“Swing can be like sex”

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What simply means swing in High German has multifaceted dialect terms such as Gireizi, Rytiplampi or Riitseili. The latter is so bright that it becomes clear what you are swinging on: not on the waves or a chair, but on a board that is tied to two ropes at the top. And now we all remember children’s playgrounds, the first helpless attempts to move, and, finally, the pleading cry: “Mommy, pah!”

“Swinging also needs to be learned, it does not necessarily work right away,” writes the German philosopher Wilhelm Schmid (70) in a recently published entertaining booklet on the subject. “First, only half on the board, a small run back, then all the way up and legs up, the body back, lifting forward, pushing the buttocks, straightening the body, descending back (…) and so on.” Once you can do it, you can do it without thinking.

But what makes a seasoned man deal with this floating children’s toy? For Schmid, the swing is a symbol of life – with picking up, taking off, falling, sagging and jumping. He knows all aspects, he wrote this essay about “the little art of cheerfulness” at the sad time when his wife died of cancer.

“Hardly faced with the fact that life has a term is not an argument against cheerfulness,” writes Schmid, “rather an argument for you, because it is this limit that makes life valuable.” Born in Bavaria, he lived in Berlin for decades and at the turn of the millennium was a philosophical pastor in a hospital in Affoltern am Albis ZH. With his books on the philosophy of life, he reaches an audience of millions.

Life is a constant ups and downs: “Swinging may feel like sex,” he writes, “but like the most beautiful effort, it ends in exhaustion.” The retired professor shows very well that there is no ecstasy without asceticism. Schmid: “It has little to do with renunciation, which is often associated with asceticism.” Because asceticism goes back to the Greek word “ascesis”, which means “exercise”.

Thus, we will return to the playground, where the child must train himself. “The method of increasing one’s abilities through constant practice can be applied to the ability to enjoy life as a basic element of cheerfulness,” writes Schmid. Anyone who takes a keen interest in how coffee gets from the bush to the cup will benefit more from brewing. A sense of nuance refines the pleasure.

Can this be done without a swing board? “Yes, every change in everyday routine is rocking,” says Schmid. Every opportunity to develop sensuality, every stay outside, every feeling that you are finally on top, every intellectual flight is capable of inspiring. Schmid: “If I don’t have a real swing handy, I’ll at least let my reading glasses swing.”

Source: Blick