The Philosophy of Marcel Proust
Marcel Proust was a writer, author, and spiritual thinker in the early 20th century. His most famous work, In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu) is known for being the longest novel ever written -- and for its radical views on life.
Proust is really interesting to me because he started out in life just like anyone else of his day. He was brought up in rather violent surroundings, during the consolidation of the French Third Republic, but despite this, his parents being well-educated people provided him with the best opportunities to learn.
His father was a leading pathologist who studied cholera and helped many people learn about hygiene in order to keep the disease at bay. Inspired by this, Proust sought to help humanity with his novels.
The main concept he shared? Gratitude. Although his most famous connotation is the recovery of memory through stimulation of the unconscious -- referred to as a Proustian moment, his contribution to a somewhat Eastern outlook on life goes mostly unnoticed. Proust gave us more than just a madeleine moment, he showed us what life could be if only we were grateful.
Proust wants us to be grateful for our circumstances
“Desire makes everything blossom; possession makes everything wither and fade.”
Proust first and foremost wanted us to be grateful for our initial circumstances in life. He wanted us not to despair at how our life is but rather, feel appreciative for what we have.
Proust grew up in an upper-middle-class household and found as he got older, that being high up in society was shallow if one was looking for complete fulfillment. As he writes into his character in La Recherche du Temps, socializing and keeping up appearances will not bring everlasting happiness.
What he did find brings happiness, is not seeking to always escape our current circumstances in order to be somewhere else that is more perfect in the illusion that it would make us happier. Proust asks us to plant our feet on the ground where we are right now and find happiness anyway.
Proust knew that happiness was not found somewhere else, it is found within ourselves, through gratitude for our initial circumstances.
Proust calls us to love ourselves first
“Love is not vain because it is frustrated, but because it is fulfilled. The people we love turn to ashes when we posess them.”
The second important observation Proust makes is that gratitude for the self (or self love) is vitally important to one's sense of security. In the novel, the protagonist spends a lot of time chasing after a woman. The fluttering of the heart in love is all the protagonist wants to live for.
Proust illustrates that when we are looking for love, we are really looking for someone else to love us completely as we are. We are aiming to substitute loving ourselves, with the distraction of someone else's love. In the end, Proust helps us to see that no one else will 'complete' us.
We must complete ourselves through our own self-love -- which in its essence is being grateful for ourselves. We must accept ourselves completely as we are. This way, when we do share our lives with someone else, we are able to enjoy the other's company and companionship. As Proust puts it they won’t “turn to ash” because we won’t try to possess them to mend our own inadequacies.
Proust invites us to be grateful for the present moment
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes. ”
The final important observation about life Proust makes is that life can be enjoyed to the fullest if we are grateful for each moment as it is. Proust saw those around him in high society becoming depressed and consumed by their melancholy, simply because they were always searching for more. The aristocrats would never be satisfied with what they had, or the circumstances in which they were in, because of their detachment from the present moment.
Proust saw that children, who are innately grateful for everything, were always happy with whatever they had, whether it was deemed significant or not. Children also see the world with a different perspective than adults. Proust coined the term “seeing with new eyes” to describe how an innocent child sees the world.
He deduced that if more people saw the world with new eyes, they would not feel the need to travel to every part of the Earth, seek new romantic partnerships, or strive after more money. In a very Eastern way, Proust encourages us to change our perception.
By being present in the moment, as a child, we too can find joy and happiness. Gratitude for our present moment can revolutionise how we perceive the world, and make us happier because of it.
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I went down a rabbit hole to discover what we really need to be creative and how to balance it all.