Thinking Activity: The Waste Land

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This particular blog is designed in order to convey the personal views on the given question. This task was assigned as part of Thinking Activity on The Waste Land by Dr. Dilip Barad Sir. To visit blog on task please Click Here

1) What are your views on the following image after reading 'The Waste Land'? Do you think that Eliot is regressive as compared to Nietzsche's views? or Has Eliot achieved the Universality of thought by recalling a mytho-historical answer to the contemporary malaise?

Eliot says about himself….

"I am Royalist in Politics,

An Anglo-Catholic in religion,

And Classicist in Literature."

By introducing himself as 'Classicist in literature' Eliot showed the influence of Ancient Greek and Roman Literature on himself. And by using Greek Mythology in The Waste Land he provides evidence also. So, Eliot tries to find the solutions of the current scenario by using Mythological and Historical reference. He looks backwards to answer the problems of present and future. 

"Tradition and Individual Talent" is one of the landmark essays by T.S. Eliot, in which he emphasized more on Tradition and Historical Sense. According to him Historical sense strengthens the present. Past references as an alternative can be used in present. In his own words…

"The Historical sense involves 

perception not only of the pastness of the 

past but also its presence."

So, After above discussion it can be said that Eliot seems to look back for the solution of present malaise. Here, looking back doesn't mean in a regressive sense but to understand the problem deeply we can take reference of past history and myths. Now let's have a look at Nietzsche's views to deal with the contemporary problems.

Friedrich Nietzsche gives the concept of 'Ubermensch' (Thus Spoke Zarathustra) meaning Superman, Overman, Uberman and Superhuman. What he means by that is that the solution of every contemporary problem is right here, it is in 'faith in self.'

There is no need to peep into the past to understand the present because the past is yesterday which is never going to come back again. And the present is everything through which we can make a better future. Nietzsche states that….

"Only from the highest power of the 

present can you interpret the past."

And for that he gave the idea of Unhistorical Awareness. So, here Nietzsche's seems opposite to Eliot. According to Nietzsche Historical sense is 'Enemy of Creativity', which snatches away the creative mind and creates a kind of wall because the Human mind cannot think beyond the Historical fact and events and cannot describe contemporary events with reference to the past. 

So, For Nietzsche being Unhistorical is the solution for every problem, which allows individuals to develop their creativity and Self-Faith is the only path to deal with the present obstacles. So, his views regarding life are forward looking and progressive.

Now, the question is who is progressive and who is regressive. If we throw some light on their approaches then of course Nietzsche is forward looking and Eliot is Backward looking because he relies more on History and Myths. But that doesn't decide whether one is progressive and one is regressive. To decide that we need to emphasize more on the effectiveness of that particular approach.

So, For me Eliot is not regressive in his ways of using Mytho-Historical answers for contemporary malaise. Let's understand why with the Example of 'The Waste Land' a great Modern Epic with its contemporaneity. Where Eliot uses the references from Upnishad, Buddhism, Christianity and Greek Mythology to resolve the modern mind questions. His way of looking at the linear line between past and present proves more effective to solve present issues. For that we can apply the theory of Collective Consciousness term introduced by Carl Jung, which suggests that Everything from beginning to present is stored in the unconscious mind but we are unaware about that. But Eliot by using the Historical event, Myths and past references describe the present situation very aptly and it also seems more effective as compared to using only Contemporary situations. And Eliot himself also says that…

"The Historical sense  is timeless and 

of the  temporal, and

 timeless and temporal together."

Although Eliot seeks solutions to the questions of the present in the past by looking backward, still  he is progressive in his approach because of the connecting thread between past and present. And to prove my point I would also like to take reference from Matthew Arnold's Essay Culture and Anarchy, where he said….

"Culture is the great help out of 

our present difficulties"

So, Here Culture according to Arnold is "The best which has been thought and said in the world." So, the ultimate aim of the culture(Past practices) is to take the man out from Contemporary problems.

And Nietzsche's idea of Ubermensch falling down at some extent because it leads towards Individualism, Anarchism and Nazism of Hitler.

In nutshell according to me Forward looking approach of Nietzsche fails at some level but when we see things with reference to past and present, we can find more effective solution for contemporary problem because by looking backward we can get the idea of what are the mistakes in past and now we take that into consideration while applying solution. And the Eliot's use of Mythology and History provides universality to his work.

2) What are your views regarding these comments? Is it true that giving free vent to the repressed 'primitive instinct' leads us to a happy and satisfied life? Or do you agree with Eliot's view that 'salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition'?

Before the answer of the above question it  becomes essential to Know the Freudian Theory of Psychoanalysis. To understand human behaviour Freud divides the human mind into three parts…

Freud describes the structure of the human mind as like Iceberg. As in Iceberg 10% of the part is visible in the same manner. What we know is only 10%, which comes under Conscious Mind. And the things about which we know, but we are aware about it at present are restored in our Subconscious mind. And our repressed feelings and emotions are downtrodden in our Unconscious Mind. They come out in our dreams and sometimes in our behaviour also, but our Conscious Mind overlaps over Unconscious Mind which doesn't allow it to come out.

Now Second important theory by Sigmund Freud is Theory of Personality, this also helps to interpret the above question. Theory of Personality by Freud had given three states of Human Personality: ID, EGO, SUPER EGO. According to Freud Human personality is very complex which can be understood through the above given three aspects: Id stands for our Primitive Instinct, desire or Wishes. This is the only aspect which is present from birth. Another Component is Ego, which develops later on, And Ego stands for Human behaviour with the real world. Third component is Super Ego which develops after the age of 5, helps to make distinction between what is Right and Wrong, what is Good and Evil. And all these distinctions are made through internalized morality.

For Freud when we maintain the balance between these three aspects it resulted in Healthy Personality. But when we failed to make balance it ended with Improper Personality.

Now, What are the Freud's view on Modern Man is….

"Modern Man is so confused because he fails to make balance between 

Individual and Community"

Now the question is why Modern man is so confused because he can't differentiate between how to behave individually and how to behave when we are in Community. These are two distinct things which we have to take in consideration that human behaviour changes with surroundings. And if it fails to make rhythm then at some point people feel uneasy and discomfort.

To some extent we can agree that by giving free vent to our repressed "Primitive Instincts' ' we can get Happy and Satisfied life. But the only exception is Not Every Time, Because our primitive instincts are not mature enough, To blindly follow our primitive instincts is a kind of Childish behaviour. As it is said above that human beings should maintain balance between Three Component Id, Ego and SuperEgo. So, When we only follow our Primitive Instincts without taking the advice of Ego and SuperEgo then it can result in Maladaptive Personality.

We can take example of Edgar Allan Poe's story The Tell-Tale Heart, in which a Narrator killed the Old Man because he dislike his Vulture-Eye, This is a  kind of Primitive Instinct which came in Narrator's mind that he hate Old Man's deformed Eye and that's why he killed him without thinking its Consequences in Real world and without taking into consideration Moral side, whether it is right or wrong. And after murder he never get satisfied life, but instead of that his constant guilt forced him to confess his crime and later life he spent in prison.

In nutshell, I do not agree with the above statement that "By giving free vent to our primitive instinct we can achieve a Happy and Satisfied life. Because we see the primitive instinct which came under Freud's component of ID and to fulfill desires of Id there is a need to think with reference to Ego and SuperEgo which helps to make our personality more Healthy.

Now another part of the question that 'salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition.' This is Eliot's view which makes more emphasis on Cultural Tradition. This is the kind of Conservatism of Eliot and his statement "I am classicist in literature" proved here. In His essay "Tradition and Individual Talent '' he introduced the term Historical Sense and showed the significance of Cultural tradition. But that doesn't mean that salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition. Of Course cultural traditions have their importance but staunchly being traditionalist is a kind of prejudicial and conservative behaviour. So, holding Traditional values doesn't allow man to be Free or Liberal.

"Nothing is forever except Change"

- Buddha

So, change in life is inevitable. With the developing time we have to change our tradition, values and the way of living time. Otherwise survival became harder. Update yourself before you became Outdated. We can also take examples of Covid 19 situations and Changing Strategies in Education. If we are not adaptive towards Online Education then there is no use of Knowledge.

So, I do not agree with Eliot's views that 'salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition' because change is required with the passing of time. And when the time arrives human communities are also ready to change their rituals and traditions.

3) Write about allusions to the Indian thoughts in 'The Waste Land'. (Where, How and Why are the Indian thoughts referred to?)

(Click here for the another blog on this question)

References

• Culture and Anarchy by Matthew Arnold
• Theory of Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
• Theory of Personality by Sigmund. Freud
• The Waste Land by T.S.Eliot
• Tradition and Individual Talent by T.S. Eliot