Lev Tolstoy Goes to Hollywood

   Few people have had the impact on Russian literature that Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) has had.  His novels and short stories have been translated into numerous languages and people from various cultures are familiar with these stories.  Three of his stories including Anna Karenina, one of the greatest novels ever written, The Kreutzer Sonata, and Two Hussars were even made into American films.  These three films were all produced by British producer Bernard Rose (b. 1960). His adaptation of Anna Karenina was certainly not the only one produced for an English speaking audience, but it was certainly one of the best adaptations. 

    In this article I will look at these three films, namely “Anna Karenina” (1997), “The Kreutzer Sonata” (2008), and “Two Jacks” (2011).  I will examine these three films in order to see how faithful they are to the novels themselves and how well they correspond with one another. 

    The 1997 film “Anna Karenina” which stars Sophie Marceau (b. 1966) in the title role, is a very interesting adaption of Tolstoy’s novel.  It was obvious that Rose had borrowed several ideas from the 1948 film with Vivien Leigh, but he also added some new elements which were not present in the earlier films.  For example, the story, in this film, is told by Lev Tolstoy through the character of Constantine Levin.  However, some of the elements of the earlier films about this novel, such as the difficulties between Stepan and Dolly at the beginning of the film, are not present. 

    Sir Georg Solti’s (1912-1997) choice of music also had a profound impact on the film.  Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky’s (1840-1893) Sixth Symphony, which he wrote prior to his own death, the choice of Tatiana’s aria from the opera “Evgeny Onegin”, and the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) helped to tell the story, even without words. For some reason, Sir George did not list this film among the films he is credited with serving as music director for.¹  
    Eleven years later, Bernard Rose decided to produce a modern film version of The Kreutzer Sonata. This novella is believed, by some, to be Tolstoy’s argument in favor of sexual abstinence and against marriage.² It also deals with the question of whether or not true love is possible.³  

     This film was a very interesting 21^st century “American” approach to a 19^th century Russian novella.  Set in Los Angeles, California, this film remains quite faithful to the story line of the novel; however, it can be seen as extremely pornographic, especially if one of the original themes of Tolstoy’s novella was the virtue of sexual abstinence.⁴  

     I have no objection to nudity in a film if it is used for artistic reasons, such as to enhance the storyline; however in this film the constant nudity almost became the storyline. 

     It is unfortunate that modern American films must contain graphic nudity, excessive killings, and/or massive explosions; otherwise they will not do well at the box office.  Some people will argue this is not true and point to the 2012 film version of “Anna Karenina” as an example. However, that film won an Academy Award for “Best Costume Design”, not for “Best Picture”.  Hollywood markets films in the same way cigarettes are marketed according to the late great Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) ⁵ What Tarkovsky said in the 1980s is even more true today.

     The third film is “Two Jacks” a 2011 film based upon an 1856 short story entitled Two Hussars by Tolstoy. ⁶   There was also a 1984 Soviet film entitled “Two Hussars” which was also based upon this short story.⁷  In the original story the reader is meant to understand that the son is not only a different generation than his father, but that this later generation has actually become worse.  This insight was made quite clear in Bernard Rose’s 2011 film; however, it was not as clear in the 1984 Soviet film. 

      In the 1984 film the father and son were both played by the same actor (with an implied time lapse in the film) and it was difficult to understand why the son was less likeable than the father.  However, this was more obvious in the 2011 film. 

      Danny Huston (b. 1962) plays “Jack, Sr.” and his nephew Jack Huston (b. 1982) plays “Jack, Jr.” and it is somewhat easy to see why Jack, Sr. was a much more likeable character than Jack, Jr.  The movie begins with the audience being introduced to Jack, Sr. at the airport and the film ends with Jack, Jr. at the same airport (in the same terminal) twenty years later. 

    This was the third time that Rose included Danny Huston in one of his films. In addition to playing Jack, Sr. in this film, Huston also played Stepan, Anna Karenina’s brother, in the 1997 film and he played the main character in “The Kreutzer Sonata”.  It would appear that Bernard Rose is quite impressed with Danny Huston’s acting ability. 

     Each of these films remained quite faithful to the novel or short story they were based upon.  These three stories explore very important issues which are still as relevant today as they were when they were written in the 19^th century. With the current divorce rate at over 50%, many young people ask themselves if true love is really possible. 

    In Ezekiel 18 it is written, “The father eats green grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”  What the prophet Ezekiel is saying that the actions of the parents have a direct impact on their children.  Another phrase we often heard used is “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”.  Based upon “Two Jacks”, both the quote by the Prophet Ezekiel and the apple are still quite true.  Lev Tolstoy was a deeply religious man and he may very well have had the Bible quote from Ezekiel 18 in mind when he wrote Two Hussars.

      Bernard Rose showed us that the same personalities which could be found in Anna Karenina, The Kreutzer Sonata, and Two Hussars are still very much alive today.   This is a hallmark of classic literature and it is wonderful that this producer was able to introduce these stories by Lev Tolstoy to an audience who may have been familiar with only Anna Karenina and War and Peace.    

                                                          End Notes

1)    “Anna Karenina: A Cinematic Journey on the Silver Screen from 1927 to 2012” http://heideggerm1.blogspot.com/2013/03/anna-karenina-cinematic-journey-on.html 

2)    “The Kreutzer Sonata” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kreutzer_Sonata  

3)    “The Possibility of True Love” http://heideggerm1.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-possibility-of-true-love.html  

4)    “The Kreutzer Sonata (2008 film)” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kreutzer_Sonata_(2008_film)  

5)    “Andrei Tarkovsky: A Poet in the Cinema (1983)” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTvIybrtMqU (47:55)

6)    “Two Hussars” http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Two_Hussars

7)    “Two Hussars (Russian Film)” http://rusact.com/movie-opinion-10792-Dva-Gusara-Two-Hussars-Velikolepnaya-Klassika  

A Guide to Sharikov Culture

    Imagine, for a moment, that someone from another planet landed in the United States and wanted to understand what the country considered to be important.  However, this alien wanted to do this without ever speaking to anyone.  Where would this alien turn for such information?  The most basic answer is television.  Some of the most popular television shows in the US are about crime, so, obviously, crime is very important to this culture.   Then this alien changes the channel and begins to watch “Real Housewives of ….”   Watching this show would give the alien the impression that this culture idolizes shallow, materialistic, self-absorbed people. 

    This alien can also see educational shows about history or other topics, as well as, shows about religion or the arts.  However, on the major television networks this alien would be able to “feast” on a daily diet of crime shows and other shows which serve to numb the mind more than anything else. 

    Now, let us assume that this same alien decided to travel to the largest country in the world, Russia, and observe what this country considers important.  Once again, this alien decides to watch television in order to obtain such information.  What does this alien see?  A steady stream of television shows about criminals or people who drink too much.    This alien can also find religious programs or shows about history, but if he or she decided to limit his or her viewing to the major networks, they would be exposed to shows about criminals or people who drink too much.

    It is difficult, if not impossible, to believe that the same culture which produced Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Lev Tolstoy (1828-1910), Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), and Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986), to name a few, also inspired television shows about criminals and drunks. 

    The fact is that these people were not the product of the culture.  These people were the product of traditional Russian culture, but what people are exposed to now to Soviet culture, which is something completely different.   Even Andrei Tarkovsky, who lived his entire life during the period of the Soviet Union, was not a product of Soviet culture because of the influence of his father, the famous Russian poet Arseny Alexandrovich Tarkovsky (1907-1989).  

     After the October Revolution of 1917, V.I. Lenin (1870-1924) began slowly destroying traditional Russian culture, beginning with the destruction of countless Orthodox churches, and attempted to replace this culture with glorification of the state.  The year after Lenin died, Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) wrote a wonderful story about the rise of the “new Soviet man” which was entitled Heart of a Dog (Сердце Собаки).

     In this story, Professor Philip Philippovich Preobrazhensky and his assistant, Bromenthal, can be understood to represent two different views from traditional Russian culture, while Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov, a dog who is turned into a man by Professor Preobrazhensky represents the “new Soviet man”.  Professor Preobrazhensky and Bromenthal both have major problems with Sharikov’s behavior, but they choose to deal with these problems in two completely different ways.   

    Professor Preobrazhensky begins by taking pity on Sharikov and blames his bad behavior on the fact that Sharikov had received the testicles and pituitary gland of a drunken man in order that he might become a person.  However, Bromenthal wants to inject Sharikov with arsenic and destroy him.  Eventually, Sharikov is returned to his natural state and lives out the rest of his life as a dog.  It should not surprise anyone that this story was banned from the Soviet Union until 1987 since the premise of this story goes directly to the heart of the very society that Lenin and his followers were trying to create.

   When television was first created it had the enormous potential to be able to educate and inspire people.  However, it has never lived up to that potential.  There is no reason why people should have cable television service with over two hundred (200) channels available and these same people then complain that there is nothing to watch because the shows available are “garbage”. 

    Instead of uplifting cultural standards, television appeals to the lowest common denominator in order to insure that Sharikov is happy.  For many years a friend of mine has said, “In order to keep their people quiet, Rome gave them bread and circuses, while we give them drugs and television.”  There is a great deal of truth in this statement.  The ability to read is a rather late development in human history, but people read less now than in many generations. 

    While fewer people read than in previous generations, Russian television does offer more films based upon classic Russian novels than American commercial television does about classic American novels. It has been decades since any of the major networks presented a movie about “Tom Sawyer” or some other novel.  I love watching films about classic Russian novels, but is there something wrong with presenting a film about a story by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)?

     It would be very easy to say that what is presented on television is simply a form of

entertainment; however, it actually directly reflects cultural values.  If this is a form of

entertainment, then Americans and Russians must find crime and alcoholism to be very

entertaining.  When it comes to television, we continue to sleep with dogs and continue to

be very surprised that we wake up with fleas. After all of these years of appealing to

“Sharikov culture” in the United States and Russia, why are we still surprised? 

Inspiring Creativity

   In my article “Being Alone with One’s Thoughts” 1 I discussed the issue of being alone versus being lonely.  The need for constantly stimulation is very prevalent in Western society, but was not always found in other cultures around the world.  For example, Russian society has always had a more reflexive mindset.  This may be changing now that Western culture has made its way into Russia and that part of the world. Hopefully, it will continue to endure into the next generation.
    In an interview, Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky [Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский] (1932-1986) was asked what message he would like to leave for young people.  Tarkovsky said that they should learn to love solitude and to be able to be alone with themselves. He believed that young people were carrying out noisy and aggressive actions in an effort not to be alone. He felt that all individuals must learn to be on his own as a child.  This is not the same as being alone. He is referring to the idea of not becoming bored with oneself, which is sees as a very dangerous symptom, almost a disease.2
    One thing which being alone can inspire, regardless of whether this isolation is voluntary or forced, is a sense of creativity. There are numerous examples of highly creative people who chose to be alone for extended periods of time and others who were forced into solitude as a result of imprisonment. 
    On Christmas Day 1849, Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky (1821-1881) began the long journey from St. Petersburg to Siberia where he was to spend the next four years in a prison camp.  Together with other members of the Petrashevsky circle, a group of intellectuals, he had been arrested in April 1849, and had already spent eight months as a prisoner in the Peter and Paul fortress. During this initial period, he was in solitary confinement, and, at first, was not allowed books or writing materials.  In spite of this, he discovered that he had inner resources which enabled him to tolerate captivity far better than he had initially expected.  His arrest may even have saved him from a breakdown, rather than precipitating it; for there is evidence that his participation in an underground revolutionary organization had been preying on his mind during the previous winter, and had brought him to the edge of a collapse. 
     When, at the beginning of July, the prisoners were allowed to receive books from the fortress library Dostoevsky fell upon them.  He also wrote to his brother, Mikhail, telling him that he had thought out three stories and two novels.   The famous incident of the mock execution in Semenovsky Square, when Dostoevsky faced a firing squad, only to be reprieved at the last minute, followed on December 22nd.  In Siberia, Dostoevsky’s only literary activity keeping a surreptitious notebook in which he noted the phrases and expressions used by his fellow convicts.  He managed to give the notebook to one of the medical assistants who returned it to him upon his release. Its contents were used in House of the Dead, the book which described his prison camp experience.
    This experience was horrific, not only because of the appalling physical conditions in which the convicts were housed, and the perpetual threat of flogging under which they lived, but Dostoevsky found himself, as a ‘gentleman’, totally rejected by the brutish peasant prisoners whose cause he had espoused and for whose sake, as a potential revolutionary, he was suffering exile and imprisonment.  During the time of his imprisonment, Dostoevsky underwent a conversion experience in which his total dissolution with the peasantry was replaced by an almost mystical belief in their essential goodness. This was based upon an involuntary memory which came back to him from his childhood of an incident in which one of his father’s serfs, Marey, had comforted him when he was terrified. Although Dostoevsky suffered deeply from never being alone while in the prison camp, his emotional isolation and lack of companionship had the effect of turning his attention inward, and allowing his mind to wander in the past. 
    All through his four years in camp he had employed the technique of involuntary association, which probably served somewhat the same purpose as psychoanalysis or drug therapy in releasing repressed dreams and thereby relieving his psychic blocks and morbid fixations.  This technique also served the additional and reassuring function of keeping alive his artistic faculties under conditions where he was forbidden to put pen to paper.3 
     Dostoevsky’s experience of penal servitude permanently influenced his view of human nature and hence permeated his novels.  More particularly, his experience of seeing convicts who for years had been ruthlessly crushed suddenly break out and assert their own personalities, often in violent and irrational fashion, made him feel that individual self-expression or self-realization was a basic human need, a need which did not accord with the subordination of individuality to the collective demands of the State.4 
   Other creative people who experienced forced solitude included Edith Bone, M.D. (1889-1975), Christopher Burney (1917-1980), and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827).  Unlike Burney and Bone, Beethoven’s forced solitude was the result of his deafness which began in 1796 and continued for many years.  His famous “Ninth Symphony” was written after his hearing loss had become more pronounced.  In fact, after he played this symphony for the first time he actually cried because he was not able to hear the applause.5
    Creativity inspiration is something which needs to be both encouraged and supported.  Being alone is certainly a source of inspiration for various creative genius.  In the case of some of these people they actually had difficulty interacting with other adults and some never had any type of intimate relationship and very few close friends.  This may not be the type of solitude that every person can engage in, but it was certainly successful of some people.
                                                                 
                                                                  End Notes

1) “Being Alone with One’s Thoughts” http://heideggerm1.blogspot.com/2011/06/being-alone-with-ones-thoughts.html (accessed 5/7/12)
2) “Being Alone with One’s Thoughts”
3) Joseph Frank Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal, 1850 to 1859 Five Volumes, (Princeton: 1983), Vol. II, p. 122
4) Anthony Storr Solitude: A Return to the Self (NY: Ballantine Books, 1988), p. 59
5) “Ludwig van Beethoven” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven (accessed 5/7/12)

The Belief in Something Rather than Nothing

  In the past few weeks we have seen demonstrations on Wall Street and a certain amount of political unrest on the part of a number of people in the United States.  The Federal government has caused various financial problems in this country, either directly or indirectly, and the people are annoyed that little, if anything, is being done to correct these problems.  The housing market was completely undermined by the approval of mortgages by the banks to people who had no hope of ever being able to pay that loan back.  Unemployment is still very high and the “recovery” which the government has been touting for months seems more like a pipedream than a reality.  

   The Wall Street bankers were bailed out by taxpayers’ money and they continue to get richer while the average person continues to wonder how long it will be before they lose their job and they will not be able to pay their bills and will lose their health benefits.  The people are disgusted by what is going on in Washington and they are demanding answers. 

    This lack of confidence in authority is nothing new.  In the 1860s a movement known as nihilism developed in Russia.  This term first appeared in Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883).  Nihilists favored the destruction of human institutions and laws, based on the idea that such institutions and laws are artificial and corrupt. At its core, Russian nihilism was characterized by the belief that the world lacks comprehensible meaning, objective truth, or value. For some time many Russian liberals had been dissatisfied by what they regarded as the empty discussions of the intelligentsia. The Nihilists questioned all old values and shocked the Russian establishment. They moved beyond being purely philosophical to becoming major political forces after becoming involved in the cause of reform. Their path was facilitated by the previous actions of the Decembrists, who revolted in 1825, and the financial and political hardship caused by the Crimean War, which caused large numbers of Russian people to lose faith in political institutions.¹   

    This novel discusses the divide between two generations.  The “generation gap” is not a new concept.  Almost every generation believes that the younger generation is too impulsive and too prone to rash judgment.  Almost every younger generation believes that the previous generation caused all of the problems that they are facing and it is their job to correct these problems.  It is quite common for members of the older generation to offer advice to the younger generation and it is also common that the younger generation does not follow such advice.

    In an interview with Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) he discussed this very issue.  He stated that it is impossible to inherit one’s experience.  It must be lived.  We often hear it said that we should use our fathers’ experience.  This is too easy.  However, once we have acquired the experience we no longer have time to use it.  The next generation rightly refuses to listen to this.  They want to experience life for themselves.  He says that the real meaning of life is that we cannot pass on our own experience to others or force them to feel suggested emotions.  It is only through personal experience that we understand life. ² He made this point in his film “Andrei Rublev”. 

   This point is also addressed in Fathers and Sons.  The younger generation is open to the idea of Western ideas and would like to introduce these ideas into Russian culture as a way of bringing about social change.  The older generation believes that what is needed is a return to traditional Orthodox spirituality.  This is completely unacceptable to the younger generation, especially since they have lost confidence it traditional institutions. 

    Another factor is the sense of the loss of meaning and truth which was infecting Russia at this time.  Without a sense of meaning or purpose it is very difficult for people to go on.  In his book, Man's Search for Meaning, Dr. Viktor E. Frankl, the father of Logotherapy, reflects upon his experiences as a prisoner at the Auschwitz death camp during World War II. Frankl makes the point that a person can suffer a great deal if he or she can make some sense out of their suffering. He said, "We can endure a great deal of what if we understand the why." He found that when rumors were spread through the concentration camp that the prisoners were going to be freed on a particular day that the prisoners mental and physical state actually improved. However, once that day came and went and there was no release their condition deteriorated.

    One of the ways that the prisoners were given some sense of hope was by helping them to focus on fact that there was life beyond the death camp. He writes, "When we spoke about attempts to give a man mental courage, we said that he had to be shown something to look forward to in the future. He had to be reminded that life still waited for him, that a human being waited for his return." ³

     It is this same sense of hopelessness which inspires people to take to the streets today in protest.  They have lost faith in traditional institutions and no longer believe that life will be better for them than it was for their parents. It is important to inspire hope in such people, otherwise they will become desperate and desperate people take desperate measures.  The nihilist movement eventually began to encourage the use of violence to bring about change and there is no reason to doubt that this will happen again.

    The main character in Fathers and Sons is Yevgeny Barazov, a medical student who has accepted the philosophy of nihilism.  He is mentor and friend to Arkady Nikolaevich Kirsanov.  Yevgeny falls in love with a wealthy widow named, Anna Sergeevna Odintsova, who entertains nihilists at her estate. However, his love is unrequited and this painful emotion to too much for him to bear.  He turns to his parents for support; however, when he receives no support his despair grows worse.

   Conversely, Turgenev shows us Arkady’s traditional happiness in marriage and estate management as the solution to Bazarov's cosmic despair and Anna's life of loveless comfort. (Arkady marries Anna Odintsova's sister, Katya, though he was also originally in love with Anna). The height of the conflict between Bazarov and the older generation comes when Bazarov wounds Pavel, Arkady’s brother, in a duel. Finally, Turgenev also refutes Bazarov's "insignificance principle", i.e., the nihilist idea that life is utterly insignificant and that nothing remains after death: after leaving and then returning again to his parents, Bazarov dies of typhus. The final passage of the book portrays Bazarov's parents visiting his grave.

They walk with a heavy step, supporting each other; when they approach the railing, they fall on their knees and remain there for a long time, weeping bitterly, gazing attentively at the headstone under which their son lies buried: they exchange a few words, brush the dust off the stone, move a branch of the pine tree, and pray once again; they can’t forsake this place where they seem to feel closer to their son, to their memories of him… Can it really be that their prayers and tears are futile? Can it really be that love, sacred, devoted love is not all powerful? Oh, no!

Their love causes them to remember Bazarov: he has transcended death, but only through the love of other people.

   Ivan Turgenev does not find meaning in traditional institutions, such as politics, but in love.  It is love with transformed Arkady’s life and allowed Barazov to transcend death.  Love gives meaning and purpose to life.  It is also something that we cannot understand based upon someone else’s experience, but something which we must experience ourselves. 

                                                       End Notes

1)    “History of Russia” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Russia#Nihilism

2)    “Tarkovsky on Art: Part One” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V27XlEDLdtE&feature=related

3)    Frankl, Viktor E. Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy (NY: Washington Square Press, 1969), p. 146

Being Alone with One’s Thoughts

   Western culture does not foster the idea of someone being alone with their thoughts.  Everywhere we turn there is one form of stimulation or another, both legal and illegal, which entices us and encourages us not to be reflexive. This is most unfortunate.  One of the things which separate us from other animals is our ability to reflect upon our thoughts and ask such questions as “Why am I here?” and “What is give greater meaning to my life?”  If we do not take the time to reflect upon such questions throughout our lives we might as well be a dog. 

   This need for constant stimulation is very prevalent in Western society, but is not always found in other cultures around the world.  For example, Russian society has always had a more reflexive mindset.  This may be changing now that Western culture has made its way into Russia and that part of the world. Hopefully, it will continue to endure into the next generation.

   In an interview, Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky [Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский] (1932-1986) was asked what message he would like to leave for young people.  Tarkovsky said that they should learn to love solitude and to be able to be alone with themselves. He believed that young people were carrying out noisy and aggressive actions in an effort not to be alone. He felt that as individual must learn to be on his own as a child.  This is not the same as being alone. He is referring to the idea of not becoming bored with oneself, which is sees as a very dangerous symptom, almost a disease. ¹

      The insights of Andrei Tarkovsky are not unique.  Over the past several months I have had an opportunity to assist many people from the former Soviet Union to learn English and Tarkovsky’s insights are quite common among many of them.  I have had the good fortune to be able to speak with sixteen year olds in several of the former Soviet Republics, including Russia, who are extremely self-reflexive and deeply philosophical.  While I am sure that I can find such young people in the West, they would be much rarer.

     There is a great difference between being lonely and being alone. Many people are alone and lead happy lives. It may behoove us to study some of their traits, because many of us are likely to be alone at some point in our lives. Points to consider: our culture has a high divorce rate; statistics show that wives outlive husbands; and our society advocates self-sufficiency and independence.

     Contrary to the opinion of many people, the elderly are not the loneliest among us. It is young people who are most lonely, and herein may lie some of the differences between being lonely and being alone.

    Many elderly people have developed traits or habits that help them be comfortable with themselves alone. They have found ways to keep busy mentally. Many rely on good memories of a deceased spouse for comfort while relishing the peace and quiet of a household void of too much activity. They have reached the point where their status quo is calmness.

   The young, however, are subject to a wide range of moods. They may be up one morning and down that evening or up and down several times in a given day. They are often bored and restless to the point of being unhappy for no clear reason. When they are not sought after and included in all activities of their peers, their self-esteem decreases.

    Being alone can actually help to inspire creativity.  Writing and painting are two means of artistic expression which require a certain amount of time alone with one’s thoughts. Spending time alone can help one to develop a creative outlet that they may never have realized that they possessed.

     What is not being advocated is living in isolation.  Human beings are social animals.  We need contact with other people for our own mental well-being as well as giving us an opportunity to share our thoughts and feelings with others and perhaps gain a new perspective as a result of these interactions. If one spends all of his or her time alone it is possible to become deluded and there is a great possibility that such a person can become severely depressed.

     This is not the same as having to be surrounded by noise and stimulation on a regular basis.  Such constant stimulation has actually lead to a very limited attention span, a decreased interest in reading, and a desire to receive information in the form of thirty second “sound bites”.  None of these things encourage the expansion of the human mind.  In fact, they are forms of depravation. The world of classic literature is lost when people do not read and it is difficult to have an intelligent discussion about important issues when one relies solely upon “sound bites” since they offer no in-depth insight into the issue at hand, but are designed to be almost a form of entertain in themselves.

   In Western society the idea of silence scares many people.  It is almost impossible to drive any distance without having to turn on the car stereo.  When we are home, it is almost essential that either the television or internet is functioning lest there be silence.  There is nothing to fear from silence.  Reading a classic novel is not something which should be feared or avoided at all cost, but something to be relished.  Silence can help one to use their imagination which also aids in creativity.

   The fact is that everyone needs time to be alone.  They need time to reflect upon their life and see if what they are engaged in is actually benefiting or hurting them.  This is a basic human need; however, it is become lost because of our societal emphasis on constant stimulation.  Periodic stimulation is not a bad thing, but constant stimulation is not benefiting us.  In fact, it is actually making us numb.  How much stimulation can one person actually deal with?  Are we really such shallow and superficial creatures that if we experience silence for a reasonable length of time that we will go insane?   Does constantly engaging in some activity, in order to avoid being alone, actually make us more human?

     If one engages in the practice of being alone, from time to time, he or she might find that they actually benefit from it.  It can be both mentally and spiritually renewing.  This is one of the reasons that many religions encourage their members to go on retreat. 

  
    Part of what it means to be human is that we have the ability to engage in contemplation.  This cannot be done in an atmosphere of constant stimulation. One needs to be alone and have time to reflect.  While this thought may be scary for some, the idea that, by not doing, we are becoming less human should be even scarier.

                                                  End Notes

1)                “Interview with Andrei Tarkovsky, part 2” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oRTH659KBA&NR=1 

2)                “Being Alone without Being Lonely” by Ben Martin, Psych. D. http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/being-alone-without-being-lonely/