thought of the day

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. If you take a look out of our left windows, you will see that one engine just dropped off. That screeching collection of junk is now earthbound for that spectacular vista below, as are we. 

I also regret to inform you that the coffee machine in first class has turned into a firestorm, incinerating our barista, Pedro. Espresso specialties will not be available for the time being. 

Second class is experiencing a complete breakdown of cabin electronics. If you are feeling left in the dark, do not worry. So does everyone else. We are currently working on a solution. In the meantime, please use the light of the flaming inferno in first class to navigate the walkways.

Continue reading “Crash Landing”

Self-delusion is rarely considered a good quality, for drastic differences between our perception and good old reality could at best be read as a lack of self-awareness and at worst pose a serious risk for our well-being.

In mild cases of being somewhat smitten by our own self, the common victim is not ourselves but the people in our immediate surroundings who have to endure our cringe-inducing display.

In more severe cases, one finds the narcissist or our 21^st Century sufferers of furor principum.

But it is not these cases I am thinking about today, but those at the very other end of the spectrum. Those, who, though capable of shining a mighty light, are somehow dimmed by the world or, even worse, their own perspective on things. 

Continue reading “Barbed Wire”

… or Here Be Dragons is an old phrase said to adorn those parts of a map that lie outside the known, traversable world. 

The historical use of the phrase or the exact wording is debatable, with the Lenox Globe of the early 1500s long having been the only reliable use of the phrase and the Ostrich Egg Globe only recently coming to light.

Yet the practice of filling blank geography with monsters was so widespread and the phrase so memorable that it has become a well-known saying whenever someone talks about the dark and dangerous corners of the world. 

Those places where the warming light of your civilization fades and you cannot rest assured about the safety of your quivering skin.

Continue reading “Hic Sunt Dracones”

Do you have an unfinished novel hidden away in some obscure folder? Or a business idea that you once sketched on some scrap of paper during a particularly long call? How is your newest arts & crafts passion going – are you still interested in woodworking?

If any of these questions made you flinch, there is no need to feel ashamed. I am the master of starting projects that eventually fade away, pushed into the mists of time by everyday chores, changing interests, or sheer lack of time. 

Reflecting on several unfinished novels, a YouTube channel, and multiple iterations of this blog, I am beyond blaming anyone for their lack of stick-to-it-ness. Yet, the dynamic of generating productive and fulfilling activities only to abandon them piques my interest.

Continue reading “A Toast to Untold Stories”

… is the title of an essay written by the American psychologist and philosopher William James in 1899.  

At its core stands the assumption that we, as beings endowed with rich inner worlds and workings, often fail to fully grasp that whoever we meet is a fully realized world themselves. 

125 years later, the notion still stands and can easily be observed by how we humans treat each other in our daily dealings. 

Continue reading “On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings”