Anton

When Anton was twenty, he travelled around the world. He liked to visit France the most. He left wife and children at home. In his homeland, he mostly spent his time in pubs. Beer and cigarettes were more important to him than both his daughters.

When Anton was twenty-two, he got divorced. He did not honour his alimony payments. He drank his money away.

When Anton was twenty-six, he saw his daughters for the last time. His ex-wife forbade him any further contact.

When Anton was fifty-five, he had a friend who managed his money and kept most of it for himself. Outside of his working hours, he was drunk. As long as there was enough money for alcohol and cigarettes, he was content, he said.

When Anton was sixty-one, he stopped drinking. That was the time he got to know Frieda. Anton adored Frieda. Frieda had spent her whole life in a small house in the country and had never been interested in alcohol.

When Anton was sixty-two, he moved in to Frieda’s small house in the country.

When Anton was seventy, he had already shown Frieda Paris and London, Brussels, Berlin and Budapest. He had driven her to her relatives in Dessau and walked all around the neighbourhood with her.

When Anton was seventy-one, Frieda became ill. He drove with her to many doctors and hospitals in the area. Anton said: “You are the best thing that ever happened to me. As long as I live, you will not end up in a nursing home.” He drove her to the welfare centre, to the medical insurance office and to all public authorities.

When Anton was seventy-two, he married Frieda. He ran the house for her, vacuumed, did the shopping and cooked the meals. When Anton was seventy-five, Frieda died. He lived another one-and-a-half years. During this time he drank one glass of champagne a day. “For my circulation”, he said, “because the doctor recommended it to me”.

What God has Joined Together …

This is now many years ago. My grandmother told me the following story. And this story had come about when she herself was young and still lived with her parents. A woman often came to her mother – my great grandmother – and poured her heart out. A neighbour who had many woes. My great grandmother was always there for others. She was a good listener, and she had a deep Christian faith. She often advised others and helped where she could.

This neighbour told her about her marriage. It must have been a terrible marriage. Her husband was often drunk. He hit her, he abused her. The woman was desperate. It occurred to her to get a divorce. A brave decision for a lonely woman in a village in Bavaria about eighty years ago. She shared her thoughts with my great grandmother. The latter advised her against it. “What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. So hath our Lord spoken.” She should try somehow to make it work with her husband. And so it continued for a while, again and again. Then one day it was said that the woman from the neighbourhood was no longer alive. She had hanged herself.

Two Paths

It had come on suddenly. The right halfside of her body felt numb, as if it were anaesthetised. Anna went to the doctor. He frowned and did not say anything for a long time. “Looks like MS” was his conclusion after he had finished his examination. At the hospital she was given cortisone. Some weeks later she developed dizziness. Some months after that, the left side of her body also became numb, just as the right side had done before. Some months after that, her eyesight became blurry. The doctor saw his diagnosis confirmed. As if in a dream she received her disabled person’s pass. “50 %” was written on it – “for now”, she thought. “The power of thoughts” was the title of a presentation she heard during this time, as she mentioned later. Its topic was not about health in particular but about how we can visualise our future dreams so vividly and real, as if they were already true. She was asked to feel in a highly intensive way how it would be to have reached this wonderful state. She saw herself sitting in a green field, light-hearted and happy. She moved freely and felt light. Inside herself she felt a tremendous energy. So overwhelmed was she by the experience that she cried and cried – and yet this experience felt liberating. Each day, fFrom then on, she imagined each day how she would look, what she would do, and how she would feel as a healthy person She concentrated all her attention on this happy future. She let go of everything that did not seem to fit this image. She learned to notice much more quickly what nourished her soul and what was taking energy away from her. She focused all her life on that which strengthened her. After some time she was able to discontinue her medication. This was nine years ago. Her symptoms disappeared and have not come back.

Thomas lives in Switzerland. “Diagnosis: MS” was what his physicians wrote on his report. He has tried mental training and self-hypnosis. He has visualised how it would be to be healthy and has tried to feel it as well as he could. He has suffered more and more attacks. He says there is only one path on which he can go, and this is his path. He is learning to strengthen his inner self for whatever will come. He is learning to cope with an everyday life, which is harder than that of anyone he knows. He is learning to live in an upright state even though he is lying down. He is learning to live with dignity and self-respect even though others pity him. He is learning to feel strong even though his body is weak. He is learning to live from an energy source that many healthy people do not know.

Lumbago

„Witch’s shot“, that’s what they call a lumbago in my country. And indeed, it is like a curse! This pain whenever I move! “It would be best not to move at all any more”, I thought. “If I just keep my arm in front of the body, pull my right shoulder up, let the left shoulder drop down, and bend a little bit forward, I can stand it.” If I were to move very cautiously, I could even go to the door. But how should I press down the handle without changing my posture? Any wrongfalse movement was causing terrible pain.

On the other hand: What was a “wrongfalse movement” in this situation? The longer I stayed in my unnatural position, trying to protect myself from the pain, the more my muscles tensed, and the worse they would ache afterwards. If my means of escape were actually my trap – what could I do?

I decided to do an experiment. Instead of trying to find a comfortable position for my body, I went into the most painful position I could stand for a prolonged time and I stayed like this. Surprisingly, my pain became less after a few minutes, and my ability to move increased. Once more I leaned back into the pain – the worst I could bear. And again the pain decreased after a while and I could move more freely. I repeated this procedure another six or eight times. The curse lost its power and turned into bliss.

Addiction

“What is this huge, disgusting wart on my thumb?” He was three years old when he said this to his mother. For days already he had looked at the round, orange-coloured bulge, and couldn’t stop thinking about it. “That is a blister. It comes from sucking your thumb.” “And if I stop, will it go away again?” “Yes”. On this day he made a holy vow. It was his first adult decision.

Chasing Ghosts

So you’re having trouble with the ghosts in your home? They’re in your room, behind the cupboard? And under the cellar stairs, too? Listen! I’ve also met them, and I have some experience with them. Mine were probably not exactly the same ghosts you’ve met, but I bet yours are similar to the mean characters which hung around my house. When I was a child, I often came across them and still do today, now and then. When I was little, I was terribly afraid of them. Then I discovered something about them:

In reality, they can’t do much, they only behave as if they can. Their only aim is to make you afraid. When they manage that, it gives them a kick. When they don’t manage it, they get bored. And when they are bored for too long, they go away. You can annoy the ghosts, too. For example, you say: “Good morning dear ghost! How are you today? Did you sleep well? Do you want to come and have some breakfast?” Then the ghost gets really angry. Perhaps it then tries to make you more scared. But if you continue in this way, it loses interest in you and soon looks for something else.

Horse and Rider

I watched a rider training a horse. The lady was short and dainty. The gelding she rode was full of energy. He could have thrown her off his back any time, but this was not what it was about. Two souls were wrestling with each other. “Who is in the lead?” This question filled the air. The woman took her time with the horse. She wanted to tame the horse yet not break its spirit. She wanted its respect and trust. In the end she won the wrestling match and I believe they were both happy.

Implication

Granny Annie was celebrating her birthday in a large family circle with all her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. “How old are you? 90 years and still healthy?” one of the felicitators asked. “What do you mean by ‘still’?” Granny Annie replied.

The Gold Prospector

In a hut by the river in the Rocky Mountains, there once lived a gold prospector. Every morning he got up, washed, ate a slice of bread, put on his working clothes and went to the river with his large sieve.

He had lived here for many years and had sieved several tons of sand. On some days he found a bit of gold, but it was seldom more than he needed in order to buy the most necessary food, clothing and tools for his daily needs. He had long dreamed of stumbling across a large amount of gold. But he realized now that this dream would never come true. Because most of the time, when he looked in his gold pan, he found nothing more than little stones which glittered in the sun.

One day an old school friend came to visit him. He was a jeweller from a large town and had amassed a considerable fortune. He was interested to see how this gold prospector lived. “Please show me, just one time, how you prospect for gold”, he asked his old friend.

Reluctantly he stood up, took his pan from the wall and went to the river with his friend. He dipped the sieve in the river, shook it and let the water run out. “See, again nothing”, he sighed and looked up at his friend. “That is unbelievable”, the latter said, and turned pale. “Full of diamonds!”