Last Saturday, I presented We Are What We Do (www.wearewhatwedo.org) at a forum “For a better world” at the Rudolf-Steiner-House in Berlin. Another guest was a representative from a network movement called “differently better living” (www.anders-besser-leben.de). They are calling for social change in Germany for a sustainable and meaningful lifestyle in solidarity. The network has published a declaration that people can sign and which is giving us guidelines for a more future-oriented lifestyle. Here are some excerpts that I find inspiring and a good starting point for me to initiate dialogue meetings around personal sustainability in Berlin in 2008:   Read more...

A bit more than a month ago I wrote about a tantric seminar that I went to and how amazing I thought it was. I came close to and felt real love and acceptance for others (people I barely knew) and came closer to myself. And I wanted to get involved more with tantra. So last weekend I was at a 2 day tantric seminar in a eco-hotel in the Brazilian mountains.   Read more...

Fritz Eichenberg was one of the great graphic artists of the twentieth century. His masterpieces are on a par with those of Rembrandt and Durer, both in terms of quality and subject matter. Born a Jew in Germany, he witnessed firsthand the ominous devouring of his homeland by the Nazis. So, he moved to New York, where he was able to further develop his extraordinary artistic talents. Later he became a Quaker. So, his works reflect Biblical themes, and also fantasy and social satire, among others. Now “The Catholic Worker”, a non-profit magazine published in New York City, holds the rights to many of his marvelous prints. So on fortunate occasions Fritz’s work can still impress the hearts and minds of the public.

One piece in particular stands out in my mind because of its simplicity and profound message. The scene is a queue of men in a bread line. Everyone is poor, wearing threadbare clothes with patches and shoes with holes. The men are hardworking, obvious from their huge, gnarled hands and bulging muscles. Each has his head lowered, as if exhausted and humbled to receive the meager meal about to be given to them.   Read more...

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The first wealth is health.”

In this week’s Huffington Post, I read a blog entry by former Assistant Surgeon General Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D. and Elise Schlissel called “Health Diplomacy: A Prescription for Peace.” Her words struck me upside the head with their practicality and their wisdom.   Read more...

Five simple steps could save the lives of over 100,000 people in this country every year. This is the conclusion of a recent report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The investigation assessed which preventive services have the greatest impact on health and length of life. Prevention includes all the measures health providers use to keep their patients healthy, such as vaccinations, cancer screening tests, and counseling. As a primary care doctor, my practice has a major focus on preventive medicine. But this new report reveals doctors are falling far short of providing optimum preventive care for their patients. The five simple steps are all standard, established procedures that, sadly, are underutilized in our healthcare system.   Read more...

Why don’t we have peace on our planet? I believe we don’t have peace because we don’t allow ourselves to have it.

Who schedules your life? Who makes your commitments? Who says yes and no for you? Who allows everything that happens in your life?   Read more...

Spiders are such generous creatures. They are ceaseless weaving and spinning their intricate homes and forever seeking their life’s sustenance. I admire their diligence and determination. Whenever I brush away their lace offerings in an irregular cleaning spree, I feel deep admiration for their immediate response of shooting out one thread and then another and yet another to begin once again the task of reassembling a gossamer webbed abode. No matter how many times I wipe away their handiwork or shoo them out of my house, they soon reappear and begin their delicate artwork once again.   Read more...

My spiritual life has a rhythm all its own. There are times when it’s all I can think about; there are times when I don’t think about it at all. Lately, my spiritual life has been rich in imagery and even richer in healing.

I’ve been fifty for less than a month, and in that time wild pieces of my past have surfaced in dreams, in meditations, in prayer. Pieces of the past are queuing up for healing. For those who are astrologically-minded, you will recognize the pattern of a Chiron Return.   Read more...

A few days ago I was woken up at about 5 in the morning with a power cut. The fan stopped circulating the air and the room got really hot. As I could not sleep anymore, I got out of bed and went to the lounge. Then I thought how dependent we have become on electricity, fans and air conditioning to keep us comfortable and how spoild we have become not being able to put up with the inconvenience of a power cut.   Read more...

Certainly, there is a lot for the west to learn from the rest in order to create a better balance in the world.

The problem is that the rest is fast becoming like the west thanks to technology.  This is not surprising with 300 years of domination based on the famous words “Cogito, ergo sum” - “I think, therefore, I exist”.   We need to understand the history of all this in order for us to reorient our thinking which may enable us to learn from the rest.   Read more...

Do you know a company that operates democratically? If so, nominate them for the WorldBlu List of Most Democratic Workplaces 2008 award!

Any organization -- profit, non-profit, NGO, small, midsize, or large can apply for the honor. Each applying organization must submit a survey to its employees. Then, each is given a rating score that determines whether they make the 2008 list. Such a list helps to honor the organization and to show other organizations the incredible positive value of transforming their organizations out of the negative command and control style into the collaborative democratic style.   Read more...

So now its Sunday, departure day. Our party on Saturday evening was awesome. The audience loved the dancers, were amazed by the AromaJockey, and intrigued by the Visual Jockey. The dancers danced in a way that was easy to follow for the party-people. We ended up in some hip, urban version of line dancing. Great to see how proud the people were when they left the dance floor! It went the way we wanted it, this is what we offer: a good vibe that causes people to dance, in some cases for the first time in their lives   Read more...

A recent event in ‘my life’ has been another of those treasures that are witnessed all too rarely in society as it is at the moment. It feels natural to share it with people who would probably see what is being said here clearly for the positive in it.

I have recently been helping to look after an elderly person who has become unwell, managing things like preparing meals, helping with medication, etc. Confidentiality is maintained here, as no person that I know reads Ode unfortunately – well, not yet anyway – and I have not said whether the person is male or female. And the person concerned has also agreed to have their recent story written in this way and to appear on the website.) There had been a recent rapid deterioration in mental faculties, leading to weakness in the body and confusion in those areas of Life taken somewhat for granted, e.g. recognition of the day of the week, time of the day, remembering most recent events.   Read more...

Andi McDaniel wrote in the August issue of Ode about a new kind of school near Copenhagen. It has architectural zones based on three learning concepts. They are:

1. Peace and Absorption
2. Discussion and Cooperation
3. Security and Presence

A far cry from the rote that characterized my everlastingly dull grade school experience.   Read more...

Friday felt like a glorious day. We got the opportunity to participate in an event on the upper deck of the cruise boat. As I told you yesterday, the stage manager of that party was fully cooperative and after we had told him what we normally do in Europe at our events, he decided to give us carte blanche so we could go all the way. We get the control over the DJ's schedule and I even get to become the host of the evening. Yeah, always wanted to be an MC!

Since we already did a performance on Wednesday, we all knew we could do it, and that from our side everything was fully checked. Every idea that poped up got worked out. When we tried to find an interpreter for my MC-ing we find one the best self expressed interpreters. When we are looked for a fan for the Aroma Jockey, we found one of the most fancy fans we have ever seen. The captain tries to challenge us a little bit by announcing that there might be some rain this evening but in the end it didn’t rain at all. All the conditions were there for a blast of a party!   Read more...

Thursday - Jamaica
We used this Thursday to lick our wounds. Everybody did whatever they wanted to do, some went diving in the seas of Jamaica, some saw the waterfalls, some of us went to a Bob Marley Museum, some of us did some other typical Jamaican stuff…

My tour manager had a call with the entertainment cruise director. He apologized for the breakdowns of the night before and offered us two new opportunities. The deaf dancers and the sign dancers can dance on Friday night, when there is a Miami Nightclub party on the deck. And on top of that, we get another chance on Saturday night in the Crypt, which is the nightclub on the ship. Although only 150 people fit in there, and there is not a real stage, it is more a Sencity-like place as our whole concept started in this kind of music venue. Possibilities are growing again!   Read more...

I left you all at Wednesday morning 9 am, here is what happened after that.

10 pm
We are supposed to have a meeting. ‘Supposed’ to because again ‘something’ came up at the cruise management and the meeting gets postponed till 4 pm. That means we will not really be able to check out the Cayman Islands, the current location of the cruise ship. For the first time the vibe in the team declines and a numbness is comes over us.   Read more...