Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the founder of psychoanalysis was born in Austria. He eventually fled to England. Freud has always been of considerable interest to me since much of my career I was a psychotherapist. I have a collection of many of his books translated into English before I was born. I do not subscribe to all of his concepts but acknowledge the foundation he created for much of what therapists do in the present day. Freud regarded God as an illusion based on the infantile emotional need for a powerful father/family.
C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) was born in Ireland and was writer and a professor at Cambridge. He is best known for his work The Chronicles of Narnia. He was an Atheist who one day had a revelation and converted to Christianity at age 33. He wrote much about his Christian beliefs in such books as Mere Christianity and the Four Loves. His books have sold millions of copies and continue to be read and loved to this day.
Playwright, Mark Germain wondered what a conversation between these two men would have been like. He speculates that the clash between the two would be classic. Apparently they never actually met but after Mark’s exhaustive research he speculated on the nature of interactions during a meeting between the two men. He transformed his speculations into a remarkable stage play which I was treated to for my recent birthday.
Of course, as one would expect, the primary subject on the play starring Mark Dold as Lewis and Martin Rayner as Freud, was Christianity versus Atheism. This led to a wide ranging spirited discussion between the two that embraced many related areas. The list of subjects that I gleaned from the 90 minute play included myths, suicide, war and its horror, politics, music, anti-Semitism, fear, trauma, facing pain and death, father’s love for daughter, homosexuality, sexual energy, the psychoanalyst’s couch and its role, humor and its role and intellectualism as an avoidance of emotion. I’m sure this isn’t an exhaustive list but hits the main topics.
Sitting in the first row of the New Worlds Stages on 50th Street in Manhattan, we felt as if we were actually sitting in Freud’s office during an intimate, revealing and spirited discussion. One might expect that it could be dull but a combination of the script and the acting brought it alive and made it riveting. Freud was dying of mouth cancer at age 83 brought on by years of cigar smoking which he had not given up. Freud’s pain and his blood were graphic and Lewis, 41 at the time, attended to him with caring.
It is not clear who won the debate regarding Christianity and Atheism. Neither convinced the other but it seemed as if they had respect for each other’s position at the end. I am reminded of an old Blood Sweat and Tears lyric: “I swear there ain’t no heaven and pray there ain’t no hell.”
A short time after their meeting, Freud took his own life with morphine provided by his doctor. C.S. Lewis went on to write his well known books. In spite of his popularity, his death on November 22, 1963 did not receive much attention. It was the same day that John F. Kennedy was killed.
Freud’s Last Session was slated to run 15 sessions. Due to its popularity it has now been performed more than 500 times and still going. Woody Allen had a session with Freud and of course one who really might need it, Alec Baldwin.
Stan the Man
