Friday 2 February 2024
The everlasting peace and aimless life
"I cannot stay here!" she said, wringing her hands. "I am sick of the house and this wood and the air. I cannot bear the everlasting peace and aimless life, I can't endure our colourless, pale people, who are all as like one another as two drops of water! They are all good-natured and warm-hearted because they are all well-fed and know nothing of struggle or suffering, . . . I want to be in those big damp houses where people suffer, embittered by work and need. . ."
Anton Chekhov – Verotchka (1887)
Because of where we are socially, it has been particularly easy to observe how a lack of hardship appears to stimulate imaginary hardships. We don’t have to imagine it, just scan the media to see imaginary hardships dominating our political insanities via ever expanding medical diagnoses and a range of confected deprivations.
A surprising number of people do not seem to find it easy to remain sane when there is no great survival pressure to be sane. Presumably reality will eventually force the issue towards something akin to those big damp houses where people suffer, embittered by work and need. . . The houses won’t be big, but apart from that there are unpleasant hints looming over our horizon.
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2 comments:
There's an embryonic theory of cyclical history in there. People can afford to go insane when there is less pressure to stay sharp and rational. This leads to society deteriorating, and real hardships then kick in and eventually lead people to sharpen up and focus on what matters again.
It's like an on/off love affair with reality, and at the moment we are only communicating through our lawyers and sleeping in separate rooms.
Sam - yes it's related to luxury beliefs which venture into important aspects of the real world. This is what we see with a range of issues now, from immigration to Net Zero. Unfortunately, only disasters are likely to turn it around, but not back to where we were.
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