Turn around now...and listen to some music!

Well, it has been only a week since my last track, but it seems that I'm quite productive at this time. Good for you (well at least if you listen to my music), and good for me too. A win-win situation!

Yet unreachable, although near...

There it is, my newest track. As usual, you can listen to it on SoundCloud. You won't regret it!

Back form the grave!

There am I, back from the grave! And of course I have something for you: My newest musical masterpiece! (OK, it's basically just moving air molecules) Check it out!

Why religion still matters

Religion isn't as important nowadays as it was in the past centuries. A lot of people just don't care anymore. I often asked myself, how religion can be able to survive in modern, developed countries? There is science, I thought. There is nothing to pray for, I thought. We're not starving, we have medical care, we have luxurious products, we have everything. Why would we need to thank a bigger power for everything, since we're working for our money? When we're ill, we can go see the doctor. There is always food in the store. So, why do we still need religion? Well, maybe I understood why people liked to believe in a bigger power, but I never liked the concept of praying in case of „I put a prayer in the vending machine, and then I'll get an extra coffee“. But since I started dealing with personal growth and developing a more positive view on life, I started realising, how much your qualitiy of life can increase if you have faith. And I'm not talking about faith in a specific god, I mean faith in life, faith in the universe, faith in fate or whatever you may call it. It's basically the same: You believe, that there is a power, that's bigger than you, and you have the trust, that life will be good as long as you keep being faithful. Imagine how wonderful it is, believing that everything will be alright, if you just trust. It adds a whole new perspective to life. Don't get me wrong, I'm still not attending church and I haven't started reading the bible yet. But I'm starting to understand, why so many people all over the world believe in powers bigger than themselves. Of course, people in industialized countries usually don't have to worry about food or health care. But that's not the point. If you believe, if you have trust, you can live your life with less fear, with less pain, since you know, that your faith will get you a positive attitude towards life. You don't have to worry, you just have to trust that everything will be ok. This doesn't necessarily have to be religious faith, but when you have trust in life, it takes a lot of weight from your shoulders. And I think this is one reason (I'm convinced, there are more), why religion still matters, even though a lot people lost their connection to religion. The idea of a bigger power still is in our heads, even though we may not call this power by a specific name.

Keep your bike running

Today I was confronted with a few problems. And there: My motivation went away. But as I rode my bike, it came to me: If I don't keep working, I'll never reach my destination (I'm still talking about riding a bike). If I stop, I'm standing still. If it starts to rain, I'm still standing, getting wet. So, I have to keep my bike running. I have to work, so I can reach home, where I have something to eat and to drink. Where I have someone who cares about me. Where I have shelter from the rain. It's the same thing with your dreams: You have to keep working to be able to reach your destination. If you don't, you'll be standing in the same spot the whole time, starving. Methaphorically. So keep your life running. Keep your dreams running. Why? Because it's worth it! Because you are worth it!

So, have you ever faced a problem that seemed so severe, that you thought, there is no solution?

Life isn't fair, but you already know that

My glass of tea. Notice: It's half full.

Now, who wouldn't like to have a positive attitude? I bet, all of us would love to get up every morning and enter the world like a champ. Unfortunatelly, most of us find it very hard to remain positive throughout the day, even if we had a great start. If something good happens, the next disappointment must be waiting around the next corner, right? But why are we so focused on expecting the worst? Well, if I had the definite answer to that question, I would be a best selling author, writing this article on my new yacht, drinking champagne. But instead I'm sitting in my room, drinking tea. Does it make me feel bad? Not at all. Why? Because I'm doing something, that makes me happy: I'm writing (and by the way: The tea is delicious). Don't get me wrong: Even though I never fell for champagne, it doesn't mean that I had no use for a yacht. Allow me to throw this one punchline: Life is, what you make of it. Of course, life could be better. It always could be. But think of it, would you like to be someone who has everything, but still is disappointed, because he/she doesn't have enough? Life could always be better, but it also could be worse. No one says that life is fair. Seriously, a lot of people you may be jealous of, would tell you right in your face, that life isn't fair. You should believe them. But this doesn't mean, that life isn't good. Life is wonderful, if you allow it to turn its wonderful face towards you and show its smile. I know I'm being caught in metaphors, but you get the point. Going crazy in my articles is something, that makes me happy. So, go out and do something, that makes you happy. And if you dare, you can leave a comment and tell me, what makes you happy. In return, I will be happy to learn from you.

Best Regards,

trivial.BEAT

PS: Since english is not my mother tongue, I apologize for eventual grammar mistakes. If you find some, you're allowed to keep them ;-)

Lieutenant Gustl (by Arthur Schnitzler)

Arthur Schnitzler, circa 1912

Well, well, well, what can I say about Lieutenant Gustl? There do exist a lot of words that would describe this masterpiece properly, but I'll go with: Hilarious! The protagonist, a young austrian Army-Lieutenant called Gustl, loses his honour by beeing insulted by a baker in a crowded lobby of a theater in vienna. Instead of „beating this man up“, Gustl stays quiet, because the baker anticipates Gustl from using his sabre to defend his honour. Not beeing able to defend himself, Gustl takes the insult and misses the chance to challenge the baker to a duel, which was a perfectly accepted way to return one man's honour back in the days. What follows, is a never ending circle of anxiety and denial. Anxiety, that someone could have heard or seen the situation, since it happened in a crowded place. Gustl's thoughts are almost instantly denied, every time they pop up. Nobody could have seen or heard anything, since they were in a crowded place, Gustl argues. Gustl keeps walking through Vienna, leaving the reader only with his interior monologue: Should he challenge the baker to a duel, the next time he meets him? Should he emigrate to the United States, where nobody knows him? Should he commit suicide, since he was dishonoured by an ordinanry baker? Listening to Gustl's inner chatterbox is as entertaining as a narcissistic, misogynic, neurotic and immature austrian Army-Lieutenant can be.

Arthur Schnitzler introduced the interior monologue to the German-language literature, and someone might see Lieutenant Gustl standing in the tradition of the stream of consciousness. Schnitzler gives the reader insight into the mind of this young Lieutenant, exposing the self-conception of the Austrian imperial army, while unmasking old-fashioned societal views and anti-Semitic tendecies as well. I'd recommend you to read this masterpiece more than once, since every time you read it, you'll discover something new, that you may have missed before.

The author, Arthur Schnitzler, was born in Vienna on May 15^th 1862 to jewish parents. He later studied medicine becoming a doctor, but also spending his time writing novels, plays and short stories. And thank God for that! He might be known to an international audience for his novel „Traumnovelle“, which was later adapted my Stanley Kubrick in his film „Eyes wide Shut“.