The Easy Path Of Aging

It Is Impossible To See The Angel Unless You First Have A Notion Of It.

I Like To Imagine A Person's Psyche To Be Like A Boardinghouse Full Of Characters. The Ones Who Show Up Regularly And Who Habitually Follow The House Rules May Not Have Met Other Long-term Residents Who Stay Behind Closed Doors, Or Who Only Appear At Night. An Adequate Theory Of Character Must Make Room For Character Actors, For The Stuntmen And Animal Handlers, For All The Figures Who Play Bit Parts And Produce Unexpected Acts. They Often Make The Show Fateful, Or Tragic, Or Farcically Absurd.

Many Of Our Troubles Are Chronic. Life Is Chronic.

I Have Found That The Person With A Sense Of Story Built In From Childhood Is In Better Shape Than One Who Has Not Had Stories . . One Knows What Stories Can Do, How They Can Make Up Worlds And Transpose Existence Into These Worlds. . . .one Learns That Worlds Are Made By Words And Not Only By Hammers And Wires.

Many People Nowadays Who Discover That They Have A Major Symptom, Whether Psychological Or Physical, Begin To Study It. They Get Drawn Very Deeply Into The Area Of Their Trouble. They Want To Know More Than Their Doctor. That's A Curious Thing, And Not At All The Way It Used To Be.