UNEASY LIES THE HEAD THAT WEARS A CROWN... (Part 2)

Editorial Avenue : No. 11, 15th August 2024 

« To be or not to be, that is the question... »

When Hamlet first delivered what would become his most famous soliloquy, he addressed both the intangible (the Other which does not appear in his awareness) and the tangible (the Self of which he is aware). Nevertheless, from the moment Hamlet projects his own internal anxiety onto the Other, he reveals his own universal truth and invites the Other to move into his own psychic space and thereby to develop, establish, and identify with him. And this is also what we have done unconsciously over time, through both high culture and popular cultures of the 21st century. As soon as the soliloquy is presented, we inevitably interpret it as an introspective reflection on the theme of our own existence. To live or to die? There are only two ways to represent it. Either we take on our own somnambulistic nature, integrating the question in a weary manner without paying too much attention, or we bring our conscious nature to it, which inevitably brings forth the universal anxiety of the end of our own life. This strange tendency is representative of the nature of humanism. Indeed, human beings build their humanity through the place they give to the Other in their lives. We are referring here to the mirror that the Other represents (the Other recognises me and gives me the possibility to exist in their thought, thus I AM) and to the internalisation of the other within oneself through human relationships (the other interacts with my Self as an existent being, thus I AM). What we have thus done unconsciously through Hamlet's soliloquy is to attempt to see a resemblance to our own lives. But was Hamlet's anxiety the same as yours? Hamlet wears a usurped crown acquired through the capital sin of murder. Troubled is the crown that lies on his mind. Why should your minds also be troubled to the point of developing existential anxiety? The mistake made by several generations is identifying with the status of the Other rather than structuring oneself through the presence of the Other. It is the same when understanding our relationship with this intangible but omnipresent audience that is God. Do not imagine wearing the same crown and thus the same status, as it would be merely an insurmountable burden for your shoulders and an usurpation of identity and energy which will only cause imbalance and suffering.

Instead, let us get accustomed to the presence of the triad emanating from God in our lives, which would be hierarchised as follows: human nature, divine nature, Nature. The three natures each bear universal archaic symbols that have existed since the beginning of Everything. Human nature is the body, the temple, the receptacle through which humanism or the energies of good, well-being, and the sacred can be represented on Earth. Divine nature is the consecration of this energy, and Nature is of the order of the supreme energy, which is grace. It is in grace that you will easily assimilate the elements of love, light, and mercy. It is in grace that you will live the lives you have secretly dreamed of. It is in grace that you will erase pain and sorrow, and it is in grace that you will build a world filled with the true nature of humanism. For now, this utopian vision of the future that we wish for you all exists only through the soliloquy we have presented to you today. And just like Hamlet, we hope you will be drawn to this Nature that constantly calls to you and desires your return to the fold, your true fold, this paradise where your light will render any attempt to manifest your shadow obsolete. However, as the boundaries between high culture and popular culture blur, the hypermodern adolescent is a perfect example of the difficulties we face regarding the representation of Nature in the imagination of our new generations. Identity is now constructed through the ability to mimic one's peers rather than through the ability to engage in symbolic interpersonal relationships and build oneself in the gaze of the other. We always lay ourselves bare, soliloquising for the Other, but with the difference being that the Other is just as somnambulistic as we are. The solution to the problem we enumerate returns to the same observation made at the beginning. We identify with an illusion and give it all the place in our lives (the usurped crown). But beyond the illusion lies immutably the presence or the true Nature of what we mimic.

Take a moment to identify with the presence of Hamlet in your life rather than with an identification with his anxiety, his complex psychology, and the corruption of his actions. When you are not illusorily the status of someone, you stop seeing yourselves as invincible Kings and Queens that can decide and act without consequences on the civilisations you reign over. Desiring the Other is not a fault in itself, but desiring to be the Other or desiring to take for oneself what belongs to the existence of the Other certainly is. Therein lies the difference between choosing to bestow a status at the expense of others versus identifying with the presence of the Other and thus finding oneself transformed into love and light through the relationship created by Nature.

We can therefore only reiterate:

« Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. »

William Shakespeare, 'Henri IV, Act 3, Scene 1'

Hamlet probes through existentialism

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