The free and independent thinker
Spinoza - an early peacemaker"Peace is not the absence of war. Peace is a virtue, a state of mind, an inclination towards goodness, trust, justice." As part of my interest in peacemaking processes and personalities, I received this email from a reader. The above quote...
Book tip: “Everything feels” by Andreas Weber
Stefan, forum reader and writer, sent me this book tip with his description: "A. Weber is a special biologist, because he is not "only" a scientist, but also a philosopher - someone who thinks holistically and transforms the mechanistic world view of the old sciences...
Promoting peace in a different way – a look at nature
Do we need a peace movement in these times when people are taking to the streets again?Absolutely.Do we need diplomacy and dialog between countries at war?Absolutely.Do we need efforts to engage in direct personal exchange with other countries, cultures and ethnic...
A current example of the development of distinctiveness
What does the person understand by "peace"? 1. Friedrich Merz "There is peace in every cemetery." 2. Mikhail Gorbachev "The victor is not the one who wins battles in a war, but the one who makes peace!" Source: Globalbridge March 7, 2025...
The thing about forgiveness
The thing about forgiveness In the New Testament, we find several passages in which Christ forgives the sins of people who come to him. One of the most impressive scenes is the one in which Mary Magdalene wets his feet with tears in the house of a Pharisee, dries them...
Traveling for a country – Romania
Impressions of a peace-promoting travel culture In the very early days of 2025, we, nine members of the Healing Research Kitchen in northern Italy, decided to set off on a 6-day trip together. This was preceded by a year of intensive collegial and friendly...
Content-related and artistic work for peace
From 16.12.2024 to 1.1.2025, the so-called "Artists' Days" took place at the Free College of Spirituality in northern Trentino. Above the municipality of Comano Terme, in the mountains, lies the small village of Lundo and half an hour's walk up through the forest to...
An Italian culinary journey
What could that be, an Italian culinary journey? A gourmet journey from restaurant to restaurant ?No, it wasn't meant to be.It was a very spontaneous project of eight women who set off on a golden fall day in October. Verona and the surrounding area was the first...
Let our weapons be weapons of the spirit, not tanks and bullets
The first contribution on the subject of peace is an old one, from 1932. Its author is Albert Einstein, who wrote a letter to Sigmund Freund. In it, he writes that he is a militant pacifist. One who fights for peace. A highly current letter, with the request - "Let...
Cleaners – our bringers of light?
Several people inspired me to think about cleaning - a teacher from my youth who said the following: "Correcting is the activity I like least of all. I prefer cleaning even more." Then a very interesting woman, Linda Thomas, who sees cleaning as a meaningful and...
Water – a living element
It splashes, bubbles, flows and stands, it glistens, roars, roars and sprays, it splashes, runs and drips - the water that we experience outside, in deep mountain lakes, wild and leisurely rivers or at waterfalls or - as here - in an artistically created watercourse...
Brilliant colors and the scent of honey – buckwheat
Buckwheat, small triangular grains that resemble cereal grains but are not cereals, is being discovered by more and more people as a popular dietary option for people with gluten intolerance. Those who are familiar not only with French crêpes made from wheat flour,...
Reconciliation through content – polarization through emotion
At the end of April 2024, a discussion and lecture evening with the founder of Nachdenkseiten Albrecht Müller took place in Anger, Upper Bavaria. The very well-attended and informative event attracted many interested people who were interested in the topic of peace in...
Going into the depths of words
It is of great value, especially in the field of spirituality, when we explore and grasp a concept in its depth, as otherwise we are often talking at cross purposes. Someone talks about meditation, but means something different to ten other people, each of whom also...
From carrot to dish
The carrot grows from the feathery light tiny carrot seed. It is a root vegetable that works its way completely into the soil and receives the light of the sun through its lush, finely branched green. It may surprise you how bright orange this vegetable is, even...
Guest article: “Prayer of the Mothers – Women sing for peace”
The following article is taken from the website https://www.pressenza.com, with the kind permission of the author Evelyn Rottengatter. You can find the original here.This article is also available in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Greek."Prayer of the Mothers" is...
Kundalini or lumbago?
Sivananda is a world-famous spiritual teacher and doctor from India. He lived from 1887 to 1963. He was known for his courage, his generosity, his strict discipline and his humor, as the following text testifies. His students, in particular Vishnudevananda, Andre van...
Nutrition and relationship
Eating is something very beautiful, especially when in company, on a quiet evening at home or in a restaurant with a welcoming atmosphere. And eating is much more than just providing us with food that nourishes our bodies and keeps us alive. When we see the gracefully...
Where your gentle wing dwells
Connection through music and poetry Friedrich Schiller wrote his "Ode to Joy" in 1785 for Christian Gottfried Körner, who later published a complete edition of Schiller's works. The "Ode to Joy" was written out of friendship, it was set to music by Beethoven in 1824...
The divine within us?
"It is what is and what is not at the same time. It is the totality of all potentiality, you could say. And that is something that is so within us, so deep within us, so deep we are sometimes not within ourselves. In other words, the divine is closer to us than we are...
Let your soul dangle
Does my soul want to relax? Or is that what she wants? Resilience!Just relaxing is quite normal when I've had busy, stressful times. But the exciting question is whether more relaxation comes from dangling trees or from a relaxing yet somewhat demanding...
Light and love
Can we send light and love, just like that? Light and love - a well-known greeting in emails, letters and social media. Can I really send light and love to another person, do they arrive? Be that as it may, it is worth looking into the phenomenon of light as...
