When decency is not decent

 

In my previous post, I shared how Socrates and Plato taught that four virtues lead to true happiness: courage, moderation, wisdom, and justice. I believe in these virtues deeply, and I know many of you do, too.

​However, I’ve come to a painful realisation: not everyone shares a soul-deep longing for a world of harmony and reciprocal respect. We cannot ignore the reality that some individuals find a dark satisfaction in destruction, exploitation, and humiliation. It is a terrifying truth to witness.

​We see this reflected even on a national scale. Looking at the actions of governments in places like Russia or Israel, we are forced to confront state-sanctioned violence. 

Some might say it is "racism" or "prejudice", but is it really? Or is it simply an honest witness to the unjustified violence happening in front of our eyes?

And we "decent nations" do not react accordingly?

​I see a different kind of crisis in the USA. How did the "decent people" fail to see the growing divide? Perhaps, in their self-satisfied "decency", they neglected a massive portion of the population that felt ignored and abandoned. This overlooked majority, driven by frustration, ended up putting their faith in a leader that now, I think also to them, will appear as a disgrace. 

Declared virtue is not always a real virtue when empathy in action is missing.

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The Beastliness of Things

When the world feels like it’s descending into madness, I find myself looking to Virginia Woolf’s sensitivity and Plato’s ancient warnings. We are living through the return of pleonexia—the tyranny of unchecked desire.

I cannot help but feel shocked by what we have become. At times, this unease reaches such an intensity that humanity itself begins to frighten me. In these moments, Virginia Woolf inevitably comes to mind.

She was "undoubtedly much more sensitive than most people to the general beastliness of things happening in the world to-day," as described in a letter to The Sunday Times by Mrs Kathleen Hicks. Woolf had just taken her own life, unable to bear the "dreadful time" and the looming threat of a Nazi invasion any longer. Even the iconic slogan of the era, "Keep Calm and Carry On" (the image from the web is the 1939 original poster), offered no comfort to a soul so much sinking into the world's darkness. 

My mind then shifts to Plato’s Republic, which feels disturbingly prophetic in its description of societal degeneration. Plato—channeling the values of his teacher, Socrates—contends that four virtues lead to true happiness: courage, moderation, wisdom, and justice.

Plato defines justice as proportion and balance. However, when an insatiable desire for greed and disproportionate gain prevails—what he describes as becoming a "tyrant of erotic love"—people are driven to outdo others and accumulate relentlessly. This disrupts the harmony of the soul, the city, and the cosmos. Plato calls this pleonexia, a condition that inevitably breeds tyranny—a form of madness that rejects all objective value.

In Book IX of The Republic, Socrates states: "Someone in whom the tyrant of erotic love dwells and in whom it directs everything next goes in for feasts, revelries, luxuries, women, and all that sort of thing..." He explains how these unchecked desires proliferate, requiring vast resources to satisfy them. This eventually leads to the robbery of others' wealth, whether by deceit or force. It is the ultimate victory of dull arrogance.

What scares me so deeply is the realisation that "everyday people" increasingly feel entitled to obtain whatever their "erotic love" commands. 

We are becoming surrounded by a growing social madness—a world where the pursuit of more has completely erased the pursuit of balance, of values and virtues, to such an extent that they sound even ridiculous to their ears!

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An invincible Light inside

In the darkest days of winter, ancient populations performed rituals to the sun, invoking its return.

​In Rome, in 274 CE, Emperor Aurelian merged Eastern solar traditions with Roman ones and declared they be celebrated on the winter solstice. 

"Dies Natalis Solis Invicti" (Birthday of the Unconquered Sun) represented the invincibility, eternal power, and life-giving force of the sun, associated with the emperor's divine authority. Later, it became the celebration of Jesus' birth.

Natural cycles teach us that nothing lasts forever; rebirth comes again and again. We must be strong and develop resilience to overcome tough times.

​But people tend to remain trapped in deep negative emotions that keep returning to the mind and devastating the heart, making a true rebirth impossible. Not only are difficult situations often powerful challenges, but even after they are technically over, they persist because we cling to them in our memory.

And yet, if we could only make a clean break from them, we would indeed experience the blessing of that divine spark within, the one that passionately regenerates everything and transforms each negativity into something precious we have learned!

​«In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.

In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.

In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.

I realized, through it all, that…

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.» (Albert Camus)

Here the original:

​« Au milieu de la haine, je trouvais qu’il y avait en moi un amour invincible.

Au milieu des larmes, je trouvais qu’il y avait en moi un sourire invincible.

Au milieu du chaos, je trouvais qu’il y avait en moi un calme invincible.

Je comprenais enfin, au milieu de l’hiver, qu’il y avait en moi un été invincible.

Et cela me rend heureux. Car cela dit que peu importe si le monde pousse fort contre moi, il y a en moi quelque chose de plus fort, quelque chose de meilleur, qui pousse en retour. »

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The colours of my food

 

About eighty percent of my food is vegetables. The intense green of the veggies comforts me. My best combination of colours is when I add something whitish, like the potatoes, to the deep green of the rest.

Even if a lot of green with some white is for me the best combination of colours on my plate, I can't avoid other coloured veggies, just because I neurotically stick to that combination! And, honestly, I enjoy a lot the different colours I can eat. For instance now, pumpkin, red cabbage, and of course the green of some other vegetable is a great ensemble that gives me another kind of inner comfort when I prepare my food and when I have it on my plate!

Colours help me in stimulating my expectations. Something that I have been missing in my growing up, therefore my problematic relationship with food. Eating alone helps me establishing a relationship I never develop with food. Also sitting at the table helps. Instead of eating en passant while doing something else I take my time and space and learn to enjoy my food!

These are further little steps that contribute in improving my everyday life. 

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Christmas tree: done!

 

It takes time: I found it was not at all an easy thing to decorate the Christmas tree. 

First I had to find a small, but nice one. I have to put it at a certain height and somehow protected, because of my cats.

Second I wanted some kind of sober decorations, not too much appealing for the cats.

Last year I managed, therefore, when I put it away, I simply wrapped it with all the decorations. And this year, the "mise en place" resulted a quite easy thing! Even if Daleel, the youngest cat, followed very attentively every step of the preparation!

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Eventually my Buddha is smiling

 

When you finally reach the point where you can't escape reality. A time when you suddenly and clearly see what you never wanted to recognise as true. And you finally give up trying to relate to certain people—people you simply couldn't imagine leaving behind. They are family, or very close friends. Although so disturbingly nasty... No, not nasty—malicious. And yet you never considered it possible that they did what they continuously did to you on purpose: deliberately wanting you to suffer.

You tried to comprehend their totally unjustified malice. You tried to talk whenever possible—though their so-called "talking" was patronising lectures on how bad you were to them. But no, there was no way to untangle their spite.

Until suddenly, something happens inside of you. It comes abruptly, unpredicted. Like a thread stretched too thin that breaks. All at once, the emotional exhaustion reaches its limit. Your empathy has been stretched too thin and suddenly snaps. Everything disappears and stops existing. From that astonishing void, you finally emerge. You feel nothing but inner freedom. And you're surprised because it was an unexpected blow that came on its own from somewhere inside you and immediately switched everything off. It was over.

The curtain closes. There's nothing more to say or do. Everything is gone, lost, finished. Probably it was never there. Affection, love, the joy of togetherness—these were your fantasies, a sweetened vision born of naive hope that didn't match reality.

So now it's over. The drama has stopped. Only silence, peace, and a free horizon.

You look back and you finally feel clean. Their sticky dirt is gone. It is theirs, not yours.

End of story.

Soon it's Christmas... I look around and I see my space and my time belonging to me now. I still find it almost impossible: this freedom, this wide open horizon, no voracious predators stalking me—just the lightness and the Light... and here my smiling Buddha appears! I have to get used to the fact that it's really over now.

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Better an ex-family than a bad family

 

The sooner you accept this truth, the healthier you will become: physically, emotionally, mentally, and, most crucially, spiritually.

​Perhaps you're surprised I consider this a spiritual matter? In the face of continuous abuse: by malicious lies and a total lack of reciprocal respect, comprehensive tolerance without accountability is simply enablement. 

Allowing this evil-minded behavior is a slow suicide. It's like living in a snakes' nest! And anything that goes against life is a sin.

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Christmas Time

On the 6th of December, the north of Europe celebrates Sankt Nikolaus, a Turkish Bishop, and patron of Bari, in the south of Italy. I really don't understand how a saint of the mediterranen area became so famous in the north of Europe. 

The same happens with Saint Lucia of Syracuse (Sicily), celebrated on the 13th of December, in the south of Italy, but also in Sweden, where all the girls dressed in white, with a crown of lit candles, very early in the morning, chanting "santa Lucia", the Italian song, visit all family members in their rooms, waking them up with the just baked Christmas biscuits. 

On the 7th of December is Saint Ambrose, the German Bishop who became the patron saint of Milan. Of course being Milan the Italian place I have always related to, it is still a festivity that I remember. On the 8th of December, is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, that in Italy is again a national celebration now. From that date on we officially enter the Christmas time.

In Switzerland, when living in Luzern, a Catholic Canton, Sankt Nicolaus opened the Christmas time. While on the Alps, in the Canton of Bern, historically a Protestant canton (although Catholicism, once prohibited, has come back and grown a lot) I didn't remember Sankt Nikolaus being so important.

Whatever... in these last years I slowly switched my Christmas beginning time from the 6th to the 8th of December.

And this year it is the first time since in Italy, that I am not going to buy the German Christmas bisquits, but the Italian Panettone and Pandoro.

Letting go of the past has come very naturally, no nostalgia, a very spontaneous and clean turning page. No looking back. 

And it feels really fine!

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Complexity: my being complex

 

I have always loved Kant, the German philosopher. Actually, I loved all philosophers... but Kant was special to me. He deeply resonated with me—or perhaps it's the other way round: I was deeply resonating with him.

At five, I taught myself to read. I devoured all the children's literature available, but it quickly became boring. Luckily, there were plenty of books at home, and my exploration began. Concept books weren't my thing yet, but history books became my passion—books for adults that explained history with a deep eye on the causes behind events. That awakened my curiosity for the ultimate cause, and philosophy seemed to be the answer.

Don't forget that I'm an Asperger. My brain works differently from so-called normality. So don't be surprised that I was reading these topics at such an early age.

At ten, I told my father about this deep interest and that I needed something more to read. At home there were books by classical philosophers—I vaguely remember Plato, Socrates—that I had tried to approach, but they proved too difficult even for my stubborn will. Besides, they weren't books narrating the general development of human thought.

One day he came back with three high school philosophy textbooks. I still remember the deep emotions making me tremble inside: Now, finally, I was going to have answers! I couldn't know yet that philosophy means gaining even more questions—because philosophy is simply the result of many reflections on life, its purpose and meaning, and on what we humans should better accomplish.

I need to add something else. I grew up with English. My father was the only soul with whom there was deep understanding and resonance, and English was my father's language. He was born in Cairo, under British protectorate at that time. My father and his brothers went to British schools; the sisters to French ones.

When I was about to enter school at six, I was told it was time to begin French lessons at the French Consulate. I had already begun with English—I didn't know that French was something I was supposed to learn. I couldn't understand the reason. So I said: "I would rather prefer German..."

I will never forget the sudden surprise and incredulity of my parents, who turned their heads toward me, asking: "Why German?"

It was 1959. Although more than ten years had passed since the end of the war, those years of massacres and violence were still vivid. The Germans had been the invaders...

Besides, why German? No one ever talked about them, and if they did, it was only to express the fear and terror they had spread. There were no connections with that culture. How did I possibly come out with that idea, one that seemed so deep and also incredibly certain?

I couldn't tell, but deep within there was an inexplicable longing toward what resonated like "home."

We reached an agreement. I would go to French classes now. At ten, I'd attend summer camps in the French-speaking Swiss region. In the meanwhile, they would find a solution for my desire.

This is just to say: there was within me an innate predisposition toward German.

It took a while before I could read and understand the philosophy books. I remember reading and understanding nothing. And pushing myself to read again and again until something began to open up within. I remember being surprised at the initial questions the philosophers posed. Actually, everything depends on the question. 

The memory is still vivid: that astonished feeling of revelation because, although I was a very reflective child, some questions were a total surprise to me. It hadn't occurred to me that I could ask that kind of questions! It felt like opening doors I wasn't aware they were there.

Of course, the German philosophers were my world. I found my brain's attitude in them, and with Kant there was total resonance. And when I finally learned German, my brain was at home. The articulated distinctions and precision were the perfect ground for my thinking. I felt fulfilled! German seems able to articulate complexity. And I am a complex being. A complex being in a world of a chaotic humanity. 

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Reality check

Essentially, reality is indeed the finest, the most verifiable master—because it shows the status quo without correcting it.

The problem lies in the perception of each human being, which colours their awareness of what they are seeing. This depends on two factors. One is how vast their experience and knowledge are; the other is the height of maturity they have reached. Think of a mountain path: the lower you are in the valley, the narrower your horizon. The higher you climb, the broader your perception and understanding become.

From the spiritual point of view, when you are still down in the valley, the mountains around you define, but at the same time embrace you. Your world is limited and therefore feels surer. The higher you climb, the wider the horizon becomes, and the more your choices multiply. You even perceive things in the distance that aren't clear enough to fully understand, yet nonetheless you know that something is there.

But even at great heights, the problem of subjective interpretation remains. The trap and challenge are always stalking us.

Two characteristics of human nature are the most misleading: emotions and rationalisation.

Emotions, whether positive or negative, let us fly into fantasies. Rationalisation, on the contrary, limits any new or unknown aspect when the logic of its existence is obscure. Therefore, we should avoid statements about reality from either of these perspectives.

Ancient spiritual teachers have always referred to the spiritual quality necessary to interpret reality: a kind of super mind, though some call it soul - but they shouldn't, because many interpret the soul as the emotional mysticism they may experience, which again is fantasy, emotional fantasy, not spirituality.

In our time, this ancient understanding has been nearly destroyed by two opposing forces. On one side, the so-called "new masters", pompous figures who have transformed profound spiritual traditions into commercial fantasies. Buddhism reduced to spa ambiance, meditation sold as stress relief, ancient wisdom repackaged as self-help theater. They call it "new age spirituality", but it is nothing more than emotional escapism dressed in borrowed robes.

On the other side stand the rigid structures of institutional religions, imprisoned in their own dogmas and limitations, offering rules and rituals while the living essence of spirituality withers within their walls. 

And yet, we must understand: these structures exist for reasons. You can't offer free choices when the soul is still an infant. Therefore the rules serve as necessary counterweight to the silliness of new age fantasy. And they provide what souls still early on the mountain path genuinely need, a defined framework, clear boundaries, a secure valley in which to begin the journey. This is not meant as judgment but as a reality: not everyone stands at the same height, and what confines one person guides another.

Ancient teachers, East and West, pointed beyond both rigidity and fantasy to something else entirely. There is a faculty, neither emotion nor reason, that encompasses and transcends both. It is the capacity for direct perception, unclouded by fantasy or limitation.

I made a list, that of course is not complete at all, it is my list of masters from the past that at the moment I could recall. 

-Nagarjuna (c. 150 – c. 250 CE) taught of prajna, the transcendent wisdom beyond conceptual thought, no emotions included; 

-Plotinus (c. 204/205 – 270 CE) knew it as nous, direct intuitive knowledge; 

-Saint Augustine (354 – 430) spoke of divine illumination;

-Dogen (1200 – 1253) emphasized direct perception in shikantaza. 

-Rumi (1207 – 1273) sang of the eye of the heart that sees what ordinary sight cannot;

-Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225 – 1274) distinguished intellectus from mere reasoning; 

-Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 – c. 1327/1328) called it the Seelengrund, the ground of the soul; 

-Saint Ignatius [of Loyola] (c. October 23, 1491 – July 31, 1556) called it spiritual discernment;

-Teresa of Ávila (1515 – October 1582) described it as the innermost dwelling place of the soul;

-Sri Aurobindo (1872 – 1950) named it supramental consciousness; 

-Thomas Merton (1915 – 1968) bridged East and West in describing pure consciousness. 

[My Asperger is now longing for entirety, a complete list of all thinkers of humanity who spent their reasonings reflecting about this topic... But it is a huge thing, that I can't think of approaching, not even with the aid of AI!]

This list is not complete, yes, but it gives a direction. It points out an aspect that must be taken in consideration: that capacity within human consciousness to perceive reality as it truly is, unclouded by fantasy or limitation. This is the path we should be looking for. 

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Trapped in a narcissistic relationship ?

The Hidden Truth of Survival in a Narcissistic situation

I have to write it. I simply am undignified for the many, too many logical but unrealistic suggestions given to people stucked into a narcissist situation

Let's be clear: for the empathic individual caught in a narcissistic relationship or family system, there is no defense, no strategy, and no solution that can be successfully implemented internally or relationally.

​If you are trapped in a family dynamic dominated by a narcissist (a parent, sibling, or partner) and cannot leave, you must discard almost all conventional advice.

Honestly, all the "wise" suggestions they so smartly give, only show that these psychologists never experienced such situations. ​Infact, the common suggestions—"set boundaries," "communicate clearly," "seek support"—are not only useless but actively dangerous. 

The narcissist's survival depends on total control. Any attempt to switch the relationship into something more genuine is immediately detected as a threat and punished with violence (escalated rage, guilt, or manipulation).

​The only functional truth and solution is to «Endure Until Independence».

Therefore, your sole strategic focus must be on survival through deception until you can physically and financially escape. 

The path is purely one of endurance and escape, because even the most subtle "covert survival mechanisms" may result impossible or too risky to implement under the narcissist's ever-present vigilance.

​All the appearingly wise psychological framing or suggestion are totally nonsense. The stark, unvarnished truth of the situation is that you must learn to successfully masking your reality and performing the role the narcissist has assigned to you. It's deception for survival.

The Narcissist's expectation (a) and the Victim's covert action, the Mask (b).

A) Narcissist's Requirement: The Pity Supply, They need to feel like the tragic victim. 

B) Empath's answer: Perform Deep Empathy. Express concern, listen (without reacting), and offer vague validation like, "That must be so hard." Do not offer solutions—it would imply they are capable. 

A) Narcissist's Requirement: The Validation Supply, They need to feel superior/right.

B) Empath's answer: Perform Complete Agreement. Validate their version of reality even if it's a lie. Say, "You are absolutely right," or "I see your point clearly." 

A) Narcissist's Requirement: The Scapegoat Role, They need someone to blame.

B) Empath's answer: When blamed, immediately accept it with a submissive tone: "I am so sorry, I should have thought of that." Do not defend yourself. Ends the Conflict Swiftly. Accepting blame is the path of least resistance. It gives them the victory they need, ending the attack faster than resistance ever could.

This is the path of a strategical survival. Mainly mask and pretend. The only possible defense is the Mask, to maintain every day to ensure safe passage until the ultimate objective is reached. 

The only goal: achieve physical separation. Therefore: endure until independence.

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In search of the soul

 

This is a story of a pilgrim wandering, not on a journey to a sacred site, but on a deepest quest: the search for his soul. 

Honestly, he wasn't sure if he had one. Very many years before, when he was a vibrant young man and traveled a lot in search of a deeper meaning in his life, a Tibetan monk he happened to walk with for some time while in India, told him that not every human has a divine soul. This struck him immensely. For a long time he wondered why did he tell him something so devastating. But, slowly, as time went by, he began to realise that such a revelation was indeed a precious gift, that allowed him not to take for granted the presence of the soul. 

On his inner journey he walked through many landscapes. 

Ancient echoes, in their mute words, gave him hints, he had to become aware of. Archane secrets were unveiled to his blind eyes. And with all the people he met on his path, he had to learn to distinguish the good tongue from the bad one, often hidden behind opposite masks. The smiling and soothing ones were the seducing traps of the Opposer, while the others: sober and severe, were often the real treats full of blessings. 

One evening, as twilight was slowly welcoming the dark of the night, he came upon an elderly gentle lady seated before a nice old cottage. Her figure glimmered under the soft glow of the evening light.

She raised a hand, beckoning. Her voice called out, asking if he was thirsty and wanted a cup of tea. 

It was almost night, and, somehow, he felt safe to sit with this friendly old lady.

While he drank, she suddenly began to speak in a very solemn way that almost awed him. "The soul isn't something you find out there. It is something you cultivate within." she declared. 

All of a sudden he realised he had an answer. No—he had "the" answer! Now he knew what he had to do! 

He left with that good sentiment in his heart. 

It was a very serene night, the stars and full moon shining peacefully in the sky, bathing the land in a magic luminescence. Everything emanated an intense tranquillity. A profound sense of peace spread throughout his entire being and, in that stillness, the words of the old gentle lady began to dilute their hypnotic pull. Somehow that kind of spell began to fall apart, unveiling hollowness where wisdom had seemed to dwell.

He repeated her sentence to himself, "It is something you cultivate within." Reflecting, he thought, "You cultivate something—something that exists. But I don't know that something. I don't know if I do have that something! Shall I perhaps pretend to have it? Do I invent it?!" 

As he pondered, a storm of unease swirled within him. Doubt turned to dread, then anger. The realisation struck like a lightning bolt: the old "gentle" lady was not a real old gentle lady. 

All of a sudden he realised the trap, the seducing trap! He recognised the action of the Opposer, always trying to captivate and mislead with soothing illusions. 

But, at the same time, he knew the Opposer, with his tricks, is always at the service of the greater good. And his are not tricks, but trials to test the real good will! 

All at once, a sudden insight, clear and sharp, flared within him—he realised that within himself, something had an unexpected movement. He couldn't explain it in a different way. There was a sudden and mute movement, almost a physical one, that spoke to him immediately. 

His soul's voice! He recognised his soul! That movement. That inner movement. That sudden shift of energy deep inside. A tangible, although almost undetectable, inside energy movement. 

A distressing, unsettling, sudden inside energy movement if the message is "No, don't do it!". 

A soothing and reassuring energy if the answer is "Yes, go ahead!" Not a romantic feeling, nor a dramatic one, but indeed an energy soft movement.. 

The soul does not spend words in teaching, patronising, nor speaks idyllic or tragic talks. The soul lights up signals. You perceive the inner shift and immediately you feel the yes or no answer. It is very direct the soul. 

When you grasp how it works you instantly "know" .A total certitude, no doubts, just the feeling of absolute truth. 

This is the soul. If you have a divine soul your compass is inside! 

[And this is my story: being constantly aware of the innumerable fake masters who are here to challenge your soul!]

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Food

 

This is another big thing for me. I decided I will celebrate Christmas on Christmas day, instead of continuing the much loved German tradition to celebrate it on the evening of the 24th.

In the evening I think it is magic, intense, evocative. And yet I decided otherwise. I feel it's time to change because I have changed so much inside. Magic has lost that sentimental flair and has become reality. I feel differently, I am different. Therefore my Christmas will be on the 25th.

Because I want to celebrate a festivity I have begun to think now how I want to decorate where I am eating, the plates and cutlery I will be using.

But, most important, the food. Unfortunately I don't have a good relationship with food. I eat in an extremely simple way and I enjoy my simple food a lot. I am vegetarian, almost totally vegan and I enjoy my simple cooking. As I mainly eat steamed or row vegetables with some cereal like rice, oat, polenta, pasta.

Trying to adopt a more festive menu I ended up ruining the festivity because I don't fancy that kind of food. Therefore my decision: I will simply eat my normal beloved food, but in a festive decorated choreography.

This decision has eliminated the annual anxiety about what I could eat and now I am even looking forward to my new Christmas!

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Winter

 

I took out my winter shoes and I polished them with their specific cream. It has been years from the last time I did it. Usually I polished with a kind of sponge, cointaining some polishing product. But using the shoe brush and the shoe polish cream the result is really good. 

I must say that since I was a child I loved polishing shoes. Having them so beautifully shining gave me a big satisfaction. I felt really happy, and today, again, I felt the same happiness! Now I can face the cold weather with my warm shining shoes.

Since two weeks the temperature dropped to zero and below in the night. Autumn is getting ready to leave and open the door to winter.

I always loved Autumn. Even when I was a child, in the 50's-60's, my favourite season was Autumn. I remember how surprised were the adults. "How come it is not Spring, or Summer, your favourite season?!" I couldn't tell. But my favourite season has always been Autumn. While all the rest, adults and children, usually loved Spring; and some loved Summer. 

I was used to be alone in my love for Autumn. Then one day, around 2020, with an enormous surprise I began to see photo blogs praising Autumn! Oh, my gosh, I wasn't alone anymore! And from that moment on I had my joy in all the splendid pictures dedicated to Autumn!

This year, though, for the first time in my life, it feels different. Although Autumn has been perfect so far: a week of dull rain followed by the next week of shining sun; again rain, and again the amazing Autumn sun... well I didn't feel the same pathos. Soo strange!

I thought that perhaps it is because, I had such a splendid summer that something switched within me ... Or perhaps because I have a space in the common court yard of this house, where I decided I will grow plants instead.

So, this year I am vividly looking forward to Spring, while in the waiting I can decide how to organise my little future private garden!

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A real soap opera

 

Somehow, I am missing the time when a science fiction future, made with more or less troubled encounters with beings from other worlds was right ahead, waiting for us.

On the other hand, my curiosity can't indulge in sentimental longing of the past and with a much suspected perception of what was going on under the surface, I am assisting to the unveiling of all the suspicions, that I am sure the majority of us had.

The only thing that surprises me is that it is happening now. I was expecting it much later. 

But at least now I am directly experiencing the daily unfolding of a soap opera. Cruel, malignant, depraved...

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Incredulously Watching the Sink

 

My feelings towards the USA are extremely conflicting... Actually they are deep ambivalent because I can't come to terms with the growing visceral sense of disgusted disbelief! 

​I once deeply esteemed the States for their perceived inner freedom. Substantially, this freedom, is not because they are innately better than us in Europe, but because they do not carry the weight of such a long and heavy past. Europe’s history, full of glories and immense brutality, burdens us. This history has made us cautious, clinging firmly to the experienced beneficial path. Consequently, truly radical change—daring to leap into the "completely out of the blue" —is often a rare or impossible choice.

​Not so in the States. This capacity to dare is why they achieve scientific discoveries that might take Europe an eternity to reach.

​And yet, this blessed capacity to dare, however, is two-edged. This very same boundless freedom now exposes the terrible price they are paying. When freedom lacks fair constraint, it inevitably leads to a void of rules—rules that, in a civil society, are meant to facilitate coexistence and prevent the predators among us from prevailing.

​It is not that civil laws do not exist in the USA, of course they do. But having chosen, as their distinctive motto: "making money at any cost," this attitude has increasingly disregarded every moral rule. The laws have eventually bowed before this totally insane goal.

​Now we see powerful men reaching the highest offices through lies! Only ignorant minds can truly believe that capitalists will care for the wellbeing of the people. 

​"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone." [John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), British economist] 

Oh yes, they did make beautiful promises: shouting that it was about time to bring justice and stop the privileges of the super-rich! 

But they, themselves, are the capitalists, the mega super-rich! They would cease to be capitalists if they prioritised the welfare of everyday people!

​Unfortunately, this same working class of everyday people, was simultaneously abandoned by the political group that should have been its own representative. 

This alleged "party of the people", having benefited from their parents' hard work, are now too busy being pleased with their own smart, well-educated minds (I have a lot to recriminate about the quality and the result of their education!). 

In any case, the end rusult is that this class, allegedly of the people, doesn't resonate at all with the everyday people, now! These are too simple minded, too gross and down to earth to be able to understand the finesse of their highly articulated eloquence!

Ironically, this is the very same feeling expressed for the "gross super rich", so ridiculously uncultivated, you can only laugh at them, especially with their ignorance and, yes, their spelling mistakes. Can you imagine they even called the princess of Wales: the princess of Whales!

And yet, in spite of being so far apart, these two resonate on the same wavelength. The "gross super rich" and the "gross working class"  have the same kind of "gross" energy.  What a gift for the mega super rich! They can "communicate" in the same language! They are the best playmates! Too bad that in one group there are the predators and in the other one the preys!

​What else can I say? What else can the world say watching the USA sink? We can only hope they will manage after all! 

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The Metaphisical Town

 

Tresigallo, near Ferrara, in Emilia Romagna region, is known as "La Città Metafisica" (The Metaphysical City) due to its unique architecture, which was designed in the 1930s under the fascist regime to create an ideal rationalist city. I fell totally in love with this place! 

The town features a grid-like layout with clean lines, geometric shapes, and pastel-colored buildings, giving it an orderly and somewhat surreal atmosphere that has been likened to a "metaphysical" painting. This transformation was financed by Edmondo Rossoni, a native of the town and then Minister of Agriculture, to counter rural depopulation and create a modern urban center. 

The town is a prime example of Italian Rationalist architecture, characterized by its simplicity, emphasis on geometric forms, and functionality. It was planned with a symmetrical and orderly layout, with one axis for spirituality (church, youth center) and another for daily life (civic center).

The project began in the 1930s. Its metaphisical concept comes from the town's striking, almost otherworldly appearance, which is often compared to the paintings of artist Giorgio de Chirico, known for their enigmatic and geometric qualities.

Clearly, Tresigallo is a unique destination for architecture enthusiasts! Besides, its distinctive style has made it a popular location for films and photo shoots. 

[From this article] 

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The morning coffee

 

Usually, this is the very first thought Italians have when they get up. 

For the most part of my life this was exactly my first thought too. My Italian part was in resonance. One of the very few things I resonated with my fellow Italians... 

Now I am more relaxed and many obsessive constrains weighing on me have evaporated and I can listen to my whim of the moment, which is quite satisfying, I enjoy my conquered freedom! And now I also drink a beloved cup of tea in the very morning, or even a light bouillon if I feel like! 

Freedom expresses its growing presence in my life in different ways! 

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At the thermal springs

 

I live only a few kms from this "Terme". Actually in Pavia's province there are three! So I'm quite lucky for that, I don't need a long trip, it takes about seven/ten minutes to reach the "springs", and I can go at any time, I don't need an appointment, whenever I arrive is fine. 

I am not having any healing baths but I chose three kind of inhalations. Sometimes though I do take a Turkish bath or a Sauna. 

Being here it takes me back into the 50s/60's. The old structure, perfectly working, it shows its "vintage" style, and makes me feel like in a Fellini film! 

Besides, all that palpable atmosphere, thick with the steam produced by the hot springs, takes me into a kind of subtle trance. Hot and humid but healthy. And I feel sooo well there. 

If I don't prolong my staying further, with the sauna or Turkish bath, in half an hour I am out. The little town, Rivanazzano, is a little holiday jewel of this region: the Oltrepò pavese. Sometimes I take a stroll and I go for a quick coffee while enjoying the place. 

Everything is at peace: within and without. 

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all saints day

Foggy, grey, some rain, a lot of yellow leaves on the ground. Everything is quiet.

This morning I lit a candle for all the good souls [Bodhisatwas in Buddhism] who are still with us, although invisible becase they passed away, helping us with our struggling in life. I am really grateful! 

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a monkey in silk is a monkey no less

Being "wealthy for generations" means establishing and passing down significant financial assets (real estate, investments, businesses) along with the crucial values: moral and social, together with knowledge and habits to manage and grow that wealth, creating lasting security and advantage for future family members.

It is also called "generational wealth" that requires education, strategic planning and stewardship. "Old Money" refers to families who have maintained wealth across multiple generations, well distinguished from those who recently acquired wealth: the so called "new money".

The difference of behaviour between the two classes is grotesque. Because "Old Money" has an innate style that no money can buy. The new wealthy didn't grow in that environment, didn't breathe that atmosphere, didn't absorb that language. 

At the end, you just see some kind of unnatural luxus, sticked onto bodies that look misproportioned, and many even artificial (especially in the Usa!)...

Unfortunately, being the new money people much more than the old money wealth, you end up attending a kitsch theatre of futile narcissistic conceit.

I am disgusted!

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summer full moon in venice

I was around my twenties, we were spending some days at the seaside, on the Adriatic coast. 

On a beautiful full moon night we went to the sea to take a bath. It has always given me excitement shivers to bath at night. The moon was big, the sea calm, the night was splendid.

After a while we thought we could go to Venice. Why not, it was such an enchanting night! 

In less than two hours we were there. We left the car and we decided to walk to piazza San Marco. It was half past twelve. And the little "calle" were quite desert. Yes, tourists have always been in Venice, but not as much as now. 

We deeply enjoyed that solitary walk in Venice, on a full moon night, in the silence of that magic night.

When we arrived some people were still around. There is a famous, ancient, cafe there, with music. We sat there, we enjoyed the music, the atmosphere, the whispers, and of course a good gelato.

When we left it was after two in the morning. We walked back in silence, letting that magic night impregnate our beings, our hearts, our souls. 

It was a splendid summer night, when Italy wasn't yet overwhelmed with tourisms, and people were enjoying their holiday in a simple way. Without redundancy.

Still today, with 72, I feel and see me walking in the desert little "calle" of Venice, on a full moon summer night of a distant time that has completely gone, for ever. 

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peace is an inner attitude

Yes, it is indeed an inner attitude that is not dependent on external circumstances but rather on a state of internal calm and tranquility maintained despite stressors.

Peace is an essential condition that you develop when you are able to regain and keep inner balance whenever the situations become unpleasent or turbulent. This inner stable condition is also the necessary basis to the work on oneself that we are required to accomplish to live a better and satisfying life. 

Because we need to be peaceful and in balance within to explore us in order to learn who we really are behind the masks required by social expectations. 

-First step knowing oneself; 

-Second: accepting one's reality within and without; 

-Third: working on oneself to improve one's flaws, and at the same learning the best way to express one's qualities, in order to actively participate to one's and the general wellbeing. 

On the other side, one has to be predisposed towards a peace attitude. Because peace requires a constant work. Just like having a very special flower in your garden. You must constantly keep an eye on your special flower, cut the dead leaves, check the earth, keep it clear from weeds, check the humidity, the right nutritionals... Not every body has a predisposition towards flowers and gardening. 

The same with peace. Not everybody is ready inside. Their story, their past on Earth or perhaps somewhere else... There are far too many people motivated by anger, greed, vanity and not always these obscure parts are immediately evident.  But when they come to the surface make sure you take distance and keep them far away. Because they do not want a relationship, they want to fight, they want war, they want to dominate, subdue and humiliate, even annihilate... They are very dangerous people. Keep yourself safe, stay away! 

Unfortunately, they may even belong to your family! This painful awareness requires a long work, within, to come to terms with this horrid reality. 

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temptations

THE EXISTENTIAL GAMBLE OF HUMAN FREEDOM

In the image you see the evil presence, as a powerful shadow influencing the greed of humanity, opposite to them there is a golden divine figure, whose presence is observing and witnessing.  

We're given agency in a cosmos where divine power could override us at any moment but chooses not to. Because we are tested. Life on Earth is a continuous test. 

The challenge isn't whether we can recognize obvious evil—that's easy. The test is whether we can recognize corruption when it wears the mask of necessity, efficiency, pragmatism, or even compassion. Can we refuse power when it makes strategic sense? 

Yes, the demon offers earthly power—control over nations, but also the ability to feed multitudes, the leverage to enforce justice, the platform to spread truth. These aren't obviously evil offerings. They look like strategic advantages for accomplishing good. 

The challenge is whether we understand that some means corrupt any end; that certain tools transform the use;, that you cannot touch certain types of power without being changed, and corrupted at the same time by them.

The divine watches. We are granted the freedom to decide, it is our choice to make. Which side do we stand on? Not in abstract reflections and theology, but in the specific moment when the demon's offer actually makes sense, when refusing power means watching preventable suffering continue, when taking the compromise could save lives or advance justice or protect the innocent. The test is most real, precisely when the answer is ambiguous.

In the image you see the moment before the choice, when both paths are still open. The divine presence doesn't make the choice easier—it makes it weightier. 

We're not choosing in a void where no one will know. We're choosing while being fully seen, with full knowledge that this moment matters, that our freedom is real, and that we alone must decide whether to grasp what's offered or turn away from it.

The greed of earthly powers isn't just about accumulation. It's about the seduction of believing we can master these tools without being mastered by them, that our initial intentions will protect us from the inevitable gravitational pull of power that usually, at the end, results capturing us into its dangerous web.

But now I want to go even further and take the Book of Revelation. 

The Beast's Authority Problem

In the Book of Revelation the core tension is the Beast given power (Revelation 13:2, 13:5). Not seized, not stolen—given. By whom? By the ones who accept or even welcome it. The Beast's authority works because people grant it legitimacy.

Going back to the first part of this post: the test isn't resisting an obvious monster. It's recognising the corruption within the system we are embedded in—when opting out means we can't buy or sell, can't satisfy our needs, can't participate in society.

Revelation 13:10 is brutal in its simplicity: "Here is the patience and faith of the saints." Not "here's how to overthrow the Beast" or "here's the strategy for resistance." Just: endure. Refuse the mark. Accept the consequences.

This is exactly the test I have described: can you refuse power/participation when the compromise makes strategic sense? Or even worse, when the refusal has real costs? The Beast's genius isn't force—it's making complicity seem reasonable, necessary, inevitable.

End of Cycle as Revelation of What Was Always There

I have always been irritated by the numerous scholars who wrote about this symbolic book, treating it like a puzzle to decode for future events. But "apocalypse" (greek etymology for "revelation") refers to the act of unveiling. The end times don't introduce something new: in fact they reveal what was always operating beneath the surface as a continuous present. 

In my image I tried to capture this: the demonic intermediary, the test, the divine watching—this isn't happening in some future tribulation. It's the permanent structure of power. 

The "end of cycle", or the "end of innocence (i.e. ingenuity)" is when this becomes undeniable, when the masks come off, when you can no longer pretend the system is neutral or that your participation in it is innocent. 

Babylon

The mark on the forehead or hand (Revelation 13:16)—this isn't about literal tattoos. It's about what you think (forehead) and what you do (hand). Do your thoughts and actions align with the Beast's logic, or do you stand outside it?

The greed of earthly powers, in Revelation's terms, is Babylon—the seductive city, the economic system, the web of comfortable complicity. And the call isn't to reform it or capture it for good purposes. The call is: "Come out of her, my people" (Revelation 18:4).

That's the test. Can you come out when coming out seems to cost everything?

Seeing clearly 

This is the illusion the Beast depends on: that compliance is survival, that the mark is necessity. But those who've actually walked away from the system—who've chosen the moral over the convenient—discover something the Beast cannot advertise: what you lose was already worthless. What looked like everything was a gilded cage.

Yes, at first there's loss. Disorientation. The ground feels desolated. "Now what?" you wonder, standing in the ruins of the life you dismantled by refusing to compromise.

But then—timidly, almost invisibly—something new emerges from that scorched earth. Delicate, genuine, pure in its simplicity. And you realize: this is what you were actually seeking all along. Not the power, not the security, not the position within the system. This fragile, authentic thing growing in the wreckage is worth more than everything you surrendered.

Christ's words cut through the existential anxiety: "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them" (Matthew 6:26). This isn't naive optimism. It's a direct challenge to the Beast's core claim—that you need the mark to survive, that you must participate in the system to eat.

The way of the spirit operates on different economics. When you stop grasping for earthly power, when you refuse the demon's leverage, when you step outside Babylon's web—you discover you're not abandoned.

 The loss was never what you thought you were losing. And what emerges in its place is the most precious thing: the possibility to express your truest, most fulfilling self.

This is what the Beast cannot tolerate being known. That freedom costs everything you don't actually need, and gains everything you didn't know was possible.

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My two identities within

When the Body Knows But the Mind Can't File It Yet

I've spent decades learning to distinguish between what's real and what's mental/emotional fabrication. Through my years of apprenticeships with Native Americans—a path that led me to receive the Holy Pipe and become a Pipe Carrier—I learned something essential: the body gives the only reliable answers. Neither the mind nor the emotions can be fully trusted.

Uppaluri Gopala Krishnamurti, simply known as U.G. (not to be confused with the more known Jiddu Krishnamurti), states exactly the very same: "the body knows" and "enlightenment is a naturale state" if we only allow the body to function as it should!

The body has its own language. When something is true, I feel calm, clear, grounded. When I'm moving in the wrong direction, there's a specific sensation—a kind of a whirl, a faint, in my heart zone, or in my brain, like air spinning, unpleasantly pulsing, wobbling inside. When it happens in my brain I call this "cerebrotic whirl"—a cerebral spinning. In both cases that signals I've left truth behind and entered mental or emotional construction.

This body-based diagnostic system has served me well. Until recently, when I lost track of it.

The Confusion

Two years ago, at seventy, I discovered I'm an Asperger. This revelation explained so much—the difficulties with relationships I'd attributed to my unusual family history, the constant need for clarity and structure, the way my brain works so differently from what's called "normal."

Growing up I had to learn to mask my diversity in order to fit into society. In the Asperger Syndrome it is called "masking". You try to adapt to society expectations.

That means learning how to bend your Asperger personality into what you are expected to perform.

But little by little, as the years passed, I began to be aware that in my personality there were two identities: the exterior one and the interior one. The first: brilliantly audacious, with a lot of sense of humor and communication skills. The second one: extremely frightful and scared of people and of any interaction.

I am a highly educated woman, with a long, deep, and discipined path into esotericism. Being an Asperger allowed me to put together an incredibly mass of knowledge that I kept elaborating, expanding further my awareness, empirically tested. I don't care about recognition, but I care about the just distribution. What is mine is mine and you have to respect it. What is yours is yours and I honour it.

Masking allowed me to walk my way through. Untill I clearly realised I had two "me" inside. This terrible awareness threw me into an abyss. The pressure and the chaos within became unbearable. I moved to India to purge and cleanse the disaster I felt inside. But it took many more years before I understood what I was actually dealing with: an Asperger brain that had been forced to pretend it was something else.

The Filing Problem

As an Asperger, I need precise categories. I need to file experiences and understandings in clear mental folders. When something remains vague or undefined, it creates physical pressure—a kind of cognitive static that generates an almost unbearable agitation.

Many years ago my daughter accused me of having no pride. In her opinion I don't care what people think of me. And it's true—if someone tells me I'm an imbecile, I genuinely don't care. I know I'm not. If the person speaking is an imbecile themselves, I care even less.

She meant that with my education, with all the languages I speak, with the incredible experiences I had... I should let people know and present myself from the height of all that...

But I'm allergic to the idea of promoting myself. My work, my websites or YouTube channels. The level of information and insight I offer is so much higher than the new age stuff that floods the internet. Only people who have matured their own reflections in solitude, and the inevitable pain, will find comfort and validation in what I share. And there are such people. Not the mass, I am not speaking to the mass who needs another vocabulary, and simpler concepts.

This is my spiritual strength—an inner steel that doesn't bend to compromise, doesn't seek validation, doesn't need external approval.

But my daughter's words created doubt. A doubt that still now, so many years after, sometimes pops up into my everyday life. A sneaking guilt. Should I care more? Should I try harder to connect? Should I promote my work to help more people?

And beneath that: Is my "steel attitude" actually authentic spiritual clarity? Or is it a defense mechanism for my emotional unavailability, dressed up as spiritual detachment?

Body Truth Without Categories

This question created pressure because I couldn't answer and file it properly. 

Was my indifference to others' opinions:

-Real Asperger structure (finally being myself)?

-Spiritual development (cultivated wisdom)?

I couldn't sort it cleanly. And for an Asperger brain, that inability to categorize creates profound discomfort.

Then I remembered: I already have a sorting system. The body knows!

When I asked myself if my not caring about what people think is my just action: no whirling. Just calm clarity.

When I considered if my not promoting myself and my work is right: no whirling. Just knowing I would compromise the message for those who truly need it.

When I felt my daughter's distance—sad heart, yes. Aching, and sometimes even profoundly for the detachment between us. But no whirling. No sense of wrongness.

My body answered. All the pressure came from trying to force those body-truths into conceptual categories I don't yet have.

I've only known I'm Asperger for two years. I'm still learning what parts of me were always there (just hidden under the mask) versus what I developed spiritually. I don't have enough lived experience as unmasked-me to create precise categories yet. But I don't need them.

Body clear = sufficient truth.

Filing incomplete = tolerable for now.

The categories will develop through continued experience. For now, I can trust what the body knows: My steel attitude is correct. My refusal to compromise the signal is right. The sadness about my daughter is just sadness—not evidence I'm on the wrong path.

I can feel sad and be aligned with truth simultaneously.

The Method Restored

Anxiety had pulled me away from my reliable measuring system. The heart aching drew me into emotional processing, which triggered cerebral spinning trying to explain the pain. I lost connection to what actually works.

Now I'm back: Body truth is the compass. When the whirling starts, I've entered mental or emotional fabrication. When there's clarity—even if accompanied by sadness—I'm on the right path.

My Asperger brain will eventually create the filing categories it needs. But the body already knows what's true.

That's enough.

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My plants

I bought a Ficus Lyrata, the "bambino" variety. I have been trying to have all the plants I had when living in Lucerne, in an antique house in the old town, I loved immensely.

Ficus Lyrata was still missing, but finally I got it. The bambino variety is more moderate in its growth, a pity, but I bought it nevertheless. 

All my plants are in my drawing room, in summer I didn't move them to the veranda, because yes, it is facing the North-East direction, but doesn't get much air. The previous year, I moved them there and I realised they were suffering. 

This year they stayed in this room, facing South-West, and you could really feel how happy they were! 

This is the room in which my two cats are not allowed. Here I have my sessions and is where I receive the rare guests who visit. 

It is probably the most beautiful room in the house. And I really appreciate the serenity. 

Everything quiet and happy here. 

A lot of light and sun, or the moon at night. 

The guest room is also facing the same South-West direction. It is where I sleep in the hottest summer nights. I can admire a beautiful view of the sky, enjoying all the stars and the gorgeous summer full moons. It is also my cats' favourite room. 

Meanwhile Autumn has come. Swinging between sudden grey, foggy cold days - luckily still rare though - and splendid warm magnificent sunny days. 

I can't stop being eternally grateful for the peace and all I have in addition!

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The "Abomination of Desolation"

This is a dangerous time that results in widespread devastation and a growing inner misery. It is a time where the most common moral laws get twisted, distorted, or simply blatantly insulted. It is a time when the most negative aspects of human behaviour are on the forefront, and the good part seems to have lost grip. It's a time of bewilderment: nothing seems to be strong enough to stop the growing abomination of desolation.

Yes, we have to go through the unthinkable worst before we can resurrect. We allowed far too much evil to happen. We called it tolerance but in reality it was laziness, Because it takes an incredible focus and alignment to the universal divine laws to oppose the accelerating degeneration of consciousness.

In the midst of this cacophony, the ones who haven't lost touch with their inner soul must persevere in this connection, because at the moment they are the only ones that can create a safety anchor so that Earth will not succumb. 

Be strong, focused, determined. Eventually other souls will awaken. Do not doubt. It is certain. Keep going and don't let it go. Silently, you are creating the change we all need.

There was a time when God revealed His intention to destroy the city of Sodom (Genesis 18), for the shameful degeneration of its inhabitants. 

Abraham pleaded for mercy, asking if God would spare it for the sake of the righteous who lived there. Talking to God he managed to gradually reduce the number from fifty down to ten, and finally God agreed: "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it." 

Even a small number of righteous souls can hold back destruction and serve as anchors of hope for the whole world.

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Letting go

You finally forgot all the wickedness of your family when even the memories within your cells have been cleansed.

It's a long process. It includes wiping away every memory that keeps popping up shouting at you: "Look what have they done to you!" - "Look what you allowed them!" - "Look how blind you were!"

The thing is that you did see the wickedness, but you couldn't believe they were so malevolent. "It's family: they can't wish me bad... " In reality: they can! 

Exactly your very own parents, siblings, or children can often incarnate very hostile presences. An this is a tremendous reality to metabolise.

Within, you can firmly choose to let everything go. Little by little you begin to perceive a feeling in your body, some kind of inner movement, as if the subtle body were slowly slipping out from a tight inner membrane, that was completely enveloping you. And you feel like becoming lighter and lighter... Until you are out. The clenched fist of memories has given up. 

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my precious antique little table

Many many years ago, I bought at an antique shop in Pavia this adorable little table. I love it deeply, although it is tremendously uncomfortable to sit at it!

[The paintings are by the Scottish Patrick William Adam] 

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The Tyranny of the Majority

"In view of the silliness of the majority of mankind," observed Bertrand Russell, "a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible." And yet, our modern world has elected the majority as the driving model to weigh on the rest with their choices. We now have professional thinkers—or rather, professional non-thinkers—who provide ready-made opinions for mass consumption.

Among the mass a new category has emerged, the so called "influencers" who speak with absolute certainty about whatever they publish. They lead the choices of their followers, numbering in the millions, who find this enormously reassuring. They don't need to dig deeper (and after all they even couldn't do it!). 

Why struggle with doubt when certainty is available at the touch of a screen? But is their certainty reliably certain? 

Soren Kierkegaard observed that truth rests with the minority, "while the strength of a majority is illusory, formed by the gangs who have no opinion." And now, the gangs who have no opinion operate with unprecedented efficiency.

Shallow but affermative people have always been attracting followers: they easily become the majority. Their unchallenging "democratising information" shows how easy it is to delegate critical thinking and the natural tendency of human dependency. 

"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." - Leo Tolstoy 

The remedy seems very simple: "think before believing"! But again this is a very simplistic and superficial suggestion, as this assumes the capacity for thought exists in the first place! 

The uncomfortable truth is that far too many people, including ostensibly educated (!), - in few words: the majority - seem to lack any reflective faculty whatever. They encounter ideas not as things to be examined, but as raw material to be processed into familiar banalities. Russell noted that "a stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because they unconsciously translate what they hear into something they can understand."  

One cannot teach reflection to a mind that operates like a mirror, as it can only reflect back what it already recognizes. Implying therfore no capacity to widen their awareness and knowledge. 

Henrik Ibsen wrote: "The majority is never right. Never! That's one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can help rebelling against."

For the thinking minority this is like a spell where no improving seems possible. But life knows what to do. Life strives for evolution and when the dumm majority prevails, of whatever side it may be, the world sooner or later will explode. Eventually something big, terrible and unthinkable happens, as a natural result of the stupidity. And at the end, this deep shock may induce some kind of awakening. 

The minority, who desperately tried to wake up the dumm majority with no success, has to go through this process and help assisting their awakening. But perhaps we came here on Earth just for that: to be present and support. After all this is the meaning of being the "chosen ones"! 

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