Looking beyond duality ends de-personification an experiment concluded with the crisp realization of personification in all while distracting issues are dishonest exclusivity whereas personification when all open and free in the sound of silence embodies not malice but maybe blindness when looking straight into a source of light not just reflections from formations but right into it will take time to balance then and see ever more what’s here and now in front of one’s nose the very divine always in one form or another personified or not present always.
“Saranam gacchami” — triple gem refuge
Mixolyd–Ionian (reduced) on F 172 Hz (rel. A 432 Hz) — chanting voices, tenor recorder, tanpura — 7:11
“The river cannot go back” by Khalil Gibran جبران خليل جبران
It is said that before entering the sea a river trembles with fear. She looks back at the path she has traveled, from the peaks of the mountains, the long winding road crossing forests and villages. And in front of her, she sees an ocean so vast, that to enter there seems nothing more than to disappear forever. But there is no other way. The river can not go back. Nobody can go back. To go back is impossible in existence. The river needs to take the risk of entering the ocean because only then will fear disappear, because that’s where the river will know it’s not about disappearing into the ocean, but of becoming the ocean.
Looking beyond duality — stars faded for the sun to rise
Sunrise in the making over the horizon of the Swiss Alps — January 2026 — near Bern, Switzerland
Reality theater or theater reality what’s the difference is there a difference one may be known the other less so as plain delusion or appearances but then we are a reality that is here and now thus come and gone always present preferably conscious with the divine heart all real awareness of the choice in total freedom in a passing show throughout worlds of mind and matter graced with insights what’s most essential in our loving heart.
121-string zither, American native flute, Celtic harp, and bird sounds by Kathia Haug Thalmann — büchel and miniature cornet by Hans Kurzen — tanpura, didgeridoo, cricket and bird sounds by Egon Kunkel — ocean drum by Hans Maurer —vichitra veena, bass, gongs, crotales, tingsha cymbals, bells, and bird sounds by Ulrico — summer 2014 — 13:09
Reality theater — illusion and conscious yearning
“We live in illusion and the appearance of things. There is a reality; we are that reality. When we understand this, we see that we are nothing; and being nothing, we are everything.”
— 1st Kalu Rinpoche quoted by Joseph Goldstein — public talk in Bern, Switzerland, Aug. 2025
“To define the most important thing is the most important thing. It is the first step. Until you do, your life does not even belong to you.”
“We come to spiritual practice because the deeper reality is already arising, and the first way it arises into our consciousness is as the spiritual drive itself and as the yearning. Yearning may not be the fruition of enlightenment, it may not be the recognition of enlightenment, but it is the arising of it. If it was not beginning to arise into consciousness, we would not have any yearning at all, and we would not care.”
— Adyashanti, The most important thing — discovering truth at the heart of life, pp. 8 and 40
Reality in nature’s theater on the forest stage
Small fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) — October 2025 — Frienisberg forest, Switzerland — photo by Karin Gsöllpointner
May we all find and nurture the divine spark in our heart!
A small child hides in my heart and firmly believes in fairies and gnomes in the good in people in everyone and all in peace and love recalling all good letting go the bad always open to give and receive what is without concepts plans or schemes free of I and mine dissolved the self to individualized consciousness spiritually free happy what is always best for you and all a small child in our heart.
“Iech körenes Glöggli” — I hear a little bell
PentaIon / PentaProLa (pentatonic major) on F and HexaMixLa on G# (rel. A 438.2 Hz) — sopranino recorder, crotales, voice — 7:26
Awareness, it’s like this — free from conditions
“Things change. So we are open to change. We’re not demanding that things change in any way that we want it to or that when it’s at a peak that we can keep it that way. That’s impossible. But you can be aware when you’re at your best or your worst, when you’re feeling good, inspired, and enthusiastic or despairing, depressed, and disheartened. This awareness is your refuge. Awareness of the changingness of feelings, of attitudes, of moods: stay with that, because it’s a refuge that is indestructible. It’s not something that changes. It’s a refuge you can trust in. This refuge is not something that you create. It’s not a creation. It’s not an ideal. It is very practical and very simple but easily overlooked or not noticed. Whenever you’re mindful [aware], you’re beginning to notice: it’s like this.”
“There is the unconditioned; therefore there is an escape from the conditioned. So then apply that to the here and now, to this moment. Time is an illusion, the past is a memory, the future is a possibility, but now is the knowing. In this knowing position, … escape from the conditioned is possible. We’re not getting rid of the conditioned, but we no longer react out of fear and desire to the conditions that are impinging on [us].”
— Ajahn Sumedho, The Sound of Silence, p. 209 & 244
Once upon a time a small child, and still a little kid at heart…
Ulrico as a small child — some time ago — Gstaad, Switzerland
Sound of silence to be heard and seen one for all and all for one he or she who hears will see the light and the love in all life a passing show on Earth all changing evolving in oh so many ways just as it is.
She or he who sees can hear it clearly the sound of silence in her or his heart while ‘his or hers’ dissolves as an illusion for in the end possession belongs to nature as he and she and all are learning to see.
One who hears and sees will value high the qualities and divinity of all others while most who don’t will look down upon the others as inferior beings to be controlled by power plays in megalomaniac possession.
How far does this have to go to dissolve itself eventually in all the space given to dry up as one hears the sound of silence sees and can step out of the way let it flow freely and resolve the way it is no matter what illusion and impermanence as one may see and hear the sound of silence to be heard and seen one for all and all for one he or she who hears will see the light and the love in all life.
“Permanent impermanence” — heart remediation blues
PentaBlue on D (rel. A 438.2 Hz) — 8-string guitar, crotales, nepali cymbals, tanpura — 7:43
The way it is — a closer look
“I was standing out on this evening and looking at the dusk, at the trees, … just contemplating … that trees are conscious. There is a certain level of consciousness in all life, in the fact that there is receptivity to the environment; and trees are very receptive to the environment they are in. One begins to change the perception of mind to one of a consciousness that pervades everything. Then it’s not just a human mind, there’s something more to it. But in Buddhism it is never named, you never try to form a concept about it. Instead you contemplate the totality, the whole sensitivity, the sensory realm and what it is really about. And that we have to contemplate from our own ability to be conscious and to feel but not see it in terms of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ — …”
Do you hear the sound of silence?
“With the sound of silence, some people hear fluctuations of sound or a continuous background of sound. So you can contemplate it, you notice that — can you notice it…? You’re using this sound of silence as something to remember to turn to and notice — because it’s always present here and now. And there’s that which notices it.
“There is the desire of the mind to call it something, to have a name for it, have it listed as some kind of attainment or project something on to it. Notice that, the tendency of wanting to make it into something. Somebody said it’s probably just the sound of your blood circulating in your ears, somebody else called it ‘the cosmic sound’, ‘the bridge to the Divine’. That sounds nicer than ‘the blood in your ears’. It might be the sound of the Cosmos or it might be that you’ve got an ear disease. But it doesn’t have to be anything; it’s what it is, it’s ‘as that’. Whatever it is, it can be used as reflection because when you’re with that, there is no sense of self, there is mindfulness, there is the ability to reflect.
“So it is more like a straight edge that you can go to, to keep you from going wobbly. It is something you can use to compose yourself in daily life…”
Do you listen to the sound of silence?
“The significant offering of the Buddhist teaching lies in what we call non-dualism. It’s the ‘neither-nor’ approach to philosophical questions. … “Now what does that do, as a practical experience, when you let things go and they cease? What’s left, what’s the remainder? … “When the perception of self ceases and all the doctrines, all the inspired teaching, all the wise sayings cease, there is still the knower of the cessation. And that leaves us with a blank mind. What is there to grasp?”
“Open to the silence and contemplate it, learning from it rather than running away from it to look for a warm mother or a safe father. “Then one way you can describe this Holy Life is a growing up of an individual being to that maturity where we no longer linger in the warmth of adolescence or childhood, or in the pleasures of the world.”
The shining through of the divine
“In our lives as separate beings, we relate to things. As individual beings, we have relationship to things, we have to meet and contact and react or respond to objects all the time for the rest of our lives. On the physical level, we have to respond to each other’s presence in some way, either ignoring or embracing or paying respects or cursing. In relationship, when there’s no self, then there is this divinity that manifests. So you can see that the human form is a form for the divine.”
“Five billion human beings who can manifest the divine in their daily lives, through metta, karuna, mudita, upekkha. That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Sounds rather nice. “But five billion human beings manifesting greed, hatred and delusion is a pretty grim picture. Yet we don’t have the right to comment on them: this one here, this is what we have, this is what we can work on. Don’t worry about the others. This one here is what you can actually develop through reflection and through meditation.”
— The Way It Is, Ajahn Sumedho, pp. 102-103, 109, 115, 117, 157, 165
Mostly silent songs of the trees
Rising sun behind silent trees casting their shadows — March 2025 — Chanhassen, Minnesota
The good of religions and faith The good of Muhammad and Moses The good of Jesus and Buddha The good of Brahma and Tao The good of God and all The good of life and love The good of sound and light The good of spirit and soul The good of being conscious The good of silence and words The good of thoughts and feelings The good of seeing and hearing The good of being you and me The good of reality and illusion The good of conflict and peace The good of body and mind The good of here and now The good of duality and unity The good of breathing in and out The good is my religion and faith!
“Be here now – ༀ་ཨཱཿ་ཧཱུྃ – Ōṃ āḥ hūṃ” — meditation anchor
chanting bass voice, whistle breath, big gong — 6:48
Concentration on the good of religions and teachings
“Concentration is of three kinds: the concentration practiced [ordinarily], concentration which clearly discerns and the excellent concentration of the Tathāgatas. The concentration practiced [ordinarily]. When you are attached to the experience of bliss, clarity and absence of thought in meditation and intentionally seek them, or your practice is colored by any affinity for experiences, that is called the concentration practiced [ordinarily]. Clearly discerning concentration. When you are free from any attachment to meditative experiences and are no longer fascinated by concentration, but still cling to emptiness as an antidote, that is called clearly discerning concentration. The excellent concentration of the Tathāgatas. When you no longer have any concept of emptiness as an antidote, but remain in a concept-free concentration on the nature of reality, that is called the excellent concentration of the Tathāgatas.”
“Find the essential point common to all the teachings and practice that way.”
— Words of my perfect teacher by Patrul Rinpoche, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group, pp. 250-251 & 259
The good of constellations hidden behind clouds
Fragments of Gemini and Auriga with Capella over Blüemlisalp in the cool of night — February 2025 — Kiental, Switzerland
