# 191: BOOK OF THE WEEK — “Eine Reise von 1000 Meilen beginnt mit dem ersten Schritt“
Story behind the Passage
Today I simply felt like ‘growing’ — spiritually, holistically. I have not paid attention to this for a few months now. It might sound weird, but it is very true. Whenever I lose track of this very essential part of human life — of my life — then something is wrong. I have become better at noticing it earlier. Still, it happens. And, as you can learn from Reddemann’s book, blaming oneself for this would not be constructive in the sense of healing. Yes, you might think that healing is only needed for “sick” people. But that exactly is the first error many people make. If you get into spirituality and positive psychology (the two are separate things, of course), you will learn that getting rid of these definitions is the first step of the journey.
I heard about Reddemann’s book or at least about her at a meditation retreat 1.5 years ago. This is when I ordered the book and now I finally used my Sunday reading to go through it. I have to say: Yes, right choice. Even for people who have a background in some care-related field, therapy, or positive psychology, you can still gain additional impulses and practical exercises — for yourself and for your work with clients or patients. The absolute strength of this book really is the easy and pleasant readability. I am always emphasizing this aspect because, as you know by now, passing on knowledge in simple words is the highest art of scholars as public intellectuals and teachers — in the best sense of the term. The various stories that Reddemann includes, from the Bible, everyday life, and spiritual sources, very much add value for rounding the book.
- Illness as nourishment
This finding to think about illness as something that nourishes you meant a breakthrough for me when I first learned about it many years ago. It was an essential step towards my own healing processes. And reading about it again today made me feel really humble. You can lose sight of this learning if you do not pay attention. Then, bit by bit, other “illnesses” enter your life. But if you understand that an illness or some negative state of mind is also something that you are holding on to because it nourishes you, you can start finding out what exactly this is. Only if you do this, you can also start taking alternative actions because you can think of other ways of nourishing this need. Yes, this sounds so simple, even provokative, and I know it is not. Again, this journey towards healing or getting better starts with the first step and for me this step is always some fundamental insight. As Reddemann makes clear throughout: It is also your decision if you really want to make such an insight change your life.
2. Not staying as you are
This parable of the personified river that seeks to cross the desert and has to finally give up its “old” identity in order for the wind to carry its vapor to a new and unknown destination is beautiful. It touches me because it underlines very clearly that you will not move anywhere if you forcefully hold on to the old way of being. You will simply be absorbed by the sand, no matter how forcefully you try to cross the desert by holding on to your previous shape. And this story is very strong because it is not compromising in any way. There is no vague third option indicated. The voice really commands the river to be taken up by the wind. Even though the river protests by asking, almost pleading, that it wants to remain the same. Then the voice replies:
“Under no circumstances can you remain what you are,” whispered the voice. “What is truly essential about you will be carried off and it will form a new river.”
In other words: Let go and do not worry that this will destroy everything about you. The real core will move with you to this new place, even though you have no idea where this might be.
3. Man drowning
I have no idea how often I have read this story already — the man who rejects the help of so many people because he waits for God to rescue him from the roof top of his house in the middle of a flood — and dies. In heaven, he then asks God why he did not help him. And God replies that he had sent “people, a boat, and a helicopter.” Reddemann uses this story when talking about the fact that sometimes our wishes are not fulfilled in the way that we would have liked it. Still, great opportunities can come up. If we insist on only one possible way how this wish could be fulfilled, we cannot see these other opportunities that come our way.
The problem obviously is: telling the difference. When is it really an alternative that will make us happy and when is it simply sidetracking us? This is a really familiar issue I have been struggling with for long and repeatedly. The answer Riddemann gives for solving it is the only one that I have found as well: intuition. There are many ways of how to “explain” intuition but part of spiritual life is that you do not (always) try to explain things intellectually. That in and of itself is what marks intuition. It is basically the balance of head and heart whereby that does not mean that the head is not rational or the heart entirely dominates. In short: intuition is what you intuitively know that intuition is and listening to it usually prevents you from harm. At other times, overriding it might cause you harm but in a constructive way, i.e., you learn from it.
Learning is, as with any of the books I read, the essential thing in spiritual growth — no matter if you are interested in spirituality or if you simply read this as the collection of very pragmatic tips from a professor of psychotherapy. This is what I also like very much about the book: anybody can read it from any spiritual, religious, or even “atheist” position. The examples of stories are very mixed, ranging from the Bible, to the Talmud, to philosophical and even literary examples (e.g, Thoreau). Of course, this latter aspect is really striking and encouraging to me. I think, I already started a new journey without even noticing it consciously. Literature obviously plays a crucial role in it. Not just in my life but in the lives of the people that I work with. Bringing literature to people is a blessing in and of itself. If this literature has healing power as well — who would I be to not be carried away by the wind?
Reflection Questions
1) Would you like to start a new journey in your life? What is the “old” river that you are willing to leave behind?
2) Which stories from the Bible do you know/remember (even if you are not religious in any way)?
3) What is a wish that you had which was not fulfilled and how do you look at it now?