badezimmermöbel in hamburg kaufen
welcome to a new edition of"a hundred monkeys", today from hamburg, inside therudolf steiner-haus, in the big hall, where i am meeting a guest, whom i met in hamburg exactly one year agofor the first time: dr. daniele ganser, swiss historianand peace researcher. i am very happy, that things worked out again,dr. ganser. thanks for the invitationand thanks for the interview, mr. lehrich. today we want to talk about how to get out of a society facing imminent burnout
and transition into a society that puts joy of life and meaning of life at its core - but before we take a closer look at that,i am curious: how did you feel about the past year?from your point of view: what has improved? what has become worse? the past year 2016 has various elements mixed together. good things - again - coexist with bad things. we all have our subjective experienceand i as a scientist looking at international politics observe: have there been wars in 2016? and that's the bad thing -there continue to be wars.
for example i examined: how many countries did the american president bomb? he bombed iraq last year, that was obama,he bombed afghanistan, he bombed syria... he bombed libya, he bombed jemen,well, these are... quite a number of countries that are being bombedand especially when you're engaged in peace research it's just sad and i thinkwe should be able to do better. this cannot be the best expression of us as family of mankind. perhaps for the bad - obviously the radical fundamentalists with isis. they are beheading peoplejust because they are stuck within their dogma, of having the one and only true religion -
and when they meet a christian, they cut off his head;or if they meet a schiite, they cut off his head... let's say: the topic of violence still keeps me busy. but i do see a lot on the positive side of thingsin 2016. and it's important for me to say that in my opinionthe peace movement is growing stronger. it's a little hard to quantify.it's very difficult to measure. i am active within the german speaking countries that's germany, austria and switzerland- these three countries. germany with roughly 80 million,switzerland 10 million, austria 10 million, that's 100 million, just referring to rough numbers here.
and of these 100 million, i think,very many strictly dismiss war. from historical experience they know that war isconnected with suffering. they dismiss war propagandaand don't want a kind of media that speaks about war as if there was no alternative. i can feel that. i wrote a book, "illegal wars",it was published last year... one has to really recommend it by the way,i read it myself and there is still information in there..you that’s hard to believe, it makes your jaw drop in view of many things that are just passed over. yes. it took me many years of research and even as a scientist
you sometimes end up sitting at your deskthinking... - you shake your head!- yes, you shake your head. - i would like to tell you an episode if i may.- yes, please. i examined 13 different countriesin that book: the war in iraq, the war in syria, the war in libya,the war in afghanistan, but also the military coup in iran '53, or guatemala '54, and i just said: yes, all of this is illegal.there's no un-mandate for that. and i went on to study the un-protocols,because we historians always have to read primary documents. within the un security councilor the general assembly you naturally have politicians
giving their opinion. i investigatedwhat the american politician said, as they bombed cuba in 1961 - long ago, but you can learn a lot - he just said:"that's not us. we are not bombing cuba. but rather: these are cuban pilots, bombing their own country because they are so angry with fidel castro, that they fleeand bomb their own country while they are at it." i thoroughly investigated that and realized:no, it was the cia. and they just wrote "far" onto the aeroplanes,that's the token for the cuban military. when you read such things.. you just said it:it sometimes makes your yaw drop. my goodness! the cia bombs cubaand just writes(puts on) the wrong military label
onto the aeroplanes! that's like if a"bayern-mã¼nchen" player got himself a "dortmund" t-shirt to place himself among the defence to scorean own goal... ...somehow banal but at the same time: so ruthless. in that sense i have been astonishedtime and again about what i find outwhile doing my research. just to return to your question: what good happened in 2016? i just observed that there is great interest.the book has been sold tens of thousands of times, people are writing emails, inviting me to give lectures... so there is a peace movement, there are thousands, hundreds of thousands!
and of course i hope that it'll grow stronger, since the election of donald trump, there's yet again another war criminal in the white house.he bombed syria, and again i've been asked as a historian:ho do you assess that? and then i say: yes, you are not allowed to justbomb another country. that's illegal according to the un charta, international law prohibits a country from bombing another and vice versa the president of syria, assad, would not be allowed to bomb the usa, it's reciprocal,it applies to both. it's certainly sad that this year of 2017we're in spring now, it's not that long ago, the spiral of violence is carrying on.but more and more people are waking up to ask themselves: is that a healthy development for me?
is that a healthy development for my children and grandchildren? and they make a relatively clear decision:no, i'd like to have less violence. i can see how they compare with people who are deeply immersed in the spiral of violence i then investigate meticulously what president trump said after bombing syria. the bombs fell on april 7th '17 -that was his first war. and after that he gave an interview.and i found that to be very interesting. he spoke to a journalist and told her"i fired 59 rockets on iraq!" and the journalist then says: "uhm, syria."and he says: "ah yes. syria!" - that is to say: not even knowing what you're doing!- he doesn't know... yes.
he forgot what country he bombarded! therefore:the good and the difficult both exist on a parallel level. what's your view on this: many people have the feeling at the moment, partly due to the conflict with north korea: we are standing right on the edge of nuclear war. i would like to have your assessment on that,how you see this as a peace scientist. is that just a ghost inflated by the media, in order to fuel the armaments industries even more or is this danger actually real? i consider the probability not to bevery big in this case. yes, a lot of people have great fear of a third world war. and of course i think the danger always existsthat we could slide into...
- if someone really goes nuts at one point!- ... a third world war. exactly. if someone really looses it, we as family of mankind - i like to speak about the thought: the family of mankind, because... ... family as a term overcomes the division of nations, overcomes the division according to classes, like rich / poor, nations would be north korea / usaor north korea / germany or germany / switzerland, the peace movement says these divisionsmust be overcome. [the term "family"] also overcomes division into parties such as "afd" or "die linke" or "cdu", they all belong to the family of mankind - and it also overcomes the division man / woman.all these divisions should be overcome by speaking of the family of mankind.and i'd like to expand that argument by saying: we as family of mankind really have the potential for self destruction.
not only individually do we have the potential for suicide,to kill ourselves, but we also have the ability, technically, to kill very many humans,literally millions. - and also to destroy the necessities of life.- we have that. but we haven't had that for long.we've actually had that for 100 years now. if you look at weapons technology, hiroshima and nagasaki werethe first nuclear bombs we really deployed against civilians in 1945. and you could see then: it did not extinguish the world.of course it was a moment full of suffering for japan. but japan still exists. that means one can survive a nuclear war also - but it's important to understand: in 1945 the usawere the only country that had nuclear bombs. that means at that time the usa had used their nuclear bombsand nobody was able to answer in nuclear terms.
japan had no nuclear bombs to launch on washington. that's why the the situation today is more dangerous.you mentioned north korea. if you consider that we have several countries nowwho have the nuclear bomb, five countries in the security council have the nuclear bomb.that's the us, russia, china, france and it's great britain.those are the victorious powers of the second world war, and those are the powers, who possess a veto in the un security council. they all have the nuclear bomb. in addition israel has the nuclear bomb, indiahas the nuclear bomb and pakistan has the nuclear bomb, that means we've reached 8 already! and with north koreawe assume they have the nuclear bomb as well, so we are at 9. if this trend continues, soon enough ten countries will have the nuclear bomb.
how many countries are we in total? there are 193 un member states,so we can say 200 countries - to put it simply. of these 200, simply using rough numbers, people want to get a good understanding; of these 200, 10 have the nuclear bomb. and if these 10 get into a conflict among themselves,then that's very different altogether from say iraq and iran engaging in conventional warfare. because then it's all about nuclear first strikeand nuclear counter blow and we call that "mad" indeed,literally mad, and meaning "mutually assured destruction" - the annihilation of one another. within peace research we have been thinking about thisfor a long time: why would one actually plan such a thing as
mutual destruction? it's similar to asking:who is the winner if i shoot you and you shoot me also and we both end up dead? - it's totally absurd.- yes, it is absurd. but that's the end result of the spiral of violence. but that has a strong connection with ego, right? - that's only the ego.- that's only ego. that's only the ego, because the egowould like to annihilate the other, because it feels threatened again and again. yes, it feels threatened, it feelsinferior, it has very diverse crisis,
and it would be important, that we don't lead our international politics based on egoic considerations. a concrete example: ego has always to do withthe feeling of having less when you give something. but from peace research we know, that in a lot of casesthat's not even true. - the opposite is actually the case.- yes, very often! you have to look specifically. i am wearing a pair of shoes here. if i take one off, and give a shoe to you, i do indeed end up with just one.would be bad for me now, because i must catch that flight... - well, i'd give you one of mine in return....we might have mixed shoes then. very well, we refer to that as a sum of zero.that's common with countries attacking another and subsequentlyestablishing a military base, for example in syria
the usa and russia are currently fightingfor the control over syria. they (russia) therefore don't want assad to be overthrown, the us think, they want to overthrow assad, therefore arm terrorists in syria, and once he is overthrown want to close these russian military bases and then they have syria. that's why they can't both have syria - that's the sum of zero. it does hold true for specific parts of life,but in other parts we will hopefully recognize, that if we share something, it multiplies.right now for example: information. we are sharing information right now, by myself giving you information and you giving information to me - i am not being left out in the cold, nor are youbut rather: we both actually profit.
and the ego can't understand that. it always has the feeling: if i give something,then i loose something. and if you say that international politics showmany characteristics we find looking at the ego, then it is so. right now president trump is the most famous politician.it's not angela merkel, it's not putin. surely putin is very famous also, or erdogan in turkey,there's a variety of famous politicians, but trump is the most famous and so it's worth looking carefully, just how strongly the ego is playing a role for him, too. we had this hope in the past, especially in humanismthat at last the wise will lead. the wise - especially within the philosophical traditionare characterized as having the good of all in mind and not just their own.
and if egotists lead, they mostlyhave their own good in mind and not the good of all. i think we're undergoing interesting processes here, but to get back to north korea once again: i don't believe that trump is going to attack north koreaor that north korea will attack the us. i don't believe it. the more you talk about this - and i am reading a bookcalled "homo deus" by harari, "the human of the 21st century" - a war seems totally absurd: on the one handwe are working on eternal life, like i learned for examplethat the founder of paypal is currently investing his whole fortune into that... - ... so we can reach the age of 100 or 150 years some day..- and he hopes to then live eternally? so we can live eternally one day. and on the other handwe kill each other in the most primitive ways.
all of that doesn’t fit together whatsoever! it doesn't fit together at all. i didn't know thatthat... we are exchanging information! we are exchanging information, yes. do you feel poorer? - not at all, i feel enriched!- me too! not at all, i find that rewarding! eternal would mean "to never die again". if they take the lifespan from... i mean thelife expectancy of us two is currently 80 years here in germany and switzerland, for men, approximately.
if we increase that to 150 years,that's not eternal then. so we have to be more precise with the terminology here, "eternal life" would be, if we never die again. well, he takes "eternal life" as a staring point. that would really be like lying down somewhereevery 20 to 30 years... - to get a software update. ... do a complete update, and life goes on.of course that's a crazy vision, but still: there's a huge gap between such a vision, eternal life, and this primitive manner in which, humans attack other countries these days,
killing where they can, leaving trails of blood everywhere,for me that is... i have to honestly say, that touches me, that lets me become desperate. but theni try again - and that's the core of it - to reach a point where i say: what can i doto better the whole? and with that i think the essence is a change in awareness. i ask myself the same questions and with that we are on the same path, i am sure. i also ask myself: what can i even pass alongwith my books and lectures? or what can i give to my children?you have three children, right? - three children, exactly.- i have two. now is the time when fathers ask themselveswhat kind of a world our children
will actually inherit? not so much what they will inherit on a private level. that's notthe intention at all. but what kind of a world will they inherit, what kinds of values? i tell my children, they are still small, but i tell them: in my opinion the most important two things arelove and truth. these are the reference points in life so to speak. if you get lost in life, don't know what's up or down anymore, position yourself in the garden or in naturelook up into the firmament at night, look how the stars twinkle, they are not leaving,they are there, they are stable. whatever problems you're facing: think about it:you should most likely orient yourselves towards love and truth. that doesn't mean your going to be completely closeto love or completely close to the truth every day,
but you can in fact measurea successful day, a successful month, or a successful year, or a successful lifeup against - in my opinion - how close you are to these two fixed stars. there are people who say that that's a littlemuch: love and truth as a term. i tell them, instead of"truth", take "honesty"! and instead of "love", take "friendship". i believe these are alien concepts to many peoplethese days - and that's because they surround themselves with media all day and thingsthat convey the exact opposite. i did this experiment for myself:in october of last year i decided
not to watch the news anymore. - good experiment!- yes, superb! in the beginning it was like... constantly... when you're stuck in traffic, you pull up your cellphone and look what's up in the "bild", "welt" -and feel awful afterwards. and i had a moment at one point wheni asked myself: why do i do this? this is nuts - and just quit doing it. and for how long, may i ask? i stuck with it for roughly... - ...3 months.- that's october, november, december.
- yes, but even now...- and no tv either? - no, nothing at all. we don't have one. - ... at home. a tv...- and newspapers? printed media? none? well, i have a few alternative newspapers.there's a magazine in berlin for example, it's called "transform" that has transformation as a topic.very fascinating: how do you get into the transformation of bad statesinto good states; or the paper "zeitpunkt" - ... by christoph pfluger, maybe that's familiar to you?- yes, i know that one! it's swiss! right, so really some alternative media, consciously,and i haven't really gone back. i mean, i ’m informed about trump, and north koreabut it's not like
a permanent routine, or anaddiction, to check things out. and i read something interesting associated with this:scientists found out that it takes 66 days to change a habit! i ask myself,if we could succeed in changing the media habit: to consume positive news, good things,if, with that, the world might change relatively quickly. concerning the world, well, i don't know.but you can change your own very quickly. many people feel sad, many people feel hopeless, many people feel depressed, sometimes so much so,that they don't even get up in the morning or they say: my job doesn't make any sense. or: i am not sure at allthat the world is moving in a good direction,
i instead have the feeling that my children will be worse off.through personal conversation but also by looking at surveys we see:there’s a lot to be worried about. and i think we can partially dissipate these worries by - ... withdrawing from media consumption.- exactly. people say: "but that's terrible,i won't know who's just blown themselves up - ... or who's been beheaded.- but they believe, news is knowledge. - but news is not necessarily knowledge.- no, that's a complete delusion. what you did - i find - is a very good idea: taking a 3-months timeout. a two-day timeout is not enough,
simply 66 days, i did not know that, but there are different studies showing that human beings can get used to a lot. and when they are in a particular state aware of:"i have certain feelings and thoughts." those thoughts can be changed and theycan enter a different state, by taking a media-timeout. because all that informationthat's raining down on us leads to us thinking the things that we read.so if you read the "faz", the text that's in there was not written by some giraffe. a human being wrote that. and he thought of that beforehand. i write books myself:you have to think it through, before you can write it. as you read it, you're thinking the thoughtsof the one who wrote it.
that means whenever we're stuck in traffic listening to the news on the radio... someone had these thoughts, it's his analysis,and then we're using them. and these thoughts are all alien thoughts.if we quit consuming anything for 3 months, suddenly our own thoughts appear. or we can use valuable information that empowers us, like "zeitpunkt", or - what was the other magazine? - transform. i don't know, i can't judge,but everyone just has to find out what's good for them and then apply it.i am hoping, for instance, if someone listens to this conversation, that it's essentially good for him,because this change in consciousness, that's going on
that change in consciousness at its corecertainly has to do with us changing our media behaviour, just likeit's very clear to us with eating, that food influences us, right? if we take in lots of food, way too much, we feel exhausted. it's not aboutmaximizing our food intake! that's that post-war thinking: you have toeat a lot so you're well nourished; it somehow got handed on to us, wherein fact the exact opposite is true. i read that three million people, according to statistics from 2010, died of being overweight, worldwide. three million!imagine that! that's a lot more than [died of] terror!
yes, terror, really! that book also containedcomparison charts! in that year 2010, 7600 dead due to terror. no question,7600 too many, but if you compare that, - ... coca-cola, pizza and ice-cream are way more dangerous!- more dangerous than al-qaida! yes, absolutely! that's a fact! and you have to become aware of that.it's newspapers like "transform" with headlines like "empathy, there where it hurts" -i think, it gives you a good feeling. being empathic not only with people you like, but also with people where things may be difficult - to make sure not to go quickly into an enemy-perspective.
i concur with you completely, and that's somethingi emphasize over and over again in my research: what we've realized with eating - thatit's important what i consume - nobody would come up with the idea of eating a box of thumb tacks. that just doesn't occur to anyone, knowingwhat they eat... i mean, thumb tacks scratch here, they hurt the inner organs and nothing but painat excretion, it's just plain dangerous. or drinking muriatic acid! why not?it hurts you, so don't do it! and so there's a whole variety of foods, that are good for you and some that aren't even called foods. - filling agent.- yes, filling agent!
and there is an awareness of that i think, also in germany, switzerland, austria and other countrieswhere we all have enough to eat. nobody is starving. but we're in fact asking ourselves:what shall i eat? how much shall i eat? that's key. but what i do observe is that this processis actually happening with the media, too. after realizing that we should not eat at mcdonald's every day because that's fastfood... never eat at mcdonald's ideally, as far as i’m concerned -we should come to recognize in terms of the media, that we absorb everything we read, hear or see. it is indeed somewhat ethereal - at mcdonald's you bite into it,you see it, you can analyse the sugar. with the media, let's say you're reading "bild" for exampleand it says: "these are saddam hussein's weapons of mass destruction".
that was in there in 2003. but that was a fabrication of war. you're absorbing it unfiltered, believing it although it isn't so, you end upendorsing a war, namely the hail of bombs on iraq, although you don't know anyone in iraq, and in additionyou haven't done a proper investigation on the whole thing. that means: you are in favour of wars that you don't understand.we have to get that far with media consumption. it is my hope that we could read mediathat doesn’t produce enemy stereotypes that later lead us into endorsingthe bombardment of other countries. that means it's very important that we learn something here.yes, empathy should transform the media, empathy should be brought across, along with understanding - instead of propagating killing.
that's actually old consciousness:we solve big problems with violence. and the new consciousness actually says:big problems exist, but violence won't help. in the end it's all about reaching that level of consciousness by various means, because that's ultimatelynot only of benefit for the whole, but especially for yourself. - yes, a major benefit!- that's the point. if you're massively consuming bad newsand massively consuming bad nutrition, you're done. it's not about the world here,it's about you. with me it's that i study war and terror a lot.that means i am involved in a process where i take in terrible news. how can idescribe the war in iraq, how can i
describe the vietnam war without looking closer? this means: i know these thoughts and feelings are then within me. and how do you deal with that?how do you transform that? with mindfulness. that's actually the key. mindfulness has been taught again and againfor thousands of years throughout very different cultures! mindfulness basically means observingyour own feelings and thoughts. that's the trick. that means: you'll continue to have thoughts and feelings. clearly, we have thoughts and feelings right nowor else we could not even talk.
if i can't think it, i can't say it. and i feel good right now. it's a pleasant,an honest conversation. there's an openness here. so you always have thoughts and emotions. but there's a difference: if you take thethoughts and emotions as 100%... ... dominant, you are the thoughtand you are the emotion. but mindfulness says: no, we should let thoughts and emotions be there and observe them from the outside. that may sound a bitabstract, but i'm happy to explain: it's like a mother watching her two children play. tom and susi. susi, that would be the emotions here, and tom would be the thoughts.
and the mother is observing her children. and that's how we should proceed with ourselves inside: maybe close your eyes and observe yourself:what do i actually feel? what do i actually think? when i am analyzing wars, i definitely noticea certain grief. or the thoughts are like: ah, theykilled each other this way, those did it that way. for example in the fight against cuba,the pentagon suggested to blow up a ship and blame fidel castro.with that, one could mislead the american population and then start an invasion.i study the documents and think: hm, that's sick! they wanted to blow up their own ship and blame the others.
that's called "false flag strategy of tension",those are special techniques in covert warfare. and i asked myself: why do they want to do that?war propaganda, joseph goebbels put it very clearly, aims to control the thoughts and emotions of people. they blow up a ship, print that in the papersaying it was fidel castro. people identify immediately with that thought.they take it in like you would eat fastfood - without mindfulness - and then they shout: "kill fidel!"that's the problem. mindfulness prevents that. why?it creates a gap, like a "space in between", in between your own thoughts and emotions on the one hand, and consciousness on the other.that means the mother or father
watches her/his two children. those twochildren are the thoughts and the emotions. they are always with you, until you die.but you yourself are not the children, neither the thoughts, nor the emotions. you are the consciousnessin which the thoughts and emotions arise, okay? and if you practice that technique yourself,you cannot be run over by war propaganda anymore. you cease to be emotionally defeatable. so it's like intellectual martial arts. i really practised that... is that meditation? or yoga? or what? yes, they practice that too. meditationdoes, yoga does, but you can practice with everyday life too.there are very simple techniques.
what i did: i bought lots of books aboutmindfulness over the course of many years. you can just search "mindfulness" on the internet. it's not a problem of having too little supply.it's endless. ask yourself:does that give me anything? people do that nowadays. my message is: yes. a whole lot!because: you are in 1000 situations every day. and we can't control the outside - everythingthat happens outside of us. there are people who say: i will now try to control everything around me so that i will have no more negative thoughts and no more negativeemotions - but that will never work! the second possibility is looking withinand controlling the inside.
that can work, okay, having control over the insidenot over the outside. but how can you train that? one exercisei did for example has to do with me i accidentally drop something every now and again.i take a glass out of the cupboard, it does not happen to me all the time, i am not such a scatterbrain,but ever once in a while a glass falls on the floor. and before, without that kind of mindfulnessi used to just say: shit! - it happens quickly.- normal reaction. it's not like the glass falls, 10 minutes passand i then say "shit!", but rather... ... the moment it hits i comment: "shit!" mindfulness training says: don't say anything.it's difficult. not commenting!
the glass drops. you hear it falling. it bursts.broken glass everywhere. - that means nothing's changed in the outside!- it happened anyway. mindfulness training does not prevent the glass from falling. it won't rise up again through the air. it crashes on the floor. but the reaction is a different one!i observe my thoughts and my emotions. and they are still like... [makes a gesture] or thoughts like: "did you drop a glass?? not now!in 5 minutes you have to leave the house, you don't have time now, you must clean this up, there's some salad, hopefully there's no glass in it, because if, the children will eat the glass splinters…".it creates a huge fuss.
i don't say a word. that's the training.not saying anything. or at our place: the children sometimes knock a glass over. all sitting at the table, everybody has a glass of water... - it happens all the time!- yeh, it happens all the time. someone reaches out and knocks a glass overwithout intention; it falls over- and then the water comes, we only drink water...and it flows across the table and drips on your pants. that, too, triggers thoughts and emotions. always. it's not like anyone would not havethoughts and emotions here. when i wasn't mindful, i used to say:"watch out!"
in the sense of "big problem, and you are guilty!"that is a spontaneous reaction. now i just remain silent. i remain silent. i observe myself, and go and get a rag or tell the child: "go get a rag."it's not a crisis. and of course it's not a crisis, if a little bit of waterspills on yours pants. there is none! another great opportunity to practice mindfulnessis in traffic. in traffic, because i am more the impatient type, i used to want to - bam! - reach the destination. - left lane.- yes! i always drive fast and...
it happened in switzerland, that i would drive behind a car thinking: why is he driving so slow?! and i look at the speedometer and see: he's driving at the correct speed. why doesn't he go 20 [km/h] faster?he should drive 20 k faster, because i’m really in a rush! you wish for a forklift truck, to lift him aside. impatience is in me.it will never go away. that's how i am. often times in traffic when i have to go to a lecture and am running late: and there’s a traffic jam.or someone drives exceptionally slow. it's possible then, that you'll be sitting in your car all by yourself, swearing. „that guy is an idiot! he should keep moving! why create a traffic jam!? why is there construction going on here?
this can't be! there’s no one working here,but everything is shut down - out of my way!" that's what it's like when you're in maximum identification with the thoughts and emotions. by doing this new training i can nowsimply observe myself. and i really want to emphasize: i still have these thoughts and emotions. i still think: "get moving, would you?!", or"someone is just taking my parking space!", i still think these things. but i don't comment on it. i observe myself.and one time, that was very interesting: i have an electric car, a tesla, and i was going very fast on the swiss autobahn, when a tire blew out. and then, since i do this training in mindfulness, i immediately observed my feelings and thought: "okay, is that dangerous now?" i was going at about 120. and i realized - no, the car is stable.
it's not swerving out. but i do that in the very second it happens. when the tire blows out on the autobahn it does make some noise. and then i think:okay, but i’m safe and i don't swear. i don't say "oops, the tire blew!" (!) and i move over to the right and realize: okay, i can still drive. what's my next worry? i think: oh, i am safe. hm! and there's the next worry already:"oh my, now i’m scratching the rim." the rim is screwed. that's terrible.and i think: i must make it to the next exit. what do you do now? and then there's you fearthe rim getting damaged... then the next fear arises: you havea lecture in one hour. in lucerne.
you’ll be late. and you could fall into apanic of sorts. but mindfulness observes from the distance and says: ah. you have a predicament here.- are your children in danger? - no. you still have both arms? - yes. - okay.you still have both legs? - yes. - okay. relax. and there i was, entirely cool. and i'm simply saying: if you train that...you won't be so easily shocked by war propaganda. that should have been trained much earlier in kindergarten, in the schools. - so that it’s trans-generational...- but you can still learn that even at 60. you can learn that at any age. that, i find, is most important:human beings can...
learn whenever they want to. they often say they can't, but underneath that is: i don't want to. but that also means - if i got you right - through mindfulness you reach an inner state of calm and contentment. and in the end that inner contentment is worth so much more than the outer, the material [world]. but interestingly enough - and i believe herein lies the problem -most people have become used to the material [stuff] occupying the position of greatest importance within their whole lives. i came across a statistic. happiness research found out that only 10% of our level of happiness depends on outer circumstances. just 10%. but we actually do everything for that.but mindfulness does not require much. it's free!
we just need an attitude, an awareness for it. - yes, it's unbelievable! it’s really good news.- but how can we make that compatible for the masses? i don't care! everyone should do it when they feel like it! i don't say that there's this conversion courseeveryone has to sign up for, i just say: if someone is already happy with his lifehe may continue so. but if someone has the feeling, that this would be something for himself,then he should try it. someone said that that’s too much effort -or so expensive. then i say: no! that's really not expensive. a practice i did(and i am not doing it any more now) is to take cold showers. i only took cold showers for one year.
everyone sees it: showers can be hot or cold. i plan to do that every now and again, butstill end up reverting to warm, that is... you have to get used to it! it's just a good opportunity to say:i’ll try it! i am a curious type. i went bungee jumpingonce, just to see what it’s like. or i like to go snowboarding. or i investigate the terror attacks of september 11th! because i want to know, how it was! that means interest, joy of life, yes, vitality! clarity and courage, too, are goals i pursue - fundamental attitudes that i value. and i realized thatby taking cold showers, for example, i would have a wonderful training ground for mindfulness, because you're standing there naked. there are not 5000 distractions,
but you're really the way you were bornand how you will die. you are... reduced. without smartphone. withoutthis or that. just... you alone. and then you're in front of that shower - and it's really funny - my head, the intellect, produces unbelievable amounts of thoughts and you always have this feeling that they're all so important, they're all so new. but brain research has shown that 90% of ourthoughts are old records that keep repeating. not even good! they are not really "top-sound-songs"- if a record like that drops and gets broken, it's good. so i am standing in front of that shower with my head saying,i remember precisely: "you're not really doing that now. that's a joke now isn't it?!i have no frickin' desire to take a cold shower! why do you do that?" - "yes, i've decided to do that; a training in mindfulness." - "training in mindfulness(!) -
now that's an idiotic idea. who said that? you do everything anyone tells you. forget it! today you deserve a warm show...!" - "no, i do it now!"you have to have a strong will here. and then my will - it's like an inner conversation! - repeats again and again: "no!" and then the cold water is running already. splattering,if you're standing so close. that's the most difficult moment. „not good! you could have a heart attack! yes, that's your fault then. you'll collapse in the shower - dead. your life will end." chatter, chatter, chatter! and then the will says: "quiet!" and you step into the cold... - quiet "up there" - so to speak.- yes: "quiet up there with all this chatter." and then you realize: nothing happens. heart attack? no.nothing happens. nothing at all. it's not like you're bleeding. you're just awake!you're wide awake afterwards.
and you feel good. i feel great! naturally at some point, i admit, dullness returns. my goal was just to, do this for 365 days and not to deviate for a day. including washing your hair. washing it cold. if you do that, you should begin in the summer -it's more difficult in the winter. at the beginning of summer it's easier. you can also say,i'll do it for 7 days. let's see if i can do that. if you do that, you really have the opportunityto be in touch with yourself and to see, that to observe yourself with mindfulness is a truly exciting process. and if you've survived that, you deal much better with shocks. because it is a shock.cold water feels like a shock. but you have a plane inside you, that remains untouched.i always say: the soul is not shocked when you have a cold shower.
it's just the body, that takes it as a surprise via the nerves.it doesn't know. the eyes see it and they warn, they say: danger, danger! the soul says: you can go for a cold shower. it's all fine. now if you're in that rat race, like many people are these days, these thoughts may seem a little weird at first because you think: now i'm supposed to take cold showersand gain mindfulness? i don't have the time! i don't have any time for that. what do you say to them? i think that everyone should do it the way they want.it is my belief, that the free will is in fact the ultimate. i am very much a freedom loving human being.i, too, do what i want! for instance: i used to ski, i liked skiing then. at some point i said to myself: now i’m going to snowboard. i like the snowboard. and sometimes i go skiing again.
i simply saw that there were two groups. the ones - especially in switzerland - who said: only snowboarding is cool - forget skiing. and then there is this tendency to form a dogma out of it. that's a theme we always have to deal with in history, since.. dogma - again - are unreflected thoughts taken as absolute [truth]! for example catholics and protestants here in germany (and also in switzerland and also in austria) killed each other. let's just assume you are... what do you prefer, catholic or protestant? honestly none of both. but i'll be a catholic here!no, i prefer protestant! - okay, then i'll be the catholic.- good, okay. let's go back 300 years, ok? then i would have said:"you have the completely wrong attitude!", and i would’ve killed you. and you, if you had been faster, would’ve killed me.
but why? only because we would have been strongly identified with our thoughts and at the same time would have considered them as absolute; with no tolerance for any other positions. with snowboarding and skiing it's not so pronounced,but can become a dogma, when one of the groups says: "everyone who skies is not cool. skiing just doesn't cut it." and everyone belonging to the other group... i observe dogmatic structures again and again. while eating, for example, vegans and vegetarians will argue. add in a meat-eater and you'll almost have a riot.i witnessed that, i've seen it for real. personally i am vegetarian, not vegan, everyone's got their own group here. and i want to say, getting back to that questionof what to tell someone who is overcome by life -
and doesn't have time for mindfulness. i'd say:then that is so. i would never tell anyone they must do this or that.i would set them free and say: only if you're curious because you've heard mindfulness was interesting, i'll say there's this or that possibility. or if someone is interested and says: covert warfare?how was that done? how was mossadegh overthrown in iran, 1953? i'll say: yes, they did it in this or that kind of way. theremust be a curiosity. but i would never say: you must do this, because i find it super. that would be dogmatic. that's a danger within the peace movement, in my opinion.it must never be dogmatic. it is to respect the free will of the other, always.that also means he may finally have a different opinion, like: in my opinion it's ok to eat meat.for example: my dad, now deceased, was completely
convinced he had to eat meat every day or he would not be strong. and i was completely convinced that i did not want to eat meat,because i find it contains a lot of suffering, too. and we had our discussions but we were not dogmatic.we both let the other be and had good meals together. i think we'll always be very different. if somebody wouldsay mindfulness does not interest him or her, i can still go to a movie theater with that personand watch a movie. people who are dogmatic - perhaps they lackinner contentment. does that make sense? people who are content at an inner level have high self awareness. and that's where we have to get to: to develop high self awareness,to establish an inner happiness, at least that's my understanding, so that we caneventually contribute to the greater whole again.
because people... and you said that in the conversation we had one year ago; i remember the quote: people who are content, radiate this just like a lighthouse. that's what's often missing these days, that radiating. everything is just negative. or often negative. mindfulness, taking cold showers... but what else can we doto achieve greater inner happiness? healthy nutrition. well, healthy nutrition, we had that, but also the thought of... valuable conversation. - that's good for you.- always. if i have valuable conversation, i feel differentlyas opposed to when i engage in destructive conversation.
what is destructive conversation? destructive conversation is..... whining: this is bad, everything is bad. such conversation for half an hour -it's not encouraging. - deletes energy.- yes, sucks energy! i find it much more fascinating if someone says: listen,i am reading this book, there's some pretty wild stuff in there. or someone sends a link to me and says: i watched this youtube clip, i think it's fascinating. rainer mausfeld i find fascinating. or michael lã¼ders.there are things that i find fascinating. they spark my interest. curiosity is happiness to me. i like to live, i like to be here, i find the earth to be a wonderful place. even though i know there's a lot of murder and torture out there - right now, as we sit here, there's torture going on - that's unbelievable! - people are starving. the official number is 24.000 dead per day. this number is huge.
so there are grievances. we agree on that. i strive to remedy shortcomings within the frame of my possibilities. but! in my opinion it's a recipe for becoming unhappy, if your expectations are set too high. if you have very high expectations and they're not being met,you're unhappy. for example: you're going out to eat dinner with friendsand you think it's going to be a blast: "i have been looking forward to this for three weeks!" and you go out and it's not really like that... on the contrary: if you think "i really don't feel like it!",it will often be quite nice. you experience that a lot. yes, you think you actually don't have the time now and you're tired and would rather choose the sofa, but then it turns our to be a great night. exactly. you end up going and joining inand leave for home at 3 a.m. the conversation was good, you had not seen each other in a long time, the wine was good and so was the food: vegan or vegetarian regardless.
you can feel the energy. every human has a system of resonanceto feel the energy. if expectations are too high, and you say: i want this or that quickly now -and it does not come, then there's disappointment. therefore i think we should work on our expectations as well. i always do that when i feel that i have high expectations. if i have a public lecture and realize, i reallywant to get to the heart of it, it must be good - and if it's not, i will be disappointed, you know?then i realize... hey, take it easy. you do the best you can. just be honestand use truth and love for orientation. always those two. you do the best you can.sometimes that's better, sometimes worse. a soccer player can't say: "today i'll shoot five goals!"
if he succeeds at shooting five goals in one game - unbelievable!but at the next game he can't say: today i'll shoot five goals again. but that's actually more an expectation that comes from outside. - no! it comes from inside!- ... insinuated from the outside... - no, i see that differently.- okay. the expectation comes from within. we do take over expectations of others, of course - like the father expects the son to study medicine and the son spends 6 years at university to realize:oh, i actually don't even want to study medicine. and all that only, because dad wants it so. exactly. but caution! it comes from out there somewhere. then itruns through the information system, gets stored inside us - and then it comes from within. if it's not from within,it comes from nowhere at all.
if there's a distance created by mindfulnessbetween thoughts and emotions on the one hand and consciousness, the consciousness doesn't have to take over the thought from the father! it can say: it's his thought! it's very much my opinion,that father / mother only want the best for me. but it doesn't necessarily have to be correct.for me! maybe it's right for them. or in the relationship: one wants that, the other wants that. actually it's always like that, right? - that's the basis of a relationship...- rarely do both want the same over the course of a whole month. it just is that way. add in the children! they too,want something else. it's a given that there are different interests, that’s the way it is. i find it very important to notice: all of that comes from within. your own interest also comes from within.
peace research - i always ask myself: how can we advance further with peace? - peace research states clearly: 1. there is no outer peace without inner peace. the dalai lama says that. is he qualified? yes. he is a nobel peace prize laureate.can we trust him? i think so. 2. peace research also says that we should assumethat we have conflicts. we always have conflicts. this idea, that...someone asked me: "what do you do?" "i am historian and peace researcher." "ah! so you don't have any conflicts!" i say: "not at all! i have lots of conflicts. the point is thati am convinced, we should solve conflicts without violence." that's a change in consciousness again. we used to be convinced that certain conflicts ought to be solved with violence.
today i am convinced we don't solve any conflicts reasonably by using violence, but by doing what we are engaged in now: - in conversation.- in dialogue. that means we'd actually have to close the ministry of defenceto create a ministry of understanding. that would be the correct way. absolutely! by the way, if the pentagon is referred to as "ministry of defense" that's also an incorrect term - it should be called "ministry of offence". but leaving that aside, today's peace movement is clear in thatthey say: conflicts are normal. you're in conflict with your neighbour, because he's cut he hedge too high; you're in conflict with your neighbour, because he lives on top and his children run around till 11 p.m.; you're in conflict with your boss, because he saidyour work is bad, then you feel bad... you're in conflict with your partner, because... 1000 reasons! there's conflicts with your children... conflicts are normal.knowing that, you can really relax.
the question is: how strongly capable are you,of solving conflicts without violence? we've come pretty far with that! there used to be much more violence within families. children were beaten, there was violence at school, beating - much less so today. could it be because we're more free these days,and structures used to be tighter in the past, that people, who essentially feel free can't be as violent? maybe that's the context. there was definitely the conviction, a castigating hand could not do harm. today we know it does a lot of harm. that means, what we should actually encourage: is trust! trust in one another - also in the good potential. for example i trust that you can do a lot within the next 40 years,that you will wonderfully go on...
- same to you!- yes, great! that's how i trust my children, too. and altogether:i am approaching life with a lot of trust. and i see, according to the law of resonance, what's comingback to you is where you direct your consciousness. it's an interesting thing, that lawof resonance. i observed it, when my wife was pregnant, that was important for me, very much. i knew: now i am becoming a father. and suddenly the topic was big. and i saw a lot of pregnant womenin basel, in the city. i thought: oh my goodness. what a coincidence. everyone's pregnant right now that my wife is pregnant. maybe it's the season right now (!). later, when the children were born, i noticed i did not see pregnant women anymore. that means i was only resonating with it. same with driving:when i did my driving exam, i was 18...
is that the same in germany, from 18 on? it's 18 too. you can get started at 17 i think,but you get your driver's license at 18. that's my information. if that's totally correct... hm.but we're not the driving department! it was important to me to... well, on my 18th birthday,i did not want any presents, i wanted to drive now. and at first you are an apprentice driver, that's what it's called in switzerland: you have this white "l" on a blue surface. - we say "student driver".- i don't know if you also have that sign that sticks to the back of the car... ? no, i don't know. but it’s been a while since then. whatever! it will come up again once the boys are older. i suddenly saw cars all across switzerland,bearing that white "l" on a blue surface.
same effect, same thought:what are the odds?! now when i start to drive, everyone does! and when my driver's license was done, i didn't see it anymore. one has to drive in front of me, then i'll see it. but there's no resonance any more. later i built a house and i wanted to have solar cells on the roof, because i am pro renewable energies. so: remove the roof tiles, put on solar cells. i did that too: 70mâ². next thing: all of a sudden i'm travelling through switzerland by railway. looking out of the window of the fast-moving train i can see how the roofs of the other houses are set up! without solar. with solar. solar thermics. hot water. photovoltaics. with power. panels to the roof edge, no tiles. or the panels are put onto the roof with tiles still there. so i see all those details. and i think: ha, precisely now where i... you see the pattern!and that's just resonance.
it's about recognizing that what we’re aware of is very important, because that's what will be brought to us. if we're interested in permaculture, we will come across peoplewho are interested in permaculture. and who bring that forward. you actually attract that. you can also be interested in the formula 1, or in ferrari, you name it - suddenly you have colleagues who ask: will you come with us? "will you come to that race with us?", or those may give you a ferrari. not really my thing, but i'm saying: it fits everywhere. back to the topic of "inner happiness" again: i think i talk about that so much, because i assess you as a human being with extreme inner happiness. to me, you seem very happy even though you have a difficult topic; even though you are often criticized by the media;
although you could go through life like *this*, you much rather walk through life very happily and with your head held high. i find that very fascinating to see how you -and that would be my guess - how, by "keeping your back upright" as you put it so eloquently,you reach that inner happiness: by doing what you're here to do. and i think that is a key issue: in schools these days,we still make the [same] mistake of teaching the kids stuff that they don't really need, but have to learnand are assessed by it. my son, the middle one, at nine years old, recently asked: "dad, why can't i learn these things, when i'm interested in them?" i find that's a smart question. a question where you'd have to say: that would actually be the way to go, to bring kids where
they need to be. i mean today we're at the rudolf steiner-haus.waldorf: they already have a much better and more human philosophy. but i still think this would have to reachsignificantly more people. the search for your own specific talent... i am convincedthat's a crucial point, to not be violent or dogmatic. yes, it's really the case - we're at the rudolf steiner haus. i have a connection with that: i attended a steiner/waldorf-school for 12 years, in basel at the jakobsberg. it's funny what you just said: that the time at school is an important time. i find it funny because we've been on stage a lot. a great deal. we’ve had performances of this and that.as a student i thought: "i actually like doing that, i like to be onon stage, but in fact in real life, i can't use it."i didn't want to become an actor and i asked myself:
"what's that good for, standing in front of a lot of people? and i thought i really had to work hard in french,you can surely use that, or mathematics or geography... these are kind of the "good" and "important" subjects andthe 8th or 12th grade play, that's more like fun. and today i am in front of a lot of people very often with the lectures. and i notice: i like doing it, i have no fear, it has to do a lot with the fact that i was allowed to do that,to playfully do that - when i was young. maybe that's a point. and the other one you mentioned: it's true that i am being attacked a lot and that there mightbe reasons why i could be depressed or subdued. but i am not! i am doing great. i do have my challenges, naturally,
in life, moments when i am doing worse. for instancei was on swiss tv at "arena". you were defamed by jonas projer quite a bit there, labeled as conspiracy theorist, and i think they even threatened to stop broadcasting. that was totally absurd. it was the exact opposite of the conversation we are having here,it was just... the conversational etiquette was bad, because projer talked in a degrading way, which you should never do. you should not degrade the other. and he degraded me and said: "you simply are a conspiracy theorist!" and schawinski, another swiss journalist, said: "yes, 9/11 is resolved. your research is in vain."
and then i said: "obama drops a lot of bombs.", then they said: "obama is good, trump is bad." i was really disappointed by that niveau. heading home afterwards - from the studio... ..late at night, don't know what time: another journalist approached me -"could you give another interview..?", i say: "no, i've had it." then i get into the car and drive home feeling bad. right then, no mindfulness helps. i then observe myself, turn on some music that i like,to psych up a little - but the day is more or less lost; disastrous. and then i get home and say: "don't even think about wanting anything from me tonight, it's over. it was just bad. didn’t like it." next day i was in a better mood again, was able to recover, and we went on a skiing holiday.
let me put it this way: i am repeatedly met with hostility: from those attacks, saying i was a conspiracy theorist, or in that broadcast it said "controversial publicist", or "controversial historian", it does make me sad. that's how it is. it triggers an emotion.then i apply mindfulness and build a distance between that emotion - which is real! - and my consciousness, and say: "are you the emotion?" -"no, i am the consciousness which perceives the emotion." then i say: "is consciousness somehow touched? no!"consciousness is not touched. and then i observe my thoughts. as i said, the trick is to observe my thoughts like a mother observers her childrenor like a father observes his kids playing.
and the thoughts then say "yes that's terribleand you should have never gone there!" many reproaches, lots of blah blah. then i say: ok well, now i am having these thoughts.they’re not great either. maybe at some point i'll find other thoughts and feelings. i can really say: my training in mindfulnesshelped me a lot to survive these animositieswhich have been going on for quite some time, unscathed. but also in order to acquire a feeling of trust, right?because in the end this situation also shows... i mean anybody can look at that situationon the internet on youtube, if you google "arena skandal ganser", there are a lot of video results for that...
and i am not composed. i actually intended to be composed.i did not succeed. i became a bit angry. but again it resulted in something positive. that's always the experience, that something good happens born from the perceived bad.there have never been as many complaints with the srf. - over 500.- 492! record! and that caused your facebook numbers to explode, too.so it's amazing that although one wanted to prevent that you would be heard, the exact opposite happened. that's correct, you're right. but for me it wasn'tthe objective to be heard more. for me the objective was actually to present myresearch results and i could not do that in this broadcast. i could not present any reasonable analysis.it was all...
they showed an email i had sent - i was completely startled,because it was a private email. but then they had cut part of it out, to imply that i am acontradictory person. i thought: that can't be! even ten years ago, i think we talked about that, when i started doing my research into the terror attacks of september 11th, i was attacked by the american embassy, who said all of these were conspiracy theories, you must blindly believe bush. and then i talked to my wife.it was really about: can i publicly speak about covert warfare? including 9/11 and cia-operations? which is in fact my doctoral dissertation.
with all the consequences it has for your career. and back then it was completely unclear, that was in 2006,11 years ago, at that time it was completely unclear, if this would ruinmy career entirely. or if it would somehow work. and that's when a truly wonderful thing happened. here’s what my wife said: "carry on with it. if you’re sure that’s what your data reveals, you have to remain a scientist. and if you are now being treated with hostility as a scientist, then you're going to have to digest that somehow. you can't deviate from truth now,only because it’s unpleasant!" and then she emphasized: "if you bend your back, you'll never be able to straighten it out again." and then i told her very unmistakably:"look, right now i make 10.000 franks per month.
i am very high up in there at the eth research unitfor security policy. i am a doctor." things were going very well.. i said: "if i am going to carry on that research now, the crash might come! and we'll have no more money." and then she said,- and that was so liberating for me, i remember, like it was yesterday... ... she just said: "you know, we'll wrestle through in any case.even if you become unemployed. we'll manage." and then i really learned to observe my emotions and thoughts intensely, my training in mindfulness was not like saying at some time or another: "oh. interesting. i'll take a course in it.“ i was manoeuvred into a huge challenge,and i then observed my feelings, realized: i am in fear. what am i afraid of? i literally sat in front of the house at night, feeling awful.i asked myself: what are you actually afraid of?
are you afraid that your research results are not precise enough?no, i’m not afraid of that. i am sure with those, they are precise. wtc7 *did*collapse. fire or demolition? i leave that open. so, what are you afraid of? ah, i’m afraidof loosing my position. how bad would that be? that's the10.000 per month, that i want to keep. does that have anything to do with science? no!that just has to do with earning a living. my daugher was very small and i realized, i am fearfulabout being a bad father. about not being able to feed the family.being unemployed or whatever. and then i asked myself: what is a good father? is someonewho departs from truth just to be able to feed the family a good father? i realized: no,that's not what i want.
be courageous! maybe you'll go bankrupt. try it. and a further fear was that of social condemnation: a lot of people thinking, ah well,that's a nutcase, he’s an idiot... i did not want that. it was important to meto have a good reputation. but that courage... it's been rewarded. very much so. and also the courageof your wife and family. immensely. i then carried on realizing it's not possibleto have a reputation and please everyone. it's not possible to be praised by everyone all the time. i also read in a book:"the wise is moved neither by praise nor blame."
i notice: my goodness, i am not wise.i am so susceptible to praise and blame. if i am praised, i am well, if i am blamed, i feel bad. so i have to work on that, too. - then i suddenlyrealized that that project i have, peace research,79701:13:13,216 --> 01:13:23,635goes way beyond covert warfare and the un prohibition of the use of force, vietnam, iraq, afghanistan, armed forces... it goes way beyond that! first about the outer work, it was suddenly about inner work. at first i thought: oh no, not that again! but then it was clear: if i want to do this, it does not work without [the inner work]! i looked at how people do it,who work under a lot of pressure. and i read about people who do the triathlon:who swim, bike and run. i thought, my gosh, that's so exhaustingand they do it in succession.
repeatedly i read that theyenvision themselves as a powerplant. and that they know exactly how to eat -here it is again, the same thing. they are also mindful about what they read. they don'tjust read "bild-zeitung" and then it’s off to the start, but they are totally focused, they train their mind. and in the end they even know how to handle pain. it's not like they feel they're on thecouch during the last few kilometres, but they have an unfaltering will. i said to myself: i want that unfaltering will. not because i want to win the triathlon in hawaii, not even a chance. i'm not fast on the bike, not fast when i run or swim.
i would have been last! did the cold water while showering help? i wanted to copy the mental strength of elite sportsmen, and integrate into peace research. i looked at mountainclimbers as well, they're a big topic in switzerland. we have this guy, his name is ueli steck, do you know him? honestly: no. he climbed the eiger-nordwand in 2 hours - that's just...!is the eiger-nordwand known here? - yes, we know it!- i agree. - here in hamburg the eiger-nordwand is known(!) yeah, ya!
eiger-mã¶nch-jungfrau, those are very beautiful mountains.we have lots of mountains and it's not just the matterhorn, but the eiger-nordwand ist very steep. and ueli steck went up that north face, 82401:15:36,874 --> 01:15:42,647with just a pickaxe, here and there he had a pickaxe andprotruding crampons on his shoes. and that's how he takes off... he plunges into the ice, alright? climbs up, unsecured! if you slip, you fall down and you're dead. if you do it slowly and with a rope, that's one thing.he does it for speed. okay? because it simply was what he wanted to do. he did that time and again. even greater mountains. and i met him at a presentation. i just get to meet interesting people:i gave a speech, he gave another speech... and then we talked about risk, about intention, about training, about inner mindfulness.
i could see that he really takes it to the limit. it was his choice. and now he died this month or last month. in the himalaya. he fell. of course he always tried to calculate the risk. but he took great risks. in my opinion he was one of the best mountain climbers in the world. i then observed roger federer. he's known to everyone, right? that's our most famous swiss. i just watch: first of all, he is entirely focused. and if things don't go well, he believesthat he can come back. and he makes those comebacks. he comes back and winsthe australian open.
after everyone said: he's old.he can't do it anymore, he succeeds once again in reaching an inner stateof saying: sure, i can do it. and that encourages me to think that much more is possible. but it always has to do with having fun! if rogerfederer would not enjoy playing tennis...! he doesn't do it to make more money.he has enough money. it's not about that. it's about passion. passion ist real, it's dedication! that’s what you really think:"i would like to play tennis again!" or ueli steck: "i want to climb a mountain again!" with me it’s: i would like toinvestigate something again and talk about it, write a book andbring the peace movement forward.
i orient myself according to interest, the power,the power of the soul! i watched the program "the voice of germany". i must admit i enjoyed watching that.the blind auditions, everyone knows them, right? the coaches just listen. they don't seethe candidates. i find that very interesting because afterwards they say:"we want to feel your soul!" "you must sing from your soul, because otherwise you can forget it!" for it to be really good, it must come from the soul. i consider totally correct what they say at "the voice...":if it comes from the soul, you have such power! there's that nice word "plan of the soul", the "soul plan".
if you get a feeling for that plan and live it, we are once againtalking about those talents that live within us. that's a blessing, it really is a blessing. finding it and being able to follow it.and i think what stands in the way is fear. i think that's the task, by whatever means!and that's what everyone should find out for themselves, to implement their own soul plan.i just heard about some numbers again, saying that in 20 to 30 years at the latest, 2/3rds ofall jobs we know of today will not be here. due to technization and automatization. but we have schools that produce exactly those workers who operate those machines, that won't beneeded in the form at some point, because they operate themselves. these aren't crazy numbersor confused fictions, but...
that's reality. if we don't begin to create structures within our society,where the personal talent is more important than a job of some sort or a profession you engage injust to make money, i ask myself what will happen to all those people sometime down the road? what will happen to us and to our children? i say: no matter what happens; if we trainour mindfulness, it's beneficial. we will have different kinds of challenges. of course a fear of giving ourselves up and robots taking over can arise. there have always been challenges. think of1945, when germany was at its worst. bombed-out. traumatized. and look at it today.
that means it is possible for us to master challenges!there's no question we have challenges in the 21st century. automatization, violent computer games, there are a lot of topics. in any case it's possible to master challenges. especially so, if we are in our strength - if we are in a depression, even shopping is too much. let alone the robotization of society! as a side note: when i talk about "the voice of germany" i don't mean that it's everyone's soul plan to be a singer. not at all. but it's about everyone being - and i am convinced of that - being much more powerful if they do what they believe in at the innermost level.and that can be
being a good mother or fatheror it may be that someone says it's important to me to spend one hourin nature every day, because he wants to. and it's not because someone said thatbut because of discovering: i want that for myself and i do it! and i want to encourage everyone to do just that.some people tell me: "i don't even want to be a singer." yes, neither do i, personally. it's not about the singer. but it's actually about finding out through mindfulness: what do i want? and something usually comes. and if that answer comes you should not immediately say:"but i'm too stupid for that! and i'm too small for that!" and in the end it's worth getting started with that at any age,which brings us back to the current findings
of brain research. i recently interviewed prof. dr. gerald hã¼ther who found out in his research, that the brain only functions with enthusiasm. enthusiasm is the fuel for the brain. even an 80-year-old can then still learn something e.g. a foreign language, chinese, if -that's how he put it nicely - if he meets a woman, a chinese woman, to learn with enthusiasm!that always helps. i always said that with foreign languages! do you have problems with french?get to know a french woman! do you have problems with spanish? fly to latin america. it's an important aspect to recognize that. happiness! happiness, enthusiasm, precisely what you're saying. just look at those olympic champions, rowing.rowing is super exhausting, but a lot of people row here in hamburg.
it must be fun! what we have unlearnt in capitalism is to ask ourselves: what really gives us joy?sometimes we ask: can you make money with that? that's not the key question. because if we do whatgives us joy, that's the reward. otherwise we take the detour: make money, then have money to do something with, that gives us joy. the direct way to happiness, e.g. a walk in the woodall by yourself: there's no pay. but there's no cost either. but if it creates joy, it's the fastest route. or maybe someone enjoys playing with the kids, orwhat i consider a very holy moment: to watch the children as they sleep. look againat how they sleep. that's a wonderful moment. that's touching.
that's extremely touching. it costs nothing. everyone knows these direct routes to happiness.and we should take them. and then - again with mindfulness - be thankful for the fact,that there are such direct routes to happiness. advertising tells us a different story. it tells us we have to first buy a house, obtain a credit for that, pay off the credit and then:you'll be as happy as that family. beautiful woman, handsome man, two children. it has to be said aloud for once. it's not even a real family. there are two models and the kids have been added. but everyone knows that it's not true but it's stillsomehow engrained so deeply within our brain furrows, that we do it or run through those patterns.
- as long as they can run, until we brake them!- until, by using mindfulness and consciousness... sometimes there are commercials and i like to watch soccer. champions league, "bayern" playing against "real",i watch that. can you be mindful with socceror do you rather curse? i don't curse anymore! well, actually, i’m not so sure... i just get up! that's what i do! so i just hang in there, and if a header just... i get up, but i don't curse. i may comment: "no way, that was not a yellow card!" i’m into it, and i really indulge in that.but then there are commercials in between. i mute them, so i don't hear them but just watch.then i do a little exercise
telling myself: "what do they want to sell?"and it's always the same. detergent. cars. perfume. cleaning agents. loans. and they always want to sell it the same way.namely by saying: "if you have that car, you have a good feelingof being on that wonderful winding road, where there's nobody in that beautiful landscape: nobody.that's how you'll feel!" truth is: you buy the car and stand in a traffic jam here.we know that it's not like that. my favourite commercial is the "parship" commercial: "every 11 minutes a single falls in love via parship". there i'm always curious how they determined that.how do they know? every 11 minutes? i think it's probably the sold contacts.
most of all they have top models on the posters. if you are at parship, this womanor that man will be your next partner! i had an experience with that, before i got married.the advertisement did not have much to do with reality. we all know that sales promotion lies actually. but! through mindfulness we can recognize that advertisements condition us so that we say: you must take this detour the detour to happiness. and the detour is:you must come by my place, put 100€ in my box, and i'll wave you through to happiness. but here i say:it's not true. there are a lot of direct routes to happiness, that don't cost anything. for instance with a good conversation among friends:it's not like "50€ please" in the end. it doesn't cost anything.
or if someone wants to meditate, they can meditate.close your eyes, sit down, meditate. it's free! we should increasingly take those direct routes. they are not praised in commercials, who should advertise for a "good conversation among friends" these days? no, of course not, because it doesn't generate capital. so it will never come! humans can be mindful enough to ask themselves:"what did i find most memorable during the last two weeks?" i ask myself sometimes:what moved me the most? and then i repeat thingsthat i found truly valuable. for example i found the conversation with you last yearso valuable that when you asked: do we do another talk?
i thought: sure. jens lehrich, he's such a great human being, i enjoy meeting him. same with me. that's why i asked again. we can go on for hours and that'sthe interesting thing: you meet, and with that a lot of different aspects emerge. - and you don't loose.- not at all. - on the contrary. you win.- it's free. it's fulfilling. what's happening here is fulfillment.here, at this moment. i find it better than if i would have bought a new pair of jeans. tell us again, dr. ganser,at the closing of our congenial conversation:
the topic of peace building. you mentioned that in the beginning - there are more and more people, who do something, who have recognized something needs to be done. but i still know a lot where i have the feeling:they suppress. what do you tell those? does everyone have to partake? no. the free will counts. but whoever wants to, should join. it's not like that's a movement whereyou sign up to be a member, and then you get a t-shirt and a badge saying:"i am part of the peace movement!" (!) it's not like that! and it's not like only one party or another..only the spd or the cdu, or die linke or afd have the monopoly on that:somenone who doesn't vote can do it too.
and also: it's not like only the lower class has a monopoly on it and the upper class can't partake in the peace movement.it can be upper class, middle class or lower class... it's not limited to germany or switzerland either.it can be in nigeria, bangladesh or canada also. the peace movement in my opinionis a stance from the heart and a position from within the thoughtsoriented on love and truth. as for thoughts - strive for truth,in your heart - strive for love. if this basic attitude is there, it inevitably results inyou being against wars of aggression, against war propaganda, torture and death penalty, against beheadings, the whole butchery,against terrorist attacks and so on...
we don't want that! and if that's how we define it, millions are in the peace movement! and if we combine it with mindfulness, it's somethingi find very important, because the peace movement might meet for joined protest against the war in iraq, and then, next time you have a conflict between vegetariansand vegans, then nothing is peaceful at all. because there can be dogmatism within the peace movement also.and dogmatism, i know that as a historian, is deadly. regarding dogmatism, check [the conflict] between protestants and catholics, if you still have questions. it's enough... it's obvious. between hutus and tutsis,or between aryans and jews. we don't need to discuss that at length.it's clear: dogmatism is deadly.
what is dogmatism? it is, just to repeat in conclusion,because it's very important to me: it's 100 percent identificationwith one's own thoughts and feelings that leads to a willingness to annihilate the otherbecause they believe or feel the wrong things. we should back away from that by using mindfulness.we should just say: my thoughts are one position. you can take a position. i have distinct positions.i am against nuclear energy. that's my position. it would never occur to me, to deny another personthe right to live, when he/she has another position. and that's very important: for the peace movement to never bedogmatic, but to remain open, playful and happy. does it require a superior goal? peace.
is peace to abstract maybe, because we don't know war? at least not here. is that the problem, maybe? i ask myselfif, because we've never experienced it... - our generation?- our generation. ... it could be so abstract we'd need a goal ormotivation so that peace is the end result? but maybe we don't even have tocall it "peace" exclusively. we may want to call it "change in consciousness".or "inner happiness". but that all has the same result. it has the same result. a whole variety of people are on their way,and then we meet up on top of the mountain. it's similar to mountain climbing, there aredifferent paths leading up, but i think...
what's most important - we talked about it: is that we follow with joy and enthusiasm what we really feel, what really interests us. how about looking at some numbers?i have one more number for closing, that i find so ridiculous, the idea to get involvedwith the peace movement should dawn on everybody now: per human being in the world, every single day225 $ are spent on war. - yes. i'll leave it at that..- every day! 225 $ per human being! and there are so many people, who don't even have 225 $ per year to live and survive. that shows clearly: arms expenditures are way to high.we should cease exporting war materials. this whole madness! if we simply continue with thatwe must not be surprised that we suffer a lot.
and maybe we have to think about helping peoplewho are working in the armaments industries to keep their jobs. maybe that could be a job for politicians tolook for alternatives and possibly bring solar energies and alternative energies forward byhaving everyone even in hamburg put solar panels on their roofs. money can be made with that, too! yes. if we take the pentagon budget of 600 billion dollars a yearand redirect it to the energy transition, we'd be done with the energy transition in 10 years. dr. ganser, a heartfelt thank you for the conversation! my pleasure!
- i enjoyed it a lot.- i did, too. i hope we'll see each other again no later than next year! - yes! we'll remain in touch.- mr. lehrich, thanks a lot. and thanks a lot to you for watching. i hope this conversationis an inspiration to you, to think about how you could do your bit for peace.i look forward to next time. till then: so long!