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Self-Deception and the Courage to Seek the Truth
History does not repeat itself because we lack information. It recurs because we prefer comfort to truth. From ancient Greece to present-day Russia and the United States, the same mechanism is evident. It is as if we never learn. In my previous essay, I wrote that nothing guarantees that the…
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Meaning of Life: On Self-Deception and Reality
I have looked up at the starry sky and wondered about existence for as long as I can remember. Is there meaning? Or is everything merely a strange coincidence? But the stars are far. The universe does not answer. It remains vast, cold, and silent. Albert Camus called this silence…
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How Trumpism Was Exposed—100 Years Ago
In an earlier essay, The Law of Power – Ten Rules for Dirty Games, I quoted Austrian satirist Karl Kraus’s observation on demagogues: the demagogue’s secret is to make himself as stupid as his followers, so the followers can see themselves as intelligent as the leader. I want to build…
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The Law of Power: Ten Rules for Dirty Games
I am Norwegian, and as a child, my father told me about a law said to originate in Jante, a fictional small town in Denmark with its own moral code, the Law of Jante. The Danish-Norwegian author Axel Sandemose formulated it to expose the mechanisms of small-town social control, in…
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The Year of the Fire Horse
According to Chinese astrology, we are soon entering the Year of the Fire Horse. It inspired me to create a strange, motionless image for our unsettled time. In Chinese astrology, the Fire Horse is associated with power, courage, movement, and will. It is a sign traditionally linked to action, independence,…
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The Magic of Myth Made in Davao: Majestic Flights in the Pegasus Series
There’s a reason mythical creatures have captured our imaginations for centuries. With the Pegasus Series, I wanted to channel that feeling of wonder and freedom, the sensation of soaring through a dreamy sky, unbound by gravity or expectation. As a child, I was fascinated by glossy angel cards, and as…
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Music and the Mysteries of the Universe (Part 2)
When my wife Grace wrote the Part 1 of Music and the Mysteries of the Universe in 2016, she described how our friend, the Swedish flutist and guitarist Per-Olov Sahl, saw music as a bridge between the visible and the invisible, between human breath and cosmic rhythm. Eight years later,…
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GaffGaff Galleri: Ecstasy and Clarity (Part 2)
Here, I continue the introduction to my GaffGaff Galleri initiative. Armed with an old smartphone and a direct line to my incredible friends in the clouds, I am developing my talent as a visual artist. I’ve written about my method here, and I’m excited to share more of my experiments,…
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When The Widows’ Tears Water The Tree
I had a turbulent childhood, surrounded by artists who drank heavily. It was a mix of order and chaos, something that has shaped me. But I had good access to books, which I read slowly due to dyslexia. Slowly but surely, I worked my way through Gulliver’s Travels, Robinson Crusoe,…
