Aspire for and curate the great escape

Narayani Ganesh

How can you sleep so soundly when my business has crashed and i am worried sick, yelled a husband at his spouse, who was trying to ‘escape’ into oblivion. Apart from the fact that she needed to rest and get energised to function the next day both at her workplace and home, shutting out the world and going to sleep was an escapism she needed, to wriggle free of gloom.

Every one of us found some way or other to survive the pandemic-induced lockdowns, either by catching up on reading and writing, getting entertained by OTT channels, learning a new craft or skill, or simply renewing friendships, virtually. Escapism, yes, but it was necessary to help us tide over external world realities that were ‘killing’ us.

Watching the recently released film Dhurandhar with two of my older sisters–a film themed on gang warfare, terrorist killings, and conflicts – it was amusing to observe their diametrically opposite reactions. “Shut it, shut it,” pleaded the oldest, “why watch all this gore and violence? Don’t we have enough of these in our lives? Let’s watch a happy, romantic, Christmassy movie!” The other, glued to the screen, protested: “Hey, don’t change the channel, it is so gripping, these things really happened, you know!” While one sought to escape ‘reality’, the other wanted to experience it, vicariously.

What is meant by escapism? One explanation is that “escapism is mental diversion from unpleasant aspects of daily life. Escapism also may be used in relation to activities involving imagination or entertainment. Escapism may refer to things that one does to occupy oneselfto get away from persistent feelings of depression or general sadness.” You may wish to escape family pressures, a cloying relationship, workplace stress, a looming pandemic, imminent war, worldwide shortages of essential items – anything that disturbs you, in the ‘real’ world.

It follows, therefore, that in order to escape, one needs to suspend disbelief and enter the world of fantasy. Fall down into a rabbit hole as Alice in Wonderland did. Find an escape chute.

This brings us to more metaphysical questions, what is real and what is unreal? Is the reality we are seeking escape from, real? Is our mode of escapism, real? Are we running away from harsh truths instead of facing those challenges? Are we in hiding, avoiding anything distasteful?

When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes and asked whether he could doanything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied: “Only stand out of my light.” Idon’t suppose he meant it as a rude remark; he was merely stating a fact, also ametaphor for letting people experience their inner light that is sometimes obstructed by others, and often, by the individual himself. Can you stand aside and let yourself get illumined without having to resort to ‘escapism’?

There are two kinds of escapism. One, escaping from the material world of disturbing reality. The other escape is what we could call the Great Escape – breaking free of shackles, including escaping from reality – that prevent us from finding ourselves, from experiencing the inner you that can shine a light on a beautiful path that can take you on an incredible journey to the Self – the ultimate therapy, the ultimate release. You can curate your own Great Escape.