A creative, restless genius we know as Faiz
Not every creative person need to have a psychological problem, Faiz embodies a succesful persona among the sea of pessimists, read the article and visit www.faiz.com
A creative, restless genius we know as Faiz
Twenty years after he moved on to eternity, Faiz still stands head and shoulders above many others, Shamim Ahmed writes
Mutual forgiveness of each vice
Such are the gates of paradise- William Blake
In many a treatise on literature and psychoanalysis one central question concerning the sources of creative inspiration has often been raised. Is there any relationship between neurosis and creativity? As can be expected, the question has not been resolved and, indeed, contrary views have been entertained.
On the one hand, art has been associated with neurosis; on the other, with prophetic wisdom. Without taking sides, one observes that the proponents of neurosis have one fact in their favour: most writers have been quite neurotic, if not mad. Roughly described, a neurosis arises from some unresolved inner conflict. It is admittedly difficult to see how an unresolved conflict can produce that masterful combination of form and content that we call literature. Nevertheless, it is noted that neurotics, at least the gifted ones, do seem to propel in certain significant direction in their thinking and sensibility.
Examples of neurotic geniuses in the world literature abound. Just to name a few: Nietzsche, Kafka, Dostoevsky and even D.H. Lawrence. In my study of some of the notable figures of Urdu literature, I found pronounced presence of one kind of neurosis or the other in many of them. Sahir Ludhyanvi and Manto were victims of Oedipus complex, which resulted in paranoia, hypochondria, misogamy and his inability to marry in the former; and extreme form of alcoholism in the case of the latter.
Yagana Chauzazi suffered from self-love and megalomania. In an article published in 1980s, Dr Ghayan Chand brought to light a number of neuroses with which Friqh Gorakhpuri was affected in addition to his well-known affliction, homosexuality. All such examples led psychologists of this particular school of thought to conclude that the neurotic-artist tries to escape from reality by means of substitute gratification of creativity.
Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-84) is one of the very few examples of a creative genius whose life represented the victory of a person’s healthy faculties. As a proponent of the other school, Charles Lamb sees the very act of creation as the assertion of one’s rationality, which by definition is healthy. Faiz is one shining example of such a genius. With the sole exception of lqbal, no Urdu poet of the 20th century scaled the poetic heights reached by Faiz.
The subject matter of this piece, however, is not to evaluate the stature of his poetry, exquisite though it is both in form and content, but to enquire into the circumstances which made him a normal, well-adjusted, tolerant and mild human being, a good friend, a loving father, a successful professional, a devoted husband and a doting grandfather.
Let us start our enquiry at the very beginning, the childhood experience, which, according to Freud, is the key to understanding the development of a personality. Many sketches and vignettes of Faiz (but unfortunately not yet a comprehensive biography) have been written by his friends and admirers. Faiz also recorded his early life experience for the benefit of his grandsons on the tape. I have had the privilege of listening to the recording, courtesy his daughter Saleema Hashmi.
According to all these accounts, Faiz was born into a big, well-established and happy family. His father, Chaudhry Sultan Muhammad Khan, had children from an earlier marriage as well. So, in addition to his two real brothers and one sister, he had a number of step-sisters. His father was already in the middle age when Faiz was born. He recalled him to be a tall person with a robust built. He had classical features, big expressive eyes and shining while teeth. He had an awe-inspiring personality and every one in the family looked up to him for guidance and approval.
Normally, he was genial and gracious, but when on occasions he lost his temper, he was a volcano. As his elder brother, Tufail, was of a stormy nature; and the younger, Inayat, usually fooled around, Faiz gained special affection of his father. He would get up early in the morning to accompany his father to the mosque for morning prayers and take lessons in Quran from Mulvi Ibrahim.
In the evening, his father would call him to his room for dictating letters. He would also read out the newspapers to his father. This exercise, according to Faiz, not only made substantial contribution to his linguistic ability, but also brought him very close to his father. Nowhere in his writings or conversation did Faiz ever convey the slightest resentment against his father or any of his actions.
On the contrary, he loved him deeply. His dear friend, Sher Muhammad Hameed, described in one of his articles on Faiz that he was severely shattered when his father died. His life and even thinking changed. So the first significant feature in Faiz’s psychological development is the complete absence of Oedipal situation which, if it remains unresolved, becomes the main source of neurosis.
Faiz had a solid educational background, both conventional as well as contemporary. As noted earlier, he started learning Qur’an from an early age. Around the age of 10, he joined the Scotch Mission School in Sialkot. His educational pursuit ended with two masters degrees, in English literature and Arabic language. In most of his examinations he secured first division.
All this was accomplished when he was just 23 years of age. Clearly, he did not allow his forays into the realm of poetry, which started when he was barely eighteen, to interfere with the pursuit of his formal education, which, indeed, was an unconventional behaviour for a budding poet.
Immediately on completion of his education, he found gainful employment at M.A.O. College, Amritsar, which not only provided him the financial independence, but also the stimulating company of persons like Mahmood-ul-Zafar and Dr Rasheed Jahan.
Later, he joined the Public Relations Department in the army and was honourably discharged after attaining the rank of colonel. Afterwards, he became the chief editor of Pakistan Times and its allied publications; principal of a college in Karachi; chairman of the National Council of Arts; and, finally, the editor of a periodical, Lotus, during his days in exile.
Such solid educational background and rewarding professional career often combine, but rarely in a person whose primary claim to fame is his poetry. This fact instilled in Faiz a sense of self-confidence which is the mainspring of generosity towards all. Eschewal of pettiness and vindictiveness is another manifestation of this trait of character.
Inferiority complex, according to the Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler, arises out of repressed fear and resentment associated with real or imagined inferiority. Various manifestations of this complex are pugnacity, reprobation for others and general discontentment. Let us examine whether any of these traits existed in Faiz.
According to all accounts, both of his friends and foes, Faiz was a forgiving person. Almost never did he exhibit a fit of anger. He was civilized and decorous, his personality bereft of rough edges. Dr Aftab Ahmad, his friend and my teacher, once hinted to Faiz that he had never seen him angry. Was he ever angry, he enquired? Faiz answered in the affirmative. What happened then, Doctor Sahib persisted. “Nothing, I suppressed my anger,” he answered.
His early upbringing, which was devoid of any conflicts, was responsible for this peace and placidity which remained unruffled even in the face of provocation, though he was a revolutionary on an intellectual plank, and could be expected to be a pugnacious firebrand.
Faiz was once informed that one of his contemporaries was bitterly critical of his person and poetry, to the extent of being insulting. He calmly listened to the details of the invectives and with equal calm answered. “Bha’ee, let him say what he wants to. After all, he is entitled to his views.”
Megalomania is usually a part and parcel of the personality of a creative artist. Hyperbole (Ta’alli) has been used by almost all the poets of Urdu. Not Faiz. On the contrary, he was self-effacing. Once asked what was the inspiration behind his poetry, he dismissed that a divine inspiration was behind it and humorously added that composing poetry was mere addiction for him in the same way as some people are addicted to playing chess or flying kites.
Sensitive soul as Faiz was, he was always conscious of the predicament of human existence. It got augmented with the death of his father who died when Faiz was still a student. The combination of personal adversity and the pain of human suffering can break the back of an ordinary human being. Though he remained cognizant of the pain around him, Faiz kept the flame of hope burning bright, yet another testimony to his solid and happy background which bestowed on him the penchant of not losing sight of the light at the end of the tunnel. His poetry is replete with examples where hope and optimism suddenly arise out of a desperate and hopeless situation.
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/Full_Story.asp?ItemID=428&Cat=12
A creative, restless genius we know as Faiz
Twenty years after he moved on to eternity, Faiz still stands head and shoulders above many others, Shamim Ahmed writes
Mutual forgiveness of each vice
Such are the gates of paradise- William Blake
In many a treatise on literature and psychoanalysis one central question concerning the sources of creative inspiration has often been raised. Is there any relationship between neurosis and creativity? As can be expected, the question has not been resolved and, indeed, contrary views have been entertained.
On the one hand, art has been associated with neurosis; on the other, with prophetic wisdom. Without taking sides, one observes that the proponents of neurosis have one fact in their favour: most writers have been quite neurotic, if not mad. Roughly described, a neurosis arises from some unresolved inner conflict. It is admittedly difficult to see how an unresolved conflict can produce that masterful combination of form and content that we call literature. Nevertheless, it is noted that neurotics, at least the gifted ones, do seem to propel in certain significant direction in their thinking and sensibility.
Examples of neurotic geniuses in the world literature abound. Just to name a few: Nietzsche, Kafka, Dostoevsky and even D.H. Lawrence. In my study of some of the notable figures of Urdu literature, I found pronounced presence of one kind of neurosis or the other in many of them. Sahir Ludhyanvi and Manto were victims of Oedipus complex, which resulted in paranoia, hypochondria, misogamy and his inability to marry in the former; and extreme form of alcoholism in the case of the latter.
Yagana Chauzazi suffered from self-love and megalomania. In an article published in 1980s, Dr Ghayan Chand brought to light a number of neuroses with which Friqh Gorakhpuri was affected in addition to his well-known affliction, homosexuality. All such examples led psychologists of this particular school of thought to conclude that the neurotic-artist tries to escape from reality by means of substitute gratification of creativity.
Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-84) is one of the very few examples of a creative genius whose life represented the victory of a person’s healthy faculties. As a proponent of the other school, Charles Lamb sees the very act of creation as the assertion of one’s rationality, which by definition is healthy. Faiz is one shining example of such a genius. With the sole exception of lqbal, no Urdu poet of the 20th century scaled the poetic heights reached by Faiz.
The subject matter of this piece, however, is not to evaluate the stature of his poetry, exquisite though it is both in form and content, but to enquire into the circumstances which made him a normal, well-adjusted, tolerant and mild human being, a good friend, a loving father, a successful professional, a devoted husband and a doting grandfather.
Let us start our enquiry at the very beginning, the childhood experience, which, according to Freud, is the key to understanding the development of a personality. Many sketches and vignettes of Faiz (but unfortunately not yet a comprehensive biography) have been written by his friends and admirers. Faiz also recorded his early life experience for the benefit of his grandsons on the tape. I have had the privilege of listening to the recording, courtesy his daughter Saleema Hashmi.
According to all these accounts, Faiz was born into a big, well-established and happy family. His father, Chaudhry Sultan Muhammad Khan, had children from an earlier marriage as well. So, in addition to his two real brothers and one sister, he had a number of step-sisters. His father was already in the middle age when Faiz was born. He recalled him to be a tall person with a robust built. He had classical features, big expressive eyes and shining while teeth. He had an awe-inspiring personality and every one in the family looked up to him for guidance and approval.
Normally, he was genial and gracious, but when on occasions he lost his temper, he was a volcano. As his elder brother, Tufail, was of a stormy nature; and the younger, Inayat, usually fooled around, Faiz gained special affection of his father. He would get up early in the morning to accompany his father to the mosque for morning prayers and take lessons in Quran from Mulvi Ibrahim.
In the evening, his father would call him to his room for dictating letters. He would also read out the newspapers to his father. This exercise, according to Faiz, not only made substantial contribution to his linguistic ability, but also brought him very close to his father. Nowhere in his writings or conversation did Faiz ever convey the slightest resentment against his father or any of his actions.
On the contrary, he loved him deeply. His dear friend, Sher Muhammad Hameed, described in one of his articles on Faiz that he was severely shattered when his father died. His life and even thinking changed. So the first significant feature in Faiz’s psychological development is the complete absence of Oedipal situation which, if it remains unresolved, becomes the main source of neurosis.
Faiz had a solid educational background, both conventional as well as contemporary. As noted earlier, he started learning Qur’an from an early age. Around the age of 10, he joined the Scotch Mission School in Sialkot. His educational pursuit ended with two masters degrees, in English literature and Arabic language. In most of his examinations he secured first division.
All this was accomplished when he was just 23 years of age. Clearly, he did not allow his forays into the realm of poetry, which started when he was barely eighteen, to interfere with the pursuit of his formal education, which, indeed, was an unconventional behaviour for a budding poet.
Immediately on completion of his education, he found gainful employment at M.A.O. College, Amritsar, which not only provided him the financial independence, but also the stimulating company of persons like Mahmood-ul-Zafar and Dr Rasheed Jahan.
Later, he joined the Public Relations Department in the army and was honourably discharged after attaining the rank of colonel. Afterwards, he became the chief editor of Pakistan Times and its allied publications; principal of a college in Karachi; chairman of the National Council of Arts; and, finally, the editor of a periodical, Lotus, during his days in exile.
Such solid educational background and rewarding professional career often combine, but rarely in a person whose primary claim to fame is his poetry. This fact instilled in Faiz a sense of self-confidence which is the mainspring of generosity towards all. Eschewal of pettiness and vindictiveness is another manifestation of this trait of character.
Inferiority complex, according to the Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler, arises out of repressed fear and resentment associated with real or imagined inferiority. Various manifestations of this complex are pugnacity, reprobation for others and general discontentment. Let us examine whether any of these traits existed in Faiz.
According to all accounts, both of his friends and foes, Faiz was a forgiving person. Almost never did he exhibit a fit of anger. He was civilized and decorous, his personality bereft of rough edges. Dr Aftab Ahmad, his friend and my teacher, once hinted to Faiz that he had never seen him angry. Was he ever angry, he enquired? Faiz answered in the affirmative. What happened then, Doctor Sahib persisted. “Nothing, I suppressed my anger,” he answered.
His early upbringing, which was devoid of any conflicts, was responsible for this peace and placidity which remained unruffled even in the face of provocation, though he was a revolutionary on an intellectual plank, and could be expected to be a pugnacious firebrand.
Faiz was once informed that one of his contemporaries was bitterly critical of his person and poetry, to the extent of being insulting. He calmly listened to the details of the invectives and with equal calm answered. “Bha’ee, let him say what he wants to. After all, he is entitled to his views.”
Megalomania is usually a part and parcel of the personality of a creative artist. Hyperbole (Ta’alli) has been used by almost all the poets of Urdu. Not Faiz. On the contrary, he was self-effacing. Once asked what was the inspiration behind his poetry, he dismissed that a divine inspiration was behind it and humorously added that composing poetry was mere addiction for him in the same way as some people are addicted to playing chess or flying kites.
Sensitive soul as Faiz was, he was always conscious of the predicament of human existence. It got augmented with the death of his father who died when Faiz was still a student. The combination of personal adversity and the pain of human suffering can break the back of an ordinary human being. Though he remained cognizant of the pain around him, Faiz kept the flame of hope burning bright, yet another testimony to his solid and happy background which bestowed on him the penchant of not losing sight of the light at the end of the tunnel. His poetry is replete with examples where hope and optimism suddenly arise out of a desperate and hopeless situation.
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/Full_Story.asp?ItemID=428&Cat=12
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