Thank you all !

2 exciting weeks, 77 posts, 150 comments, over 4000 views. A fantastic start. Vivat the Living Room ! Vivat the Visitors.

Looking forward to a busy September !

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What I see is what I am

Maneki Neko, the beckoning cat

Something that has really changed for me is the way I see. I noticed first in nature, but then also just walking about, or at home and when I am with people. I am able to “see” so much more. I realise of course that it has always been there, but now I am able to be conscious of it and I am absolutely taken by the beauty around me.

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The ardent alchemist

The alchemist is learning by doing. Not the result – the process of transformation is her passion.

Sturm - wine in the fermentation stage

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I felt a Funeral in my Brain

by Emily Dickinson

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading – treading – till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through –  

And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum – 
Kept beating – beating – till I thought
My Mind was going numb –  

And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space – began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here – 

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down – 
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing – then –
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Immortal Beloved

Beethoven House, Pfarrplatz 1

When he lodged in Heiligenstadt, during the summer of 1802, Beethoven did not only have to come to terms with losing his hearing and related to this, his career as a highly sought after conductor – he also lost the woman he loved. Countess Guiletta Guicciardi was a piano pupil of Beethoven. She fell in love with him for a time, and in 1802, he dedicated his Moonlight piano sonata to her,  after she had refused his marriage proposal and went on to marry someone else. Continue reading

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The ardent alchemist

Kerala Backwaters

Before one can change into  an other, it must first turn into nothing.

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Is it enough to be present ?

Here be dragons

A conversation between Angelika and Michaela

A: Good morning, Michaela! What´s up today?

M: Good morning Geli. Its raining cats and dogs here – thank god I do not have to go out today.

A:  Same here. The weather is similar to November´s, even though the trees are still green and it is still quite bright outside. It is almost a contradiction in terms. Which leads me to what I would like to talk to you about :

Why is it not it enough to be in the present moment and all ego gets transformed or burned up?
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The Process

Kyoto Garden, Holland Park

From Krishnamurti’s notebook:

In the evening it was there: suddenly it was there, filling the room, a great sense of beauty, power and gentleness. Others noticed it.

19th All night it was there whenever I woke up. The head was bad going to the plane [to fly to Los Angeles] – The purification of the brain is necessary.  The brain is the centre of all the senses; the more the senses are alert and sensitive the sharper the brain is; Continue reading

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Of Agony and Surrender

The "Testament" House in Vienna (Probusgasse 6)

The Heiligenstadt Testament

When Beethoven was 26 years old  he was already a very successful composer and piano virtuoso.  At this time he began to suffer from buzzing noises and other sounds in his ears, and two years later deafness broke out. In 1802 he had lost 60% of his hearing and was completely deaf in 1816 – at only 46 years. Continue reading

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On the sofa with Paul

Beethoven House in Nussdorf, Vienna

A conversation on Beethoven between Paul and Michaela

“Music is mediator between spiritual and sensual life.”
Ludwig van Beethoven

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