Intuitive Notions

Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. This famous and elegant quote by Wittgenstein was conceived as an end to the kind of senseless and irrefutable mystical concepts and metaphysical constructs which take up so much space in philosophy. Wittgenstein was perhaps the first to cut the Gordian knot and say: this is non–sense, I need not refute it, it has no meaning. As an example: any discussion or debate about “God“ is an exercise in miscommunication. We have no objective access to anything which fits the label “God“ and nobody can define the term so we’re talking past each other. God is vengeful, no, he’s not. How could this dispute ever be resolved. It can’t. Just be silent on mystical issues. But, being silent sells no books. A true Zen book consists of one, empty page. If I had such a book, I imagine possibly, over a lifetime, probably with much correction and crossing out filling out some of the page with my learnings and hoping it may do someone else good. But reall...

The world we experience is inside us. Yes, there is a big wide world “Out there” which we inhabit and share with others. It’s not an illusion, but it’s not where we, our consciousness, lives. What you and I experience right now and remember is an internal representation of that external world, an image or reflection based on our own selves. This weird realisation means that it is possible to live outside the present - either in the remembered past or in an imagined future. I first realised this when someone asked me how I was feeling and didn’t let me tell some story about my life in general, last week or earlier that day but insisted I talk about right now. I realised, for all my “problems” I could list, I actually felt just fine in that particular moment and could admit it. If I had been allowed to tell my remembered or anticipated woes I would have simply relived them by dragging them into my consciousness from out of nothingness. How do you feel in this exact moment? What sensation...

Thoreau pointed out that modern man pays vastly more for his dwelling (if he owns it at all) than the primitive. Indeed home ownership in poorer european countries is upwards of 90% whereas in Switzerland it is it has just dipped below 50%. Another indicator is location within a country: city folk rent and only the very wealthy afford a purchase. Italy even offers €1 houses in dying villages - a stunning reminder of how far our dash into cities has taken us! Being a tenant however is, I have discovered, not all bad. It is more expensive in general but one has the freedom to move out inside a few months without much effort. One apparent burden may be the obligation to pay rent and thus earn constantly but houses incur costs too even if fully paid off.  Thoreau’s point however, was that our demand for luxury has a high price and we may pay up to 40% or even 50% of our wages for the privilege of living way above our basic needs. So-called “savages”, living in a wigwam, pay almost noth...

Are you paying attention? In what currency? In time of course, the most precious and ethereal yet endless resource we have. Are you paying for  attention? I am… Are we not constantly striving to be liked and cared for (loved)? If love were unconditional we wouldn’t be. We might be fortunate enough to grow up in families where care (physical and emotional) was given without any demands but usually there is an understanding that bad behaviour results in silence, isolation or even the traditional bed without dinner. So love is conditional, as children we cannot be whatever we want without expecting repercussions. But, you might say, your folks love you even when they are displeased. One question is whether love is just a general feeling or an action or something else altogether. The essential question however is whether a child actually feels loved in such conflict situations. If not, regardless of intentions, they will learn it’s conditional. Mastering that dilemma as a parent is tri...

Whilst contemplating the forest during my morning ablutions I considered the weighty question of antisocial behaviour. Several scraps of loo-roll desecrating the pristine maple leaf earth cried out: Why don’t people bury their leavings? Two hypothesis immediately sprang to mind: they have no physical equipment (a spade) or and possibly AND, they lack what I will call the Pro-social Drive: the need or impulse to preserve the beauty and utility of nature (in this case) for social benefit. In short: antisocial behaviour. Imagine 10,000 years back into our misty past those individuals who didn’t hunt or gather or pooped on pathways or routinely precipitated unrest and conflict. Such humans would have resisted and opposed the functioning of society and surely have been reprimanded, restrained or otherwise sanctioned if not completely expelled or even terminated. Their “antisocial behaviour“ would have nothing to do with being reclusive or awkward at parties. Their actions and in action enda...

It was hard for me, when my kids became older, to realise they just didn’t want to spend time with me - but it taught me how much I need time with „my people“ and that this is pretty much the litmus test or love language: does this person like spending time with me? What an honor that someone shares the most valuable thing they have with me: their time, their presence, their life. Travelling alone taught Independent Me that I need company. Travelling to different countries or even trying to buy a house in a different part of Switzerland (last year) taught me that I love my home here in Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Looking at hundreds of flats and houses taught me how and where I do and don’t want to live. Trying to plan a big expensive house build these past fee months taught me that I want to live small, simple and in community and in nature. Life‘s „obstacles“ are really signs pointing us in the direction of better self-understanding which is a gift. Problems have this wonderful feature:...

Whilst pondering various life problems and processes the song Simple Man kept breaking through into my consciousness and accompanying me. I am in the process of buying land and possibly building a house I can’t afford and it hit me: this isn’t me, I am a simple man. be a simple kind of man be something you love and understand be a simple kind of man won't you do this for me, son, if you can Suddenly I had clarity - it felt like my Dad was talking to me - this isn’t me, I could do it (at great personal cost) but it’s not my path. Forget your lust for the rich man's gold  All that you need is in your soul

What is existence? Are there parts of realty which do not exist? Or is reality exclusively all that exists? Existence implies some kind of permanence. A fairy which appears and disappears never to be seen again will readily be taken for some kind of illusion. And so we have our first dichotomy: real or illusory. Outside or Inside me, my head, my self? But is an illusion, delusion or dream, imagination not also real? That it „is not“ is simply not true. It IS. That it is „my illusion“ and not yours does not make it less real. It has become a part of my existence, experience and personal reality. I may even share the experience with you and thus it becomes a part of your experience since you imagine it with me as you listen even if you deny its external reality. So we now have something moving across different consciousnesses which is part of reality but which we daren‘t call real because it’s not „out there“. Nevertheless it is. Otherwise how could it move? We may say: Oh, Illusions...

My longing for Peace is in apparent opposition to my fear of Loneliness. Security and Freedom are in apparent opposition. We seek Truth because we need Security. We seek Power because we need Freedom. The Will (to Life & Power) is all about getting both. Money alluringly promises both. That’s the biological level. Going deeper. I want to be seen and appreciated. Not labelled and discarded. Self-agency through self-expression from self-love. Love which expands to include our neighbours, tribe, city, country, planet, cosmos. A flower free to grow. A bird free to fly. A man with air to breathe. A reverence for all life. Fullness of Life. Life, Breath, Spirit Divinity