How does a nation communicate with itself? How are messages passed, orders given, thought patterns and processes prescribed, and proscribed, consensus reached, an understanding made binding on all? Without words.
How does a nation tell itself what to believe, what to say, how to act, where to go, which lie to tell and which truth to reveal? How does a nation converse with itself, argue with itself, consult with itself, agree with itself, without betraying itself?
Long before the Internet, long before the television and the radio, long before telephone and telex, long before railways and planes, long before highways, long ago, when not everywhere was motorable and some places were unreachable and remote, and journeys were laborious dangerous enterprises that took weeks and months. Long long ago, when Human was young, how did Nations learn to think as one and to perceive as a unit?
There is something that unites people deep down in their souls sometimes, the reverberations of a common Inner Voice. And so, one word can last them a thousand years and sustain them and not go out of fashion and never be misinterpreted by them, because at its origin they all gave to it the same meaning. It becomes like a root, and however far and wide their flowers flourish or their fruits nourish, they draw from the root of the same word. And that word is their secret ancient name, in which their destiny is encoded.
Nations have changed so much. Sometimes it‘s hard to know to which nation you belong – and when you know it, you cannot find it anywhere. And when you find it, you do not belong there where you think you saw it. Everything is in daily motion, and tomorrow the world will mix up the different parts again.
Once upon a time, there were nations and you belonged to one of them. Today, when you feel lost, close your eyes and listen for those whose Inner Voice are similar to yours. They are your Nation.
It takes courage to step into the ring and fight an opponent. If you doubt me, try it.
Well I grew up doing Karate and Taekwondo. But I last competed when I was 17 or 18. I stopped training for more than 20 years. A few years ago, I realized that I missed it badly – training and sparring. I decided to start keeping fit again. There was no Taekwondo club near me, so I joined a boxing and Thai-Boxing/Kick-boxing Club near my house (Challange Club Sachsenhausen).
When it came to Thai- or Kick-boxing I could hold my own a little. But I was woeful at Boxing and got regularly and properly beaten during training and sparring. But I liked the exercise of it and the fun of it, and it helped me gradually regain a little of my condition and stamina and get somewhat back into shape. I also gradually got a little better at Boxing, although really Taekwondo is still my natural fighting art.
Anyway, 6 weeks ago, Udo the manager of Challenge Club asked me if I would be interested in fighting (Boxing) at the next Fight Night. I was like, “Hello. I’m 44. My fighting days are long over. Besides that, I’ve never been in a Boxing fight before.” But then I thought about it and said “Why Not? Might be fun.” and I agreed, and I henceforth upped my training schedule.
And then, just when I thought I was in some sort of shape, in the week of the fight, disaster struck. I came down with the flu. 3 days! It knocked me down until the day right before the fight. I couldn’t work, couldn’t train, nothing! Had to go see the doctor. My goodness. I almost called off the fight, but I told myself to wait until the morning of the fight and see how I felt.
When I woke up that morning, I felt weak but a bit better – it’s incredible how much muscle mass and stamina you can lose from just 3 days of illness. But I decided, “My man, you grew up fighting. Just go into the ring and fight, full stop. No excuses.” I know the jitters before a fight. I know the nervousness. I know everything. They are my friends. When I feel them, I know I am in good company. So, really, I was good. No shaking.
But I knew nothing about my opponent, not his name or age or size or if he fought right- or left-handed. I just heard he weighed 100kg (I weigh 95kg), so that was OK. Well, I got to the venue (Challenge Club Offenbach), our stats were on the wall in the dressing room. I saw he was 22 years old. I was like, Okay now. Half my age and probably twice as strong and fit. No yawah. When you enter trouble, enter it with open eyes, strongly and without fear.
So I warmed up in the dressing room with my coach Manuel “Manu” Moreno, an ex-professional and the best Coach in the world. You hear his voice in the video throughout the fight, calming talking me through. And my friend and former junior world champion in Muay-Thai Ibra Senghor came into the dressing room and gave me some tips (PS – you can catch both of them in the video of my song Music Makes Me High which I did I think 2 years ago now https://youtu.be/hFjzvqCb-Po ). My pal Marlin was also in the crowd, rooting from ringside, and that meant a lot to me.
(Btw: Coach Manu, 60 years and still going strong, also fought an exhibition-style Oldies Fight later that night and showed the crowd that he’s still got the moves and the boxing intelligence).
Anyways, next issue: I was told the fight would be without head gear. Got into the ring and saw the big young man wearing head gear. Hm. That’s a disadvantage to me, because he can take my punches and keep on fighting as if nothing happened (which indeed happened) – he would just re-arrange his head gear and keep on boxing; but if he hammers my head I’m sure gonna feel it. Ibra was like, “Well, you have to hit the front of his face, and his nose, ‘cause he won’t feel anything else.” And he kept on shouting it throughout the fight.
It was a nice feeling, though, to be in the ring again in a proper fight (not sparring or training etc – because a real fight is SOMETHING ELSE, believe me). I felt all of my 44 years 😂. I have to think twice before I try this again. Boxing is a young man’s sport.
But I did come through. After the fight, I felt a great respect for my opponent because I know what it takes to decide to fight. And he did it and fought bravely. It takes courage to step into a ring and fight an opponent – any kind of ring in any field of Endeavour in life. If you doubt me, try it. 😉
One thing is for sure, though. I’ll never let myself fall out of shape again.
What really runs a country is a system of thought, habits and behaviour to which a group of people subscribes. Not politicians. Not civil servants. Not a constitution. But simply an inner life in which all participate, and from which an intangible system of thinking arises that unites everybody who ascribes to it. It unites them and “runs” them according to a set of core rules which these people, in their inner being, unthinkingly believe to be the true reality.
This hidden level of surrender to their version of reality lies deeper that what is generally called culture and tradition. On the contrary, culture and tradition arise gradually from this foundation, simultaneously influencing its further development reciprocally – positively or negatively – even as it itself continues to reinforce the culture and tradition it birthed.
And then, after the level of “culture and tradition” has been formed, they in turn midwife the mentality that thinks out not just the surface laws and constitution of a country, but also the understanding of whether these laws are to be obeyed at all or in what way they are to be interpreted, implemented or circumvented. A recognizable national “way” comes to life which becomes attributable to that nation by everyone who visits it or lives in it. You just know: this is the way these people are.
Thus to influence or direct the path of a nation, you have to have power of this hidden level of reality, power over the nation’s inner life. You have to understand it, be homogeneous with it, so that you understand it and it understands you. You have to know it’s fears and hopes, the sources of its joy, and what is “real” to it. Only when you have mastered it on this inner level, will it follow you when you pull. You have to be it, but the better version of it. Sometimes, though, unfortunately those who grasp this are also the worst version of a nation’s inner life.
They have come to grasp that it is not really they themselves personally that rule the country – all they do is guide and manipulate an animal that already exists. Their job is simply to understand and feed the animal, by swinging in unison with the nation’s inner life. Because it is this hidden inner mentality that really runs a country, chaperoning it from generation to generation, reacting or not reacting to globalization and digitalization, focusing on the issues it focuses on, condoning the things it condones, evolving in its own way, determining its place on the global theater of nations and peoples, characterizing it as either a pawn, a puppet or a captain of its own ship.
Wenn man Kinder Kinder sein lässt und kindlich, fühlt sich auch unser inneres Kind dazu ermuntert, sich wieder auszuleben und das Leben mit zu erleben.
Es fühlt sich verstanden, gewollt, geliebt und vor allem geschützt; wagt sich aus seinem Versteck heraus, um selbst nach dem Wirken zu streben.
Es bereichert unsere Umgebung, verschönert unseren Alltag; und wo wir vorher nur genommen haben, fangen wir wieder an, etwas Wertvolles zurück zu geben.
Wer Kinder liebt und das Kindliche wirken lässt, der ist ein Kind der Schöpfung, und den liebt Gott, Vater alles rein Kindlichen, denn Er ist der Stock und wir die Reben.
Wichtiger als die Tat ist die Absicht
Manch ein grobes Wort, das man spricht
Verbirgt die Tatsache, daß hinter einem Gesicht
Ein gutes Herz leben könnte, belebt vom Licht.
Auf die rasche Antwort, Mensch, verzicht‘…
Denn das Leben, es ist ein Gedicht
Lies jeden Menschen langsam und mit Vorsicht
Bis Dir seine Absicht langsam einbricht
Deine Haut sei dick, Deine Haut sei dicht
Ob etwas sich gut fühlt oder ob es sticht
Warte trotzdem mit Deinem Gericht
Denn wichtiger als die Tat ist die wahre Absicht
Schicht unter Schicht hinter Schicht neben Schicht
So sieht es aus hinter des Menschen Angesicht
Einfach und schlicht ist es wirklich nicht
Und verbirgt hier eine böse, hier eine gute, Absicht.
The golden calf of modern times is racism, dressed in nationalism and tribalism, burnished by religion. And we are all dancing around it.
The modern day biblical Aarons of today agitate and invite their people to bring all their wounded or selfish volitions and angers, throw them together into one terrifying heap and build it up into a shiny mock-sacrificial lamb statue of false beauty whose enticing radiation attracts spirits of like weakness.
Then they continually polish it, dance around it and sing sickly sweet warm songs of vicious ire and malicious fire to it; and all the while they keep on feeding it with their volitions and angers and hatred, and increasing its size. They praise and dance around their worship of their own selves and their hatred of others.
But Moses is true humanity on the Mountain-top, lonely and few, who make the effort to climb to connection to the commandments of self-conquest and selfless love. Watching the madness going on down in the valley of human soul – the madness that has engulfed the entire earth, all the continents and nations and peoples. Division is the only thing that still unites humankind.
Moses is true humanity on the Mountain-top of human nobility, lonely, clarified and few, watching the madness in the valley, and wondering if there is still any hope or still any point at all in sharing with these crazy ones the knowledge and the conviction which they carry deeply imprinted upon the inner soul-pages of their calmly flaming spirit. Love thy neighbour, as thyself.
It’s been repeated for so long, that it almost sounds like a childlike joke now. But some still believe. And I guess the children shall inherit the earth.
If paradise were not joy, then eternal life would be a punishment, not a prize. If eternity were not in the moment, then eternal life would be a burden, not a relief. We cannot permit paradise to always be somewhere far away, in another dimension, on another plane, to which we only attain after death, or sometime in the future after the last judgement. This concept of paradise only divides us from life and devalues the large trajectory of our past, by constantly limiting the scope and context of our present.
Paradise has to be in the moment, every moment. Paradise has to be for you not a place you go to, but a way and manner in which you go every place you are going. Paradise for you has to be the way you walk your ways, the way you talk, the way you think and perceive, the way you feel and sense, the way you intuitively perceive, in short: the way you are, in every moment. And this concept of paradise can only make sense to you when you recognize that the only thing paradise can be is joy. And the only thing that can be eternal is joy. And since life constantly pushes towards motion, then eternal activity only makes sense in combination with eternal joy. The only price that joy demands is that in seeking it we do not infringe on the personal boundaries of other joy-seekers.
But there is nothing like eternity, because it does not exist, because it has not yet existed, because by definition it cannot exist since it can never conclude itself and be a rounded event. It is an open-ended assertion. There is nothing like eternity. There is only the moment which gives birth to the moment which gives birth to the moment which gives birth to the moment which gives birth to the moment…. unendingly? Well, I tell you what. The only thing that makes a thing gladly repeat itself unendingly is joy. If being itself makes it happy, then it will repeat itself unendingly.
Would the beings in paradise and spirits in heaven want to live forever if they were not happy, and happy being themselves? Would YOU want to live forever if eternal life were not eternal joy but the lack of joy and you could not be yourself and be happy? I would not. Come to think of it: is that not the definition of Hell? I really think that is beyond the capacity of human experiencing. Every joyless human existence must come to an end some day. Only joyful spiritual experiencing can extend endlessly.
Joy is not a place. It is an inner state of being. It is paradise. It is not connected with earthly or exterior badges of praise. It is not by itself connected with power or money. It is not even connected with achievements, which become the past. It is simply a product of the way you are. Thus you can carry it about with you, every moment, every day, through all your lives, on earth and in the beyond, and at home in the spiritual kingdom, forever and ever.
The Kingdom of God lies within you – and it’s name is Joy.
I wish there were two of me – and both would go out in the morning on different paths of experiencing and fulfillment, to cover all I have to cover. And in the evening they would come back again and unite in one person, myself, not doubly rich in experiencing, but just fully rich.
I sometimes wish the two sides of me could divide and live two different lives, and then unite again at the end. The linear experiencing of time and limited experiencing of space are the best spur to make the most of every moment, every second, every thought, every intuition. Because one person one life… is just not enough.
Our vanity projects end up eating up most of our time. Superficiality. Once is not enough, even twice is not enough. The many lives we should give to our Striving, we sell to our Vanity for nothing. And then you are here, trapped in one experience, and wishing you could divide yourself into three or more; and send out your volition, cloaked multiple times as you, to go and attend to all the other fires which, deep within your heart, you know are still burning in other aspects of your life.
Who is ever finished at the end when he or she has to go? Hardly anybody. Precious Moment, open up and link me always to the underground stream of my true destiny. Whatever I seek and whatever I do, may I the spirit be truly finished and fulfilled by the time I‘m done and gone.
