Everything I Have Out From The Library

Part II

The Uses of Enchantment

by Bruno Bettelheim

If you're feeling a little fragile, the first ten pages of this book will put you right in no time, Freud or no Freud. For instance:

"If we hope to live not just from moment to moment, but in true consciousness of our existence, then our greatest need and most difficult acheivement is to find meaning in our lives. It is well known how many have lost the will to live, and have stopped trying, because such meaning has evaded them. An understanding of the meaning of one's life is not suddenly acquired at a particular age, not even when one has reached chronological maturity. On the contrary, gaining a secure understanding of what the meaning of one's life may or ought to be - this is what constitutes having attained psychological maturity. And this achievement is the end result of a long development: at each age we seek, and must be able to find, some modicum of meaning congruent with how our minds and understanding have already developed.

"...To find deeper meaning, one must become able to transcend the narrow confines of a self-centred existence and believe that one will make a significant contribution to life - if not right now, then at some future time. This feeling is necessary if a person is to be satisfied with himself and with what he is doing. In order not to be at the mercy of the vagaries of life, one must develop one's inner resources, so that one's emotions, imagination, and intellect mutually support and enrich one another....

"...There is a widespread refusal to let children know that the source of much that goes wrong in life is due to our very own natures - the propensity of all men for acting aggressively, asocially, selfishly, out of anger and anxiety. Instead, we want our children to believe that, inherently, all men are good. But children know that they are not always good; and often, even when they are, they would prefer not to be. This contradicts what they are told by their parents, and therefore makes the child a monster in his own eyes.

"The dominant culture wishes to pretend, particularly where children are concerned, that the dark side of man does not exist, and professes a belief in an optimistic meliorism. Psychoanalysis itself is viewed as having the purpose of making life easy - but this is not what its founder intended. Psychoanalysis was created to enable man to accept the problematic nature of life without being defeated by it, or giving in to escapism. Freud's prescription is that only by struggling courageously against what seem like overwhelming odds can man succeed in wringing meaning out of his existence.

"This is exactly the message that fairy tales get across to the child in manifold form: that a struggle against severe difficulties in life is unavoidable, is an intrinsic part of human existence - but that if one does not shy away, but steadfastly meets unexpected and often unjust hardships, one masters all obstacles and at the end emerges victorious."

You knew all this already, didn't you? But it makes you feel better just hearing it again, doesn't it?

Safe and Simple Electrical Experiments

by Rudolf F. Graf

Less stellar than "Wires and Watts", but functional nonetheless. Published in 1964, with the cool fonts and illustrations that that implies. Experiment titles include "Hindu Thread Trick", "Surprise the Cat", "Rub for Your Light", "Let Us Make a Transformer", "How to Charge Your Friends to 10,000 Volts", and, most memorably, "The Worm Turns", in which the young scientist runs six volts of electricity through the body of a live earthworm, and notes the reaction. 'Ouch', would be my guess.