Gunter Grass, the Tin Drum, neurosis, William James, and means and ends

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Gunter Grass, from The Tin Drum: his character Oskar shows a child who can defend himself from the will of adults. If children really could defend themselves from adults (before indoctrination), where would tradition be? Tradition is the outcome of dominance and submission.

Neurosis is a virtue. A man may simply have the choice between neurosis and its concomitant genius, or peace of mind and its concomitant mediocrity.

On the argument against disparaging 'feverish fantasies': 103 or 104 degrees farenheit might be a much more favorable body temperature for truths to germinate and sprout within the individual, rather than the ordinary 97 or so degrees.

On the need to judge ends and not means: William James, on religious experience: "By their fruits ye shall know them, not by their roots."

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These selected fragments are excerpted from unpublished writings by Jack Haas; selections from the notebooks 1990-2005.