The Invisible Elements of Human Nature and Practical Life

Now let us consider the other side of the coin. Today there are sensible doctors who say that one must turn to the soul of the human being if one wants to know how a person becomes unsuitable in a certain respect. These doctors know that joy and pleasure are remedies, that they have a healing effect, that they soften what has become rigid and ossified, bringing it back under our control. But that is not enough, just as it is not enough for someone to say that the hidden secret must be detached from the human soul. They do not know that everything that is an inner experience has its great significance, even if it appears distorted. Should we abolish everything mysterious in human nature because it has a distorted effect on some people? Should we, as is demanded here and there, turn doctors into confessors? It can also be infinitely healing for the soul when it is able to draw the veil of mystery over certain things. A Persian proverb says: The time spent in silent reflection before saying something saves you the time of regretting what you have said thoughtlessly! It was not for nothing that Goethe spoke of the “revealed mystery.” In everything sensory that surrounds us, we can see something mysterious, something that lies so deep within things that it cannot be expressed, but which also flows from soul to soul. And health spreads when people can feel the mystery of life in this way.