H. Adler - Panorama

Frau Director had not wanted to discuss any of this, Irwin having only interrupted her so rudely, she wanting to say instead that the conversation with guests at the table is vital, Eckermann having become world-famous as a result of his dinner conversations with Goethe, while without them the poet Eckermann would have ended up a complete unknown, and Irwin should make note of that, he always has such scorn for poets. Irwin states that he has nothing against Goethe, and that what Eckermann recorded weren’t dinner conversations but simply discussions between them. Frau Director says, conversations or discussions, what’s the difference, while even more important than poets are philosophers, though philosophy is only for a small circle of well-read intellectuals who examine the inner meaning of life. Frau Director orders Anton to skip over to the bedroom and bring her the copy of Ethics , he knows what she means, the Spinoza bound in leather, she wants to read aloud a fantastic sentence from this most modest of philosophers, because although she can recall a few of the words from memory, she doesn’t want to make a mistake, so once Anton arrives with the leather volume Frau Director opens to a page designated by a silk bookmark and reads, “Awe involves the perception of an object in which the spirit remains captive because this particular perception has no connection with anything else.” That is a brilliant sentence, she always says, for man should always admire something, otherwise he will become too pedestrian, and that could happen to Irwin, because he’s too materialistic, though if Spinoza had been familiar with psychoanalysis he would never have written this sentence, which is clear, although still a bit romantic, for the spirit should not remain captive, that is a religious prejudice which in light of our current understanding must be set aside. Such captivation involves a complex, and Frau Director loves most to talk about an awe complex, which one has to solve or at a minimum sublimate in a good manner. One only needs to listen to the sound of the word “sublime,” a lovely word, not without a poetic tinge, in much the same way that there’s something poetic about psychoanalysis, for along with philosophy it is the genuine poetry of the future, because abstraction is what triumphs in art, namely that which is completely removed from life, as Professor Bäumel had explained in his course, which would have been a real help to Irwin, if only he wouldn’t run away from life’s great puzzles, for in the dream that we are always caught up in, awe plays a vital role, as it’s a type of love, an enthusiasm for the beautiful and the good. When Lutz is bigger he should consider that beauty is not sensual, because if you understand Spinoza you realize that no microscope will unlock the great puzzles of the world that men can only stand awestruck before. The true artist of our time is really the doctor, that will become even more clear as time goes on, though today people don’t realize it entirely, but eventually crude medicine will disappear, with the exception of treating wounds, broken bones, bad teeth, or bad eyesight, it doing more harm than good when they inject the body with innumerable shots of poison in trying to heal what actually cannot be healed, while one day all of man’s ills, with the exception of accidents, will be treated by healing the soul. People will become aware, then awe will no longer remain a captive perception, as one only needs to understand that one can in this way also solve and master the solution to the social question, because also within a nation it all comes down to the condition of awe, there no longer being anything that is imagined, as the imagination is also a kind of illusion, and within there is still something of romanticism, but instead pure awe will arise, and then even awe will pass, though only later will that happen, the right conditions needing to be fulfilled first, for awe is a kind of amazement. The sage, however, is not amazed, since he knows either everything or nothing, and in the same way awe is still a fixation of the libido, a kind of avarice, which is also the end of ethics, while after awe comes fulfillment. Irwin and Lutz should pay attention and not make such dumb faces, for if the boys don’t understand they should wait for the future, when they will see the light, while for now at least they should be respectful, though indeed what does Josef think of it all?

Everyone has gone silent, only Robert scraping his chair with his foot, Madame having admonished him now and then, the older boys hardly listening, the Director nodding now and again and beginning to pick his teeth, though Josef had tried to take it all in, but it became harder and harder, such that when Frau Director asks him for his opinion he feels shy and doesn’t want to say anything, though the boys unintentionally help him out, the meal now over as Lutz and Irwin ask whether they can be excused from the table. The mother gives them permission, and Josef wishes to be excused as well so that he can spend some more time with the boys, thus pleasing Lutz, which he shows openly as he stands by the door, Irwin glancing back at him as he waits, but Frau Director has other ideas and says that the boys have been rude, that they secretly laughed during the discussion of Spinoza and thought their mother stupid, wanting to embarrass her in front of Josef, instead of showing her how proud they are of their mother, and for that they can head off alone, and they can talk with Madame when she puts Robert to bed, for it won’t hurt them to speak a little French if they don’t want to make total fools of themselves this summer in Brittany. After this Irwin and Lutz have to kiss their mother’s hand, while she kisses them on the forehead and says tenderly that they are her darlings and they just need to be sensible, they are going to like Josef, and she’s happy that they both like him, though she doesn’t want it to be just a flash in the pan. Then the boys say good night to their father, who stretches out his hand to them and tells them not to fight or stay up too late, and that Irwin should be so kind as to get up on time tomorrow morning, so that they don’t all go through the same song and dance again. Then they both say good night to Josef, who promises to often spend evenings with them, this is not the only night he will stay over at the house, and they can also meet him in the garden in the morning in order to go for a run. Robert’s departure follows on the heels of Irwin and Lutz leaving, the child fussing, since he’s overtired and screams, though Madame understands and says, “ Vite, vite, mon enfant, je te raconterai encore un conte très très réjouissant, ” as Robert finally leaves after several hugs from his parents.

Frau Director is not completely happy with Josef, for as a supposed philosopher he had not supported her interpretation of Spinoza’s view, or perhaps he was unfamiliar with it, which Josef had to agree with, he didn’t know it at all, and above all she was not his contemporary and it wouldn’t be right to debate her. At this Frau Director explains firmly and yet forgivingly that the Ethics is as elementary to philosophy as one plus one, and if she were a university professor she would make students learn the entire text by heart, for in doing so, even though Spinoza can seem somewhat out of date, one gains through him an ethical foundation upon which the modern understanding of the soul rests, much like a young seedling on an old vine, pardon me, I mean stump. Frau Director pauses for a moment and sighs that unfortunately it’s impossible for her always to attain the highest level of thought when one has to simultaneously muck about in the raw reality of the everyday world, the noble being like a fragrance that floats away, shallowness triumphing amid one’s daily cares, and with a sidelong glance at the Director she adds that one can indeed see how her husband sits by above it all, which only makes her want to stir him up a bit. Josef looks at him and asks himself against his will whether the Director doesn’t indeed look more like an ape than a man, but meanwhile Frau Director jumps in and asks her husband if things are bad with the market, mainly because he’s making such a sour face. He says it’s really not so bad, though tomorrow the market will be somewhat soft, but it will soon pick up, a lot of numbers look good and are holding strong. Frau Director says that’s so nice, my dear, you only need a boom and everything for you will be as it was for the snake before the fall of man. Such talk makes the Director nervous, though she pays no attention and says to Josef that he should appreciate what a melancholy man her husband is, it all stemming from a bit of depression, which is completely treatable, though he resists the help of his neuropsychologist and runs from the room if I ask Dr. Brendel to join us at the table. It would be quite easy to take care of it all, but if you do nothing then everything, of course, remains hopeless. She pays no attention to how her husband stares at her beseechingly and implores her to stop, Josef cannot possibly be interested in all this, and it will only embarrass him. Her husband’s pleading words only prod her on as she declares that his stubbornness is horrible, my goodness, I only mean well, and until recently there had always been unity in the family, which indeed there still is, for in regard to all basic questions they had never had a major disagreement, the Director is simply too easily excited and then soon sad, Dr. Brendel calling it a cycle that remains continual, the basis for it being the strain of his work, there not being a moment’s peace, which causes the nerves to suffer, and which unfortunately the children also note, even though there is a cure in place for it.