essenz

Plan

2011-04-14T00:41:00.001-07:00

"Er hatte keinen Plan. Er führte einfach einen aus."

Ian Mc Ewan

2011-04-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

SOLAR angefangen. Ja ja, der Mann kann einfach unglaublich gut schreiben. Und dennoch musste ich bei den ersten Zeilen denken, was ich neulich schon dachte. Dass es wirklich eine der einfachsten Übungen ist, sich über jemanden lustig zu machen. Das kann ziemlich viel Spaß machen, aber man vollbringt eben nur die einfachste aller Übungen, das muss man sich klar machen.

Sicher

2011-04-13T03:48:00.000-07:00

Mir scheint ein grundelgendes Gefühl von Unsicherheit in der Welt eigen zu sein. Vielleicht bauen sich da deswegen diese kleine Wiederholungsstrukturen wie fast von ganz alleine auf. Weil sie Struktur, als eine gewissen Festigkeit schaffen. Könnte Ungeborgenheit in der Welt vielleicht überhaupt ein Auslöser für "strukturelle Sucht" sein?

Was ist mir sicher? ( Also so sicher wie man eben meint, dass es sicher ist)
1. Meine beiden besten Freundschaften, Sven und Klaas
2. Mein Leben. Existenzangst ist ja womöglich eine von den Ängsten aus frühester Kindheit . In Deutschland ist sie im Prinzip unbegründet. Ich werde also nicht verhungern oder verdursten oder wilkürlich festgenommen oder getötet werden.
3. Mein Geist. Mein Geist hat in der Vergangenheit IMMER den starken Drang gezeigt, sich wieder zu befreien. Es gibt Zeiten der Verblendung. Aber mein "Geist für die Wahrheit" scheint immer wieder als Retter und Stabilisierer. Es gibt kein Indiz für das Gegenteil. Ich sollte auf ihn zählen können. Ich tue es fast, weil es doch ein weicher Faktor ist, und die Zeiten der Verblendung auch schon mal recht lang sein können.
4. Mein Verhältnis zu Frauke. Es ist aus meinem Verdienst gut geworden. Es wird nicht wieder schlecht werden. Und es ist wertvoll. Das fühlt sich wie ein wichtiger Punkt an.
5. Dass ich das Gute will. Nicht immer kann. Oder NOCH nicht kann. Aber will.
Eine Erkenntnis, der eine schwere Geburt vorausging. Aber wichtig.
6. Dass ich gut mit Menschen umgehen kann und Menschen mich mögen, immer gemocht haben. Ich sollte diese unverwüstliche Geschenk von oben ehren. Tue es viel zu selten. Hiermit freue ich mich offiziell über dieses Talent. Danke.

Das fällt mir erstmal ein. Mir fallen spontan noch ein paar Dinge ein. Ich weiß aber nicht ob sie sicher sind.

Das Intentionalitätsproblem!

2011-04-10T05:02:00.000-07:00

Leib/Seele
Materie/Geist
Da, wo die Intentionalität beginnt im Geist, ändert sich alles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jPTDCPJOmo

2011-04-08T13:02:00.001-07:00

Eigentlich nicht schlecht, die letzten zwei Tage. Immer die gleiche Frage: Tendenz oder Beule?

Jede Kehrseite hat ihre Kehrseite.

die Rechnung

2011-04-08T06:47:00.001-07:00

Die Rechnung. Entwicklung kommt nur durch "Fehler" zustande. Menschsein BEDEUTET Fehler machen. Es ist inherent, so wie "flüssig" schon in "Wasser" inherent ist.

Folglich heisst zu akzeptieren, dass man Mensch ist, seine Fehler zu akzeptieren. Wünschen, dass ich mich entwickle, sollte ich sie sogar wertschätzen, manche sagen sogar lieben lernen. Heilsam finde ich: "Ich muss kein Held sein. "
Es darf krachen im Gebälk, Wir haben Scheisse gebaut. und wir werden Scheisse bauen. Dafür müssen wir Verantwortung übernehmen, wenn andere mit drin hängen. Aber nicht uns verurteilen. Wir sind Menschen. Und darum ist schlicht sinnvoll wenn das erste Gefühl Mitgefühl ist. Denn im Menschsein sind wir alle gleich. Das Arschloch, der Heilige und Ich.

Jede Kehrseite hat ihre Kehrseite.

Schlaf

2011-04-08T01:03:00.000-07:00

Mit dem Schlaf steht und fällt alles, scheint mir. Wenn er wackelt, wackel ich. Heut wackelt er wieder etwas. Wann ist die Zeit der mikroskopischen Selbstbeobachtung wieder vorbei. Ich will Weite und Sicherheit.

Liste von Freiheitsmomenten (danke, Geniya)

2011-04-08T00:55:00.000-07:00

1. Wenn meine Finger wollen wie ich will
2. Neu verliebt sein.
3. Wenn ich ja sage zu dem wie ich bin
4. Im Schlafwagen durch Indien mit Sven
5. High
6. Wenn ich grad viel Geld verdient habe
7. Wenn ich mir bewusst bin, wie reich ich bin, also NICHT Geld.
8. Wenn ich bei schönem Licht und Lieblingsmusik im Ohr durch Berlin gehe.
9. Wenn ich keine Verpflichtungen oder alles abgesagt habe.
10. Eins werden mit dem anderen.

Got a cam

2011-03-11T00:21:00.000-08:00

Got a DSLR cam. Was tempted by professional video quality oh these little miracles. Intend to make my own backdrops for my uploaded music.
Now I have to look for material to shoot. And not only that but also face the problems of filmmaking the first time. Starting with smooth movements, dollies, building small sets. Hahahah, noooot easy, smartass.

Engrish.com - I am addicted.

2011-03-11T00:11:00.000-08:00

Saft

2011-03-10T23:55:00.000-08:00

Der Saft kehrt in die Knochen zurück. Zuerst noch etwas klumpig, wird aber allmählich immer besser. Habe allerdings etwas Angst, dass ich wieder ein paar Zacken raushaue auf den letzten Metern , wärend andere in der Nähe sind.
Dies ist eine essentielle Phase meines Lebens.

Facebook

2010-03-11T02:23:00.000-08:00

Hmm, ich teste mal FB aus MacJournal heraus...

Music and it´s "stories"

2010-01-24T02:19:00.000-08:00

What is good music.
When the single musicians are not heard anymore but disappear behind more overwhelming phenomena with more essential meaning. Maybe comparable to a figure in a movie or a novel that, if well done, represents more, becomes even more than an allegory or an analogy, becomes a symbol.
"Groove" is one, that spontaneously comes to my mind, since my antenna easily communicates with "groove". When technicalities of playing the instrument and communication amongst the musicians has grown enough that the urge to move your body is what the music is telling you. It´s not the individual musicians that "want" to tell you anything, but the music itself tells you her story. The listener on his part has to do the other part, that is actually being able to tune in to the new unit ( in lack of a better word), that suddenly starts to evolve. I like to call it "story". I can actually put myself in front of the music and request in thoughts: "Tell me your story". It´s a shortcut to me instead of sitting down, listen and just wait for something. To be sure, its not a story in words, no logos. It´s non-verbal. Best experience with instrumental or "absolute" music. And least, of course, where the words become carriers of meaning related to real life, i.E. political messages on one of the more extreme cases.
This is not a matter of can or can´t but rather what temperament, favourite structure the recipient brings into the equation. Equation again might sound too technical. I prever handshake, which takes place somewhere in the middle between the speakers ( or live band) and the ears. I found this to be a very fruitful experience.

2009-11-30T07:51:00.001-08:00

Judge not, that ye be not judged.

Credibility of John Perkins´accounts.

2009-11-21T03:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.economichitman.com/pix/veracitymemo.pdf

Position:Möckernstraße,Berlin,Deutschland

2009-11-13T23:49:00.001-08:00

Totally Essential: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

2009-11-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

After I watched his interview on the documentary "Lets make money", I also read his book "Confession of an Economic Hit Man. Its probably the only inside report of a so called EHM, an Economic Hit Man, who work for the American government, yet get hired and paid by big international construction companies. Their task is to overestimate the economic growth of underdeveloped countries, thus encouraging them to take higher loans from the IMF and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development who are under US control, aiming to modernise their infrastructure and industries, yet ending up hopelessly indebted to the US, debts they will never manage to pay back to the USA, who then ask for favors in return, votes in the UN, Oil, anything that is solely in the interest of the US and what Perkins calls the "corporatocracy" (as opposed to what we believe to be a democracy), the closely tied alliance between banks, global companies and governments.

I must say: I was shocked! This is not some conspiracy mumbo jumbo but the absolutely credible first hand report of a high profile economic adviser who sat together with politicians and heads of state and not only planned but helped to execute the modern and subtle blackmail and overthrow of countries like Panama, Ecuador, Venezuela etc. I unveils connections in modern day politics and economics I even haven´t dreamed of.

Also it is really well written and reads like a thriller, yet is totally unpopulistic. It´s a sincere confession of someone whose conscience got more and more strained and called for a turn .

I urge everybody to read this excellent book. It´s in times depressing to see how things work that ordinary people like me haven´t the faintest clue of. How evil and with twisted and sick morals the US pursue their "manifest destiny". Frightening and awakening!

The alternative Nobel Prize, awarded by http://www.rightlivelihood.org/

2009-10-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.rightlivelihood.org/

"For every other side of the coin there is another side of the coin."( Japanese proverb)

2009-10-11T07:57:00.001-07:00

"Begin in the beginning"

2009-10-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

On Eart Wind &Fire´s latest album ILLUMINATION I found the inevitable piece of rap in the song "Elevate". But what I found really creepy was the part before the girly started rapping: Spoken word! (With just EWF´s stringlike voices humming in the background.)
My hopes that this great pretender of meaningfulness died out with slam poetry. I once accompanied a black girl during slam poetry, playing meaningful chords to meaningful words while people nodded their heads in utter bliss finally hitting on the axioms of life.
The problem in slam poetry is time trouble. Say something meaningful NOW! What you get is almost always a bonmot of eastern kitchen philosophy, with a defty pinch of black poetry kitsch (slam poetry to me always seemed a black thing), like "meaning, there is no meaning, everything is nothing, life, death, it´s all the same!"
But here they are again, elevated into the song Elevate, no time trouble whatsoever. So the girl preaches: "Begin in the beginning, move to the middle, then to the end, (then a little "huh" ), beginning and the end is the same place, birth, life, death! Keep moving, yo´! "
Yet, since I like Earth Wind& Fire so much, maybe I should reconsider and start with a fresh view on those words. Maybe I never digged deep enough. So with great hope to save you from spontaneous paralysis I shout out: Keep moving, yo`!

BREAKING BAD, the best TV-series I have seen so far.

2009-09-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Walter White is a weary high school chemistry teacher with a bad mustache, a middle-aged, suburban drone. Until he's diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

This sets him free. Or free enough to get into the crystal-meth business in order to raise enough money for his wife and cerebral palsy-afflicted son (RJ Mitte, nicely smart-alecky) to live on after he croaks, and for him to have a few thrills while he's at it. Walt partners with grungy teen meth-head Jesse (Big Love's Aaron Paul), who's trying to launch his own tweak factory. With Walt's chemistry expertise, they cook up primo ice that attracts both profits and murderous enemies. (summary entertainment weekly).

Humour likes to pack things up that are not related.
The way this is done makes the humor succeed or fail. The framework of this series is all dramatic: diagnosed lung cancer, rescuing a marriage and family, and, as eye candy for the viewer, the claustrophobic drama of suburban existence in all it´s beige not-aura. The diagnosed lung cancer makes the hero a tragic hero, or almost, since it´s television and there is hope for a twist that can turn the sinister prophecy away.
And now this chemistry teacher secretly devises a plan and embarks into the world of crystal meth business. Keeping in mind what I said about how humor works, this crash of civilisations is a stupendous pairing for such depth of humor, that one is bedazzled over and over again: How?!?!, while at the same time it never leaves the shadow of tragedy.
The depiciton of both milieus is so well observed in detail and feel, and the main actor ( Bryan Cranston as the Chemistry Teacher) plays so formidably, that the viewer is willing to follow the two heroes into the most ridiculous situations.
The excellent writing by Vince Gilligan provided enough unforeseen twists and turns to always keep me salivating for the next episode.
c

Rodger Eberts Blogspot on Ramin Bahrani "the new great American director"

2009-09-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/03/the_new_great_american_directo.html

Movie: Goodbye Solo

2009-09-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

"Two actors. One from Africa. The other who was a bodyguard for Elvis. Who but Ramin Bahrani would find these men and pair them in a story of heartbreaking depth and power? Bahrani is the new great American director. He never steps wrong. In "Goodbye Solo," he begins with a situation that might unfold in a dozen different ways and makes of it something original and profound. It is about the desire to help and the desire to not be helped." (Rodger Ebert)

2009-09-11T02:26:00.000-07:00

There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.

(credits to ViMe @ FICS)

2009-09-09T13:52:00.001-07:00

DAWKINS, a genetic scientist plays philosopher.

2009-09-05T04:12:00.000-07:00

Dawkins latest book "THE GOD DELUSION " is a huge success. But is it a good and truthful book?

Dawkins became a star as a young man overnight with his book "the selfish gene" in which he claims that our genes turn us into their own slave robots with the only goal to reproduce themselves.

while scientists even close to him have a lot of second thoughts now and strongly disapprove of his chains of argumentation, this book established his reputation as a true and matter-of-fact explainer of the world and still makes peoples eyes shine with adoration and his publishers eyes shine for all the money they earned. So where is the problem?! Let him be a star and the publisher earn good money.

To me personally the problem consists of two main parts.

The first part is that he, a leading figure of the THE NEW ATHEISTS, a circle of scientists who aim to exterminate everything beyond the boundaries of reason- but reason, AS THEY DEFINE IT, has gained considerable influence in shaping public opinion and with it comes the bagging of awards of more or less honorable scientific organisations (and people love awards on book covers).

The second part is the common problem that scientists, even excellent scientists are tempted to step on grounds they are far from being experts on, foremost philosophy but also psychology, philology etc. . Yet here they are nothing more than private laymen expressing their unbased, uneducated, private opinion. There is a word for this: False expertise. And they commit all the blunders and flaws a kitchen philosopher commits, sloppy argumentation, projections of their own psyche, simple ignorance of facts or circular argumentation, i.e. setting out to prove something they already presumed to be true( 1) After all even science relies on presumtions, which they sometimes like to call axioms, eternal undeniable scientific truths, (Einsteins invented the "space constant" to make his theory of relativity work. He was succesful, but he didn´t rely only on axioms!)

This is a tricky and dangerous phenomenon since people often don´t recognize this soft morphing into another "expert". They eat whatever the celebrity says. Everybody remembers quotes when, for example, some famous tennis player starts to philosophise like:

" I realised that tennis is like life itself, it´s like punching balls and you never know what comes back!" Or so. That´s impressive and will surely find its way into many newspapers.

When these two aspects work together and a self-declared expert in a field not his own gains power through developed techniques of catching applause or just fame, then it has a strong impact on our understanding of the world.

With all his power Dawkins has turned from a seeker of thruth, as a scientist should be, into a demagogue against everything that cannot be proven. That starts with religious dogmas, where most of us would still agree, but in his fury he goes so far as equalising the value of a newborn baby to the value of an animal or a person lying in a permanent coma. Consequently this will also include aspects that we rely on to manage our daily life, like trust and love and morals.

His, like many scientists’ aim is not to find truth anymore, but supremacy, supremacy over possible competitors in finding the truths of life.

He is running a crusade against religions and belief in the name of reason and a new enlightenment but never comes even close to the idea, that science should, from time to time, reflect itself and it´s conditions. If not, it strongly runs the risk of promoting an unenlightened enlightenment. And that never led to anything good in the past.

(1)

In his chapter "Childhood, child abuse and how to escape religion" he is "proving" his point with seven pages about a case from 1858, when the Vatican took away a quickly baptised six year old boy from his jewish parents. Introduced is all this with the remark that this "throws a merciless spotlight on the religious attitude towards kids today."

To prove a similar point he remommended to an interviewer to visit the "Hell-House" in Colorado, where actors depict the sins like homosexuality and abortion in the most gruesome way possible for children. An exotic example he uses to describe the credibility of belief and reiligion in our times.

To meet possible predjudiced reflexes: I am neither Christian (although my name is) nor religious, but my hopefully maturing common sense tells me that at least it cannot me declared impossible that we might be neglecting other means of finding truth (like belief as a relationship towards the other, not necessarily god), that could partner up with the undoubtedly essential tool of reason to give us a more trustworthy answer to questions than a declared dictatorship of (Dawkins’) "reason"!

footnote: I am a professional musician. I am aware that I am entering the field of writing, reviewing and philosophising. So I explicitly declare myself a thinking laymen, putting all of the above up for discussion and new aspects.

Buddhist Joke

2009-09-05T03:29:00.000-07:00

Two reknown and wise buddhist monks in their white robes chat in the monastery. In comes a dirty skinny man in rags.

He starts to sit down and prays: " I feel self-conceit, yet there is no self and I desire things shiny and delicious, yet I know we can´t hold to things. I am not worthy of the great teachings of Buddha. I am nothing! "

Says the one wise man to the other, sneering at the praying mans poor appearance: " Look who says he is nothing!"

Back From Summer Break

2009-09-04T15:23:00.001-07:00

After a lengthy summer break I am back posting.

Also I have to learn now how to spread a blog. All suggestions from more experienced bloggers welcome.

Next post will be about/against Richard Dawking. Tomorrow.

German Joke

2009-07-31T05:15:00.000-07:00

Er: Tu doch, was du willst!
Ich: Ick will gar nich tun, wat ick will! Ick wär zufrieden, wenn ick immer wollen würde, wat ick tue!

Rough translation from Berlin dialect:

He: Do what you want to do!

I: But I don't want to do, what I want to do! I would be perfectly satisfied if I would always want what I do!

Buddhist Joke

2009-07-30T00:37:00.001-07:00

A man decides he wants to know the meaning of life. So he asks around and after he has talked to many gurus he is about to give up.

Then he hears about this Tibetan monk who has sat in a cave for 30 yrs. and is seriously supposed to know the meaning of life. So the guy organizes his trip. It takes months to get to the foot of one of the highest mountains in Tibet. He starts up and weeks later he arrives hungry, exhausted and bloody from the climb. He sees the cave in the distance and crawls on his hands and knees to the entrance.

He looks and the monk and says. "I have traveled very far to come and see you. Please, tell me, what is the meaning of life?"

The monk look at him and says, " My son, life is a fountain."

Well the guy flips out and says, "I sold all my belongings, gave up everything to make this pilgrimage to see and you tell me life is a fountain??????" What kind of bullshit is that?"

The monk looks at him for a long time and finally says,

"You mean it's NOT a fountain?"

Happiness

2009-07-29T06:01:00.000-07:00

http://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/

2009-07-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

Another wonderful composer: Morten Lauridsen

2009-07-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

Beautiful is the best word, in my opinion, to describe the work of Morten Lauridsen. It´s choral music that, without digressing too much, sends you straight to better grounds.
The last composer I presented here, Eric Whitacre, stands in the tradition also of this Scandinavian artist.

Have a listen: O Magnum Mysterium

2009-07-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

"Answer, don´t react!"

2009-07-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

"Answer, don´t react!"

Profit

2009-07-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

A Russian told me this is how the Russians were taught the meaning of "Profit".

Pavel and Sasha are walking down the street. Pavel suddenly has an idea:" Sasha, would you eat a pile of dogshit for 1000 Rubles?" After a minute of contemplation Sasah replies, "Yes, I will do it!"

Soon they find some nice dogshit and Sasha does what they agreed upon.

After another 5 minutes of walking Sasha enthusiastically exclaimed, " Now listen, wise guy, what about you? Would YOU eat a pile of dogshit for 1000 Rubles?"

Pavel also doesn´t take long to decide, "OK, I also do it!" Again, the next dogshit is just around he corner and he does, what was agreed.

And the result? Both ate dogshit.

Wolfgang Tilmans

2009-07-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

John Perkins, Interview With The Author Of "Confessions Of An Economic Hitman"

2009-07-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTbdnNgqfs8

Music

2009-07-12T06:53:00.000-07:00

Eric Whitacre Anyone not completely opposed to choral music should have a try.

Eric Whitacre is one of the most performed contemporary composers of choral works, yet I never heard of him until recently.

My first reaction was: Beautiful, heavenly! It´s full of tradition of church music, yet the divine shows the peak of its nose by integration of strangely jazzlike chords and dissolved rhythms.

In contrast to a lot of contemporary serious music it dares to be straightforward uplifting. I like that!

click to have a listen:

Csu Long Beach Performs Whitacres "I Thank You God"

Essential

2009-07-09T23:14:00.000-07:00

Ich und Du, usually translated as I and Thou, is a book by Martin Buber, published in 1923, and first translated to English in 1937. Buber's main proposition is that we may address existence in two ways: that of the "I" towards an "It", towards an object that is separate in itself, which we either use or experience; and that of the 'I' towards 'Thou', in which we move into existence in a relationship without bounds. One of the major themes of the book is that human life finds its meaningfulness in relationships. All of our relationships, Buber contends, bring us ultimately into relationship with God, who is the Eternal Thou.

Don´t let "god" frighten you away. Even without the "god"-part (of the word I am also not a fan) it is truly essential reading.

2009-07-09T16:21:00.000-07:00

Approximations

2009-07-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

A close friend is filled with the notion of Purpose. In this context mistakes done are no longer "mistakes" but "approximations". I like that very much!

Survey

2009-07-09T03:32:00.000-07:00

What can never be regarded as badly done or even ugly?

I will give an example to what I mean: Kids paintings.

Book

2009-07-08T03:02:00.000-07:00

Confessions Of An Economic Hitman. Non-Fiction. With little to no major media coverage, Confessions sold 150,000 copies within months and appeared on over 20 bestseller lists, including those of the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and USA Today.

"Economic hitmen (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars" Perkinswrites. "Confessions of an economic hitman" is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations.

from the "Hub Pages"

The Author is also interview partner in the film "Let´s make money" recommended earlier.

Scraps

2009-07-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

"You, Me!"

According to Norman Mailer the shortest poem ever.

(by Muhammad Ali in a press conference before his fight against George Foreman.)

Also watch the brillant documentary "When we were kings!" on the fight in Zaire 1974.

2009-07-07T02:54:00.000-07:00

Munny

2009-07-06T15:58:00.000-07:00

Many people who have substantial influence on the way we live chose the money carreer.

If you would like an attractive introduction on how money is flowing through the world, you will highly enjoy the documentary: "Let´s make money!".

Attractive, cause it´s credible due to high profile interview partners, a non-neurotic tone and quiet rhythm.

The first ten will get a link.

Arts

2009-07-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

Why do cartoon figures only have four fingers? Does it have a meaning? And since when?

Have a guess! Or have your own one.

Philosophy (answers dummies, real thing will follow.)

2009-07-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Hello S.: I would like my first post to be a dialogue on dialogue. Books and people I trust often imply that there is something essential about "dialogue". Sure, I remember this Socratese thing, but what´s that got to do with finding out the truth, for example ?

S: Good question, I knew you would be good at something, one day! I always hoped you would give me the opportunity to say something meaningful to my loved audience.

C: You were interrupting me, dickhead. So do you want to say something now, or just piss of then.

S: Woah woah woahh! Can I have a beer first ?