Solid Rock and Deep Blue Sea Petra and Sharm El Sheikh: Most of us know Petra, the “Pink City” in Jordan [1]. I’m pretty sure. Why am I so sure? Because the chances are good that films like Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Star Wars, Transformers (Revenge of the Fallen)… and co have not left us unscathed. There are scenes in all of them from this impressive location. [2] But that should not be our topic. Instead, we will look at some photos, recall some historical facts, and try to address some aspects of the confusing situation in the region from a Jordanian perspective. Th ..read more

calligraphed by Friedrich. Superior Haiku by Ashley: This article is about a haiku (俳句 or hokku) [1] and the creative process of turning it into calligraphy. The wonderful poem is by Ashley. A short video shows the creation process. In the extra-part there are details about calligraphy. Many people know Ashley because of his beautiful photos and appealing haiku, which he presents on his blog (A Different View). That’s how I came across him and after many mutual comments, something like an artistic closeness developed. Recently, when I was posting about my calligraphy, the devil suddenly hit m ..read more

newly painted calligraphy. red dao and black zen: This article is about creating my series “painted calligraphy” [samples] with more details this time. Which can be a bit boring if you’re not fundamentally interested in the topic of calligraphy. I recently received a call from someone who had bought some of my paintings many years ago. Now he found my profile on the Internet, browsed around a bit, and called me to ask if he could come over to buy a few works and told me the titles. Of course, I prepared a few more things, including some of the painted calligraphy. Although these are not his s ..read more

one of the best love poems. Birthday present from Confucius: So I’m 70 years old now. So what?! Really – so what? How should I react? Emotional? Annoy me that I’m an old fart now? But I was an old fart last year too – and the year before. Don’t even think about it? This is difficult because our culture is such that we pay attention to round birthdays. Since I don’t celebrate it, there are no gifts. This Zen Buddhist joke at the right fits very well: Being 20 in the 70s was more fun than being 70 in the 20s  - and a perfect birthday presentBirthday present from Confucius And yet I received a gi ..read more

and thoughts and concepts. Old and new works – mostly new. And it’s about more than a few brush strokes. When Chinese people see my calligraphy, especially the one written in the traditional style (portfolio), they usually shower me with praise and emphasize that they could never do it that well. The second part of this statement is true. Calligraphy is a very challenging discipline – and who has the time for it today? The first part of the statement should be qualified. I don’t think my classical calligraphy deserves any mention. But one can safely say that there are not so many “long noses ..read more

About being happy through the centuries. About being happy was not planned as a topic. But I promised a co-blogger, M, whose work I particularly admire, that I would write a few thoughts on the topic of being happy. Which of course can be seen as arrogance and I would therefore like to apologize for it in advance if this is the case. However, I would like to point out that I had the opportunity to study the topic intensively for quite some time. [1] Of course, these can only be fragments of thoughts to reflect on. But maybe one or two of them will be helpful – or fun. If someone feels fundamen ..read more

defy or embrace? 2024 – defy or embrace? When I say that I welcome the New Year in an optimistic Daoistic mood, it may sound surprising given the world situation. But before I spread my nonsense about it, I would like to wish Everyone a Happy New Year! Above all, health, happiness, confidence, and the necessary small change for it. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank my readers. Not only because you took the time to read my writing, which was perhaps challenging and confusing at times, but also because of your kindness in commenting on it. For me, the blog is one of the few exch ..read more

surprising stats and tensions. New yearbook is out. To keep things interesting, this blog article comes with two extras. I’ll start with the extras first, and for some reason, the main text will come at the end. Contrary to my previous habits, the main text takes up a few thoughts on current events. These days, concern and bewilderment are certainly not just my constant feelings. But some people have probably already had enough of it, so I pushed this part of the blog post back. Extra 1: My 2023 Yearbook is Ready Although I try to avoid Christmas as much as possible, I still have a few friends ..read more

Chinese Painting and Wu Wei. Wu Wei is a key concept in Daoism. It is an idea that originated in ancient Chinese philosophy and is of central importance to Daoism. However, the term is not always easy to understand, at least for Westerners. But understanding it can help us in many ways, not only in understanding Asian painting. (To make it easier to follow previous posts on this topic, I have indexed them on a new page Daoist Talks). Wu Wei (無為) is a Chinese term that literally means “non-action” or “non-doing” or in my opinion better: effortless action. For a long time, the West has accused t ..read more

and some remarks. Day dream job: Little boys, especially those of preschool age, often aspire to become firefighters or police officers. However, I’m not sure about girls’ future career aspirations. I’m also not sure what my vision was as a 5-year-old. Probably a demolitionist, since my father was one at the time. When I came across the Surrealists at the age of 17, my dream job shifted towards sleeping. The well-known photos of Robert Desnos, who always seemed to be sleeping, Andre Breton‘s book Communicating Vessels, which helped me to be able to partially control dreams, or Sigmund Freud wi ..read more