Civilisation does not assure civility!

Civilisation does not assure civility!

So, what is it that makes someone great? Is he the one who has conquered all his animalistic desires and knows that his real needs are beyond the realm of physicality and materialism? This man seeks knowledge and is satisfied when the lock of the meaning of life and the hidden secret of the Universe is unlocked. Such a man is fiction. Nietsche described him as Ubermensch; Hindus referred to him as Rama or Krishna, as the revised 2.0 version of a complex man.

Another version of understanding how life works is to look at Hinduism's representation of the Universe - Trimurthi, the Trinity - Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and their consorts. Brahma, the creator, has to work in tandem with his consort, Saraswathi. Saraswathi is the Goddess of education and creativity. The take-home message is that one must have enough knowledge and creativity to create anything.

Once the creation is done, life does not just go on unabashed. It has to be preserved and preserved well. For this comes Vishnu, the divinity assigned for this purpose, operates with his consort, Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity. The point here is that to conserve any creation, we need affluence. Wealth is required to ensure the continuity of anything that we create. Maintenance takes money.

At the same time, to guard any property, one should have the power to destroy evil and negative forces. The guardian of this is Shiva, the destroyer. To assist him in his task is Goddess Sakthi or her manifestations Parvathi or Kaali, the most ferocious form of divinity. To maintain the status quo and to keep one's possessions intact, He needs to have the power to destroy. Power is necessary to stay in charge.

One cannot go on destroying everything in sight forever like what the jihadists are doing. Nothing would left to protect or protect for. Hence, the creation, preservation and destruction cycle needs to be repeated.

Military Museum Vienna

The Austrio-Hungarian Empire has the
dubious reputation of sending Napoleon
packing (to St.Elba)

Belvedere Palace, Vienna

Military Museum Vienna

Natural History Museum, Vienna.

Russian Orthodox Church in Vienna, built by prisoners. Gifted to the Coptic Christians.

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Nostalgia is not a bad word!

von Trapp family

More often than not, I have been told right on my face not to live in the past. I have been cajoled into coming out occasionally, taking a depth of fresh air and smelling the roses. They fear I may soon become an ancient relic that only deserves to be admired in the museum. They ask me to burst my comfortable bubble of the past, leave the sunrise and head towards newer horizons. 

They even tell me that 'nostalgia' is a negative word. The suffix 'algia' denotes pain for a reason. Not too long ago, the term 'nostalgia' was a medical term used interchangeably with melancholy and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

So, if I were to believe all that was told to me, nostalgia would be avoided at all costs. I think nostalgia in the modern context is more romantic, re-imagining a time if it actually did when things were hunky-dory, and the world was safe. All these are, of course, mere bunkum. We were just too naive to realise that evil was lurking right under our noses at all times.

Nostalgia is not a bad word; this I realised during my last visit to Austria. Imagine a country just living in the memory of its glorious past. Austria is a country that thrives on the glory of its historical past. Its selling points are the laurels of the House of Hasburgh through the times of the Austria-Prussian and Austria-Hungarian Empires, its glorious musical culture and more recently, the razzmatazz of Hollywood's 'Sound of Silence'.

The brutality of imperialism brought with its enormous amount of sorrow, pain and loss of lives. Nevertheless, its negativity seems to have been cancelled with the so-called 'civilisation' it brought. The only trouble is that nothing civil was done in the process. The victors justified their actions by scribing and immortalising their version of the truth. The 'real truth' remains buried behind with the corpses and unheard screams of the fallen.

The victors proclaimed that, and that is proof of modernity. Pop sprang the gargantuan monuments to boast of their greatness. Their leaders' fondness became the trademark of the kingdom. Musicians who jumped to the beck and call of the victors became national heroes. Mozart came to be worshipped as a child prodigy composer.

In the same vein, the German's failed attempt at creating the Third Reich adds to the world's positive narrative. At a time when Hollywood was controlling how the world should think, the mega-blockbuster 'The Sound of Music' came to the fore. This coming-of-age plus anti-Nazi film became part and parcel of baby boomers in their formative years. Capitalising on this nostalgia, recreating an alternative universe of the doe-eyed teenage that never exists, Austria continues prospering by selling dreamers this dream. They proudly claim an annual inflow of 3 million tourists to visit and re-live the life of the von Trapp household.

The country thrives on nostalgia. The nation lives in the memory of the past to plan for the future. Nostalgia cannot be all bad.

Outside Von Trapp villa

Sankt Gilgen - part of Sound of Music tour

Salzburg after dark.

The fields scream to the sound of music.

I 

That will bring us back to 'Do'.

Recreating the royal courtyard. Even musicians and composers have subtle ways of showing the monarchs that all is not well in paradise. 'The Marriage of Figaro' showcasing servants rising up and outwitting their masters – outraged the aristocracy. 

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Achieving the Unachievable?

When Nietzsche Wept (2009)

In real life, Frederick Nietzsche and Josef Breuer technically would have never met, even though their paths may have crossed in Vienna. For the uninitiated, Nietzsche is a famous 19th-century German philosopher and Dr Breuer is a neurologist who was Sigmund Freud's mentor who together treated the first patient of psychotherapy, Anna O. (Bertha Pappenheim). Rather fictitiously, the story, which is taken off a novel by Irvin D. Yalom, created an imaginary meeting of four famous Viennese individuals - Nietzsche, Breuer, Freud and Lou Salome, Nietzsche's love of his life.

Salome approaches Breuer to request for him to treat Nietzsche who was at risk of committing suicide after she rejected his hand in marriage. She wanted Dr Breuer to treat him for a migraine but at the same time try some of his 'talk therapy' on him to cure him of despair.

However, things become complicated. Breuer, even though appearing very composed, contented, prosperous and well rooted in family life and society, has serious deep-seated psychological issues. It ended up as Nietzsche psychoanalysing and treating Breuer of his predicaments in life. Breuer lost his mother, Bertha at a very young age and never got over his loss. He started developing feelings for his patient, Anna O, whose first name was also Bertha. In a somewhat twisted way, Nietzsche interprets Breuer's dreams to impress upon him their meanings. I say twisted because Freud is the one who popularised interpretation of dreams. Freud, in this movie, is a young apprentice to Breuer. Breuer also has what appears like a mid-life crisis and existential issues. Engaged in a repeated events in life and married, he yearns to be free from the clutches and quagmire of predictable, mundane life. Nietzsche uses his philosophical theories to knock some sense into him. Many of Nietzsche's ideas like Zarathustra are also mentioned here.

Breuer, in turn, helps him to overcome his resentment with his old friend, the musician, Robert Wagner.

The most interesting part of the movie is the dialogue. The exchange of beautiful quotes and sayings between a near-insane Nietzsche who is worried about humanity and the psychologically confused Breuer is legendary.

The other compelling thing about the story how the two men clamour over things that they do not have and not appreciate what they already have. Breuer feels trapped in an unhappy marriage whilst Nietzsche is dying to be tied down to marriage and not savour his freedom. Is it not the irony of life? We always yearn for what we do not have!

“It is easier, far easier, to obey another than to command oneself.”

“Every person must choose how much truth he can stand.”

"Despair is the price one pays for self-awareness. Look deeply into life, and you'll always find despair."

“Life is a spark between two identical voids, the darkness before birth and the one after death.”

"Not to take possession of your life plan is to let your existence be an accident.” 

― Irvin D. Yalom, When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel of Obsession

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/162267-when-nietzsche-wept-a-novel-of-obsession

Life is a battle field?

A Dangerous Method 2011

This is a classic piece that would probably appeal mostly to readers and students of psychology. As it is neither filled with action-packed scenes nor with cliffhanging sequences, it may excite only a niche portion of viewers. In essence, it tells the interaction between Freud and his student, Karl Jung, their correspondences and Jung's search for the meaning of life. Central to the story is Jung's Russian patient, a Sabina Spielrein, who he treats for hysteria and eventually becomes his mistress.

Jung is a diligent Swiss psychiatrist who immerses himself in work, paying scant attention to other things in his life, including his pregnant wife. He receives a troubled Russian young lady (Sabina, Keira Knightley) as a patient. Jung treats her with his 'talking cure', a new technique learnt from Freud's writings. Through his psychoanalysis, he deduces that her tics and appalling behaviour can be related to her father's abuse of her. Even though she abhorred her father's actions, deep inside she seemed to derive pleasure but feel guilty of it at the same time! He nurses her to health, and she pursues her lifelong ambition of being a doctor.

Jung receives a referral from Freud of a wayward psychoanalyst, Dr Otto Gross. He is a disturbed son of a wealthy aristocrat, a physician not by interest but familial pressure and has unorthodox views on patient-doctor relationship. He abuses drugs and has no qualms redefining doctor-patient relationship, submitting to the pleasures of the flesh without having an iota of guilt. His views are so compelling that Jung starts questioning his own code of ethics.


By then, Sabina is well and is helping in Jung's work. She explicitly pours her feelings and Jung, in the turmoil of an empty familial relationship and positive transference, surrenders to the demands of the flesh. He starts an affair with Sabina.

Freud's legendary first meeting in Vienna goes on for 13hours. Even though initially they saw many common grounds, over the years they diverged. Jung found Freud overbearing. He believed the world of medicine is as it is. We, the human species are here, period. We have issues, and we have to deal with the present problem. Sexual issues played a central theme in many of Freud's explanation to our maladies, which Jung could not accept wholesale. Jung wanted to use supernatural forces and mysticism in treatment, but Freud vehemently disagreed.

Jung's torrid affair soon became common knowledge. It also became a reason for him to part ways with Freud. Eventually, he ended his liaison with Sabina and both went separate ways.

Perhaps what the movie is trying to show to us, which may deviate from actually happened in real life, is the interplay of Freud's mind dynamics in interaction in our daily lives. For instance in Jung's relationship, we see Jung as the ego trying to become the compromiser between Sabina (the id, the temptress) and his wife (the superego, the icon of perfection). In his professional conduct, he has to balance between Freud (the superego, the emblem of perfect doctor) against Otto (the id, the one who succumbs to primordial needs without a care to societal norms).
Our daily life is a constant battle - trying to reach the ideal situation and at the same time seeking to enjoy our time on Earth, enjoying ourselves as we only live once. Or is life on Earth is just a testing ground sent by our Maker to determine where we would spend our time in Eternity? How cruel!