I was born the year humans landed on the moon and the 'freedom' movement was coming to an end - 1969 AD,Teveth 5730,Shawwal 1389,Chinese year of the Rooster. The first child of Jan and Ila, a young lawyer and teacher just starting their life in the big city. They are Afrikaners and thus my first language is Afrikaans, a contemporary West Germanic language developed from seventeenth century Dutch but also influenced by Malay (spoken by the slaves in the 17th century) and indigenous southern african languages. Hierdie is 'n sin in my moeder taal.

If we divide an earthly human life into 12 hours(1 hour=7 years) things have gone as follows: Born at 7 o'clock symbolic, it seems i didn't want to come out, but our good ol' doctors intervened and weeks late, after the second induction, i gave up resistance. The first hour was spent getting on my feet as everyone does. Major themes seemed to be...a dark feeling of being different and a happy family life. At 8 0'clock things changed again; school, friends, fun, the physical wide world opening up, especially with books,tv,radio. Themes were social acceptance/competence. To think already at half past eight i had to feel the pain of love lost and gained:) yes i was a shy and sensitive boy.

As the clock struck 9'o clock even bigger changes were in the wind..hormonally and mentally. Suddenly I was self-conscious and in high school. At last I found myself among the friends I could relate to. Themes: enjoyed & became very confident in learning matters with an inquisitive mind but very cautious, shy, not confident in social matters. I started reading a lot, comics(x-men et al) and books, and a little book on prophesy that lay waiting for me at around 9:30 would change my life irrevocably for the next 10 years. So the sturm und drang jare ran their course, more inside than out. Just before 10 i learnt a little about war and boredom when i joined the airforce(2 years compulsory in those days).

As the hour struck major introspection was going on;) i completed my first year of medicine and shortly thereafter quit. Better now than later i felt. i spent the next year studying the bible and western religions and acting weirder than usual eventually joining a new church that had THE truth. Then i went to university, studying anything interesting, finally completing a 4-year degree in psychology with computer science and geography thrown in. So this hour i spent in formal studies but i also got my first taste of the real wider world when i travelled to south america. What a mind opener that was! I started losing interest in formal studies and churches, and travelled more and more with my friends throughout africa. Did some odd programming jobs & moved around. Just before 11 the planet venus rose to the surface of my chart.. woman,sex,desire. sigh the church of the body arrived.

So at 11 it seems my symbolic second birth occurred. Now launched from the bow of my parents and teachers i started to discover firsthand for myself life and people. I travelled up to west africa with my adopted 'brothers' and then to europe for the first time. Came back to program with my good friends Paolo & Piet for a year. Took off again(for positive & negative reasons) to mexico, traveled, worked, learned spanish, fell in love; and traveled to Spain & Switzerland.

And now i am here. The bells just rang for 12, the start of midday and once more the hour hand points towards new things. i sense major changes afoot and ahead...,)

Following this 'metafora', and if i see out the day, my sun might set at 6(77 years) or 7 o'clock(84 years). People don't like getting older but i look forward to the afternoon and sunset time of life. And who knows what the bardo night will bring... Much better than the sudden morning.

*a small extract from my book: A guide to get from serious maya to playful lila before you die or How to drink your way to enlightenment

If any of you believe the us of a.rrogance and allies are in iraq for democracy, freedom and to help the poor, i have a good book on fairytales you might also enjoy. Read their actions...oil, money, power, oil, geopolitics, oil, fear.

The so-called defender of the 'free' world should rather take a look at themselves and their supposedly democratic government, empty consumer driven culture and utter disregard of other points of view. Examine your weapons of mass Consumption - your arrogance and greed.

“From 1945 to the end of the century, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against intolerable regimes. In the process, the US caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair.” -- William Blum

See my Links section to view other issues i feel passionate about.

I like to travel. Here's a travel map with the dark blue areas showing the countries where i've already explored a little and the white areas where i would still like to go. This doesn't mean i don't want to visit the blues again :)

Find a good yoga/aikido teacher, Live fearlessly, start a permaculture project, do something for my community, resurrect a friendship

start aikido, continue with yoga, be open for creative work possibilities, give up or give in to soulmaidens, be less judgemental, spend more time in the mountains and nature, survive, let go of a friendship

• re-start aikido/yoga/tai chi
• continue with meditation
• build/create/renovate something
• be more generous
• start painting again
• get or get over her
• survive

• get boat ready to sail around the world
• kickstart meditation

Ten million trillion neutrinos will speed harmlessly through your brain and body in the time it takes to read this sentence. By the time you have read this sentence, they will be farther away than the moon.