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Psychotherapist and happiness researcher Christophe André recalls this. Reflecting on Rembrandt’s masterpiece, he offers conclusions that will be useful to all of us in life.
“Happiness has its own story,” says psychotherapist, writer and researcher of happiness Christophe Andre (Christophe Andre). He reveals the prerequisites for this state, finds out what experiences it is made up of and how we can contribute to its emergence. The basis for his thoughts are the stories depicted by great artists. He reveals their inner meaning. “God, but where did he wander?! The prodigal son with the shaved skull of a slave or a convict, with bare feet. The one who went to a foreign land to squander part of his inheritance returned, who “went to a far country” and there “squandered his possessions, living dissolutely” (Gospel of Luke 15:13). Now he will tell that he was a pastor of pigs, that many times he was ready to eat the food intended for them, so great was his need. When he returned, he was afraid that he would be rejected, ridiculed, showered with reproaches. His brother and other members of the household, who can be seen in the shadows, were ready to do so.
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But my father was the first to react. He caught happiness: it was he who rushed to meet his son, who did not dare to approach, and he, as the Gospel says, “fell on his neck and kissed him.” Striking for the Bible behavior from the side of the father in relation to the son. An exceptional moment, as well as an exceptional lesson of love and understanding: “For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Gospel of Luke 15:24). Their embrace is lit with golden light. The son closes his eyes, like the child he was and still feels like when he cuddles up to his father, the father whose love he suddenly realizes is beyond measure. All delusions, all suffering, and in the end – because we were loved and continue to be loved – forgiveness and happiness …
Rembrandt’s lesson: to live in peace with yourself and others
How many mistakes are made on the way to happiness! How much time, effort, anger and desperation wasted … It is useless to regret. Does not this long, long advance towards happiness, the never-ending approach to it, allow us to know our own essence and the meaning of our existence? After all, the very history of our happiness is made up of mistakes, suffering and wanderings. They give it recognizability, salience, exceptional character against the background of all manifestations of other people’s happiness. And, of course, sharpness – if we learn to see and accept all the accidents along the way with the same tenderness with which a father looks at his son who has returned to him and receives him.
“The Secret Meaning of Life”
Under what circumstances was Rembrandt’s masterpiece created? What was reflected in it? Psychotherapist Christophe Andre says.
“This canvas of impressive size is the last work written by Rembrandt. Not limited to the well-known biblical story, Rembrandt in this gesture of forgiveness and love conveys the innermost meaning of a separate human life. The face of the father, on which time has left its light as the only trace, speaks of calmness and absolute self-denial. Is not his pose of perfect trust a symbolic representation of the state of mind of the artist, as if, standing on the verge of death, he wanted to reconcile with himself? The picture was painted in the last year of his life, when Rembrandt’s star faded and he lived in poverty, turning to the spiritual life. His son Titus had died a few years earlier…” K.A.
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How much wasted happiness! But don’t feel sorry for him. It would be a doubly punishment when the gravity of the present is mixed with the gravity of the past: useless and deceitful. There has been a lot of research done in the field of psychology that studies the feeling of regret. It is known that the severity of regret is always softened by the intensity of the experience in the present. True, even in the event of failure or failure, if we gave our all to the end, then we regret it less. It is also known that we regret action less than inaction: in the long run, we always regret less that we acted but did not succeed than that we did not try to act. The reasons for this phenomenon are numerous, but the main one is that action can lead to happiness, at least in the present. By not allowing ourselves to act, we get only peace … There are no less reasons to come to terms with your past. You don’t have to approve it, you just have to accept it. And having accepted it, try to recognize it: to understand what I want to see revived in my history and the trajectory of my path, and what I don’t want to know. In order to cultivate our happiness, we must direct our efforts into the present. Enrich, not burden, do not hamper him with your past.
Pass the tests
- To each his own happiness
Making peace with yourself is one of the keys to happiness. The old father realized that he did not have time to waste it on reproaches, reproaches, punishments. Enough misfortune and trials. All of them can and should learn a lesson from this. And also, most importantly, after the test, you will have to restore peace of mind. Diderot said: “There is only one duty, and that duty is to be happy.” He, no doubt, wanted to remind us that this, if not the only, but in any case, the first of our duties. And after pain, there is only one urgent need, which is more important than rancor and even analysis and reflection: this is the need for calm and happiness. Often it is realized through forgiveness. Otherwise, you will have to experience so much bitterness! You have to endure so much anger, even righteous! It is never worth the time and effort spent on it. In a person’s life there are as many opportunities to forgive as there are to hate. How often unbearable misfortune intersects with resurgent happiness … Is it necessary that suffering blind us in order for us to make mistakes so often? The proof is before our eyes: the Rembrandt painting speaks to us of the urgent need for all possible forgiveness. Look at the infinite tenderness on the face of the father, at how affectionately he put his hands on the shoulders of his son, as if protecting him. Repentant and forgiving. Believing in mercy and giving it. Which of the two is happier at this moment?
All essays are collected in the book by K. Andre “The Art of Happiness. The Secret of Happiness in the Masterpieces of Great Artists”, which is published by EKSMO in December 2015.