Reaching for the stars

La Palma Observatory

Last May I made a short trip to the beautiful island of La Palma. This green and peaceful pearl in the Atlantic is home to the largest astronomical observatory in Europe. It took our rented Citroën Cactus half a tank of gas in first gear to get to the mountaintop where IAC's huge telescopes are silently witnessing the spectacle of outer space. So one does wonder how they managed to lift all those heavy and sensitive optical high-tech gadgets to the rim of the crater of Roque de los Muchachos.

Getting there, taking in the spectacular panoramas, I felt very satisfied and overwhelmed... It was one of these things on my bucket list: To see a huge astronomical facility on top of a mountain. Ever since early childhood, I've had a clear predilection for all things outer space, so to me this trip felt a bit like coming home. Especially because my 4 year old son was standing next to me, sharing the experience.

Also from early childhood on, all my artistic expressions have had some sort of 'cosmic' or 'outer space' aspect to them. And that is something I am still pursuing...

Especially at a place like that, on a mountain top from where Humanity watches the cosmos, one is reminded of the fundamental oneness or inseparability of all life and phenomena, and the magic of it all... And that is more and more the intentional core message of everything I create through music, painting, photography or what have you...

Let's create a wonderful, peaceful 2017 and carefully observe the infinite!