The UN chief was a mystic: New series of podcasts
26. December 2023

There’s a lot to be happy about and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

My gift to you is a new series of podcasts where you get close to some of the people who mean a lot to many: The Mystics.

Many people know them, many don’t, and there are many misunderstandings and perhaps even confusion about why they are called what they are. Because they are not really mysterious at all, but then again. They carry a mystery. Whatever their faith, it is so ingrained in them that they live it out every second, whether it hurts or brings joy, they are in relationship with God.

Mystics have been around for millennia and have become increasingly relevant in recent years, perhaps because they are often so concrete in their thinking: What can faith do in the life we are living right now?

At the same time, they take an eternal look at the fact that we live here on earth for such a short time.

And they manage to communicate about it.

You’ll get to meet some of the famous ones like the Spanish monk and poet John of the Cross, the German medicine and music expert Hildegard of Bingen and the controversial Simone Weil.

The first person you’ll meet is Swedish: Dag Hammarskjöld.

He is portrayed here by Kim Frans Broström (in a cropped version) on the cover of “The Longest Journey”, published by Institut Sankt Joseph, which he wrote together with priest Jesper Fich and my conversation partner, principal Peter Franklin Højlund.

Listen to the conversation right here on my website or wherever you find podcasts.

PS
On December 25, the Swedish premiere of a film about him and the Danish premiere of the radio program Audiens on DR’s P1 will take place, and the publisher Boesdal has just published his secret texts in a new translation.

Læs videre

Opening speech: Kirsten Klein shows us that we are bound to the landscape.

Opening speech: Kirsten Klein shows us that we are bound to the landscape.

When I first met Kirsten Klein, we talked about where her pictures come from."They probably come from somewhere where it hurts," she replied. I didn't know then, but I know now. That's where the recognition takes hold. From that place where life is not only good, but also painful. Back then, I hadn't lost my youngest boy, the pain of my life was milder then, but some was there, and we talked about children coming or not, about being a child myself. About longing and being rootless, being moved around, the roots that were not allowed to take hold. You went out. Out into the wind. Nature became your "ally" you said. Out there you could grow. "I don't pray," she said."It's not like that. My spirituality is tied to the landscape."

Læs mere

Chronicle in Kristeligt Dagblad: The church must talk about experiences

Chronicle in Kristeligt Dagblad: The church must talk about experiences

Without having any church background or the slightest bit of spiritual longing, years ago I suddenly had to learn to live with, among other things, two visions of Jesus standing upside down in front of me and talking to me, as I recount in "I met Jesus". Up to every other of us have experiences, I documented in the sequel "We met Jesus - And what does it matter to others", but it is still not a field that has been researched much in how we as a society or church should live with.

Læs mere

10 years later: Most people were afraid I was stoned

10 years later: Most people were afraid I was stoned

The only two people who thought it was a good idea to publish my first book were my husband and my editor. Everyone else advised me to keep quiet. They predicted scorn and stoning, or at the very least silence and backs turned. One boss thought I could not continue in my job as a journalist. She got another job before publication, I continued in my position, but why all the anxiety? What was so transgressive in my debut book that it could have cost me my job, my reputation, my family, my friends? And did that happen?

Læs mere