The rain is pouring down gathering in the sails and slowly dripping on my raingear. It’s summertime and I’m on a sailboat up north on one of the Frisian lakes. The wind is pretty impressive but after 20 minutes on the lake we see lightning strike shortly followed by thunder, and decide to turn around.

One week ago, the water was also flying all over the wooden sailing boat when I was visiting the Finnish archipelago. My host and I were on a four- hour boat ride from a little island to their home in Porvoo, a nice Finnish town. The sky was clear but the wind had clearly picked up and was causing some big waves. We were returning from a yearly retreat where we delved into a world of Gaudiya Vedanta.

As other years, Swami BV Tripurari was the lecturer of this 5-day event.
He spoke among other issues on how Descartes’ doubt has lead to a postmodern unlimited doubt and how we, as a result, have turned everything besides human life into dead matter. In this way, animal life and the earth became tools for exploitation. He asked the question couldn’t we say that animal life is aware and that awareness and self-awareness (consciousness) are closely linked? One could even question how dead a table is as it is representing the aesthetics of its designer. The old sages used to see everything as consciousness, so a mountain would be consciousness too, having had to pass through the consciousness of its designer. Being alive or dead is so a matter of perspective.

On a lighter note, I recognized Descartes’ doubt when I spoke to an ex-colleague this week. While sitting outside on one of the many beautiful Amsterdam canals, she was telling me how she was looking to make the switch from private banking to perhaps public planning.  She wasn’t the first one who mentioned a career change to me. It appears a whole generation is caught in a quarter life crisis. I told someone facing his midlife crisis about the quarter life crisis and he burst out in laughter. That’s what they call a generation gap. My generation has too much freedom and is anxious to make the wrong decisions so refrains from making any at all. And besides we have led ourselves to believe that no choice is necessary as this world is designable.

One just picks and chooses along the way to create a unique blend of life. How striking though that many still end up with the same flavor in the end. However, it is not so much about choosing a flavor, but more how to lead a happy life and one week a year will get me closer along that way. Like on the sailboat, bumpy waves are expected and some refreshing water in my face as the waves fly over the deck will not hold me back from pursuing my choice.

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