Author: Roman Krznaric

Can you seize the day in 20 seconds?

It’s short. It’s snappy. It’s the new trailer for my forthcoming book Carpe Diem Regained. Please take 20 seconds of your day to check it out (and if you can share it on social media I’d be hugely grateful).

If you have another 20 seconds up your sleeve and would like a more contemplative route to seizing the day, treat yourself to this pithy poem I recently came across by Emily Dickinson (whose naughty brother Austin makes a guest appearance in my book):

A Death blow is a Life blow to Some
Who till they died, did not alive become —
Who had they lived, had died but when
They died, Vitality begun.

This poem is usually interpreted as a spiritual statement about the richness of life after death. But I wonder if it isn’t just as much a carpe diem poem, saying that we cannot truly live until we face the reality of our mortality and have the taste of death upon our lips.

What do you think? What meanings does it evoke for you?

 

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‘Tis the Season to Carpe the Diem

cdr13

At long last my forthcoming book, Carpe Diem Regained, has itself a cover. I love it. The dancer on the bull seems to me to embody so much of what carpe diem is all about: a vibrant seizing of the moment that is at the same time both defiant and beautiful. She is a modern embodiment of the medieval carnival tradition that calls on us to let loose and take the opportunities that life offers.

As you may know, the book has been crowdfunded through the award-winning crowdfunding publisher Unbound (their latest bestseller is the fantastic The Good Immigrant). There is still time to join the current 450 subscribers to the book before publication early next year. So if you are looking for an unusual Christmas present for family or friends (or even for yourself), check out some of the different pledge levels on offer here.

Amongst them you will find:

  • Carpe Diem Workshop: an exclusive two-hour workshop on how to unleash carpe diem in your life, to be held in London in March (plus a copy of the book, of course).
  • Launch Party Invitation: two tickets to the launch, plus the book. The author will personally fill up your glasses with bubbly.
  • Carpe Diem Body Tattoo: yes, get your lover or favourite aunt a specially designed (temporary) tattoo for those bold moments in life.
  • Now Get The T-Shirt: limited edition t-shirt printed with the five secrets for carpe diem living.
  • A Lovely Collectable Book: just like subscribers to books in the 18th century, get a copy of the book with your (or someone else’s) name printed in the back.

I hope some of these sound enticing. Seasons Greetings to you all.

Roman

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What is the Greatest Carpe Diem Poem of Them All? Try The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

rubaiyat-by-dulac

Hello to you all. I hope you managed to seize plenty of days over the summer. For my part, I’ve been seizing a new title for my forthcoming book. After much debate and soul-searching, it will now be called Carpe Diem Regained: The Vanishing Art of Seizing the Day, rather than the original title used for the crowdfunding campaign, Carpe Diem Reclaimed: The Story of a Cultural Hijack. Fingers crossed that you like the new title. I certainly do – more poetic in my view, and closer to the real message of the book.

Speaking of poetry, I’ve decided to add a sneaky little appendix that contains not only top films and songs on the theme of carpe diem, but a selection of the greatest poetry too. Just to give you a sneak preview, one of them is that almost-forgotten classic, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam.

For those who don’t know it, the Rubáiyát is a long poem by the eccentric English scholar Edward FitzGerald, based on his loose translation of verses by the eleventh-century Persian poet and mathematician ʽUmar Khayyām.

The initial publication of the Rubáiyát in 1859 – the same year as Darwin’s On The Origin of Species – went completely unnoticed: it didn’t sell a single copy in its first two years. But by chance a remaindered copy of FitzGerald’s twenty-page booklet was picked up for a penny by the Celtic scholar Whitley Stokes, who passed it on to Dante Gabriel Rosetti, who subsequently fell in love with it and sang its praises to his Pre-Raphaelite circle. In 1863 John Ruskin declared, ‘I never did – till this day – read anything so glorious’, and from there began a cult of Omar Khayyam that lasted at least until World War One, by which time there were 447 editions of Fitzgerald’s translation in circulation.

The poem was memorised, quoted and worshipped by a whole generation. Omár Khayyam dining clubs sprang up, and you could even buy Omar tooth powder and playing cards. During the war, dead soldiers were found in the trenches with battered copies in their pockets.

What was the attraction of the Rubáiyát? The answer lies in some of its most famous verses:

 

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,

Before we too into the Dust descend;

Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie

Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, – and sans End!

 

Then to the lip of this poor earthen Urn

I lean’d, the Secret of my Life to learn:

And Lip to Lip it murmur’d – “While you live

Drink! – for, once dead, you never shall return.”

 

Oh, threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!

One thing at least is certain – This Life flies;

One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;

The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.

 

The carpe diem calling of the Rubáiyát was unmistakable. It’s no wonder that the writer G. K. Chesterton declared the poem to be the bible of the ‘carpe diem religion’.

The Rubáiyát may or may not do it for you. So I’m intrigued to know of your own favourite poem or poems that evoke the spirit of seizing the day. Please tell me about them in the comments section below – I’d love to hear from you.

I would also appreciate another favour. Many people think that once a book from the crowd-funding publisher Unbound reaches 100% (as mine has) then you can no longer pledge support to it. Wrong! It is still possible to make a pledge and get your name printed in the back. So please do sign up if you’d like a copy, and it would be great if you could share the link with a few family and friends, and encourage them to join the merry band of 450 supporters: https://unbound.com/books/carpe-diem-reclaimed

Thanks and best wishes

Roman

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From the Cutting Room Floor: Zorba the Greek

After three years of blood, sweat and tears, the manuscript of my crowdfunded book Carpe Diem Reclaimed is now under the fine scalpel of my editors at Unbound. I remain sitting in my study, surrounded by the detritus that accompanies a near-finished book project: piles of notes, books read and unread, newspaper clippings, obscure scholarly articles, and multiple chapter drafts covered with corrections.

Amidst all the debris is the text that never made it into the final manuscript – aborted chapter openings, irrelevant paragraphs written in flights of fancy, and whole sections that couldn’t stand up to the critics. I like to keep everything from the cutting room floor as mementos of my peripatetic authorial wanderings. In case you are curious about what can be found there, here is one of the rejected paragraphs, about one of my great literary heroes, Zorba the Greek.

If there is one figure who represents the essence of an experiential approach to living, it is Alexis Zorba, the boisterous, larger-than-life character from Nikos Kazantzakis’s 1946 novel Zorba the Greek. Zorba is the ultimate carpe diem junkie. He exudes exuberance. He throws himself into life. He’s impulsive. He laughs and cries, he dances and plays the santuri (a kind of dulcimer) with passion and longing deep into the night. His sexual appetite is unquenchable, he revels in friendship, and immerses himself in hard work and helping others. On his deathbed he exclaims, ‘I have no regrets…I’ve done heaps and heaps of things in my life, but I still did not do enough. Men like me ought to live a thousand years. Good night!’ By contrast, the other main character in the novel, a young intellectual (who is the unnamed narrator), lives a kind of shadow existence. Timid and bookish, he seems almost afraid of living. Zorba attempts to inspire him – to teach him – to grasp life, to seize the day. ‘I’m free,’ he insists at the end of the novel. ‘No, you’re not free,’ replies Zorba. ‘The string you’re tied to is perhaps longer than other people’s. That’s all…You come and go and think you’re free, but you never cut the string in two….You have to risk everything! But you’ve got such a strong head, it’ll always get the better of you.’ The young man protests but, in the end, has to admit to himself that Zorba is right.

Those of you who know the fabulous 1964 film version with Anthony Quinn and Alan Bates, will remember that in the final moments, the repressed book-lover manages to let go of his inhibitions and says to Zorba, ‘teach me to dance’, and they dance the sirtaki together on the beach. Here’s the clip, for your delectation.

It’s still possible to pledge support to Carpe Diem Reclaimed – you can sign up here for a lovely hardback edition with your name printed in the back, or other goodies such as attending an exclusive two-hour workshop, or even get yourself some (temporary) carpe diem body tattoos (you’d be joining actress Judi Dench, who just got ‘carpe diem’ tattooed on her wrist for her 81st birthday).

Have a great summer – and don’t forget to have yourself a dance on the beach.

Roman

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Empathy an an Age of Extremism

These feel like turbulent times. From mass shootings in the US to the rise of far-right parties and terrorist attacks in Europe, we seem to be entering a new age of extremism.

If there is any solution to this, I think empathy has to be part of it.

In this new five-minute video for Aeon Magazine, I argue that tackling extremism, and creating a more moral world, requires shifting our focus from empathy as an individual emotional response to empathy on the collective level.

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1001 Books is now open! And come and borrow a stranger too…

1001 Books 5

The Empathy Museum’s new pop-up library, A Thousand and One Books, is now up and running (and looking rather beautiful). It’s outside the NOW gallery, next to the O2 Arena in London. Come and visit! The show will be open until July 2.

As part of the festivities, we’re holding a Human Library event on June 25, where instead of borrowing a book you can borrow a stranger for conversation. Our ‘living books’ include an Iraqi refugee, a Holocaust survivor and a community organiser. Reserve a ticket here. There will also be storytelling and an empathy-based film on the day.

The show naturally includes our famous giant shoebox, A Mile In My Shoes, where you put on the shoes of a stranger and literally walk in them while listening to an audio narrative of them talking about their life. There are over 50 stories, including an Imam who is the UK’s first Muslim chaplin, a sex worker, and a Sikh taxi driver.

We’re still looking for books for the library, so if you would like to make a contribution of your favourite book to share with a stranger, you can do so here. Our collection already includes books donated by a huge range of people, from prisoners to Sir Ian McKellan. (Also, check out our newly-launched website for the project.)

With Britain about to vote on its place in Europe, and the enormous fear of immigrants that has been generated as part of the political debate, this is an important time to spread the message of the Empathy Museum – that if we want to build a democratic culture of peace and tolerance, we need to learn to see the world through the eyes of people who are different from us and hear their individual stories.

Best wishes

Roman

Founder, Empathy Museum

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1001 Books: Take part in the Empathy Museum’s new project!

1001 Books

Is there a book – one you absolutely love – that you would like to share with someone you’ve never met?

The internationally acclaimed Empathy Museum is asking 1001 people to donate a book to a unique pop-up library called A THOUSAND AND ONE BOOKS, which will appear at the London International Festival of Theatre in June, then tour in the UK and internationally.

To take part, you simply need to visit this website. You’ll be asked to give the name of your book, why you love it, and donate £10, which will be used to buy it from an independent bookshop.

Your book will then appear in the library with your dedication on the cover, where it can be read, borrowed, passed on or left on a park bench for a stranger. You’ll be able to track your book’s journey online as it travels the world, and find out who read it and what they thought of it.

I’ve just donated a book – Theodore Zeldin’s beautiful, witty and humane masterpiece, An Intimate History of Humanity.

I’d be so grateful if you would be a part of this project – we’d love to have your book in the library!

Roman Krznaric

Founder, The Empathy Museum

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The Secret to the Good Life: Live Every Day Twice

‘Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.’

This mind-bending maxim is courtesy of the Austrian existential psychotherapist and Auschwitz survivor Victor Frankl. He considered it to be one of the keys to living a meaningful life and confronting ‘life’s finiteness’. So what does it really mean, and what light does it shine on seizing the day?

One way of interpreting it, which I explore in my crowdfunded book Carpe Diem Reclaimed (now 93% funded!), appears in the 2013 film About Time, directed by Richard Curtis. What at first looks like a typical romantic comedy turns out to be an enlightening take on Frankl’s idea.

About Time concerns a young man, Tim, who on his 21st birthday is told by his father that, like all men in his family, he has an inherited ability to transport himself back in time to any date or place in his memory. After overcoming his disbelief, Tim first uses his new power – unsurprisingly – to get himself a girlfriend.

But the film becomes far more philosophically interesting towards the end (get ready for some spoilers). Tim’s father is dying of cancer and reveals to his son the secret to a happy life: live each day as normal, with all its tensions and worries, then go back and live it again, but this time making an effort to notice all the beautiful moments and small pleasures life has to offer.

Tim tries this himself, but then discovers an even richer philosophy which doesn’t require any time travel at all: ‘I just try to live every day as if I’ve deliberately come back to this one day, to enjoy it.’ Now that’s a profound idea and one we can all try out.

We see him putting it into practice – kissing his wife tenderly as she wakes in the morning rather than rushing out of bed; having fun with his kids while he makes them breakfast before school; and making an effort to look the cashier in the eye and smile when buying his lunch. Treat yourself to some of this in the wonderful final scene here.

The carpe diem message of About Time is about being in the moment, being attentive and present, noticing the sweetness of the world. As Richard Curtis said in an interview, the ‘movie is saying that we should relish every normal day and live it just for the day itself, not for what the day might achieve’.

I doubt Frankl would have agreed with this approach to life (he believed it was important to focus on future goals), but I think if he’d watched this film he still might have given it five stars.

Carpe Diem Reclaimed has reached 93% of its funding target. If you’ve been thinking of supporting the book but haven’t quite got around to it, now is the moment to seize the day and help push it over the finishing line!

Frankl Live Twice

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Steve Jobs Was Wrong: Don’t Live Each Day Like It’s Your Last

Steve Jobs 1

Live each day like it’s your last. It’s been the mantra of everyone from the Ancient Roman philosopher Seneca to the digital sage Steve Jobs. In my humble opinion, however, there are five fundamental reasons why it is one of the most misguided pieces of life advice to have emerged in Western history. You can find out more by reading a new article I’ve written over at YES magazine.

The article is based on my forthcoming crowdfunded book Carpe Diem Reclaimed.

A quick update on the campaign: it’s speeding along and is now almost 70% funded. Thanks to everyone who has supported it.

IF YOU’VE BEEN THINKING OF BACKING THE BOOK BUT HAVEN’T QUITE GOT ROUND TO IT, NOW’S THE TIME TO SEIZE THE DAY! 3 REASONS:

1.Join Philip Pullman. You’ll be one of more than 250 supporters with your name printed in the back, alongside great authors like Philip Pullman (who made the first pledge).

2.Unique rewards. Sure, you can get a beautiful book. But you can also pledge to be an Editorial Advisor, giving comments on the manuscript itself, or take part in an exclusive Carpe Diem Workshop (or give it to someone as a gift).

3.Save the world. Yes, I believe that carpe diem is a great untapped political force for our times, and a cure for the apathy that stands in the way of tackling wealth inequality, climate change and corruption.

And that’s just for starters…

My aim is to reach 100% by May 1. I’d be thrilled if you gave your support. All power to the crowd!

Pre-order Carpe Diem Regained
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What song makes you seize the day?

I’m crowdfunding my new book Carpe Diem Reclaimed with the lovely and rather funky publisher Unbound – in just two weeks it’s already reached 55% of the target, so big thanks to everyone who has backed it.

One of the best things about crowdfunding is the crowd bit: it’s not every day that an author gets to know a book’s readers before the book is even finished. And it’s a great source of ideas. Last week I posted the following message on Facebook and Twitter: Continue reading →

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