The Philosophy of Equilibrium

One of the many underrated movies of the 21st century is ‘Equilibrium’. It explores the tensions between Romanticism and Rationalism, at the fundamental base of this movie is the battle of two ideas in their raw and formidable form, attempting to swallow the other’s existence. Rationalism has triumphed with the priests of reason and science on its side. Romanticism is persecuted for its very existence and the poets of emotions and feelings have been banished from the grand palace of the fictional Librian State where peace reigns. Emotion is subdued by haughty reason under its authority. The rationalist locates the source of Man’s inhumanity to man in his very ability to feel. That trait which distinguishes humans from other species is specifically categorised as the source of all evil, of all world wars, of all chaos. His feelings must not only be curtailed but eradicated from his psyche. He must cultivate a certain degree of obliviousness towards his true humanity so that he is not indicted of the crime against humanity, of ‘sense offending’ as the Librian State proscribes.



The grotesque attempt to granulate and grasp the imminent mathematical equation and chemical formula that seeks to locate peace in the quantifiable term has been tried by the Librian State. Such a ghastly attempt under the banners of Rationalism and Utilitarianism is carried through the courageous conviction that the establishment of peace should be the sole aim of any civilization. The pathological hatred towards the activities which elevate humanity to a higher plane and the aversion towards human emotion is the only doctrine that is accepted and promoted by the State. Every kind of virtue is forced to languish; the only virtue that can flourish in the State is the virtue of unquestionable obedience and submission to the authority, to the Father.

The will of the Father and the will of the State are indistinguishable from each other. The good citizen of Librian State must submit to the will of The Father. The Father is not accessible to the ordinary, not even to those above in the hierarchy who form the class of warrior elite like John Preston(Christian Bale), who has distinguished himself as one who can effortlessly know if someone is feeling. The inaccessibility of the Father is maintained to create the illusion of the rule of The Father, who has died long ago and now Dupont functions as the head of the Tetragrammaton Council at his place, chosen by the council.

John Preston ( Christian Bale)

The rule of the Father is run by the tenets of Rationalism. When the third world war ends, he establishes a new state where he is determined to bring heaven to the earth. The rationalist spectator that resides in his heart is tempted to superficially observe that this epidemic disease of feeling must be cured. He is aware and recognises the power that feelings wield upon mankind, thus he assumes the function of tutelage to the citizens since birth and prevents the germination of emotions. This disease of human emotion can be identified with the symptoms of which we’re told are hate, rage, anger and war. We’re told that human emotion has been overcome through scientific genius, the culmination of which is a drug called Prozium which regulates the emotions of humans in the desired way. Peace is declared to be guiding aim of this unavoidable endeavour since the aftereffects of war have been so tremendous that this is the only way to achieve the illusion of peace.



The feelings of jealousy, rage, hate and melancholy; the deep impulses which may trouble humans are anesthesized through the use of Prozium. It liberates the citizens of Libria from pathos, from feelings. It is acknowledged that the feelings of joy and love have also been obliterated and It is held as a fair sacrifice for the sake of the greater good of mankind, as Utilitarianism reigns supreme. There is no feeling of grief and sorrow, there is no pain and suffering, all made possible through the magic wand of Prozium. Man has become fearful of his emotions. He has grown weary of listening to the agonies of his soul. The rationalist’s solution is to send the human soul to an undisturbed sleep so it no longer bothers him to think and feel about anything. The only thing that matters here is his existence. The existence itself contains no meaning but to serve the State and perpetuate it further. The absolute extinction of human emotion is underway. A profound indifference to morality and religion sways society. Honour doesn’t matter, because no one can believe in its existence anymore. Everything is sold and bought. There is no speculation of anything other than the ways to gratify one’s passions and senses and preserve one’s existence at the same time.



Like feelings, Wars and murders are illegal in the Librian State, unless it is the rebels and sense offenders in question. The Orwellian doublethink is necessary to preserve the auspice of the State, the unsustainablity of the stratagems of the State is visible to Preston’s first partner, and this truth becomes later accessible to Preston with the unfolding of events that start with him killing his colleague friend and missing the Prozium drug.

When Preston’s colleague is found reading the poems of Yeats, or as Librian law describes “sense offending”, by Preston, both know his fate is sealed and he will be executed. Preston says sorry to him. But words like sorry don’t mean anything to him; the meaning has been stripped out of its existence. It can be said but can’t be felt genuinely. Words serve merely as functions, not as signifiers of feelings. Emptiness lurks at the corner of every activity as nothingness prevails. Even the band of modern robots shall feel ashamed of the citizens of the Librian State, in so far as their mechanical aspect of the conversation is concerned.

The abolishment of friendship is only the beginning. We soon discover that the affection that a husband has for his wife, or vice versa, is absent in Libria. It is not absent because both have grown apart from each other and have become progressively indifferent to each other’s fate. It is absent because the germination of emotions and feelings is associated with the onset of terrible disasters such as wars and terrorism that inflict mankind. Preston’s wife has passionately loved him. She has been arrested in front of him for the “sense offense” she has committed . He does nothing to prevent this despairing affair but to sorrowfully stare at her. This suffering is inscribed in his memory, unconsciously. His rationalism doesn’t and cannot explain why he feels an agonised longing for his wife in her never-ending absence and why this longing has not lessened with time. The inevitable act of her execution is known to him, he knows that his desire to possess his wife is not possible in this world, and there is no gain by speculating over the life they had. Yet, he persists, his dreams of her persist. He feels her absence at night when he sleeps alone; he helplessly stares at the side of the bed, which once used to be filled by her presence.



Rationalists dismiss the contemplation over the vague feeling of love that has been lost irretrievably, as a feeling utterly unworthy to have. It is of no benefit; rather, it invites pain and suffering from which one must remain aloof. The messy truth of human nature tortures the rationalist’s mind. He, therefore, tends to bury it rather than confront it. He is unable to bear the interest humans can show for love, therefore constraints must be imposed on it. Marriage is present but only in the absence of lofty feelings that constitute it. Family is present but it is prohibited to feel and fight for the family member, even for the spouse. He wants to love but only through certain scientific theories and abstract philosophical investigations which have been adequately proven and empirically verified by the scientists writing blogs at the topmost academic journals. He cannot conceive of any elevated feeling within human beings that doesn’t emanate from his immediate selfish concerns and material ends. The feeling of love can only be understood as a subtle deception, as an artifice of affection which has no firm ground whatsoever.





There is a scene where the order of the burning of the painting of Monalisa is carried out by the officers of the State. Such order emanates not from the disdain towards art, but rather from the breeding of indifference towards it. The rationalist ardently holds the belief that There’s a lack of distinction between any great work of art and the random Toddler’s scribbling on the cardboard. Indeed, he has no conception of art itself, and the distinctions of great and mediocre are to him non- existent. Any recognition of art and distinction of taste is suspect of the crime of feeling. The rationalist’s understanding of art is based not on his ignorance but his indifference.



In the Librian State, mirror frames are illegal and destined to be destroyed when found. A relatively innocuous object as a mirror is deemed dangerous by the State for a very simple reason; they produce within humans a distinct sense of self that must be annihilated for the larger unity of whole. A Mirror is an object of contemplation of the self, the seed of individuality is shaped and strengthened through its use, and henceforth, it is awfully dreaded by the State as a potential to produce human emotion. Mirror is also considered as an object that is used in private. Privacy is regarded as a threat, everything is depersonalised. The herd-like conformity is expected and enforced. Each can confidently say and do whatever they want, just with the small caveat that it must be within the bounds of the Librian State laws. The excruciating experience of making friends and gradually revealing their personalities to each other is unheard of as the knowledge about each other is secured by the State and transmitted via data to save them any kind of trouble beforehand. There is no conception of the presence of thrill and adventure in discovering the other person over time, discovering their uniqueness and weirdness.



The arc of Vera Nikolaevna in Turgenev’s ‘Faust’ is undergone here by John Preston . Both are introduced to a new world that is more profound and more powerful than the former. Like Vera is initiated through Goethe’s Faust, Preston dawns upon the recording of Beethoven’s symphonies which sends his soul into a delightful melancholic experience. Now, Preston has fallen for Mary, a sense offender, who is to be executed in the immediate future. He intends to secure her safety as he remembers his failure to protect his wife, the guilt of which still shudders him. The task to secure Mary’s safety is doomed, he fails once again. The catastrophic loss is difficult to bear for him, he is much perturbed but this strengthens his belief in the newfound mission to liberate Libria from the Rule of the Father. He has resolved to shake off the life of complacency and submission. The radical departure from the past has devastating consequences for both characters. Vera becomes sick, and eventually, we’re informed of her death. Here, Preston has to face the totalitarian state and confront death, for that is the price one must pay to be able to preserve his humaneness, and he pays it gladly.



Concludingly, the vanity of Rationalism to think of itself as infallible shall be discarded. The merits of its application in every endeavour are fruitless, even disastrous to the peace of the world, which is proclaimed to be its aim. It must be asserted that Romanticism and rationalism can co- exist, that Faith and science can live in harmony with each other. We must outgrow the newly minted superstitious belief that both spheres are completely exclusive of each other, a historically incorrect supposition. The world without art and faith may triumph in the near future, but it shall only be achieved at the Faustian bargain of the attributes which compose the essence of humanity.