INSPIRATION
HEALTH
REVIEW & INTERVIEW
The (not so) Little
Book of Surprises
T
By Deirdre Hade and Will Arntz, with photographs by Endre Balogh
his beautiful coffee table book
spans the distance from head to
heart, reverberating back and
forth with the occasional detour
to the funny bone. Deirdre Hade’s
poetry – alternately ethereal,
humorous, and downright cheeky
– subtly leads the reader into a contemplation of
the eternal existential questions: Who am I?Where
did I come from? Why am I here? In fact, am I really
here? Am I really alive?
The short answer is that we are here as mystics to
experience, choose, create, and play. One poem, In
The Honey Jars, appears in parts throughout the
book like a leitmotif, poignantly illustrating our
quest for the sweetness of life. Throughout the
pages of the book we explore consciousness and
awakening, light and darkness, time and eternity,
and ourselves in relationship to the whole.
My favorite quote is: “The darkness serves the
light, if you are conscious. The darkness is just the
darkness if you are unconscious.” How profound is
that!
This guided journey from cosmos to earth and
back again is strikingly illustrated with the
visionary photographs and artistic creations of the
remarkable Endre Balogh. Endre is a renowned
concert violinist who has become an equally
acclaimed photographer, and the illustrations
virtually sing from the pages. Either the words
or the visuals alone would be enough to justify
getting the book, but the combination is far greater
than the sum of the parts. I should think that the
music of the pictures and the imagery of the words
6 | New Consciousness Review
would light up both hemispheres of the brain like a
Christmas tree.
This sumptuous creation was the brainchild
of William Arntz, the producer and director of
the movie “What the Bleep Do We Know?” and
Deirdre’s Hade’s husband. The (not so) Little Book
Of Surprises has the potential to be as much of a
consciousness game changer on the literary scene