I made my coffee for years like this at work. Brought my own grounds and poured heated water over them in a cup. Best cup of coffee ever! Yes, simplicity is key. In our quest to improve literally everything, we manage to f..k it up only to return to basics. Decent morals, hard work and prosperity. Why do we make it so complicated?
You have most poignantly articulated feelings I have had for some time, but have never been able to articulate. 🙏💜 A most Happy New Year to You. Enjoy this rendition of Auld Lang Syne sung by Susan Boyle entitled The Train of Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmtyvQw5ROk
Thank you for your writings. It seems impossible to talk of what ‘Christ Consciousness’ might actually mean outside the framework of any religious order, but to me you are able to openly and clearly speak about this wonderful mystery of our existence.
Creatief zijn in het spreken van woorden..Afdalen tot de kelder van dit paleis.
De ontmoetingen hierin die me leren stil te kunnen zijn. Door het fenomeen tijd. Ieder op de plek waarin het groeit naar het licht . En stop merk hoe moeilijk het stoppen is voor me Mat(h)tias.
Het inchecken van vlucht 2025 is aangekondigd.
Uw tussenlandingen zijn: geluk, gezondheid, liefde en vriendschap.
De vlucht duurt 12 maanden.
Na landing je gelieve om 00.00uur te begeven bij gate 31
Your upcoming book is the book release I am looking forward to most in 2025.
I read Gandhi ten years ago, in 2015. At that time, his ideas felt a bit far away to me. However, as time passed, I realized the importance of truthful existence, espacially in smaller acts.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that you were an admirer of Gandhi as well. The thing I look forward to most from the upcoming book, is advice on how to practice the art of speech in day to day complexity of everyday life.
Thank you, wishing you the best of the season and that it last throughout the year. I enjoy reading and learning from your words here. Once again, thank you, Sir.
I would be interested to know when January 1 came to be considered the “new year.” The words themselves for the months indicate that March is the first month. Sept(7)ember, Oct(8)ober, Nov(9)ember, Dec(10)ember, so January is 11 and February is 12. The U. S. president used to take office in March - what they considered the beginning of the year. This lines up with the biblical new year - the month of Nisan - which is my baseline.
How and when did the change come about? Does anyone know?
So, so true. We moved to the woods, off grid, in the spring of 2000, and have lived a simpler, although harder, life here. No plumbing, no electric wires, etc. Yes, it is hard work, but I’d rather do this work than sit in an office, slave to someone else’s time clock, slave to debt or rent. For several years, we had no monthly bills. Then we got a phone (pre cell phone era) - a box on a phone pole and we ran our own cord through the woods. Now, it’s a cell phone. That is still my only monthly bill. And a twice yearly property tax bill.
Modern humans are experts at complicating things. I go the opposite way. I like having an outhouse and splitting wood with a maul. I don’t so much like hauling water uphill in buckets (our spring is down the hill), so I catch rainwater from the roof as much as possible.
While most of the world runs on their treadmill and tries to pay off their house and car and credit card bills, I work in the woods, feed my cows and sheep and chickens, and often don’t see another person, sometimes for days at a time.
Why this rush for consumerism, materialism, the burden of debt, the acquisition of THINGS - the latest gadget, fancy restaurant food from unknown sources, more unneeded stuff for people who have too much stuff?
Mostly house-cleaning and gardening 1-3 days per week. I also make a lot of things - baskets, soap, candles, etc. - and try to sell them, but I’m not a good salesperson. Since I know people are in debt up to their eyeballs and should really be paying off their debt and not buying things they could do without, I’m not a very good salesperson. I do have things in some local shops. I have also been buying honey in barrels from a local beekeeper, which I bottle and sell. I go without a lot of things others think they just HAVE to have - material things, as well as health insurance, 401K, etc. I am trying to streamline things for when I get older.
I know that many of us around the world are hoping for dasting change on the 20th of January. Mankind is in dire straits without such change. Simplicity rocks.
The Messiah of Israel is the Hope for the world. Sadly, many people deny and reject the God of Israel and His Messiah. They refuse to acknowledge the designer behind the intricate order in this world, claiming instead that an explosion could bring about the genetic code that causes each species to reproduce after its kind, the order in the solar system and the universe, the necessary scientific laws that keep things going …
This truth is more important than politics. Humanity is in dire straits without the God revealed in the Bible - the God of Israel.
Thank you for this beautiful essay and a very happy new year to you. Whenever I read your sensitive, authentic and heart felt writings, I feel a certain joy and gratefulness that there are people like you in the world.
I used to go to a small Middle Eastern restaurant when I lived in Atlanta. The owner would serve this coffee (he called it Turkish coffee) with perhaps a clove and a cardamom pod and read my future in the spent grounds. A very special time.
“What stops us from recognizing simplicity as the solution?”
There are so many answers to this question depending on your individual perspective.
For example, a stone cold sober materialist might say, it is the way we measure systems like the GDP, so a traffic accident adds perfect value to it while a mother raising her child does not count at all.
The Belgian psychologist Mattias Desmet probably would say, it is the beauty of the Lorenz Waterwheel.
Well, and I'm not sure if it is exactly “fight fight fight”. But something along these lines. Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor doesn't seem to have the same view of things like 'Jesus':
Btw: Did the “Happy” in the New Year become what it had been since Thomas Jefferson's time or has it finally morphed into something like Elon wearing a MAGA-cap?
Happy new year Mattias!
Alle goeds toegewenst voor 2025. Dat het een liefdevol, gezond en gelukkig jaar mag worden voor jou en je dierbaren.
Dank voor de koffietip! Ik ben inmiddels fervent drinker van de heerlijke theeën van Ann. En ook de koffie ga ik zeker proberen!
I made my coffee for years like this at work. Brought my own grounds and poured heated water over them in a cup. Best cup of coffee ever! Yes, simplicity is key. In our quest to improve literally everything, we manage to f..k it up only to return to basics. Decent morals, hard work and prosperity. Why do we make it so complicated?
You have most poignantly articulated feelings I have had for some time, but have never been able to articulate. 🙏💜 A most Happy New Year to You. Enjoy this rendition of Auld Lang Syne sung by Susan Boyle entitled The Train of Life https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmtyvQw5ROk
And to spice it up a bit, add some cardamom :) Let the new year be sincere and peaceful.
Thank you for your writings. It seems impossible to talk of what ‘Christ Consciousness’ might actually mean outside the framework of any religious order, but to me you are able to openly and clearly speak about this wonderful mystery of our existence.
Thanks again for all you do.
Glad these rockets did not intimidate or deter you🪬🇮🇱. Thank you for your courage and your voice of calm and reason.
Creatief zijn in het spreken van woorden..Afdalen tot de kelder van dit paleis.
De ontmoetingen hierin die me leren stil te kunnen zijn. Door het fenomeen tijd. Ieder op de plek waarin het groeit naar het licht . En stop merk hoe moeilijk het stoppen is voor me Mat(h)tias.
Het inchecken van vlucht 2025 is aangekondigd.
Uw tussenlandingen zijn: geluk, gezondheid, liefde en vriendschap.
De vlucht duurt 12 maanden.
Na landing je gelieve om 00.00uur te begeven bij gate 31
Goede reis, een gelukkig nieuwjaar!
Your upcoming book is the book release I am looking forward to most in 2025.
I read Gandhi ten years ago, in 2015. At that time, his ideas felt a bit far away to me. However, as time passed, I realized the importance of truthful existence, espacially in smaller acts.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that you were an admirer of Gandhi as well. The thing I look forward to most from the upcoming book, is advice on how to practice the art of speech in day to day complexity of everyday life.
Best of luck for the next year, Dcotor.
Thank you, wishing you the best of the season and that it last throughout the year. I enjoy reading and learning from your words here. Once again, thank you, Sir.
IGRACIAS! ¡THANK YOU! MAY THE WORLD LISTEN TO YOUR WISDOM!!
I would be interested to know when January 1 came to be considered the “new year.” The words themselves for the months indicate that March is the first month. Sept(7)ember, Oct(8)ober, Nov(9)ember, Dec(10)ember, so January is 11 and February is 12. The U. S. president used to take office in March - what they considered the beginning of the year. This lines up with the biblical new year - the month of Nisan - which is my baseline.
How and when did the change come about? Does anyone know?
So, so true. We moved to the woods, off grid, in the spring of 2000, and have lived a simpler, although harder, life here. No plumbing, no electric wires, etc. Yes, it is hard work, but I’d rather do this work than sit in an office, slave to someone else’s time clock, slave to debt or rent. For several years, we had no monthly bills. Then we got a phone (pre cell phone era) - a box on a phone pole and we ran our own cord through the woods. Now, it’s a cell phone. That is still my only monthly bill. And a twice yearly property tax bill.
Modern humans are experts at complicating things. I go the opposite way. I like having an outhouse and splitting wood with a maul. I don’t so much like hauling water uphill in buckets (our spring is down the hill), so I catch rainwater from the roof as much as possible.
While most of the world runs on their treadmill and tries to pay off their house and car and credit card bills, I work in the woods, feed my cows and sheep and chickens, and often don’t see another person, sometimes for days at a time.
Why this rush for consumerism, materialism, the burden of debt, the acquisition of THINGS - the latest gadget, fancy restaurant food from unknown sources, more unneeded stuff for people who have too much stuff?
I’m thankful to be free from those pursuits.
How do you generate income?
thelilacdragonfly.wixsite.com/home
Mostly house-cleaning and gardening 1-3 days per week. I also make a lot of things - baskets, soap, candles, etc. - and try to sell them, but I’m not a good salesperson. Since I know people are in debt up to their eyeballs and should really be paying off their debt and not buying things they could do without, I’m not a very good salesperson. I do have things in some local shops. I have also been buying honey in barrels from a local beekeeper, which I bottle and sell. I go without a lot of things others think they just HAVE to have - material things, as well as health insurance, 401K, etc. I am trying to streamline things for when I get older.
I know that many of us around the world are hoping for dasting change on the 20th of January. Mankind is in dire straits without such change. Simplicity rocks.
The Messiah of Israel is the Hope for the world. Sadly, many people deny and reject the God of Israel and His Messiah. They refuse to acknowledge the designer behind the intricate order in this world, claiming instead that an explosion could bring about the genetic code that causes each species to reproduce after its kind, the order in the solar system and the universe, the necessary scientific laws that keep things going …
This truth is more important than politics. Humanity is in dire straits without the God revealed in the Bible - the God of Israel.
Thank you for this beautiful essay and a very happy new year to you. Whenever I read your sensitive, authentic and heart felt writings, I feel a certain joy and gratefulness that there are people like you in the world.
I used to go to a small Middle Eastern restaurant when I lived in Atlanta. The owner would serve this coffee (he called it Turkish coffee) with perhaps a clove and a cardamom pod and read my future in the spent grounds. A very special time.
“What stops us from recognizing simplicity as the solution?”
There are so many answers to this question depending on your individual perspective.
For example, a stone cold sober materialist might say, it is the way we measure systems like the GDP, so a traffic accident adds perfect value to it while a mother raising her child does not count at all.
The Belgian psychologist Mattias Desmet probably would say, it is the beauty of the Lorenz Waterwheel.
Well, and I'm not sure if it is exactly “fight fight fight”. But something along these lines. Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor doesn't seem to have the same view of things like 'Jesus':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqfwbf3X8SA
Btw: Did the “Happy” in the New Year become what it had been since Thomas Jefferson's time or has it finally morphed into something like Elon wearing a MAGA-cap?