An Open Leader Is a Listener
The importance of authentic communication is boundless. You know the difference between verbal and nonverbal communication. The former consists of words. The latter is everything else. A more subtle difference exists between the conceptual and the non-conceptual. The first category deals with everything that is easily converted into concepts The second category deals with the Read the full article…
Zombification
Disclaimer: this text is not for overly sensitive readers. The term ‘zombie’ probably comes from the West African nzambi, which means: a dead person who is made alive again, but who has no own free will. In the Afro-Caribbean culture this is an essential part of voodoo (originally from West Africa). So, we are in Read the full article…
The Story of Ego
The evolution from ‘I’ into ‘ego’ has been very gradual, as has been the appearance of consciousness. In a way, the latter is central to the former. [see: The Story of ‘I’. The present text is its continuation.] Consciousness has not been developed for the sake of ‘ego’. Nevertheless, it was indispensable for the appearance Read the full article…
The Story of ‘I’
Animals have an ‘I’ from the moment they know the difference between moving and sensing that something else is moving. In terms of evolution, this ‘I’ came way before ‘ego’. Say: some 700 million years before which is according to very subjective criteria of course. One could argue for much longer. Weirdness of ‘I’ Many Read the full article…
Should a Smoker Stop Smoking?
Not as such. However, (s)he should be able to ‘not want to smoke anymore.’ That’s a very different thing to do. It may not be straightforward, but is definitely worthwhile. Don’t ‘quit’ Apart from, or entwined with the small chemical influence on the brain, a smoker smokes mainly because one way or another, the smoking – Read the full article…
Acceptance?
Within AURELIS, ‘acceptance’ is about your total self including a lot of nonconscious processing. There is no breaking down, nor ignoring, nor avoiding. AURELIS is precisely not about avoidance. This deserves to be emphasized because ‘acceptance’ frequently gets such connotation. In AURELIS, there is no avoidance . So, if you have an annoying issue or Read the full article…
Object-Science Versus Subject-Science
Science about objects: physics, chemistry… Science about subjects: psychology, history… Both sciences are different and important. Alpha, beta, positive etc. Let’s skip that and simply talk about object- versus subject-science. This is related to, respectively, closed-world versus open-world phenomena. Explanatory analogy: A cloud (‘open world’ with lots of possible influences in all directions) doesn’t fit Read the full article…
Inside Values, We Find Pain and Joy
In our values, we find our worth and deepest meaning, our ‘energy’ which is no more than deep motivation. Our values are our morality. Valued gain for pain and source of joy. Inner values lead one to voluntarily accept pain. For instance: the soldier fighting for his country, the mother giving birth, the athlete going Read the full article…
‘Doing Your Best’ is Good Enough
The title of this piece can be seen as a ‘categorical invitation’, an (auto-)suggestion to strive and keep striving and at the same time not ego-wisely strive at all. The goal is to be human. People do not act morally consistent much of the time. An often used example is about a natural disaster striking Read the full article…
Hooray it Works!
It seems like the basis of this culture. Not so much the phrase in itself but rather the direct stop at its end. It is a culture of minimal effort. If ‘it works’ … what more do you want? It is also a culture of ‘many’. Many things. Something works and off you go to Read the full article…
Dancing With the ‘Deeper Self’
Letting emerge a ‘spontaneous association’, seems to be one of the easiest things to do. But what exactly is a ‘spontaneous association’? Is every thought ultimately a ‘spontaneous association’, or is there qualitatively more in the game? ‘Spontaneous’ is gradual of course. It is possible to let a spontaneous association about a particular idea emerge… Read the full article…
What is Not Coming from You, Flattens You
‘Flattens you’ in the sense of being apathic, without depth. E.g. suppose a mother gives kisses on a sore place and she continues to ‘mother’ the pain with superficial attention for a long time -> she sensitizes her child for pain by not learning it how to deal with pain from itself. The mother thinks Read the full article…
A Stepping Stone?
If you want that a child learns to count to 10, you can start teaching it to count from 1 to 2. Well done. However, if the child is at the same time being led to believe that there is absolutely nothing after the 2, really nothing at all, because 2 is simply ‘the best Read the full article…
Importance of Science to AURELIS
Science is an attempt to strengthen common sense in such a way that it can be used to transcend ‘common sense’. For example: the world is flat. Undeniably.. Anyone with a little common sense can see that clearly. Someone with a bit more common sense however will continue to think about it. Why do ships Read the full article…
Aurelian Spontaneity Might Make ‘Anything’ Seem THE Solution
‘Anything’ can of course be something valuable, or contain something valuable. That is not what this is about. It is however about: always keeping your eyes open. ALSO and even PARTICULARLY if it would be easier to close them. Does occur: Someone uses AURELIS, which supports him or her from within. In the meantime that Read the full article…
Meaning
Lots of people are looking for the ‘meaning of existence’. This seems feeble but this search is often crucial in many ways, even where it is not immediately clear. For example, whether or not someone experiences certain circumstances as negatively stressful (also at the work place), depends very much on an underlying sense of ‘meaning’: Read the full article…
The Goal: Freedom
… of the total person. This may assume a serious commitment, a firm attitude, discipline. It judders and clashes with all sorts of … and yet. A good starting point may be: “nothing changes me.” So also: “nothing stops me,” because if one is changing from within, then that change itself is the situation and Read the full article…