The Living Room

Frozen over

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Michaela

Something that does not happen too often – the Danube froze over

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Convenience and Intuition

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Michaela

Schönbrunn, Feb 2012

A little teaching from Caroline Myss that leads to an important question: How much does my attachment to convenience and comfort compromise intuition ?

Enjoy

Posted in Teacher & Teachings | Tagged Comfort, Convenience, Intuition | 5 Comments

Imagine

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Michaela

John Lennon’s Manifesto….

” You may say I am dreamer, but I am not the only one. I hope some day you join us and the world be One”

For anyone having problems with the video, here is the link to the youtube version.

Posted in Teacher & Teachings | 2 Comments

The tyranny of common sense

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Michaela

Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution

Posted in Breaking the mould, Teacher & Teachings | Tagged creativity, education, purpose | 1 Comment

Are we too many ?

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Michaela

How many people can live on planet earth ?
Richard Attenborough on population and consumption

Posted in The world we live in Now | Tagged consumption, pollution, population | 1 Comment

You are lonely my friend…

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Michaela

Anita Rée: Orpheus and the animals (1930)

You are lonely, my friend, because you are….
We, with a word or a finger-sign,
gradually make the world our own ,
though perhaps its weakest, most precarious part.

How can fingers point out a smell?–
Yet of the dark forces that lurk at our side
you feel many…You know the dead;
and you shrink away from the magic spell.

Look, we two together must bear
piecework and parts, as if they were
the whole. But be careful. Above all, don’t plant

me inside your heart. I’d outgrow you. But I
will guide my master’s hand and will say:
Here. This is Esau beneath his pelt

R.M. Rilke ” Sonnets to Orpheus” I/16

Continue reading →

Posted in Listening to Orpheus, Orpheus | Tagged Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus | 3 Comments

To mix death into everything seen

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Michaela

C.D.Friedrich " Tree of Crows" c.1822 Louvre

Is he someone who dwells in this single world? No:
both realms are the source of his earthly power.
He alone who has known the roots of the willow
can bend the willow-branch into a lyre.

Overnight leave no bread on the table
and leave no milk:they draw back the dead–,
But he, the conjurer, may he settle
under the calm of the eye’s lowered lid

to mix death into everything seen;
and may the magic of earth smoke and rue
be as real to him as the clearest connection.

Nothing can trouble the dominance of
the true image. Whether from graves or from rooms,
let him praise finger-ring, bracelet, and jug.

R.M. Rilke ” Sonnets to Orpheus” I/6

Continue reading →

Posted in Arts & Crafts, Books & Poetry, Listening to Orpheus, Orpheus, Rilke's Reality | Tagged death, language of the trees, Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus, Trees | 1 Comment

The descent of Orpheus

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Michaela

Listening to Orpheus (16)

Inspired by Monteverdi’s opera, L’Orféo and a personal interpretation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice this performance on film is an exploration of the ephemeral nature of life and universal human fears, such as mortality and the unknown, that underlie the original story.

By Film Through The Wall

Posted in Classical Music, Listening to Orpheus, Orpheus | Tagged Descent, Greek mythology, Monteverdi, Orfeo, Orpheus, underworld | 5 Comments

Primordial Void

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Michaela

Listening to Orpheus (15)

Adyashanti on the challenge to discover the primordial void. As Orpheus followed Eurydice into the underworld, we follow our longing to dissolve into nothingness.

Adyashanti Talk ” Rooted in the Primordial” (1:47 hr)

Posted in Listening to Orpheus, Orpheus, Teacher & Teachings | Tagged control, death, Emptiness, letting go, underworld, Void | Leave a comment

God, what darkness…

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Michaela

Listening to Orpheus (14)

Fidelio is Beethoven’s only opera. He struggled with it and called it “the martyr’s crown”. It is the reverse story of Orpheus. Florestan is imprisoned and his wife Leonore follows him to save him. In his dungeon he sings first of his trust in God, then has a vision of Leonore coming to save him.

Libretto and translation