from the ,google ,print project47       
,,reflections ,,on ,,war ,,and ,,death  
,,reflections ,,on ,,war ,,and ,,death  
,by ,,professor ,,dr4 ,,sigmund ,,freud1
 ,,ll4,d4  ,authorized ,english         
,translation ,by  ,,dr4 ,a4 ,a4 ,,brill 
and ,,alfred ,b4 ,,kuttner              
,illustration3 colophon  ,,moffat1      
,,yard ,,and ,,company ,,new ,,york     
#aiah  ,copyright1 #aiah1 by ,,moffat1  
,,yard1 ,,and ,,company   ,this book is 
offered to the ,american public at the  
present time in the hope that it may    
contribute something to the cause of    
international understanding and good    
will which has become the hope of the   
world4  ,,the ,,translators4            
,,reflections ,,on ,,war ,,and ,,death  
,i  ,,the ,,disappointments ,,of ,,war  
,caught in the whirlwind of these war   
times1 without any real information or  
any perspective upon the great changes  
that have already occurred or are about 
to be enacted1 lacking all premonition  
of the future1 it is small wonder that  

we ourselves become confused as to the  
meaning of impressions which crowd in   
upon us or of the value of the judgments
 we are forming4 ,it would seem as      
though no event had ever destroyed so   
much of the precious heritage of        
mankind1 confused so many of the        
clearest intellects or so thoroughly    
debased what is highest4  ,even science 
has lost her dispassionate impartiality4
 ,her deeply embittered votaries are    
intent upon seizing her weapons to do   
their share in the battle against the   
enemy4 ,the anthropologist has to       
declare his opponent inferior and       
degenerate1 the psychiatrist must       
diagnose him as mentally deranged4 ,yet 
it is probable that we are affected out 
of all proportion by the evils of these 
times and have no right to compare them 
with the evils of other times through   
which we have not lived4  ,the          
individual who is not himself a         
combatant and therefore has not become a
 cog in the gigantic war machinery1     

feels confused in his bearings and      
hampered in his activities4 ,i think any
 little suggestion that will make it    
easier for him to see his way more      
clearly will be welcome4 ,among the     
factors which cause the stay-at-home so 
much spiritual misery and are so hard to
 endure there are two in particular     
which ,i should like to emphasize and   
discuss4 ,i mean the disappointment that
 this war has called forth and the      
altered attitude towards death to which 
it1 in common with other wars1 forces   
us4  ,when ,i speak of disappointment   
everybody knows at once what ,i mean4   
,one need not be a sentimentalist1 one  
may realize the biological and          
physiological necessity of suffering in 
the economy of human life1 and yet one  
may condemn the methods and the aims of 
war and long for its termination4 ,to be
 sure1 we used to say that wars cannot  
cease as long as nations live under such
 varied conditions1 as long as they     
place such different values upon the    

individual life1 and as long as the     
animosities which divide them represent 
such powerful psychic forces4 ,we were  
therefore quite ready to believe that   
for some time to come there would be    
wars between primitive and civilized    
nations and between those divided by    
color1 as well as with and among the    
partly enlightened and more or less     
civilized peoples of ,europe4 ,but we   
dared to hope differently4 ,we expected 
that the great ruling nations of the    
white race1 the leaders of mankind1 who 
had cultivated world wide interests1 and
 to whom we owe the technical progress  
in the control of nature as well as the 
creation of artistic and scientific     
cultural standards--we expected that    
these nations would find some other way 
of settling their differences and       
conflicting interests4  ,each of these  
nations had set a high moral standard to
 which the individual had to conform if 
he wished to be a member of the         
civilized community4  ,these frequently 

over strict precepts demanded a great   
deal of him1 a great self-restraint and 
a marked renunciation of his impulses4  
,above all he was forbidden to resort to
 lying and cheating1 which are so       
extraordinarily useful in competition   
with others4 ,the civilized state       
considered these moral standards the    
foundation of its existence1 it         
drastically interfered if anyone dared  
to question them and often declared it  
improper even to submit them to the test
 of intellectual criticism4 ,it was     
therefore assumed that the state itself 
would respect them and would do nothing 
that might contradict the foundations of
 its own existence4 ,to be sure1 one was
 aware that scattered among these       
civilized nations there were certain    
remnants of races that were quite       
universally disliked1 and were therefore
 reluctantly and only to a certain      
extent permitted to participate in the  
common work of civilization where they  
had proved themselves sufficiently fit  

for the task4 ,but the great nations    
themselves1 one should have thought1 had
 acquired sufficient understanding for  
the qualities they had in common and    
enough tolerance for their differences  
so that1 unlike in the days of classical
 antiquity1 the words foreign and       
hostile should no longer be synonyms4   
,trusting to this unity of civilized    
races countless people left hearth and  
home to live in strange lands and       
trusted their fortunes to the friendly  
relations existing between the various  
countries4 ,and even he who was not tied
 down to the same spot by the exigencies
 of life could combine all the          
advantages and charms of civilized      
countries into a newer and greater      
fatherland which he could enjoy without 
hindrance or suspicion4 ,he thus took   
delight in the blue and the grey ocean1 
the beauty of snow clad mountains and of
 the green lowlands1 the magic of the   
north woods and the grandeur of southern
 vegetation1 the atmosphere of          

landscapes upon which great historical  
memories rest1 and the peace of         
untouched nature4 ,the new fatherland   
was to him also a museum1 filled with   
the treasure that all the artists of the
 world for many centuries had created   
and left behind4 ,while he wandered from
 one hall to another in this museum he  
could give his impartial appreciation to
 the varied types of perfection that had
 been developed among his distant       
compatriots by the mixture of blood1 by 
history1 and by the peculiarities of    
physical environment4 ,here cool1       
inflexible energy was developed to the  
highest degree1 there the graceful art  
of beautifying life1 elsewhere the sense
 of law and order1 or other qualities   
that have made man master of the earth4 
,we must not forget that every civilized
 citizen of the world had created his   
own special ,parnassus and his own      
,school of ,athens4 ,among the great    
philosophers1 poets1 and artists of all 
nations he had selected those to whom he

 considered himself indebted for the    
best enjoyment and understanding of     
life1 and he associated them in his     
homage both with the immortal ancients  
and with the familiar masters of his own
 tongue4 ,not one of these great figures
 seemed alien to him just because he    
spoke in a different language2 be it the
 incomparable explorer of human passions
 or the intoxicated worshiper of beauty1
 the mighty and threatening seer or the 
sensitive scoffer1 and yet he never     
reproached himself with having become an
 apostate to his own nation and his     
beloved mother tongue4  ,the enjoyment  
of this common civilization was         
occasionally disturbed by voices which  
warned that in consequence of           
traditional differences wars were       
unavoidable even between those who      
shared this civilization4 ,one did not  
want to believe this1 but what did one  
imagine such a war to be like if it     
should ever come about8 ,no doubt it was
 to be an opportunity to show the       

progress in man's community feeling     
since the days when the ,greek          
amphictyonies had forbidden the         
destruction of a city belonging to the  
league1 the felling of her oil trees and
 the cutting off of her water supply4   
,it would be a chivalrous bout of arms  
for the sole purpose of establishing the
 superiority of one side or the other   
with the greatest possible avoidance of 
severe suffering which could contribute 
nothing to the decision1 with complete  
protection for the wounded1 who must    
withdraw from the battle1 and for the   
physicians and nurses who devote        
themselves to their care4 ,with every   
consideration1 of course1 for           
noncombatants1 for the women who are    
removed from the activities of war1 and 
for the children who1 when grown up1 are
 to become friends and co-workers on    
both sides4 ,and with the maintenance1  
finally1 of all the international       
projects and institutions in which the  
civilized community of peace times had  

expressed its corporate life4  ,such a  
war would still be horrible enough and  
full of burdens1 but it would not have  
interrupted the development of ethical  
relations between the large human units1
 between nations and states4 ,but the   
war in which we did not want to believe 
broke out and brought--disappointment4  
,it is not only bloodier and more       
destructive than any foregoing war1 as a
 result of the tremendous development of
 weapons of attack and defense1 but it  
is at least as cruel1 bitter1 and       
merciless as any earlier war4 ,it places
 itself above all the restrictions      
pledged in times of peace1 the so-called
 rights of nations1 it does not         
acknowledge the prerogatives of the     
wounded and of physicians1 the          
distinction between peaceful and        
fighting members of the population1 or  
the claims of private property4 ,it     
hurls down in blind rage whatever bars  
its way1 as though there were to be no  
future and no peace after it is over4   

,it tears asunder all community bonds   
among the struggling peoples and        
threatens to leave a bitterness which   
will make impossible any                
re-establishment of these ties for a    
long time to come4  ,it has also brought
 to light the barely conceivable        
phenomenon of civilized nations knowing 
and understanding each other so little  
that one can turn from the other with   
hate and loathing4 ,indeed one of these 
great civilized nations has become so   
universally disliked that it is even    
attempted to cast it out from the       
civilized community as though it were   
barbaric1 although this very nation has 
long proved its eligibility through     
contribution after contribution of      
brilliant achievements4 ,we live in the 
hope that impartial history will furnish
 the proof that this very nation1 in    
whose language ,i am writing and for    
whose victory our dear ones are         
fighting1 has sinned least against the  
laws of human civilization4 ,but who is 

privileged to step forward at such a    
time as judge in his own defense8       
,races are roughly represented by the   
states they form and these states by the
 governments which guide them4 ,the     
individual citizen can prove with dismay
 in this war what occasionally thrust   
itself upon him already in times of     
peace1 namely1 that the state forbids   
him to do wrong not because it wishes to
 do away with wrongdoing but because it 
wishes to monopolize it1 like salt and  
tobacco4 ,a state at war makes free use 
of every injustice1 every act of        
violence1 that would dishonor the       
individual4 ,it employs not only        
permissible cunning but conscious lies  
and intentional deception against the   
enemy1 and this to a degree which       
apparently outdoes what was customary in
 previous wars4 ,the state demands the  
utmost obedience and sacrifice of its   
citizens1 but at the same time it treats
 them as children through an excess of  
secrecy and a censorship of news and    

expression of opinion which render the  
minds of those who are thus             
intellectually repressed defenseless    
against every unfavorable situation and 
every wild rumor4 ,it absolves itself   
from guarantees and treaties by which it
 was bound to other states1 makes       
unabashed confession of its greed and   
aspiration to power1 which the          
individual is then supposed to sanction 
out of patriotism4  ,let the reader not 
object that the state cannot abstain    
from the use of injustice because it    
would thereby put itself at a           
disadvantage4 ,for the individual1 too1 
obedience to moral standards and        
abstinence from brutal acts of violence 
are as a rule very disadvantageous1 and 
the state but rarely proves itself      
capable of indemnifying the individual  
for the sacrifice it demands of him4    
,nor is it to be wondered at that the   
loosening of moral ties between the     
large human units has had a pronounced  
effect upon the morality of the         

individual1 for our conscience is not   
the inexorable judge that teachers of   
ethics say it is2 it has its origin in  
nothing but social fear4 ,wherever the  
community suspends its reproach the     
suppression of evil desire also ceases1 
and men commit acts of cruelty1         
treachery1 deception1 and brutality1 the
 very possibility of which would have   
been considered incompatible with their 
level of culture4  ,thus the civilized  
world-citizen of whom ,i spoke before   
may find himself helpless in a world    
that has grown strange to him when he   
sees his great fatherland disintegrated1
 the possessions common to mankind      
destroyed1 and his fellow citizens      
divided and debased4  ,nevertheless     
several things might be said in         
criticism of his disappointment4        
,strictly speaking it is not justified1 
for it consists in the destruction of an
 illusion4 ,illusions commend themselves
 to us because they save us pain and    
allow us to enjoy pleasure instead4 ,we 

must therefore accept it without        
complaint when they sometimes collide   
with a bit of reality against which they
 are dashed to pieces4  ,two things have
 roused our disappointment in this war3 
the feeble morality of states in their  
external relations which have inwardly  
acted as guardians of moral standards1  
and the brutal behavior of individuals  
of the highest culture of whom one would
 not have believed any such thing       
possible4  ,let us begin with the second
 point and try to sum up the view which 
we wish to criticise in a single compact
 statement4 ,through what process does  
the individual reach a higher stage of  
morality8 ,the first answer will        
probably be3 ,he is really good and     
noble from birth1 in the first place4   
,it is hardly necessary to give this any
 further consideration4 ,the second     
answer will follow the suggestion that a
 process of development is involved here
 and will probably assume that this     
development consists in eradicating the 

evil inclinations of man and            
substituting good inclinations under the
 influence of education and cultural    
environment4 ,in that case we may indeed
 wonder that evil should appear again so
 actively in persons who have been      
educated in this way4  ,but this answer 
also contains the theory which we wish  
to contradict4 ,in reality there is no  
such thing as eradicating evil4         
,psychological1 or strictly speaking1   
psychoanalytic investigation proves1 on 
the contrary1 that the deepest character
 of man consists of impulses of an      
elemental kind which are similar in all 
human beings1 the aim of which is the   
gratification of certain primitive      
needs4 ,these impulses are in themselves
 neither good or evil4 ,we classify them
 and their manifestations according to  
their relation to the needs and demands 
of the human community4 ,it is conceded 
that all the impulses which society     
rejects as evil1 such as selfishness and
 cruelty1 are of this primitive nature4 

,these primitive impulses go through a  
long process of development before they 
can become active in the adult4 ,they   
become inhibited and diverted to other  
aims and fields1 they unite with each   
other1 change their objects and in part 
turn against one's own person4 ,the     
formation of reactions against certain  
impulses give the deceptive appearance  
of a change of content1 as if egotism   
had become altruism and cruelty had     
changed into sympathy4 ,the formation of
 these reactions is favored by the fact 
that many impulses appear almost from   
the beginning in contrasting pairs2 this
 is a remarkable state of affairs called
 the ambivalence of feeling and is quite
 unknown to the layman4 ,this feeling is
 best observed and grasped through the  
fact that intense love and intense hate 
occur so frequently in the same person4 
,psychoanalysis goes further and states 
that the two contrasting feelings not   
infrequently take the same person as    
their object4  ,what we call the        

character of a person does not really   
emerge until the fate of all these      
impulses has been settled1 and          
character1 as we all know1 is very      
inadequately defined in terms of either 
good or evil4 ,man is seldom entirely   
good or evil1 he is good on the whole in
 one respect and evil in another1 or    
good under certain conditions1 and      
decidedly evil under others4 ,it is     
interesting to learn that the earlier   
infantile existence of intense bad      
impulses is often the necessary         
condition of being good in later life4  
,the most pronounced childish egotists  
may become the most helpful and         
self-sacrificing citizens2 the majority 
of idealists1 humanitarians1 and        
protectors of animals have developed    
from little sadists and animal          
tormentors4  ,the transformation of evil
 impulses is the result of two factors  
operating in the same sense1 one        
inwardly and the other outwardly4 ,the  
inner factor consists in influencing the

 evil or selfish impulses through erotic
 elements1 the love needs of man        
interpreted in the widest sense4 ,the   
addition of erotic components transforms
 selfish impulses into social impulses4 
,we learn to value being loved as an    
advantage for the sake of which we can  
renounce other advantages4 ,the outer   
factor is the force of education which  
represents the demands of the civilized 
environment and which is then continued 
through the direct influence of the     
cultural milieu4  ,civilization is based
 upon the renunciation of impulse       
gratification and in turn demands the   
same renunciation of impulses from every
 newcomer4 ,during the individual's life
 a constant change takes place from     
outer to inner compulsion4 ,the         
influences of civilization work through 
the erotic components to bring about the
 transformation of more and more of the 
selfish tendencies into altruistic and  
social tendencies4 ,we may indeed assume
 that the inner compulsion which makes  

itself felt in the development of man   
was originally1 that is1 in the history 
of mankind1 a purely external           
compulsion4 ,today people bring along a 
certain tendency 7disposition7 to       
transform the egotistic into social     
impulses as a part of their hereditary  
organization1 which then responds to    
further slight incentives to complete   
the transformation4 ,a part of this     
transformation of impulse must also be  
made during life4 ,in this way the      
individual man is not only under the    
influence of his own contemporary       
cultural milieu but is also subject to  
the influences of his ancestral         
civilization4  ,if we call a person's   
individual capacity for transforming his
 egotistical impulses under the         
influence of love his cultural          
adaptability1 we can say that this      
consists of two parts1 one congenital   
and the other acquired1 and we may add  
that the relation of these two to each  
other and to the untransformed part of  

the emotional life is a very variable   
one4  ,in general we are inclined to    
rate the congenital part too highly1 and
 are also in danger of over-valuing the 
whole cultural adaptability in its      
relation to that part of the impulse    
life which has remained primitive1 that 
is1 we are misled into judging people to
 be better than they really are4 ,for   
there is another factor which clouds our
 judgment and falsifies the result in   
favor of what we are judging4  ,we are  
of course in no position to observe the 
impulses of another person4 ,we deduce  
them from his actions and his conduct1  
which we trace back to motives springing
 from his emotional life4 ,in a number  
of cases such a conclusion is           
necessarily incorrect4 ,the same actions
 which are good in the civilized sense  
may sometimes originate in noble motives
 and sometimes not4 ,students of the    
theory of ethics call only those acts   
good which are the expression of good   
impulses and refuse to acknowledge      

others as such4 ,but society is on the  
whole guided by practical aims and does 
not bother about this distinction2 it is
 satisfied if a man adapts his conduct  
and his actions to the precepts of      
civilization and asks little about his  
motives4  ,we have heard that the outer 
compulsion which education and          
environment exercise upon a man brings  
about a further transformation of his   
impulse life for the good1 the change   
from egotism to altruism4 ,but this is  
not the necessary or regular effect of  
the outer compulsion4 ,education and    
environment have not only love premiums 
to offer but work with profit premiums  
of another sort1 namely rewards and     
punishments4 ,they can therefore bring  
it about that a person subject to their 
influence decides in favor of good      
conduct in the civilized sense without  
any ennobling of impulse or change from 
egotistic into altruistic inclinations4 
,on the whole the consequence remains   
the same2 only special circumstances    

will reveal whether the one person is   
always good because his impulses compel 
him to be so while another person is    
good only in so far as this civilized   
behavior is of advantage to his selfish 
purposes4 ,but our superficial knowledge
 of the individual gives us no means of 
distinguishing the two cases1 and we    
shall certainly be misled by our        
optimism into greatly over-estimating   
the number of people who have been      
transformed by civilization4  ,civilized
 society1 which demands good conduct and
 does not bother about the impulse on   
which it is based1 has thus won over a  
great many people to civilized obedience
 who do not thereby follow their own    
natures4 ,encouraged by this success1   
society has permitted itself to be      
misled into putting the ethical demands 
as high as possible1 thereby forcing its
 members to move still further from     
their emotional dispositions4 ,a        
continual emotional suppression is      
imposed upon them1 the strain of which  

is indicated by the appearance of the   
most remarkable reactions and           
compensations4  ,in the field of        
sexuality1 where such suppression is    
most difficult to carry out1 it results 
in reactions known as neurotic ailments4
 ,in other fields the pressure of       
civilization shows no pathological      
results but manifests itself in         
distorted characters and in the constant
 readiness of the inhibited impulses to 
enforce their gratification at any      
fitting opportunity4  ,anyone thus      
forced to react continually to precepts 
that are not the expressions of his     
impulses lives1 psychologically         
speaking1 above his means1 and may be   
objectively described as a hypocrite1   
whether he is clearly conscious of this 
difference or not4 ,it is undeniable    
that our contemporary civilization      
favors this sort of hypocrisy to an     
extraordinary extent4 ,one might even   
venture to assert that it is built upon 
such a hypocrisy and would have to      

undergo extensive changes if man were to
 undertake to live according to the     
psychological truth4 ,there are         
therefore more civilized hypocrites than
 truly cultured persons1 and one can    
even discuss the question whether a     
certain amount of civilized hypocrisy is
 not indispensable to maintain          
civilization because the already        
organized cultural adaptability of the  
man of today would perhaps not suffice  
for the task of living according to the 
truth4 ,on the other hand the           
maintenance of civilization even on such
 questionable grounds offers the        
prospect that with every new generation 
a more extensive transformation of      
impulses will pave the way for a better 
civilization4  ,these discussions have  
already afforded us the consolation that
 our mortification and painful          
disappointment on account of the        
uncivilized behavior of our fellow world
 citizens in this war were not          
justified4 ,they rested upon an illusion

 to which we had succumbed4 ,in reality 
they have not sunk as deeply as we      
feared because they never really rose as
 high as we had believed4 ,the fact that
 states and races abolished their mutual
 ethical restrictions not unnaturally   
incited them to withdraw for a time from
 the existing pressure of civilization  
and to sanction a passing gratification 
of their suppressed impulses4 ,in doing 
so their relative morality within their 
own national life probably suffered no  
rupture4  ,but we can still further     
deepen our understanding of the change  
which this war has brought about in our 
former compatriots and at the same time 
take warning not to be unjust to them4  
,for psychic evolution shows a          
peculiarity which is not found in any   
other process of development4 ,when a   
town becomes a city or a child grows    
into a man1 town and child disappear in 
the city and in the man4 ,only memory   
can sketch in the old features in the   
new picture2 in reality the old         

materials and forms have been replaced  
by new ones4 ,it is different in the    
case of psychic evolution4 ,one can     
describe this unique state of affairs   
only by saying that every previous stage
 of development is preserved next to the
 following one from which it has        
evolved2 the succession stipulates a    
co-existence although the material in   
which the whole series of changes has   
taken place remains the same4  ,the     
earlier psychic state may not have      
manifested itself for years but         
nevertheless continues to exist to the  
extent that it may some day again become
 the form in which psychic forces       
express themselves1 in fact the only    
form1 as though all subsequent          
developments had been annulled and made 
regressive4 ,this extraordinary         
plasticity of psychic development is not
 without limits as to its direction2 one
 can describe it as a special capacity  
for retrograde action or regression1 for
 it sometimes happens that a later and  

higher stage of development that has    
been abandoned cannot be attained again4
 ,but the primitive conditions can      
always be reconstructed2 the primitive  
psyche is in the strictest sense        
indestructible4  ,the so-called mental  
diseases must make the impression on the
 layman of mental and psychic life      
fallen into decay4 ,in reality the      
destruction concerns only later         
acquisitions and developments4 ,the     
nature of mental diseases consists in   
the return to former states of the      
affective life and function4 ,an        
excellent example of the plasticity of  
the psychic life is the state of sleep1 
which we all court every night4  ,since 
we know how to interpret even the       
maddest and most confused dreams1 we    
know that every time we go to sleep we  
throw aside our hard won morality like a
 garment in order to put it on again in 
the morning4 ,this laying bare is1 of   
course1 harmless1 because we are        
paralyzed and condemned to inactivity by

 the sleeping state4  ,only the dream   
can inform us of the regression of our  
emotional life to an earlier stage of   
development4 ,thus1 for instance1 it is 
worthy of note that all our dreams are  
governed by purely egotistic motives4   
,one of my ,english friends once        
presented this theory to a scientific   
meeting in ,america1 whereupon a lady   
present made the remark that this might 
perhaps be true of ,austrians1 but she  
ventured to assert for herself and her  
friends that even in dreams they always 
felt altruistically4 ,my friend1        
although himself a member of the        
,english race1 was obliged to contradict
 the lady energetically on the basis of 
his experience in dream analysis4 ,the  
noble ,americans are just as egotistic  
in their dreams as the ,austrians4  ,the
 transformation of impulses upon which  
our cultural adaptability rests can     
therefore also be permanently or        
temporarily made regressive4 ,without   
doubt the influences of war belong to   

those forces which can create such      
regressions2 we therefore need not deny 
cultural adaptibility to all those who  
at present are acting in such an        
uncivilized manner1 and may expect that 
the refinement of their impulses will   
continue in more peaceful times4  ,but  
there is perhaps another symptom of our 
fellow citizens of the world which has  
caused us no less surprise and fear than
 this descent from former ethical       
heights which has been so painful to us4
 ,i mean the lack of insight that our   
greatest intellectual leaders have      
shown1 their obduracy1 their            
inaccessibility to the most impressive  
arguments1 their uncritical credulity   
concerning the most contestable         
assertions4 ,this certainly presents a  
sad picture1 and ,i wish expressly to   
emphasize that ,i am by no means a      
blinded partisan who finds all the      
intellectual mistakes on one side4 ,but 
this phenomenon is more easily explained
 and far less serious than the one which

 we have just considered4 ,students of  
human nature and philosophers have long 
ago taught us that we do wrong to value 
our intelligence as an independent force
 and to overlook its dependence upon our
 emotional life4 ,according to their    
view our intellect can work reliably    
only when it is removed from the        
influence of powerful incitements2      
otherwise it acts simply as an          
instrument at the beck and call of our  
will and delivers the results which the 
will demands4 ,logical argumentation is 
therefore powerless against affective   
interests2 that is why arguing with     
reasons which1 according to ,falstaff1  
are as common as blackberries1 are so   
fruitless where our interests are       
concerned4 ,whenever possible           
psychoanalytic experience has driven    
home this assertion4 ,it is in a        
position to prove every day that the    
cleverest people suddenly behave as     
unintelligently as defectives as soon as
 their understanding encounters         

emotional resistance1 but that they     
regain their intelligence completely as 
soon as this resistance has been        
overcome4 ,this blindness to logic which
 this war has so frequently conjured up 
in just our best fellow citizens1 is    
therefore a secondary phenomenon1 the   
result of emotional excitement and      
destined1 we hope1 to disappear         
simultaneously with it4  ,if we have    
thus come to a fresh understanding of   
our estranged fellow citizens we can    
more easily bear the disappointment     
which nations have caused us1 for of    
them we must only make demands of a far 
more modest nature4 ,they are perhaps   
repeating the development of the        
individual and at the present day still 
exhibit very primitive stages of        
development with a correspondingly slow 
progress towards the formation of higher
 unities4 ,it is in keeping with this   
that the educational factor of an outer 
compulsion to morality1 which we found  
so active in the individual1 is barely  

perceptible in them4 ,we had indeed     
hoped that the wonderful community of   
interests established by intercourse and
 the exchange of products would result  
in the beginning of such a compulsion1  
but it seems that nations obey their    
passions of the moment far more than    
their interests4 ,at most they make use 
of their interests to justify the       
gratification of their passions4  ,it is
 indeed a mystery why the individual    
members of nations should disdain1 hate1
 and abhor each other at all1 even in   
times of peace4 ,i do not know why it   
is4 ,it seems as if all the moral       
achievements of the individual were     
obliterated in the case of a large      
number of people1 not to mention        
millions1 until only the most primitive1
 oldest1 and most brutal psychic        
inhibitions remained4  ,perhaps only    
later developments will succeed in      
changing these lamentable conditions4   
,but a little more truthfulness and     
straightforward dealing on all sides1   

both in the relation of people towards  
each other and between themselves and   
those who govern them1 might smooth the 
way for such a change4     ,,ii  ,,our  
,,attitude ,,towards ,,death   ,it      
remains for us to consider the second   
factor of which ,i have already spoken  
which accounts for our feeling of       
strangeness in a world which used to    
seem so beautiful and familiar to us4 ,i
 refer to the disturbance in our former 
attitude towards death4  ,our attitude  
had not been a sincere one4 ,to listen  
to us we were1 of course1 prepared to   
maintain that death is the necessary    
termination of life1 that everyone of us
 owes nature his death and must be      
prepared to pay his debt1 in short1 that
 death was natural1 undeniable1 and     
inevitable4 ,in practice we were        
accustomed to act as if matters were    
quite different4 ,we have shown an      
unmistakable tendency to put death      
aside1 to eliminate it from life4 ,we   
attempted to hush it up1 in fact1 we    

have the proverb3 to think of something 
as of death4 ,of course we meant our own
 death4 ,we cannot1 indeed1 imagine our 
own death2 whenever we try to do so we  
find that we survive ourselves as       
spectators4 ,the school of              
psychoanalysis could thus assert that at
 bottom no one believes in his own      
death1 which amounts to saying3 in the  
unconscious every one of us is convinced
 of his immortality4  ,as far as the    
death of another person is concerned    
every man of culture will studiously    
avoid mentioning this possibility in the
 presence of the person in question4    
,only children ignore this restraint2   
they boldly threaten each other with the
 possibility of death1 and are quite    
capable of giving expression to the     
thought of death in relation to the     
persons they love1 as1 for instance3    
,dear ,mama1 when unfortunately1 you are
 dead1 ,i shall do so and so4 ,the      
civilized adult also likes to avoid     
entertaining the thought of another's   

death lest he seem harsh or unkind1     
unless his profession as a physician or 
a lawyer brings up the question4 ,least 
of all would he permit himself to think 
of somebody's death if this event is    
connected with a gain of freedom1       
wealth1 or position4 ,death is1 of      
course1 not deferred through our        
sensitiveness on the subject1 and when  
it occurs we are always deeply affected1
 as if our expectations had been        
shattered4 ,we regularly lay stress upon
 the unexpected causes of death1 we     
speak of the accident1 the infection1 or
 advanced age1 and thus betray our      
endeavor to debase death from a         
necessity to an accident4 ,a large      
number of deaths seems unspeakably      
dreadful to us4 ,we assume a special    
attitude towards the dead1 something    
almost like admiration for one who has  
accomplished a very difficult feat4 ,we 
suspend criticism of him1 overlooking   
whatever wrongs he may have done1 and   
issue the command1 de mortuis nil nisi  

bene3 we act as if we were justified in 
singing his praises at the funeral      
oration1 and inscribe only what is to   
his advantage on the tombstone4 ,this   
consideration for the dead1 which he    
really no longer needs1 is more         
important to us than the truth and to   
most of us1 certainly1 it is more       
important than consideration for the    
living4  ,this conventional attitude of 
civilized people towards death is made  
still more striking by our complete     
collapse at the death of a person       
closely related to us1 such as a parent1
 a wife or husband1 a brother or sister1
 a child or a dear friend4 ,we bury our 
hopes1 our wishes1 and our desires with 
the dead1 we are inconsolable and refuse
 to replace our loss4 ,we act in this   
case as if we belonged to the tribe of  
the ,asra who also die when those whom  
they love perish4#a  ,but this attitude 
of ours towards death exerts a powerful 
influence upon our lives4 ,life becomes 
impoverished and loses its interest when

 life itself1 the highest stake in the  
game of living1 must not be risked4 ,it 
becomes as hollow and empty as an       
,american flirtation in which it is     
understood from the beginning that      
nothing is to happen1 in contrast to a  
continental love affair in which both   
partners must always bear in mind the   
serious consequences4 ,our emotional    
ties1 the unbearable intensity of our   
grief1 make us disinclined to court     
dangers for ourselves and those         
belonging to us4 ,we do not dare to     
contemplate a number of undertakings    
that are dangerous but really           
indispensable1 such as aeroplane        
flights1 expeditions to distant         
countries1 and experiments with         
explosive substances4 ,we are paralyzed 
by the thought of who is to replace the 
son to his mother1 the husband to his   
wife1 or the father to his children1    
should an accident occur4 ,a number of  
other renunciations and exclusions      
result from this tendency to rule out   

death from the calculations of life4    
,and yet the motto of the ,hanseatic    
,league said3 ,navigare necesse est1    
vivere non necesse3 ,it is necessary to 
sail the seas1 but not to live4  ,it is 
therefore inevitable that we should seek
 compensation for the loss of life in   
the world of fiction1 in literature1 and
 in the theater4 ,there we still find   
people who know how to die1 who are even
 quite capable of killing others4 ,there
 alone the condition for reconciling    
ourselves to death is fulfilled1 namely1
 if beneath all the vicissitudes of life
 a permanent life still remains to us4  
,it is really too sad that it may happen
 in life as in chess1 where a false move
 can force us to lose the game1 but with
 this difference1 that we cannot begin a
 return match4 ,in the realm of fiction 
we find the many lives in one for which 
we crave4 ,we die in identification with
 a certain hero and yet we outlive him  
and1 quite unharmed1 are prepared to die
 again with the next hero4  ,it is      

obvious that the war must brush aside   
this conventional treatment of death4   
,death is no longer to be denied2 we are
 compelled to believe in it4 ,people    
really die and no longer one by one1 but
 in large numbers1 often ten thousand in
 one day4 ,it is no longer an accident4 
,of course1 it still seems accidental   
whether a particular bullet strikes this
 man or that but the survivor may easily
 be struck down by a second bullet1 and 
the accumulation of deaths ends the     
impression of accident4 ,life has indeed
 become interesting again2 it has once  
more received its full significance4    
,let us make a division here and        
separate those who risk their lives in  
battle from those who remain at home1   
where they can only expect to lose one  
of their loved ones through injury1     
illness1 or infection4 ,it would        
certainly be very interesting to study  
the changes in the psychology of the    
combatants but ,i know too little about 
this4 ,we must stick to the second      

group1 to which we ourselves belong4 ,i 
have already stated that ,i think the   
confusion and paralysis of our          
activities from which we are suffering  
is essentially determined by the fact   
that we cannot retain our previous      
attitude towards death4 ,perhaps it will
 help us to direct our psychological    
investigation to two other attitudes    
towards death1 one of which we may      
ascribe to primitive man1 while the     
other is still preserved1 though        
invisible to our consciousness1 in the  
deeper layers of our psychic life4  ,the
 attitude of prehistoric man towards    
death is1 of course1 known to us only   
through deductions and reconstructions1 
but ,i am of the opinion that these have
 given us fairly trustworthy            
information4  ,primitive man maintained 
a very curious attitude towards death4  
,it is not at all consistent but rather 
contradictory4 ,on the one hand he took 
death very seriously1 recognized it as  
the termination of life1 and made use of

 it in this sense2 but1 on the other    
hand1 he also denied death and reduced  
it to nothingness4 ,this contradiction  
was made possible by the fact that he   
maintained a radically different        
position in regard to the death of      
others1 a stranger or an enemy1 than in 
regard to his own4 ,the death of another
 person fitted in with his idea1 it     
signified the annihilation of the hated 
one1 and primitive man had no scruples  
against bringing it about4 ,he must have
 been a very passionate being1 more     
cruel and vicious than other animals4   
,he liked to kill and did it as a matter
 of course4 ,nor need we attribute to   
him the instinct which restrains other  
animals from killing and devouring their
 own species4  ,as a matter of fact the 
primitive history of mankind is filled  
with murder4 ,the history of the world  
which is still taught to our children is
 essentially a series of race murders4  
,the dimly felt sense of guilt under    
which man has lived since archaic times1

 and which in many religions has been   
condensed into the assumption of a      
primal guilt1 a hereditary sin1 is      
probably the expression of a blood      
guilt1 the burden of which primitive man
 assumed4 ,in my book entitled ,totem   
and ,taboo1 #aiac1 ,i have followed the 
hints of ,w4 ,robertson ,smith1         
,atkinson1 and ,charles ,darwin in the  
attempt to fathom the nature of this    
ancient guilt1 and am of the opinion    
that the ,christian doctrine of today   
still makes it possible for us to work  
back to its origin4#b  ,if the ,son of  
,god had to sacrifice his life to       
absolve mankind from original sin1 then1
 according to the law of retaliation1   
the return of like for like1 this sin   
must have been an act of killing1 a     
murder4 ,nothing else could call for the
 sacrifice of a life in expiation4 ,and 
if original sin was a sin against the   
,god ,father1 the oldest sin of mankind 
must have been a patricide--the killing 
of the primal father of the primitive   

human horde1 whose memory picture later 
was transfigured into a deity4#c        
,primitive man was as incapable of      
imagining and realizing his own death as
 any one of us are today4 ,but a case   
arose in which the two opposite         
attitudes towards death clashed and came
 into conflict with each other1 with    
results that are both significant and   
far reaching4 ,such a case was given    
when primitive man saw one of his own   
relatives die1 his wife1 child1 or      
friend1 whom he certainly loved as we do
 ours2 for love cannot be much younger  
than the lust for murder4 ,in his pain  
he must have discovered that he1 too1   
could die1 an admission against which   
his whole being must have revolted1 for 
everyone of these loved ones was a part 
of his own beloved self4 ,on the other  
hand again1 every such death was        
satisfactory to him1 for there was also 
something foreign in each one of these  
persons4 ,the law of emotional          
ambivalence1 which today still governs  

our emotional relations to those whom we
 love1 certainly obtained far more      
widely in primitive times4 ,the beloved 
dead had nevertheless roused some       
hostile feelings in primitive man just  
because they had been both friends and  
enemies4  ,philosophers have maintained 
that the intellectual puzzle which the  
picture of death presented to primitive 
man forced him to reflect and became the
 starting point of every speculation4 ,i
 believe the philosophers here think too
 philosophically1 they give too little  
consideration to the primary effective  
motive4 ,i should therefore like to     
correct and limit the above assertion2  
primitive man probably triumphed at the 
side of the corpse of the slain enemy1  
without finding any occasion to puzzle  
his head about the riddle of life and   
death4 ,it was not the intellectual     
puzzle or any particular death which    
roused the spirit of inquiry in man1 but
 the conflict of emotions at the death  
of beloved and withal foreign and hated 

persons4  ,from this emotional conflict 
psychology arose4 ,man could no longer  
keep death away from him1 for he had    
tasted of it in his grief for the       
deceased1 but he did not want to        
acknowledge it1 since he could not      
imagine himself dead4 ,he therefore     
formed a compromise and concealed his   
own death but denied it the significance
 of destroying life1 a distinction for  
which the death of his enemies had given
 him no motive4 ,he invented spirits    
during his contemplation of the corpse  
of the person he loved1 and his         
consciousness of guilt over the         
gratification which mingled with his    
grief brought it about that these first 
created spirits were transformed into   
evil demons who were to be feared4 ,the 
changes wrought by death suggested to   
him to divide the individual into body  
and soul1 at first several souls1 and in
 this way his train of thought          
paralleled the disintegration process   
inaugurated by death4 ,the continued    

remembrance of the dead became the basis
 of the assumption of other forms of    
existence and gave him the idea of a    
future life after apparent death4       
,these later forms of existence were at 
first only vaguely associated appendages
 to those whom death had cut off1 and   
enjoyed only slight esteem until much   
later times2 they still betrayed a very 
meagre knowledge4 ,the reply which the  
soul of ,achilles made to ,odysseus     
comes to our mind3      ,erst in the    
life on the earth1 no less than a god we
 revered thee1     ,we the ,achaeans2   
and now in the realm of the dead as a   
monarch     ,here thou dost rule2 then  
why should death thus grieve thee1      
,achilles8     ,thus did ,i speak3      
forthwith then answering thus he        
addressed me4     ,speak not smoothly of
 death1 ,i beseech1 ,o famous ,odysseus1
     ,better by far to remain on the    
earth as the thrall of another1         
,e'en of a portionless man that hath    
means right scanty of living1           

,rather than reign sole king in the     
realm of the bodiless phantoms4         
,odysseus ,,xi1 verse #dhd-dia          
,translated by ,h4 ,b4 ,coterill4       
,heine has rendered this in a forcible  
and bitter parody3      ,the smallest   
living philistine1     ,at ,stuckert on 
the ,neckar     ,is much happier than ,i
 am1     ,son of ,pelleus1 the dead     
hero1     ,shadowy ruler of the         
,underworld4  ,it was much later before 
religions managed to declare this       
after-life as the more valuable and     
perfect and to debase our mortal life to
 a mere preparation for the life to     
come4 ,it was then only logical to      
prolong our existence into the past and 
to invent former existences1            
transmigrations of souls1 and           
reincarnations1 all with the object of  
depriving death of its meaning as the   
termination of life4 ,it was as early as
 this that the denial of death1 which we
 described as the product of            
conventional culture1 originated4       

,contemplation of the corpse of the     
person loved gave birth not only to the 
theory of the soul1 the belief in       
immortality1 and implanted the deep     
roots of the human sense of guilt1 but  
it also created the first ethical laws4 
,the first and most important           
prohibition of the awakening conscience 
declared3 ,thou shalt not kill4 ,this   
arose as a reaction against the         
gratification of hate for the beloved   
dead which is concealed behind grief1   
and was gradually extended to the       
unloved stranger and finally also to the
 enemy4  ,civilized man no longer feels 
this way in regard to killing enemies4  
,when the fierce struggle of this war   
will have reached a decision every      
victorious warrior will joyfully and    
without delay return home to his wife   
and children1 undisturbed by thoughts of
 the enemy he has killed either at close
 quarters or with weapons operating at a
 distance4  ,it is worthy of note that  
the primitive races which still inhabit 

the earth and who are certainly closer  
to primitive man than we1 act           
differently in this respect1 or have so 
acted as long as they did not yet feel  
the influence of our civilization4 ,the 
savage1 such as the ,australian1 the    
,bushman1 or the inhabitant of ,terra   
del ,fuego1 is by no means a remorseless
 murderer2 when he returns home as      
victor from the war path he is not      
allowed to enter his village or touch   
his wife until he has expiated his war  
murders through lengthy and often       
painful penances4 ,the explanation for  
this is1 of course1 related to his      
superstition2 the savage fears the      
avenging spirit of the slain4 ,but the  
spirits of the fallen enemy are nothing 
but the expression of his evil          
conscience over his blood guilt2 behind 
this superstition there lies concealed a
 bit of ethical delicacy of feeling     
which has been lost to us civilized     
beings4#d  ,pious souls1 who would like 
to think us removed from contact with   

what is evil and mean1 will surely not  
fail to draw satisfactory conclusions in
 regard to the strength of the ethical  
impulses which have been implanted in us
 from these early and forcible murder   
prohibitions4 ,unfortunately this       
argument proves even more for the       
opposite contention4  ,such a powerful  
inhibition can only be directed against 
an equally strong impulse4 ,what no     
human being desires to do does not have 
to be forbidden1 it is self-exclusive4  
,the very emphasis of the commandment3  
,thou shalt not kill1 makes it certain  
that we are descended from an endlessly 
long chain of generations of murderers1 
whose love of murder was in their blood 
as it is perhaps also in ours4 ,the     
ethical strivings of mankind1 with the  
strength and significance of which we   
need not quarrel1 are an acquisition of 
the history of man2 they have since     
become1 though unfortunately in very    
variable quantities1 the hereditary     
possessions of people of today4  ,let us

 now leave primitive man and turn to the
 unconscious in our psyche4 ,here we    
depend entirely upon psychoanalytic     
investigation1 the only method which    
reaches such depths4 ,the question is   
what is the attitude of our unconscious 
towards death4 ,in answer we say that it
 is almost like that of primitive man4  
,in this respect1 as well as in many    
others1 the man of prehistoric times    
lives on1 unchanged1 in our conscious4  
,our unconscious therefore does not     
believe in its own death2 it acts as    
though it were immortal4 ,what we call  
our unconscious1 those deepest layers in
 our psyche which consist of impulses1  
recognizes no negative or any form of   
denial and resolves all contradictions1 
so that it does not acknowledge its own 
death1 to which we can give only a      
negative content4 ,the idea of death    
finds absolutely no acceptance in our   
impulses4 ,this is perhaps the real     
secret of heroism4 ,the rational basis  
of heroism is dependent upon the        

decision that one's own life cannot be  
worth as much as certain abstract common
 ideals4 ,but ,i believe that           
instinctive or impulsive heroism is much
 more frequently independent of such    
motivation and simply defies danger on  
the assurance which animated ,hans1 the 
stone-cutter1 a character in            
,anzengruber1 who always said to        
himself3 ,nothing can happen to me4 ,or 
that motivation only serves to clear    
away the hesitations which might        
restrain the corresponding heroic       
reaction in the unconscious4 ,the fear  
of death1 which controls us more        
frequently than we are aware1 is        
comparatively secondary and is usually  
the outcome of the consciousness of     
guilt4  ,on the other hand we recognize 
the death of strangers and of enemies   
and sentence them to it just as         
willingly and unhesitatingly as         
primitive man4 ,here there is indeed a  
distinction which becomes decisive in   
practice4 ,our unconscious does not     

carry out the killing1 it only thinks   
and wishes it4 ,but it would be wrong to
 underestimate the psychic reality so   
completely in comparison to the         
practical reality4 ,it is really        
important and full of serious           
consequences4  ,in our unconscious we   
daily and hourly do away with all those 
who stand in our way1 all those who have
 insulted or harmed us4 ,the expression3
 ,the devil take him1 which so          
frequently crosses our lips in the form 
of an ill-humored jest1 but by which we 
really intend to say1 ,death take him1  
is a serious and forceful death wish in 
our unconscious4 ,indeed our unconscious
 murders even for trifles2 like the old 
,athenian law of ,draco1 it knows no    
other punishment for crime than death1  
and this not without a certain          
consistency1 for every injury done to   
our all-mighty and self-glorifying self 
is at bottom a crimen laesae majestatis4
  ,thus1 if we are to be judged by our  
unconscious wishes1 we ourselves are    

nothing but a band of murderers1 just   
like primitive man4 ,it is lucky that   
all wishes do not possess the power     
which people of primitive times         
attributed to them4#e ,for in the cross 
fire of mutual maledictions mankind     
would have perished long ago1 not       
excepting the best and wisest of men as 
well as the most beautiful and charming 
women4  ,as a rule the layman refuses to
 believe these theories of              
psychoanalysis4 ,they are rejected as   
calumnies which can be ignored in the   
face of the assurances of consciousness1
 while the few signs through which the  
unconscious betrays itself to           
consciousness are cleverly overlooked4  
,it is therefore in place here to point 
out that many thinkers who could not    
possibly have been influenced by        
psychoanalysis have very clearly accused
 our silent thought of a readiness to   
ignore the murder prohibition in order  
to clear away what stands in our path4  
,instead of quoting many examples ,i    

have chosen one which is very famous4   
,in his novel1 ,pre ,goriot1 ,balzac    
refers to a place in the works of ,j4   
,j4 ,rousseau where this author asks the
 reader what he would do if1 without    
leaving ,paris and1 of course1 without  
being discovered1 he could kill an old  
mandarin in ,peking1 with great profit  
to himself1 by a mere act of the will4  
,he makes it possible for us to guess   
that he does not consider the life of   
this dignitary very secure4 ,to kill    
your mandarin has become proverbial for 
this secret readiness to kill1 even on  
the part of people of today4  ,there are
 also a number of cynical jokes and     
anecdotes which bear witness to the same
 effect1 such as the remark attributed  
to the husband3 ,if one of us dies ,i   
shall move to ,paris4 ,such cynical     
jokes would not be possible if they did 
not have an unavowed truth to reveal    
which we cannot admit when it is baldly 
and seriously stated4 ,it is well known 
that one may even speak the truth in    

jest4  ,a case arises for our           
consciousness1 just as it did for       
primitive man1 in which the two opposite
 attitudes towards death1 one of which  
acknowledges it as the destroyer of     
life1 while the other denies the reality
 of death1 clash and come into conflict4
 ,the case is identical for both1 it    
consists of the death of one of our     
loved ones1 of a parent or a partner in 
wedlock1 of a brother or a sister1 of a 
child or a friend4 ,these persons we    
love are on the one hand a part of our  
inner possessions and a constituent of  
our own selves1 but on the other hand   
they are also in part strangers and even
 enemies4 ,except in a few instances1   
even the tenderest and closest love     
relations also contain a bit of         
hostility which can rouse an unconscious
 death wish4 ,but at the present day    
this ambivalent conflict no longer      
results in the development of ethics and
 soul theories1 but in neuroses which   
also gives us a profound insight into   

the normal psychic life4 ,doctors who   
practice psychoanalysis have frequently 
had to deal with the symptom of over    
tender care for the welfare of relatives
 or with wholly unfounded self          
reproaches after the death of a beloved 
person4 ,the study of these cases has   
left them in no doubt as to the         
significance of unconscious death       
wishes4  ,the layman feels an           
extraordinary horror at the possibility 
of such an emotion and takes his        
aversion to it as a legitimate ground   
for disbelief in the assertions of      
psychoanalysis4 ,i think he is wrong    
there4 ,no debasing of our love life is 
intended and none such has resulted4 ,it
 is indeed foreign to our comprehension 
as well as to our feelings to unite love
 and hate in this manner1 but in so far 
as nature employs these contrasts she   
brings it about that love is always kept
 alive and fresh in order to safeguard  
it against the hate that is lurking     
behind it4 ,it may be said that we owe  

the most beautiful unfolding of our love
 life to the reaction against this      
hostile impulse which we feel in our    
hearts4  ,let us sum up what we have    
said4 ,our unconscious is just as       
inaccessible to the conception of our   
own death1 just as much inclined to kill
 the stranger1 and just as divided1 or  
ambivalent towards the persons we love  
as was primitive man4 ,but how far we   
are removed from this primitive state in
 our conventionally civilized attitude  
towards death6  ,it is easy to see how  
war enters into this disunity4 ,war     
strips off the later deposits of        
civilization and allows the primitive   
man in us to reappear4 ,it forces us    
again to be heroes who cannot believe in
 their own death1 it stamps all         
strangers as enemies whose death we     
ought to cause or wish2 it counsels us  
to rise above the death of those whom we
 love4 ,but war cannot be abolished2 as 
long as the conditions of existence     
among races are so varied and the       

repulsions between them are so vehement1
 there will have to be wars4 ,the       
question then arises whether we shall be
 the ones to yield and adapt ourselves  
to it4 ,shall we not admit that in our  
civilized attitude towards death we have
 again lived psychologically beyond our 
means8 ,shall we not turn around and    
avow the truth8 ,were it not better to  
give death the place to which it is     
entitled both in reality and in our     
thoughts and to reveal a little more of 
our unconscious attitude towards death  
which up to now we have so carefully    
suppressed8 ,this may not appear a very 
high achievement and in some respects   
rather a step backwards1 a kind of      
regression1 but at least it has the     
advantage of taking the truth into      
account a little more and of making life
 more bearable again4 ,to bear life     
remains1 after all1 the first duty of   
the living4 ,the illusion becomes       
worthless if it disturbs us in this4    
,we remember the old saying3            

,si vis pacem1 para bellum4     ,if you 
wish peace1 prepare for war4  ,the times
 call for a paraphrase3             ,si 
vis vitam1 para mortem4     ,if you wish
 life1 prepare for death4   ,,footnotes3
  #a ,compare ,heine's poem1 ,der ,asra1
 ,louis ,untermeyer's translation1 p4   
#bfi1 ,henry ,holt  ,co41 #aiag4  #b    
,totem and ,taboo1 translated by ,dr4   
,a4 ,a4 ,brill1 ,moffat1 ,yard  ,co41   
#aiah4  #c ,totem and ,taboo1 ,chapter  
,,iv4  #d ,totem and ,taboo1 ,chapter   
,,iv4  #e ,see ,totem and ,taboo1       
,chapter ,,iii4