On Tuesday, May 24, within the framework of the Direct Speech project, political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky will give a lecture “The Passage of Time. Age, growing up and fear of death. Anticipating his speech in such an unexpected role, he spoke with Psychologies about his relationship with politics, time and his own fears.
Psychologies: Stanislav, you are known as the chief specialist (the position of Stanislav Belkovsky on the Dozhd TV channel. — Ed.) on all political issues. However, your lecture in Direct Speech will be devoted to a psychological topic. Are you tired of politics?
Stanislav Belkovsky: Well, firstly, on the Dozhd channel I am the main specialist not only in politics, but in all matters in general: from football to cooking barbecue. Secondly: no, I’m not tired of politics. She, as Hitler said at the end of April 1945, simply disgusted me. But she still has to do it, so my life has developed. And for some time now I began to evaluate politics mainly from the point of view of psychology. Thanks to this, I found answers to many strange questions related to the logic and motivation of political subjects. Watching contemporary politicians, I came to the conclusion that there is much more psychology in their decisions than political, economic or social doctrines. Politicians are driven by personal motives, quite explicable from the point of view of classical psychology and psychoanalysis.
Why are you interested in growing up, the feeling of age?
S. B.: In particular, because many decisions of the modern Russian authorities are dictated precisely by their attitude to time and aging. Yes, and among my friends, I see a lot of examples of how the age complex and the feeling of irretrievably passing time affects their actions and motivation in general.
How does this affect you yourself?
S. B.: Of course, the age complex is also inherent in me. I constantly talk about my age — and if a person often talks about something, it means that this topic worries him. In particular, I keep thinking about the fact that by my 45 years I have not achieved what I could have achieved. If I had structured my time and my life more correctly, things could have been different.
Have you found the answer for yourself, how to do it?
S. B.: There is no single comprehensive answer. But, of course, if I had not found at least some intelligible answers, I would not have begun to talk about it in vain. I will talk about the conclusions that I made over the years of studying this problem. At least two things may be of interest to my future listeners: firstly, Blessed Augustine’s theory of time, according to which time exists from the moment of the creation of the world until the end of its existence; and secondly, the theory of tardiness and procrastination. In my opinion, procrastination eats up 2/3 of a person’s life and is one of the most important factors in slowing down life. The main way to deal with procrastination — however, I will talk about this in a lecture in Direct Speech.
In addition, I plan to talk about the fact that we have entered the Age of Aquarius, which formally began in 2003. This means that the biological existence of a person can be seriously extended. To magnitudes that were unheard of in previous eras. Although if you read the sacred books of any of the religions, it turns out that our distant ancestors lived for a very long time. And this is most likely not hyperbole.
- How do you perceive your age?
Today, the boundaries of life cycles — youth, growing up, old age — have shifted. However, there is a feeling that we have changed physically, but have not yet realized that we have more opportunities.
S. B.: In my opinion, psychological aging precedes somatic. In general, I believe that most diseases have psychosomatic roots. And very often people are given diagnoses in which they convince themselves. Recently, doctors convinced my relative that he had a brain tumor of 8 centimeters, which is practically incompatible with life. He prepared to die for several months, until it turned out that the diameter of the tumor was only 8 millimeters. The doctors were just wrong. By the way, I studied at the medical institute for a year, and then quietly, albeit a little solemnly, left. For which, it seems to me, I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, because in this way I saved thousands of lives. If psychology and psychotherapy were to occupy in Russia the place they occupy in the Euro-Atlantic world, then Russian hospitals would lose a large number of their patients. I believe that even my generation will live to the point where, with the help of advanced medicine, it will be possible to extend life, for example, up to 120 years. And if not for me, then definitely for my children. And it will be available to the majority, not just the select rich.
Another theme of your lecture is the fear of death. When you listen to your reflections on politics, it seems that the feeling of fear, in principle, is not familiar to you.
S. B.: Certainly familiar. Moreover, I am afraid all the time — I am generally a coward. But I think it’s a management issue. After all, our task is not how to suppress fear, but to learn how to manage it. Only idiots or people deprived of fundamental reflexes are not afraid of anything. But you can act in spite of fear, as well as fight it.
That is, the fight against fear is the victory over it?
S. B.: Yes, because it is impossible to exclude fear, it is a form of ensuring the security of the individual. If you are not afraid, you will not react to threats that will destroy you. The main thing is that fear should not be the main source of important decisions and actions. As for the fear of death, I am inclined to believe that a person physically dies when his life task is exhausted. Therefore, if a person wants to live longer (which is completely optional, because for some people death at a certain moment becomes an attractive prospect), then he needs to prolong his life task. They can be, for example, the birth of a child in old age. Or such simple things as mastering a new profession, learning foreign languages.
It is not always easy to understand what our life task is …
S. B.: Since I am a believer, I believe that the life task is given by God, but to recognize it is the work of the person himself. One well-known lady at the age of about 50 learned that she had cancer in the fourth stage. Official medicine said that she had no chance of recovery. But suddenly a son with cerebral palsy appears in her life, whom her parents declared dead many years ago in the maternity hospital and sent to an orphanage. So, she lived happily for another 15 years, taking care of her newfound child. Here is a typical example of the prolongation of the life task — and life, respectively. Therefore, one of the ways to combat aging can be to help a person find his job. Although, of course, here the possibilities of psychology and medicine are not unlimited.
- Columbus of the third age
Is there, in your opinion, something special in the relationship of Russians with time? Sometimes one gets the impression that in Russia they live without a sense of the future and even tomorrow …
S. B.: I do not think that there is any bright specificity, but there are certain nuances that are associated with two factors: territory and climate. Living in a country with such a vast area certainly affects the perception of time. Much more is required to develop such a space. The second thing is the climate, which freezes for many months most of the population of Russia. But the fact is that the technological breakthrough made over the past 50 years devalues these factors. Therefore, in the XXI century, all this is no longer relevant. The only trouble is that Russia does not want to be equal to this progress, but, on the contrary, is returning to the old way of life, old views on reality: to wars, to hard power, which in the modern world loses its meaning, giving way to soft power. But this problem can be solved, it is not fatal.
Do you agree with the statement that a person who does not appreciate death cannot appreciate life?
S. B.: Such a statement can apply to everything: if a person does not appreciate pasta, then refusing to eat pasta will not upset him. But this already applies to clinical cases. A person cannot help but be afraid of death, and even martyrs are often drugged before they commit terrorist attacks. For me, the fear of death is not the fear of physical suffering, because death usually comes instantly. Remember, in Dostoevsky’s «The Idiot»: imagine a stone as big as a big house; it hangs, and you are under it; if it falls on you, on your head, will it hurt you? No, I feel it as fear of the unknown. This is something that I can never fully comprehend in my lifetime. Therefore, fear turns into curiosity for me: what will happen there? This question remains open for the time being. Mystical experience gives some ideas about the future after physical existence, and a person must be ready to accept such an experience.
Lecture hall «Direct speech», May 24, Tuesday, at 19.30
Address: Ermolaevsky lane, 25 (m. «Mayakovskaya»)
Tickets can be purchased at lecture.