Spirituality: "So, what's your religion now?"

"So, what's your religion now?" A question I barely understood because of all the noise around us. We were in an Irish pub in Brussels, right after Spain won from France in the Eurocup. Red and yellow flags everywhere, excited Spanish girls and boys and the occasional vuvuzela interrupting the music. Yup, they won alright.

Marco, the person who asked the question, invited me to this pub to have a drink and catch up. It's been a long time since I've seen him. More than a year and a half since we last met, I think. He's an old friend of mine. We met each other more than 10 years ago. Still can't believe how quick time passes. I was 15 then and started to explore the pubs in Leuven. He became one of my drinking buddies. Every weekend we went to the Irish pub: Thomas Stapletons, where I drank my first Guinness. The pubs dark woodwork carved itself pleasantly into my memory over the years, varnished with lots of nice stories. It's still my place to go when I happen to be in Leuven. I'm pretty sure I'm one of there oldest and youngest regulars at the same time. I guess it even influenced me in my decisions while travelling. I think my interest for the Celtic culture originated here.

Anyhow, back to the question.  He knew I was into spirituality and that my opinion on this tends to change over time. Well, very good question and difficult to answer because I don't 'follow' a certain religion anymore. I've called myself a Taoist and a Buddhist in the past, but doesn't apply anymore. I think I answered something like this "I follow the essence that you can find in all religions. I follow that which promotes inclusiveness, not exclusiveness,  and lets you love your fellow men unconditionally." After that I gave my opinion about how religions actually have a lot in common and don't have to counteract each other. After that explanation it occurred to me that this was perfect stuff for the start of a 'spirituality' page on my blog, so here it is.


"Then what is this essence that you can find in all religions you're talking about?" you might ask. Well, there is a point where all religions meet I have noticed. All believe in something that is everywhere all the time. It has been given many different names, be it Jahweh, Jehovah, God, Tao, Allah, Brahman, etc. It is that which is all. Everything that exists and non-exists, everything that is and isn't. I prefer to call it Oneness. I do believe this exists. As a matter of fact you can even scientifically say that it exists. If you would add everything up that exists plus the non-existence surrounding it, then you would have exactly that what I'm talking about. If you call that God or Tao or Brahman I agree with you and can say that I do believe in that which you give that name. I believe in God, Tao and Brahman. Important to note here is that we can't grasp this Oneness with our mind, though. The Oneness is way too complex to be grasped by an analytical instrument like the mind, so it is only a mere simplified concept we have in our heads when we think about this Oneness. The same applies when we think  about God, Tao or Allah. It cannot be grasped and thus cannot be put into rules.

Yet this is what happened over the thousands of years with most religions. The mind took over, started analyzing everything and tried to put everything into boundaries. Some religions personified the Oneness. In most cases it became a man. Sometimes even an old man with a grey beard on a cloud. Do I believe in this? Simple answer: No. I do not believe in personification for the simple reason that this is the mind at work, trying to bind the Oneness to a graspable concept.
I find it even ironic, because in most of these religions it is called blasphemy to make an image of the one they worship. Well, I don't see the difference between painting an image and making a mental image. An image is an image. As long as you try to grasp it with your mind, it's an image.

It can never be grasped. It can only be experienced. Here we enter Buddhism and Taoism, which leans more towards the action of 'non-grasping', 'non-thinking'. For them it is more important to experience the Oneness by conscious observation. Being conscious is that which precedes thinking. By not thinking you'll stop analyzing everything, so you'll stop to give everything characteristics. When this happens, everything becomes one and you can experience the Oneness.

To summarize the above in short: I believe there is a Oneness, but it can only be experienced. It can not be grasped by the mind. This is where all religions come together in my opinion. They may all have other ideals, opinions, images and rules, but to me these are only the mind at work that tries to put boundaries on that which can not be put into boundaries and I do not agree with it because you exclude by doing this.

When believing and experiencing this Oneness inclusiveness arises. Something that is unlimited can not exclude anything. It includes everything and everyone, no matter who they are or what they have done. This calls forth a pleasant 'side-effect' of being conscious: unconditional love. To love others no matter what because you see them for who they really are: a dynamic space in which emotions, thoughts, opinions, an ego, and many other things occur just like you. 

Ecology: The start of an ecological mindset

"I studied business management, marketing for two years." I mostly get raised eyebrows when I tell this to people, because most people who got to know me now really don't expect that. Yet, the reason why I did only two years instead of the full three years to finish the course and get a bachelor degree was because of the lack of ethics involved. Everything was reduced to numbers, including people, and the only thing that counted was the profit of the company of which you were making a study case. After two years of mindless studying my conscience couldn't take it any more. I still remember that moment very vividly. "What the h*ll am I doing?" I asked myself. "Why on earth would I go down a path that would make me regret the things I will be doing in the future?" That moment I made the decision to not go further down that path. I still remember how I literally fell a weight being lifted off my shoulders.

That moment was the beginning of an intense period full of change. I quit my studies and started to go in the direction my conscience was taking me. I really didn't know where it would take me but it felt right. This direction appeared to be very nature friendly. I soon became interested in everything that had to do with ecology, from nutrition to architecture, from agriculture to mobility. During a period of several months I started reading everything on this topic that I could get my hands. Not much later I moved out of my parents house, to go live in the Bereklauw for a short time. A wonderful experience that strengthened my new ecological mindset.

Most of my family still regret that I quit my studies, but I consider it one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. It has enriched my life in ways I couldn't imagine. It was a decision made purely from the heart on which followed a big leap into the unknown. I made a similar decision not too long ago, which made me the traveler I am now. It are those decisions that have the strongest impact on your life, in my opinion. They can be very confronting at times, but it's worth it. Following your heart is always worth it. If you feel you're in a situation where your heart is being neglected and your conscious acts up, I would suggest to listen to them and act accordingly. I'm not saying it won't be difficult, I certainly had some hard times back then, but you're staying true to yourself that way and that's what's most important.

My ecological activities have now changed because of my travelling. I used to volunteer in quite a few organisations which I sadly can't do anymore. On the other hand, now I sometimes encounter other people who also have an ecological mindset, which is also a way of spreading the green word. I learn from them and they learn from me. I also always cook vegan when I'm staying with people and travel as ecologically as possible.

Productivity: Consciousness, Kaizen and Simplicity

During the many years of becoming a more productive person I learned a couple of things, next to making many mistakes. During those years some themes kept recurring, which are listed below.

Consciousness
This is by far the most important aspect of all. Be conscious of yourself, the others and the environment and see how they interact with each other. What kind of influence do your actions have on you, others, the environment and vice versa? Do they have a positive impact or a negative one? Observe. Be critical. Ask the right questions.

Certainly in these times it's important to look at the social and ecological impact our actions have. We live in a high-tech, globalized world which has brought us many wonderful feats, like for example the internet: a fast, efficient way to communicate with all our brothers and sisters from all over the planet. Yet these same high-tech and globalization also have the potential to magnify our actions in a negative or positive direction. Sadly for the last couple of generations it has been in a negative, destructive direction. We are destroying nature at a faster pace than it can recover. We are killing people and animals at a rate and in ways unimaginable. Because of this behavior the world has become unbalanced and we will very soon see the consequences of our behavior at their fullest.

"Do I want this? Do I want to take more than I can give back from this world? Do I want to leave this planet behind with a negative or a positive impact and what actions do I need to take for that?" These are the questions that I ask myself literally every day.

Productivity without these questions, without this conscious awareness, becomes a force of unbalanced destruction. Without these questions it only becomes more efficient in its destructiveness when it tries to be more productive. It becomes merely a short term gain for a handful of people, but a long term loss for everybody. Can we even speak of productivity when the greater whole has become obsolete and the effects it has on others and the environment become trivial?

Kaizen
"Kaizen" is Japanese for "improvement" or "change for the better". It is a practice that focuses on continuous improvement on all levels. It is a way to continuously become more efficient whenever and wherever you can.

Simplicity
With simplicity I mean the opposite of complexity. Complex systems almost always use more energy than simple systems. If we implement complex systems in our lives, they will often take a lot of energy of us. Energy is something very valuable when you want to accomplish something, so it is best to do this with a system as simple as possible, so you can use the energy you saved for other things. The fastest way to get from one certain point to another is through a straight line. Try to get to the essence of what this straight line is and apply it. This is achieved through the way of the minimalist: Keep subtracting unnecessary things until you can't subtract any further. What is left is the essence.


Combine these three elements and you'll be surprised the impact it has on your life and how much possibilities open up for you.

Food: Nutrients

Your body needs nutrients to feed itself. There are 2 types of nutrients: macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients are needed in larger amounts as opposed to micronutrients, which are needed in smaller quantities.

There are 3 major macronutrients: carbohydrates, proteins and fats.  

Carbohydrates are made up of types of sugars that provide energy for our body when digested. This may come to you as a surprise, but carbohydrates are NOT essentiel nutrients. They are a source of energy, but we can live perfectly without them, because we can provide ourselves with energy from other sources, like proteins and fat. 

Carbohydrate sources: fruits, sweets, soft drinks, breads, pastas, beans, potatoes, bran, rice, cereals, etc.

Proteins are the building blocks of our body. They are made of amino acids and take care of the growth and maintenance of our body. Taking the right amount of proteins is very important when exercising because it repairs muscle tissue. They can also serve as a source of energy when needed. 

Protein sources: whole grains, pulses, legumes, soy, fruits, nuts, seeds. etc.

Fats consist of fatty acids and play a vital role in maintaining healthy skin and hair, insulating the body against shock, maintaining body temperature and healthy cell function.

Fat sources: peanut oil, soya bean oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, coconut oil, olive oil, coconut butter, nuts, seeds, etc.

More info added later!

Staff spinning: The basics

So you want to start with staff spinning? Wonderful! Let me help you on your way with covering some of the basics first. :)

Material

Well, obviously you need a staff to practice with. When you're just starting it doesn't really matter if you have a professional staff or just a broomstick. The techniques stay the same, so if you don't want to spent a lot of money find yourself a broomstick or something similar. 

Later on, when you progress it's maybe worth to invest in a better quality staff because some techniques require a certain length, weight or even material, certainly when you advance into contact moves. You can buy one or make one yourself. If you want some more information on this, just ask!

Theory 

Basically there are 5 planes in which you can move your staff: The front and back plane, the left and right plane and the top plane. When you start learning a technique it's a good idea to know in what plane or planes you're working in. It will make it easier to learn the move and make it look better when you consciously try to keep it in that plane. In the next chapter you will see a perfect example of moves in a certain plane: the rotors.

Rotors

The rotor is one of the first moves to learn as it's a good way to get to know the different planes.
Rotor (front plane)

Side rotor (side plane)
Rotor behind the back (back plane)

Helicopter rotor (top plane)
If you want to see all these moves in one go, see this playlist

Figure 8
Once you get used to working in the different planes, it's time to try to transition from one plane to another. Figure 8's are great for that.
Figure 8 (left and right plane)
Reverse figure 8 (left and right plane)

More info will be added later! ;)

Music: How music became a passion

How music became one of my passions? Well, this is the story in a nutshell of how the musical preferences that I now have came to be:

An interest in music runs in the family, so have been exposed to it from an early age. My father sings in a choir and plays the guitar and piano. My mother also sings. One of my uncles plays in a band. Now one of my brothers plays guitar, drums and sings in a band. My other brother raps in a hiphop group. I play jaw harp, didgeridoo and sing. I was also in a choir, but this sadly enough isn't possible anymore because of my travelling.    

For me it all started in the mid 90's. Techno, house and dance were very popular back then and some of those tunes still take me on a trip down memory lane. Things like 'Carlos - The silmarilla', 'McKenzie ft. Jessy - Innocence', 'Dj Visage - Formula 1', 'Pat Krimson - Paranoid in Moscow' and 'Groovezone - ICU' still bring a smile to my face every time I hear them.

During the early years of my secondary school I took art lessons, which brought me into contact with more alternative people who listened to other stuff I was used to. It was here that I got to know things like Nirvana, Radiohead and The Offspring. I got to know the radio station 'Studio Brussel', which I then considered very alternative. It was around this period that I started purchasing cd's.

I still remember one of the first cd's I bought on my own: 'Mortal Kombat: Annihilation'. I was a big Mortal Kombat fan back then (still am actually), but I never thought this movie soundtrack would have such a profound impact on my life. The cd was a true revelation to me, a portal to a new world, as if it were. It was the first time I came into contact with the term "industrial", which would steer me in a certain direction that I never could have imagined back then.

Later on, when I started to study Arts in secondary school, Nu metal became the new kid on the block, with Korn, Papa roach and Linkin park as the most popular. Around this period some of my peers introduced me to System of a down and Rammstein, which I really liked. Rammstein I already knew from the Mortal Kombat cd, but I never really liked the song that was on there. It was also during this period that I started to go out more and came into contact with some friends who always took me to The Irish Pub: Stapletons, still my favorite pub to this day. There I got to know my first folk. With my musical preferences leaning towards Nu metal and a beginning tendency towards industrial metal, like Rammstein, and a hint of folk I left secondary school to enter my first year of university.

In my first year of university I studied Archaeology. It was in this year that I met Andy, a dear friend of mine with whom I still meet up when I'm in Belgium. One of the first times I saw him, he was wearing a 'The Offspring' pullover, so I asked him about his musical preference. Since then we became friends with the same insatiable hunger when it comes to exploring the musical realms. He has been a major influence on my musical preferences and still is. 

One of the biggest turning points in my further expansion of musical taste was my very first Bunkerleute, a monthly gothic party in Leuven, my hometown. Andy told me he was going to a gothic party where they occasionally play industrial. I really didn't know what to expect, so I came along out of curiousity. It blew my mind. Never did I go to a party with music like this. So dark and gloomy, yet so diverse. I was sold when they played Rammstein and even perplexed when they played 'The Neon judgement - TV treated'. I knew this song, although another version of it! It was 'Groovezone - ICU', but a slower version of it! I ran up the stairs to the dj booth to ask the dj with the sinister name The Darker Angel what remix this was. With a puzzled look he said "This isn't a remix...". Little did I know that this song was the original and the other one was the remix...

For the next years I was hooked to this music. I rarely skipped these parties and went to other cities for other gothic parties as well. The diversity in this subculture was so refreshing! One of the first bands I got to know was Corvus corax, a mediaeval band, which I've recently seen live. Best concert ever! Mediaeval was the first genre I explored, propably because it somehow resembled folk, together with industrial. Other genres like dark wave, dark ambient, futurepop, EBM, punk and ethereal soon followed and became appreciated. Later on I started to explore genres connected to other subcultures like breakcore and psytrance.

Residing in the gothic scene led to another big turning point in my life: Moving out of my parents house. I went to live together with some of my gothic friends in the center of the city in a house we conveniently called 'DWS5' after the street name and number. It was through my girlfriend back then, that I first started to appreciate acoustic guitar. That was because of the movie 'Into the wild' we once saw together. Fantastic soundtrack, with beautiful acoustic guitar played by Eddie Vedder and Kaki king. It's also one of the movies that influenced me to become the traveller I am now.

It was during that time that I started to play didgeridoo and jaw harp and started singing in a choir. I became more and more interested in making music myself, instead of only listening to it. The diversity of instruments and sounds coming from these opened a whole new world to explore. I still haven't come to the point where I really make the music that I want to make, but that point is coming closer and closer.

My recent travels made me aware of the uniqueness of Dutch and Flemish as a language and have made me to become more appreciative towards songs sang in my own language, especially when it is sang in dialect. Things like 'Wannes Van De Velde - Ik wil deze nacht in de straten verdwalen', 'Louis Neefs - Mijn vriend Benjamin' and even 'Katastroof - Spauwen is gevaarlijk' certainly lie closer to my heart now.

All of this brings me to the point where I am now: appreciative to almost all genres that cross my path and exhilarated when something truly original and creative comes along. I love it when certain bands fuse two genres together. A couple of examples that I absolutely adore:
'Dark soho - Unusual ceremony' (psytrance + metal)
'Sephiroth - Wolftribes' (dark ambient + tribal)
'This morn' omina - (The) Ninth key [CCF]' (industrial + tribal)
'Les Ramoneurs de menhirs - Dans gwadek 2' (mediaeval + punk)

Besides that there are also these few very talented artists who can create a certain atmosphere with their music like non other can. For example:
'Burial - Forgive'
'Wardruna - Heimta thurs'
'The Kilimanjaro darkjazz ensemble - Shadows'
'A silver Mt. Zion - Sit in the middle of three galloping dogs'
'Dj shadow - Stem/long stem'

There are many more artists who have had a profound impact on my musical preferences. You can find them in my Grooveshark playlists on the 'music' page.

I still find it truly astonishing what an effect music can have on a human being. Recently I became more interested in the theory behind music and I hope to post some articles about it as well.

What my musical dreams are at the moment? Learn to play the guitar, learn to beatbox and some day throat sing together with an Inuit.

Travels: How my travels started

It seems only a couple of weeks ago that I started travelling. The end of october 2011, right after my birthday, I started walking from my house to Santiago de Compostela. Little did I know that I would never see the Spanish border during those 6 months I had set aside for this. I even barely made it to the French border for that matter. When I look back at it now I see this period as the beginning of a new chapter in my life. The beginning of a different lifestyle: the lifestyle of a traveller.

In those 6 months I met many wonderful people and saw many beautiful places. In a nutshell what I did:

I walked to the border of Belgium from my hometown, Leuven. When I was a little bit over the border, in Valenciennes, I couldn't go any further for several reasons: I packed my backpack way to heavily, so my legs and shoulders were really sore, up to the point that I had to rest every half hour of walking. Also I was using Couchsurfing (CS) to spend the night and I couldn't find any hosts close enough in the north of France.

So after recuperating for about a week in Mons, I had to change my plans. I decided to stop walking and explore France a little bit, starting with Lille. After a couple of days of sight seeing I went to Paris. Although a big, busy, expensive city it turned out to be a wonderful experience and I stayed there for several months. A couple of weeks with Elias, one of my friends from Leuven who lives there, and a few months with Laurel, who I met through CS, and is now like a little sister to me.

After being some time in Paris I was drawn to England for some reason. I really wanted to go there, so I booked my train ticket and went to London. I stayed there for more than a week after which I took the train to Cambridge to visit Dan, a couchsurfer that I met in Paris, who was studying there. Turned out to be a great experience!

In Cambridge I decided to surprise Chelsea, a CS friend whose birthday it was, to show up at her party. I booked my way back to Paris, where the party was. I stayed there again for a while, before my thoughts were going to Bretagne, a region I really wanted to visit.

I started in Rennes, stayed there fore about a week before moving on to Vannes, where I wanted to visit another cs'er that I met in Paris. After Vannes, I went to Quimper to then finish the trip by going to Brest. My 6 months were nearly gone, so from there I went back to Paris for a couple of days and then took the train back to Brussels and Leuven.

When I think back of those months I still get a smile on my face. It was a superb way to see how wonderfully spontaneous life can unfold. It are those little things in life that you would never have suspected to happen that I like so much. Some things from the top of my head: Drinking Russian wodka under the Eiffel tower with a Polish guy, going into the catacombs with an Australian guy, going to a famous cemetery with an American girl, going to a Canadian bar with an Hawaian guy, eating chinese food with a Canadian girl, go to a psytrance party with a portuguese and a turkish girl, going to a squat with a Serbian guy, etc. Those things and many more I will never forget.

Now, after those 6 months, I am actually still travelling! It has actually become a lifestyle that I wouldn't want to trade in for all the money in the world! :)