J’s Diary Entry

Tuesday, 9 May 1995

“For those who live neither with religious consolations about death nor with a sense of death (or of anything else) as natural, death is the obscene mystery, the ultimate affront, the thing that cannot be controlled.  It can only be denied.  A large part of the popularity and persuasiveness of psychology comes from its being a sublimated spiritualism: a secular, ostensibly scientific way of affirming the primacy of ‘spirit’ over matter. “

“Illness as a Metaphor” by Susan Sontag

This is from “Illness as a Metaphor” by Susan Sontag that I borrowed from the library.  It’s great, really interesting.  Especially that line “psychology… being a sublimated spiritualism.”  that is so true, I had never thought of this.  It’s almost revelatory – I think that way about psychology.  I tend to think it’s the be-all and end-all, and that all the answers are there.  It’s really made me think.   It’s so valid.