Speed 26 October 2016

Sometimes speed is all right and other times it can be harmful.

How can we detect harmful speed ?


We have speeded up in the last 100 years, because : we learn more,…our children will know more than we will ever know,…and of course the existing paradigm of “TIME IS MONEY” which directs us into sharp consumerism and competition. So the faster people work and do things, the more money they earn. That is a paradigm that may have had its days. Maybe we are lifting ourselves up to another paradigm that values and respects slowness instead.

Professional life is often hectic, fast and stressful. Modern cities, 
where everything goes so fast give an individual an enormous amount of visual input. Compared to some 100 years back brain cells have to digest much more information inputs addressing all our senses while walking down the street. Some seem to be able to cope with it while others seem to get an overload of information which is impossible or hard to absorb and results in physical reactions like pain, tension and stress. What are the consequences? 
Adaptation [Physiology. the decrease in response of sensory receptor organs, as those of vision, touch, temperature, olfaction, audition, and pain, to changed, constantly applied, environmental conditions.]! In other words: People get used to it…and then there is the question : What does that mean ? “getting used to it” ? Do we speed up our brain centres so that

information is absorbed faster ?
According to the 'physiology definition' of adaptation that is not the case; quite the opposite: ...its a decrease in response of sensory receptor organs... ( we become less sensitive ).

There are certainly different energy levels of adaotation in each and every one of us and we learn to adapt differently. Adapting to different speed : the speed of a rock concert and/or the speed of a baroque concert will happen to you automatically,…and you will walk away from it with an unpleasant feeling or a good feeling. And those feelings have for a good amount to do with the speed you had to deal with.

Similarly watching a great amount of TV

in which countless pictures come into our eyes, our brain has to deal with an overload of information and the speed of which various information comes in is very high. Filtering is the result…we just take up the information that seems to make sense. Some of it we do consciously but a lot of information comes in without our conscious choice. ‘If we do not learn to add any value at TV programmes and shows we become more ‘stupid’, because our own set of values and standards is being jeopardized.’

The amount of information we take in when travelling in a train (depending on the speed) changes our perception of, say, a tree. When walking past a tree we see very clear structures and colours,…of leaves and we here “pink sounds”plus we can smell it. In a train that sound is gone and the colours are different…but the quantities of trees and rocks and things we see are much higher than when in a slower moving vehicle. We are confronted with an overload of information that does not come to our conscious mind. Yet our brain has all the nerve cells activated by the visual input. What does our brain do with all the information which is taken in subconsciously ? And what are the consequences ? 

We live in a time of digital information overload and that is also speeding up thought- and brain activities. Yet, we can “unspeed” ourselves by exposing ourselves to less digital "overloadinformation".The next question would be : What is "overload" for any person? Where is the limit ?

 
When our thoughts are activated, our minds cannot stand still and nerve cells keep firing at each other. Eastern philosophy comes with remedies that might help: Happiness is when your mind is fully relaxed.

Then how do we get to that relaxed mind ?…”unspeeding” is definitely a good start. We can try meditation, slow food, slow talk, slow think and much more
OR we can start with no laptop or professional phone in your private homes. 

Cyclic development, 17th May 2016

Sabrina, Frederik, Colin and Ambar were present on the 17^th May to discuss the topic :

Association round :

Colin had to think of a football match that has a definite end and beginning, so that was an example for a linear action but he also talked about the emotion that goes with it. Where did it end and where did it start for the football match ? Colin also referred to the cycle of grief in which he sees a timeless cycle: –denial, - anger, - arguing, - depression, acceptance. Colin tells us that the cyclic nature of our environment leaves an impression on our genes and its inherent cyclic system. 

He also refers to the mentioned wave in the discussion and analyses it as a curve along a line….so he asks himself what would happen if we took out linearity. At the same time he is also convinced that linear things are more stressful.

Energy 19 th April 2016

Intro:

The energy that keeps the cosmos moving manifests itself in ever changing patterns: energy becomes matter, matter becomes energy; this happens in such a complex way that our eyes cannot see or isolate this ongoing stream of change. All matter comes into existence out of what was before.

So what does cause and effect mean concerning energy ?

Is there a way to become the observer of this ongoing transformation of energy ?

What does speed have to do with humans dealing with energy ?

What is behind this mystery ? 

Energy keeps the cosmos moving. Ambar thinks that from an individual stand point of view energy gives you the capacity to do things…behind which we have the question : “Do I have the energy to do this ? “ Whilst at the same time energy from a physical law description always goes to the lowest state of energy. He transfers this thought to politics and brings an example: “Big governments with too much regulations break up, become smaller and people resort to lower systems.”

Hugo on the other hand starts out with natural physical laws and obviously refers to the sun as the one and only energy for our planet Earth without which (1 h would be enough) everything on this planet would vanish. So yes, E=mc2 and yes there is a personal touch to it as well. Hugo says that food is energy source number…

Ambar and Hugo have a double facetted look on the topic, which is big and small, sun and individual, physical law and political/social systems.

Another interesting thought comes in when Hugo says that energy is not lost. At the same time he wonders where the energy of the sun goes that does not reach our planet. He comes with another example : “Is the light from a light bulb wasted because we do not benefit from its warmth in one way or the other ?”

When Ambar refers to the parallel of how nature works and how we work we get to a deeper level, also more individual. Our senses – originating from that same physical energy flow – can forecast weather situations precisely if we are trained or educated to do so. It depends on how sharp and how well we pay attention to the process.

Cause and effect : According to Hugo energy is an ongoing process, which entails that there is complexity in simplicity. Ambar thinks that there is complexity in energy and form whether they are changing or static.

Then Hugo tells us the Sufi story of  a boy who got a horse. It was a little village and he was happy to ride the horse. Then one day he fell off the horse and broke his leg so his father and the whole village thought it was so unfortunate but when the soldiers came to that same village to take all the young men to war except the boy his father was happy…and so was the boy…etc. cause and effect…

Cosmos & Earth 13th April 2016

Intro: The etymological source tells us that cosmos goes back to order, right order, gracefulness, jewels and even the plant cosmos that grows in clean air. It also goes back to world order or order in a particular state. In antique history one of the first ones to use this word and describe reality with it was Pythagoras who was obsessed with numbers, saw this order of numbers in everything,…the harmony of the spheres and also the harmony in other relations. The earth was something they were discovering and starting to understand in numbers and other comparisons. The cosmos

JOY of LIFE, 30th March 2016

Intro : The two contradicting philosophies

…”there is a deep feeling of joy of life we get when dancing, drinking or making love,…that’s the blood knowledge of Dionysus”
- D.H. Lawrence about Dionysus

Dionysus  (Greek god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness, fertility, theatre and religious ecstasy) believed in the power of intuition and reaching out for our state of unconsciousness. He believed that the act of giving into our temptations brought us closer to our real selves and that is the real secret to achieving joy in living.

Socrates, on the other hand, was convinced that moderation, rationality and self-awareness through self-discipline was the way to go.

                                     

First associations from guests

It was clear early on that we wouldn’t end with a unanimous definition that suited all our assumptions, thoughts and beliefs about JOY of LIFE. We broadened the topic by listening to various examples. There were bright insights into what joy of life is, how to get it, keep it and whether it is even necessary to have!

A..: The pursuit of happiness has become an obsession.  I think that we all create

Balance, 22nd March 2016

What's the origin of the word ? Balance in its lat. origin is spelt bilanx  and bi means two whereas lanx is a scale. The starting point is thus a material good that is weighed and compared…

Question : For what purpose do those goods need to be equal…and what kind of ingredients do we put into the scales ???

Artificial Intelligence. Philosophy and machines, 28 Okt 2015

Present: Ambika, Eric, Fredrik, Mark, Petri, Trevor, Yvonne

To begin with we all wanted to define intelligence. Intelligent comes from rational,…the lat. word intellegere means to perceive, comprehend,…from inter (between) and legere (choose or read) actually : reading between the lines or picture…There are different kinds of intelligence : and we are moving towards ever new definitions of intelligence. (rational, spacial, language-wise, emotional, cognitive, physical…etc). In an artificial system, intelligence is defined as simply: the ability to adapt… or connecting ideas…The result of the judgement

Groei en economie 30 September 2015

 

…”we zijn geobsedeerd met groei…”—uitspraak van Fritjof Capra.

We besloten eerst het thema scherp te krijgen.

Ik beloofde de etymologische betekenis van groei na te kijken. ECONOMIE = [staathuiskunde, zuinigheid  …’huishoudkunde’, oikos = [huis] en nomos [ gewoonte, manier, wet] …

De vraag deed zich voor of er ook groei was zonder ontwikkeling,…

dan hadden we weer een nieuwe term bij die we ook eerst wilden definiëren. Ontwikkeling (ontwikkelen = ontvouwen,…van fr. développer)…en wat was dan obsessie [= dwangvoorstelling van lat. obsessio = belegering, blokkade] ook van obsedere [geheel in beslag nemen/hinderen, ergeren, lastig vallen, zitten op, bezet houden, belegeren, in beslag nemen]…

Groei is goed,…ontwikkeling is goed,…toch ?

…er kwam een tegengeluid `overdrive´ werd genoemd als een symptoom dat zich in verschillende

Never do anything ? Tao --- Tuesday, 15th Sept.2015

We discussed the 37th passage of the Tao Te CHing

The Tao never does anything, yet still everything is done by her/him.

Could mighty men and women nestle in its heart the whole world would change through herself, in her natural rhythm. Humans were joyful with their simple, everyday lives, harmonious and without needs.

If there is no need,

everything is in peace.

Long time we circled the term desire. What was desire and how could we really live without it ? In Buddhism desire is the cause of all suffering said Greg. One of the guests could define the state when desire was no more and just being or floating was achieved. Then, he said, many things go by itself,…it’s as if without desire

Filosofisch salon: 18 Aug 2015 Thema: Responsibility – What does it mean to you ?

Aanwezig : Petrie, Hans, Frederik, Ambika, Gert-Jan, Brad

Als introductie voor het thema nam ik een uitspraak van Anna Lappé: “Every time you make a purchase, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want!” [ Iedere keer dat je een aankoop doet kies je voor het soort wereld die je wilt.  ]

Conclusie na de discussie: Verantwoordelijkheid heeft met kennis, bewustzijn en wil te maken. Alle ingrediënten zijn deel van een menselijke ontwikkeling en afhankelijk van ervaring, perceptie en tijd. Hoe meer we in contact komen met kennis, bewustzijn en met onze eigen wil - hoe duidelijker we zullen zien waar onze eigen verantwoordelijkheid ligt in dit leven.

Hoe bewust zijn we ons van wat wij als verbruiker bepalen in de wereld in die we leven ? De meest voor de ogen liggende keuze die we zonet allemaal hadden gemaakt waren onze drankjes. Petrie neemt nooit coca cola (obesitas). Zij is zich daarvan bewust,…denkt aan de mogelijke gevolgen. Dat is wat verantwoordelijkheid is: aan de gevolgen denken,…responsibility (heeft het woord ‘respond’ in zich,…in het Nederlands is het antwoord. Het thema is daarom: Hoe veel denken we aan de gevolgen van ons doen/denken/zeggen ? En hoe ver in de toekomst denken we,…hoe ver kunnen

THE MYTH OF ER (Plato)

THE MYTH OF ER

Refering to our conversation with Bernadette, Rudi, Gert-Jan and Brad about the implications of Plato’s vision in the Myth of ER (The Republic).(Tuesday, 21 st July 2015)

What is virtuous ?

We know that our choices are not always conscious.

Mistakes are on the way – they are part of a learning process.

Is there a blueprint for happiness ?

What does a fully flourishing humanity entail ?

Having a deep understanding takes away full responsibility.

Virtue is a form of control. But how I (Bernadette) interpret it is: there is a difference between selfish and self-full. Living a life to the fullest,...having the chance and opportunity to live it up to one’s own needs. Then not having to think: the grass is always

greener on the other side.

Our intuition is influencing us all the time. There is something coming from very deep. Something that is far bigger than we are. It is part of a total unity and gives freedom. Can we grow this intuition ? Can we make it stronger ?

We are the observer behind us – this awareness lets us see: innate wrong or right,…yet there is so much external influence. There is so much conditioning….only if we learn to consciously see this condition, we will be able to live our life more according to our own will.  Who decides what is right or wrong ? In the (outer judicial circumstance) I as an individual make the decision of right and wrong. This choice is determined by a feel good factor (or bad )and a feeling of gratefulness.

If everything is love,…then true love is the key…maintaining this position leads us away from the original sin,….there is then no guilt. Our action determine the karma,…when we are most happy our own dogma leads us into the truth and rightful action.

But then, there is this other side of dogma. Wanting something too much will lead into realising that the most wanted thing is not reachable. Because we want something so much,…we forget to let go,…to let things develop freely , we hold on to something and stiffen the process. The art is to always  let things flow and always lay our heart and soul into the claws of god so that the universe can roll on and is not disturbed by some stiff and breaking action. Probably if we hold on to something too hard and forget about the uncertainty factor our will comes into conflict with the eternal will and it loses the smooth and soft development. We will always lose the game against fate,…if we accept that we are smaller and we become completely humble then we will envision the holy plan some times. We will be part of it and we will not be manipulator.

Because our EGO leads us away from the source.

We can still be observing and sensing keeping in touch with our own ‘goodness’. If we want to prosper we need to give unconditional love and when making wrong decisions we will see that this is part of a learning process. We can get into the spindle of self development,…evolutionary (with fully flourishing humanity as a goal),…and along the way we will find :

LOVE,…different levels of love.

Rhythm. What does rhythm mean to you ? 21st of April 2015

Present:  Otmar, Marjolein, Frédérique and Brad

As an ice-breaker I brought along a holography of a walking elephant. 

The remarkable thing about the postcard was and still is,…that if you move it or look at it from different angles it appears as though the elephant is walking. In big German letters it says : Geh deinen Weg ! Which means: Go your way ! I let all my guests look at the card for some time and reflect on what they saw…then we started with the association round:

We heard music, dance, salsa, percussion, rhythm that is in the air, spring winter summer autumn, rhythm without music, trill, sound, rhythm in nature, repeating beat…and came close to a definition:

Rhythm is any recurring motion, symmetry…

this can be in nature or in man/woman made strong or weak elements, or it can be opposite or different conditions…it is a periodicity of frequencies…and the interesting thing about it is….the TIME aspect. As the topic itself came forth from our previous meeting with “TIME” as topic,…here we were back at the correlation of Rhythm and Time. Rhythm aspects can pronounce themselves in Microseconds OR: millions of years. This brings our human nature

CHANGE 20th January 2015

Intro-Icebreaker: Pic of North American Indians canoeing in river
Question : What will change in the next moment ?
Imagination got going. One answer: “the eagle has landed” – the atmosphere = serene…for a good start:

Present: Hans, Mark, Michael, David, Cecilia, Farzaneh and myself

We are predestined to change. Depending on belief, political system and scientific background. Yet no matter if we believe in a soul or not,…something within us stays the same and gives us directions. 

_________________________________________________
Cecilia added to the example of the person stepping into the river: “If a person steps into the river twice,...not only is the water changed, but also the person who makes that step, is not the same anymore….” Change happens on both sides,- the outside world and the inside.

After a short deviation we all agreed that personal change was where we wanted to focus our discussion on. Other changes that were mentioned: Environmental change, world change, political change, cosmic change, social change, global change, microscopic change, atomic change, personal or group change…

Hans likes to come from a broader perspective,…his thoughts came from cosmic spheres,…he talked about ‘the field`, solar flares and he said that part of our memory was outside of our brains, which had to do with electromagnetism and radio. Cecilia then inquired how that worked and before Hans could explain in more detail Michael remarked that it sounded slightly unscientific…Which brought us to an explanation about science: “Science is an assumption which has not been disproved yet.”, said Mark. David found this explanation very valuable and pondered over it for a second when Michael exclaimed : “Science is wonderful!”, with a big smile on his face.

Mark then sharply included the ‘time frame’ which made everyone aware of the ‘human frame’: Are we talking about changes in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years or hundreds of years …thousands of years ?

Farzaneh came with a very interesting remark: She said : “If I want to have success and I have a specific goal in mind, there cannot be much change…” In other words : if we have to focus on something very intensely we circle around a core and have no way to change much. It also means that if we are tight to a goal,…we cannot change much,…whereas if we have complete freedom, personal change is easy,...also considering political backgrounds and systems.  It makes sense and explains for a great deal the character of change in a people and a person. It also explains the connection between personal change in relative free political systems opposite to a tighter structure. Also the opportunity of change that is given to a student with clear goals opposite to a person of the same age with no goals in mind. Personal change is more likely to happen in a person with freedom of choice.

To the question of the ’true self’, the ‘not changing part’ of our identity it was also Farzaneh who came up with an interesting observation. In her view we are what we do,…and identity was strictly linked to performance. And isn’t she right ? In a very dominant part of western society our identity is very closely related to what we do,…and not so much to who we are. But then again,…that might just be a momentary profession. But people will more likely ask about what you do then about who you are. Yet of course the deeper aspect of self  is often far from the “what do you do ? -"question…

Our name for example does in most cases not change and therefore has quite an important meaning for our self and identity. There is some kind of attachment that influences our whole life. Yet it is just a name and the real me is somewhere else still. The core identity, the true self  is of course also prone to change: Aren’t we all looking for a better me ? Isn’t it time for a real internal refurbishment (Cecilia)? And yes, says Michael,…there are many self-help books which proclaim exactly that. They teach you how to be a better you . (Mark) Business cases should be written,…they could even call for scientific proof to advertise cases of inner change and make them attractive in this economical system. There is much profit to be made with the outside change business, why not inside ?

Hans: “Our SELF,…it is something that accompanies us to the finish, ( meaning death)  Hans also mentioned the soul as part of an elementary factor of our eternal being. He describes it as the small voice inside of you that tells you to do this or that. He also mentions the keys in life. Words uttered to you, or things that happened to you, way back when, that serve as keys for one’s own development. He talks about the lower self and the higher self which is not completely in yourself (!).
Michael and Hans get into a close up. Their views of life differ considerably. “We’re not from the same building,” says Michael. “We’re all one” says Hans. And he comes up with an interesting analogy. “Every wave is the sea!” What if we are all part of that same sea?
Mark defined this difference of opinions as a matter of belief and feeling. Michael brought in arguments of the evolution which arouse a great deal of interest. His question: “Is self-consciousness also part of the evolution?”
And then Hans asked the group: “Can you ever find true self without social reference?”

This question made us aware of the competitive society but also reminds us of the reflective character that seems to be needed for a sense of identity.
Michael does not believe in a soul, yet he knows for certain that there is a true self or character that does not change within a person…

Conclusion of that evening:
True change of a person is dependent on the weight of attachment one feels, believes in or is used to. That means we can change according to how strongly we feel attached to what we believe and know at the moment. The moment you let go of your bubble you learn a lot and you change, yet this change will hardly alter the inner core.(Farzaneh)

This brings Michael to another view: we are a different person depending on where we are? …but once we let go of that bubble we get a clearer picture of ourselves (Farzaneh)

Vrijheid. Wat betekend vrijheid voor jou ?

                                                Aanwezig : Henny, Anja, Bertina en Tobi

Trefwoorden :

Utopie, hoofd-hart, gouden kooi, ‘molensteen’, angst, vertrouwen, vierkant, conditionering, balans tussen vrijheid en verplichting, rups en haar gevecht om vlinder te worden, verslaving, keuzevrijheid - keuzestress, zelfontplooiing, maatschappij en vrijheid;

Samenvatting:

Omgaan met vrijheid is niet makkelijk. We denken te weten en te voelen wanneer vrijheid er is in het NU, maar ermee omgaan vraagt grote zelfkennis. Te veel vrijheid werkt averechts als we geen tijd meer hebben om verstandige keuzes te maken, of als we te weinig vertrouwen hebben om ons hart te volgen. Een te veel aan informatie werkt blokkerend in plaats van bevrijdend. Innerlijke ethische codes en hoge menselijke ontwikkeling en zelfkennis zijn voorwaarde voor