The Cause of War
Worldly factors are causes only inasmuch as they are related to human motivations. No money, oil, or invisible borders wage war ― only humans presently do, and only humans can stop the waging. No pacifism Pacifism would mean choosing a greater evil just for the sake of not-fighting. I prefer the lesser evil. Meanwhile, when Read the full article…
From Negative to Positive Mindset
There is no silver bullet, but two golden moves: toward and from an underlying condition that lies close(r) to the human core of deep motivation. For instance, from chronic anger to positive action See: from aggression to efficiency. The following drawing shows the two moves as hollow arrows: Energy? With this is meant here what Read the full article…
(Re)appraisals on Health
Health-related expectations can profoundly affect one’s health in the short and long term. Therefore, (re)appraisals can have profound effects on health or disease ― or not? Two kinds of belief + a continuum Two kinds, and how to change them: For a surface-level belief, one can look for conceptually valid arguments ― for example, a Read the full article…
Aurelian Expectations
Well-oriented expectations can be powerful self-fulfilling prophecies. This is ancient wisdom and scientific fact. In profundity, they should be handled carefully and, most importantly, with good aim. (In this text, with ‘expectations’ is meant the kind that involves one also in-depth.) Expectation + (self-)deception = placebo Deception should never be used if anyhow avoidable. If Read the full article…
AURELIS during Pregnancy
AURELIS can support pregnancy in several aspects. I hope this may be realized and have a positive impact on many people’s lives, providing a good start for the baby and a joyful experience for the mother. See also the meditative sessions about pregnancy in AurelisOnLine. About babies The new life inside the belly becomes a Read the full article…
Are Religions Ready for Openness?
In the long term, religions seem to evolve toward Openness, be it with ups and downs. Possibly, we are standing before an era in which the gates will be thrown Open. Much readiness is needed to make this happen in a gentle way. Fundamentalism is the reaction towards closedness. We see fundamentalism growing stronger within Read the full article…
Workings of a Muse
Whether in poetry, visual art, architecture, or a new scientific theory, something happens in the creation process that transcends mere conceptual thinking. Many creators denote this as the workings of a Muse. My case When writing, almost always, I am more or less surprised by what spontaneously comes out, as if it’s not altogether me Read the full article…
The Ego-Oriented Aim of Meditation
This is to find a rightful place for ego, in which it can function most meaningfully and efficiently. See the first poem of ‘Poems from a Parallel World’ You find this poem also at the bottom of this text. It’s about the final goal of meditation, which is not easily attainable. Therefore, one should better Read the full article…
Open Leadership: from Material to Mental Growth
The present-day world seeks economic growth, which is, broadly seen, ‘material’ ― either in the sense of being touchable or, at least, transposable, thereby tradeable. Mental growth is different and needs Open Leadership. Growth is a natural urge. Everything in nature continually grows intra- and intergenerationally. AURELIS itself is based on a natural growth philosophy. Read the full article…
Planetarianism
Own people first. My people = everybody. The aim of planetarianism is to unite without diminishing diversity ― thus to strive for one human culture with due respect for regional cultures. For this, we seek growing embeddedness in a philanthropic ecosystem of giving and taking. For a PowerPoint about the growing project of Planetarianism, click Read the full article…
One Sacredness for All
People from any religion can feel that sacredness transpires through their religion. Can they also feel sacredness transpire through other religions? Can you? Sacredness versus reductionism For the reductionist, the only ontologically real entities are particles in motion, to which any other complexity in the universe can be reduced and explained. Sacredness is the faith Read the full article…
Why Open Leadership is the Future
The future: soon enough, and from then, forever. Open Leadership is about getting real, which is increasingly necessary to thrive as an individual, an organization, and a species. Increasingly necessary It’s 2023. The past few years have seen global turmoil as never before in my lifetime. We see crisis on top of crisis: a viral Read the full article…
DailyTwinkles to Planetarianism
The DailyTwinkles project forms an ambitious AURELIS subproject, reaching and connecting people in forty different languages. The aim is to support people to connect in-depth. In accord with the AURELIS philosophy, people are invited to value a combination of rationality and depth – each without detracting from the other – across cultural borders, toward planetarianism. Read the full article…
DailyTwinkles
Each day a small text to think about, brought in an esthetically appealing format through social media. Practically Dailytwinkles come through Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. They come from the start in eight languages: English, German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Russian. We will go to 40 languages soon. At each subscription, you get Read the full article…
Why is there so Little Open Leadership?
The advantages are huge, yet too little attention goes to it in practice. Causes go from little theoretical thinking about it to a lack of Openness in the whole of society. Please read: Open Leadership is Bigger than You A leader is ‘only a person.’ One cannot expect him to be an Ubermensch. A leader Read the full article…
The Double Ethical Bottleneck of A.I.
This is a small excerpt from my book The Journey Towards Compassionate A.I. The whole book describes the why’s, what’s and how’s concerning this. Getting through the A.I. bi-bottleneck On the road towards genuine super-A.I. – encompassing all domains of intelligence and in each being much more effective than humans – I see not one Read the full article…
Open Leadership: Compassion
Open Leadership is fully Compassionate, not in the sense of ‘pity,’ but in the Eastern (and, profoundly, also Western) meaning of empathy-beyond-the-conceptual. Please read Compassion, Basically; Compassion = Empathy-Beyond Compassion is the top level and the goal of the AURELIS project. All other AURELIS levels are subordinate to this. Compassion is on top at the Read the full article…