When I met
a friend of mine a few days ago she told me a story about the fine line between
being sane and becoming insane. I still think about this story, and the longer
I think about it the more I wonder what makes people cross this line on a
regular basis, if not for good. Here is her story:
My friend’s
relative is a mother of 2 children, supposedly happily married, well-educated and
a former business woman. Two years ago she started taking yoga lessons to ease
her tension. Now, from my own experience, I know that yoga can be very helpful
to reduce stress. However, she somehow took her new hobby much too serious and
soon found herself a guru.
Shortly
after having met him, they started an affair, well hidden from her husband and
her family. One day, she invited her guru under the pretense of friendship for
some family party. He stayed at her (and her family’s) house for a few days,
under the same roof as her so far unsuspecting hubby. Her husband was still
unaware of what was going when the two of them went for a long walk while he
was at work. It was freezing outside, so when they came back they first took a
bath, TOGETHER of course. Since they were really cold the bath took longer than
expected and at one point the aforementioned hubby came back from work.
Wondering what was going on in the bathroom he opened the door and found his
wife and her guru-friend in the tub. Naturally, he wanted to know what the heck
was happening in front of his eyes. His wife’s answer was to simply leave them
alone and not to spoil their moment of happiness.
On it went,
my friend’s relative left her whole family including her children to live with
her guru. Not long after her moving out, she got pregnant. Unfortunately, a few
weeks after having gotten pregnant, she met another guru, fell in love with him
and moved out and on, pregnant as she was. During all this time her mother had
several nervous break-downs, her children missed her and her husband was
furious. Nobody could believe what was happening with this woman, nor could
they understand why she left or what attracted her to those gurus. What was it
that let her crack? She not only acted like a completely insane person, she
became one. Neither her degree in geography nor her (former) social network
could prevent her from turning into this very strange person who was completely
lost in herself.
But let’s
go back to her second guru-love: this one hold the opinion that only living
completely natural (yes, stark naked, too) made you truly happy. His dream was
to build a mud hut in the forest (by the way in Switzerland, not far away from
Zurich) and to only collect berries and fruits, maybe from time to time barbecuing
some insects, but not too often. His new love fully supported this idea, UNTIL
in November it turned really cold outside. Only then did she notice that a mud
hut (or a cheap camper) don’t provide a warm and cozy nest during winter. Her
parents, still desperate and hoping for sanity to come back to their daughter,
they invited her and her guru to stay in their home for the winter.
Soon after,
this living situation got unbearable for them. For the guru it was a given that
all persons living under the same roof as him (even if this roof was by far not
his own) had to follow his rules. To put it plainly, father and mother had to keep
absolutely silent and were not allowed to approach him, let alone speak to him.
As you can imagine, it was a matter of time before one of the parents cracked.
One day, the father couldn’t stand it any longer and unceremoniously chased the
guru out of the house.
I’m very sorry
to say that I don’t know the rest of the story, I only know that my friend’s
relative still hasn’t found her sanity so far and that she wants to get a child
from her second guru. I’m really very curious about the continuation of this
story and I will keep you updated.
