Darfur

Shame on us. Shame on us all for being passive bystanders. In this very moment, people are getting slaughtered in Darfur. As many as 300 000 may already have been murdered, and 2 million is on the run. The UN calls it "events similar to genocide". That is bulls**t. It doesn't really matter whether it exactly matches the criteria set in the Genocide Convention or not; when 300 000 people is murdered it is genocide and nothing else.

We are all keen to talk about how we failed to stop the genocide in Rwanda a decade ago, and that it must never happen again. But it is. Right now, right in front of our eyes. And we still do nothing. Sure, we send some food and other stuff to aid those in the refugee camps, but that does not stop the killing, does it? The African Union has sent 7000 troops to protect the people, but these troops are ill equipped and can't do much. However, it is worth noticing that the first 300 troops sent to Darfur was from Rwanda. A bit ironic, maybe. It is estimated that some 70 000 well equipped troops (that most likely means western troops) would be needed to stop the bloodshed. USA is kinda busy in Iraq, and really don't have will to engage in another big scale operation at the moment, especially in a low-priority country like Sudan. Who cares about some poor black people in a strange country in Africa.... The EU is quite good at condemning the massacres, but it ends there. No action is really taken. Shame on us.

Oil peak

Oil peak is the term for the time when the world will be at its maximum oil production. From then on the production will dwindle, and oil will be in shortage. It is true that our oil reserves never will run out, but there will be a time when the remaining oil will be so hard to get that it will be practically impossible to continue. As we rush towards this point in time, oil prices will surge. In short; the oil peak will come (probably very soon, within 10 years), and what happens then is depending on how prepared we are to live in a oil-free society. As of now we are facing disaster on a grand scale. Our economy will collapse, our logistics will collapse, our food production will collapse. Not many realize that 80% of all fertilizer used in farming is made from natural gas and oil. This mean that when we don't have oil, we don't have food. According to a book I have read on the subject, farm production might go down 75%. Also, all modern farms are totally mechanized, and thus even more dependent on oil.

The age of oil will have lasted for about 200 years. In this extremely short time we will have depleted the oil reserves, polluted the planet and overpopulated it immensely. We will also have robbed our children of their right to natural resources and a clean planet. The short-sighted western culture will have destroyed itself. The party lasted for 200 years, the hangover will be infinite. Future generations might very well curse us, the oil generations, because they will be the ones that have to pay the bill for the party. Sure, we have pollutions today - but we also have the benefits of the oil. Coming generations will be stuck with the pollutions but no benefits, all thanks to the mad short-sightedness today.

Who do we think we are? Masters of the universe? What gives us the right to do this to the world and coming generations? What gives us the right to destroy the planet we live on? We will indeed be cursed by the still unborn.

Running

I've been out running almost daily the last couple of weeks. It is awesome when you see and feel the results! Usually when I decide to pick up the running, I get bored with it after a week or so. But not this time! It feels great, and I am really eager to get out every day. Sometimes I wanna run two times a day, and have to constrain myself not to do it (mustn't overdo it). I have also been taking creatine the last week, which seems to be exactly what my body needed to really develop. I'm able to run a 30% longer distance now than just a week ago, and I do it faster. It feels really good!

Sentimental

I am a sentimental sucker. At the moment I am listening to Eva Cassidy singing "time after time" - a song that drives me madly sentimental. Every time I hear it - if I am in the mood - I start crying. Then I'm always thinking of a lot of different memories, and feeling extremely sentimental. Sometimes it seems like all my experiences and memories get a certain sentimental glow after a year or so, but if the experience was very special, a few months will be enough. This time I am thinking of when I was in New York this spring... And feeling the blues. I miss it like hell. Being there with one of my best friends, having a blast. Memories like that are killing me! I love them, but they kill me. When I get in this mood, everything in the present time seems so pale... I hate it, but I cant help it.

The axial age

The axial age is a name for the millennia prior to our common era, that is 1000 BC up until Christ. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this era for the development of the world as we know it. Most of our beliefs, values and philosophy date from this time. Buddhism, Confucianism, monotheism (through Zoroaster), Judaism, the classical Greek philosophy, hinduism... they all date from this era, and have had amazing impact on the world.

One could almost claim that individuality stem from this time, as most of these new teachings emphasize personal salvation through contemplation and finding inner peace - not making sacrifices or empty rituals to please some static Gods somewhere. The focus is slightly shifted from the collective to the individual, even though a lot of these teachings also contain some concept of the good collective.

My theory is this;
Man lived a quite good and satisfying life as hunter- gatherers prior to the agricultural revolution. This state of freedom and satisfaction still lingers in most cultures and myths as the "good old days" - paradise and its equivalents in different cultures and religions. Somehow we have a collective memory of this time and also a collective desire to go back to that way of life.
But, as we very well know, we began to settle down and became farmers instead. Probably as a response to overpopulation. Here is my point: I think this transformation was incredibly traumatic for mankind, and we still haven't recovered from the shock. The forbidden fruit that Eve ate was not one of knowledge - but rather the first cultivated fruit. From this moment on Adam was bound to the soil in labor. From this moment the concept of ownership of things and land was also introduced, which also is unnatural for man. From this Defining Moment on (yes, I know that it was not one moment, but it is a good figure of speech) we are all slaves. Basically all evil stems from this defining moment. Prior to this there was nothing to wage war over. (No, I don't think that there never were any wars or evil prior to this, but not ever at the scale we have seen from that Moment on.) Hobbes was wrong, the natural state was not a state of Bellum omnium contra omnes - the war of all against all. No, this state that he feared so deeply is rather what we have lived in ever since that Defining Moment. Hobbes lived in the world he feared, and we still do. The celebration of the Heroic Warrior still defines our society, and our whole system of states and hierarchies is created for war.

The division of time in stone age, bronze age and so on is unsatisfactory and reflects our obsession with materials and materialistic values. Rather, I would like to divide modern mankind's time like this; first the time of hunting and gathering "the good natural state", secondly the time after the Defining Moment when we became farmers - "the first agricultural age", thirdly the time from the axial age up until the industrial revolution - "the second agricultural age" and fourthly the industrial age, which finally and utterly completes the process of alienating humans from the natural state, nature and the nature of mankind. This age is also the age where we (try to) replace all spiritual needs with things and materialism, and where ownership of land and resources is valued higher than the existence of life itself. The result? Prozac and hydrogen bombs.

We have created a world in which we really, really shouldn't live in. We are in a constant, collective state of shock and therefore we do not act rationally and reasonable.

The bad news is that there is probably no way what so ever to go back. As soon as the concept of ownership were introduced humanity were forever altered. This is the original sin which we have all inherited from Eve and Adam (or whatever we choose to call our ancestors).

The good news is that we might be heading in to, or already experience, the beginning of a new axial age. Just as the old faiths in the first axial age were more and more seen as anachronisms, people all over the world are also beginning to reevaluate their faiths and realize that we live in a time that might need to redefine it's beleif systems and values. Is there a life-cycle system of faiths? The faiths that were created after the Defining Moment lived for some 2-3000 years up until the axial age. That was 2-3000 years ago. Maybe we will define the beliefsystem and values that will be defining the next 2-3000 years? The development of mankind might be in a pace where all faiths must be redefined every two to three millennia.

Buddha, Zoroaster, Socrates, Plato, Jesus, Confucius - they were the ones who changed the world during the last axial age. Who will our new "messiahs" be? Ghandi and Mandela? Not impossible, but not likely. Their deeds were maybe a bit to profane. And in a way they do not mark a very significant break with society outside their own countries. No, I think they might be inspirations for the ones who will define our axial age, but not be the ones who define it.

Tallinn

Been to Tallinn for a couple of days. My friend Pierre who lives there visited Sweden and offered me to go back with him and stay in his apartment for a few days. Tallinn is really a city of stark contrasts. The old town is truly amazing, very well preserved and beautiful. A bit too touristy though. At the outskirts you find big Soviet-style concrete neighbourhoods where only russians live, very depressing places but still fascinating to visit. But the contrast between these areas, the old town and the Soviet suburbs, is mindblowing. It is hard to imagine that it is the same country. I enjoyed the stay, and will surely go back again.

Hiking on Öland

This week I have been hiking on the island of Öland here on the east coast of Sweden. It was great, really good for the soul and mind. Not so good for my feet though :-) The weather was mostly fine, but with a few interrupting showers. On the picture to the left I think the sky is really dramatic, beautiful. I took the photo in the countryside just north of the town Mörbylånga.

I really enjoy solitude, when it is my own choice. Hiking alone is just as much a spiritual journey as a physical one. You really get a chance to think, breathe and get to know oneself. There are too many people in todays world that just can't manage to spend time alone. It must be awful to be a person that you just don't want to spend time with.