Today in Berlin...

I discovered a cute butterfly on a scooter...

Metaphysics vs. Science

Sometimes it´s astonishing how things are described when using different languages.

Some longer time ago I got to know that the English word "science" which is usually translated into German as "Wissenschaft" does not really has the same meaning, although most dictionaries translate it so simple.
Yet I had to realize that the word "science" is only used for what in German is called "Naturwissenschaften" (= "Science of nature") - or with other words mathematics and physics.

I found out that the whole American/English system has a total different logic of structuring diverse academic fields than we have in Germany.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wissenschaft

In Germany we seem to have an interesting structure of the diverse academic fields. I.e. the English "science" and the "social sciences" both belong to "Empirical sciences" (pls. have a look at the Wikipedia-link).

So what about the "place" of Chinese metaphysics within the field of academic studies?

I.e. I have seen several people in the internet discussing if "life reading"/ making horoscopes etc. is an art or a science.

My answer is:
It´s a social science. And the value of any kind of hypotheses should be studied/evaluated by using i.e. empirical methods. Empiricism is imo the best academic method to study it.

Except some people want to label life reading now simply as fortune telling by ridiculing using any kind of academic methods for studing Ba Zi Suan Ming...
That would be pretty bad marketing...

I also consider Feng Shui as part of the empirical sciences, it has parts of a social science as well as "sciences" (Naturwissenschaft). And it can be studied by using empirical methods.


Antje

One of the most interesting jobs I have ever done...

was working for a month in a psychiatry. This was 5 years ago.
I had to deal with people in suicidal mood, a woman with the delusion of getting poisend by her family or by other people, borderline diagnosed people, a person diagnosted by Huntington´s chorea disease, schizophrenic patients who hear voices in their mind which gives orders to them or schizophrenic patients thinking they are a different person then they actually are and diverse other people with "unusual" symptoms.

The attendants told me already in the beginning that there is some phenomena that most of these people can be extremely sensitive towards the (inner) moods of the staff. So very often when an attendant is not balanced him- or herself the patient might easy react to that too, like suddenly changing his/her mood. Additionally one needs to have his eyes everywhere because you never know what some patients might do or act within the next second. During the time I was there it happened twice that a patients suddenly attacked an attendant. In one case a patient knocked out a doctor with a vase on his head after not getting what she wanted to have. Another time a patient knocked down a female attendant with the head on the tiles on the floor so that the attendant was seriously hurt and it took weeks to recover from the backbone injuries. So this can be a pretty dangouros job sometimes...

I found that working in a psychiatry lets one get to know the own flexibility in dealing will so much different kinds of people quite at the same time. Everybody needs to be treated with a different communication style.
Some of the patients tried to test out borders like teenagers, some need to be encouraged to have more selfconfidence, someone with a delusion of getting poisoned needs to gain trust while a person within suicidal mood needs understanding and also distraction etc. In my opinion a lot of the communication is actually trying to sense the vibration of the person to be able to communicate properly. Although there is one thing all people have in common. :-)

And another important thing I have learned is that a lot of problems/issues arise out of the environment of a person. Sometimes it´s really difficult to tell if the sickness is only because of the problem of the patient or if it´s at least triggered if not caused by a person or more people/family around a patient.

This might also be something to think about when dealing with astrology/horoscopes. What influence do have people around a client?
According to my experience a person can change a lot his/her natural personality depending on the people around.


Antje

Greek Financial Crisis

Today (25 April, 2010 / 21:50 DST/Berlin) I did a Wen Wang Gua divination about :
What will be the impact of Greece´s financial problems on Europe/EU?

I got the following hexagram (btw the classical Yijing text of Hex 27 is interesting as well):

Subject = Greece
Object = Europe

Day: Si/Snake
Month: Chen/Dragon

Void: Tiger, Mao
Gua Shen: You/Rooster

#27

................ ___ brothers (Tiger/wood) -->...... _ _ wealth (Dog/earth)
................ _ _ parents (Rat/water) ..............._ _ officer/ghost (Monkey/metal)
Subject.... _ _ wealth (Dog/earth) - ->........... ___ offspring (Horse/fire)
............... _ _ wealth (Dragon/earth) ........... _ _ offspring (Horse/fire)
............... _ _ brothers (Tiger/wood) - -> ..... ___ wealth (Dragon/earth)
Object..... ___ Parents (Zi/water) - -> .......... _ _ brothers (Tiger/wood)

Moving lines: 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th line

Lots of movement here, but in any case the EU is actually drained a lot by it. Greece heavily controls the European Union while the EU supports the creditors, but it looks like pretty weak support. (Brothers mirror the creditors of Greece, who actually try to control the country). But the Creditors will finally be supported by Greece.


Antje

Friends, Enemies and Acquaintances

"We have so many *friends* online that we need a new word for the true ones..."

This has been an advertising claim of a German newspaper and it hit the nail on it´s head. Recently I was looking for the English translation for the German word "Bekannte" and it´s "acquaintances". This word I have rarely seen it in the internet, obviously it´s not used very often. I wonder why.

The word acquaintance seems to be a proper term for people we hardly no in person if at all but we see/meet everyday somewhere online, via emails, Facebook or all other networks. The only network I have encountered so far where someone can distinguish between different "levels" of relationships is Plaxo.

Then I searched now for the official definition of the word "friendship". And I have found some interesting stuff in the wikipedia archive:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship (English)

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bekannter (German)

The articles explain different cultural definitions/background of friendships. Intensity versus number of friends... etc. The words honesty, truth and trust play a big role....

In a way it´s great not to rank people, but to name someone a friend is not much of a compliment anymore and dismissing someones request for a link becomes sometimes almost an enmity declaration...

Strange world...


Antje

Luo Shu on the Wall

Today I installed my newest Feng shui art as a cure for my "Yellow Emperor" 5 mountainstar. Before the installation I filled up the pics with a special energy ritual. I will see what results I will get. I must admit I found that the installation was the most difficult. It´s pretty hard to get all into a line. It´s not perfect yet, but I didn´t want to hit in too many nails, so I was using white fibres for the lower pics.

This is how it looks like:





Antje

Happy Valentine´s Day - Yin and Yang coming together

Yin & Yang

Forschungsprojekt "Wettervorhersage" - Teil VI / Research Project "Weather Forecast" - Part VI

Wettervorhersage für Berlin-Zentrum / weather forecast for Berlin-Centre:

Monday, 25th Jan 2010:
- sonniger Tag / sunny day
- kein Niederschlag /no snow or rain

Tuesday, 26th Jan 2010:
- bewölkter als am Montag/ more clouds than on Monday
- aber es bleibt trocken / no snow or rain

Research Project "Weather Forecast - international" - Part I

Weather forecast for Sweden / Kungsängen:

3rd Feb 2010:
- very cloudy day, probably without any sunshine
- no precipitation

4th Feb 2010:
- sunny day
- probably rather windy

5th Feb 2010:
- cloudy
- snow fall - (forenoon/lunchtime/early afternoon)

Forschungsprojekt "Wettervorhersage" - Teil V / Research Project "Weather Forecast" - Part V

Wettervorhersage für Berlin-Zentrum / weather forecast for Berlin-Centre:

21st Jan 2010:
- trüber Tag / cloudy
- hohe Luftfeuchtigkeit / strong humidity
- nachmittags eventuell Niederschlag / eventual precipitation in the afternoon

22nd Jan 2010:
- bewölkt / cloudy
- leichter Schneefall möglich / eventually a bit of snow

23rd Jan 2010:
- niederschlagfrei / no precipitation
- Sonnenschein / sunshine

Happy New Year

Berlin under snow - Schlachtensee



HAPPY NEW YEAR
2010