Serendipity

While I'm walking through life, wondering how I get where I'm now, wondering why certain things happen to me, I do my best to stay equanimous. After all, what I experience might be just the right thing for me to learn, so is it really worth it to lament my fate?

A long, long time ago, when I met my first 'true love', I managed to totally freak her out by telling a story. Coming from an average, maybe even sub-average socio-economic background, calling a tiny rented subterranean apartment home, I fantasised about about being a writer.

I didn't deliberately call myself poor, and being able to rent a space, own an ancient beetle as car as a student indicated somehow I wasn't probably the wealthy provider for a potential family. I might have been charming, good-looking and interesting, someone to have fun with, but certainly would have failed to provide the prospect for a prosperous, care-free family life to come.

Aware of all the stories of the disowned heirs of noble blood, I reframed my meagre existence as research. You know, sweetheart, living in this tiny place, cash-strapped, optimistic yet limited is nothing but research for a book about average Joe. Coming from an enormously wealthy background, how could I ever write about 'common people' without immersing myself to a low-life existence?

I really loved her, still I probably hurt her a lot by making up a story about myself which was convincing, but still total fantasy. The only truth in it was my aspiration not to repeat the fate of my family, being an insignificant cog in the machine of society, subject to the whims of those who really ran the show.

My father, who died before I really got to know him, just so managed to feed his family as a labourer, got me into the strange idea to earn a living by virtue of my brain, instead of my hands. He probably realised that honest work in a dishonest society imposes limits of what you can achieve.

So instead of learning a 'real' trade, I embarked on IT work, at a time when it was booming and breaking boundaries. Being more of an introvert, programming and maintaining computers and networks allowed me to prosper for a while. I became financially independent, to an extent where money piled up, because coming from a frugal background, I didn't know how to spend it as fast as it came in.

I achieved what the norms of society define as 'success', making lots of money, but it came with a price. It just didn't make me happy, as I noticed how arbitrary the relation between work and payment was. At some point, while making about $150 an hour, sitting in front of a computer screen, seeing the cleaners sorting out the office, I wondered whether I deserve all that money while seeing someone doing 'real' work for probably less per day than I made for an hour.

The story I had told my first big love at the time had turned into reality, I became a commercially successful entity in a thoroughly corrupt society, no need to worry about my spending capacity. It didn't make me happy, though.

I felt like an impostor. While I loved the challenges of my job, I hated the circumstances of it. I turned from a tiny cog to a bigger cog in the machinery of doom, using my talents to prosper and maintain a system which needs lots of victims to function.

The system is a vampire, just like Shapeshifter stated. The bigger system though, the system of life in this universe, might as well support me, as the system of doom did before. Transforming the system of society has become my aim now, albeit all the strange experiences I went through since them.

We all have to make the choice, playing the game for our own pleasure, or changing it for our own fulfillment. As I've seen both sides of it, I'm determined not to go back to play the rotten game just to keep it alive. If this attitudes kill me, so be it.

Garden of Hope part 2

I spend some time bringing some more images of the front yard to me, reminding me of the transformation that took place of a weedy patch in front of a commercial warehouse. I could have edited the first part, and added photos, but I decided to continue in good old blogging fashion, retell the story with maybe repeated, maybe new elements guided by the visual aid.

That's how it looked like when it started, or so I thought before I went back to google maps. So let me interrupt here my own narrative for a second to provide some 'historical' background. According to our lovely neighbour next door, this specific patch used to be a permanent eyesore. 

Google's prying eyes saw this barren patch of unused green strip in November 2007, probably popular with neighbourhood dogs, handy to drive over occasionally to park in front of the warehouse.

Two years later an attempt to utilise the space was made. The fencing suggests guarding something precious, but it certainly prevents uninvited canine friends. It looks like a rosemary bush acted as centre piece. The combination of deteriorating eyesight, low resolution and lack of botanical knowledge make this a pure guess. Never trust anything on the internet, research for yourself.

In January 2014 the fence was gone, only the hardy rosemary remained in an otherwise unexciting stretch of weeds. 

You can't see the rosemary from this perspective, it lurks behind the compost bin. I took this shot in January 2015, using the wild constellation of random objects as backdrop for one of my tensegrity structures. 

Composting was one way of showing how sustainability begins at home, but it took an accidence to get the work started. We reunited two parts of the same branch as an arch, weeding and digging the whole patch, leaving only the rosemary and a healthy parsley bush behind.

The beautiful aloe vera plant had changing luck - after mulching the entire bed it got dug under by some nasty dog for some weeks. It took months to get it back to health, until someone unrequested gave it a new home. 

While some of the succulents grew prolific, it took Adrian to introduce more of the leafy and flowering parts of the garden. 

The sunflowers didn't grow tall, and I don't know whether any of the seeds would germinate. Having about a dozen tiny sunflowers guarding the garden provided a great sprinkle of colour.

I enjoyed watching different parts of the garden grow, but there seemed to be space more. I wanted to experiment with a tensegrity structure as support for ranking plants.  Unfortunately, although I manage to make it relatively wind proof, it was certainly not fool proof. I lost a couple tomato plants when someone stepped onto the structure, breaking a strut.

Comfrey certainly made the biggest attempt to take over. I need to get into the habit of drying and using plants growing in 'wrong' spots, it can't harm to have some supplies of the 'bone-healing' herb.

The compost bin remains in the same place like last year, just like the arc we build. Yet the rosemary bush gained lots of company since then.

Against the stream

For many people, sacred geometry has become the buzzword to sell their ideas. Yet we can only sell profane things, sacredness resonates with our hearts, not our wallets. Sacred knowledge can only be experienced individually,  teaching acts only as a guide to venture within the depths of one's own heart.

Geometry offers an excellent tool to comprehend the metaphysical aspects of our physical surroundings. Many processes in the scenario universe follow simple rules, which in interaction with specific, unique circumstances create abundant complexity.

The tetrahedron acts as smallest possible 3 dimensional system - four focus points arranged in the closest packing possible. The Platonic Solids describe the idealised regular structures which compose the complex details of our perceptual reality.

Humanity's creations favour the square, or variations of it, with a few triangles thrown in. Not too surprising, as the 3 dimensional accounting system uses a cube as base unit. In the minds of commonly educated people, the 3d world is cubical, not tetrahedral. It takes observation and experimentation to understand the fundamental difference between these approaches to our physical reality.

I'm not too sure how much we are wired to perceive and resonate with geometric structures and symbols, but I suspect they have a much deeper reach than words. The use of geometric symbols predates the use of written words in this phase of known human history, indicating a commonly accessible knowledge about the deeper fabric of our universe.

The five Platonic Solids play an essential role in sacred geometry, due to their unique qualities (all edges of the same length, all faces the same shape). Traditional Western esoteric systems use only four elements (air, water, earth and fire) as universal elements, with ether clumsily tagged on as fifth element.

The Five Element Theory, part of Chinese philosophy and medicine, doesn't need to add anything to incorporate the five regular building blocks of reality Plato described. While it seems similar esoteric as the Western hermeneutic approach, it has some metaphorical power due to added (geometric) layers.

The tetrahedron represent Fire, the element of creation and inspiration. The ashes turn into Earth, the cube. You need two intersecting tetrahedra (a merkaba configuration) to build a stable cube, consisting only of squares it tends to distort and collapse.

Earth, element of stability, compresses everything beneath, and so creates Metal. Cube and Octahedron have the same number of edges, the compression transformed the cube into its dual. Metal condensates, and Water emerges. The icosahedron is the largest structure consisting only of equilateral triangles, introducing fluidity.

Water nourishes the Wood, transforms the icosahedron into the dodecahedron. Plato's 'secret' solid, showing twelve pentagons symmetrically and spherically arranged. That's the element responsible for good flow of Qi, unsurprisingly unfamiliar in Western systems.

Wood feeds the Fire, the dodecahedron collapses back into a tetrahedron, and the cycle begins anew. The beauty about the Five Elements theory comes from this conclusive idea of creative transformation in this cycle, combined with a tetragram in its centre describing the inhibiting influence among the elements.

Garden Of Hope

For the first time in my life I claimed responsibility for a garden patch, and I enjoyed the experience immensely so far. If I had still access to my facebook profile, I might pinpoint the time when it all began, I guess it started in January or so.

Due to some accident we had a large branch of a tree in front of the warehouse I'm working in. It looked ugly, took up valuable space and invited itself to be upcycled as sculpture for the front yard. The garden bit was overgrown with weeds at the time, with a healthy parsley bush and some rosemary worth keeping.

Together with Jonyo we decided to create an arch out of two large pieces, after we spend a couple of hours digging up the patch and removing everything not wanted. To make it sturdy, we cemented the base of the branches into the ground, and screwed the other ends into an arch.

As his backyard thrives with plants, Jonyo came back with heaps of cuttings ready to go into the ground, as well as some cans planted with succulents. I enjoyed finding a random arrangement for all the plants given, quite oblivious about their names, growth needs and likeliness to spread. As I finished, it started to rain for a good watering in.

I did know at the time that mulching has plenty of advantages, and enjoyed that the local council provides mulch for free. The parsley and rosemary were still thriving, about twenty or thirty other plants fought for initial survival.

A few weeks after the second of mulch, fruiting bodies of mushrooms appeared. For a few weeks, I could trace the mycelium by connecting the mushrooms sticking their head out. Strike! Shrooms provide a plant nutrient internet, essential for recycling carbon based materials. A fertile canvas opened up, ready for careful experimentation with creating a mini eco system.

While most people enjoyed the transformation, Adrian wanted to plant the front yard as well, but didn't get around doing it. With lots of empty space available, I invited him to cooperate. We found some good spots for heaps of sunflowers, some pepino and chamomile.

I treated all the wooden bits (two planter boxes, the arch and the top of the compost bin) with some old vegetable oil I found in the warehouse. It darkened the milled bits of timber, and brought out plenty of colour in the tree branches. I couldn't resist and integrated a small tensegrity structure.

The chaos came in the shape of a big dog named Wolfie. He enjoyed the garden so much that he dug for sticks, ran over succulents and laid some big heaps of poo. It took me a while to find out the culprit, restoring an unspoiled look of the garden project of mine. Some of the artistic components, a broken vase, a mini chair and a mouse shaped piggy bank have vanished as well. Other bits which might be easy enough to nick still remain. The biggest acts of vandalism are done by visitors to the warehouse usually, and have been sufficiently minor not to be disheartening.

Sometimes neighbours helped themselves to some of the edible parts of the garden, especially while the parsley was thriving. Some of the produce ended up in the kitchen - parsley, rosemary, chard, mint - and I used lots of comfrey for a healing creme.

Winter and some accidents acidifying the soil reduced the variety of plants and colours, and brought some new competitors on. The pineapple sage managed to establish itself and grew into a nice bush, currently flowering in shiny red. Mint and comfrey appeared, and currently thrive as well. Some of the succulents grow very prolific, and take over lots of space.

Watering the garden with an old-fashioned watering can has become a contemplative routine, and a great opportunity to notice what happened with to my plant friends. I hope some of the tomatoes will grow tall and have some fruit, and I'm still waiting for the pepino fruit to ripen. The aloe vera plant which got buried for some while, recovered. It got overgrown by a chard leave as well, but it looks like some of the succulents don't mind living in the shade for a while.

Sorry if I stretched your attention span without eye candy to illustrate the process I witness for nearly a year now. The popular concept of abundance becomes palpable when you stick your hands into soil and keep a garden growing. It takes nurturing, sometimes pruning and weeding out for a good harvest. The hours I spend caring for the front yard never felt like work and gave me a good deal of inner peace.

Self healing

It's the second time of my life without formal medical insurance, this time unlikely to afford services. When I sprained my ankle last Friday, I felt a bit nervous about the fall-out. While I didn't have to move and had access to the web, I investigated Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) approaches to help myself, while cooling my ankle.

The western approach is RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. While I did this for a couple of hours after the injury, pain prevented me from putting weight onto my left foot. I managed to fall, using both feet reflexively, ending up in agonising pain for some minutes. Back home, dedicated to more rest, treatment and less danger of re-injury I had some food and did a moxa treatment afterwards.

Around the ankle, I wasn't too precise with the point selection, the swelling was noticeable, luckily not too severe. Using heat to dissipate the heat of the inflammation seems at first counter-intuitive, but swelling builds up useless fluids preventing the flow of blood, lymph and chi in the area. While I was still very careful with using my left leg, I had a impression of slightly lesser swelling, less pain and little bit more stability.

On the day after I repeated the moxa treatment, and limped through the day. I remembered having some tiger balm, and used it later in the day to continue the heat treatment. As I was still wearing a bandage, tiger balm felt more convenient than moxa. I avoided walking long distances, spend the day at home and next door. While slow, I managed to lug around boxes, and hardly ever stepped the wrong painful way.

Two days later I did my first longer walk, really slow, although just mentally painful. I noticed each change in elevation, lots of them along only two blocks. I took the tram for two stops, getting in and out wasn't too tricky with the low-floor wagon. While I felt desperate for crutches on Friday, my confidence to move around the hood without too much pain grew.

I spend most of Sunday reading on the front porch, and chatting with some neighbours, when I got the inspiration to google comfrey. Bingo. A miracle herb, great for healing bruises, sprains and soreness. Initially, I just took a leaf and rubbed it around the ankle until the juices tinged the skin greenish. I don't care whether I activated the placebo effect, yet another improvement was noticeable.

I took another longer walk on Monday, no tram this time and slightly faster, yet still limping. I stopped wearing the bandage, and felt much less impaired by the injury than before. I managed climbing awkward stairs and ladders, and lugging heavy things around.

After some more research into comfrey and how it's used I decided to do another experiment. I blended some comfrey, a bit of rosemary (both fresh) with coconut and olive oil. Without bees wax, it's not a real salve, and the moisture of the fresh plants might attract mould and bacteria. For now, I'n not worried, as I used it immediately. I didn't filter the plant material out, about 50% the skin of the area affected is covered with the liquid oil.

A bit of Qi Gong standing on the lawn didn't evoke pain and required only little effort. The bandage mainly holds the comfrey paste in place. I plan to use up the small amount I made in the next few days, with a more generous application before going to bed. So far, I'm surprised about the fast recovery. Straight after the accident I was concerned how this would affect my everyday affairs. Now I'm hoping to be back on a unicycle already next week.

While my financial situation deserves the label 'sub-optimal', the abundance of resources available to me at the moment - information on the web, some plants in the front yard - provide for what's needed for good solutions to urgent challenges.

Habits

This morning turned out different from most others. I got logged out of facebook over night, and haven't been able to access my account since then. For the second time in seven years or so with the same account, I got notified to use a 'real name' AND to provide ID with this name.

While I kept myself busy with domestic things in the morning, and the Free Shop in the afternoon, I didn't miss it much. Now, as the evening has arrived, I start noticing how much time I whiled away on fb, how much browsing through the time line has become a habit.

I have some options to rejoin the happy corporate spy platform, yet I'm hesitant. Losing my account would also mean losing some of my photos which haven't been backed up (or the backup was lost). Some content would become inaccessible as well, but all in all the data 'loss' wouldn't really matter.

And then there are the 'connections', a digital link to people far away while close at heart.

Day two of the changed morning routine, no virtual catch up in the fb arena. I think I need to use some calendar system to keep track of events I'm interested in if I stay abstinent. Without a decent digital passport suitable photo of mine a fake ID isn't possible right now anyway. I substitute the time line by twitter, which performs a bit sluggish on my oldish, not-so-high-end devices.

tbc.

Do I inhabit a fascist nation?

For various reasons I spend lately more time as an internet consumer than producer. 'Social' media, while suggesting productive engagement, works mainly to let time pass. Luckily I came across an old-fashioned webpage with some characteristics of fascism.

As I think most, if not all of them apply to Australia in 2015, I take the artistic freedom to provide some thoughts on each of the given points.

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

Australia celebrates their participation in wars as cannon fodder for either the British or the US Empire as national holidays. There's Anzac Day, Long Tan Day, something about Gallipolli, and 'Australia Day' celebrates the illegal acquisition of an entire continent by means of on-going genocide of more than 600 nations since 1788.

It's funny to see so many flags in this country, being a remote island nation. I would be surprised if island tribes bother coming up with a flag. What an ingenious meme of the Brits, using a piece of cloth as symbol of power. It's a piece of 'black' magic.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

The policy of indefinite detention for refugees, the policy of 'stopping the boats', incarcerating children in detention camps, the entire concept of 'off-shore detention centers', the planned removal of more than 150 remote indigenous communities in Western Australia, the data retention laws speak a very clear language here. Not too mention UN reports published about Australia's Human Rights violations.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

'Stop the boats!' was the official election slogan, islamophobia justifies many civil liberties restrictions. Sydney was the first place to stop air traffic for a hostage situation - the Sydney siege build up the vague concept of 'terrorism' as common threat, just like subscribed by Orwell in 1984.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

Some Japanese fighter planes made it to the Northern Shores of Australia during WW2, but the invasion threat since then is quite minimal. That didn't stop the current government spending $12 billion on 58 fighter planes last year. Not too mention the increase in US military personnel in Darwin and in Pine Gap. Did I mention the Dawn parade for ANZAC day (or whatever let's celebrate slaughtering innocents for profits and call it just war holiday).

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

There was only one woman in the government's set of ministers. The PM himself, known to have a strong misogynic touch, announced himself as minister for women's affairs. Of course, gay marriage can not be tolerated. If you have a chance seeing an interview with PM when asked about homosexuality, you get a free time travel into the Dark Ages.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

Media ownership works more than governmental influence in this case. Murdoch makes and breaks the political puppets of the corporatist system. However, 'national security' is now the get-into-jail-card for journalists who dare to have an eye on those in power. As one of the first ways to 'stop the boats', the current government declared any incidents with refugee boats a matter of national security, and effectively censored any non-government approved reporting.

Just two days ago, blocking of torrent sites increased the level of everyday censorship in this country.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

Lots of elements threaten the 'Australian Way of life' - everyone could be a terrorist! Latest PR stunt I recall asked for the removal of citizenship for terror suspects, yet I certainly mentioned national security earlier here.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

The current PM not only promotes his take on Christian values (Would Jesus have let any refuge in? I don't think so.), but also likes to compare himself to the person praised by his follower as their 'saviour'. And while alleged child abuse was repeatedly used to justify the genocidal act of closing indigenous communities, stealing their children and reeducating them in 'white' families or in Christian orphanages, the PM still confirms his friendship with Bishop George Pell, a confirmed child abuser.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

The mining industry pays hardly any taxes, doesn't employ many people, acts ecologically totally irresponsibly yet nevertheless directs many ecocidal decisions the government had chosen. The current PM went so far to claim that 'Coal is the future for Australia. Coal is the future for the world.' In WA, some of the oldest artefacts made by our current race have been destroyed to make a quick mining buck. 

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

Unions can now be held liable for perceived profit losses if they do their job and organise strikes or pickets. The union asking for adhering to safety standards, after a collapsing wall on a GROCON site killed a pedestrian, has to pay $3.5 million for the picket. Not an elimination of labor unions, just a suppression.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

The current government doesn't need a Ministry for science, so they abolished it. At the moment, severe funding cuts for art in community and education take place. No arrests yet, as far as I know.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

Law enforcement can now legally store all your communication meta data, inspect the communications if they deem it necessary, hack your communications devices, break into your house, create evidence, use created evidence against you. Anti-terror laws make everyone a suspect, the Magna Carta doesn't count for anything anymore.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

The PM's daughter, most likely as act of cronyism, got sponsored by a university. The employee bringing this act favoritism into the public got sued. I guess an investigation into the current treasurer will bring lots of evidence that this is more than hearsay. PS: The speaker of the house, Bronwyn Bishop, has been caught spending lots of taxpayers money for private pleasures. Of course, the current PM protects her.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

I'm really not sure about this one. Besides the manipulation of the Murdoch press, I can't vouch for open manipulation. Finally, a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. I'm happy than happy to discuss this with anyone still believing in the fairytale of democracy in Australia.

PTSD

It's occupy again. I came across some message of social media, got updated on twitter and hooked again in tuning into tweets and feeds from a different 'corner' of our planet. This time, not the US went into the spotlight, but Europe. In Frankfurt the European Central Bank opened its new head quarters which united many Europeans to air their dissent about the wave of austerity sweeping over Europe.

I used to live in Frankfurt, and saw many familiar views in the images and streams I came across. I even used to work for the ECB, walking over red carpet into the opera house in the summer of 1998 when its birth was celebrated. I don't expect my signature to have remained in the guest book, but you'll never know.

When Occupy Wallstreet swept like a virus around the globe, it happened in Melbourne as well as in Frankfurt, and many hundred of other cities. My friends back in Frankfurt weren't too impressed by what happened then, and like, everywhere else, the occupy movement fizzled away.

Or just went into some sort of metamorphosis. Some people continued to provide community support in various ways, continued in activism for other causes, joined cooperatives, started growing food and, of course, some spend endless time licking their wound to keep them fresh.

The major cause of misery, an economic system designed to feed the rich and starve the poor, increased its potency to cause havoc among communities and mother nature. International institutions like the ECB and the ESM (European Stability Mechanism), not to mention IMF, World Bank disempower local governments to become pawns of a monetary aristocracy.

The human family, with 7 billions or even more members, deserves a better organisation of society than one which allows anyone to starve despite the abundance the planet has to offer. All forms of government have been invented by humans. We can invent something which serves everyone. Anything less doesn't make any sense.

In the beginning

Life remains a big mystery for all involved. How did we get here, how did it all begin and where does it all lead to? Many people asked these questions, and entire societies emerged depending on the answers given. While current predominantly accepted answer to these big questions seem simple, they might reflect an unhealthy tunnel vision.

How did we get here? Coincidence. The universe acts like a giant quantum computer, pre-programmed with rule sets which randomly create systems of higher complexity. Basically Newton's clockwork universe revisited, full of inevitability and determinism.

How did it all begin? Big Bang. The strictly causal universe popped out of less than nothing into existence, without cause. While everything within universe seems to follow causal relationships, universe itself lacks any cause. In other words: The existence of universe, or its origin, kind of breaks the entire rule set valid within universe.

Where does it all lead to? Entropy. Everything deteriorates, transform from order into chaos. The entire universe will run out of fuel, and collapse in itself, popping as mysteriously and inexplicable out of existence as it emerged.

This big picture of things diminishes our existence, our individuality and our consciousness to nothing but an inevitable by-product of rule-based processes beyond our intentional influence. While this concept of reality has been promoted and believed lots, it doesn't really reflect what happens.

The three questions seem to go to the core of life, the universe and everything, yet from a perspective making our existence the centre of importance of the whole universe. These questions address the 'objects' of our thinking, without addressing thinking/observing itself.

This virtual conversation could not take place without consciousness. Any word, any thought just attempts to describe the experiences available to consciousness. Please allow yourself for a moment or two to live without a concise definition of consciousness, and trust your idea of it (at least as long as you believe that you're endowed with it).

Let me now propose 'consciousness' as primary 'substance' of our universe. Like the ocean consists of water molecules, consciousness consists of 'spirit' molecules, distinct yet closely linked. Our 'self', us being represents one droplet in the ocean of consciousness. Matter as we know it emerges as consequence of consciousness, never as its cause.

It might take a bit of contemplation to shift our perspective from materialistic, deterministic object based thinking towards process-focussed thinking. The word consciousness describes a process, yet the english language lacks the precision of specific terms for different states of this process. Dhyana, samadhi, satori can not be properly translated into the language of cultures which subscribed to materialistic fundamentalism.

The western culture replaced the quest for liberation, for moksha, with the illusion of personal liberty. Like in many areas, some cleverly installed maya (illusion) suggests already 'being there', no need to move deliberately into the direction of love, compassion and understanding. The Western culture has ostensibly reached the level of enlightenment about 2 centuries ago. No worries, mate, we totally got it.

If you grew up in a culture claiming to have descended from an 'enlightened' culture, it's easy to assume that the systems in place reflect enlightened ideas. Unfortunately, the existing systems of governance and economy fail to provide access for everyone to the abundance of resources our planet offers. The firm believe that the current world is the best possible, after a quasi linear development to excellence, hinders participation in individual growth and evolution of society.

From a process-focussed perspective, change of structures of society appears natural and inevitable. The very same evolving structures have rather quality of static snapshots, gradually adjusted towards more 'efficiency' when seen from a materialistic-deterministic perspective. Considering the lack of success in making this planet work for 100% of humanity using the current systems of society, restructuring society in radical new (old) ways seems the next potential evolutionary leap.

Before I leap to far ahead, I'd like to step back a bit to introduce my understanding of the process of evolution. Individual systems combine with other other systems towards higher complexity and diversity in order to succeed coexisting within an environment. From one-cellular beings via multicellular life forms evolution increased complexity and diversity of the biosphere of Mother Earth.

As an ongoing process on all levels of life and consciousness, comparing evolution to a race to the top, with humanity as its most important outcome, makes only little sense.  Everything permanently co-evolves. Humanity's attack on biodiversity tears holes in the web of life which endanger its own existence. The temporary madness in global human interaction, war, pollution, starvation only paves the path to a massive fall of so-called civilisation.

Unless we decide to organise our support systems in ways that work for 100% of humanity, to consciously evolve our communities and ourself, we have little chance to avoid witnessing the empire falling, and taking many with it. Understanding evolution as on-going process, and not merely as propaganda tool to justify a culture of domination, can facilitate shaping our evolution of society without creating unnecessary suffering.

Heart-ripping ego-trippin

My invite to a cosmic dance

was greeted with a fighting stance

Your ego runs again the show

so I can only let you go.

When we were acting from the heart,

we had some really amazing start.

Tuning into the flow wasn't hard,

while enjoying love, life and art.

My love for you is still boundless,

yet it seems futile to address

joining our path to wholeness -

so far it produced quite a mess.

Your fierce reaction posed a real test,

I still continue to wish you all the best. 

The art of letting go

If I continue this craving 

for you, I'm only paving

myself a road to misery,

that ain't no mystery.

Instinctively, right from the start,

we connected deeply from the heart.

Soon our relation changed its kind,

and become a battle of the mind.

While I enjoyed our immersion

in soulful flow, it led to aversion.

Now, holding on to hopes in vain

will just manifest some more pain.

Whilst your ego runs the show

I can only let you go. 

Suchness

If you choose a life from the shelf

you'll block the path to your true self.

Life offers so much more variety,

than just to function in society.

Yet when your ego becomes your master,

life easily turns into a disaster.

The game of craving and aversion

prevents healthy energy conversion.

Once you tame that fearsome hungry beast

you will find true peace, at least.

You can stop swimming against the stream,

turning the re-occurring nightmare into a dream.

Don't be afraid to seek your art of living,

and life becomes the gift that keeps on giving.

To the moon!

Only a short while ago, December 6th 2013, the Dogecoin was unleashed into the shark pool of the economy. At this time of history, 1 Bitcoin hovered around the $1000 mark, with a market capitalisation of roughly one billion USD. Our current global economic system favours greed and recklessness, mainly due to its dependence on central bank money.

Cryptocoins can't eliminate greed from the equation. Greed certainly contributed to the withdrawal of a billion dollar from the corporatist market, with its rigged rules. But the origin of it, mining, creates a different set of values attached to it.

While you might find someone 'lending' you bitcoins or any other altcoin, they cannot lend it into existence, like it's the current practice in most countries. The definition of the bitcoin limits the amount to 21 million coins, some of which might already have entered a digital nirvana.

Just like cash in a wallet, you might lose your cryptocoins if you're not careful. It takes a bit of getting used to exchange digital money, and that slows down the acceptance of a new, fair monetary tool.

The bitcoin and litecoin communities have a bit of a bad reputation when it comes to mutual support and general kindness. Dogecoin has changed the scene by creating a community where giving, sharing and mutual support define its standards.

That doesn't prevent scammers to prey on the innocent. Yet the currently low exchange rate means before you collect so many dogecoins that their loss would really hurt you had enough opportunity to familiarise yourself how to safely engage with cryptocoins.

In first place, the dogecoin community seems more like a fun-based education institution, going through a collective learning process. This happens in a light-hearted manner, united by the idea to go to the moon with dogecoin.

It needed an ecosystem of cryptocurrencies to create an economical system which potentially can sustain itself. The value of each currency depends on the community which mines and uses it. One advantage remains: You get the luxury of 'electronic' banking, albeit a bit clumsy at the moment, without any more bank involved.

Triple trouble / Alexithymia

You wished me into your life,

shortly allowing us both to thrive.

Two souls connected by touch

which soon became too much.

I knew I could only lose

by giving you freedom to choose

to decide with your mind or soul

I wanted you whole, and lost all

. 

I saw you shedding some tears,

while submitting to your fears.

I planted seeds of freedom in you,
would've loved be around for harvest, too.

The mix of cheap wine and deep sorrow

now has me waiting for a better tomorrow.

Fox in socks on the rocks

You told me about your desire to heal,

but that's not really what I can feel.

You provided me often with food,

and also your fast-changing mood.

Now I stand here with an empty hand,

still don't know what I had to understand

of the obstacles created in the distant past,

which stopped the chance of our story to last.

So my heart fills again with sadness,

walking alone through a world of madness,

waiting for love's resurrection,

another heart-felt connection.

I stay connected to you, my beloved fox,

hope you're happy after putting me in a box.

Sleepless night

Your life seems like a battle for control,

there's a fight against yourself inside -

you know that fight is just not right

and asked for help to become more whole.

We were mutually attracted,

and let our defences go

connected into effortless flow -

but very soon got distracted.

Control returned with a vengeance

and demanded plenty of distance.

The old ways came back and did much

to prevent more exposure to healing touch.

The door is still open, now you decide -

No jailbreak needed, want to step outside?

Liebeskummer

Our story was too good to be true -

if only I could stop loving you!

This torturing pain could go away

and my life would again seem okay.

You brought happiness back into my life,

I'd happily have chosen you as my wife.

I had millions of things for you to give,

'cos you gave me millions of reasons to live.

Now my heart feels empty and sad,

missing the special connection we had.

I'm way to numb to start to cry

I just know that I'm ready to die.

Our story was meant to last,

can't believe it ended so fast.

See you in the next life

When we first met, 

time didn't seem to exist.

The connection we had

was sheer impossible to resist.

I dared to love again,

couldn't fathom my luck.

I forgot all the pain

which until then had struck.

When you said good bye,

I didn't go mad.

When I saw you cry,

I still felt incredibly sad.

It was over before it truly began

the end hit me just like a van.

Interim

There's some shadows of the past

which seem to want to last,

fuelling again the futile fight

for what's wrong and what's right.

The straight gait becomes a sway,

won't those shadows go away?

Won't there be eternal laughter

of being happily ever after?

One step forward, two steps back -

is it really the right kind of track?

For as long as you follow the flow

your intuition guides you where to go.

Yet for each thing you've been shown

another million things remain unknown.

Querencia

Prelude

I'm playing the game of chance,

wanting my life to advance.

I had enough of luck's wrath

Just want to peacefully walk the path.

I had my fair share of the endless fight

about what's wrong & what's right

I can no longer stay in solitude

After steady increase of amplitude.

I see the tree tremble and shake,

in the game of give and take.

Deeply rooted to Gaia's core

That what I want of some more.

Yet it seem's like my life's predicament

is to remain in perpetual movement. 

Querencia

It seemed like coincidence

a random meeting of souls,

sharing o so many goals,

It turned into a cosmic dance.

Two hearts melting together

each of us of their own kind

thinking together as one mind

touch as light as a feather.

A common love of geometry

which shapes the universe

through which we traverse

brought our dreams into reality.

We were meant for each other,

For once, I stopped to bother.