desert island philosophy

[lobelia321]

I just listened to Oleg Gordievsky on Desert Island Discs. I was very moved. Tears came down my cheek. This shows I'm off the pillules. I didn't weep for six months and now I'm back to what I was: tears at the drop of a media item.

The thing about the Russian (warning: national stereotyping to follow) is that they are capable of sinking to the utter depths (football stadium business men, KGB bastards, evil imperial running dogs, squalor, ideology) and then turn around and have profound philosophical thoughts about all of it (Tarkovsky, Pelenin, Tolstoy, the Russian soul extending to the ends of the horizon and beyond, firefighters sacrificing themselves at Tchernobyl and diving into the nuclear waters without hesitation, Stalingrad, saving Europe from the Nazis, Malevich). Abjection is close to salvation because the Russians are so human. They seem to understand about humanity.

Gordievsky whom I'd not heard of before this morning but who was a Russian KGB double agent, working also as a spy for the British during the Cold War, chose as his favourite disc to take to the desert island with him, the 'Erbarme dich' aria from Bach's Matthew Passion. 'Erbarme dich', he explained, means 'have pity'; he wasn't seeking forgiveness (from his estranged wife and children who won't talk to him after they found out about his double life) but he was seeking pity. Being German, I think 'erbarme dich' is even more accurately translated as 'have mercy' but 'have pity' is also moving. It strikes some deep chord. Mercy and pity are sentiments that arise from the recognition of a shared humanity. We're all pathetic. We're all fallible. Mercy recognises this and says, 'okay, I can't forgive you because you made me suffer, but I can acknowledge that we're both human before God.'

Gads. Listen to a Russian on Desert Island Discs and find yourself thinking about God before breakfast.

How apt to have an icon of an angel painted by that great Russian painter, Andrei Rublev (who then inspired that great Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky to make his great unbelievable film of the same name).

Comments

[ex-zarah5186.livejournal.com]

On a lighter note, I know a bar called "KGB". You can order stuff like "a metre of vodka" there (if you're smart, you tell him not to include the house-made one which consists mostly of pepper), and the light's are red and there are pictures of Stalin on the wall. I think you'd like it. *g*

[blythely.livejournal.com]

Hallo! How're you doing? Long time no see :)

[ex-zarah5186.livejournal.com]

True, true...

I'm good! Apart from the average pre-graduation stress, I'm doing perfectly fine. (But then, graduation wouldn't be the same if there were no pre-stress, right? Not to mention my problems with my self-discipline, because I seem to have the self-discipline of a four-year-old, occasionally.)

How about you?

[blythely.livejournal.com]

Sometimes DID is quite moving, if you get a person with an interesting life. I like your ruminations on the Russian psyche. :)