Totality of a Tight Rope Walker

Totality of a Tight Rope Walker

May 8, 2009

In The Quiet Girl, Peter Hoeg’s main character Kasper Krone grew up with a mother who was a tight rope walker. She occasionally performed without a net, and on one of these occasions, she fell to her death. Kasper reflects on what he saw in her eyes on that fateful night.

“On those evenings, she had a very special tone. It was completely calm. If you asked me why she did it, I’d have to say she performed without a net for two reasons. One was her love for the circus and for the spectators. The circus has always been close to death. There is little deception in the circus. Very few pieces of scenery. No sloping boards to make the leaps artificially high. No stuntmen, no stand ins. The circus is an extreme form of scenic honesty, and honesty was crucial for her. In a way, the circus was an act of love for her.

The other reason has to do with her deepest longing. She never talked about it. But I could hear it. Could hear the constant tone in her, the inner pedal tone, if you know what I mean. One can hear it in some of the great musicians. Some of the great comedians. Mountain climbers. It’s the longing for answers to the great questions. The longing for the Divine. Under the makeup. Under the totally artificial makeup. A genuine longing. And for those of us who feel it, it’s the finest balance. Between heaven and earth. And that evening, when my mother was halfway between the masts, more than nine meters above the ground, her sound shifted. And I heart something I hadn’t heard before…

… I knew it before it happened. That she had forgotten everything else. That only God mattered. I looked into her eyes. They were distant. But completely happy. And then she fell.”

Does this longing feel familiar?
Are you wanting to live an ‘extreme form of scenic honesty’?
Are you willing to walk without a safety net if that’s what it takes?
Then welcome to Tantra.

There is death involved, for sure. But your body will likely survive. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]