What Makes People Tick?

There's a difference between the person who writes this blog, and the person I am when not writing this blog. In my personal life, I'm quiet, someone who doesn't like attention. There are two reasons for that: One: I often feel like people just don't get me. Being 'the outsider' is just easier. No strained interactions. No having to try to fit in. Two: When it comes to stuff I am passionate about, like sociology, psychology, politics and religion, my opinion differs from many around me. I am pro-Israel.  Something that doesn't seem very popular or mainstream. Especially since October 7th. Being pro-Israel, to me... That doesn't mean that I support, or agree with, every decision the Israeli government makes. Far from it. But do I support Israel's right to exist? Yes. Do I support Israel's right to defend itself? Yes. Do I feel that the world is against Israel? Also: Yes. On the 7th of October 2023, a large number of rather angry men entered towns ...

 Is there one great truth? One thing, or several things, that connect all religions? Is there one great universal truth? If there is... What is the great universal truth?  Certainly there are themes that seem universal, that come back in many different creeds and many different religions. But really, is there one universal truth that we can glean from the world's religions and spiritual systems? Trust and believe in something greater than yourself. Be kind to the needy. Be kind to the poor. Be kind to the orphans. Be kind to widows. Love your neighbour as yourself. Treat others as you'd want to be treated yourself. Don't lie. Don't kill. Treat your parents well. Have faith. Be kind. Do good. Show kindness. Be compassionate. Treat others well. Be kind to those who are less fortunate than you are. Those are themes that seem to come back time and again in the world's major religions.  Knowing only what I know, I want to write that the one great universal truth is this:...

 I'm not an American. Have never wanted to be an American. Sure, I watch American television, American movies. Can name which states cities are in, if they've been featured on television, in books I read or movies I watch. New York. LA. Miami. Chicago. Washington DC. San Francisco. New Orleans.  All I really know about the US of A is from television, from movies, from the media. But also from friends. The US shown on TV and in movies is often a happy place. High-school movies with jocks and cheerleaders, that sort of thing. Sure, crappy things happen, but good prevails, in the end it all makes sense, and despite the bad stuff people do, the hero saves the day. These days... I'm not so sure. I'm not sure if I've written about this before, but I remember the day the orange dude was made president. Was in a public train, on my way to work. Sitting across from a bunch of strangers. And the news came in on someone's phone. They were so appalled that they shared with ...

 My friend died. And I am sad. A friend of mine died on Friday. She was a good person. A mother. A wife. A daughter. A sister. A friend. A colleague. And an all-round really awesome and amazing human being.  She died. And I'm alive. It feels unfair. Sometimes... The world feels unfair.  This is not a post about religion, about world politics, about big things that matter to many people. It is a personal post. A post about my own feelings. Because I'm angry, I'm sad, I'm hurt, I'm trying to understand why, when the death of a good person feels like it makes no sense.  My friend died. A good, kind and loving person died. Someone who was loved by many. She really was a light to so many who knew her. Someone who always made an effort to make the world a better place, one kind act at a time. And she should still be here. She should.  It feels wrong. It feels unfair. While I've cried a lot these past few days, I've also tried to make sense of her death. And to be ...

 When news reports started coming in on Saturday evening (European central time) that Iran had launched an attack against Israel, I started worrying. I have no family in Israel. I'm not Israeli. I'm not Jewish. I'm not worrying about 'my home' or about family members. But I am a supporter of Israel. I'm not always a staunch supporter of the Israeli government, true. There are decisions that I, as a person, do not agree with. There are things I would change, would do differently, if it were up to me. But am I a staunch supporter of Israel's right to exist, of the right of Israeli people to live in freedom? Definitely. I have friends in Israel. People I've met as I travelled the world. Good people. Kind people. People with parents, with siblings, with children. People I care about.  My main thought as I was watching the news on television and reading the updates on Twitter/X however, wasn't about my friends in Israel. I wasn't worried about them: T...

How can we make the world a better place? How can we ever make it better? How can we fix what we have done to this world, to its people? How can we, you and I and regular human beings like us, just living our lives, actually make this world a better place? War. Famine. Destruction. Poverty. Hatred. Illness and disease. Some living in riches while others suffer in poverty? How can those of us whose lives are relatively good, without war, destruction or famine, be okay with so many of our fellow human beings living in poverty, dealing with the ravages of war every day, being subjected to the harshest of what life can give? How can we, living in relative safety and security, be okay and just live our lives, worrying about trivial matters like what person x said about person y, about clothes, about make-up, about fashion, about which cars we drive, about brand-name clothing, about what others think of us and the like, while so many of our fellow human beings live in war-torn nations, deal ...

 The concept that we are all interconnected, that we are all one, is something I'm being confronted by quite a bit lately. It makes me think. Not just about how yeah, we're all stuck on this big rotating ball together and how everything on this big ball is connected and has the power to influence each other. When a message keeps reappearing, keeps coming back, it makes me think that I need to do something with it.  All = one One = all One. Me. An individual.  All. Many individuals together. Together as individuals. But also together as a whole, as a bigger 'one'. One person in a country of many people. The many people make a bigger country of ones. One individual in an aeroplane. Many ones make the all of the aeroplane. And everyone in the aeroplane is again a bigger 'one' with a similar path, a shared destination, the shared wish that the aeroplane will arrive safely and that the passengers will get to their destination. But it is more than that, less mundane a...