“Myths,” wrote Albert Camus, “are made for the imagination to breathe life into them.” Myths can challenge us. They can inspire us to question and expand our thinking. In his new book, Orgasm, Maurice Saatchi lays out 21 often accepted precepts, things people commonly declare, and presents arguments to the contrary.
The book, which was released in the United States last week from ERIS publishing, features chapters like “Cocktail Parties Are Stressful,” “True Love Is A Myth” and “Big Companies Are Wonderful.”
“You can then decide what’s truth and what’s lies. Or perhaps it’s all lies,” says the author, founder of Saatchi & Saatchi and member of the House of Lords. By the end of the tome Saatchi hopes that people experience what he calls “An orgasm of the mind. Physical stimulation of the brain.” that will bring harmony to the desperate theories that swirl around in your head.
“The clash between contradictory views provides a systemic method for intellectual investigation,” says Saatchi who created one the famous political ad, Labour Isn’t Working. “There is a Socratic method of reasoning by dialogue to achieve self-knowledge, wisdom and peace of mind.”
Jeryl Brunner: What inspired you to write Orgasm?
Maurice Saatchi: Everyone knows the physical orgasm is a blissful human experience. My book, Orgasm, suggests that there is another kind of orgasm; one that has nothing to do with sex, requires a different kind of friction, and can be even more pleasurable: an orgasm of the mind. An orgasm of the mind is a revelation. The fog lifts. Illusions vanish.
Brunner: You say it’s easier to tell the truth than lie, especially at a cocktail party. Can you share more about that?
Saatchi: Most cocktail party conversations go like this:
“How are you?”
“Fine.”
Then “And how are you?”
“Fine”
“How are the children?”
“Fine”
“How was your summer?”
“Fine”
In other words, they speak about everything other than the most important things. The best example of that I can give you of how to do it properly would be from Harold Pinter who responded to,“How are you?” with, “How do you think I am? I’m dying of cancer.” So, I found that in cocktail party situations it’s much better to tell the truth straight out. Sometimes that doesn’t work and the person you’re talking to will say, “Oh, well, I see Sir Richard over there. I must go and say hello to him.” But on other occasions, I found that it leads to completely stimulating conversations and it then leads from that to real friendships.
Brunner: What do you wish you could tell your younger self, when you were just beginning your career?
Saatchi: You are brilliant, you are a star, there has never been or ever will be anyone as fabulous as you. Why? There has to be someone that believes in you. I find it impossible to believe that anyone can achieve anything in this world without the support or encouragement of a friend or a lover, or preferably, both.