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Sunday, 4 Nov 2018

Farewell to Dirk Pilz

With great sadness we must say goodbye to our friend and colleague Dirk Pilz.

Over the past five years he has shaped the emergence and growth of the House of One - as an intellectual in the best sense of the word, that has become so rare in our time; as a doctor of German studies and philosopher with so much foresight into theology as can happen in special cases with people who have not studied theology at university. Thus, a counsellor and idea giver for the House of One, a guide to the current academic debates and a clever moderator of many, quite different events of our foundation.


In view of the religious context of the House of One, nothing would be more obvious than to speak now, confronted with death, of the consolation of religion(s). Do we know, as consolation, Dirk Pilz now "in God's hand"? He himself would have accepted that, if at all, in the sense of hope. In June of this year, just coming home from a hospital stay, exhausted and trying to come to terms with the omnipresent insecurity of his life, he wrote that just now "curiously" his text had appeared in the ZEIT with which he made clear that faith was not to be equated with consolation.

There is consolation, but that does not automatically mean being comforted for the person - and this tension precisely defines the existence of a religious person. So not to flee into a 'cheap consolation' and look for a deceptive rest there, but to endure the inherent complexity of things and to consider it, even if the flight, one thinks of his illness, would have been only too understandable - I experienced this consequence with Dirk Pilz to the end, an existential, religious and intellectual bravery, which I will not forget; an attitude, which would also have done infinitely good for the further development of the House of One.


Nevertheless, he had an oversized need for peace, he wrote it several times in the last few months; peace in the face of constant uncertainty, peace after strenuous therapies. He wished for something like a cure in the mountains, or a private key for the small library that will one day be in the House of One. No deceptive, but a real rest may he have now - and may his wife and the two children find strength in these so sad days.  


We are infinitely grateful to Dirk Pilz for everything.


For the Foundation House of One - Bet- und Lehrhaus Berlin
Roland Stolte

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