Walking slowly in a fast paced world.

A blessing from the streets of Berlin.

My dear fellow pilgrim,

Walking the quaint and quiet streets of Berlin in the early hours on this Ascension Day, a holiday in the state of Berlin, I heard the bells ringing from the nearby churches. Much of the city was still asleep, with some early risers meeting at the coffee houses.

It has been two weeks already since I last wrote to you.

Many of you have been resonating and responding to my last letter “On being Martha (and Mary.) which I sent to you from the old parish in the East German country side in which I grew up.¹

This last week we spent in Berlin, Germany, where we also lived during our sabbatical last year. It is also the city where I did my psychology studies at Humboldt University, just some years after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, opening a whole new world to me.

Walking these Berlin streets is where I revisit my tensions between Martha and Mary and re-read some of your lovely comments (thank you so much):²

I grew up with lots of Martha expectations. Serving others was engrained in this pastor’s daughter from early on. Sitting to read books or listen to a wise teacher as Mary did was not a big part of the female protestant work ethic I inherited.

And still, it was what my heart was longing for from early on.

“I leave the thinking to my husband,” a lovely older lady in my classes once blurted out when I introduced a philosophical reading. In the end, she was the most engaged participant, her eyes lighting up when ever a new insight stirred up in her.

Thus it is important to not be trapped by stereotypes that would make the Mary and Martha story only about women’s work. I read it rather as a story which can help us to consider all work equally important. Feeding and caring for our corporal, social, and also our spiritual needs.

Sitting at the feet of wisdom is the practice that Mary invites me to consider when I am losing myself in day to day chores and family duties.

This Mary call is the same call that drew me into this virtual cloister space, where I invite you to cultivate your “inner monk.”

So take care, continued reading might indeed slow you down a bit :-)

Streets of our quaint Berlin neighborhood in a flurry.

So let’s continue with some questions here:

What if the Martha and Mary story is not about Either / Or? What if, à la Jung, the journey to the deeper self invites us to reconcile both roles?

What if both Martha and Mary want to flourish in our singular soul? What if both are part of practicing radical hospitality in our world and in our heart?

Monastics know this quite well. Both the active and the contemplative life, the daily chores and the spiritual life, are equally important.

I remember having been moved deeply the first time I spent a longer writing retreat at the monastery. “How is your work going?” the lovely sisters asked me while sharing lunch. Did you hear that, I spoke to myself, they said: “your work,” they called what I am doing “work.” This was like balm to my philosopher’s heart. Some one was regarding this kind of work, writing for a small journal on a very specific topic, without pay, work. They did not ask where I am working, what position I held or if my work was producing a pay check, but they simply considered what I was doing between morning and noon prayer, breakfast and lunch, my sacred work.

As I write this, I am becoming aware how much Martha and Mary have in common. Both their worlds are often not well regarded. Still, both their callings are crucial to keep our societies, families, and even our own hearts afloat.

And because both are equally important, both are also important for our very individual journey, regardless of gender stereotypes.

Dream experts know that the figures we perceive in our dream stories most often stand for different aspects of our own self.

Applying this to the story of Mary and Martha, who serve Jesus in their different capacities, all three figures would stand for important aspects of our own soul life:

Martha, who cares for the work of hospitality, Mary who sits at the feet of Jesus, and thus not only sees but listens to the Divine word, and the Divine word - the wisdom voice herself - who wants to dwell in us.

moments of quiet in the city.

But back to the streets of Berlin. Interesting enough, the fast paced world of this German capital city has allowed me some retreat from the family visit in the countryside. While my husband spent hours with our daughter at the playgrounds (Martha?), I purposelessly strolled the streets of what we still call “our Kiez,” a family neighborhood with many parks, coffee houses and old buildings.

And while strolling and exploring the courtyards and hidden gardens behind grey walls of high houses, I let my heart wander.

From the years where this area was constructed in the “Gründerzeit” (founder’s time) hundreds of years ago, to the time of war when bombs crushed and then bullets riddled its walls, to the grey years of the East German Republic, when those old homes fell into disrepair and people were moved into governmental concrete blocks considered more modern with running water and private bathrooms.

And then came the time when the wall came down and real estate agents scrambled over each other’s backs to reclaim and refurbish these gems of old buildings, waiting to be repaired to their old glory (with bathrooms and elevators!).

Bullet holes reminding us of the wounds of a war long passed.

As I rested my fingers into the bullet holes of a house across from our small apartment with wood stove and old wallpaper, my heart slowed.

We have pondered before the layers of old buildings here and how they remind us of our own journey. One must walk slowly to become aware of the beauty and tragedy the streets of Berlin can show. One must sit at the feet of these buildings and ask their wisdom.

I have seen clients who hope to solve their inner riddles in a session or two. But the inward way of deepening is a slow and laborious way. Every dream needs deeper work to resolve its meaning and one can return to them again, over the years, and ask their wisdom. So it is with our soul’s journey.

“You can’t be done with your life before life is done with you,” the Dane Søren Kierkegaard once said. Indeed. The wisdom path is never done. We never reach our final destination, even in death. We must always look forward and also back.

The fast paced world of city life might mirror the fast pace our modern life has taken. We rush past the old bullet holes in buildings, never asking why. But you can pause there, where the ivy does not quite cover the old wounds. And, as we can find plenty of pockets of quiet in the city, we can also find pockets of quiet in our busy lives.

The story of Mary and Martha, who both serve Divine wisdom in their own ways, especially when they dance in harmony, remind us that we need both, no, that we need all three figures in our soul.

And so it may not matter where you will spend this weekend leading to mother’s day. In a city park, a lonely village home, a hospital ward, a busy weekend shift.

A pocket of quiet is waiting for you. And birds will singing.

Listen and see.

Chuck, who lovingly edits my writing, has written a blessing for you upon reading my text. May it uplift your heart today:

A BLESSING from the streets of Berlin

Do not ignore the wounds

of the old buildings as you pass them in your walking.

These tell the history of the place,

its tragedy and the grace

of survival.

It is so with your soul.

Its wounds are the places of deep wisdom.

Sit at their feet and listen.

And hear the bird song

high and plaintive in the sky

as it opens the door to eternity.

CH

With great love, Almut with Chuck and little one

PS: If you can, leave a heart, a word or a line which resonated with you in the comments, so we know you have been here :-)

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In case you missed it

On being Martha (and Mary).

Whatever you are carrying, love carries it first:

To your broken heart

1. You can find The story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42.

2. For all who do not know this yet, you can engage with our writings and other readers comments through the comments section you find under each letter. This way you can read comments of other readers and also engage with them. It is something I really enjoy about this new newsletter platform.