A Book of Nonsense or Triumphs? A Book of Hope.

I have been reading a very interesting book recently.
The German title is Unfug der Krankheit- Triumph der Heilkunst, (The Nonsense of Illness the Triumph of Healing).

It is written by Dr. med. Karl Otto Bärnklau, who is in fact Dr. András Petö, the man who developed the system of Conductive Education/Upbringing.

This is the type of conductor that I am, one who works in the field of Conductive Education. I am not a conductor who conducts an orchestra. I do “conduct” in the sense that I see my role as a guide for people who, due to a dysfunction/ disability, are learning or relearning to live their lives, or in fact orchestrating their lives, in order to live that life to the full.

I am also an artist and an art therapist, an art teacher and keen a cyclist, and all the pictures that I have posted are my own work.

Back to the book - it is full of little gems, which I hope will give me an insight into how this system of Conductive Education slowly developed out of the very diverse interests of “Karl Otto Bärnklau”.

He was interested in traditional and alternative medical practices and also in eastern religions. There are lots of interesting snippets, on many subjects, to be found in his book.
I find the German sometimes incredibly difficult to read, but then sometimes very easy.

One native German speaker has told me the language is “hifalutin” in places, another says it is old fashioned and very nice to read, with its out of date style. I am really enjoying delving into it whatever the style of the language.

I am searching the book for all references to the soul which I believe may be the key to Mr. Bärnklaus ideas and work. Maybe I will discover what I mean when I talk about the “Conductive Seele”!

More about this later.

Notes

The HOPE in this title refers to the Saturday, 17 November 2007 posting Cerebral palsy: some hope at http://www.andrew-sutton.blogspot.com/

Die Seele - soul/ mind/ psyche/heart/breath