In memory of Doris Lessing and Clancy Sigal —
". . . along with [R. D.] Laing they formed 'a circle
of almost incestuous mutual influence . . . .' "
— Sam Roberts, The New York Times , July 21 obituary of Sigal
"Thus I would wish to emphasize that
our 'normal' 'adjusted' state is too often
the abdication of ecstasy,
the betrayal of our true potentialities,
that many of us are only too successful
in acquiring a false self
to adapt to false realities.
But let it stand.
This was the work of an old young man.
If I am older, I am now also younger."
— R. D. Laing, London, September 1964,
preface to the Pelican edition of
The Divided Self: An Existential Study
in Sanity and Madness (Penguin Books, 1965)
"My Back Pages," by Bob Dylan, Verse 3 —
Girls’ faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Un-thought of, though, somehow
[Refrain]
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now
— From an album released August 8, 1964