This is a book that is expected to have a long and interesting life – it will be used by both teaching staff and students, as well as anyone who has suffered at least once in their life, because Gatis Līdums is one of those outstanding specialists who can talk about a complex problem in a language that everyone can understand.
Philosopher, sociologist and publicist Vents Sīlis, describing the book, says: “Gatis Līdums has written a book about an integral part of human life – suffering. It is a part of which some would like to get rid of somehow, while others have learned to enjoy and even profit practically from suffering by adopting the identity of the “victim”.
The genre of the book is existential reflection in the form of a dialogue, whereas the intonation is ironic, in some places deservedly stinging in the direction of both religion and psychology. Namely, an existential stand-up comedy centered on Skalbe’s depressive cat, a herald of the Latvian victim complex and a symbol of lamentation.
The book is created as a philosophical dialogue between the above-mentioned epitome of the Latvian-cat way of life, a rabbi (Harold Kushner), a Christian psychologist (Larry Kreb) and a psychotherapist (the creator of the school of analytical psychology, KG Jung). It is a structure already established in ancient Greek philosophy, which is based on the questions of a supposedly foolish animal to three supposedly wise men. The author’s position could be described as a Nietzschean balancing act between the animal, the human and the divine, which opens up many good opportunities for joking.[..] So what is the moral of this story? Man is the measure of all things, including the measure of his own suffering, also the measure of his filthiness or divinity. When suffering comes, some lose themselves in it, while others burn up and are reborn. And all God has to do with it is that he can awaken the divine spark within us that leads to rebirth. But only if we ask him for it ourselves.”
This is a book that can be read in one breath – and then re-read again and again, each time finding a new nuance, following a previously missed insight or a reference to more or less known icons of philosophy, pop culture and psychoanalysis, enjoying the author’s erudition, humor feelings and deep humanity in the attitude towards everyone who suffers, has suffered or will suffer.