Going Deeper

It was literature, theatre, and film above all that kept asking for more depth. And demanding it. 
But what does that mean in practice? 

For starters, it has little to nothing to do with playing things down. 
That’s more of a craftsman’s move, a reduction. 
No, depth speaks to the thoughts and reflections that come before the author or the director begins the creative work. 

The scribbler tries — with sweat, tears, and cigarettes — to tell a story with complex characters inside a thoughtful plot. 
And the great ambition of creative people is still that the audience be moved. 
The content of the story should provoke thinking, provoke reflection. 

That way a story sticks longer and may even bring about change in how we think and behave.

How deep should one sink? 

In philosophy and ethics, you can’t go deep enough. 
After all, life is rarely visible and tangible only on the surface. 
The deeper part is more personal and often more far-reaching than expected — or wished for. 

There, deeper layers of the thinking process become an advantage not to be underestimated. 
Because thinking moves in many directions. 

First, back into the past — that is, into the history of humankind. 
That gives us insight into the events and behaviour of the human animals. 

Only then do we head over to the forensics lab to draw a few lessons from the past. 
After all, we’d all like to see a future that is as fulfilling and joyful as possible. 

So much for the view from hippie philosophy.

So if our thoughts go down into the depths, how do they find their way back up to the surface? 

Well, that is easy. 
Up on the upper face, the view is usually lighter on its feet, simpler, and easier on the nerves. 
And that, on its own, makes you happy for a moment. 

But the surface keeps changing — often drastically. 
That is when the deep-shifters are needed again. 
The philosophers, the futurists, the humanists who might just spot a few signs of hope.

And once again, art comes to the rescue in the chaos of world politics. 

I think of great writers like Leo Tolstoy with “War and Peace,” or George Orwell, who with “1984” wrote a handbook for the fascists of our time. 

Not to forget the creative makers like Vincent van Gogh or Frida Kahlo, who could pour their emotional depth and their personal struggles with life and with the world into their art. 

Deep thinkers like Plato or Nietzsche managed to smuggle a few earth-shaking influences into ethics, into society, and into human existence in general. 

Then there are the scientists, who shift down another gear still — never satisfied with the surface. 
Every answered question is replaced by the next.

There is probably one place in society where depth in conversation is less welcome: the parties. 
There it is more about the surface — and about the next course in the dinner lineup.

Right, now I’ll go deal briefly with the low-flyers and the low-ballers. 
Then there will be room again for the deep ones of this world.