A transcript excerpt from a 'My Dinner With Andre' dialogue in which Andre and Wally debate whether modern comforts (exemplified by an electric blanket) detach people from authentic experience and spiritual awareness. Andre argues comfort dulls perception—using anecdotes (Lady Hatfield) and a reference to Martin Buber's Hasidism—while Wally defends comfort as necessary protection from a harsh urban environment.
Do you think maybe we live in this dream world because we do so many things every day that affect us in ways that somehow we're just not aware of? You know, I was thinking, last Christmas, Debbie and I were given an electric blanket. I can tell you that it is just such a marvelous advance over our old way of life, and it is just great. But it is quite different from not having an electric blanket. And I sometimes sort of wonder, well, what is it doing to me? I mean, I sort of feel I'm not sleeping quite in the same way.
No, you wouldn't be.
I mean, and my dreams are sort of different. And I feel a little bit different when I get up in the morning.
I wouldn't put an electric blanket on for anything. First, I'd be worried I might get electrocuted. No, I don't trust technology. But I mean, the main thing, Wally, is that I think that that kind of comfort just separates you from reality in a very direct way. You mean, I mean, if you don't have that electric blanket and your apartment is cold and you need to put on another blanket or go into the closet and pile up coats on top of the blanket you have, well then you know it's cold. And that sets up a link of things. You have compassion for the per, well, is the person next to you cold? And there are other people in the world who are cold. What a cold night. I like the cold, my God. I never realized. I don't want a blanket, it's fun being cold. I can snuggle up against you even more because it's cold. All sorts of things occur to you. Turn on that electric blanket and it's like taking a tranquilizer. It's like being lobotomized by watching television. I think you enter the dream world again. What does it do to us, Wally, living in an environment where something as massive as the seasons or winter or cold don't in any way affect us. I mean, we're animals after all. I mean, what does that mean? I think that means that instead of living under the sun and the moon and the sky and the stars, we're living in a fantasy world of our own making.
Yeah, but I mean, I would never give up my electric blanket, Andre. I mean, because New York is cold in the winter. I mean, our apartment is cold. It's a difficult environment. I mean, our lives are tough enough as it is. I'm not looking for ways to get rid of the few things that provide relief and comfort. I mean, on the contrary. I'm looking for more comfort because the world is very abrasive. I mean, I'm trying to protect myself because really there are these abrasive beatings to be avoided everywhere you look.
But why, don't you see that comfort can be dangerous? I mean, you like to be comfortable and I like to be comfortable too, but comfort can lull you into a dangerous tranquility. I mean, my mother knew a woman, Lady Hatfield, who was one of the richest women in the world and she died of starvation because all she would eat was chicken. I mean, she just liked chicken wally and that was all she would eat. Actually, her body was starving, but she didn't know it because she was quite happy eating her chicken and so she finally died. See, I honestly believe that we're all like Lady Hatfield now. We're having a lovely, comfortable time with our electric blankets and our chicken and meanwhile we're starving because we're so cut off from contact with reality that we're not getting any real sustenance. Because we don't see the world. We don't see ourselves. We don't see how our actions affect other people. Have you read Martin Buber's book on Hasidism?
No.
Oh, well, here's a view of life. He talks about the belief of the Hasidic Jews that there are spirits chained in everything. There are spirits chained in you. There are spirits chained in me. There are spirits chained in this table. And that prayer is the action of liberating these enchained, embryo-like spirits, and that every action of ours in life, whether it's doing business or making love or having dinner together, that every action of ours should be a prayer, a sacrament in the world. Now, do you think we're living like that? Why do you think we're not living like that? I think it's because if we allowed ourselves to see what we do every day, we might just find it too nauseating.
