The entire world is a very narrow bridge.
(However) the essential thing is not to be afraid
Not to be afraid at all.
Kol Ha’olam Kulo Gesher Tzar M’od:
V’ha’ikar v’ha’ikar, lo l’fached, lo lefached klad.
When I entered a psychiatric hospital at the age of 18, I found these words of great meaning to me. I thought I was all alone, and I could never break free from the darkness and the gloom. Over time, I realized that there were indeed moments of light, of breakthrough, of hope that helped me. Even when I found myself rolling backwards, these times weren’t permanent.
The quote I used to entitle my book A Narrow Bridge was taken from one of his most famous teachings of a man long dead—Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlav in Eastern Europe.
Rabbi Nahman had lived an intense life. His years were all too short: he died in 1810 at the age of only 38. The author Arthur Green called him the “Tormented Master” because of his many moods; his many faces. He experienced deep depression but also great joy, and he urged his students to allow joy into our lives even in the darkest of times, of which there can be many.
This remarkable rabbi encouraged his followers to go out into nature and pray silently from their hearts (hitbod’dut), but in addition to solitary prayer, he urged them to dance in joy and he often used stories as a means of conveying his deepest truths. I have always felt that Rabbi Nahman was my teacher, as have so many before me.
When I first wrote A Narrow Bridge: Awakening From Mental Illness my focus was on the transitional time when I was in a psychiatric hospital, and only felt gloom. As that time passed, I felt an amazing awakening and saw through the darkness. Then I realized that it was more than that. I was awakening into a stillness, along with peace and hope. In the end, I felt that the essential message that I wanted to convey to you was that there can be islands of hope—ongoing or intermediary—that can remain with us for the remainder of our lives.
It is always possible to find hope, even after a long sleep in the darkness. I want to share this hope with you.