If there is one message to be taken from
Inferno, it is a warning against habitually dealing with people and getting through life by using
occult as opposed to natural methods. This article has something to say
about the two ways of operating.
It is not just a matter of ethics; the
backfiring feature and the long-term detrimental effects on the occult
practitioners and their lives are also very relevant.
As has been mentioned previously, Strindberg
regretted frivolously playing with hidden forces and warned people against
doing the same. He said:
“Above all things, beware of occultism, that
caricature of science.”
This article summarises some of the
consequences to Strindberg of playing with fire in this way.
Inner torment and outer disaster
Strindberg endured much inner distress during
his life. He also experienced many misfortunes and some major disasters. Not
all of this was inevitable; he brought some of it on himself by attracting
malign influences into his life.
While only a few of Strindberg’s long string
of misfortunes can be directly attributed to his attempt to make his little
girl ill by the use of black magic, many of the unpleasant things that happened
to, through and around him are likely to be directly or ultimately connected to
the abuse of occult powers on various occasions by him and some of the people
in his life. As for his inner state, while some of his suffering was innate his
occult practices made it much worse.
Classic textbook case of a lifestyle
Inferno describes a life that was constantly
in a state of chaos, crisis and confusion. Strindberg led a nomadic life,
moving on and running away from people and places and often leaving a mess
behind him. He was constantly falling out with people; he was often desperate
for money; he got into debt and borrowed money that was not always paid back.
These are all familiar features; they apply
to many other people, both real and fictional. I have encountered such people
myself. I take this type of disorderly lifestyle as a big warning signal.
Looking down and out
Inferno describes how Strindberg, an educated
man of great achievement, was on occasion treated with suspicion, contempt and
hostility. He sometimes looked like a tramp and was mistaken for a beggar.
People who treated him badly probably reacted
both to his frantic and dishevelled appearance and what they sensed was inside
of him.
Strindberg tells us what he saw in the mirror
after having recently called down curses on the heads of people he thought were
enemies who were plotting against him:
“I certainly look a pitiable object; my face
blackened by smoke from the engine, my cheeks fallen in, my hair grown grey, my
eyes staring wildly, and my linen dirty… There was an expression in my features
which alarmed me.”
His expression at times alarmed other people too!
His expression at times alarmed other people too!
Starving at the feast
People in Strindberg’s condition often
associate only with people in the same inner state, people who are surrounded
by the same bad energy. It is as if they are cordoned off, quarantined or
imprisoned along with others of their kind.
However, on one occasion Strindberg was
offered hospitality by people who are very different from his previously
described destitute ‘friends’ and companions:
“Here is a beautiful artistic home, ordered
domestic economy, married happiness, with charming children, cleanness and
comfort, boundless hospitality, charitable judgment, an atmosphere of beauty
and goodness which dazzles me—a paradise, in short, and I in the midst of it,
all like a lost soul.“
He couldn’t fit in. It was like looking at
Heaven while still living in Hell. He soon left as he felt that his sadness was
blighting the atmosphere and casting a shadow.
The final warning
There is enough remaining material of
interest in Inferno to inspire a few more articles, but as it is mostly more of
the same it is time to give Strindberg a rest - at least for now.
We end with some words from Inferno’s
epilogue in which he says that his life provides a good example of what not to
do:
"Such then is my life: a sign, an
example to serve for the improvement of others; a proverb, to show the
nothingness of fame and popularity; a proverb, to show young men how they
ought not to live; a proverb—because I who thought myself a prophet
am now revealed as a braggart."
August Strindberg:
