When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel Of Obsession

Also, he now alludes to the methods he uses to help himself—for example his “perspective-changing” approach in which he views himself from a more distant, cosmic perspective. He’s right: if we view our trivial situation from the long skein of our lives, from the life of the whole race, from the evolution of consciousness, of course it loses its ove

“perhaps symptoms are messengers of a meaning and will vanish only when their message is comprehended. If so, our next step is obvious: if we are to conquer the symptoms, we must determine what the Bertha obsession means to you!”

I must change his trivial misery back into the noble misery it once was.

Just as surgeons must first learn anatomy, the future “Angst doctor” must first understand the relationship between the one who counsels and the one who is counseled. And, if I am to contribute to the science of such counseling, I must learn to observe the counseling relationship just as objectively as the pigeon’s brain.

“Not to take possession of your life plan is to let your existence be an accident.”

The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud.

“Life—a spark between two voids. A nice image, Josef. And isn’t it strange how we are so preoccupied with the second void and never think upon the first?”

If we cannot embrace our own aloneness, we will simply use the other as a shield against isolation.

“You yourself taught me that we are each composed of many parts, each clamoring for expression. We can be held responsible only for the final compromise, not for the wayward impulses of each of the parts. Your so-called selfishness is forgivable precisely because you care enough about me to share it with me now.