakes, and rivers around you, they are your veins, , the water they give nourishes you, just like the blood in your veins is keeping your body alive.

The acres, the soil, the earth that you walk upon, they are your support to let you stand strong and they are the ground in which your food grows.

What happens when those lungs are destroyed, those rivers and seas are being poisoned and the earth you put your feet on will be so infused with chemicals and pesticides, that the earth that once helped you to stand on your own, will cauterize your very feet?

We will fall and this is what we see happening today and if we want to put an end to the destruction of our very Source, that nourishes us and makes it possible for us to live, we have to remember our deep connection with our earth and with each other. How could we be able to kill our very Source that enables us to live, if deep in our hearts we could feel her being alive herself? Could we kill the mother that gave birth to us? No. Why then do we do it to the mother of all of us? Because we lost touch with her on a much deeper level than physical reality. This will sound too much for some people, especially people that look for all the answers in science, but I say it as I feel it to be true and as I experience it, when I spend time in nature:

Earth is alive, she is an intelligent Being in herself.

This is what we have to recognize, if we want to survive as a race, as one human family. So no, you are not a meaningless fragment in an alienating world. The earth that now helps you to stand and support you, one day will be the bed where you will fall into your final sleep. It all came from the earth and returns to it. Treat it with respect. So whatever keeps you in feeling isolated, in the feeling of being unimportant, put it aside.

Drop those beliefs, drop those limitations that have been put on the brilliance and potential that you really are, no matter how hard that may because let’s just be honest for a minute here. We have become addicted, addicted to the feeling of powerlessness that has been infused into us, to those so-called limitations that we were told to believe in, of not being part of something much greater than we could ever imagine. You are strong and there is something within you, that no one told you exist, a treasure of greater worth than anything the world has to offer. Be courageous, be brave, be true and be you, give yourself the permission, to let your brilliance be expressed in some way and never let anyone take away your power, stand tall on your own two feet and walk with integrity and righteousness.

The times that we are living in are confusing, exhausting and troubling and bring a lot of challenges with them and there is no mistake to be made about it, we are indeed facing global crisis, but crisis gives birth to opportunity, opportunity for new ideas to be heard, opportunity for new ways of thinking to arise and with those things something new can see the light of the world. If we now take into consideration all that is happening in the world, it needs no saving, it needs no one to look after, once we rediscover this deep connection we have, but this fact is not an excuse not to care for the home we have, but to keep it in a bigger perspective. You are not here to save the earth, you are here to get to know who you really are, so don’t get too entangled in the world and neither renounce it.

You go and take responsibility for how you interact with other people, how you treat the earth and what kind of energy you radiate into the world, get into alignment with your Being and trust it, never ever will it lead you astray. We have to move away from fear more and more, because fear keeps us from realizing how powerful we are, because you are far more powerful than you were told and grew up to believe.

Hungry for change

He was walking through the rainy streets of the town he grew up in. Nothing here changed and yet he has trouble recognizing the scenery he looked at, as his eyes are colored with experiences that molded him into another human and which are not allowing him to ever go back.

As he was walking through the streets, his eyes met the eyes of many others and they all told him a story of restlessness, anxiety, depression and worry… rarely did his eyes looked into a pair of eyes that were emanating this mysterious glow that made himself feel connected and somehow understood. “Blessed are they, strongholds of light, threads of radiance woven into the fabric of a seemingly darker growing world.” He thought to himself.

He went into a cafe to buy a coffee and sat down on a bench in a park nearby, looking around he saw a young couple madly in love with each other, looking further he saw a drunk homeless person talking to himself. He just sat there for a while and inhaled the fresh and rainy air. As he looked around taking in all the things his senses dictated to him he thought to himself:”My senses enable me to enjoy the whole beauty and glory of the world and at the same time they make me receptive to all the ugliness and horror and I wish to be able to love them both..”

It started to rain again but he kept sitting there, it didn’t bother him all that much. In a way the rain felt good, the feelings of helplessness and despair that were present in him for a long time, almost like a second skin were being washed away. His heavy heart flushed fear and doubt out of his bloodstream and started beating in the rhythm of freedom.

He smiled at the encounter with this freeing sense of lightness that spread through his whole body, combined with the rhythmic bombardment of his face by the rain he couldn’t have imagined anything else to add to the immense peace he felt.”The world we grow up in is built upon fear, but I choose to live with trust, despite all the madness and ugliness I see, I won’t let my heart grow cold, I have to keep it alive, it’s the only thing I and everyone else really owns..” he said to himself.

“Ahhhh… I like what I hear there.” A voice said behind him. As he looked behind his back, there was no one to see. He scratched his head, wondering where the voice might’ve come from, from one second to another an old man sat on the bench left to him. As their eyes met, he saw a radiance in the old man’s eyes, a glow that looked foreign and yet carried the touch of something that felt like home, as if through the doors of those eyes, a certain radiance enters the world.

“Why are you looking so sad, young man?” Slightly suspicious and yet thankful someone asked, he answered:” I’m sad, but not about anything in my life, but about the way we treat life around us. People have grown cold and walk carelessly through the world and I’m frustrated because there is nothing I can do about it.” “Son…” the old man started – “people treat life the way they do, because they aren’t able to treat themselves with respect, people have grown cold because their attempts to show warmth has been answered by people who’ve grown  cold themselves, they wander carelessly through the world because they feel nobody else cares. People are good in their heart you know, it’s just that this seed often times does not get the nourishment it needs to flourish and so it withers away.”

“But what can we do about it all? It’s so overwhelming. People are suffering, the earth is suffering, Life in all its forms has to go through so much suffering and most of it is unnecessary and I want to understand why?  Why do we make it so hard for ourselves? It’s all there… we have this beautiful home we call earth, that provides for all of us and how do we give thanks? We poison the soil, the rivers, cut down the lungs that produce the air we breathe, endangering ourselves and all life to suffocate under the weight of our ignorance and greed.”

“Yes I know and I understand your anger well.” The old man answered with a trace of sadness in his glowing eyes. “It’s a great danger, a great mess we got ourselves into, not because the world is messy in itself.. it is perfect, always was and always will be it is man’s alienation from it and his way of life that causes great turmoil within himself and in the world. Our world is our mirror you know, what she shows us is what is inside us and what is inside us at this moment in time is very clear to our eyes and ears. Our climate suffers and storms because of man’s inner climate storms, because the climate in man is suffering, led astray and confused man’s spirit is in torment, but redemption is found, the moment he returns home in himself. Young man the world lies broken and lacks the bond of unity because we are disunited within ourselves.”

He just listened to what the old man had to say, he didn’t even bother who he was or where he came from, all that mattered is that he felt understood in his concern. “So.. what can I do about it?”

The old man just stared at the lake and took a deep breath, breathing out he said: “Well… that’s a good question, I’d say do the revolutionary thing of looking within yourself. You know.. so many people who want change, want to change the system, to change the climate, to change other people.. nobody wants to change, now imagine what would happen to all the things people want to change if they would change ?”

“I guess they would change as well wouldn’t they ?” “Of course they would, in a more drastic and phenomenal way than you could ever imagine. If we want to change the world, one first has to stop wanting it to be different than how it is and start to be different.”

He knew what this mysterious man said was true but he wasn’t sure what to do next, he still carried a great deal of confusion within himself.

“Okay, but how can I proceed, what can I do except to look within and to be still?” The old man laughed out loud, so loud that other people looked at him like he was a crazy person, or they are so dangerously sane that a refreshing laugh disturbs their perception of sanity, for no one is more insane than the one who is sane all the time.

“Oh boy… oh boy.. first learn to be still and look within as I said. Doing this, doing that, day in day out… everybody is doing something and almost no one allows themselves to just be. Good and wise action must grow out of the ability to be still because, underneath your confusion, a decision already awaits you that will show you what to and all you have to do is to -” “Be still?”

The old man laughed again and he had such a contagious way of laughing that the young man couldn’t help but laugh as well. “Hahaha you took the words out of my mouth young fella, exactly that’s what you and everyone else should be ‘doing’. Be still and change the world, be still and be change.” The old man’s phone rang in his pocket, he answered the call and talked for a few minutes with someone and hang up the phone.

“Okay I got to go son, there are lot’s of things I have to do.” He said it with great laughter, knowing that those things didn’t matter all that much. “Was nice meeting you. Enjoy the rain and maybe even your own company.” He jumped off the bench and went on his way. The young man was left with a feeling of astonishment and gratitude for what just happened,  soaking wet and smiling at this helpful, yet strange encounter he just had.

Let’s go for a walk

Come, come

Let’s go for a walk,

Let us wander amidst the ravaging flames of a dying world.
Have no fear, for it is fear that is burning, losing its grip on the world.

Let go into the storm that your heart is pulling you towards, loose your mind on the way..

Ashes upon ashes only a  trace left of that what once was, nurturing the soil for a new world to see the light.

Let go of fear, let it burn up in those ravaging flames and move into the refuge of your heart.

I hope to see you again when fear is no more and humanity is able to breathe again.

Come, come

Let’s go for a walk..

Don’t believe them

They have told us since we welcomed the world with our cries that what matters in life are the numbers on our bank account, your car, your house, your job. The mystery that we are has been reduced to a box that we are brought up in, imprisoned by a prison without bars, stuck in our heads with closed hearts and our spirit being torn apart. Once beings with eyes full of life and joy, as if they are windows to God, we have eyes with a stale stair and windows opening to a being drowning in despair and fear.

What should fuel the engine of our actions, for me has become what makes mine become rigid and cold, for I do not wish to make myself something I am not, long enough did I play along to rules that made me feel like I am suffocating. We are drunk on the sweet nectar of ignorance, blind towards a world in need of repair and healing. blind to the wounds that are bleeding within us. We walk around with eyes wide open but do not see, we have ears that hear but we do not listen.We are concerned only with ourselves, using our two hands only for our own good, so that when a fellow man reaches out his hand for ours, he will fall into hopelessness and distrust.

All that is build will turn to dust, so why spend more than needed on that which will vanish as it’s the nature of things, instead of that which will stay even when one’s mortal shell has turned to dust. Take what you need but don’t let greed poison your heart, the treasure that it holds inside is greater than the jewels of the earth. Don’t waste time chasing clouds and superficial desires, instead, follow the yearning of your heart, it will lead you to where you have to be.

The things we are told matter in life, are the ones of least importance, for if man defines his worth through that which he acquires, he might never ever touch upon the treasure that the whole of Life has planted in his heart. The richest among us are those who live from the heart, the ones who have eyes that recognize the wonder around them, the ones whose ears are sensitive towards the symphony of the universe.Look at those who’ve fallen for greed and selfishness.. stale eyes and a lack of spirit, fallen prey as much to lies as so many of us. All who walk upon this earth search for the same, knowingly or unknowingly, those who know, see that it is found inside, those who don’t know search everywhere except the only place they need to look into, which is themselves.

Whatever has been said to you, don’t believe it all, listen to that voice inside you.

The coin in your palm

One day there was a young man, a traveler, who walked down a path with beautiful surroundings. Rivers, trees, and meadows kissed by the light of the sun, everything around him had a soft glow added to it. The beauty of this day was caught by his eyes but not felt in his heart.

The warmth of the sun on his skin, the song of the birds, the fresh smell of the grass that the wind carried into his nostrils – none of these things found their way into his being, to fill him with joy. Life’s Symphony was in perfect tune, but the boy’s note could not find it’s rhythm. The story he carries around with him, a script which’s ink has long dried is still present in his mind, like a heavy burden on his shoulders.

He was walking for quite a while until his eyes saw a little village on the horizon. “Finally, I need to rest.” he thought to himself. Hours passed before he reached the village and he was craving a good meal and a bed to spend the night in. He found a small tavern where he booked a small room for himself and ordered a warm meal. He was sitting at the table, waiting for his meal as he noticed a monk sitting at a table in the right corner of the tavern. He was astonished by the monk, the way he ate, it looked like art. Mindfully did he picked up one piece of vegetable after another without hurrying to finish his meal. His whole being was anchored in peace.

“No wonder those monks are so relaxed if all they do is sitting around and eating a bowl of rice once in a while.” he said to himself quietly. As he said that to himself, he felt guilty, because the peace that was emanating from the monk is exactly what he was looking for. His meal was served and he ate. The warm food did him good as it took away his attention from the chatter in his mind that kept him from the peace he was looking for desperately.

As he finished his meal, he looked at the monk the last time before he stood up to go into his room, to get the sleep he was craving. As he laid down in the silence of the clear night he could feel the heavy burden that was weighing him down. It felt like his head was filled with heavy stones that push his head into the pillow.

“When is this going to end ?” he asked himself as he looked out of the window into the night sky. “Where there is darkness there is light.” he thought as he was looking at the stars. He finally fell into a deep sleep from which he awoke the next morning, feeling a bit refreshed, but the heavy burden was ever present. He packed his bag and left the room, walked downstairs into the taverns restaurant. The monk wasn’t there and it was very quiet, just two men were sitting at the mumbling about something.

As the young man opened the door to leave and to go his way he bumped into the monk. “I’m sorry, I didn’t pay attention.” said the young traveler. He looked into the monks face he couldn’t see a single sign of anger. “Don’t worry neither did I.” said the monk and smiled. The traveler was about to leave when the monk turned around and said:” I noticed how you looked at me last night and I noticed as well that there is a deep burden within you.” “How.. how do you know that ?” the traveler asked doubtfully. “It’s easy to read people’s minds if it’s shown in their face.” the monk answered.

“What is it that troubles you so young man?” asked the monk smiling. “No matter where I go, no matter what I do, regrets, guilt, and frustration about my past are ever present. Life has become dull with this baggage on my shoulders.” The monk nodded.. and smiled. He asked the young man to sit down on a flat rock on a walking track nearby. The young man did and so did the monk. They had a breathtaking view in front of them. “I know that whatever happened in your past brought you a lot of pain, but I want you to look around, try to be present and to let it sink in what you see.”

“What do you see?” asked the monk. “A canvas of nature’s art, a beautiful one as well.” “So I would like to ask you if whatever happened in your past is really that bad, if it brought you to where you are right now, right here, in this moment?” The traveler thought about what has been said. “It feels right what you say, but I can’t enjoy this as I should be able to..”

“Do you have a coin that you could lend me ?” asked the monk calmly. The young man gave the monk a coin, followed by a questioning look. “See this coin as your past. It represents everything you’ve ever experienced. Every moment of happiness, every moment of sadness, every loss and every gain, all the experiences that molded you into who you are today. What I feel is that you are afraid to let go of that, which is a burden for you, the pain, the guilt, the frustration and this is so because you are not sure what will be there if you let go, is that right, that you deny that there is pain in you ?” “Yes, one could say so..” the young man answered.

“It won’t work that way, my friend. You can’t deny the pain that is there and acts as if it is not, you poison yourself that way. Feel it and let go.” ” Place the coin in your palm please.” He did as the monk said. “Now close your hand, turn it upside down and open your hand.” As he did what the monk said, the coin fell on the ground. ” See, this is what you try to do. You carry pain, regrets, and frustration in you, all because of your past. You wish to get rid of that, by simply dropping as if it’s not there, but you need to feel all that needs to be felt and you need to forgive yourself for all that happened and all you did yourself. Accept your past and learn from it.”

The young man understood the monk and smiled, but the monk wasn’t finished yet. ” Could you pick up this coin and give it back to me please?”  He picked up the coin and gave it back to the monk. “Now I want you to put the coin back in your hand.” The young man did as the monk said. “See.. we all experience pain and loss, we all do things we regret afterward, we are humans, we do those things called mistakes, but don’t give those things more energy and attention than they deserve. Let it be there, the pain, the frustration, and the regrets and forgive yourself..” “But who am I if not what the past made me?” asked the traveler.

“Let me show you” – “Close your hand but don’t turn it upside down.” He did as the monk said. “Now open your hand again.” The coin was still in his hand, but at the same time, he let go of it. He then realized that it wasn’t the burden he carried around with him, but who he is without it.”See what frightens most people is the fear of letting g, no matter what it is and this fear gets even bigger when they come close to losing it which makes them hold on to it even more. The middle way is to let go and to keep it at the same time, without holding on to it. That’s when freedom and love can flourish.”

” I understand, but I still don’t know who I am then.” “You are what you decide to be. All roads are open for you, you must decide which one you’ll go down, only when you let go of the old, a new way of living, of being, can be born in you.” “Thank you, I understand now, thank you!” “I’m glad that I could help you.” said the monk with his calm voice. They stood up from the rock and went their way. “Keep the coin, my friend, let it be a little gift for your help.” The monk smiled and nodded. The young man went on his way, but now the only burden he carried was the bag on his back.