feelings directly, with getting feedback and disclosing
yourself. This is new for you; you`ve been in seclusion for
years, and I toss you into this high–powered group.Of
course that`s going to feel uncomfortable. But what I`m
really referring to is the overt problem, the sexual
compulsion—and perhaps that`s gone. You`re older, been
through a lot, maybe you`ve entered the land of gonadal
tranquillity. Nice place, good sunny climate. I`ve dwelled
there comfortably for many years.»
«I would say,” Tony added, «that Schopenhauer has
cured you, but now you need to be saved from the
Schopenhauer cure.»
Philip opened his mouth to respond but then closed it
and pondered Tony`s statement.
«Another thing,” Julius added, «when you think
about your stress in the group, don`t forget the heavy–duty
pain and guilt you`ve faced here as a result of a chance
encounter with a person from your past.»
«I`ve heard nothing about guilt from Philip,” said
Pam.
Philip responded instantly, facing Pam. «If I had
knownthen what I knownow about the years of pain you`ve
suffered,I would never have done what I did. As I said
before, you were unlucky to have crossed my path. The
person I was then did not think of consequences. Automatic
pilot—that person was on automatic pilot.»
Pam nodded and caught his glance. Philip held it for
a moment and then turned his attention back to Julius. «I
grasp your point about the magnitude of the interpersonal
stress in this group, but I insist that is only part of the
picture. And it is here that our basic orientations are at
odds. I agree there is stress in relationships with other
beings. And possibly reward as well—I`ll grant you that
last point though I myself have never known it.
Nonetheless, I`m convinced that in the very state of
existing there is tragedy and suffering. Permit me to cite
Schopenhauer for only two minutes.»
Without waiting for a response, Philip, staring
upward, began reciting:
In the first place a man never is happy but spends his
whole life in striving after something which he thinks
will make him so; he seldom attains his goal and, when
he does it is only to be disappointed: he is mostly
shipwrecked in the end, and comes into harbor with
masts and riggings gone. And then it is all one whether
he has been happy or miserable; for his life was never
anything more than a present moment, always
vanishing; and now it is over.
After a long silence Rebecca said, «That sends
shivers up my back.»
«I know what you mean,” said Bonnie.
«I know I`m sounding like an uptight English
professor,” said Pam, addressing the entire group, «but I
urge you, don`t be misled by rhetoric. That quote adds
nothing of substance to what Philip has been saying all
along; it only says it more persuasively. Schopenhauer was
a brilliant stylist and wrote the best prose of any
philosopher. Except for Nietzsche, of course—no one
wrote better than Nietzsche.»
«Philip, I want to respond to your comment about
our basic orientations,” said Julius. «I don`t believe we`re
as far apart as you think. I don`t disagree with much that
you and Schopenhauer have said about the tragedy of the
human condition. Where you go east and I go west is when
we turn to the question ofwhat to do about it. How shall we
live? How to face our mortality? How to live with the
knowledge that we are simply life–forms, thrown into an
indifferent universe, with no preordained purpose?
«As you know,” Julius continued, «though I`m more
interested in philosophy than most therapists, I`m no
expert. Yet, I`m aware of other bold thinkers who have not
flinched from these raw facts of life and who have arrived
at entirely different solutions than Schopenhauer. I`m
thinking particularly of Camus, Sartre, and Nietzsche, who
all advocate life engagement rather than Schopenhauer`s
pessimistic resignation. The one I know best is Nietzsche.
You know, when I first received my diagnosis and was in a
state of panic, I openedThus Spoke Zarathustra and was
both calmed and inspired—especially by his life–celebratory comment that we should live life in such a
manner that we`d say yes if we were offered the
opportunity to live our life again and again in precisely the
same manner.»
«How did that relieve you?» asked Philip.
«I looked at my life and felt that I had lived it right—
no regrets frominside though, of course, I hated theoutside
events that took my wife from me. It helped me decide how
I should live my remaining days: I should continue doing
exactly what had always offered me satisfaction and
meaning.»
«I didn`t know that about you and Nietzsche, Julius,”
said Pam. «It makes me feel even closer to you
becauseZarathustra, melodramatic as it is, remains one of
my absolutely favorite books. And I`ll tell you my favorite
quote from it. It`s when Zarathustra says, вЂWas that life?
Well, then, once again!` I love people who embrace life and
get turned off by those who shrink away from it—I`m
thinking of Vijay in India. Next ad I run in a personal
column maybe I`ll post that Nietzsche quote and the
Schopenhauer tombstone quote side–by–side and ask
respondents to choose between them. That would winnow
out the nay–sayers.
«I have another thought I want to share.» Pam turned
to face Philip. «I guess it`s obvious that after the last
meeting I thought about you a lot. I`m teaching a course on
biography, and in my reading last week I ran across an
amazing passage in Erik Erikson`s biography of Martin
Luther. It goes something like this:вЂLuther elevated his own
neurosis to that of a universal patient–hood and then tried
to solve for the world what he could not solve for himself.` I
believe that Schopenhauer, like Luther, seriously fell into
this error and that you`ve followed his lead.»
«Perhaps,” responded Philip in a conciliatory
fashion, «neurosis is a social construct, and we may need a
different kind of therapy and a different kind of philosophy
for different temperaments—one approach for those who
are replenished by closeness to others and another approach
for those who choose the life of the mind. Consider, for
example, the large numbers who are drawn to Buddhist
meditation retreats.»
«That remind me of something I`ve been meaning to
say to you, Philip,” said Bonnie. «I think your view of
Buddhism misses something. I`ve attended Buddhist
retreats where the focus has been directed outwards—on
loving kindness and connectivity—not on solitude. A good
Buddhist can be active, in the world, even politically
active—all in the service of loving others.»
«So it`s becoming clearer,” said Julius, «that your
selectivity error involves human relationships. To give
another example: you`ve cited the views about death or
solitude of several philosophers but never speak of what
these same philosophers—and I`m thinking of the Greek
philosophers—have said about the joys ofphilia, of
friendship. I remember one of my own supervisors quoting
me a passage from Epicurus saying that friendship was the
most important ingredient for a happy life and that eating
without a close friend was living the life of a lion or a wolf.
And Aristotle`s definition of a friend—one who promotes
the better and the sounder in the other—comes close to my
