TRIBUTE TO FRITZ BY MARY MURPHY
THIS WAS READ BY ZB FACULTY MEMBER, MARY MURPHY AT FRITZ’ 90TH BIRTHDAY, MAY 2019
My name is Mary Murphy, and I am here because Fritz changed my life with his work and through his presence.
Each one of us here tonight has been transformed in some way through Zero Balancing. Fritz’s contribution has been to offer a simple yet elegant tool for us to create meaningful and health-enhancing relationships with one another and those we touch and teach. That tool is ZB. The principles he has articulated have changed so many lives for the better. He has exemplified for me how to walk your talk, how to keep things simple, and how to model kindness.
I asked Fritz once about how he would like to see us carry ZB forward. He said simply, “Respect the work”. When we follow the ZB principles, this happens naturally as the loving attention that ZB offers makes people radiate their innate goodness, their inner light.
When I think of how many people have benefitted from this work and the work that is yet to happen, I see a galaxy of stars blazing with the chi of a trillion fulcrums generating waves of loving energy. Thank you, Fritz, for who you are, for what you have shared, and for the seeds you have planted to grow more love and enlightenment into the field of the world.
I would like to end with Roger Keyes's poem called “Hokusai Says”, which reminds me of the lessons we have all learned from Fritz.
Hokusai says by Roger Keyes
Hokusai says look carefully.
He says pay attention, notice.
He says keep looking, stay curious.
He says there is no end to seeing.
He says Look Forward to getting old.
He says keep changing, you just get more who you really are.
He says get stuck, accept it, repeat yourself as long as it is interesting.
He says keep doing what you love.
He says keep praying.
He says every one of us is a child,
every one of us is ancient,
every one of us has a body.
He says every one of us is frightened.
He says every one of us has to find a way to live with fear.
He says everything is alive---shells, buildings, people, fish, mountains, trees,
Wood is alive.
Water is alive.
Everything has its own life.
Everything lives inside us.
He says live with the world inside you.
He says it doesn't matter if you draw, or write books.
It doesn't matter if you saw wood, or catch fish.
It doesn't matter if you sit at home and stare at the ants on your veranda or the shadows of the trees and grasses in your garden.
It matters that you care.
It matters that you feel.
It matters that you notice.
It matters that life lives through you.
Contentment is life living through you.
Joy is life living through you.
Satisfaction and strength are life living through you.
He says don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid.
Love, feel, let life take you by the hand.
Let life live through you.