Tomáš Klus: People yelled at me, calling me a terrorist, because of criticism of Israel. I can't sing about a chocolate bonbon.

Your work is characterized by a strong expression. The texts are full of opinions. What has inspired you the most recently? And how has your work evolved over time?

My life philosophy is songwriting. And an integral part or such a pillar of songwriting is authenticity. It's what I'm trying to cultivate in myself the most, to be myself in every situation, not recklessly, always considering my surroundings. Not to harm and I also appreciate it in other people when they are themselves in every situation. This authenticity is largely due to the fact that for me every song is a diary record.

I have no secrets in my life, because I guess I was the first such influencer, because I shared all those feelings, whether it's hitting walls, in marriages, in friendships, or even in that social, political context. I always go with the skin on the market and that's what I do.

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If I said to myself: "it would be nice to write a song about a chocolate bonbon, because chocolate bonbon is trending now", I am not capable of it. Just like I can't do it, that someone would come up to me and ask me to write him a song and I didn't know him. When I wrote a song for someone, which were two people, they were friends with whom I hung out.

So my songs, my themes, that's my life and it always corresponds with the period in which I find myself.

Whether it was the first records, where I was worried about whether someone loves me or doesn't love me or whether I don't love someone or whether I can get drunk somewhere or so. Then it was spiritual transformation, then there were social, political themes, environmental themes. And that is such a golden thread that leads through all those records.

You are a musician who is very active in social and political issues. What do you think about the current political scene in the Czech Republic?

I don't have anything to say about it, because in the last two years I've gone through a great political disillusionment. I stood up for the Palestinians regarding the situation in Gaza, and I touched on a world that is only imagined. You look at how Czech media is reporting one way, then you turn to foreign media and realize that you are living in a parallel universe. It's horrifying and at the same time, you start to understand people who are said to be very desolated these days, who are part of the disinformation scene. You realize how easy it is to fall into that, because there are topics that don't correspond at all with the narrative that people pulling the strings in our country need to maintain and adjust. The moment you touch this, and you don’t have friends around you who would tell you "Okay, I understand but then look, on the other hand the Czech Television can function, David Borek is not all of Czech Television." So you can find your way back, but the moment you don’t have these friends and you touch on the fact that media you trust may be reporting falsely or oppositely. Then you turn away from it and close yourself off, through algorithms, through social media, into a bubble, and it's a very easy way. It helped me a lot because I had a tendency to judge people, but we can't judge those people, only the fact that our system is in major disarray.

I have been approached over the course of two years by high-ranking politicians incognito thanking me profusely for trying to defend compassion here, and while I was receiving messages, people on the street were shouting disgusting things at me, saying that I was a terrorist, wishing my children burned.

So when I told these politicians: "come refresh the view on this issue a bit, because it's your fault that we're being made accomplices of the genocidal behavior of the extremely right-wing Israeli government." And they told me that it was politically infeasible and none of them commented on it and they were people I have always respected for the values I share with them and all of a sudden I found out that this idealism or the willingness to defend these values at all costs is only in my head and I don't want to serve that political pragmatism.

I often commented on political situations and often defended some politicians, Czech media, not that I would regret it in retrospect, but I tell myself, it is necessary to take a break from it, because I was terribly disappointed.

Do you feel that only what should be said is said in today's free time? Is it a disappointment for you?

Politics is a constant disappointment. I believed that there are people who can pursue this ideal even through their own discomfort, but this is not the case. Also, the question is, what do we mean by freedom. Definitely, it is good to express your opinion. I need a rest because for fifteen years, from the beginning of my career, I was politically active.

Democracy is not about calling someone an idiot, but about being able to present your opinion and accept someone else's opinion and go into a discussion.

It is important not to give up and defend your theses, that is great. But I think that the trend, which is global, is that populists primarily come to power. Politics as such has always been intertwined with business and it was half and half. Now what is happening is that rich people either become politicians themselves and now I'm talking in the context of the whole world, or those really rich people don't even bother anymore, they lead those politicians. And I think that the executive power of those states is not moving to the politicians, but even higher.

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And the biggest danger we may encounter, which has indeed struck us now, is that truly rich people rule the world. Such rich people who have no understanding of what the real life of ordinary people is, and these are people who need politicians to become even richer, and they succeed in this.

They will sponsor a politician who thrives on promising people mountains of gold, thanks to their backing, he/she runs a great campaign. People are desperate. In the Czech Republic, compared to the rest of the world, we are happy. We were born in a beautiful place karmically. We have our own problems and are continually bombarded with a lot of information. Now, social media has opened up channels, and we know what is happening on the other side of the world. In a moment when someone comes and says: "here I have a magic pill, if you elect me, I'll put it under your tongue and your problems will be solved. We will give you money for everything, there will be sidewalks to your house and they will blink." And people constantly listen to this. We want that Robin Hood who will save us, but unfortunately, we now see Robin Hoods in people who were previously beaten by Robin. And now they pretend to be Robin Hoods, but in reality, they are the rich, who use politics to become even richer. And the richer they will be, the poorer we will be.

You spoke about the problems that are piling up on us. This also relates to some mental hygiene. What do you say to the fact that, according to statistics, every fifth child in the Czech Republic already has depression. How do you personally maintain a clear mind and perspective?

I am a father of three children and this is a very painful information for me. At the same time, I have quite a lot contact with those kids through concerts, discussions. On the one hand, I am very glad that it is being talked about. My dad had big problems in the nineties. He had some pressures in his head, with which you don't know what to do. And you know that it would be good to go somewhere to a therapist, but you know that there were not many therapists, so there were some psychologists and you didn't want to be a patient. I think that my dad would still be here if it could be handled. And now it's being solved and it's great and people are not ashamed and it's trendy. That someone listens to your story, someone who knows nothing about you and is able to reflect it back to you...wow. But there are too few therapists. And desperately few are those who are willing to take care of the mental state of our children.

I have a dream, I would really like it if, say, within the framework of civic education, meditation could get into schools. Lead the children to the art of calming down.

I don't want it to smell like any religion. Mental hygiene is important. Just as there is a trend to go to the gym and take pictures of how beautiful muscles they have. I also think it would be nice to make a trend out of the fact that: "today I meditated heavily, I sat in the bathroom for ten minutes and spent time with myself." It's not even a complicated process. We don't have to teach children anything. I know from my own experience, at the moment when you do something, they will start doing it too, they are the biggest sponges. The moment they see that it brings you some benefit, they will also do it. I go to meditate, sometimes they go with me, but mostly not, because they don't care. But when they feel some tension, they know who they can turn to. It's related with the amount of information. And it can give the impression that we live in a world that has to collapse at any moment. The world has always been a bit hanging by a hair's breadth. I read the information that the brain does not distinguish between reality and thought. It's really enough to sit down for ten minutes a day. The feeling that we have to always go somewhere and do something is about trying to fulfill thousands of visions that others have about us. We have as many appearances as there are eyes that see us. Everyone who sees us makes up their mind and already we have some appearance for them. But who are you? Do you know your appearance? Few do. Few have that vision, and yet it takes little. The moment we have a vision, we can start fulfilling it. For me, it was so I would quit smoking, start learning English, swap a negative thing for a positive one. These are small steps by which I come to the fact that: "hey, I have no reason to be mad at myself today, or to be disappointed in myself. I am good."

The moment I fulfill my needs, I am available to others. When you do something for yourself, you have no problem doing something for others. And I believe that's why we're here, to help each other. There isn't anyone in the world like us. Each one of us is unique, each one of us is writing a unique story.

And when we are able to stand up for that story and share it with other people without fear and with the mistakes we've made. Then suddenly you won't be annoyed by people who are also unique. And inspiration comes from all sides. And we start to enrich ourselves with other people. We are "enriched".

Have you personally had or are you visiting a therapist?

My wife started going to therapy and the moment she came from her first therapy, she became the best therapy dealer in the world. I have been deeply involved in Buddhism for eight years. I enjoy it, it's a guide to my brain, to my mind. It's not a religion for me, but a manual for my mind. And I feel that many of my traumas that I have, I managed to handle thanks to this. And I didn't feel like I should go somewhere. But my wife is always right...

I just had my second therapy session and it was great. I don't feel like I'm not fine. But it was the first time I could fully share my story, other than with my wife. So I highly recommend it.

What does freedom mean to you today?

Freedom to me is synonymous with authenticity. It's about a society that isn't afraid to be itself and to be independent, even when we might have just had elections, but still not falling asleep. Democracy is about keeping an eye on what politicians do and if they are not acting according to your expectations, then raise your voice. That's how I see it, and I believe we are capable of it here.

That personal freedom is also authenticity, but at the same time personal freedom should always have limits in the sense that my freedom should not restrict the freedom of someone else. Freedom of speech does not mean to say whatever I want. Freedom means awareness of responsibility. For everything I say, even what I think, for what I do, I bear responsibility in the public space and in personal life. And it should be the same on networks.

Whoever sets up social networks, sets up an email, buys a phone, his data are already everywhere in the world. So to resist that I will upload my identity card somewhere? Take it and I bear the responsibility for how I behave on the internet. If we will not take responsibility for how we behave in virtual space, then that anonymity, rudeness will overgrow outside and we will start behaving in this way also outside. And that is a terrible danger and I think that civil society should intervene on all people who have influence on it. But unfortunately, the richest people have generated these social networks and even the strongest political power is not being applied to them so intensively.

We have come across social networks. I think they used to be quite helpful, but lately, they can also be toxic. What do you do to avoid hate speech, do you read comments?

You can't avoid it. It concerns you, you open it quite often. And I imagine those people, how they get angry at home, how they hate me and I send them my wishes for happiness. Mostly, people who are not happy write to you, they criticize self-confidence because they don't have it themselves. The idea of ​​social networks was great. In some respects, it can help. When you need to raise a lot of money for a sick child. You can inform about things that are happening behind closed doors. The human mind has outpaced humanity by so much and we're still lagging behind significantly. The advent of the internet, which could change the world, could have helped us to a better life; that could have happened if we were ready for what the internet is. There would be no famine or homelessness in the world if we knew how not to waste food on one side of the world and distribute it to the other part.

We, who live here, have problems, but we live at the expense of people who are a hundred times worse off than us. So then those people want to come here and politicians point out that the people who will want our jobs, our women, our happiness, are coming here, so they invoke fear in us. We are afraid of them and we will not want to help them. But if we don't help them, their desire to come here will be even greater because they are working for us. Thanks to them, we have phones, we have electric cars, we have oil, bananas, and we have this just thanks to people who are much worse off than we are.

Then there are environmental changes, when in 2014, 2015 there was talk of a migration crisis, nothing like that. Compared to what is coming in the context of environmental changes, it was nothing. And we have to prepare for this, we have to start functioning together. Why wasn't the environmental issue discussed here before the elections? Because there are billionaires here who are getting rich on the oil industry. When these changes that scientists have been talking about for decades come, these people will not be able to live in those places, they will either be flooded, or there will be such heat or such cold that it will be impossible and they will have to migrate. And what will we do? Will we barricade ourselves in and shoot them at the borders? The internet was supposed to serve the purpose of discussing all this across the world and helping each other when we unite. The fact that we record a conversation on the camera here, that I came by car, all that happened because people started to cooperate, to communicate. Today, we are not using this communication tool well. We use the brain to judge people or to deal with what bothers us about others. And when it bothers us, we don't address how we could solve it, what bothers us, by helping them. We rather close ourselves off in these bubbles, we isolate ourselves. And I'm a bit scared of this world. On the other hand, as I talk to young people, how sensitive they are, they are not ashamed of it, to name that sensitivity and say, "I can't do this, because it hurts me. I need to sort out my mind." This could be good. I was brought up by society to: "Don't whine, we handled it too." No, feel free to whine.

There is no happiness pill. If a person wants to be happy, they have to work hard. Happiness is a matter of discipline and hard work. Just like love. If you want to have a happy and satisfied relationship, you have to work hard. The first fourteen days are great. It's like when a person is on ecstasy or on a super drug. But then it stops working. Then the drug engulfs you and you want to try a different pill.

I know this from my own experience, both with a pill and with love, which I used as that pill. At the moment, when you focus on one flower and start to take care of it, it smells so that you don't need to smell other flowers. You don't need anything else. And moreover, you inspire many other people with that beautiful bouquet. And the same thing happiness. This is what Buddha says to his son: "If you want to be happy, do only things that are beneficial to you or other people. And do not do things that are not beneficial." And when you are about to make a decision to do something, stop, and evaluate it: "is the thing you want to do, say beneficial to me or others or will it harm them?" If it brings a negative outcome, don't do it, because it will always come back to you. Karma is the only law for me that works. And when it's positive, it comes back to you in the same way.

What would you wish for yourself and what would you wish for the younger generation?

Not to resign on their uniqueness. That's their greatest value. Seeking value in what we wear, in what we can do in the job field, those are external things.

But the individuality with which we approach dressing up or the passion with which we approach work, that's us. That's our uniqueness.

At the moment they embrace this uniqueness, they will cherish it, they will be satisfied with themselves and will give the same space to others, I think we can expect a good future thanks to them. But I do not believe children will save us.

I think the ball is in the parents' court. Because they have the future of this world in front of them, and if they approach it responsibly, so that they make it clear to those children that they are here for them, as their partners, that support, and at the same time they don't put up with stuff, they don't get fooled by a piece of bread.

They will show that they are willing to enter some discomfort. The problem is when, for example, your superior comes to you as an ordinary employee and says: "here is green meat and you just coat it more and sell it to people." You take it, wrap it, and sell it to those children. And that's the problem when you sell it to them. We are willing to serve evil. There will always be evil somewhere, but neither Hitler nor Stalin, if they did not have those people who obey those orders, even though they disagree, and kill that person even though, as a father, I perceive that on the other side it is also a father and yet I will kill him anyway. Then there will be wars.

If there is no one to shoot, there will be no one here who will be shot. And on this I am a total pacifist, idealist. Until we find peace in ourselves, we will not have peace outside. And until we start aiming at ourselves and stop aiming at ourselves, we will not live in a happy world.

Source: original article, own questioning