The Value of Money

It was a long time I had not touched money. If not for the couple of times I just had to buy some cat-food or else kitten would starve, it was easily over a year. But suddenly I was feeling the touch of money. I smelled it and it felt crispy.

I was unsure what to do with the bill of 20 euro my friend Rene had given me. I was staying with him in Lyon, France, and it was my turn to go to the market to buy the veggies and fruits for the house. I thought it was good to let go of the idea of not using money, and to experiment again to use it; to get a sense of what it would do to me.

And to say the truth, I thought it would be fun. But instead I was hit by doubt and uncertainty: I simply didn’t know who to give the money to, from whom I wanted to buy the food. Maybe this woman with the nice smile, or that guy who is old? In other words, I wasn’t looking at the quality of the food, but I was judging the quality of the person.

Up and down the market I walked for some time before I finally decided to settle it and to ‘just buy something’. They were apples and I gave the market salesman the money – a piece of paper – looking at him with a weird glance in my eyes, as if I was still in doubt this was the right guy to give the money to, as if he was the one who would “deserve” it.

I ended up spending the whole 20 euro, and I came back home with a trolley filled with fresh foods. I was happy using money again, it made me feel better. Whereas living money-less was fun and interesting at first, at the market in Lyon I came to understand it was now limiting me: I had become a slave of not using money. And like this I came to understand the value of money: it is not what it resembles, but what it does to you.

September 2011. The story in Dutch is available at http://geldloos.nl/verhalen/de-waarde-van-geld.

Novi Son

Life, where does it begin? How does it come into existence? Where does it come from? What is it?

The journey of discovery just started. Everything is new, everything is a surprise, each moment again. The eyes are open, and through the ears we hear… recognition of a voice. It’s a process of learning by sensing it all. Smells, sounds, feelings, touchings, tastes.

Lying on your belly, looking up, turning your head, laughing, drinking mothermilk. Crying just a little, of some dismay, just enough to communicate that you need some comfort. And then your eyes wide open: hello world!

And now you’re in my arms. Four months old today. And see how much you grow, how much you learn, how much you laugh and ‘talk’. Welcome Novi, it’s me, your daddy. Welcome into our life son.

Add Life

Eternity is commonly reflected by the symbol of an eight, as two mirrored circles that crosscut each other at one shared point. I love to see life in the same way.

And so I am now at that point when the movement of the first circle moves into the next. At the point when things that used to define my life bring me to the next phase, moving into the next circle with a full swing.

Casa Robino is not shared anymore as it used to be in the past four years – or in other words: I have retired from it. But out of it comes new life. And that’s the most beautiful thing I ever experienced.

Being. Me

The walls disappear into the light of a rising sun. The space is endless. I embrace this space and I stay still. I let it fill me.

First comes nothingness, then everlastingness. And immediately you know: it is here already, it always has been. It is the edge of a circle.

And this is how it breathes life: through us, forever, endlessly, being space and time, being the relativity that we represent, being you, being me, being … explicitly inexplicable.