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an investigation into the limits of knowing, knowledge and belief
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Welcome to the website of Ton Haarmans: Wide Open Windows. A presence on the web since 1998.
Wide Open Windows is intended for people who identify with a background in philosophy or spirituality, who are attracted to questions that cannot be resolved, who are tired of ready-made answers.
Wide Open Windows is not about offering solutions. It is an invitation to ask questions: to question what we think we know, to discover the limits of knowledge, to see how beliefs mask uncertainty, and to explore what remains when no definitive answer is possible.
In the words of John Astin:
“Would you be willing, even for a moment, to let go of all teachers and teachings, all commandments and practices, in order to simply meet what arises in each moment, without guidance or reference points telling you what is true or how to live? What would it be like to no longer be identified with a conceptual framework or spiritual philosophy — not yours, not the Buddha's, not Jesus', not anyone's? What would it feel like to live without maps, without mental conclusions, without final destinations, to no longer refer to any thought in your mind about how life is supposed to be?”
This is what you can find here:
This is the heart of the site — a book in chapters, written in English, reflecting on knowing and knowledge, belief, perception, and the absence of certainty. Don't expect conclusions or doctrines. Just an honest attempt to stay with not-knowing.
Notice and reflect upon the topics of the texts in a series of 8 sessions.
A collection of somewhat wilder texts — philosophical, speculative, personal. Topics range from consciousness and spirituality to rhizomes, anarchism, and the illusion of hierarchy. Think of it as a notebook without footnotes.
Some helpful things: a list of books, links, people, and videos that have influenced the writing here. This is where the trail gets less personal and more referential — still curated, though, with love and some hesitation.
Ramblings of a nyctophile, rambling about “Darkness”, the un-ground in (and as) which all windows open. Attempts, always slipping into the impossible: a metaphor for the unknowable, the silent, the ungraspable.
Featuring an Introduction, Reflections, and a small interactive experience.
