  In 1970 Kurt Symanzik proposed a "precarious" phi**4-theory with a negative
quartic coupling constant as a valid candidate for an asymptotically free
theory of strong interactions. Symanzik's deep insight in the non-trivial
properties of this theory has been overruled since then by the Hermitian
intuition of generations of scientists, who considered or consider this
actually non-Hermitian highly important theory to be unstable. This short -
certainly controversial - communication tries to shed some light on the
historical and formalistic context of Symanzik's theory in order to sharpen our
(quantum) intuition about non-perturbative theoretical physics between
(non)triviality and asymptotic freedom.
