For many people The Art of Being is a star in their inner firmament: a light that shines something of the eternal spirit into their everyday lives, an inspiration to follow their own star wherever it may lead, and so to be guided by the trust and courage that grow in us when we dare to honour the callings of our hearts and souls. The Art of Being is of course deeply interwoven with my personal life. How could it be otherwise? It is the star I have been following for 40 years. When, on the morning of my 70th birthday, at home in Prague, my wife, Martina, brought to the breakfast table my birthday present, I had to let it sit there a while in its happy wrapping paper. Opening a present is always deeply touching for me. There is a story to that too, that you can read in the second chapter of my book (more on that in a later Facebook post).
I don’t think I have ever received such a truly magical, mystical birthday present! Nothing that you could ever hold in your hand, but my soul rejoiced in awe. My 70th birthday present is the naming of a star in my home constellation of Virgo: the star has been named THE ART OF BEING! It is so deep in space that I don’t know if it can be seen with the naked eye. Even that is perfect, because it is after all only one of trillions of lights that shine in an infinity that turns even something as vast as a star – a sun – into something infinitely tiny in the vastness of all that is. To imagine the light of this star calls me not to the star itself, but to the eternal spirit that dissolves me when I allow myself into the infinite. It draws me beyond myself, my world, beyond my.., into the inner and outer space of soul and spirit. To be so deeply moved by the naming of a star? I think of John Lennon’s, “You may say I’m a dreamer…” Yes, but not only. The Art of Being is a powerful call into all that is real in us. It is in our deepest reality that we awaken to the infinite! And dreaming matters too. Our inspirations are born in our dreams. If the dreams help us to wake up to the infinite mystery of being, how beautiful is that! Stars sing of the infinite. So does The Art of Being!