Karin's Cabin

There's a lodge on the hill

and it's buried in snow

it's a home to awake

 

it's a home for lost souls

where a family's born

at an opulent meal

 

halved oranges glow

the pomegranates reveal

a cluster of crimsons

a still life come true

nothing that we are lacking

nothing that we could lose

 And exstatic laughter is filling the air

a baroque celebration

under gold chandeliers

Stars enlighten the passage in the night

where the moon is radiating

everything will ignite

like the fireworks guiding us in a new year

the corona in colours so bright in the sphere -

delirious dancing beyond the dimensions

a festive sensation of our existence.

The Superman vs. Weltschmerz

Nietzsche vs. Schopenhauer

Schopenhauer's concept of cosmic pain (Weltschmerz) and his philosophy of compassion (Mitleid), explore the human experience of empathy, and thus to our interconnectedness as human beings. 

Despite of Nietzsche's admiration for Schopenhauer, Nietzsche was strictly against his philosophy of pity. Even though it is known that Nietzsche aimed at transvaluing all values, one still wonders how one could possibly resent such a beautiful idea. 

Nietzsche however, believed that feelings of compassion only weakened the possibility to become a Superman (Übermensch). For him, the Superman is not someone with super-magical powers, but one who has transcendent the ego completely. In order to reach this state of mind, the individual has to surpass three stages. First, there is "the camel" with it's burden on it's back. Carrying the weight of the world, he eventually reaches the stage of the lion in which no more suffering exists, but total control, will power and strength. The final stage however, has surpassed all these conscious and ego ridden stages and results in the blissful state of "the child". This stage can be compared to the Golden Age, in which we see the wonders of the world with the innocence of childlike eyes.

As Nietzsche believed to carry the pain of the world on his shoulders, he chose to live in solitude in the Swiss Alps for several years. Here, according to his three stages, he found himself to be in the stage of the camel, indulging on his calamity. When he eventually believed to have surpassed this stage, he was ready to become the lion, and thus to re-socialise in order to teach his philosophy, just as the prophets had done before him after their enlightenment in solitude. In the form of Zarathustra, he finally walks down from his ivory tower in the mountains, but only to find that the first villagers he speaks to have no ears to listen! Nietzsche never reached the last stage on the way to transcend and become the Superman. Instead, he escaped from the conscious state of mind that he intended to surpass with his forthcoming insanity. 

Classical Paintings Brought to Life

Autopilot Regression

Excessive thoughts

though just ineffective

Cause always the same

Without sense and aim

Therefore no resolving

Metamorphosis repeating

In circles revolving

Ever searching for meaning

Without a connection

To outer occasions

Neglecting key questions

Autopilot regression

Self-inflicted ego

Twixt micro and macro

Constant antagonism

Between foolery and reason.

Sicut Pisces in Aqua

 Video animation made of silk-screen prints with real fish as exposure objects.

The Golden Age (Ovid)

Saeculum Aureum

Aurea prima sata est aetas, quae vindice nullo,
sponte sua, sine lege fidem rectumque colebat.

poena metusque aberant, nec verba minantia fixo
aere legebantur, nec supplex turba timebat
iudicis ora sui, sed erant sine vindice tuti.
nondum caesa suis, peregrinum ut viseret orbem,
montibus in liquidas pinus descenderat undas,

nullaque mortales praeter sua litora norant;
nondum praecipites cingebant oppida fossae;
non tuba derecti, non aeris cornua flexi,
non galeae, non ensis erat: sine militis usu
mollia securae peragebant otia gentes.    

          

 ipsa quoque inmunis rastroque intacta nec ullis
saucia vomeribus per se dabat omnia tellus,
contentique cibis nullo cogente creatis
arbuteos fetus montanaque fraga legebant
cornaque et in duris haerentia mora rubetis

et quae deciderant patula Iovis arbore glandes.
ver erat aeternum, placidique tepentibus auris
mulcebant zephyri natos sine semine flores;
mox etiam fruges tellus inarata ferebat,
nec renovatus ager gravidis canebat aristis;

flumina iam lactis, iam flumina nectaris ibant,
flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella.

The Golden Age 
 

The age was formed of gold; in those first days

No law or force was needed; men did right

Freely; without duress they kept their word.

No punishment or fear of it; no threats

Inscribed on brazen tablets; no crowds crawled

Beseeching mercy from a lofty judge;

For without law or judge all men were safe.

High on its native hills the pine tree stood,

Unlopped as yet, nor yet compelled to cross

Ocean's wide waves, and help men leave their homes.

Towns had no moats; no horns of winding brass

Nor trumpets straight, nor swords nor shields existed.

The nations dozed through ages of soft time,

Safe without armies; while the earth herself,

Untouched by spade or plowshare, freely gave,

As of her own volition, all men needed:

And men were well content with what she gave

Unforced and uncompelled; they found the fruit

Of the arbutus bush, and cornel-cherries,

Gathered wild berries from the mountain-sides,

Eating ripe fruit plucked from the thorny canes,

And acorns as they fell from Jove's wide oak.

Spring lasted all year long; the warm west wind

Played gently over flowers sprung from no seed:

Soon too the unfilled earth brought forth profuse

Her crops of grain; and fields, uncultivated,

Whitened beneath their stalks of bearded wheat.

Streams flowed profuse, now milk, now nectar, and

The living oak poured streams of golden honey.