Interview with Marcos Aguinis on the occasion of his visit to the Jewish Community of Uruguay.
Date: September 2016
On Sunday, September 25th, the Jewish Community Center in Uruguay has the honor of welcoming Marcos Aguinis – an outstanding personality – a man of integrity and multifaceted talents, a neurosurgeon and psychoanalyst, a musician and writer. Few figures combine capacity, knowledge, and an understanding of human nature from both material and spiritual perspectives as Aguinis does.
With great sensitivity and conceptual precision, he describes facts and reality, shedding light and analysis to comprehend a complex and voracious world. We share here a preview of his upcoming lecture "Latin American Jewish Communities in the 21st Century," along with some of his reflections on life itself.
As a brief introduction to your upcoming lecture in Montevideo on "Latin American Jewish Communities in the 21st Century," could you share your views on the challenges and threats these communities are facing?
There is exponential growth of anti-Semitism in much of the world. Similar to the 1930s, there is insufficient awareness of its extreme danger. Community leadership experiences disorientation and impotence. Education, even in Jewish institutions, is weak and inadequate.
The mask of anti-Israelism or anti-Zionism works well to allow Judeophobia to grow in many parts, covertly, even among Jews themselves, due to pathological self-hatred.
Jews and Israel. An indissoluble association that generates varied responses in societies where Jewish communities reside. To what extent does this determine more or less firm anti-Semitic behaviors, taking into account the political stance of the states where these Jewish communities are established?
Israel fights to survive and for peace, even before its Independence. The world, in general, has been unjust to this suffering, progressive, democratic, and fraternal country. Many Jews also fail to understand this and approach seemingly balanced positions that do not lead to peace. It is easier to criticize Israel for the measures it takes to defend itself than to address Muslim terrorist aggressions.
The history of the Jewish people is intertwined with the existence of a higher force, the reason and foundation of its reality. What is your perspective in this regard? In your opinion, is it possible to construct a Jewish identity detached from the concept of God?
Certainly. Jewish identity should be affirmed through the exemplary history of the Jewish people, more than through religion. Pride in being Jewish is based on belonging to an ancient community that invested in culture and ethics. It was the most persecuted community on the planet. However, it survived by clinging to culture and ethics.
God is not the desideratum, but God served as the highest and most appropriate reference for that unique destiny. This is why Jews, despite their small number, excel in all areas. I say this even though it might seem arrogant, but it is an irrefutable truth. Perhaps this characteristic fuels the astonishment and envy that feed the flames of anti-Semitism.
In a recent interview, you mentioned the idea that it is difficult for men to understand that when they die, they disappear. Do you not believe that there is something that animates the body and that "IS" beyond the biological and psychological mechanisms through which it is expressed?
This question belongs to the labyrinths of theology. The concept of an afterlife has been developed more intensely by Christianity and Islam than by Judaism.
Marcos Aguinis is a multifaceted man, profound and deeply introspective. How does so much literature and imagination emerge from someone who has been trained in the scientific world of neurosurgery and psychoanalysis?
I don't know either. I hope someone can explain it to me.
Your latest book is an autobiography titled "The Novel of My Life." Why a novel and not "The Story of My Life"?
Because it has moments of intrigue, suspense, frustrations, and joys that seem fictional.
According to philosopher John Locke: "Men always forget that human happiness is a disposition of the mind and not a condition of circumstances." What is your opinion of this thought?
Circumstances always operate and determine the nuance of every physical or spiritual human movement.
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