The Abbot and the Nun

Reflections on the Challenge

When you hear someone coughing or sneezing - or do so yourself - clear your throat and consider one centre (thinking, moving, or feeling) where balance could be improved. Take a moment to sense how this awareness resonates within you.

• Experiences

  T had experienced multiple instances of the challenge throughout the month, initially not recognising the trigger but becoming more aware as time passed. One moment stood out—while waiting for a train, she had heard someone coughing and remembered the challenge. Clearing her throat, she had noticed she was leaning against the wall, appearing relaxed but actually holding tension due to discomfort with the underground and anticipation of a busy meeting. Pushing off the wall, she had regained physical balance and realised her tension. Standing firmly on both feet had withdrawn her focus from external anxieties, bringing a sense of being upright, grounded, and genuinely relaxed—contrary to her initial assumption.

  L had engaged with the challenge on multiple occasions. After hearing a cough, he had cleared his throat and reflected on what was out of balance, realising he needed more sleep to improve all his senses rather than just one. Another time, upon hearing a sneeze, he had considered his new watch, which was heavier than necessary. Wanting the highest-performing model, he had chosen the heaviest one but recognised that a 100% solution was not always best. He had decided to exchange it for a lighter option.

• Responses

  L agreed with T’s idea that balance is not a fixed state but requires continuous adjustment. He likened it to steering a boat, where small course corrections keep it on track. The goal is not achieving a static equilibrium but staying attuned to imbalance and responding appropriately.

Beelzebub’s Tales, Chapter 32

• Passage

  Though this ‘hypnotism,’ or as they prefer to say this branch of their ‘science,’ arose and became official only recently, yet it had already had time to become for them another of the very serious factors which brought about a still greater ‘confusion’ of their psyche, already muddled enough without this in the majority of them, and which still further deranged the functioning of their planetary body.

• Discussion

  J said the phrase about confusion of the psyche encapsulated one of Beelzebub’s core concerns - trying to unravel the extraordinary confusion that clouds human thought.

• Passage

  he first of all asked the nun Ephrosinia to be sure to bring with her to the next confession the portrait of her sweetheart together with the frame.

  At the next confession the nun took with her this said portrait.

  There was nothing very special about it but the frame indeed was unusual, it being all encrusted with mother-of-pearl and various colored stones.

  While the abbot and the nun were together examining the portrait in the frame, the abbot suddenly noticed that something particular began to proceed with the nun.

• Discussion

  L said that the adornments on the picture had presumably had a hypnotic effect on Ephrosinia. T agreed, saying it might be the light in the crystals.