Ode to Helena Klitsie | What is love, what is happiness

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Heleen and I met in 1980 at a singing workshop in Amsterdam. Although she was 13 years older we clicked for the rest of our lives. We could laugh so much, her humor was straightforward. And we could also cry together, especially about the suffering in the world....

I visited her when she was studying philosophy in Berlin and we explored the nightlife there. Years later I visited her in Dharamsala, northern India, where she rested in the mountains and studied Buddhism and Hinduism. She was adventurous, independent and loved to travel, just like me. What she learned in the East she practiced in her attic room, overlooking the O.Z. Achterburgwal. She practiced Yoga, did breathing exercises and meditated, all with her inquiring mind. How she loved Amsterdam, the Vondelpark, the walks, the terraces, Amsterdam was the constant in her life. She breathed her last there.

Heleen was always looking for “what is love, what is happiness. She studied great Western philosophers and Eastern sages, found her own voice, started writing and lecturing. I have read her book Love's Logic several times, a travel book, a knowledge book and a personal book, written with her characteristic loving clarity and humor. She showed me that I did not have to be afraid, did not have to be attached to any particular movement or belief and could still embark on a spiritual quest, trusting my own experiences. I am eternally grateful that you were in my life Heleen, and how terribly we laughed darling!    

Esther Plomp