[Undated - 1960]

The solution of any problem must be regarded as having been faulty in the first instance if the consequence is neurosis. And yet the solution was a victory for right, moral right; and the victory consolidated the ‘rightness’ and morality of the part of the personality that triumphed. The triumphant part is included in the super-ego; it is the morality of the super-ego that is challenged, just as it is the ‘id-ity’ of the id that is challenged by the super-ego. The pain of readjustment consists in having to admit that the ‘unworthy’ part of the personality was right. The ‘wicked’ triumph – but make things worse by triumphing on the home ground as it were, in the realm of morality itself. The victorious aspect of the personality writes the history books, but the victorious side varies considerably from time to time. Unsale-able books, unreadable and unread papers do not constitute a social component; the thinker must be a man of action. The physical act of writing and carrying through all the other acts, up to and including public-ation, constitutes being a man of action for the writer.