The word fell like a new leitmotif. It was English, but not quite; it sounded as if it had been built to say something that would be too harsh in German: the striving for the best, without pathos.<\/p>\n
\u201cbestforming means,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201cto connect training, nutrition, lifestyle and organization in such a way that you really achieve your goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans thought: Lifestyle \u2013 a word that would have been ridiculous at the Berghof, because there illness was the lifestyle. Up here lifestyle was the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd behind these goals,\u201d continued Dr. AuDHS, \u201cstand two great guiding ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
He raised two fingers, like a teacher, and yet he was no teacher; he was someone who educates himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst: Maximize the number of healthy and fit years of life,\u201d he said. \u201cNot as a compulsion to immortality, but as an expression of love of life. Because it makes a difference whether I grow old \u2013 or whether I grow old and am still able.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cstill able\u201d sounded like a Bavarian sentence and like a philosophical punchline.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecond: Maximize happiness within these years,\u201d he said. \u201cHappiness in the here and now. Not someday. Not when everything is finished. Not after the next project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans thought: Finished is never. That he had learned.<\/p>\n
\u201cA distinction helps with this,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201cwhich I find very important. Many people experience happiness as a mixture of hedonism and eudaimonia.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word \u201ceudaimonia\u201d had something scholarly about it; it sounded like seminar room and like ancient sun.<\/p>\n
\u201cHedonism,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201cpleasure, joy, comfort, lifestyle, absence of pain. Eudaimonia: meaning, contribution, development, potential, care, responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans felt how at \u201cresponsibility\u201d Morgenstern lifted his head minimally, as if recognizing a keyword from his own inner catalog.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS, \u201cis not to banish one of them. The goal is to find the right mix.\u201d<\/p>\n
He paused briefly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd here,\u201d he said, \u201csomething interesting happens: Often a small, clever renunciation \u2013 or better: a small, clever adjustment \u2013 leads to a disproportionate gain in quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said \u201crenunciation\u201d without holiness, and precisely for that reason it was convincing.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot because renunciation is holy,\u201d he continued, \u201cbut because it makes the body and the nervous system more sensitive again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hans thought of the ring: more sensitive. Yes. The ring made one sensitive, whether one wanted it or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it improves sleep,\u201d said Dr. AuDHS. \u201cStabilizes energy. Lifts mood. Increases focus. And thereby more happiness arises \u2013 not less.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked into the room, and his gaze was, for a moment, almost tender, as if he wanted to say: I am not speaking of prohibitions, I am speaking of love.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to end with an image,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n