Book of Rights: I have been writing this book for about the last 40 years and find it an important contribution to our society at this time. The first published version consisted of 43 texts. It has now grown to 100. It developed from my observations of how people give away their lives. I know from my own life that there is always the temptation to make unhealthy compromises just to be accepted.
We are born with beautiful freedoms, but already as children we give those freedoms away to belong and to be loved. We learn certain behaviours to be noticed and to be praised. It is completely understandable that children need to experience that acceptance and love. They need it to thrive and to believe in themselves.
When these children become teenagers, they often rebel – sometimes because they feel that they are not living their life, but rather the life expected of them. But their rebellion threatens their need to belong, and they go through an inner conflict for which it is hard to find a solution. Some of these teenagers continue the life they have led, while others continue with their rebellion.
The Right To Be Who You Truly Are
A jump forward in time. How do we live as adults? Are we still living what others decide for us or what the rules of our society consider “correct” and acceptable, or are we searching our inner world for what WE want to live, even if there is a price to be paid for our unique way of living? We are all unique. We each have unique fingerprints, a unique voiceprint – our soul, our inner personhood, is even more unique. It makes sense to live this uniqueness if we don’t want to live contrary to who we are. But we live in a society in which we are expected to fit in. The lived uniqueness of a person threatens the grey mass in which we move and which tries to determine us.
This is where my book comes in: Book of Rights. In 100 texts, each beginning with the phrase “You have the right”, it lists many of the rights we have, which we might have forgotten or do not dare to live. The whole book is a call to be yourself in the deepest and most profound way. It is a call to be who you are, not who you might have become by trying to fit in. It is not always easy to know who we are because many of us have forgotten who we are and how we want to live. We have tried so hard to fit in and to fulfill the expectations of our parents, children, friends, our church, the state, our therapist, and whoever else had any kind of power over us. For those who are unsure of how they want to live, there is always the consideration of how they do not want to live any longer. There are many texts in this book that take that approach seriously.
What’s Inside The Book
The book is an encouragement to come in contact with one’s deepest wishes and to live them. It covers simple rights like the right to choose one’s friends, to truly be in charge of your time, to not be pleasant all the time, but also subtler rights like the right to change and evolve, to see illness as an initiation, to deeply love yourself, to be unfinished, the right not to participate in a superficial society, to look at your deepest wishes, to stand amazed before the world.
The book is illustrated throughout with graphics by the author. On thirty-three pages, an important statement of the book is highlighted graphically, emphasizing a different insight, creating visual joy as well, and making some ideas easier to remember.
The book does not mince words. It is as honest and direct as it can be. It will be a comfort to those who have looked for support for their way of life. It will also challenge the reader to go deeper, to leave superficiality behind and to live a genuine, self-aware and healthy life. I am convinced that a number of the 100 texts will touch each reader and change his or her life in a substantial way. It is a book like few others that makes a lot of sense in our world. Give it a chance!
The book ends with the following text:
These rights were buried deep in you
when you were born. They will add
to saving the world, your fellow beings,
and above all, you.
Guard them with your life
but also with your love and let them expand
to cover everyone you meet,
all events of your life and all attitudes
that govern your behaviour.
Link to Amazon Book: https://www.amazon.com//dp/B0FG3CY37M
Ulrich Schaffer was born in Germany, moved to Canada at ten, and began writing at 15, going on to publish over 200 works spanning love, conscious living, nature, and spirituality, with a circulation exceeding 5 million and 1,600 readings and lectures across 60 European tours. He lived in Greater Vancouver with his wife, Traudi, for over 30 years before moving to Gibsons, BC, where after her death in 2021 he wrote With You, Without You about caring for her through her illness; he continues to live in Gibsons and is publishing a new series of books in English in 2025. Learn more at www.ulrichschaffer.net.
Leave a Reply