The style of Quentin Crisp - an enduring philosophy

2010-06-05T08:14:02Z

Considering Crisp as a philosopher rather than a “stately homo” as he put it, may surprise some, but his deceptively breezy quips were underpinned by an abiding and consistent approach to life he christened Crisperanto.

Rather than attempting to achieve a kind of perfection, he counselled embracing one’s flaws. In doing so, one would develop one’s style.

You have to polish up your raw identity into a life-style so that you can barter with the outside world for what you want, he said. I won’t say what you deserve because if we all got what we deserve we would starve.

Certainly I derive some solace from his observation that if at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Those rejection letters don’t feel so bad now. Hell, it’s my style. And you know what? Accepting one’s failings makes it easier to accept one’s successes too.

Quentin was soundly against modernity. At his 1976 show he announced I really am here to cure you of your freedom because I am sure that it is an excess of freedom that makes the world so unhappy…

Quentin’s cure for this was to urge everyone to adopt chains of their own making.

For all his airy-fairyness, rouge and floppy hats, Quentin’s philosophy was supremely grounding, borne of an Edwardian England like him, when life was harsh and people got on with it. There was little of the sense of entitlement that so often leaves modern people feeling disappointed – even the prospects of the wealthiest life were over-shadowed by diseases now easily preventable, the First World War which had swept away a generation.

Edwardians were closer to the stuff of life, and death, than us, and Quentin was like a well-mannered messenger from this wiser age, preaching self-sufficiency through honesty – a becoming not of the person we could be, but perhaps the one we were born to be.

The great trick with life is not to become like other people but to become more like yourself, he said.

When you next find yourself envying a Nobel-winning author, millionaire landowner or Olympic champion, you could do worse than bear this in mind, even as you acknowledge that envy might just be your style.

The Tao of David Beckham

2010-03-18T03:45:40Z

It has not always been thus. His early wunderkind career was characterized by a brittleness that reached its Cavalry during the 1998 World Cup Finals when he was sent off for lashing out in a match against Argentina. He subsequently attracted much of the blame for England’s elimination from the competition. An effigy was hung of him outside a London pub and his performances were met with boos for years.

Yet in the face of this opprobrium the footballer transformed in to a figure of calm and fair play. He told the Guardian:

I could have done interview after interview to try to explain myself, but doing it on the pitch counts for more… In that sort of situation you can either go home and cry, which I felt like doing at times, or you can come out fighting… I worked hard at it, to get where I am today.

Beckham is known for his rigorous training regime, commitment to the art of football. The multi-millionaire could have wound down his days at LA Galaxy were it not for his love of the game and desire to get in the England squad – hence his move to AC Milan to stay in shape, just as US players like Galaxy teammate Landon Donovan are seeing out the season in England’s Premier League.

One of the things I like about Beckham is how his marriage to “Posh” Spice Girl Victoria (in fact every bit as working class as him and raised down the road from me, as it happens) appears to have hardly changed him at all. He has cheerfully acquiesced to Victoria’s preoccupation with fashion, enjoyed it clearly too, adorning himself with tattoos like a Maori warrior, but has rarely sought the affirmation celebrities so often seek. He has nothing to prove, no interest, plainly, outside his commitment to his art. For all the Gucci trappings, David Beckham remains an “uncut block” bobbing along with the river’s flow.

Now of course he has hit the rocks, risks being pushed under – his very meaning called in to question. I hope however his inner-resilience, the sense of self he has cultivated through adversity will stand him in sufficient stead to weather the storm.

Back in the late 1990s, when he was approaching national pariah status, a church put up a sign reading

GOD EVEN FORGIVES BECKS

David would do well to reflect how true this turned out to be, and how a kind of resurrection remains within the grasp of us all.

UKSpirituality Blog

The style of Quentin Crisp - an enduring philosophy

The Tao of David Beckham