Hymn to Lying Down, composed by Bernd Brunner, is a deep, insightful cultural and historical study and at the same time a collection of fascinating stories. We spend a good third of our lives lying down: in no other position does a person think, dream, or love so much. However, lying down is frowned upon by many people and is often confused with passivity and laziness. At the same time, the horizontal position is extremely valuable, because it is it that often leads to the most interesting ideas. If, for example, Michelangelo had not spent a lot of time lying down, it is unlikely that the idea would have occurred to him to turn the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel into one of the greatest masterpieces of mankind.