Conditioning 
 

Unless you drop your personality you will not be able to find your individuality. Individuality is given by existence; personality is imposed by the society. Personality is social convenience.

Society cannot tolerate individuality, because individuality will not follow like a sheep. Individuality has the quality of the lion; the lion moves alone. The sheep are always in the crowd, hoping that being in the crowd will feel cozy. Being in the crowd one feels more protected, secure. If somebody attacks, there is every possibility in a crowd to save yourself. But alone? - only the lions move alone.

And every one of you is born a lion, but the society goes on conditioning you, programming your mind as a sheep. It gives you a personality, a cozy personality, nice, very convenient, very obedient. Society wants slaves, not people who are absolutely dedicated to freedom. Society wants slaves because all the vested interests want obedience.

 

Osho One Seed Makes the Whole Earth Green Chapter 4
 

 

July 5th, 2009

 

Dear reader,

 

If you are on a path of personal (or 'spiritual' if you prefer that word) development, like me, you keep getting new insights about life in general and yourself in particular. One insight that I got over the last days, weeks and months is about connection. I am sure that being connected (I explain later what I mean with that) is vital for everyone but in my case being connected is almost a synonym of 'happiness' whereas being disconnected of 'unhappiness'.

 

 

So what do I mean with 'being connected'. Connected to what or who? The answer to that question is 'connected to myself'. So what does that mean? In the first place it means being connected to my body. When I can feel my body I am present, there is awareness or consciousness. In the second place it means being connected to my emotions. When you really consciously experience your emotions, there is a beautiful aliveness in it. Whatever emotion it is. So I am not talking about being swept away by anger or sadness. No I mean whenever you experience your emotions without resistance and without emersing into your drama. Then there is connection...

Where: Japan

When:   May 2009 

Japanese psyche – the perfectionists

Dear reader,

Back for my second visit in Japan, I will write a bit more (for previous blogs see Blogs about the Japanese) about this fascinating country with its fascinating culture. Before I continue let me say that I am loving it here like I did the previous time. The food is amazing, the people extremely helpful and friendly, public transport among the very best in the world, and the Zen temples and gardens beautiful and great places for meditation. But in this weblog I will focus on one typically Japanese character trait only.

Of course it is impossible to generalise the people of a country with 127 inhabitants, but there are certainly certain characteristics that are typically Japanese. One of the first one that springs to mind is perfectionism. I have a perfectionist streak myself and in the enneagram I am the number 1, the perfectionist.

So the Japanese are a good mirror for me. And, they are more perfectionist than me….

 

In my previous weblogs I wrote a little bit about work and the need to control. The world is full of control freaks and I was one of the worst of them. That has changed. It is not all history but for me the need to control is much less than it was before.

When a friend told me about how my last blog triggered him - he recognised himself in it - I replied him with an e-mail that, with some alterations, I publish below. 

 

Knowing that you suffer from a need (or obsession) to control is only the start and not enough to change it, because it is something that is really in your system, it becomes part of you.

 

For me the change, the healing, has happened due to three things:
1. External circumstances that forced me to let go
2. Many healing workshops and sessions and healing meditations
3. Meditation and awareness

 

Control is a defence mechanism. There are many different reasons why people develop a need to control, but let me analyse a bit my own one as an example.

My work as meditation – 2 - An old job with a new quality

I wrote in my previous weblog about how in work being in the moment and focusing on the process of the work rather than on the outcome can change the quality of your work experience. This of course is true for any experience in life. When you are fully aware, completely in the here and now and without any thoughts about other things, life gets a totally different ‘flavour’.

A few weeks ago, I worked for one week in the Indian city of Pune with the local authorities (Pune Municpal Corporation). My task was to lead workshops on how to create a city-centre urban renewal and mobility plan: An exciting job and also a very new experience for me. My younger colleague had prepared the outline of the workshop with his colleagues in Holland and it was up to me now to lead the workshops. In the weeks prior to the work I did feel a slight nervousness about how to do this, but as I was too busy with meditations and workshops in the Osho Meditation Resort I did not pay too much attention to these feelings and trusted that things would go fine.

The three days before my workweek I did a workshop called ‘passion for life’ and at the very end of it,

 

Where:   Pune, India
When:    April 2009

 

Dear reader,

 

Over the last years you have been able to read some weblogs from me about my work. Or rather, about what to do for work. I do have a profession as a civil engineer and traffic planner and a job, but since I started my inner journey of personal or spiritual growth and healing (or whatever you want to call it) my attention and interest has shifted from the outer to the inner.  And with that I found myself less motivated for my work. 

 

At the same time I am aware of the unique work I do travelling around the world make cities and traffic more sustainable. It is work that gives me a lot of freedom, work that is badly needed and much asked.

After more than three years I have still not decided where to go with this but I have shifted my focus. Previously I was trying to make a decision about what to do. Do I want to become a therapist or a meditation leader? Do I want to continue with traffic planning but change the focus of the work? Etc., etc. Never did I get a clear answer to these questions.

 

Now I realise that it need not be that black and white: I either do this or that. I could explore both fields and also change the way I work, by using my work for my inner process for my personal growth and for meditation. That is what this weblog is about.

Where: The Sanctuary, Koh Phangan, Thailand

When: 3 days in March 2009 (plus a total of about 7 pre- and after days)

 

 

Dear reader,

 

You haven’t heard from me for a long time. I have been busy with work and holidays in different parts of Asia. I could write more about my other experiences since I have had so many amazing experiences since we left India early January, but then I never catch up. So more here about more recent experiences.

A short while ago I finished my first ever fast.

I probably skipped a day of eating some time in the past when I was sick, but I never fasted when healthy. Not even a day. I am also pretty skinny so people tend to think that fasting, for me, is not a good idea. But fasting is not something you do to lose weight as the weight generally comes back afterwards. Fasting is something you do to detox yourself. Something you do for your health.  Fasting could, so I have been told, even remove the imbalances from your body that disabled you to gain (or lose) weight.

Where: Koh PahNgan, Thailand

When: March 2009

 

Dear reader,

 

In the previous weeks, for the first time in my life, I have been leading meditations. Here on a beautiful tropical island in Thailand, separated from the nearest town by a boat trip, they provide a daily space for free meditations. Me and my girlfriend have taken advantage of that possibility to lead meditations. Now that I am officially a Universal Healing Tao Instructor (and experienced in many other meditation techniques as well), it is nice to get a taste for teaching or leading groups in the healing arts. 

 

Dear all,

 

What to write about. I haven't written for soo long that it is difficult where to start. Since my last blog I have been travelling in India and Thailand (where I am now) and there is so much I could write about. But there is one topic that springs to mind: Marriage in India!

 

Indians are crazy about marriage. It almost seems like they think the only purpose of life is to get married. if you are in your 30's and not married, people think that there is something wrong with you. Many years I read the books of the great Indian enlightened master, Osho, who was very negative about marriage. I never understood why. Untill I went to India...

Mysore, India, 24 December 2008

 

Dear reader,

 

It has been ages ago since you heard from me and that is not because nothing is happening. I spent a few weeks in Australia and the last 6 weeks in India but I simply had no real urge to write. Yes part of the reason of not writing was that I have been working (both in Australia and India), been meditating (in India) and not been travelling alone (when you travel alone there is, at least for me, a greater urge to write)...

 

But the main reason of not writing has been that I had no urge to write. This is quite unique for me as I have, in the previous years, had a very strong urge to write, an urge to share my experiences with others. There is something behind this. One reason for the need to write was my need to be heard. This is something many people have as our society, our teachers, our priests (for the most unlucky ones) and our parents often want to make us something else than we are. Or, as also happened with me, we do what we think others (parents, teachers, friends, society, etc.) want from us to get approval and love, or what we think is love.

Pune, India, 9 November 2008

 

Dear all,

 

Hou haven't heard from me for a long time. I have been too busy to write. I recently started what you could call Jeroensjourney 3. A 7 months journey through Australia, India, Thailand and Japan.

 

After two weeks for work and pleasure in Australia I am currently for work in Pune, India. Last week I did an amazing healing and meditation workshop about healing childhood issues and parental conditioning here in the Osho Meditation Resort in Pune, called Primal Rebirth. 

It was an amazing week and I literally feel reborn. Looser, relaxter, more sensitive, happier, calmer.... All great. Life is such a gift! But the vast majority of the people lives only such a small part of their real potential. In these courses I feel how I become more and more myself and each time I discover that there are old wounds that I did not know about and that were healed. Wow..... Thank you existence for having put me on this path!!

 

With love from India,

 

Jeroen

Monday 6 October 2008

 

Dear reader,

 

Like 4 and 8 years ago I am closely following the US elections. And like 4 and 8 years ago I am stunned that a candidate who is clearly not what the US needs right now seems not on track for a landslide loss. Eight years ago there was a very intelligent candidate who understood the real problems we are facing (like climate change) and who later even won the Nobel Prize, Mr. Al Gore, against a candidate, Mr. George Bush, who had screwed up every business he had been in in his life and who had no clue what was going on in the world.

The American people elected the latter one (GW Bush) and he even made a bigger mess than I could ever have imagined.

 

Eight years ago, after 8 years of a democratic president, the US was a very wealthy country with a budget surplus and low unemployment. After 8 years of Republican reign the US...

- Is more unpopular than ever (which also affects the economy),

- Has a much larger national debt than 8 years before,

- Has a national currency that is worth much less than 8 years earlier

- Is still spending billions every month on a war that has given terrorists more, rather than less, space to play by overtrowing a dictator (Saddam Hussein) who hated Al Queda 

- Is in a big banking crisis because banks had gotten too much freedom to do whatever they like

- Has a higher and faster rising unemployment

- Is a country where people have to leave their houses by the thousands because they can no longer pay the mortgage (believe me there are some troubles in Europe, but that doesn't happen here).

18 September 2008

 

Dear reader,

 

You might think this is play with words, but I think it is good to get this a bit clearer.

 

I just moved two weblogs I wrote a year ago about 'The Meaning of Life' (click here and here) in this group of weblogs called 'The Purpose of your life'. Now that I read these weblogs back I see that they are all about flowing about being completely in alignment with yourself and the universe about being authentic self.

This, I would still agree is the meaning of life if we define this as 'how we are meant to life our lives'.

 

For me the difference between the meaning of life and the purpose of your life is the following.

10 September 2008

 

Dear reader,

 

I wondered whether it is useful to introduce a new group ('Rubriek' in Dutch) on my weblog. I have come to the conclusion that this category 'The Purpose of Your Life' is a useful addition to all my existing groups. I will explain why.

 

The blogs in this group 'The Purpose of Your Life' which I could also have called 'The purpose of life' or 'The purpose of my life'or 'Finding the purpose of your life', will be different from what I write and wrote about in 'The Art of Living' and 'Creating Work you Love'.

August 9th, 2008

Dear reader,

 

I wrote in my previous weblog about a change of energy and how that triggers change, personal growth and healing in people. I have definitely noticed it myself in the last couple of weeks. It has actually been quite special.

 

About a week ago there was this strong sexual energy, I was super horney and it felt like my whole body was vibrating with this very strong energy. Actually, it was so strong that it was almost not pleasant anymore. Of course it did not help, to say the least, that my girlfriend is not with me at the moment.

 

But after a couple of days that went. And then something else came.

Dear readers,

 

More and more people in my environment tell me that we are in a period of transition towards a higher vibration. For me, until quite recently, these stories always sounded to me as pretty airy-fairy [zweverig] and I put them on the same pile as people who believe in angels, higher beings, a personal god or life after death. In short, 'things' that we can say of, "it might exist but we can never know". For me spirituality has nothing to do with blind beliefs or assumptions that we can never proof. It is like believing in marsians or extraterrestians. "If you believe in them, fine for you, but I am not going to waste my time and energy on those kind of fantasies." Spirituality for me is pretty down to earth. Based on personal experience, not on questionable assumptions.

But this new vibration, in my own experience, seems a reality. So let me explain what it is - according to those who claim to know -  and what my experiences are with it.

 

This period with a higher vibration can be called the new age. More specifically, it is the age of Aquarius, which, according to some has started around 2000 after more than 2160 years of the age of Pisces. But there is widespread discussion about the exact date with a spread of as much as 200 years! See here for more about the discussion on the 'when-question'. But whatever the date, I feel that we are somehwere in the transition period. 

Other terms you might have heard in relation to this new age is "the fifth dimension" and the year "2012".

 

So until very recently I put all this in the category of "new age bla bla or pure nonsense", but that has changed. Not long ago I read a weblog (on punt.nl!) about the age of Aquarius, and what I read there made a lot of sense and matched with what I saw happen all around me in the world. So let me explain what my understanding of the whole thing is underneath.

Holland beats world champion Italy 3-0 and vice-world champion France 4-1 (we're talking soccer)

Dear readers,

 

I never have been a huge football (or soccer as the Americans say) fan. But I always liked the (World and European) championships where countries face each other. I couldn't care less if Rotterdam (Feyenoord) or Ajax (Amsterdam) wins because I have no particular connection with any city in The Netherlands. But when countries face each other something else happens. Here in Holland the whole country turns orange. I used to find that a bit stupid and did not participate in it. "That's for those simple people that go around shouting and drinking too much", was more or less how I felt about all the Orange craziness. 

I now understand that that was my ego speaking, the ego that judges playfulness and letting go of control as something 'bad'. (See my blog Procrastination and Playfulness: the soul child of the Enneagram). But now I am more and more embracing that part of myself and I realise that this kind of craziness is very healthy.

Dear reader,

 

Last months I did a Sufi inspired retreat in Mexico. At the end of three days we were asked to make a commitment to let go of one 'bad habit', that bothered us.

 

In a way it is like stopping with smoking, deciding to eat healthier or going to bed earlier. Every bad habit, every emotional imbalance, every so-called personal weakness (nervousness, impatience, anger, anxiety), even every trauma, is not just something that we developed as a response to our life experiences or something we 'inherited' from our parents, but it is also something we DO, or at least something we ALLOW to happen. It might sound pretty harsh to say to someone who has been abandoned by both his or her parents at the age of three that his or her distrust of people of fear of abandonment is something he or she does or allows to happen, but in the end that is the truth.

But that does not mean that you can just say: now I stop doing this. It is not that easy, although in the end we can learn to indeed let go of the attachment to these habits and character treats and become really free of them. That is something for another blog.

This is about letting go of less dramatic habits and character traits, that however, can still have a very negative effect on the quality of your life.

The Netherlands

May 2008

 

Dear reader,

 

I have always been interested in the weather. I like sunny weather and I hate rain or weeks of cloudy days that we sometimes have here in Holland, so I always, like many Dutch, pay attention to the forcasts and the weather reports.

 

And I have to say it is becoming more and more interesting. The weather is going more and more crazy every year, so much so that you wonder if we can still speak about climate. If there are days in Januari of 14 degrees and days in July of 12 degrees. What's then the climate if +2 is normal for January, and +22 for July?

 

For those few Ostriches (struisvogels) who still have their heads in the sand saying that there is no climate change, or that this is all perfectly natural, it is getting harder and harder. They have to stick there head deeper and deeper in the sand to limit their contact with reality. But this is not what I wanted to write about in this weblog.

The Netherlands

May, 2008

 

Dear reader,

 

At a nice dinner with work-colleagues yesterday I was asked: "Have all your meditation and courses in the last few years changed you?", "Or are you still the same Jeroen you were 5 years ago?"

 

My immediate answer was: "I have defnitely changed and am not who I was 5 years ago."

I mentioned a concrete example of something that had changed, but there is obviously much more. It is actually a very interesting question. Of course we all change. Everything always changes. Nobody is the same person he was 5 years ago. His or her body has changed and the life experiences of the previous years have also changed him or her. If everything goes well, our life experiences make that we do not only grow older but actually also grow wiser as we age. Unfortunately the opposite can also happen when over the years we get more and more imprisoned in our (limited) belief systems and psycho-emotional patterns rather than becoming freer and freer and freer of them.   

 

In this weblog I will start to describe the physical, bodily changes I have experienced over the last years as a result of (holisitic) healing.

 

And when it comes to our psycho-somatic development we see that for most people the norm is to become stiffer and stiffer over time, both physically and mentally, until in the end this stiffness leads to pains and illnesses. Fortunately by healing this process can be slowed down and even be reversed.

 

In this weblog I will relate a bit about how I have changed. How is my current personality and body-mind different from the one I had about 5 years ago?

Where:   Mexico

When:    6 May 2008

Dear readers,

 

Today is my 40th birthday. That is quite a mile stone. But while some people might have the feeling at 40:

"I am getting old", I prefer the saying "Life begins at 40!".

 

But while I know this saying I wonder why they say so. Isn't it a bit weird that what for most people is more like halfway their life they say life is just beginning? I can only speak for myself but in a way I feel like that. In a way it feels like life has only really started a few years ago.

Dear reader,

 

I wrote in my previous weblog about the number One personality of the Enneagram: The Perfectionist. I never have had any doubt that this is my ego-fixation, but writing about my playful and adventurous soul child I started to wonder how, in my life, I ended up being the Perfectionist and forget about my playful little Seven.

Websites: http://www.ennea.com/ http://www.enneagramworldwide.com/ 

Websites in het Nederlands: http://www.enneagram.nu/  http://www.enneagramacademy.nl/ 

Dear reader,

 

The last couple of months have been a period of many insights.

I have not been flowing all the time, but is exactly through these obstacles and, of course, self-created, difficulties that growth and self-knowledge can take place. Difficulties are the universe´s way to show you that you are trying to swim upstream, that you have to do something different, otherwise things will get worse and worse.

 

So my challenges in work (see previous weblogs) and my stiff neck (see my last weblog) are all messages of the universe that help me to grow. The nice thing is that along with these challenges come teachings and treatments that help me to see what is going on. First the Abraham Hicks tapes that my friend Thomas gave me, than the EMF balancing technique that I wrote about in my previous weblog and now some of the wisdom of the Enneagram that I read about in a book of my girlfriend. I´ll write more about that below....

Where:   Mexico

When:    23 April 2008

What:    http://emfbalancingtechnique.com/

 

 

Dear reader,

 

The offer in the Spritual Supermarket seems to get bigger and bigger and with it the possibilities for growth, healing and an ever more happy and fulfilling life. I don´t know if you have ever heard of Electromagnetic Field Balancing Technique, or in short EMF Balancing Technique? Until very recently I had not, until my girlfriend told me about it and how much good it had done for her and many of her friends.

 

So I was interested. I am always interested in faster ways of healing and spiritual growth as long as it does not involve dogmatism, religious fanatism or other things that I feel uncomfortable about. Although the EMF Balancing Technique sounds quite airy-fairy, my experiences with auras and energy work make that I am not so quickly to judge anymore. And my girlfriend is a reliable source of information and the woman who gives the sessions is a lovely and strong woman who I really trust.

 

So yesterday I had my first EMF Balancing Technique session.

Where:  Brasilia & Florianopolis, Brasil

When:    April 6th - April 20th, 2008

 

 

Dear readers,

 

In previous blogs I wrote about the challenges in my work. Particularly in this work mission to Brazil. While typing this I am at the airport in Sao Paulo, about to leave Brazil, and I can look back at a successful two weeks of work in Brazil. I won´t bother you with the details of my work here and write instead about how I have experienced it. About how I felt during the mission. If there is one conclusion I can draw, it is this one:

 

 

Dear reader,

 

You might be wondering if I keep going on about things I do not like. Does not seem like "focussing on what you want". I agree, but it is in the obstacles in your life that you can test where you are on your spiritual path and it are these obstacles that can help you to grow to ever higher heights of spiritual attainment. In other words to really become the master of your life.

 

So for me, having to work with a colleague I find difficult to work with, and doing a job that does not have the same appeal anymore it used to have, are both presents of the universe for me to really grow. First and foremost of course it is a wake up call that I have a way to go on the path to become a master of my life and secondly, these circumstances give me an opportunity to train my discipline, love, kindness, patience and a bunch of other qualities that are attained on the path.  

 

I am getting more and more enthusiastic about the Abraham Hicks teachings so the rest of my blog is a transcription of a podcast by Abraham Hicks Productions that I have titled:

"What to do if you don't like a person or a thing?"  

Dear reader,

 

Since about three years am I on the path of healing and spirituality and I have changed a lot. One of the things that has changed is that I am more sensitive and aware. Things that I previously did not notice, like certain thought patterns or negative habits, I do notice now. I never realised that I often lift my shoulders, I do notice it now. And so on and so on.

On one of the tapes of Abraham Hicks that I just heard (a friend gave me the podcasts of these audio-files) there was a piece of text that made me aware of what increased sensitivity means.

 

See below:

Dear reader,

 

Let me continue from the previous blog. Again this blog is as much a reminder for myself as for you. It is a big step ahead to focus on the positive and to focus on the things you want in life, but there will always still be things that we have to do but do not like to do. Every job has aspects you do not like, you might have to change the diaper of your baby while you feel like doing something else, or it might be raining and you have to go out for shopping. It could be anything. Only the enlightened have nothing in their lives they do not like because they have gone beyond liking and disliking. They flow with live wherever it brings them and they are the masters of their live. I myself, unfortunately, am not there yet .

Where:   Florianópolis, Brazil

When:    10 April 2008

 

Dear readers,

 

In my previouw weblog I wrote about my struggle with work and thoughts about changing my line of work. In these times that I sometimes feel like "this is not what I want to do" it happened from time to time that I went into total negativity. Suddenly everything seemed bad about my work and then it was difficult to see the positive side. I think that this is a natural human tendency. Our mind likes things to be clear and has a tendency to think in black and white. It is either good or bad. These of course are only ideas, products of the mind, they are never the whole truth.

Dear reader,

 

I just came back from the office of the organisation I work for on a free-lance basis and I don't feel happy. I felt like that before and in the last year or so I have had to kick myself over and over again to actual do my work. So what's going on?

 

What I feel is that this work, of which everybody I tell about say is wonderful, great, important and good, is my past, not my future. But it seems more than just my work, it is a way of life that is my past and that I don't want to be reminded about because I know something so much better is possible. Let me explain a bit more about it...

 

Dear reader,

 

I like to start this new 'rubriek' called The Art of Life with what is an important emotion for me: anger.

In the world, East or West, there are almost no countries where anger is considered an acceptable emotion. Many religions and cultures consider anger an unacceptable emotion. In Christianity it is one of the seven deadly sins and in the East expressing your anger is the worst thing you can do: you'll certainly loose face.

 

So what do we do with our anger? We end up surpressing it. I did that for about 33 years till my, then, girlfriend managed to trigger it and finally it came out. In vulcano style with huge anger outbreaks. In Thailand you'll almost never see anybody angry, but when someone does get angry there are no breaks, then often people get killed.

 

So what to do with our anger?

 

Find underneath a part of a newsletter I recieved. I think it is nice to share it with you:

 

"Bob used to talk about the choice everyone faces:

To step through the door marked "Security" or to go through the door marked "Freedom."

 

He said most people choose the door of Security because they just want to be safe. What they don't realize is that there is no safety behind that door.

 

Dear reader,

 

Yesterday I visited friends and they had a book about the wisdom of the Toltecs. These ancient Mexican Indians apparently were very wise and spiritual. While, as I understand, there is a lot of mystery about these people, the book "The four agreements" or in Dutch "De vier inzichten", is as I flipped through it very wise and straightforward. Easy to remember, so maybe nice if you are looking for something else than the 10 commandments ;-).

 

In The Four Agreements®, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting agreements that rob people of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements® offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform anyone's life to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

 

These agreements are deceptively simple:

1. Be impeccable with your word (speak with integrity; say only what you mean);

2. Don't take anything personally (nothing others do is because of you);

3. Don't make assumptions (find the courage to ask questions and express what you really want);

4. Always do your best (and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret).

 

With love,

 

Jeroen

 

See also: http://www.miguelruiz.com/

 

Dit is een interessante vraag. Al als student kwam ik in aanraking met Christenen die impliciet of expliciet beweerden dat je door je te bekeren tot Christen een beter mens wordt. Nou ben ik niet iemand die blind dingen gelooft omdat iemand me het verteld of omdat het ergens beschreven staat, dus ik ben eens gaan opletten. En de eerlijkheid gebied te zeggen dat ik voor die stelling (Christenen zijn betere mensen dan ongelovigen) nooit echt steekhoudende bewijzen in de 'echte' wereld heb kunnen vinden. Ja, ze voelen zich vaak beter, maar dat is natuurlijk iets heel anders.

 

Zojuist las ik een stukje op een andere weblog (http://perfectio.punt.nl)  met de titel: "Atheisten zijn asocialer". Dat pakte me. Ga ik hier lezen dat het geloof mensen toch tot socialere, liefdevollere, 'betere' mensen maakt?

 

Het stuk vind je op de website van perfectie, maar in kort kwam het erop neer dat onderzoek had aangetoond dat:

1. Mensen na het lezen van religieuze teksten alruistischer handelden

2. In kibboetsen (Israel) bleken de mannen, die vaker moeten bidden dan de vrouwen, altuistischer dan de vrouwen.

Het artikel (in The Economist) vermelde ook dat:

3. Bovengenoemde onderzoeken gaan over gedrag binnen de eigen groep. Of mensen buiten de eigen groep ook altruistischer handelden was niet onderzocht.

 

Mijn reactie op het stuk op Perfectio volgt hieronder:

Americans drove less in 2007 for first time: government

 

Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:31 pm EDT 

 

As gasoline prices broke records in 2007, Americans cut back on their driving for the first time in more than 20 years, according to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration.

 

Total travel fell 0.4 percent to 3.00 trillion miles from 3.01 trillion miles in 2006.

In December, when U.S. retail gasoline averaged $3.02 a gallon, travel fell 3.9 percent to 236.6 billion miles from 246.3 billion miles in 2006.

Where: Tao Garden, Thailand, www.tao-garden.com

Dear reader,

 

Every time I visit Tao Garden other 'imperfections' in my health are discovered and the natural cures to heal them provided. I say 'imperfections', because I have no health problems worth mentioning (for Western standards), but the Taoist (or Eastern or Chinese) way is not to wait till you get sick but to diagnose and cure imbalances in your health before they manifest as illness. In other words, it is all about prevention rather than waiting till you get sick and then cure the illness.

Where: Thailand
When:   February, March 2008

 

 

Synchronicity is something that happens in your life when you are aligned with the universe. When you are flowing rather than try to control every detail of your life. Synchronicity, sceptics would say, does not exist, it is just coincidence. Before I got serious about my spiritual practice, I was of that same belief. But in the previous years I have discovered how, when you ar flowing and aligned, all kinds of 'coincidences' and 'little miracles' happen, while when I am fighting with life and trying to swim upstream, these events are much rarer, if they occur at all.

 

So let me just tell about a few examples of synchronicity during my stay in Thailand. Agreed, all of this could well be just coincidence. But I don't think it was.

 

Dear reader,

 

I write this blog inspired by my 12-day darkness retreat in Thailand (see previous blogs, 1, 2, 3). The idea of voluntarily spending almost two weeks in complete darkness is alien to most people. The reactions I got from people who are not meditating or having any other serious spriritual practice is generally negative. As one friend told me: "Wow, complete darkness. They used to do that to people as a means of torture."

 

Let me first be honest: doing a similar retreat in solitary confinement is, I have now doubt, a very different experience from the one we had with teachings and the constant presence of other human beings. It made that I often found it 'too easy'. I am curious what would happen if I would spend more time alone. At least having a room alone instead of sharing would make a difference.

 

But even apart from that: many people have negative associations with "darkness". Darkness is sometimes equated with 'evil', being the opposite of 'light'. The light we are all looking for. Your 'dark side' is your 'negative' side. And I can go on for a while. In the rest of my blog I'll explain a bit why darkness is as important and beautiful as light and why there is no light without darkness.  

Where: The Sanctuary, Koh Pha Ngan, Thailand

When: 24 - 29 February 2008

 

Dear readers,

 

I have been busy working in Bangkok (giving a course to Bangkok's traffic planners), so I haven't had much time to write my weblog. As I always have much more to write than I have time, I write you the most amazing things I experienced in the previous weeks.

 

In the first 5 weeks of my meditation, healing and work visit to Thailand, I suffered, more than expected considering the heavenly circumstances I was in (in Tao Garden and Chiang Mai), from too much thinking and worrying. My worries and unenlightened thoughts where about my work in South America, too many flights for work and to visit my girlfriend and a few other things.

It frustrated me that while I felt better and better and more and more relaxed with every next week of meditation, that this state of no-mind and bliss that I experienced in previous mediation retreats did not come.

 

But after some Buddhist meditation in Chiang Mai, during my Taoist Healing Love workshop on the island of Koh Pha Ngan, I finally found what I was looking for.

Where:    Guys bar, The Sanctuary, Haad Tien, Koh Phangan, Thailand

When:     Friday, 1 March 2008

After my Taoist Healing love workshop (more about that later), I spend a night on the internet and skyping with my girlfriend who is not with me here in Thailand and then went for some dancing.

This was the weekly party in guys bar here in Haad Tien bay. This was the place where I had one of my best new year's eve parties ever on new year's eve 2006/2007. And it was after that party and my stay in the Sanctuary that I wrote my very positive outlook for the year 2007. I was sure than that the year was going to bring me lot's of good. And it did.

 

Now I just spend about 2 hours of constant dancing. After all the work sith sexual energy in the workshop I was so fit and full of energy and really enoyed the dancing. I got a lot spontaneous nice feedback on my dancing. One guy who was at the course told me the day after: "Thank you for yesterday." "Huh, what?" I asked. "Yeah, for your dancing, it is very inspiring."

Never thought about that. That my solo dancing would inspire others. I just do it because I love it. And I guess it is with everything. If you do what you love that is noticed and people like that.

 

What I also noticed was that it was so great to dance absolutely sober. All I drunk in the one and a half hour I was there was one litre of water (I easily sweated that much as well ;-)). And after the course my consciousness was sharp as a razorblade. I felt so balanced and in a space of no mind and that really added to the thrill of the dancing. So much better than the half unconscious state of the intoxication caused by alcohol. But sadly many people need that to loosen up and get in touch with their feelings. I stick with the slogan I found on a door in my guesthouse in Chiang Mai:

At 3 am I was back at my bugnalow on the beach and, after sweating so much from the dancing, went for a naked swim in the moonlight. Beautiful, and nobody around so who cares.

(Naturist beaches, do, as far as I know not exist in Thailand ;-).

Anyway, I loved it. Live in paradise is great.

All the best from Thailand,

 

Jeroen

Where:  Wat Sri Suphan, Chiang Mai, Thailand

When:    20 - 22 February 2008 

Dear reader,

 

Because I extended my Taoist darkroom meditation retreat with one week I had very little time left for my Buddhist vipassana meditation retreat. Still I was very eager to do this as it always leaves me with the best possible state of mind feeling centered, happy or downright blissfull.

So I called the temples around Chiang Mai that I know host people to do longer or shorter retreats but they were either full, not available at any time or they simply did not pick up the phone. But I found a solution.

Where: Tao Garden, Thailand

When:   3- 15 February 2008

 

 

Dear reader,

 

After telling you about the practicalities of 'life in the dark' in my previous weblog, I'll write more about what I experienced, what happened inside me, in these12 days in the dark and what you actually experience and see when you are in the dark for such a long time.  

 

See below my experiences with sleeping in the darkroom, thinking and my conclusions about the postive effect of the retreat.

Where: Chiang Mai

When:  Wenesday 20 February 2008

Dear reader,

 

I just had a cranio sacral therapy session. I have done this man times before in Chiang Mai, but now that my 'regular' therapist was not in the country (she travels around the world offering her services) I found someone else. Tameer, the woman who treated me was trained in a three year course in the Osho Centre in Pune (India) and as I had my Osho Humaniversity T-shirt on we immediately had something to talk about. (although that is always very easy with healers).

 

Tameer met her husband in the Osho centre in Pune and then moved with him to the Thai Island Koh Samui where they lived together for 9 years. Then they got divorced and Tameer moved to Chiang Mai because she did not feel like moving back to her cold home country Canada.

Chiang Mai is a city that is becoming a hub for massage courses and all kinds of healers. So it is a nice place to be and I love coming back here doing sessions for half the price or less of what I would pay in Holland.

Where:    Chiang Mai, Thialand

When:     18 January - 23 February 2008

 

Dear readers,

 

Sometimes you need some external feedback to realise how good you are doing. I have healed a lot and grown a lot spiritually in the last few years and then it is interesting to meet people again after not having seen them for a year.

 

When I just arrived in Tao Garden one of my friends said:

"You look good, you look longer, you look taller."

Then another friend, who I had not seen for a year, told me:

"You look bigger", meaning taller as well.

My Taoist teacher said:

"You look more substantial, more chi."