If you want to see the beginning of everything then you really have to leave out a lot
A new take on the story of creation. 'If God and I are not very much, far less than you think, then he is the most of us two.' Bart Moeyaert | January 2004 issue In the beginning there was nothing. This is hard to imagine. You have to wipe out everything so that it no longer exists. You have to Read More...
Creating coincidence
You can create coincidence. This is Paul Liekens' intriguing message. Anyone can make any wish come true. You just need to understand the laws of the universe. Jurriaan Kamp talked with him about allergies, phobias, rain and ... happiness. Jurriaan Kamp | December 2003 issue Paul Liekens’ life Read More...
Alternatives to war
Peace is possible, but is must be constantly won anew. Anita Roddick's last column for Ode. Anita Roddick | December 2003 issue The way things stand now war is just too easy. It’s too easy to send someone else’s children to fight and die. It is too easy to dehumanise the enemy, making people Read More...
The joy of what's fleeting
Truth and authenticity are relative terms in Japan. Imitation and reality intermingle. Are they in danger of losing sight of 'the truth'? Not as far as Pico Iyer is concerned. In fact, you appreciate your surroundings more once you grasp their transitory nature. Everything changes, except the Read More...
Becoming We
'We'-thinkers maintain their hard-won intellectual and emotional freedoms while connecting with the greater whole. Tijn Touber's column. Tijn Touber | December 2003 issue My friend Jaap has written a book about the transition that we, world citizens, are now facing: the transition to thinking in Read More...
Dare to love
From an evolutionary perspective sex is a relatively new phenomenon, which may be why we haven't quite yet mastered it. But the so loudly applauded advent of free sex appears to be undermining Western society. It is possible to bring together spirituality and love. Ode went in search of the love Read More...
Desire and love
Desire is the wish to consume. To imbibe, devour, ingest and digest -- annihilate. Desire needs no other prompt but the presence of alterity.Zygmunt Bauman | December 2003 issue Desire and love. Siblings. Sometimes born as twins; never, though, as identical (single egg) twins. Desire is the wish to Read More...
Child seeks parents
Attention is the best antidote for materialism. Lisette Thooft| November 2003 issue Once when my son John was around 13, he was sitting in the living room watching television. It was a daily soap opera that he ab-so-lute-ly had to see so he could join in with peer group discussions. Another stupid Read More...
Little people, big business
Jonathan Rowe and Gary Ruskin claim that our culture of consumption is undermining parenting. Jonathan Rowe and Gary Ruskin | November 2003 issue Paul Kurnit is the president of KidShop, an advertising firm that specialises in marketing to children, and he has plans for our kids. ‘Kid business Read More...
Dying to live
To find peace you sometimes need to confront your worst fears. Tijn Touber | November 2003 issue Not too long ago, a good friend of mine reached a stage in her life where she did not know what to do any more. Having just survived a marriage crisis, she had recently severely dislocated her back. Read More...