Commonplace Book

'There is a very widely spread view, current in educational circles, that what we call "introspection" is a dangerous and immoral thing, a thing from which our youths and maidens ought to be protected. "Let them look out upon the world;" such pedants protest. "What have they to do with analyzing and dissecting their own minds? Let them study the works of God, and cultivate their bodies, and be sensible and happy." This is all part of that unfortunate craze for what is called being "healthy-minded." Introspection and analysis are supposed to be a prerogative of degenerate natures, of natures that spend their time in useless brooding because they are inefficient in action. It is a grotesque mistake. One does not read that Socrates was less courageous because he had the habit of falling into introspective trances, nor does it at all appear that, in the present war, all the daring and efficiency is monopolised by the healthy-minded.'

from Confessions by John Cowper Powys (Chapter II), in Confessions of Two Brothers by John Cowper Powys and Llewelyn Powys