The famous French thinker Auguste Comte encouraged us to take up “mental hygeine”. * Whenever he was preparing to undertake any serious intellectual work he would avoid any newspapers, or superficial social contact such as cafes. He believed in the importance of cleansing the mind of trivia. Well, I reckon that I am embarked upon few days of Comtean “mental hygeine”. Here I am with my wife in a small rented cottage in a village not far from the Northumbrian coast. Writing this blog will be my last contact with the outside world for several days.
A major reason for this is the fact that British politics at the moment is completely antithetical to any sane human existence. Frankly, it is doing my head in. I cannot stand any more of the incomprtence, self-interest, muddle headedness and ideological fantasising that surrounds the debate about the future of Britain’s relationship to the European Union. I have decided to take sdvantage of this brief holiday arranged by my wife, to celebrate twenty years of our marriage, in order to try and rescue the vestiges of my sanity.
I cannot tell you the relief I am experiencing. She, however, is making the most enormous personal sacrifice, as a total news junkie. In a truly generous fashion she has ss agreed to our taking a few days of retreat from “the world”. Consequently I will not be posting any more messages before Tuesday. I am absolutely sure that when I do so I will be both a happier and a saner man. Thanks, Auguste! That’s a great idea you had!
*Comte was the founder of “Positivist” philosophy and the person who coined the term “sociology”. He is largely forgotten today, although I gather that his name is still revered in Brasil. I would be interested to hear from my readers in that country as to whether this is true.