Psychologies is a magazine for very personal reading, analysis and reflection. But it’s nice to share your views. Especially with those who are interested in us. We invited such people to become our co-authors and interlocutors in the anniversary issues of the magazine. This month, theater and film director Andrey Konchalovsky helped us prepare the performance.
Psychologies: In your opinion, why has our interest in the possibilities of psychology increased so noticeably in recent years?
Andrei Konchalovsky: I have no idea! Although this is to be welcomed. Because the need to understand oneself is the privilege of thinking people. And we can say that this is a great luxury: today, many are so busy with such essential things as subsistence or survival that they do not have this luxury. Every person spends part of his life in order to create some conditions for his existence. But with luck, there is time to think about yourself, about your own meaning in this life. Luckier people start thinking about it earlier, less lucky people later. And the unlucky – never.
Maybe the point is to feel happier?
A.K.: Another thing is more important – to understand that the feeling of happiness is only a break between the satisfaction of some of our urgent needs and the moment when we have a new need. Here, let’s say, we won a million … And this is happiness! Then there is concern: so that this money is not stolen, how to invest it, where to store it – as a result of problems that again require resolution. It is an endless process, because the world does not correspond to our desires at all. We often see that people around us are not satisfied with their own lives. It seems to them that if some of their needs are satisfied, then they will become happy. But few people understand that this is a colossal success – when our desires suddenly coincide with what is happening. Of course, we all work in our own way to make them match. But those who choose between the possible and the impossible are more likely to be satisfied than those who choose between the desirable and the undesirable.
Do you think it’s better to strive for the possible?
A.K.: It’s not that simple. If we start to underestimate our needs, they will, of course, be much easier to satisfy. But then there will be nowhere to go. If our personal needs are already satisfied, there is a stop, and then a decline. Ingmar Bergman, the great Swedish director, once said that happiness is knowing your limits and overstepping them. But first you need to understand them! Because almost none of us know what we are really capable of.
How to find out?
A.K.: To do this, you need to understand your real place in this world, which is very difficult in our time – the time of mass production, when the efforts of the mass media are aimed at creating false idols. Which will be destroyed in the next moment, as soon as marketing requires the creation of new ones. We live in the world of marketing, and our self-image often becomes a substitute. It begins to seem to us that everything should have a monetary equivalent, that everything can be expressed in numbers. False values arise that have nothing to do with reality. And to form a concept of oneself is a matter of colossal work.
What is it, what should be done?
A.K.: On the contrary – nothing needs to be done! And it’s hard. It takes a conscious effort to stop and not chase after the idols that are presented to us, not to try to benefit from every second. And just sit down and look – at the seashore, at the surf, at the green leaves … There are things that have no value in the equivalent of money, but are of tremendous importance in order to return later to a productive life of a higher spiritual level. Today, many believe that they simply do not have enough time for contemplation, but this just indicates that a person has not yet reached the required level. It is carried by the flow of events, it does not control it, it goes with the flow. If I don’t have time to do a good deed, I won’t be a kind person: “You know, I would run to your hospital, but there is no time …” Those who have time found it, and did not wait for it to be found by itself without their efforts. A harmonious person has time for contemplation. The sage has all the time in the world to contemplate. If a person does not have time to contemplate, he will never understand himself.
What would you wish to the readers of Psychologies?
A.K.: In general, it would be useful for all of us to realize a rather contradictory, paradoxical thought: nothing in the world has any meaning – except for the one that we ourselves give to our lives. We should think about the reasons for our dissatisfaction and try to understand what we ourselves did wrong. There are no failures – there is a wrong method of solving problems. If we are looking for a guilty person outside ourselves, this means that we do not live our life, but it lives us. And at the same time, we expect from life that it will live us – one way or another. While a person will look around, look for who is to blame, except for himself, nothing good will happen in his life. Something can change only if he realizes that he is he and no one else! – is responsible for it. That he must do something. What, perhaps, he himself does not need, but others need – those who are nearby. If we put the question in this way, we will finally realize our responsibility. And we can start living our lives.
Private bussiness
Andrei Konchalovsky director, author of seven books. Father of five daughters and two sons. Born on August 20, 1937 in the family of writers Sergei Mikhalkov and Natalia Konchalovskaya. In his youth, he was preparing to become a pianist, but from the third year of the conservatory he left for VGIK, in the workshop of Mikhail Romm. While studying at VGIK, he wrote the script for Ivan’s Childhood with Andrei Tarkovsky. His graduation work is the film “The First Teacher” based on the novel by Chingiz Aitmatov.
- 1967 “The story of Asya Klyachina, who loved, but did not marry.” After 22 years, the film will receive the State Prize of the Russian Federation.
- 1969-1979 Films shot during these years: “Nest of Nobles”, “Uncle Vanya”, “Romance of Lovers”, “Siberiada”.
- 1980 Received the title of People’s Artist of the RSFSR. Moved to USA.
- 1984–1998 Films made in the USA include Maria’s Beloved, Runaway Train, Tango and Cash, Odyssey.
- 2000-2009 – staged musical and dramatic performances in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, Milan, New York and other cities around the world.
- In December 2010, the Christmas fairy tale “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King”, filmed in 3D, is released.