Category: uncategorized

Podcasts

Podcasts are the new blogging, so they say. If you love podcasts as much as I do you might find value in a website named Podcast Notes. It delivers notes about a series of podcasts. 

An episode I recently enjoyed was an interview of Dr. Andrew Weil, done by Tim Ferriss. Here is a link to the transcript, in case you prefer to read. Andrew Weil is a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine. There are some true gems about health in this episode. 

Here is a list of podcasts I like.
Akimbo
Bulletproof Radio
Data-Driven Health Radio
The Awesome Health Podcast
The Peter Attia Drive 
The Ready State
Parabola Podcast
The Tim Ferriss Show
Bruce Lee Podcast
The Human Experience

Let me know which ones you like by dropping me a message or posting a comment. 

Symbols, rituals and consciousness

At least once per year I take a break from work, preferentially travel to a secluded place with little noise and go into self enquiry mode. It usually includes a lot of ‘me alone by myself’ time plus some form of learning process with other people, too.

Yesterday afternoon was the start of a five day research retreat. Its title is “Symbols, rituals and consciousness”. For weeks now I was very much looking forward to it.

It is something wonderful when curious people get together, sit in a circle, share personal stories and listen with an open heart. Music is an important part of this retreat and I have once more experienced that people who have never met before can create beautiful improvised music together. There exists a level of listening to and sensing what wants to arise from a group of individuals who make music that is pure magic.

All three domains that the workshop addresses are very much linked to what VAU stands for, a brand my team and I have launched at the beginning of this year. VAU is about everyday objects inspired by universal symbols. What we seek to explore is the divine in everyday life. Alternatively the divine we are referring to could be called the sacred, the mystical or the spiritual. Amongst the main topics that through VAU we speak about are precisely symbols, rituals and consciousness.

The synchronicity of, a few months ago, receiving an email about this workshop, just blew my mind. Sometimes the universe just conspires to help you and sends all kinds of good things your way. I feel lucky.

On Children

Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

There is so much we can learn from children:

Their natural state of being in the moment.

Their lively playfulness.

Their vulnerable openness.

Their contagious laughter.

Their unlimited trust.

Their free expression of emotions.

Observing and being with children reveals valuable lessons about life.

Kahlil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese-American writer. He wrote a beautiful poem named “On Children“:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

 

The message of pain

Pain is a symptom of an underlying condition. Manifested in different forms, e.g. mental or physical pain, it will inevitably claim your attention by screaming for a solution. If you neglect it for too long it will rise in fortitude and challenge you even more.

Pain can break you if you are too stubborn to look yourself in the mirror and acknowledge its relevance. You might choose to see it as a natural occurrence instead that can serve as a trigger for important change, it is up to you.

Towards a knowledge society

Photo by Ryan Rush on Unsplash

For a while now, we as a human race are undergoing a huge societal shift, it is happening in many places and inside of many minds all around the world. This kind of change is not intentionally created, it is a change where a new kind of world is slowly emerging.

We are shifting from an industrial, modern world to a post-industrialist, transmodern world; transmodernity means Knowledge Society. These two worlds believe in opposing values.

Values of the Industrial Society vs. the Knowledge Society

In the Industrial Society we....In the Knowledge Society we....
strive for output (quantity, tangibles) strive for knowledge (quality, intangibles)
play «survival of the fittest»play «love»
foster exclusion and suspicionfoster openness and sharing
see humans as a problemput people first
sell objects without ethical valuecherish the ethical value of knowledge
conquer and dominatecooperate and sustain
focus on capitalnurture the brain (creativity, reflection)

How does this change impact your life?

The trap of being an expert

Photo by _HealthyMond . on Unsplash

If you grab a dictionary and look up “expert“ it will reveal something like “a person who is very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area.“

There are many experts out there. Their knowledge, particularly if it stems from actual experience, is a gift to the world and other people can learn from them. When it comes to mindset, though, it can lead to a dead-end. The more you convince yourself you know all there is to know in a particular field, the more you get stuck in being right.

If you are the kind of person open to learn and develop, you might want to cultivate a beginner’s mind instead: wonder, ask questions, explore, test things out and hopefully delight in the journey of discovery.

Maybe Charles Barkley, the former NBA player, is right when he says: “Only God is an expert.“