Serenity in the seemingly hopeless? Serenity in today’s human situation?
It takes little to be joyful,
and whoever is joyful is a king.
It’s a children’s song, a canon that resounds lively and joyful when children’s voices sing it.
Froh zu sein bedarf es wenig,
und wer froh ist, ist ein König
(the original version.)
A great deal awaits us when we come into the world. But our gaze is not focused on individual things at the beginning, not on something specific;rather, our gaze goes out into the wide, the open. Is this a farewell? Is this where we receive the nourishment for a journey that will not be easy? For a short time we are still one with the whole. And so royalty shines through us.
Where does the sparkle in the eyes of little children come from? We look into them and are momentarily relieved of our everyday worries. This glowis not intentional, not made up. It is simply there. Something shines through the little person, a strength that will carry him through life, a strength ‘out of the blue’. It recedes into the background, into the great vastness and depth, when the person himself becomes important, when he makes himself important in the foreground. But it will remain with him.
The children themselves are by no means always joyful. Yes, they romp around in a marvellous way, they deal with everything full of imagination, they are lively, marvellous images of the great game of the world. It is a joy to watch them. Children accomplish a tremendous, almost incomprehensible feat. They playfully bring the world out of themselves, make themselves into it and absorb everything they encounter from it. As long as the serene sky is still open within them, it is a cycle. Heaven comes into the world through them and they carry everything they absorb from the world back to it.
Royal power shines from their eyes, the power of the whole, the lust for life of the whole, the joyfulness of ever new beginnings.
It takes little to be joyful becauseeverything is already there. But the view of the whole closes, the roundness of the eyes narrows, their marvelling narrows to concentration. The individual things come to the fore. The concrete moves into focus, obscuring the open. The world becomes the backdrop, the foreground. It is now time to learn something. For how are you supposed to exist, separated from your origins? It is life-threatening. You have to equip yourself, you have to train to master things. The struggle for life awaits, the fight for a dwindling life. How are you supposed to survive it? You can’t win. The world says: acquire knowledge, skill, set goals, practise tricks, strategies. We go about parcelling out the vibration of the beginning, the infinity of the primordial ground. We fight for a ground for ourselves, speak of ‘ownership’. The consciousness of the whole, the will of the whole lets himself be transformed into ego-consciousness, into ego-will. The high frequencies of joy, serenity and love of life let themselves be used for personal wishes and ideas. Their vibrations are condensed. And in this way we ourselves become denser, our permeability of the beginning decreases. ‘Don’t be a dreamer, don’t be a cloud cuckoo, keep your feet on the ground.’
The cosmic joyfulness of constant new beginnings, the light of the inner sun only enters us in a filtered form. Fears and desires, praise and blame, pride and dejection have pushed themselves in front of it.
We were born nameless. And quickly we were given a name. Now we listen to it, because it designates our existence, vouches for it, makes it official. ‘Yes, that’s me,’ we say when our name rings out. But is it really me?
We play along with the game of life. Everyone does it. Sometimes we are good, sometimes not so good. Who has the leading role? We pay attention to that. Who is ‘king’? The nursery rhyme, however, no longer rings in us.
Whoever is joyful … is a king.
The kingship is still there, but now hidden. The king still sends messages. We receive them – and make them suitable for ourselves. The history of mankind is full of the game of kings. War and destruction go hand in hand with it. Millions have served their ‘king’ and still do today. They fight for him, die for him. The image of the king, the image of ruling is deeply imprinted. And what is imprinted wants to be realised. So everyone wants to be king at some point, wants to rule over something.
And then death comes, and a miracle can happen. The breaking eyes have let go of their desires and turn back towards the open, into the vastness of the beginning. And in them, despite the miserable situation, joyfulness shines, out of the blue. The soul leaves behind the confines of the body, takes a step into the boundless, and is welcomed by that from which it came.
But we have created clouds in our lives. They accompany us and darken the soul. We have become the result of what we have done, wanted, thought and felt. The outer costume has been discarded, but we continue to wear an inner one. The sun of the whole shines through us – now we are very permeable. And our life is reflected in its light. Marvelling, perhaps even shuddering, questions arise in us: Did I do that? This has come about through me? That has flowed from me into other people and into the world? So much of me is still in the world?
And so at some point the soul returns to the world stage. The game is not over yet. Everything that came from it and what the earth has kept for it, confronts the soul. But first she is a child again, and perhaps she sings along in a canon – in another language, in another country – that corresponds to the one sung earlier:
It takes little to be joyful,
and whoever is joyful is a king.
Now there is an inkling. The song not only evokes joy but speaks to the unconscious, to a hidden, undeveloped insight. It becomes an impulse, an impulse for growth. Depth and vastness come knocking. The world quickly buries this, the child is nurtured, made useful because the seriousness of life awaits.
But sometimes a voice speaks in between, disruptive, in the middle of important things, it forces us to pause. We stop, look into the open, listen. What is troubling me? We turn back to our occupation, but ask ourselves, what am I actually doing? What is actually happening? There is a feeling of unease; we don’t call things by their true names. Everything that happens means something. But what? What is the true name of things? What is my true name?
I ponder, dream and no longer attach myself so strongly. All of a sudden, impressions light up from a future, my future?, a past, my past?
Whoever is joyful is a king.
Strange insights arise and evoke joy. I continue to play the game, learn my roles. But inside I become another, a sort of foreign body. I am not just the character in the play. No doubt, it occupies me and somehow also disinherits me from a kingdom, a realm of light of which I only get vague impressions, and then very rarely. But fairy tales, legends, philosophies and spiritual statements speak to me in a special way. Each of us is a king without a country. We are like being tossed to and fro on the high seas. And then, when things are good, land appears. A strange thought emerges. Is it the ones directing the game, the ones who direct me, who occupy my inner territory like foreign rulers, do they come to me because they expect something completely different than my vassalage? Are they seeking redemption and do they need the other person for it?
How much the inner sun plays into the things of the world, even into its darkness! It shines in the tenderness of a blossom, in the smile of a person, in the twittering of a bird. But it can also shine through narrowed eyes … and suddenly eyes start to open.
Inner light can shine through suffering, sorrow, pain, error. It playfully treats them as raw materials and creates something out of them: wisdom, insight, goodness. Without us, it cannot be accomplished. We are prepared, made useful, we are to co-operate in our transformation, to co-operate in the whole. We are expected to transform heaviness into lightness. In the vibrations of serenity we can.
In the midst of heavy complications, joyfulness suddenly breaks in like a thief. Isn’t that embarrassing? Joyfulness in this situation? Serenity in the seemingly hopeless? Serenity in today’s human situation? That is irresponsible, mentally disturbed and makes people shake their heads.
Through the open door of the heart, light penetrates us and leads to joyfulness. It contains work assignments. How should I fulfil them?
It takes little to be joyful.
Make the world permeable. Permeate it with soul light so that as many people as possible realise what is happening, realise who they are in their depths. The One comes forward, the origin, which is constantly being fragmented and forgotten. The eyes are called to open again, the meaning of our existence wants to reveal itself.
Wide spaces of the heart can emerge. In them, things and people are baptised with their true name. They come into perception, enter a heart space – and are seized there by healing forces of light. The ’World Doctor’ works in these rooms.
In order to be able to help him, we must have become ‘little’. The World Physician injects a serum, a ‘virus’ as it were into those who are absorbed into the wide spaces of the heart in which the light is at work: the power of the One, the Open, the seed of liberation, the kingship.
It takes little to be joyful,
and whoever is joyful is a king.
