LUXURY OF ABANDONMENT
My peers and I were hailed the Generation JP II (John Paul II) beforehand and a little too hastily. I bridle at it and although I receive the John Paul II grant, I do not feel a part of this generation creation. Out of the great intellectual and spiritual heritage of the Polish Pope I know just 2 encyclicals, a couple of letters and a long interview Przekroczyć próg nadziei (Crossing the Threshold of Hope), a book Pamięć i tożsamość (Memory and Identity), dramas and poems. It is absolutely not enough to create a generation named after His name. In my opinion “Generation John Paul II” is an appellation for a community of people who recognized Pope as his Master. To name somebody “Master” one must agree to be a pupil, which requires modesty and obedience. Above all, one must establish a relationship with Master and listen to him. I spent too little time listening to him and therefore know John Paul II not well enough; if I call him my master I will cease to trust his other “pupils” and possibly, because of generalization, I will not trust those who really deserve the name. Several years ago on the retreat of Light-Life Movement [RSZ (Ruch Światlo-Życie)] I joined “Deuterokatechumenat”, that is I decided to follow the religious education similar to the one of the adult candidates for baptism. It was tantamount to choosing Master and becoming a pupil because a repeat religious education means joining the school of Jezus’ pupils. However, I need authorities who follow the Master and this role is reserved for people like John Paul II.
In the March issue of “Znak” (3/2006) we read about the reasons why Masters are sometimes abandoned despite the fact that they are so hard to find. Krzysztof Dorosz (W cieniu Karola Gustawa Junga / In the shadow of Carl Gustav Jung) talks about his fascination with Jung, about the religious quests inspired by his concepts and what definitely induced him to choose another path. At the beginning it appeared to the author, whose adventure with Jung started when he was nineteen, that he found “a patron of all deep thoughts and guide in the world of truth.” Theories of the psychologist gave him, what it seemed, the insight into “reality hidden under the surface of not only life but also intellect.” With time he began to discover their illusory. Above all, Dorosz negates necessity and even possibility of stated by Jung “integration of the shadow.” He maintains that the idea of the synthesis of good and evil within man contradicts intuitions present in many myths which mention the necessity of descending into hell and making atonement for one’s sins. Upon discovering that “visionary metaphysics” of Jung lead him astray, the author rejected Jung as a Master and even names him “the false prophet”.
Karol Tarnowski, a philosopher and professor of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, in a conversation with Krzysztof Mech talks about his encounter with the Martin Heidegger’s thought. As we read, “the starting point was not fascination but most blatant approval of proposition for a title of PhD thesis.” Fascination was born later, after reading works Being and Time. What drove a wedge between Tarnowski and his Master was an essential diagnosis of Heidegger which he called “throwing into being.” Tarnowski disagrees with the statement that a move away from being (an attitude of being-towards-death) is something original and he himself as original points out “a way-towards-being.” Tarnowski regards a concept of being the greatest and hopeless even entanglement of Heidegger. He calls it empty and useless. Issues which disappointed Tarnowski most are “a way rather to the indeterminateness than Infinity (…) exclusion of ethical dimension, which is connected with desertion of interpersonal relations where an ethical element plays a crucial role.” The thought of Heidegger, according to the professor, “appears to be conclusively frustrating and to a certain extent dangerous.”
Paweł Taranczewski, a painter and philosopher (the author of Porzuceni mistrzowie / Abandoned masters) gives a thorough and engaging description about his abandoned masters. He enumerates them by the field in which they were his leaders. So among the philosophy masters we can find: Stefan Świeżawski, Władysław Stróżewski, Roman Ingarden, Danuta Gierulanka i Józef Tischner. The master of writing was for Taranczewski Jan Błoński, the master of religious matters – John Paul II. He is still loyal to both of them. He had many painting masters among whom were the greatest: “Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, impressionists; and Georges Seurat and Cézanne; Wacław Taranczewski; Jerzy Nowosielski; Władysław Strzemiński, and through him also Kazimierz Malewicz; Wassily Kandinsky; Piet Mondrian.” The reasons for abandoning particular masters were different, respectively how different are the relations between the pupil and each one of the masters. “I abandoned my father [Wacław Taranczewski – author’s A.S.] to fulfil in this way his wish for me to become an independent artist responsible for his own painting,” admits the author. Whereas, he writes about Jerzy Nowosielski that “he was for me a master fulfilling completely the painting consciousness and only he was rejected as the painting master decisively, radically and once for all.” Taranczewski mentions also the fact that with time he comes back to the abandoned masters but he looks at them in a different manner. He maintains that the ideal of being a pupil to him, following the chosen Master – what is important for some time – is above all preserving within oneself desire for the truth. The author in his search tried to be guided by the rule: Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas, to be able to say always “Thinking together – I think myself.”
Besides the main topic, worth mentioning is also a section dedicated to the Polish military and humanitarian mission in Afghanistan. Here most interesting seems to be a discussion about Afghanistan and the Polish case and the witness-report from “there”, entitled To nie jest dobre miejsce do życia, ale dobre do nauki (This is not a good place to live but the best to learn) by Janina Ochojska-Okońska.
In the column Year 1984 we find a text which in a way corresponds to the main topic. The authors thank Ryszard Kapuściński for “a lesson of life, key to the code, faith in humanity, example of journalist reliability and responsibility for words.” We may observe here what finding Master really looks like.
The theme of search and abandonment of Master was taken up as if despite our reality in which once in a while, as a result of the vetting, ‘the truth’ comes to light about another important Church, culture or art personas. When we stand disorientated in the face of new discoveries and see how easily they debunk our authorities, we feel that the conscious act of abandoning Master is momentarily a luxury for us. That is why ‘authority’ is in vogue. We rush to find everybody who can offer us any values even though we do not understand them completely, and we do not respect the values they propose. Unfortunately, as a result of such vogue choices it is not pupils who develop but rather Master’s teaching that devaluates. We can then read that the greatest authority of the “Bravo” readers is John Paul II.
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Agnieszka Sieńkowska
Translated by Barbara van Dommelen
Discussed journals: Znak