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Most of us are nuts. Polite people manage to roll the word “neurotics” around their tongues while pointing their finger at 99% of the human population. Neuroses (it derives from two Greek words neuron, nerve and osis, abnormal condition) are part of every human being. I am yet to encounter a normal one.
Obsessions are part and parcel of neuroses. Some people avoid walking on cracks in the pavement for fear of falling through and finding themselves in the sewer system in company of rodents that know nothing of such madness. They are too busy spreading germs all over the system. A lot of people are rats and do exactly the same. Except that, as they are humans, they are more acceptable but just as virulent.
I walk in any town or village with my eyes firmly on the pavement. Not in fear of cracks but of dog shit. It is a disgrace that in our town that is one of the most beautiful and admired city in Andalucía the residents, although extremely conscious about their pets’ well-being (we have more vets than doctors), can let their dogs foul the pavements, the children’s playgrounds and the public parks. Every pet shop and vet sells the “pooperscoopers” but an ordinary plastic bag will do just as well.
Obsessions are not new. In the dark ages the sufferers of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) were thought to be “possessed”. The Church, in its eternal compassion and care for its flock, took to torture and kill the poor normal, if slightly different, members of a trusting congregation. In the 17th century obsessions and compulsions were described as “religious melancholy”. The Church did not let go. In 1660 the Bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland describe the OCD symptoms as “searching for trouble when troubles are over or doubting when doubts are resolved”. Well Bish.. This is a very simple way to see life… Nothing in this century of ours is that easy.
Phobias
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Some people are phobic about touching anybody and will require immediate washing or wiping of hands. I must admit that I have met a few individuals I would have preferred to keep at bay instead of shaking paws with. Shakespeare (or one of his pretty boy pupils) might have started the ball rolling on that one with the words in Macbeth:”Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood from my hand?” Or words to that effect. I can’t check. Somebody not quite as obsessed with books as we are borrowed the complete works, moved to Portugal never to be seen again. He and the works.
Of course, centuries later, another pain in the neck, Sigmund Freud, could not leave OCD alone and had to put his spoke in the wheel. He wrote at length an airtight masterpiece of evasion on the subject that is totally incomprehensible even to the Stanford School of Medicine in the States. True to our Siggy, he had to mix a heavy dose of sex, frustration, anxiety, preoccupation with dirt, germs and deep moral questions. Obsessions that most of us freely admit to having these days. At least – to ourselves.
According to another boff of our time, Dr. Boeree, (he and Freud could have been clinging together like a pair of socks out of the drier), OCD can involve anxiety, sadness or depression, anger, irritability, mental confusion, impulsive and compulsive acts, disturbing thoughts, negativity and cynicism etc…
That describes me to the proverbial T. As well as most of the people I know who are riding the same wave.
Picture This
This article came about when an item of news scratched one of my obsessions: waste of money. Sotheby’s of New-York hit the jackpot last week when a Picasso picture was sold to an anonymous buyer for 52,000,000 Pounds Sterling.
One of the Spanish local newspapers printed a colour picture of this so-called work of art. It is called “Dora Maar with cat”. She was one of his many mistresses and apparently they had a hell of a tumultuous relationship. No wonder. On the picture she has two eyes but each one on different faces. Her hands look like those of a laboratory skeleton. Her boobs are sitting on her knees. I was searching for the cat and Chris spotted it on the back of the chair. Very small but well drawn and looking real. Picasso certainly had an obsession about making women look ugly but then he must have made a pact with animals. Animals do not stand for nonsense.
Think of what could be done with fifty two millions pounds! A hospital in one of those countries that desesperately need it, with a trust to keep it going? A few schools where there aren’t any, a shower of free school books to needy establishments around the world like the Country and Western singer Dolly Parton is doing every year, technical colleges in the heart of stricken Africa so locals would be technically self- relying.
And so on. What kind of obsession does the buyer of this painting suffer from?
There are treatments for advanced cases of OCD. But as the Stanford School of Medicine points out it requires the full cooperation of the patient;” it may be that some patients are not sufficiently advanced in intelligence and self-control to benefit from the treatment”.
The new owner of “Dora Maar and a cat” seems to fall into that category. Poor rich man.
I suffer badly from OCD. One of my obsessions is to find good produces to cook tasty and healthy meals. Difficult these days. At the Sierra de Yeguas Asparagus fair a few weeks ago there was a stand of ecologically grown vegetables and fruit. Normally I don’t touch those because of the excessive prices. Understandably this kind of culture requires more manual handling, but as a grower if you are that obsessed about being green then tighten your belt and drop your prices. Strong convictions require sacrifices.
Anyway I bought a carrier bag full of different veg and fruit. The artichokes were tough even after hours of cooking (not a very energy saving exercise), the beetroots lacked taste, the cucumbers were bitter, the pears never ripened and the leeks, I discovered too late, had bolted. Very disappointing.
The following day I shopped at our local supermarket (one of this huge chain of emporia). The strawberries were cheap and I picked up a punnet, turned it upside down. The bottom layer was rotten. It took the turning of a few punnets to find one that looked healthy in the bottom. Once home I discovered that it was the middle layer that was white with mildew. Anxiety and frustration set in and even the cats found refuge under sofas and armchairs. I had wasted money.
If you happen to buy good strawberries when they are really cheap, make a coulis to be used on ice-cream, pies, tarts or cakes. Wash the berries with the hulls still on. This is important. You don’t want water to get inside the fruit. Then hull them, cut them up if too big and put them in a liquidiser with a handful of sugar per 250gms, the juice of half a lemon, a turn of the pepper mill (yes) and a pinch of cinnamon. Whiz in a liquidiser until very smooth. You might want to pass it through a sieve to catch the stray seeds.
I don’t. I am not that obsessed. |
