Current edition

Editorial:

Dear members,

Two personal experiences spontaneously come to mind on the subject of this balance. When I was 19 and in my first job in Düsseldorf, I met my boss’s wife, whom I found extremely likeable but not particularly attractive. The more I got to know her, the more beautiful she became to me; my memory has stored this misjudgment to this day, perhaps because I was ashamed of it later? Years later, in my therapeutic work, I met a young woman who I thought was beautiful, and I had the opposite experience. Of course, it was my projections, but it was also the respective charisma that helped me to perceive her and take her back. Apparently, “being” needs more “being”-ness in order to be discovered. My grandmother, who was a fountain of proverbs, would perhaps say: “All that glitters is not gold”. In psychology, we speak of the “self” (C.G. Jung) or the “being” (Karlfried Graf Dürckheim), which is broader and greater than the “I” or the “persona” that someone presents to the outside world and which shines through when we are open to it. In the meditation of dance, our goal is to walk the path from beautiful appearance to true being. A grand plan that we will probably never be able to completely fulfill, but which is definitely worth striving for with reverence.

At least that’s what our authors think and they have written fantastic articles about it: Alfred Bast on masks and the human face, Christine Kondschak on personal experiences and the theories of Wilber and Dürckheim, Maria von Erdmann explains Kafka’s thoughts on the double meaning of the word “being” as existence and a possessive pronoun. Marianne Baumann’s contribution deals with the appearance of beauty and the process of awakening and Regula Scheidegger shares her Christian journey through life with us.

The dance we chose was “Initiation” by Friedel Kloke-Eibl. News from the training institute with a letter from Dorothy Pritchard and from the professional association followed. The dance poem by Rumi was created calligraphically by Hella Marenz. The artists Christiane Lesch, Ursula Maier and Alfred Bast enrich this issue with their works.

On a personal note: the next Balance will be the last issue you can hold in your hands. From 2026, it will only be available online and with a new editorial team.

Let yourself be seduced into your own thoughts about beautiful appearance and true being and enjoy the longer days in the coming spring and summer.

Carin Schreiber-Muller