Great-nephew of the legendary strongman
When you look at yourself as a stranger would—someone who doesn’t know you—who were you 20 years ago, and who are you today?
Twenty-five years ago, I was full of family ideals. In a single moment, they evaporated like morning mist in the sunlight, when I was told to leave. What followed was a search for “my place”. This led me to the realization that our genetic programs may not be the best possible, nor in harmony with the demands of nature and life. Just think of the age of the dinosaurs—they inhabited Earth for 300 million years. And Homo sapiens? Some 300,000? That was enough to bring the planet into a state of instability. In the age of dinosaurs, only a random asteroid collision changed things. So, today’s Gustav Frištenský has created his own world. While it may be on a lower material level, I see my life as rich, fulfilling, and satisfying—on the fourth or even fifth level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In other words, I don’t bother with solving basic, and in my view trivial, needs.
Have you already passed your peak, or is it still ahead of you?
Most people go through the classic “life curve”: youth, family, career, status, health… and then the fall. As for me—I’m still climbing toward the peak. (smiles) It’s really more like a spiral that keeps rising, higher and higher. Ideally, life should end at the very top of that spiral. I believe you reach your peak the moment you lose the will, creativity, and initiative to engage with yourself. That feeling is completely foreign to me. There are still so many things I’d like to do. Like having a partner by my side—on eye level. Or not weakening physically in old age and thus opening the door to illness and “comfort”—which is why I take great care of my health and fitness. I also never neglect intellectual reflection, especially on natural patterns and logic. I’m very pragmatic. Just last year, for example, I earned my glider pilot license after two and a half years of training. And where does that come from? Just look at my parents. My father turns 95 this year, and my mother is 87. Both are mentally sharp and stay physically active with daily visits to the fitness center. That’s the right life mindset.
How do you communicate with yourself?
I started two small one-man businesses here in Moravia to support myself in retirement—a farm growing organic fruits and vegetables, and a bakery where I make pastries along with gluten-free and vegan treats. I run the production and operations almost entirely by myself. That manual work gives me space to think and reflect—it’s an incredible relief from all the dreadful things happening outside these walls. I even lived on the farm for four years in a caravan. My housemates were families of pheasants, blackbirds, and pigeons. To really communicate—or think—with yourself, you need isolated spaces. I find those conditions when I travel alone, while diving, captaining a sailboat across oceans, or carving wild turns on Alpine slopes. And now, more recently, when I leave it all behind and soar silently in a glider. I let everything fall away. I breathe deeply… That’s true relaxation—a space for creative thoughts and free contemplation.
Everyone has a secret. Fate is a kind of secret too. Do you believe in it? Why does it come true for some and not for others?
I don’t know if there’s a written “plan” for each life somewhere. But I’m certain that every person is born with a specific genetic program, talents, aptitudes, and constitution. What one does with these given traits in life depends primarily on their will. And a good deal of luck plays a role, too. Why I wasn’t born somewhere in Africa, for example, no one can know. It’s not even relevant, and that’s why we should focus on what we have, what we can influence, and what we want.
The fact that I am a descendant of the Frištenský family is pure coincidence. It’s not fate. What was fateful, however, was my parents’ emigration to Switzerland in 1968. That definitely changed and marked my life. I had no influence over that.
Has your world ever collapsed? A moment when you said: This is the end…
No… Actually, briefly yes. And I still suppress the feeling that it continues to affect me even today. I probably haven’t yet found a stronger alternative solution that would erase that negative event from the past. Being thrown out (divorce) from the family circle, based on injustice, was a major shock to my soul, life direction, and also my good will to resolve things. But in past – and even current – legal systems, women (still) have the upper hand. This “matriarchy” has just begun shifting into “patriarchy.” The future will be full of hardships and not always fair. I vote for equality. That idea will likely remain just an illusion, because very few people are able to control their genetic programming.
What would you do again in life, but better?
I would wait until retirement and then start a company focused on private banking… (smiles). Unfortunately, I did it much earlier and left this great banking job 13 years before retirement. That decision quickly proved to be less than ideal. I got caught in the claws of Swiss financial oversight, which cost me a lot of money every year—on top of that, I had years of paying alimony and family support.
If we gradually revisit the past in our memories, we often find that the reason we are where we are today can be traced back to one encounter, one situation. Would you call that fate?
Not really. Life’s path is shaped by many factors. Each one can be influenced—or at least attempted to be. Some people spend their whole life working on their fate, others give up. “Fateful encounters” are often the result of thoughts, decisions, and courage. At discos and parties, I never had the courage to approach a beautiful girl—afraid of being rejected. And yet, elsewhere, I found a kindred spirit. Maybe even for the second time (smiles). The only kind of fate I recognize is that life is finite—you really can’t avoid that one. And to circle back to Maslow: for people stuck at the lower levels of the pyramid, life probably feels fated. They throw up their hands, shrug, and say: “Well, that’s just how it is.” But the higher you climb, the more of your fate you take into your own hands. That’s why I believe much more attention should be paid to education and literacy in the Czech Republic.
Author: Martin Severa
