Freud’s Last Session by Mark St. Germain - 9 out of 10

 

Freud’s Last Session by Mark St. Germain

 

9 out of 10

 

 

Trying to start with a joke, I would call this  CS Lewis meets Freud, or something along these lines, because for yours truly is more in awe with the author of Surprised by Joy https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/09/surprised-by-joy-shape-of-my-early-life.html than with Sigmund Freud

 

Indeed, it seems that Freud is more respected as a story teller today – in fact he took a prize, I think it was the Goethe, for his literary prowess, and he was told he is the first psychoanalyst to take it, and he responded, there had been none before – than for his work in psychology, ground breaking as it is, historically crucial…

However, the focus on sex in the babies, castration, is misplaced for most psychologists in the present, yes, there are ‘Freudians’, but in smaller numbers if I am not mistaken, in fact, CS Lewis is debating him, and in one stage, when they start taking about sex, the writer is right in pointing out that this offers very short-term pleasures

 

They also have opposing views on religion, Freud considers the existence of God an illusion, while CS Lewis https://realini.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-problem-of-pain-by-cs-lewis-sublime.html makes the case for God, actually, he is one of the most convincing, his brilliance makes me ponder the issue, however much I side with atheism

Freud will speak of the deaths in his family, especially that of a child, and does the Almighty have to say about that, Fyodor Dostoevsky https://realini.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-brothers-karamazov-by-fyodor.html has chapters in which he looks at the pain inflicted to children, one is torn by the dogs of a boyar

 

The answer to this is ‘free will’, we have the hypothesis of the Creator, and he could have made a world in which everything worked like clockwork – incidentally, I like the argument of the clock, you find a watch in the desert say, and even if you do not have proof, see the maker, you know it did not just happen, some intelligent design is at play…

But will that be enticing, living in a world where all is established before, we have no say, it would not be interesting, on the contrary, it would feel boring, and like a prison, so we have the ‘free will’, and that results in humans making catastrophic, inhumane, atrocious decisions, Hamas attacks and kills innocent people

Freud is in the last stages of his cancer, and he wants to show CS Lewis that he ‘has hell in his mouth’, that is when the believer is stating that the psychoanalyst’s intention to commit suicide is disapproved by the Church, and the Jewish man is determined to get what is needed from his doctor, when he feels the time has come

 

Sigmund Freud has a very peculiar relationship with his daughter, Anna, he depends on her, but he is also ‘tyrannical and selfish’, as CS Lewis observes, she will be the first to work on psychoanalysis for children – alas, that means she might be in the camp that has this wrong, like her dad – but she appears to have no private life

Her father calls her when he is in pain, and she has to abandon her lectures, she is told that she had been absent, interrupted other presentations, and on top of it all, the despot would not allow her to marry, and she is a grown woman now, and has a pretender, who is told to get out of the house by the possessive parent

 

The alarm sounds, because of a potential air raid, and when they enter the cave of the nearby church, CS Lewis has a panic attack, explained by the fact that he had been hit during an attack in World War I, when he was hit by shrapnel, a piece is too close to the heart, so they cannot take it out, his friend was killed then

They had had a pact, if one is killed, the other would take care of the other’s parent, so CS Lewis is supposed to care for the dead man’s mother, only she says she does not need a protector, and then the much younger man offers friendship, and they become lovers, so there is the interpretation of the psychoanalyst

 

Because of the death of the mother, when he was a child, and the fact that the father sent the two boys to England, and instead of affection, he just offered material support, so that they can study at Oxford, the writer is tempted to look for a more mature woman, I think she is twenty years older than he is…albeit this will change

Anthony Hopkins played CS Lewis in a film where he falls in love with an American woman, they get married, only she dies soon…Freud has written a book or essay on humor, and the subject is touched upon, there is even the joke with two Jewish men talking about having a meal, and then one says ‘why, is one missing?”

 

Something to that effect, and CS Lewis is saying this is as funny as a funeral, nevertheless, Freud is terrified by this cancer, and CS Lewis can see that, and the paradox of having scores of statues of various gods on the desk and on shelves, while being an adamant atheist, and Sigmund Freud accepts that he is so interested in religion

He has some soties from his own childhood, when he had a catholic woman taking care of him, and bringing him to church, only when his father finds out, the latter is so furious, he throws her out of the house, for his a very religious man, but he is into the Talmud, when the issue of his son ‘praying for him’ is suggested by that Christian woman, the parent is again infuriated, and repeats that his son is never supposed to pray for him…

 

 Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

 

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

 

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”