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It is very, very difficult to develop oneself harmoniously. We are not one, but a collection of parts, and the parts bicker, struggle for power, jostle for position. Very often, one gets out in front of the others, sometimes for a very long while, and the last thing that it wants is for there to be an overview, a higher vantage, from which our whole inner world, and the tumult and disorder therein, can be seen.

The intellect, the instincts of the body, the emotions, all have their jobs to do in a properly functioning organization, but we are not so well organized, and there is no-one in charge. In one moment the feelings are on top, in the next it is some idea or other; soon it will be the stomach, a little later the reproductive organs — each with their own wishes, their own aims. And what of our aim? Where are we amid this riot, this anarchy? We are gazing out the window, or sitting comfortably — we must always be comfortable — dozing, recalling the past, or imagining the future; or we are fast asleep, dreaming that we are awake, that we are in command. And meanwhile, the servants, dressed in our clothes, are painting the town red, and writing checks in our name.

2 Comments

  1. bob koepp says

    In short, the inmates are running the asylum — and not making a bad job of it!

    Posted March 1, 2007 at 11:27 am | Permalink
  2. Malcolm says

    No, I’d say they don’t do a very good job at all – they want one thing one moment, another the next; promise one thing and do another. The gardener is working in the kitchen, the cook in the stables, and when the telephone rings in the director’s office, it is answered by whoever happens to be stumbling by.

    Posted March 1, 2007 at 11:42 am | Permalink

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