I have no intention of starting a political debate here. What I want to talk about is present in our environment, our social situation, and our life. I don’t mean the people who never care what is happening worldwide, even in their neighbour’s or private life. I am talking to writers, artists, and anybody who uses the mind and thinks twice! I try to keep my ears and eyes open and observe the happening worldwide. I know many artists have made or are making art like movies, writing books, or even composing a song and painting a picture in the sense of future predictions, which are primarily negative! Still, I come back again and again to these two writers.

George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, these genii, have stunningly prophesied a future which might have seemed like science fiction in those days. Still, as we consider it deeply, it seems to become real! Although their observations differed, Orwell’s is gloomy, and Huxley’s is bright, the concepts were the same: to keep everything under control! Am I right, or am I right?!

Aldous Huxley was an English writer and philosopher, and visioner. He frequently wrote about Hindu and Buddhist spiritual ideas, pacifism, and mysticism and renounced all wars. George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitarianism, and support of democratic socialism. In 1917, as the two had a time together, he was one of the students as Huxley briefly worked as a teacher at Eton, the esteemed boarding school in England. His childhood was not as joyful as Huxley’s, what he described as a “lower-upper-middle class” family.

If we really look around us, we have some parts of Orwell’s vision, and some others are of Huxley’s. Thank goodness Orwell’s vision is not widespread, although the temptation from potentates has been palpable throughout history. Nevertheless, Huxley’s vision is soft, gentler, and practical. I compare it to what the Americans did against the ever-increasing USSR’s communism after WWII; They simplified capitalism, and every family could own something. Of course, if they didn’t have any money, no problem, pay in instalments or take out a loan! It could be a nice start, and it worked.

Of course, both visions are unpleasant and frightening, though, in a letter (from 1949) that Huxley wrote to Orwell, his former high school French student, he said that his “hellish” vision of the future is much better than Orwell’s! Huxley starts the letter by praising the book, describing it as “profoundly important.” He continues, “The philosophy of the ruling minority in Nineteen Eighty-Four is a sadism which has been carried to its logical conclusion by going beyond sex and denying it.”

And I agree with Huxley; however, Orwell’s 1984 has been more proven through new tech and media, the cameras all over the world. “Big Brother Is Watching You” is now confirmed! But this is not by force and brutality, as Orwell meant to say; it is like a worthy present for our safety! It is always a good feeling, for sure, that we do not have to take so much care. That is almost the American way of life which tries to extend worldwide, and it goes back to what I said: the more you own, the more protection you will need and the more conservative you become.

Friends. You must have known me by now and know I am not one of those leftists who want to promote the Plutarian government here! My political point of view is only the democratic reign, which includes proper education and open-minded and open-hearted aspects, and not a wishing life all-inclusive.

Anyway, I built my hopes on the power of art and am convinced that the spirit of art will solve all problems in our society. I’m counting on you, my artist friends.
In the second part, I will write more about the two and the power of imagination.
I appreciate your interest.

The pic above; The Vintage News /