The Comfort Book

In “Rivers,” Haig notes the prevalence of the word “flow” in today’s vocabulary and culture and raises the question of what it means. He discusses Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha and the significance of the river in the novel. Not only does the river provide Siddhartha with spiritual inspiration, but it teaches him acceptance by contextualizing his experiences in something much bigger. According to Haig, “Individual events mean nothing by themselves, but are part of a larger totality and can only be understood within the whole” (87-88); understanding this is what Haig means by the “flow of life.” Haig also likens the relationship between the parts and the whole to the individual brushstrokes that form a painting; it is not a single stroke that creates the painting’s aesthetic beauty, but rather the combination of all the strokes. Haig suggests that negative events or moments are minuscule when compared to the whole they help compose and are, in fact, essential to accentuating the happier moments.

In “Dam,” Haig urges readers not to “dam” up pain, secrets, traumas, etc. but rather to “[l]et them flow”—a phrase he repeats three times. Haig includes the following quotation by Heraclitus after this chapter: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man” (90).