<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><channel><title>derbân. Özlem Dilek Cengiz</title><description>Texts by Özlem Dilek Cengiz between code, literature, and inner life.</description><link>https://derban.de/</link><language>en-US</language><item><title>Between Code and Humanity</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/between-code-and-the-human/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/between-code-and-the-human/</guid><description>In a system as complex as life, just as in software development, we experience how much what we do not write can be as impactful as the code we write. What we do not do can affect us as much as what we do, and what we keep silent about as much as what we say.</description><pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Even someone with only a little experience in software development knows that writing code is only one part of the whole. It does not encompass what comes before or what comes after.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When creating a system or a product, we must acknowledge both the technical side and the human factor. This is not only about adaptation and communication. It is also about accepting that even where a human being is an expert, there can still be room for error.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In a system as complex as life, just as in software development, we experience how much what we do not write can be as impactful as the code we write. What we do not do can affect us as much as what we do, and what we keep silent about as much as what we say.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The human factor appears in professional life through the trust of a manager whose door is always open to their employees, or through the support of a colleague who is not only technically competent but also humanly compatible. This attitude reminds us that true professionalism does not consist only of error-free work. Its real strength lies in finding solutions together.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In life, there will always be those who support us, those who stand against us, and those who remain neutral. Some learn from their mistakes, while others shift responsibility onto someone else. While we can receive training in technical matters and address our shortcomings, we rarely find a second chance in life, because life is not a school.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But we do not need a school to acquire values such as ethical integrity, discipline, courtesy, and understanding. They are shaped by the small decisions we make every day and by the determination we show.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/between-code-and-the-human/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Existence Without Echo</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/existence-without-echo/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/existence-without-echo/</guid><description>Like a grape that has fallen to the ground, we may fade away without becoming nourishment for any living being, without blending into the earth and opening a door to new life. Would it be fate for our existence to end without joining a cycle, or merely coincidence?</description><pubDate>Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;The world is often like a stage we find ourselves thrown onto against our will. In the shadow of pain, loss, and death, we search for an answer to the question of whether being here is a gift or an obligation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In a plane where even breathing happens beyond our will, living can often feel less like a blessing to be celebrated and more like a burden to be carried. This feeling is especially clear for those who meet pain early in life. And yet, amid all these uncertainties, the search for meaning continues. Sometimes, however, this search fades into silence without finding any response.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Like a grape that has fallen to the ground, we may fade away without becoming nourishment for any living being, without blending into the earth and opening a door to new life. Would it be fate for our existence to end without joining a cycle, or merely coincidence? Can a human being also fade away in such a silence? Perhaps the real question is what this silence says to those who remain within it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The world is a temporary station full of uncertainties, one we enter and leave beyond our will, without knowing how much time we will spend here. From the moment we are born, our existence can be considered from different angles, from the physical space we occupy to our place within the social structure in adulthood.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What we invest with the deepest meaning is the question of where we come from and where we are going. Some of us seek this in religion, some in philosophy, some in science or in different schools of thought. Some of us, however, wander through the painful labyrinths of our souls in pursuit of the meaning of life and truth, unable to find our way or our direction.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Existence is a form of experiencing in which each person finds their own answers within their own process of becoming. It may not carry the same meaning in every life, because we all assign different meanings even to the same words.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/existence-without-echo/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Organized Evil</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/organized-evil/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/organized-evil/</guid><description>Throughout human history, the question of how a person can be so evil has been asked again and again. While individual evil is often explained through the image of a &apos;monster&apos;, the real danger lies in organized evil.</description><pubDate>Sun, 10 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Throughout human history, the question &amp;quot;How can a person be so evil?&amp;quot; has been asked again and again. This question does not confront us only through individual acts filled with violence, hatred, or cruelty. It becomes deeper and more unsettling in the moments when evil takes on an organized and systematic form.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While individual evil can be explained through a person&amp;#39;s intentions, desires, and ambitions, organized evil rests on a far more complex structure with many actors and systems.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Important figures in the history of philosophy have developed different assumptions about human nature. Some have argued that human beings are selfish, self interested, and aggressive by nature. Another view maintains that goodness belongs to human nature, while evil develops through social interaction. This duality gives rise to the debate over whether individual evil is innate or learned.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The concept of the &amp;quot;banality of evil&amp;quot; shows that individual evil does not always arise from a conscious evil intention. Sometimes it can also emerge through ordinary people who act without thinking or questioning. Individual evil can be shaped not only by malicious intent, but also by passivity, obedience, or indifference.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Psychology explains individual evil more through biological and developmental foundations. In conditions such as psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder, a lack of empathy is pronounced. These individuals do not feel the pain of others, which makes them more prone to harmful behavior.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Evil that goes beyond the individual and becomes institutionalized within a structure has led to the most devastating crimes against humanity. Genocides, war crimes, systems of slavery, and modern networks of exploitation are examples of organized evil. The concept of banality is important here as well, because the actors of organized evil are often individuals who have surrendered their own will to the system, and no one feels directly responsible.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As the distinction between &amp;quot;us&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;them&amp;quot; deepens within society, outside groups are othered and subjected to inhuman treatment. In this process, even the media, education, and the legal system can become instruments of evil. Evil is no longer the choice of an individual. It becomes a duty, a norm.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In Stanley Milgram&amp;#39;s obedience experiment, it was observed that participants could inflict serious harm on another human being when guided by an authority figure. This shows that organized evil is fueled not only by sadistic individuals, but also by the tendency of ordinary people to obey orders.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While individual evil is often explained through the image of a &amp;quot;monster&amp;quot;, the real danger lies in organized evil. Because here, evil becomes invisible, ordinary, and systematic. This makes it more enduring and more destructive.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The struggle against evil is not possible through individual conscience alone. It also requires institutional, social, and cultural awareness. Every individual can become part of these systems, but they can also become a subject who resists. The greatest responsibility lies in not losing the courage to question.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With this awareness, I believe that my most fundamental goal is to live as a good person and to die as a good person. I do this neither in expectation of reward nor out of fear of punishment. I simply try to find my way through my conscience, my moral values, and my sense of justice.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Perhaps the world will not belong to the good. Perhaps evil will always be one step ahead. And yet I firmly believe that to have passed through this world as a good person and to have stood upright against evil is the most precious legacy one can leave behind.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/organized-evil/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>A New Narrative Is Needed</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/a-new-story-is-needed/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/a-new-story-is-needed/</guid><description>The leader figure who has shaped society for years is far more than a single individual. It represents a shared destiny, a story of ascent, and a search for legitimacy.</description><pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;The leader figure who has shaped society for years is not merely a political figure, but also a symbol of belonging, trauma, and resistance. For a significant part of the public, this figure is far more than a single individual. It represents a shared destiny, a story of ascent, and a search for legitimacy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Millions of people who, through this bond, feel as if they have risen with him from the ranks of the oppressed develop a deep loyalty. For this reason, standing against him is possible not merely through a project, but only through a much deeper narrative.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yet those who oppose him still believe this is merely a matter of authoritarianism. In truth, this bond is the result of emotional, cultural, and identity based ties. Fragmented structures, leadership crises, and the failure to build a credible relationship with the people lead not only to the loss of elections, but also to the loss of hope.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A new narrative is needed. The previous narrative was a story of resistance that began with victimhood and ended in victory. It placed a figure from among the people at the center and drew strength from the perception of an external threat. Those who stand against it today must explain much more clearly and authentically why they set out, with whom they will walk, and where they want to arrive.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Without establishing this bond, neither transformation begins nor hope grows. Instead of portraying people as deceived, we must see them as a community that walked the same path but came to think differently. We must try to understand rather than exclude, and build empathy rather than polarize.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instead of a search for a savior, what is needed is a founding will. A movement that prioritizes inclusive, local democratic structures and is supported by participatory models. Because true transformation begins by not losing those who once believed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The future of this society will be written not in the shadow of a single figure, but in the courage of the majority that takes its founding will into its own hands.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/a-new-story-is-needed/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Thought Cannot Be Silenced</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/thought-cannot-be-silenced/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/thought-cannot-be-silenced/</guid><description>Some believe they have power over everything. When they suppress the voice, they think they have silenced the truth. Yet true power lies in being heard without instilling fear.</description><pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Some believe they have power over everything. Over the right to speak, over justice, over freedom. When they suppress the voice, they think they have silenced the truth.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yet true power lies in being heard without instilling fear. Every throne built on fear is hollow underneath. Silences woven from bans will one day turn into an echo.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Because what we call the people is not merely a crowd. It is memory, conscience, and tomorrow.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I speak from that memory. I whisper not only in my own name, but on behalf of everyone whose voice has been stifled.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is an age in which a single word can be counted as a crime and a single glance as a threat. But as long as there are people who write, think, and feel, nothing is fully under control. Knowing this and having to endure this truth must be difficult.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some believe everything is under control. They build a silence shaped by censorship, fear, and punishment. But they do not know that even when everyone falls silent, someone continues to whisper. And sometimes a whisper tells more than a scream.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you are silent now. Not only because you are afraid, but to protect, to guard yourself, because you are forced to. I understand.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But know this. Silence does not mean disappearance. If something still aches within you, if you still long for justice, if you form a word inside yourself without speaking it aloud, then you exist. You are still resisting.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And if there are still people who write, think, and feel, nothing is fully under control.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You can silence a human being, but never thought itself.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/thought-cannot-be-silenced/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>What Must the Opposition Do?</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/what-must-the-opposition-do/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/what-must-the-opposition-do/</guid><description>The opposition cannot come to power because it cannot convince. It cannot convince because it cannot build a language of solutions. Because today&apos;s crises cannot be solved issue by issue.</description><pubDate>Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;The opposition cannot come to power because it cannot convince. It cannot convince because it cannot build a language of solutions. Voters today no longer want to know only what is being opposed, but what will be solved and how. Reactive politics does not inspire trust. Politics that gives a sense of direction finds a response.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Housing, youth unemployment, educational inequality, disaster risk, women&amp;#39;s poverty, digital injustice, and migration are not separate issues. They are lived within the same life, in the same home, and at the same time. Yet politics still responds to these problems separately. If crises are interconnected, then solutions must also come from fields that touch one another.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What we need is no longer a separate table for each issue, but a strategic coordination structure that connects these issues horizontally, establishes relationships between problems, and thinks of solution proposals in an integrated way. What is needed is not vertical fields such as economy, women, or migration, but a center of thought that works through thematic pairings such as Housing and Youth, Disasters and Urban Poverty, or Violence Against Women and Existential Security.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Because today&amp;#39;s crises cannot be solved issue by issue. Problems that create chain reactions require chained solutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This structure must be data based, but this does not mean only numbers and tables. It must also include the regular recording of field observations, contact, and what people actually feel, classifying them as emotion, experience, and need.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Because when a citizen says, &amp;quot;I cannot pay my rent,&amp;quot; they are speaking about far more than housing. Unemployment, mental health, gender, family burdens, and urban planning are all contained within that sentence.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Politics can no longer merely produce answers. It must give direction. The issue is not only understanding what society is going through, but knowing how to organize that experience.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A true strategy means being able to tell a society that has lost its sense of direction not only what must be done, but also what must be thought together. Because only through such strategic management can the trust of the base, the approval of the undecided, and the future of the country be won.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/what-must-the-opposition-do/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Mirror</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/mirror/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/mirror/</guid><description>We encounter many people throughout the day. Each of us becomes a point of contact for different lives and different inner states.</description><pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;We encounter many people throughout the day. Each of us becomes a point of contact for different lives and different inner states.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a conversation, a sentence, or someone&amp;#39;s way of being reminds me of who I was years ago. Then a reflection appears before me, one that closely resembles the state of mind I was in back then, my world of ideas, and the dead ends I had found myself in.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I cannot help but think. How did I manage to overcome all that and arrive here? What has changed in my mind from that day to this one? Which paths have quietly closed, and which have opened? What message would I send from today to those days? If I tried to explain this to the person before me, would they understand? Or would it disturb their own path of inner growth? Would I think the same way and react the same way five or ten years from now? Or would I already have moved toward another self, different from who I am now?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In moments like these, I feel as though I am in a room filled with mirrors. A different self appears in each mirror. Sometimes a woman, sometimes a man. Some young, some old. One wears a conservative expression, another a rebellious one. Another is hopeless. And another does not care about anything at all.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They all surround me at once. It is as if life turns into an interactive theater stage where I play all these versions of myself at the same time. Every role belongs to me. Every line echoes within me.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Perhaps there is only one self on that stage. Perhaps all these characters are nothing more than echoes of the same essence at different points in time. If all these selves before me knew they were, in truth, one and the same being, would they still fight so fiercely with one another?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Perhaps this is why where we come from and where we are going become impossible to explain. Where life begins and where it ends grows uncertain. The lines fade, the mirrors multiply, the reflections blend into one another. The boundary between reality and illusion dissolves.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Could it be that we are not God&amp;#39;s dream after all, but beings lost inside a paranoia?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/mirror/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Getting Used to Things Is the Most Insidious Disaster</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/the-most-insidious-disaster/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/the-most-insidious-disaster/</guid><description>At first, you rebel. You say, &apos;This is too much.&apos; Then you begin to get used to it. If you can still say within yourself, &apos;This is not just,&apos; then you have not yet been defeated.</description><pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Getting used to things is the most insidious disaster.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At first, you rebel. You say, &amp;quot;This is too much.&amp;quot; Then you begin to get used to it. To the sound of sirens, to the price tags in the market, to the ordinariness of injustice, to the accepted silence.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One morning, you open your eyes and realize that you have begun to look silently past the very thing you should have screamed about the most.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And then, without even realizing it, the helplessness in front of the courthouse, the crowd walking through the streets with bowed heads, all of it turns into a habit. Because getting used to things is the easiest way to survive. But at the same time, it is the slow surrender of the soul.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;What can we do, what is in our hands?&amp;quot;
&amp;quot;This is the order of things.&amp;quot;
&amp;quot;Is it up to us to fix the world?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These sentences quietly tell the story of a country&amp;#39;s collapse.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And yet there are things one must never get used to. One does not get used to a journalist who reports the news every morning at the cost of their freedom, to a young person who has lost their entire future, or to a mother carrying the photograph of her child while seeking justice.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you get used to it, you fall silent. As you remain silent, you rot from within. And a society that rots from within disappears without even noticing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Sometimes, simply not forgetting a single sentence passing through your mind becomes a form of resistance. Sometimes the feeling in your heart that cannot be silenced, that quiet &amp;quot;this cannot go on like this,&amp;quot; becomes the last fortress that does not fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you can still say within yourself, &amp;quot;This is not just,&amp;quot; then you have not yet been defeated. Because true surrender begins first within.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A country rots by remaining silent. A people are erased by accepting. And if someone, despite everything, can still say within themselves, &amp;quot;This should not be this way,&amp;quot; then there is always hope that one day change will become inevitable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/the-most-insidious-disaster/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>The Fine Craft of Words</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/fine-craft-of-words/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/fine-craft-of-words/</guid><description>Is it a choice to read everything that is written and judge the writer? Or is being selective the reader&apos;s responsibility?</description><pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Is it a choice to read everything that is written and judge the writer? Or is being selective the reader&amp;#39;s responsibility? In today&amp;#39;s literary world, many writers face excessive criticism for what they write. This is also strongly shaped by the way social media makes writers accessible to people from every walk of life. However, if such criticism negatively affects the writer&amp;#39;s creativity, it may be no different from chaining the writer&amp;#39;s pen and taking away the freedom to think and create.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Every day, new works are added to the existing body of literature across the world, and thousands of books and texts reach readers in one way or another. Since it is clear that not every work will appeal to everyone, and that a human lifetime will never be enough to read everything that has been written, I believe selectivity is a necessity for the reader.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Reading has been a hope that has kept me connected to life since childhood, and writing has become an equally great passion. As one&amp;#39;s intellectual foundation grows, the feeling that one is not yet enough before reaching a certain maturity is, I suppose, part of this passion. The desire to reach perfection teaches us over time what growing more refined in creativity, literature, and art can add to the human spirit.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cutting fabrics from existing words and designing suitable clothes for them while pouring my deep thoughts into writing is the most beautiful aspect of literature for me.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I always say put your word out there, be open to criticism, and let appreciation and feedback be your light while writing. Should it not be so?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/fine-craft-of-words/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Three Forms of Consciousness, One Truth</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/three-forms-of-consciousness/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/three-forms-of-consciousness/</guid><description>A person today may belong to any religion and yet live their religiosity with a consciousness similar to that of the Torah. Another person may live their religion with a consciousness similar to that of the Gospel.</description><pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;A person today may belong to any religion and yet live their religiosity with a consciousness similar to that of the Torah. For such a person, religion is woven mostly around rules, the forbidden and the permitted, prohibition and permission, form and obedience. Truth is reduced to the correct application of commandments, and a sense of security is created by not disturbing the order.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Another person may live their religion with a consciousness similar to that of the Gospel. There, the rule recedes into the background, and relationship comes to the fore. Religion is lived more as an inner state. Love, forgiveness, closeness of the heart, and emotional experience become decisive. This is not something seen only in Christianity. The same spirit can also be recognized in New Age mysticism and in certain Sufi paths.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the consciousness of the Quran, transcendence and nearness are carried at the same time. Through tanzih, Allah is understood as unique and absolutely transcendent. Through tashbih, Allah is experienced as near, relational, and inwardly felt. In Sufi thought, tawhid is understood through the fact that these two aspects do not exclude one another. One is asked to realize that the transcendent and the near are, in truth, two languages of one single truth.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Nevertheless, it is possible for a person to remain only in tanzih. God may then be experienced as distant, stern, and solely ruling. It is also possible to take refuge only in tashbih. In that case, God is internalized to such an extreme degree that He almost becomes a purely psychological concept.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We see this in daily life as well. Some build their religiosity almost entirely on rules. Some live it only through emotion. Some linger in metaphysical language. Some continue worship as a mere routine.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For this reason, the religion a person belongs to and the consciousness they actually live do not always meet on the same level. A Jew may live with a consciousness similar to that of the Gospel. A Christian may carry a consciousness similar to that of the Torah. A Muslim may never rise to the horizon opened by the consciousness of the Quran.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Perhaps what is called yaqīn is lived with Musa and understood with Hızır. Perhaps one cannot say illā without first internalizing lā. Perhaps a person must first be cleansed of every idol within themselves.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/three-forms-of-consciousness/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>The Particular and the Universal</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/particular-and-universal/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/particular-and-universal/</guid><description>Imagine a puzzle. Every choice changes the picture. And each time the picture is rebuilt, it still forms a meaningful image. This is called particular will.</description><pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;What happens, happens because it is meant to happen.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Imagine a puzzle shaped by the flow of a person&amp;#39;s life and their decisions, an order that constantly changes through the moments in which it brushes against the lives of others. When a person chooses one possibility out of countless others, the pieces shift.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But this is not like the puzzles we know. Every choice changes the picture. And each time the picture is rebuilt, it still forms a meaningful image. This is called particular will.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Then there are the moments when certain pieces change direction. We did not choose them, we did not ask for them, we did not want them. But the wind of life placed them before us, and the flow of events brought us there. This is universal will. And yet, somehow, a meaningful picture emerges. This is fate.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But because we are only one piece within that whole, we can see only the part of the picture that is reflected to us. The places we cannot see frighten us. That is why we sometimes call pain injustice, lack unfairness, and loss a mistake. Because the great picture can only be seen from above, while we are looking at the puzzle from the back.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The hardest part begins when we question divine justice. Sometimes we see it, sometimes we sense it, but most of the time our understanding remains incomplete. And exactly here, faith comes into play.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some of us believe that justice is not limited to this world, while others believe it must be built here. One of us surrenders to faith, the other struggles. Because whether you believe or not, even when a voice inside us says, &amp;quot;It should not have been this way,&amp;quot; somewhere the feeling remains that there is a reason for it being this way.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And sometimes this feeling is where faith begins. Or for someone who does not believe at all, it is where the search for meaning and truth begins.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That is why no one knows what the picture will look like when this ever changing puzzle is completed according to every possibility, every choice, and every act of will. But deep down, we all feel that this picture cannot be meaningless. And perhaps this is more precious than anything else.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/particular-and-universal/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Every Road Has an End</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/every-road-has-an-end/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/every-road-has-an-end/</guid><description>The intoxication of power has a nature of its own for those who hold power. Yet there is one thing no one who holds power can escape. Death.</description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;The intoxication of power has a nature of its own for those who hold power.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In this sense, there is no difference between a husband who abuses his wife at home, a boss who treats his employees unjustly, and a state that holds onto power by intimidating and suppressing its people without listening to their voice.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Once the poison of power lowers a veil over one&amp;#39;s eyes, it is not easy to free oneself from it. And standing against such power is by no means easy for those who have much to lose.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Out of fear of being left with nothing and being unable to provide for her children, that woman often cannot leave her husband. And out of fear of unemployment, the employee cannot simply resign.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is deeply human. People fear loss. They say no one is innocent of a sin they have not been tested by. Perhaps what we need to understand is this. No one can be the hero of a suffering they have not been tested by.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When power comes unjustly, unlawfully, unfairly, and through intimidation from a place that a person should have been able to see as a support, from those who govern so that one may receive service, trust, and feel at home in one&amp;#39;s own homeland, and when it creates the fear of something that cannot be resisted, then passivity too becomes human and understandable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yet there is one thing no one who holds power can escape. Death.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A human being knows that such an end is inevitable. Sometimes they send their loved ones ahead. Sometimes they themselves say goodbye too early. They live knowing this and learn to endure it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Whether one believes or not, whether one dreams of eternity or nothingness, the reality of death tells us that all ambitions, all possessed wealth, and all oppression will one day come to an end.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And death is the greatest power that no ruler can control.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That is why it is worth reminding those who hold power from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The road has an end. Do not wear yourself out so much.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/every-road-has-an-end/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Is Suffering a Sign of Weak Faith?</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/is-suffering-lack-of-faith/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/is-suffering-lack-of-faith/</guid><description>Viewing the absence of trauma as a virtue is not the right approach.</description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Viewing the absence of trauma as a virtue is not the right approach.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Quran does not give us every detail of Prophet Yusuf&amp;#39;s inner world. Trauma is a concept of modern psychology and cannot be directly applied to that era.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to Islamic belief, prophets are human beings. They suffer, they grieve, and they are shaken. When Prophet Yusuf said to the person beside him in prison, &amp;quot;Mention me to your master,&amp;quot; meaning &amp;quot;Do not forget me here,&amp;quot; it clearly shows how much he longed to be freed and how heavily the loneliness of that place weighed on him. If he had felt no psychological burden at all, he would not have asked for this help.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Experiencing pain, facing hardship, and being shaken are not signs of weak faith. The emphasis is not on never feeling pain, but on preserving the right inner attitude while passing through it. Patience does not mean not feeling the pain. It means passing through pain with the right direction.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It is also not realistic to portray Prophet Yusuf&amp;#39;s mature perspective after becoming the Aziz of Egypt, years later, as if it were something he had felt from the very beginning. That statement of ihsan is the final point of a lifelong trial, not its beginning. He became Yusuf because, even though he felt the pain in its deepest form, he did not lose his direction.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Theologically, it is believed that there is wisdom in destiny. But this does not mean that everything that happens to a person must feel good from a human perspective. When the phrase &amp;quot;everything is for the best&amp;quot; is misunderstood, it can become a way of legitimizing oppression, minimizing the victim&amp;#39;s pain, and falling into the easy comfort of &amp;quot;just be grateful and it will pass.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Creating the perception that &amp;quot;a Muslim does not experience trauma, they only endure with patience&amp;quot; can place an unfair burden of guilt on a suffering person and make them ask, &amp;quot;Why am I suffering so much? Is my faith weak?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If therapy is seen as weakness, medication as a lack of faith, and trauma as an invented modern concept, this can push people with real psychiatric disorders into guilt, prevent them from seeking professional support, and open the door to the claim that &amp;quot;if you had enough faith, this would not have happened.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;An approach that is in harmony with a religious perspective would be to see trust in Allah and human, psychological support not as alternatives to one another, but as complements.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/is-suffering-lack-of-faith/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>What If I Am on the Wrong Path?</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/what-if-wrong-path/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/what-if-wrong-path/</guid><description>The fear of being on the wrong path is actually one of the most honest questions in life. A person finds themselves not only on the right path, but also at a turn, and even while getting lost.</description><pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;The fear of being on the wrong path is actually one of the most honest questions in life. Because only a searching mind asks this question.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What we call potential is not a fixed peak to be reached, but a possibility that unfolds as we live and takes shape with every step. Even the paths we assume to be wrong can carry us to the deepest awareness. Because a person finds themselves not only on the right path, but also at a turn, and even while getting lost. What they take with them on the path, what they leave behind, and what they experience on paths they thought were wrong also support this awareness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The real issue is not which path you are on, but how you walk that path. Is this path consuming you, or is it deepening you? Growing tired and being consumed are different things. If it nourishes you from within, there is meaning there, even if it is difficult.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But if you constantly feel inner decay, alienation, and inner silence, if you are being consumed, then it is necessary to review your direction and look at yourself honestly. Changing direction requires courage. Feeling ready for it is a confrontation and an inner revolution in its own right.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Meaning is not necessarily found in a great success. It is hidden in the sincerity of the process, in the impact you create, in the relationships you transform, and in your ability to listen to the inner voice echoing within you. Potential often lies not in a single profession or role, but in the multilayered nature of the human being and in their capacity to shed light in many directions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And perhaps the truest potential is the consciousness that can ask all these questions sincerely. Because the person who keeps walking despite fear and hesitation is already doing justice to the path and to their own potential.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/what-if-wrong-path/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Perhaps You Are the Answer Someone Has Not Yet Met</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/perhaps-you-are-the-answer/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/perhaps-you-are-the-answer/</guid><description>Perhaps there is nothing in a person&apos;s life that can rescue them from the feeling of emptiness as much as knowing they are understood by someone.</description><pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Perhaps there is nothing in a person&amp;#39;s life that can rescue them from the feeling of emptiness as much as knowing they are understood by someone. While feelings like love and trust grow over time, understanding and being understood can happen in a first glance, in a first conversation, in a first reaction.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When we are alone, when we fall silent, when we feel helpless, we may retreat into the shelter within us that feels safe, or into the dark alleys of our soul. In such moments, all we may need is someone to whom we can tell what is inside us, or simply to know that we are understood.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Sometimes the person we are waiting for is not somewhere outside. They are born within us. There are moments when we understand ourselves, when we touch something within ourselves. But learning to make oneself understandable to oneself can sometimes be a long journey.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Sometimes we ourselves come to a halt in the flow of a story. You are the one who is longed for, the one expected to understand. Do not take this on as a burden, thinking, &amp;quot;This is always expected of me, I always have to be the understanding one.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But sometimes, in an unexpected moment, in a way we never saw coming, someone appears before us. They become a voice, a breath, right beside us. They become an answer to the questions we never asked, touch the feelings we cannot put into words, or simply remain silent with us. When words fall short, they stand beside us with their presence.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When you grow weary of your loneliness, do not be unfair to yourself.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Perhaps you are the answer someone has not yet met.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/perhaps-you-are-the-answer/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Do Not Wait for Inspiration</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/do-not-wait-for-inspiration/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/do-not-wait-for-inspiration/</guid><description>Not every effort finds a response, and not every wound leads us to the secret of truth. The pain we endure is not a sign that we deserve it or that we are chosen.</description><pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Waiting for inspiration is also part of the effort to make sense of the pain we endure. Yet sometimes, like a grape fallen to the ground, we may fade away without becoming nourishment for any living being, without blending into the earth and opening a door to new life. Not every effort finds a response, and not every wound leads us to the secret of truth.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We may not reach the knowledge of the heart. We may not be granted a share of the knowledge of the unseen. The pain we endure is not a sign that we deserve this or that we are chosen. For such deep gifts do not emerge through the patience of a child waiting for a reward, but through the resilience shown while changing, transforming, falling and rising along the way. Perhaps they never emerge at all.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That is why both the purpose and the means must be clear. Being on the path is valuable, but it is not always enough. To do justice to that path means to change inwardly and to carry the truth slowly, layer by layer. This is often far from easy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And after becoming acquainted with such knowledge, continuing to live in the world as it is may be the heaviest burden, the quietest yet deepest test.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Would you ever want to be in Hızır&amp;#39;s place, for instance? To live at a level of consciousness where there is no one who could understand you. To cope with that loneliness, and even with the sheer weight of that thought alone.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Do not wait for inspiration. When the time comes, it will find you. Everyone comes with their portion and receives only as much as their vessel can hold.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/do-not-wait-for-inspiration/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Between Madness and Wisdom</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/between-madness-and-wisdom/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/between-madness-and-wisdom/</guid><description>Some souls who exist with extraordinary depths, beyond society&apos;s definitions of &quot;normal,&quot; are often marginalized with the label of &quot;madness&quot; because they are not understood.</description><pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Some souls who exist with extraordinary depths, beyond society&amp;#39;s definitions of &amp;quot;normal,&amp;quot; are often marginalized with the label of &amp;quot;madness&amp;quot; because they are not understood. At times, they are even confined behind the silent walls of mental institutions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yet these people are souls who absorb the burning light of truth more deeply than others. They consume themselves with their questioning and never give up the search, even in the absence of answers. For them, the world is not merely an ordinary cycle of life.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On this journey, they are tested most by patience. As they try to make sense of the injustices, evils, pain, and helplessness they have endured, and as they wrestle with unseen wounds and indescribable aches, they take refuge, driven by a deep longing to be understood, in the solitude that being misunderstood provides.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The deepest mind, the most shattering truth, takes root in those quietest corners. Because the state taken for madness is, in truth, nothing other than the inner response of a soul that cannot bear the weight of truth and is trying to make sense of what it has lived through.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While this effort to find meaning shakes their souls to the core, some are lost and vanish. But those souls who manage to overcome that vanishing return, to accompany, in the search for truth, the very society that once branded them as irrational. And this, too, is a kind of madness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And those who succeed in this guidance are remembered as the wise.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/between-madness-and-wisdom/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Code and Words, Both Empty Pages</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/code-and-words-empty-pages/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/code-and-words-empty-pages/</guid><description>In both fields, a world that did not exist before is created. In one, through code. In the other, through words.</description><pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;In my life, software development and literature stand side by side. Not as opposites, but as two distinct paths that have shaped me into the person I am today. While I move through the world of software with logic and analysis, in literature I pursue meaning and find myself again in the power of language.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In both fields, a world that did not exist before is created. In one, through code. In the other, through words. The ability to express a thought or a philosophy in literature with as few and as effective words as possible has taught me to bring the same care and aim to writing clean code.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The greatest common feature of these two worlds is abstraction. On one side, abstraction, the effort to reduce complex realities to simple models, shapes my professional practice. On the other side, as I try to make sense of life&amp;#39;s complexity through concepts, it offers me an inner space to breathe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Both disciplines nourish my motivation to make the invisible visible. For me, the same magic lies between the birth of an application from an empty file and the awakening of a thought on a blank page. The world of software taught me disciplined thinking, while literature helps me accept the human element and uncertainty within this web of logic.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I do not know which of the two has changed me more, but I know that this connection between them truly does my soul good.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/code-and-words-empty-pages/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Professional Consciousness and Patriotic Motivation</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/professional-consciousness/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/professional-consciousness/</guid><description>As a software engineer, if there were a strong and widespread organizational foundation, I would no longer be merely a passive supporter. I would become one of the invisible engineers of the digital political sphere.</description><pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;As a software engineer, if there were a strong and widespread organizational foundation, I would no longer be merely a passive supporter. I would become one of the invisible engineers of the digital political sphere. Because in this era, politics is conducted not only through ideas, but through the circulation of information and its capacity for transformation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I would use my technical knowledge to transform scattered anger into conscious social reflexes. My priority would not be merely to produce content, but to manage its impact. Through data driven analyses, I would track where a given discourse lands in society, what it touches, in whom it resonates, and how.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With narratives that speak in the language of the people without underestimating their intelligence, I would create simple but sharp content and multiply it through tools such as videos, microsites, and graphics. For the social attention that gets lost every day among thousands of pieces of content, I would establish guiding systems. Through algorithmic rankings that bring invisible issues to the foreground, I would create an agenda.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Against information pollution, I would build a structure that fights not only through verification, but also through powerful counter narratives. In moments of crisis, I would develop content strategies that set direction rather than merely react, that produce perspective rather than panic. I would test the consistency of the discourse with technical tools.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instead of a political approach that underestimates the energy of young people and dismisses their digital spaces with derision, I would turn the creativity taking shape in those spaces into a strategic advantage. In the same way, for more mature generations who carry emotional continuity but feel excluded, I would establish different communication channels that speak to their digital habits.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While doing all this, I would focus on dynamics rather than actors. I would read tendencies rather than chase names, and I would guide instead of passing judgment. Because today the issue is not who is right, but which information can set society in motion again. I would not only produce that information, I would also code the way it spreads.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In this era, the most political form of software is the ability to update social reflexes. I would use all my engineering skill for this update, for a more just, more resilient, and more conscious future.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/professional-consciousness/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Look into the Distance</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/look-into-the-distance/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/look-into-the-distance/</guid><description>&quot;Look into the distance. Look at the green. Let your eyes rest,&quot; my doctor said.</description><pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Look into the distance. Look at the green. Let your eyes rest,&amp;quot; my doctor said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Even when you are lost in the midst of life, you need to turn your eyes toward the distance. There, both your eyes and your soul find rest. Because the closer we move toward things, the larger they become. Small worries turn into giant mountains, and even small steps become bound to heavy chains. The near is detail. And detail, at times, is a burden.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When you look into the distance, you realize that no leaf is ashamed of its smallness, and no mountain complains about the weight of its body. Everything is in its place. Everything is as it should be. Neither too much nor too little.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Look at the green. Because nature does not rush, nature does not argue, nature does not make plans. Water does not push away the stone before it. It changes its course without forcing it. And yet it finds its way.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Look toward the horizon. Let the boundaries you cannot see not frighten you. A bird does not measure its wing. It trusts the sky. You, too, must sometimes stop measuring life and simply trust.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just like your eyes, your heart grows weary. And the heart, too, sometimes heals simply by looking. Not by fighting, not by trying to escape. Just by standing still. Just by looking.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Let go of the worries close at hand. Let go of the burning urgencies. Let go, simply let go. And look. Into the distance, toward the green, toward timelessness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Because sometimes changing life begins not by intervening, but by stepping aside and watching its flow.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/look-into-the-distance/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Compass</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/compass/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/compass/</guid><description>Sometimes a person feels as though their own mind and heart are not enough. The light of reason may not always fully illuminate the heart. But the right questions can make the inner guiding voice audible once again.</description><pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Sometimes a person feels as though their own mind and heart are not enough. Uncertainty grows, the inner burden becomes heavier and is felt more deeply. This state is difficult. But if a person has set out in search of guidance, that direction is valuable. Because it shows that they have begun to face themselves and have courageously turned toward the search for meaning.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yet within this search there is also a sense of helplessness. To encounter one&amp;#39;s own shadow, to feel that one&amp;#39;s own light is not enough, to seek a sign or companionship from the outside. This is a state we all experience from time to time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One also longs to meet someone who has found inner peace, whose soul has grown calm, who has walked the path and deepened through it, not only with the mind, but with the heart as well. Yet our paths do not always cross with such a person.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In such moments, in order to find one&amp;#39;s direction, it may be necessary to return to a few simple questions, free from the unrest of emotion. What is the real issue? What is the concrete situation? What do my values tell me? What is important to me? What is my goal? Where do I want to arrive at the end of this process?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The answers to these questions form a person&amp;#39;s inner compass. The light of reason may not always fully illuminate the heart. But the right questions can make the inner guiding voice audible once again.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/compass/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>We Are Merely Tangents</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/we-are-merely-tangents/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/we-are-merely-tangents/</guid><description>Life grants no one special privileges. It simply flows as it is. From birth to death, we merely accompany this flow. Within this entire torrent, we are only tangents.</description><pubDate>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;When was the last time you made a plan and life gave you a completely different answer?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Life is a movement in which countless variables beyond our will are intertwined. The desires of other people, the flow of events, material conditions, physical laws, and temporal coincidences all move together. Life does not revolve around our individual will. You whisper a wish, but at the same moment, millions of other dreams, events, and possibilities continue to exist.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I encounter this truth every day while developing software. I write code with countless parameters and dependencies, but the moment the system begins to run, it builds a life of its own. Variables interact in ways I cannot always foresee, and a single parameter can trigger a chain reaction. Just as in life, my intention sometimes gets lost in the combination of all these factors, or it prepares a ground that will become a cause somewhere else.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Life grants no one special privileges. It simply flows as it is. From birth to death, we merely accompany this flow. Within this entire torrent, we are only tangents.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Both writing code and life itself have shown me that we cannot defeat complexity. We can only learn to walk with it. The burden or disappointment brought by existence can be lightened not through the effort to control, but by focusing only on the action itself. There is no guarantee of the outcome. The only thing that remains is the quality of our action in that moment, not as a spiritual goal, but because it is the only thing we can truly manage in an unpredictable system.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/we-are-merely-tangents/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Ethical Shadows</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/ethical-shadows/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/ethical-shadows/</guid><description>A software mindset does not produce norms here. But it makes it harder to hide what falls outside the norm, because the issue is no longer intention, but leaving a trace.</description><pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Yes, you cannot simply upload ethical values to political human resources like software. But by ensuring the visibility of behavior, the traceability of outcomes, and the systematic documentation of distortions, you can establish a kind of digital audit space.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A software mindset does not produce norms here. But it makes it harder to hide what falls outside the norm, because the issue is no longer intention, but leaving a trace.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If we cannot create an ethical consciousness, we can at least increase the cost of hiding unethical behavior. And this creates a public pressure that forces the political structure to rebuild itself.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You cannot prevent bribery, but you can record its circulation. You cannot end cronyism, but you can document and expose it through transparent appointment systems. You cannot change power relations, but the moment you make them visible, you can narrow the space in which that power operates.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Therefore, software does not directly establish morality. But it can eliminate the shadows that make immorality comfortable to live in.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/ethical-shadows/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>The Stillness at the Center</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/tranquility-at-the-center/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/tranquility-at-the-center/</guid><description>In everything that rotates, speed increases as one moves away from the center. The outermost layer may reach the highest speed, but it is also the farthest from the center and the most vulnerable to being swept away.</description><pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;In everything that rotates, speed increases as one moves away from the center. The outermost layer may reach the highest speed, but it is also the farthest from the center and the most vulnerable to being swept away. Yet at the very center, at the axis of all movement, there is a point that remains in stillness. Without that point, rotation itself could not occur. Truth lies in the stillness at that center.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While everything in the universe is turning, the fact that human beings can &amp;quot;observe&amp;quot; this movement shows that they are able to anchor themselves somewhere outside that movement.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Scientifically speaking, there is no &amp;quot;absolutely stationary&amp;quot; frame of reference in the universe. The fact that everything moves relative to everything else shows that all things are bound to a single law.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Truth does not lie in the parts, the planets, the atoms, or human beings themselves, but in the Will and the Mathematics that turn them all at once, within a certain order, without letting them collide. The search for truth is an attempt to sense the &amp;quot;Choreographer&amp;quot; of this magnificent choreography.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The realization reached in the wonder of this intuitive contemplation makes everything else insignificant. If this level of realization were to become permanent, the human mind could not cope with an ecstasy that would strain its limits. While in that station of wonder, it could no longer adapt to daily life, surrounded as it is by material elements that have lost their meaning.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For this reason, the human being also turns and wanders within their own circle of becoming. When they look toward the center, toward truth, they may enter wonder, hayret. But when they look toward the periphery, toward life, they must make an effort, gayret.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/tranquility-at-the-center/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item><item><title>Existing Through Writing</title><link>https://derban.de/en/articles/existing-by-writing/</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://derban.de/en/articles/existing-by-writing/</guid><description>Existing through writing means, for a soul that loves losing itself in the creative world and can return from that loss more fully itself, a companionship to which it is passionately bound.</description><pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;Existing through writing means, for a soul that loves losing itself in the creative world and can return from that loss more fully itself, a companionship to which it is passionately bound.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Whether on a train, sipping coffee in a café, or feeling deeply tired from the world outside, being accompanied by a novel&amp;#39;s hero brought into being through one&amp;#39;s own writing, and being pulled into the atmosphere of a screenplay as it takes shape, become a journey that nourishes and transforms the writer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Today, it is of course inevitable that readers have to be selective. In a world where new works are published every day, choosing is no longer so easy. As someone who loves both reading and writing deeply, I can look through both windows.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As a complement to my passion for logical structures in my work as a software developer, writing is the space where those structures come alive for me. This is true whether in the development of a novel&amp;#39;s characters or in the careful construction of a screenplay. As someone who breathes through writing, I believe that a book, a line, or a line spoken in a scene is often written for that one person alone.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And even imagining that one day I might know the rightful joy of touching that one person&amp;#39;s heart does me good.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;hr&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Continue reading on &lt;a href=&quot;https://derban.de/en/articles/existing-by-writing/&quot;&gt;derbân.de&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;middot; &lt;em&gt;Other languages via the DE/TR/EN switch in the header.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded></item></channel></rss>