A Conversation with Tomáš Sedláček

Nov 25

Listen to the full episode:

Time Codes:
4:20 The need for a multi-disciplinary approach
7:05 Havel’s fundamental foundation: I = I
10:45 A system for Czechs and the world
12:40 A better narrative for our democracy
17:05 An early warning against the Dark Enlightenment
20:30 New systems of control on the loose
26:30 There is a meaning in the universe
28:20 From Keynes to Steve Jobs to Havel
28:55 The body, soul, and spirit
37:00 Using time in opposition wisely
38:50 Importance of taking action
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The Gospel According to Havel

Tomáš Sedláček is a man on a mission. Since taking the reins as director of the Václav Havel Library in Prague in the spring of this year, he has been laser-focused on spreading the body of work of the late Czech playwright, philosopher, and president with an almost missionary zeal.

For an earlier generation of Czechs and students of politics, philosophy, and literature everywhere, Havel was a uniquely contemporary hero and a gripping illustration of the power of an individual to be a real agent of change. Over 20 years after having left office, and nearly 15 years since his death, however, Havel has in many ways become increasingly thought of as a historical figure tied to a specific era and series of events.

Tomáš, however, is convinced that Havel and “Havelian” thought are still extremely important, and in fact, perhaps more relevant than ever, in a world where democracies are under increasing attack and when societies often seems morally adrift, with life dictated by nothing more than transactional politics or mechanistic economic forces. He is the very dynamic messenger dedicated to breathing new life into Havel’s ideas, and if events and activities of the past nine-plus months are anything to go by, he and his team at the Library are off to a roaring start.

Tomáš brings a unique background to his new vocation that makes him uniquely effective in communicating Havel’s sprawling body of work, which runs from essays, letters, and philosophical treatises to poetry, plays, and presidential speeches. Formally educated as an economist, Tomáš has made a career of weaving together strands of many disciplines, including politics, philosophy, and religion, to help make sense of the world today, and our position in it. And like Havel, he is able to easily jump from abstract, high-culture concepts to concrete, pop culture references in order to make big, complicated ideas brim with current relevance while also making them easier to grasp and apply in our daily lives.

For Tomáš, Havel is so special because he may actually be one of the very few philosophers who offers a complete, coherent system by which to understand the world, and by which to live. Read Havel’s work correctly, Tomáš says, and you will find something akin to a spiritual dimension, albeit without the trappings of traditional religion, that allows an individual to commune with something larger than oneself, and at the same time take action on an individual level that unambiguously allows us to shape the world around us in profound ways. Tomáš is convinced that there’s a narrative that we can take from Havel that is sorely missing in democratic societies today. To do this, we have to be open to a dialogue with Havel’s ideas, and then apply them on a deeper, more personal level in our own lives. Only then can we really defend our democracies at a more profound level and push back against the various types of authoritarianism that are always lying in wait.