Winter, 1942: Laboratories of the Soul

Laboratories of the soul: "Where essences are manufactured which defeat ugliness, poverty, debts, humiliations, defeats."

Epidemic of hatred: "The worse the state of the world grows, the more intensely I seek to create an inner and intimate world in which certain qualities may be preserved."

Selection of proofs: "Because a businessman's sympathies were with capitalism, he managed to see and hear only what made capitalism seem justified."

What is essential: "The actual world would be vital if people knew what is essential, but they confuse the actual with contingencies and petty immediacies, fads, fashions, modes, mores, all of them evanescent, puerile, futile."

The meaning of the unconscious: "I wanted to unravel the meaning of the unconscious and bring it into consciousness so that our very life could be lived in harmony with its fertile, unending richness. By unearthing the unconscious, one found an infinite source of creativity, and the problem lay simply in how well, how eloquently to express the rich diggings."

Detective story: "The most intricate and fascinating detective story in the world is the tracking down of incidents and misinterpretations which create a distortion of reality. Neurosis plants only the seeds of death in every relationship. The magic consists in the fact that the changes you affect within yourself in turn affect others. Anxiety breeds anxiety, doubt breeds doubt, fear breeds fear. As you get free of yours, there is a chain reaction on all those around and close to you. Tranquility is contagious, peace is contagious. There is the contagion of serenity and joy."

The dream: "Something always eludes the scientist, the poets, the stargazers, the biologists, the anthropologists. Something eludes the informers, detectives, police, lawyers. It is the dream. And what lies in the deformed mirrors of the dream and haunts our sleep is the secret of everything."