“Neurosis was caused by our attempt to separate physical and metaphysical levels, to set them up in opposition to each other, thus engaging in an internecine war. If it is true that we do live on several levels simultaneously- drama and action, past and present, personal and collective- we are given ways to unify them: one by religion, the other by art. Separating such levels is only necessary when they conflict, and separation is a result of conflict. Seeing how these levels can work together in harmony is the task of our contemporary writers.”

—  Anaïs Nin , book The Novel of the Future

The Novel of the Future (1969)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Neurosis was caused by our attempt to separate physical and metaphysical levels, to set them up in opposition to each o…" by Anaïs Nin?
Anaïs Nin photo
Anaïs Nin 278
writer of novels, short stories, and erotica 1903–1977

Related quotes

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo

“Whenever you become separated from God, you must think about it in the spiritual way, and not on a physical level.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“…there are individual ways that we work our way through all of these systems that are corrosive and inescapable. But if there is a solution to the system itself, it’s at a collective level. It’s the level of policy and politics, it’s not at the level of individual choice.”

Jia Tolentino (1988) American writer and editor

On why her book Trick Mirror offers no solutions in “Jia Tolentino: What It’s Like Being the Most Talked About Millennial Writer” https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/11896/jia-tolentino-trick-mirror-book-interview-new-yorker-staff-writer-2019 in AnOther (2019 Sep 15)

Julian Schwinger photo

“Is the purpose of theoretical physics to be no more than a cataloging of all the things that can happen when particles interact with each other and separate? Or is it to be an understanding at a deeper level in which there are things that are not directly observable (as the underlying quantized fields are) but in terms of which we shall have a more fundamental understanding?”

Julian Schwinger (1918–1994) American theoretical physicist

Quantum Mechanics - Symbolism of Atomic Measurements (2001) p. 24 f.

“We attempt to use the phenomenologist's approach to arrive at personalized constructs which have a wide range of meaning for the given individual; then we attempt to piece together this high-level type of data with what we know about other persons.”

George Kelly (psychologist) (1905–1967) American psychologist and therapist

Source: The Psychology of Personal Constructs, 1955, p. 455

Lama Ole Nydahl photo

“A generous relationship rarely knows dramas. One is happy when the partner is happy. And one is happy when growing on three levels: on the physical level, which gives love, material things, and protection; on the inner level— through compassion and wisdom—which provides the motivation for development; and on a deep-lying, secret level where both partners enrich themselves with the qualities of the other and increasingly find their center.”

Lama Ole Nydahl (1941) Danish lama

Buddha & Love: Timeless Wisdom for Modern Relationships (2012)

Ramnath Goenka photo

“During the British rule the war was only at the political level. Now, the war descends to a personal level, that is the difference.”

Ramnath Goenka (1904–1991) Indian politician

Ramnath Goenka’s rare Interview

Shigeru Miyamoto photo

“When we’re doing an action game, we make the second level first. We begin making level 1 once everything else is completed.”

Shigeru Miyamoto (1952) Japanese video game designer and producer

Source: http://gamasutra.com/view/news/175791/A_free_tip_from_Miyamoto_Make_your_first_level_last.php

Julie Taymor photo

“You can do things that would bring people to another place and still get someone on a very daily mundane moving level but you don't have to separate art from the masses.”

Julie Taymor (1952) American film and theatre director

Bill Moyers interview (2002)
Context: I used to say that arts were talked about in the arts and leisure page. Now, why would it be arts and leisure? Why do we think that arts are leisure? Why isn't it arts and science or arts and the most important thing in your life? I think that art has become a big scarlet letter in our culture.
It's a big "A." And it says, you are an elitist, you're effete, or whatever those things... do you know what I mean? It means you don't connect. And I don't believe that. I think we've patronized our audiences long enough.
You can do things that would bring people to another place and still get someone on a very daily mundane moving level but you don't have to separate art from the masses.

Eli Siegel photo

“A person is separate from all other things and together with all other things. To understand opposites in a self, the meaning of together and separate must be seen (this meaning is like that of same and different).”

Eli Siegel (1902–1978) Latvian-American poet, philosopher

Self and World (1957)

Related topics