Why do we chase the past only to be disappointed?
Goethe's Faust has the answer
If a person reads Goethe’s Faust and study exactly what was being said, they will come to realize something profound. As humans, we romanticize and chase the past looking for something better, only to become disappointed with the results.
FAUST’S FIXATION WITH THE PAST
A large portion of Goethe’s book Faust part 2 takes consists of Faust looking for a romantic relationship with Helena of Troy, from ancient Greek legend. Faust had a romantic ideal of the past and did not enjoy his life in the present. He made a deal with the devil, Mephistopheles, to use the devil’s magic to strive for a better life and be content.
Helena is considered to embody the ancient ideal of feminine beauty. He wants to suit her and have a romantic relationship with her. As this part of the story progresses, Helena realizes that something isn’t right with Faust, and she must leave him and go back to her own time.
Faust is left upset and realizing that one is in the past, stays in the past, and nothing changes this. He realized that he only has what is here now in the present and no amount of magic or wishing will bring the past back.
This exposes the problem of Romanticism, which is having a romantic view of the past that we no longer live in.
LEARNING TO ACCEPT OUR REALITY
While probably everyone idealizes some aspect of the past, we do not live in the past. As the saying goes, “time stands still for no one.” That’s why I choose to focus on the present and build the type of future that I want for myself and my child. While we can learn from and glean valuable insight from the past, endlessly pursuing a bygone era only leaves us disappointed that we cannot have that idealized past no matter what we do.
ROMANTICISM IS ESCAPISM
Dealing with modern world, nihilism (the lack of meaning in life), and technological advances are all forces and movements that people respond to by looking back to the past. Romanticism and idealizing the past acts like an escapism from the modern world. I avoid being judgmental here, because I also fall prey to this mindset at times.
A SOLUTION TO ROMANTICISM
Instead of focusing on and having a romantic view of the past, you could just learn to accept reality for all its positive and negative attributes. The denial of reality, as German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche discussed in the past, as anti-life. It’s abandoning our one and only life for some ideal time generations ago, which never really existed anyways.
Instead, we could be creative in our own lives and create the present and future that we prefer and would want to live in.
We would probably be less disappointed and let down as well.
References
Helen of Troy | Legend, Family, & Worship | Britannica
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von (2001). Faust. (Originally published, 1808). Translated by Walter Arndt and edited by Cyrus Hamlin. W. W. Norton & Company; Second edition.