Means of Life (5)

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Michaela

In many ways, food has become an obsession in our society.

As we have established, food intake is regulated by the bodily functions of hunger and satiety, as well as influenced by appetite, that is an indicator which type of food to choose.

Holistic medical systems like Ayurvedic Medicine or traditional Chinese Medicine regard food as medicine, endowed with particular properties and qualities, that will benefit certain energetic imbalances. The quality of the food we choose, has to be in harmony with climate, vegetation, season, age and physical condition. There is great wisdom in the holistic approach to nutrition, and guidelines and food plans are always individual and flexible, according to the specific need.

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In the face of tragedy

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Michaela

‘You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations – to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we’ve seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems. Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.

But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.

Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, “when I looked for light, then came darkness.” Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.

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Eve after the Fall

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Michaela

Eve, Musée Rodin, Paris Rodin, Paris

Auguste Rodin’s primary subject and source of inspiration was the human body, from simple studies to penetrating portraits to depictions of human passion and suffering–continually shocking the public with his sensual subject matter and frequent fragmentation and abstraction of the human form. With a vigorous modeling technique that was subjective and impressionistic, he captured movement and expressed emotion by altering traditional poses and gestures to create intense, highly personal figures–all celebrating the vitality of the human spirit.

“Eve” is a prime example of this. Inspired by Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel fresco, Rodin’s model was actually pregnant during the sessions to sculpt mother of humanity. Attached is an article about the sculpture from the New York Times of 1899.

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Means of Life (4)

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Michaela

Idly, wada, coconut chutney, vegetable, sambal and beetroot chutney - a perfectly balanced meal (South India)

So we have established now, that eating is a human need. The body, this living, breathing, vibrating, beautiful living organism is made of the dancing particles of all matter, and renews itself constantly. The body is at all times a part of the whole and exchanges energy and matter through the lungs, skin and of course through the digestive system.

We cannot willingly control the exchange of energy and matter through air, radiation and temperature, as these systems work independent from our thinking mind and in general we do not think much about it, because the intelligence of the body is able to regulate it and keep a perfect balance. It may tell us to breath deeper or faster, to put on a sweater to keep us warm, or to use a hat or sun glasses to protect the system from radiation. The signals that go along with an imbalance, goes along with a felt body sense, that is interpreted as “pleasant” or “unpleasant” by the mind and action is being taken to rebalance the system.

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LoL

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Michaela

Guilt trip…

 

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The world I live in

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Michaela

 

“There is in the blind as in the seeing an Absolute which gives truth to what we know to be true, order to what is orderly, beauty to the beautiful, touchableness to what is tangible. If this is granted, it follows that this Absolute is not imperfect, incomplete, partial. . . . Thus deafness and blindness do not exist in the immaterial mind, which is philosophically the real world, but are banished with the perishable material senses.Reality, of which visible things are the symbol, shines before my mind. While I walk about my chamber with unsteady steps, my spirit sweeps skyward on eagle wings and looks out with unquenchable vision upon the world of eternal beauty.”

Helen Keller (The World I Live in )

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Means of Life (3)

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Michaela

I am currently preparing a lecture how chronic stress and symptoms and diseases of the digestive system are related. So this is the real-life background for contemplating about food, digestion and the innate wisdom of our bodies.

Why do we eat at all? Basically we need food for energy and we need the very elements to renew the tissues, particles, fluids and fabrics of our body. It is all about energy and matter, for the building blocks of all life are carbohydrates, fat and protein, as well as nucleic acids. They in turn consist of atomic particles, that can be broken down to even smaller particles – the quarks. Their names are – up, down, top, bottom, charm and strange. They spin and vibrate and they are the elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of all matter.

The quark model was proposed by the physicist Murray Gell-Mann, who received the nobel price for his work on elementary particles. He originally named the quark after the sound made by ducks. For some time, he was undecided on an actual spelling for the term he intended to coin, until he found the word quark in James Joyce’s book Finnegans Wake:

Three quarks for Muster Mark!
Sure he has not got much of a bark
And sure any he has it’s all beside the mark.

—James Joyce, Finnegans Wake

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Sharing

Posted on January 12, 2011 by Glerikud

I realize the feeling in me, it’s the ego. Suddenly an other emotion arrives, confusion. It takes my attention instantly (defensive step from the ego). I know that i have a choice now: Choose between the ego or the stillness.

And the confusion illusion unmasks itself: If i choose the stillness, it’s still there, trying to make me rethink my choice. It can’t be a real thing. The confusion came from the ego…

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Ah, not to be cut off

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Michaela

 

Ah, not to be cut off,
not through the slightest partition
shut out from the law of the stars.
The inner — what is it?
if not the intensified sky,
hurled through with birds and deep
with the winds of homecoming.

German Original

Ach, nicht getrennt sein,
nicht durch so wenig Wandung
vom Sternen-Maß.
Innres, was ists?
Wenn nicht gesteigerter Himmel,
durchworfen mit Vögeln und tief
von Winden der Heimkehr.

Rainer Maria Rilke
Aus: Die Gedichte 1922 bis 1926 (Paris, Sommer 1925)
The painting “Wally” by Egon Schiele just returned back to Vienna after an odyssey of 70 years and an extensive litigation in New York. It can be visited at the Leopold Museum
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Pain as a teacher

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Michaela

” Pain is less needed as a spiritual teacher and as a tool for breaking down the ego, for those who voluntarily embrace the arising new consciousness. But those who don’t, they are like there is a shell around them and something within wants to grow, but cant. It’s pushing up against the shell, and that begins to be painful.

For many people there is the longing inside, but the egoic patterns are very strong. And then what life tends to do, it knocks you out, it breaks the shell through some kind of event. Whatever it may be, for some people it may be losing their job, lose their home, suddenly the wife leaves you, could be something physical. Whatever it is, it is a shock, then a crack appears and the light can come through. ”

— Eckhart Tolle. ” Is awakening a gradual process”.

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