Session One
From page 178, July 12, 1942 & Pages 3-13 March, 1941
P. 178 - 16 months after she started her diary Etty’s relationship with God has reached a high summit on her journey. Etty is present and committed to not worrying about tomorrow. She has discovered that the divine dwells within us all and that to “safeguard” God within is life’s real purpose. She does not blame God nor hold God responsible for the terror that surrounds her, rather she is increasingly sustained by God’s presence and sees herself as God’s partner in comforting those around her. She has become less materialistic and has matured and writes beautifully that though the flowers in her garden have been ruined “somewhere inside [her] the jasmine continues to blossom undisturbed.”
P. 3 - Shame haunts Etty and makes expressing herself, getting outside that which dwells unhappily inside her, very difficult. Nevertheless she dives in!
P. 4 - Spier (S) reads Etty’s palms and remarks that she is so gifted that he can’t understand why she is so unhappy. He recommends that she begin work on a diary.
Etty sees in S something that she wants - spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and finally physically
S has a rather unorthodox and to our current sensibilities inappropriate therapeutic technique of physically wrestling with his patients.
P. 11 - even in these early days of her recorded journey Etty moves from talk about sexual conquests to the remarkable and piercing line “indiscriminate hatred is the worst thing there is.”
