Thinking about Germany

A very dear German friend of mine (whom I met when studying in Oslo, Norway, and who is now an Assistant Professor in Chinese and Japanese studies at the Barnard College, Columbia University in New York City) remarked to me in a recent letter that she never felt any resentment from my side towards Germany and the German people, given the terrible fates of my family during the Nazi occupation.

This made me really think and reflect on this very sensitive question. What do I really feel about this?

No, I don't feel any resentment towards Germany or the Germans. And how could I? About the time of the rise of Nazism, the German culture produced the two most influential authors in my life: Herman Hesse and Erich Fromm. And how about Meister Eckhart, Bach and Goethe? The great legacy of these people, who reached the heights of the human spirit, will live for centuries to come, while the Nazis will only be remembered for their heinous crimes. The Germany that I know is a fine country, with picturesque countryside, beautiful nature and fairy tale-like medieval towns. The German people that I know are open, kind, hospitable, intelligent, engaged individuals. Off course, there is immense pain and grief and unbelief at the thought of all the dear innocent relatives of mine being cold bloodedly murdered just because they were Jews. And often I cannot help crying over the fate of my little uncles who had to die such a violent death at such an early age. And their loving memory should live and should be passed on to younger generations for as long as possible, but not the feelings of hate or resentment or vengeance.

There is also something else. I myself come from a country that committed horrible atrocities against its own people and people of other nations. Millions upon millions of innocent people have been killed, tortured, starved to death, sent to labour camps. The country of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov produced Stalin and KGB. And while Germany managed to become a flourishing democracy with respect for human rights and for human beings, most countries of the former Soviet Union have remained in the steel grip of the old elite, whereby an individual life is nothing compared to the so-called state interests. Russia is essentially ruled by the once so hated KGB, whose former and present agents and their friends now held all key positions and keep lying and committing unspeakable crimes. So actually I feel much more ashamed of my own country than resentful towards the country that has taken responsibility for and unequivocally condemned the Nazi regime.

Anne Sophie and Religious Experience

In his brilliant work Psychoanalysis and Religion, Erich Fromm describes humanistic religious experience (versus authoritarian one) as "the experience of oneness with the All, based on one’s relatedness to the world as it is grasped with thought and with love." This is an experience of "love for others as well as for oneself and of solidarity of all living beings."

Seeing my baby being born, holding it and caring for it has been a truly religious experience for me. It has evoked in me a deep sense of love, wonderment, tenderness, caring, giving, and not only towards my little girl, but towards the whole world around me. Suddenly, strangers are no longer strangers, and I smile at every person I come across.

This has probably been the most powerful experience of this kind in my life. Other examples include watching my wife as she is sleeping or embroidering or doing something else unaware of my watching her; or wondering at the majestic beauty of nature in the mountains, at the sea or in the countryside; or reading the writings or a book and being struck by the truth conveyed in them; or being with a group of people and suddenly feeling an intense sense of oneness with them.

A dear friend of ours, Suzanne Gerstner, related a similar experience when I shared this with her. She remembered watching her then newly born son Erick (now a bright, kind-hearted young man) and wondering if anything less than a perfect divine being, God, could produce such a perfect little human being.

At this very moment, I am lying in bed with my precious baby half asleep on my chest. I could watch her like this for hours, sensing her breath and all her small movements against my body. My heart is overwhelmed with bliss and almost universal love. I wish and hope I can take this sense of unconditional love into my daily life, showing a little more kindness and appreciation towards everyone I meet!