Superficial <\/strong>\u2013 deep<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We talk about \u2018superficial\u2019 versus \u2018deep\u2019 attention, or \u2018superficial\u2019 versus \u2018deep\u2019 meaning, or \u2018superficial\u2019 versus \u2018deep\u2019 emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And of course: in the syllabus, you continually encounter the term \u2018the deeper self.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what is depth?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That is and remains a difficult question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does art mean in art? A professional pianist, for example, may play the piano very well and yet produce little that could be called \u2018touching.\u2019 One movie is pure art, and the other is superficial. What\u2019s the difference?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then some people quickly get this, and others don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Someone from the second group may get a bit irritated: \u201cBut what are you talking about? Can you finally tell me what this is all about\u2026 or is it all just snobbery?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does the poem below have any depth?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not snobbery to me, nor is it false sentimentality. When I wrote it, I know that I was in on it in an intense way as a total person. And every time I reread it, for that matter, although I know that if I put in enough effort, I can read it in a \u2018superficial\u2019 way too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah\u2026 when I wrote it, I was intensely involved as a total person<\/em>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Can depth be seen as a layer somewhere below many superficial layers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No. Underneath superficial layers, you usually find just other superficial layers. If you scrape away all the superficial layers, you still don\u2019t get to depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So that\u2019s not the aim of AURELIS coaching either!<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, depth can also be present on the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With no superficial layer over it. Even more than that: seriously lived-through depth IS present on the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Depth is not <\/em>the opposite of superficiality.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If we put it \u2018opposite\u2019 to each other (such as different forms of attention), then we are not simply talking about a contradiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Deep\u2019 refers to the fact that depth is present. \u2018Superficial\u2019 does not refer to the fact that superficiality is present, but that depth is absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then we come to something that makes the word \u2018depth\u2019 correct. This is related to more than just the shell. People respond to people, namely: to complete <\/em>persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People respond to depth.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That is touching. A purely conscious, \u2018merely superficial\u2019 thinking can be like a screen through which you can no <\/em>longer see the whole person, not because this person is hidden behind the screen, but because the shell prevents the person from realizing oneself at that moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words: functionally, it equates to an absence <\/em>of depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is in such a state that people lose themselves, that they are \u2018dissociated\u2019 from themselves. They have lost touch with the deeper self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can say: <\/strong>\u201c<\/strong>people \u2018think\u2019 too much.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But actually, they think too little. The wrongness of the situation lies not in \u2018too much of\u2019 but in \u2018enclosing oneself in.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Striving for depth as an AURELIS coach is not like peeling an onion but always remembering that the onion itself is completely <\/em>onion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Real depth<\/p>\n\n\n\n is not \u2018heavily deep\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n but fresh<\/p>\n\n\n\n and airy<\/p>\n\n\n\n and warm, living.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Depth is what lives organically.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not about a complex system devised by a profound philosopher under many frowns and only understandable after four years of brain-twisting at some university. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is rather about: a bird in a tree. A flower in a flower box. This wave here and now, glistening in the sun. This crab. This girl and her fleeting gaze. This immeasurable ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: NOT just like that!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You need to be intensely involved as a total person<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that is easy and difficult at the same time. If you don\u2019t quite<\/em> <\/em>get this yet, that\u2019s OK. Look again at the bird and the flower, the wave, and the girl. And then again. And again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then ask the ocean.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The ocean will be happy to serve you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her answer, however, you cannot hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can only recognize it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2015<\/p>\n\n\n\n Detached of feelings<\/p>\n\n\n\n and thoughts<\/p>\n\n\n\n come deeper feelings<\/p>\n\n\n\n and thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deeper<\/p>\n\n\n\n and always deeper<\/p>\n\n\n\n like a slow<\/p>\n\n\n\n slow falling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It \u2018doesn\u2019t matter anymore.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u25aa\u25aa\u25aa<\/p>\n\n\n\n Detached of feelings<\/p>\n\n\n\n and thoughts<\/p>\n\n\n\n come feelings and thoughts<\/p>\n\n\n\n outside me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not they in me<\/p>\n\n\n\n but me in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell me \u2018beauty\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n and I drown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell me \u2018melancholy\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n and I drown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell me \u2018compassion\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n and I drown<\/p>\n\n\n\n in an ocean.<\/p>\nDetached<\/h4>\n\n\n\n