Blogs from Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands, Europe

First of all, I would like to wish everyone a warm welcome to a long-awaited year: 2012. Since the time I started blogging (half a year ago) about topics such as spirituality, religion, Occupy and psychedelic drugs, I have found that more and more people are questioning life. Some of them have turned their attention towards the Mayan Prophecy for 2012, others are maybe not so aware of the accuracy of the idea behind the Mayan forecasts. It is mainly because of popular culture that the idea of 2012 has been ridiculed. The movies 2012 and 2012 Doomsday show how the ancient knowledge has been manipulated and disrespected purely for the sake of profit. Luckily there is internet, one of the few Western inventions which can benefit our evolution and survival as a species, where a ... read more

The following text was written on 7 October, one day before inducing 10 grams of truffles (alternative to mushrooms), in a spiritual setting and mindset: Life’s simplest truth is that all human beings want happiness. The biggest stumbling block towards achieving lasting happiness, for many of us, is the mind. All spiritual leaders refer to the mind as the vital link towards eternal happiness. Eckhart Tolle, the great new-age guru, says that the mind and our thinking habits are like a disease. The wrong conditioning of the mind (mainly due to poor education, as discussed before) is at the root of our problems. Many people in the West, including myself, are now on the so-called ‘spiritual path’, because we feel that life is not giving us what we need. We are in dire need of inspiration, ... read more

During my final graduation presentation, I decided to talk about the Occupy movement and its critical success factor: The internet. Just like the revolutions in Northern Africa earlier this year, the success of Occupy is related to the use of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It all started with a small group of people with a certain vision, just like Mahatma Gandhi in India and Nelson Mandela in South Africa. But this time the change is reaching out to the entire world and the internet plays a vital role in this process. The revolutions that are currently going on worldwide shows how powerful the internet is in mobilizing people. The people involved with the protests are unhappy about the inequality in the world, the unfair divide between the rich and the poor. They also realized that the ... read more

after reaching our first destination, what was only 15 km away from home, and for me the first time ever staying in a 5 star hotel, we got welcomed with a nice bottle of prosecco in a junior suite at the 12 floor of Manhattan Hotel Rotterdam, after settling in we got to our dinner appointment and got spoiled by the kitchen and the wine selection Mr. Boudewine had to offer to us , later completly satisfied and a little dipsy we went of to bed , woke up with a slide hangover and a sunrise welcoming us, now after a good breakfast we are getting ready to hit the airport. thanks to all the staff of Manhattan Hotel to give us a good Start to our Journey.... read more

one week to go !! few more days of work and getting ready to take off ,, there is still a lot of things to do , so lets do it ,, ... read more

For those who don’t seem convinced about the problems in our society, I would like to discuss the educational system. Education is the most important thing in life. It is through education that we can develop a good heart, develop our creativity, gain social contacts, grow into the person we want to be. Education is used as the most important aspect of development work in third-world countries. Everywhere, we are building schools for children who live in extreme poverty. The emphasis is on education, education, education. So much that we don’t even see the problems in our own educational system. We learn what 1+1 is, how to spell happiness and what the capital of Brazil is. Yet, we don’t learn about life skills, leaving us totally unprepared to enter the real world (whereas education is supposed ... read more

As I was going for my weekly jogging hour the other day, I accidentally came across several Yoga centers and saw a poster for meditation classes. Coincidence? Studying through the Western approach to psychology, I came to know that there is a new type of therapy, which is called mindfulness. It is a natural way of healing depression (based on Eastern approaches to life). Coincidence? It is becoming more and more obvious that people are lost and are looking for answers to life’s deeper questions such as: Who am I, what is the purpose of my existence, what is the purpose of life. As mentioned in the previous blog, I feel that today’s youth has too many options and too many pressures in life to function healthy. At some stage in our lives, we have or ... read more