To be or not to be – It is a rare dilemma to see. The question of life is how? To burn in the here and now? Or to smoulder in fear of tomorrow? When I was really young I used to think I could work all the time. Resting was optional. Until at the age of 22 bipolar disorder with psychotic traits broke out. First I had a raging mania and then I was lying in bed all the time. I experienced two extremes that were both very difficult to bear. Ever since I have been trying to balance the extremes in order to have a more normal life. So I do burn, but just a little and then I continue the safe smouldering....

One can smell it here and sense it there: the big old fear these days is everywhere. A glance at ads telling us we are ugly, fat and old suffices to make us feel everything else but bold. Love, the heart’s fuel, is of another kind: it is a rare jewel, these days hard to find. Love is like a beggar in a busy street: few have time for him to meet. Fear, like a virus, is easy to catch, whenever two uncertain hearts match. Love on the other hand is more difficult to spread: only the open hearts can taste its bread. The darkness of fear can only prevail until the heart is under its veil. To the light of...

The only safety is the willingness to adapt to change. Some changes in life are expected. We are somehow prepared for them. When we are still in school, we know in a few years we will start looking for a job. A pregnant woman and her man expect many changes after birth. People ready to retire expect big changes too. They can prepare themselves by getting enough information and by changing their attitude. Yet some changes in life come unexpectedly. They are usually called bad luck or tragedy, not change. Western culture devotes a lot of time and energy to preventing all kinds of bad luck. Nevertheless...

Bible stories, in my opinion, like fairy tales should not be taken too literally. The point of the story stays the same, but the historical situation changes and one must live in the present tense. Let me give you an example. Some time ago I saw a theater show performed by local youth. The story was from the Bible. The wife of an alcoholic is told to love her husband even more and her intense love and forgiveness would cure him. Today we know that love only helps the ones that are not too deeply addicted. The majority needs professional help and usually a double ultimatum from the wife and from the...

I remember our math professor in high-school saying once: “I hope they never invent the formula for love. It would be the end of the world.” I got seriously scared for love at that point. Today, however, the fear is completely gone. We cannot even come up with a uniform definition of love, let alone a formula. Thousands of love novels and love poems are telling us about love. Thousands of authors have described love as it feels to them. And still there are new novels, poems and songs every day. Love cannot be fully put in words once and for all. We cannot define it like Newton defined the basic...