Experiencia

Somos seres experienciales en este universo de espacio-tiempo. Como en el cine: la consciencia quiere vivir distintas historias, distintas vidas. Y para ello se convierte en cada uno de nosotros.

Los animales y las plantas, aunque no tengan idioma ni escritura para contar historias o transmitir aprendizajes, lo integran en su ADN —por decirlo de alguna forma— y así lo transmiten a las generaciones siguientes. Recuerdo una noticia sobre experimentos con mariposas que recordaban su vida como orugas, y sobre ratas o monos que continúan un comportamiento aunque no fueran los primeros en experimentar su origen —solo por aprendizaje de los anteriores, sean o no ancestros directos—. Incluso por el simple hecho de compartir espacio y tiempo se transmite experiencia.

La experiencia es algo que debe estudiarse desde el punto de vista de las tres áreas de desarrollo: físico, mental y espiritual —pues creo que afecta a las tres—. En lo físico, como he mencionado, está en el ADN y está relacionada con el espacio y el tiempo. La mente opera en ese mismo ambiente. Y el espíritu, de alguna forma, también está relacionado con la experiencia que se adquiere en el espacio-tiempo.

Suelo pensar que después de la muerte despertaré y sonreiré, porque pensaré: tenía una idea de esto. Y esa idea es que queremos experimentar —como cuando vemos películas y vivimos distintas aventuras, incluso vemos las reacciones de otros ante esas películas—. El que todos seamos en realidad una sola consciencia es como si Dios, queriendo vivir distintas experiencias, se convirtiera en cada uno de nosotros. Y eso es lo que somos.

Preach

There are many preachers who preach hate and division, and who defend the powerful. They preach false protests, false leaders, false heroes. Why? The first thing to consider is that they get something out of it — money, status, the feeling of belonging to the circle of the powerful, even if they are mere pawns. But how is it possible that followers who claim to follow God, or someone who preaches love and serving others, end up following hate speech — treating others as they would not want to be treated themselves? One reason is that false prophets use the same God and the same sacred scriptures — interpreting them as it suits them and omitting what does not. A second reason is the blindness and ignorance surrounding sacred scriptures that were written by humans but are taken as the direct word of God and followed without question. And ironically, as I said, even the followers only take what benefits them and ignore the rest. This is not new — it is what historians call weaponised religion: taking the language of the sacred and turning it into a tool of control.

Globalisation is not only for markets — it has also globalised ideas and preaching. What we preach, and what ends up prevailing, will be the result of fights, protests, and deaths. But ultimately, it is our choice as a species.

Sustain

Throughout life there can be moments where we can barely sustain ourselves. These crises serve as inflection points — moments of forced change. Sometimes because we refused to take action, which is itself a decision: doing nothing can lead to crises that force change upon us. And sometimes we are taking action, making decisions, and that too can lead us into a crisis. These crises can be related to one area — physical, mental, or spiritual — or to a combination of all three. In a certain way, all three are always related. If you lose your arms, that is physical — but you must adapt mentally and spiritually to the new reality. If you lose a loved one, your body, mind, and spirit are all affected.

Part of the experience of living is dealing with a few crises and sustaining ourselves through them. We can also be there for others — because we can embrace as our purpose the serving and loving of every soul. And in doing that we grow spiritually, and come to understand and feel that we sustain ourselves because we are one.

It should be clear that helping to restore a cathedral in France and helping communities in the Amazon are both worthy — and we can do both. We must integrate rather than divide when we help. But it must also be clear that we act from a purpose and a set of values, and our actions must be aligned with that frame.

Modelar

Me viene a la mente la frase: dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres. Nuestras experiencias son parte de lo necesario para modelar nuestra forma de pensar. Influyen en nuestro crecimiento físico, mental y espiritual.

Queramos o no, el solo hecho de existir nos somete a la experiencia, que se basa en espacio y tiempo. Nosotros podemos influir activamente en cómo modelamos nuestro físico, nuestra mente y nuestro espíritu —hasta cierto punto—.

Los amigos, familiares y personas con quienes nos relacionamos influyen en el moldear de nuestra experiencia. Hay quien dice: «yo he salido con amigos que beben y fuman, y yo nunca lo he hecho». Tal vez. Pero quien lo dice puede coincidir con esas amistades en algo más sutil: la pobreza de razonamiento. Porque no coinciden en un par de cosas, ya deducen que no tienen nada más en común —y que no habrán sido influenciados por esas amistades—. Eso, posiblemente, es ser corto de entendimiento.

¿Quiere decir esto que no debemos relacionarnos con gente que falla o comete errores? Por supuesto que no. ¿A que puede parecer contradictorio a algunos? Esa es también una habilidad a desarrollar: ver las cosas no solo en blanco o negro —introvertido o extrovertido, conservador o progresista, brillante o tonto—. Un maestro te enseña algo que en su momento desconocía: es decir, se preparó para poder enseñarlo. Del mismo modo, puedes relacionarte con ciertas personas para aprender o para servir —pero hay un tiempo y un espacio para ello—.

Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres —sí—. Pero también: dime con quién andas y te diré lo que aprendiste, lo que enseñaste, y hasta dónde fuiste capaz de crecer.

Blackmail

The truly dangerous moment is not when the powerful become greedy — it is when they stop hiding. That is when greed has become hubris. In an environment of power and greed, people are willing to take any action to win. It would not be strange, then, that certain individuals use blackmail to get what they want.

The Epstein case is widely believed to be connected to a network of control over prominent figures across different sectors. These figures are protected by politicians, lawmakers, and judges because they are all part of the same network — one where favours are exchanged and members protect each other. In this way, they place themselves above the law and above ordinary people. They can traffic human beings, start wars, and subdue individuals and institutions. They control education, cinema, communications, banks, and real estate — they have influence across every sector.

This makes them feel they can do anything. Governments can be hypocritical — sanctioning some whilst acting to favour themselves and their allies. And their hubris leads them to stop hiding, because they feel untouchable, invulnerable. That is the mark of the beast: hubris that arises once greed reaches a point where evil no longer needs to conceal itself.

Cristal

El cristal es algo que, según su estado, puede ser tan translúcido que nos deja ver a través de él —aunque de cerca y con atención podemos notarlo—. Es un sólido que deja pasar la luz casi al cien por cien; si podemos verlo, es porque algo en su estructura aún retiene una pequeña parte de ella.

El cristal es transparente, pero puede no serlo del todo. Tiene de ambas cualidades, aunque se incline más hacia un lado. Creo que fue con un prisma con el que se demostró que la luz blanca se descompone en varios colores. Hay tantas cosas que ya no recuerdo, muchas más que no sé y que la humanidad sí conoce, y cuántas más aún por descubrir.

Los cristales se utilizan en tantos productos de nuestro día a día que ya ni lo notamos: monitores, ventanas, relojes, bombillas. Pero esto me lleva a pensar en cuánto plástico hay que parece cristal y se usa en su lugar —porque muchas bombillas, paneles de iluminación, lunas de relojes, pantallas, protectores de pantallas e incluso algunas ventanas son en realidad plástico—.

Muchas de las cosas que pueden parecernos cristal son plástico fabricado con ese fin: imitar al cristal permitiendo el paso de la luz. Tal vez ocurre lo mismo con otras cosas que creemos son transparentes pero son imitaciones.

Contrast

Like yin and yang, we need at least two contrasting parts. Many things and situations may appear contradictory, but they can coexist — and the contrast between them is what gives each meaning.

Another way to express something similar is the saying about having a right hand and a left hand: a way of saying we need to be both hard and soft, strict and flexible, tight and loose. I also think of an accelerator and a brake. We should not always be speeding up — we could crash. But we should not always be pressing the brake either, because then we will not progress. I relate this to conservatives and progressives: right and left. We need both. We need that contrast. All changes cannot and should not happen too fast.

I think humankind is evolving and progressing, whilst at the same time taking steps back. But that is our design, our way of working — and it is part of nature. Our nature.

So the next time you think conservatives or progressives are idiots who should not exist, ask yourself: do we need them? They can be your children, your parents, any relative. And think about ourselves too — because we can be conservative about some things and progressive about others, just as we can be introverted and extroverted. Think of a scale from minus ten to ten — minus ten being pure progressivism, ten being pure conservatism. Nobody lives at the extremes. Most of us sit somewhere in the middle, and we move across that space depending on the question, the decade, the fear we carry that day.

Postizos

Los personajes que llegan a ganar fama y convertirse en ídolos de muchos, cuando existen injusticias, guerras y genocidios, se ven arrastrados hacia uno de los bandos —lo quieran o no—. Incluso si intentan mantenerse neutrales, pueden ser utilizados. Y si continúan siendo parte de esa manipulación, lo que empezó como algo pasajero y ambiguo se convierte en un apoyo claro y significativo a la parte manipuladora.

Hay pueblos, hay niños, que tienen como ídolo y héroe a una persona que les muestra simpatía. Pero son héroes postizos: porque también simpatizan con los opresores de esos mismos pueblos, con quienes permiten que esos niños mueran. Muestran con su silencio y su falta de distanciamiento que, o bien apoyan a los opresores, o simplemente quieren vivir en su burbuja —y el resto les importa poco o nada—. Tal vez ayudan a algunos porque queda bien. O son simplemente apáticos. Y mientras no les afecte directamente, no reaccionarán.

¿Puedes estar en contra sin decir nada? Sí: puedes mantenerte aislado en tu burbuja. Sería como un héroe con poderes que no los usa para ayudar —porque teme perder sus privilegios, o porque simplemente es un héroe postizo—. Puede parecerlo, puede fingirlo, puede tener momentos: pero no lo es.

Incapable

Sometimes we can feel incapable of doing something. Sometimes we suffer from impostor syndrome — we think and believe we are not the right person, that we lack the skills. When we face a new situation where we feel we lack information or experience, that feeling arises naturally. But as when we learn to drive: we may be ready for the exam even when we have doubts, and our instructor tells us we are ready — yet we think we are not. We just have to try.

We can pass the exam and then, day by day, face new difficulties and feel we should not have passed. But we must remember that every master was once incapable of doing things that later became second nature. Psychologists describe four stages of learning — and the hardest is the second: knowing what you do not yet know. That is where impostor syndrome lives.

Sometimes our instinct is right, and sometimes it is wrong. And sometimes it is the instinct of our instructor that is right. We might think: I know myself better — but the instructor knows better because they have seen many people in situations similar to ours. Wisdom is to be humble and learn from others. We must learn when to do that.

In summary: we may be incapable at the beginning, and that must not stop us from trying. If after trying long enough we are still incapable, we must identify what we need in order to become capable — and act. If we have to step aside, we do it. But we must also remember that everyone makes mistakes. We take accountability and fix them — and that is what distinguishes us from someone truly incapable of admitting mistakes, let alone solving them.

Wealth

We can think about wealth from different perspectives.

1. Physical.
This is the material world — physical money, gold, things that allow us to exchange goods. But from this also emerges the accumulation of wealth: first as prevention against hard times, then, taken further, as greed — a tendency that leads to wars and inequality. And inequality is harmful not in itself, but when it damages others. This is not about prohibiting differences between people: everyone has different skills and excels in certain areas. In that sense, everyone is equal — good at something and less good at something else.

2. Mental.
Wealth in the mental area would be having received a good education that gives us the skills and knowledge to sustain ourselves and contribute value to the world. But that knowledge must also lead us to wisdom — and wisdom gives us mental peace. That is a form of wealth money cannot buy.

3. Spiritual.
Wealth in the spiritual realm is finding God. Because true spirituality cannot be found as a group — the connection, the awakening, the growth, the experience, is individual. Personality is individual. Therefore, we can only find the ultimate connection as individuals. And as individuals we must discover that the outside is as the inside, that we are the same light — and that at the same time we form a whole conscious being made of unique personalities. That is the highest wealth.

Sudor

Ganarse el pan con el sudor de la frente. Es una frase que hace referencia a ganarse la vida con el trabajo propio. Esto debe hacernos reflexionar sobre los mecanismos de prestar dinero y exigir que, además de lo prestado, se devuelva un extra. En la antigüedad esto se veía mal por ciertos grupos, que llegaron incluso a prohibirlo en sus sagradas escrituras. Pero como la codicia y el interés material priman sobre todo lo demás, si hace falta se crea una nueva religión, unas nuevas sagradas escrituras que admitan los nuevos intereses. Así actúa el poder de la codicia: el querer ganar más, ya no solo con el sudor de la frente sino, si es posible, con las vidas y el trabajo de otros. Y se renombra como trabajo el hecho de prestar riqueza, de usar contactos, de esclavizar, de matar, de oprimir, de seguir órdenes malvadas.

El sudor de la frente deja de ser algo moralmente admirable, algo deseable, algo digno de imitar. Pero es precisamente ahí —en el acto de servir al otro con el propio esfuerzo— donde se expresa el verdadero amor. Y es ahí donde encontraremos la belleza, donde la verdad y el amor se unen.

El sudor de la frente no es una condena: es una dignidad. Y lavar los pies del otro es el sudor más noble de todos. Seamos capaces de lavar los pies de los demás. Seamos capaces de entender que no hay jerarquías, razas ni religiones cuando se trata de servir, de amar, de seguir el camino de la verdad.

Lento

Moverse no es lo mismo que avanzar. Y quedarse quieto no es lo mismo que estar a salvo. Qué lento parece que avanzamos a veces. Incluso hay momentos en que parece que damos dos pasos adelante y uno atrás —en el mejor de los casos—. Y en tiempos de gran turbulencia, parece que retrocedemos mucho más de lo que se había avanzado.

Se suele decir que cada uno tiene su tiempo —una forma de decir que cada uno avanza a su ritmo—. Puede que haya verdad en eso, pero también puede llevar a la inactividad y a la indiferencia: no tomamos acción. Y sí, tal vez tomamos acción solo cuando la gota derrama el vaso, cuando la necesidad o el agobio se vuelven tan insoportables que al fin te mueves —pero desde la desesperación y una posición débil, no desde una más fuerte—.

Hay que ir despacio para no estrellarse. Y aún así podemos estrellarnos. La idea no es no estrellarse: es disminuir la probabilidad, y si ocurre, que sea leve. Incluso sin moverte, algo puede estrellarse contra ti. No estamos solos, ni estamos del todo quietos.

El punto es tomar responsabilidad y movernos con propósito, no por inercia. Puede que a veces lo hagamos por inercia —porque estamos aprendiendo, porque estamos pasando de ser guiados a tomar el control, o porque nos tomamos una especie de pausa—. Pero eso sería mejor si fuese por decisión propia: en ese caso, la inercia misma se convierte en propósito. Somos experiencia, y eso en sí es movimiento en el tiempo.

Cluster

I have heard a cluster of ideas that serve as a mental model. There are four, and if I remember correctly they are:

1. Reality over idea, or reality over theory. This is about staying close to the real — touching it, being present, putting things into practice. You can hear about something, but experiencing it directly is something else entirely.

2. Union over conflict. This is about joining things, people, humanity, cultures — including, sharing, becoming stronger together. At its core, this is about love.

3. The whole over the part. This is about understanding that we are part of a whole, and that the whole matters more than any single part. We see this principle repeatedly in cases where one person or a few sacrifice themselves for the many — and we admire that bravery and recognise it as an act of love.

4. Time over space. This is about processes that take time — about evolution, improvement, and cycles that do not become toxic but instead become cycles of growth. And it stands against the impulse to take and hold spaces, to conquer land. That impulse leads to patriotism taken too far, nationalism, racism, fascism, war, genocide.

These principles I heard from Pope Francis. He said they help him understand countries, cultures, and religions. He defends integration. And I think they align with the Golden Rule — they align with the purpose of loving, serving, and seeking truth.

Stage

Parliament is a stage — and like all stages, what matters is not the truth but the performance. Parliament seems like a stage where the aim is either to defend everything the government does or to oppose everything it does. I think this is a problem that thinkers noticed as far back as ancient Greece. Leaders are not necessarily the smartest or the most suited to govern — whether by their morals or their skills. The skill that matters most is the ability to convince people. You can lie or simply complain; if you convince people, that is enough.

And those who are powerful in resources but lack that ability themselves can simply buy it. They can be the very company that oppresses workers whilst maintaining good public relations — and also funding the NGO that fights them. This sounds ironic, but they manage everything they can. And greed has no end.

Because sooner or later, those in power fight amongst themselves — when there is an overproduction of elites, or when their interests come into conflict. And the pawns are the rest of us. Seen this way, everything can be read as a stage where everyone is playing their character in a play called life.

Fama

La fama es un amplificador. No cambia lo que eres: solo lo hace más grande. La fama puede tener sus beneficios y sus desventajas. En ambos casos se debe tener en cuenta la responsabilidad: en los beneficios, para no llegar a herir a otros; en las desventajas, para no herirte principalmente a ti mismo.

La fama trae la responsabilidad de ser un ejemplo. Cada persona ya lo es para otras, quiéranlo o no. Con la fama esto se incrementa y puede desbordarte —más aún si eres una persona inmadura, si careces de principios y valores que te sirvan de guía, o si no tienes un propósito claro—.

La fama conlleva también la responsabilidad de ser una voz que defienda las causas justas, porque tu luz influye mucho más en los demás.

Puedes tratar de alejarte de la fama, y está bien. Así como está bien abrazarla y sobrellevarla mientras creces. Que esté bien equivocarse no debe convertirse en justificación para no esforzarse en evitarlo.

La fama es una herramienta, un amplificador. Qué vas a amplificar es cosa tuya. Si será algo bueno o malo es tu decisión —como en cada acción de la vida—. No es algo con lo que creerse superior a los demás, ni con lo que empequeñecerse por verlo como algo grandioso. Es algo pasajero, como la vida misma en este gran universo.

Face

People try to change their faces, but the results can be perceived very differently. Some changes come across as comic or unnatural — and some people look for exactly that, whilst others perhaps do not intend it. I prefer the natural look: improvements that leave the face appearing as though nothing artificial was done. Whether it is make-up, surgery, injectables, or other techniques I am not familiar with, the ideal for everyday style is to wear it and not appear to be wearing anything at all. Seeing a face that is obviously made up is one thing; wearing make-up that seems invisible — that is something else entirely.

I am not sure whether make-up is strictly necessary on television due to lighting or other factors. Perhaps not, and it has simply become the norm even when it is not strictly needed.

We should also bear in mind that faces differ due to age, ethnicity, diet, and environment. In recent decades we see faces that look younger compared with photographs of people of the same age from fifty or more years ago. Beyond genetics, we see someone of sixty who looks forty, or someone of fifty who looks thirty or forty.

I think we can improve our appearance through knowledge of nutrition, exercise, and certain products — but the goal should be to maintain a natural look rather than a comic one. The best improvement, in a face or anywhere else, is the one that leaves no trace of itself — only the result. And the best things a face can have are a genuine smile and shining eyes.

Quarrel

Sometimes we avoid quarrels, and sometimes — perhaps — we should experience them. I think they are more likely to happen if you grow up in an immature environment. I am not used to them myself. I have seen them treated as normal behaviour in some families. And it is possible that some would say they are fine — the way insulting rivals in stadiums is considered normal, or the way some friends greet each other with insults. But are those really quarrels? They may appear that way because of the intensity, but I understand a real quarrel as something different: a genuine lack of manners and restraint — being truly angry, heated, because you have been suppressing emotions.

Like a glass of water filled drop by drop until it overflows — the drop that spills the glass is not just a drop. It is the only one you see, but it is there because of all the ones contained before it. That is the analogy for when someone says something cruel or impolite and claims it was the heat of the moment: it is because there is more of that inside. If you see hatred or racism surface, there is more where it came from. Is that always the case? I do not know — but it may well be, and there are probably studies on it.

We should experience quarrels when we are exploring our limits — when we are growing up — because they help us know ourselves better. But not as something that happens every week or month.

Tell

Telling stories is how people shared knowledge, wisdom, and morals. Before writing, people only had stories to tell. And those stories could be different each time someone told them. Yes, people can memorise stories — but is it not better to transmit feelings and connect with your audience by adapting the story to them?

I always remember an exercise we did at school. Four classmates were chosen and taken out of the classroom. One of them read a short story aloud to those remaining inside, and then told it — not read it — to one of the classmates waiting outside, without the others hearing. That second classmate came in and told us the story: it was already slightly different. Then the second told it to the third, and so the process repeated. By the third retelling the story had changed noticeably, and by the time the fourth told it, it was completely different. This exercise helped us understand that stories can change — and distort — their original meaning with each retelling.

Psychologists call this the telephone effect — each retelling introduces small changes that compound into something unrecognisable. And that is one reason why stories like those in the Bible may contain inconsistencies or contradictions. Also because the way people communicated in ancient times was often more metaphorical or mystical. Should we take those stories literally? I would say no — and I would argue that we have been given the capacity to think and discern precisely so that we do not.

Roll

Many times we fall into a loop where we roll through the same thoughts again and again. We may change the stories, the scenarios, the context — but I think we stay in the same roll until we unroll it. And this roll is something we must process, something we must face without avoiding — we must look at it directly and understand it. It may mean taking a step forward in order to mature and gain wisdom.

It is possible, yes, to set it aside for a while — to think about other things, or to let our subconscious work on the solution whilst our conscious mind focuses on other activities, or simply rests. That can be important when we are stuck and cannot see a way out. But sooner or later we must always face it: everything unresolved will be with us for the rest of our lives. The answer is not to stop thinking about it, but to think about it differently.

And we carry many rolls through our lives. Some we unroll and resolve, and new ones can form. We must learn to manage how we respond — to avoid creating those harmful rolls that hold guilt and fear in place. We must work through our own first before trying to help others. Our experience can be valuable, but remember: not everyone is ready to deal with theirs. Some need a push; others need time. 

Peinado

Un peinado puede cambiar mucho el aspecto de una persona: el color, la forma, la textura. Un peinado puede ser una distinción cultural —como ocurre con las mujeres africanas o de origen africano en distintos países, que acostumbran a crear peinados elaborados y llenos de significado—. Incluso personas ajenas a esa cultura pueden sentirse atraídas y probar dichos peinados. A la gente le gustan otras culturas, y la comida, la vestimenta, los rituales o los peinados son formas de intercambio cultural, de apreciar lo que otros han construido.

Un peinado puede ser una marca de pertenencia a un grupo. Puede ser una protesta, un acto de rebeldía. Puede ser un acto de amor —una forma de decir sé que te gusta esto y lo hago por ti—. Puede ser para gustar a otros o simplemente para gustarse a uno mismo.

Los peinados se adaptan, los peinados cambian. Y en ese sentido pueden ser un reflejo del estado interno de la persona. Como los peinados, debemos aprender a no apegarnos —a entender que son pasajeros—, y podemos incluso disfrutar de que nuestro «peinado» sea la calvicie. Los hombres pueden jugar a crear distintos «peinados» con la barba. El peinado es una metáfora de la vida: no se trata de los recursos que tienes, sino de lo que haces con ellos. Y a veces, lo más elegante es abrazar lo que ya tienes.