While Inferno was an unexpected place to find
independent confirmation of some of my ideas about games cult members play, I
was not at all surprised to find yet another example of the ‘falling for a
false image and going from worship to total disillusionment syndrome’ or to see
that Strindberg’s ‘friends’ usually turned into what he called false friends,
faithless friends, former friends and enemies!
Feuding occultists are nothing new either.
Part I ended with the start of what
Strindberg called a ‘paper war’, with Strindberg’s secret friend and benefactor
revealing his true intentions and threatening to call on occult powers to force
Strindberg to accept the theosophist Madame Blavatsky as his teacher.
So what did Strindberg do next?
Strindberg’s counter threat
Strindberg’s response to the threat shows
that the two men deserved each other! Like really does attract like.
Strindberg replied that he would call on
occult powers of his own if the secret friend tried to interfere with his
destiny! As a warning, he told his secret friend about what had happened ten years
earlier to a man who tried to influence him against his will. This man sounds
rather like the secret friend:
“This man...in spite of his display of sympathy, was not really my well-wisher. An absolute tyrant, he wanted to interfere with my destiny, to tame and subdue me, in order to show me his superiority.”
Same game, different player it seems. This
man received some severe, family-related blows; Strindberg suggests that he brought
this trouble on himself because he played with fire when he tried to interfere
in Strindberg’s life.
Out in the open
The secret friend showed his hand in his next
communication. I have highlighted the words that reveal his true motives:
“My theosophical friend, who has hitherto
furnished me with the means of livelihood, tries to enrol me in his sect. He
sends me one of Madame Blavatsky's occult treatises and ill conceals his
anxiety that I should pronounce a favourable verdict upon it. I also am
embarrassed, for I see that the continuance of our friendly relations will
depend upon my answer.”
Despite knowing what the consequences would be, Strindberg gave his honest opinion of Blavatsky and her works:
“Madame Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine is
plagiarised from all the so-called occult theories; it is a hash-up of all
ancient and modern scientific heresies. Her book is worthless as regards her
own presumptuous claims, interesting through its quotations from little-known
authors... although I know that my answer entails a breach in our friendship,
and the cessation of my means of support, I speak it out freely.”
Strindberg got that last bit right. That did
it! All hell broke loose.
The good angel becomes an evil demon
In the eyes of his secret friend, Strindberg had committed some unforgiveable
crimes: he had criticised the cult leader, questioned the value of her doctrines
and refused to join the cult. He
had made it clear that he had no need of Madame Blavatsky and her teachings.
This unleashed the Attack-dog Syndrome at its worst:
This unleashed the Attack-dog Syndrome at its worst:
“Then my faithful friend turns into a demon
of vengeance. He hurls an excommunication against me, threatens me with occult
powers, tries to intimidate me by vulgar accusations, and storms at me like a
heathenish sacrificial priest. Finally, he summons me before an occultist
tribunal, and swears to me that I shall never forget the 13th of November. My
situation is painful; I have lost a friend and am nearly destitute.”
Strindberg has still not realised that this
man was never his friend.
So he is destitute yet again? What a
surprise!
The end of the affair
The story ends with Strindberg’s account of
this final outpouring of fury, this volley of threats from his secret friend. This
was probably the last straw; it seems that he then broke off contact with his
benefactor.
So yet another relationship bites the dust!
There is more to come about this
episode in Strindberg’s life.
