Can we learn to value the time of our lives and to live every moment meaningfully? Interview with Doctor of Psychology Dmitry Leontiev.
Psychologies: Are there any peculiarities of our national relations with time in Russia?
Dmitry Leontiev: I’m afraid so. Philosopher Pyotr Chaadaev noticed two hundred years ago that there is no history in Russia: it is replaced by geography. And he was right – space has played and continues to play a much more important role for us than time. At the same time, tiny Singapore is decades ahead of us in development. But we continue to live in space without noticing it, not paying attention to it. Our culture does not teach us to care about time. Think about it, feel the dynamics of ongoing processes, perspective. But we love to think about eternity very much – evidence that each specific moment of time is worth nothing to us. But the value of time is directly related to the value of our life. But life is not valued in Russia – neither one’s own nor someone else’s. These are suicides, and the neglect of basic safety precautions, and recklessness on the roads, and just a lifestyle that shortens the days of many of our fellow citizens.
It seems that we not only do not value the time of our lives, but also do not keep up with the course of events, confirming that we are “strong in hindsight.”
D. L .: Yes, we had such a feature until recently, and it was perfectly described by the words “too late”. Philosopher Merab Mamardashvili gave an excellent example from the Soviet era in this regard. Our artists go on tour abroad, gather full houses, get a standing ovation, and then go to the embassy and sign for a fee, most of which they don’t even see: their money is appropriated by the Soviet state. Why don’t they protest, because there is a clear injustice? Perhaps they are afraid? No, it’s something else. The fact is that it is already too late, because they themselves put themselves in such conditions. Their relationship with the authorities is initially based on a privileged separation from the general mass of people. The authorities singled you out, and this separation is not legal in the civil sense of the word. This means that you are already a strikebreaker and cannot protest: not because you are cowardly or psychologically weak, but because no one has ever seen strikebreakers on strike. There is a law that says: it’s too late and action is inappropriate. In this case, a person has only one freedom: the freedom to know the laws and not put himself in a situation where it is already too late. “We, who live in the territory called Russia,” stressed Mamardashvili, “have a fantastic talent for driving ourselves into situations when it’s already too late.”*
Has something changed today?
D. L .: I hope so. Now a new generation is entering the scene. And the turbulent events in public life indicate that he has a different attitude to many things – including time. I would like to believe that representatives of this generation think more about the future than about the past. After all, if you think only about the past, it is impossible to set yourself any goals, except to reproduce what has already been. Our other great philosopher, Vasily Rozanov, said that there are two ways of life – conscious and unconscious. The conscious life is governed by ends, and the unconscious by causes. And we will not move from the second to the first, although it is high time.
What does it take to learn to value time? Is it enough to understand that life happens not yesterday and not tomorrow, but right now?
“LIFE DOES NOT HAPPEN, IT IS CREATED BY OURSELVES AND AT EVERY MOMENT. THE PRESENT IS THE ONLY POINT WHERE SOMETHING DEPENDS ON US”
D. L .: “Occurs” is not quite the right word. At every moment in time, life does not happen – it is created. Created by ourselves. And if we sit idly by, someone else will create our present without our participation. Only by acting can we ensure that this present turns out to be exactly the way we want it to be. The present is the only point at which something depends on us. The past is beyond our control, we can guess about the future, or we can work for it, but without any guarantees that it will coincide with our ideas. And only here and now we can really do something. But this is on condition that we feel like actors, not puppets. At lectures, I ask students: what do you think, can I suddenly leave the class to drink coffee right now? “No,” they usually answer. Why? And the standard arguments are used: this will hit my reputation, I will not receive money for the lecture that was disrupted … But all this is wrong. The only reason I really couldn’t leave is because the thought wouldn’t have crossed my mind. When I don’t see the possibility itself, it really doesn’t exist. And if I see her, then questions of money, reputation and other considerations are exclusively a matter of my choice. If we see an opportunity to do something, then we are capable of doing it in principle.
Philosophers and psychologists talk about how important it is to live every moment meaningfully. But how to do it if our life is oversaturated with events?
D. L .: Actions should be followed by pauses. And it is in them that personal development takes place. The pause phenomenon is the most important prerequisite for mastering your own time. Without giving ourselves the opportunity to process and comprehend our own actions, we do not develop, even if we have accumulated vast experience. One married couple told me a wonderful story about their child. He, having learned about the annual rings of trees, asked: when do trees grow – in winter or summer? Parents, after thinking, answered: probably in the summer. “And I think in winter,” said the child. “In the summer, the trees just enjoy life.” I don’t think you can say it better. Do not worry if you do not have time to realize every second, actively working or just enjoying life. But this must be done later, during pauses. I, like, probably, any psychologist, is often approached by people whose main problem is unprocessed experience. It needs to be comprehended, “digested” so that it becomes a source of development, spiritual wealth. Otherwise, it becomes a source of problems.
* M. Mamardashvili “Lectures on Proust” (Ad Marginem, 1995).