Forest Hills, New York
March 23, 1950
My dear Neill:
I have your letter of March 18. It sounded sad again, but I
know the next one will be more cheerful, and I know that you will tum
up at Orgonon together with Ena and Zoe sometime in July.
May I repeat my suggestion that you do not waste time and effort
with lecturing unless the occasion is an important and satisfying one.
Don't let the depression overtake you. The world has not come to an
end with Attlee and Bevin or even with Stalin. On the contrary, I have
the feeling that we are just beginning to see new light against the back
ground of the ghastly ignorant liberators, but I admit that at times
things look quite bleak. Please let me know how things develop with you.
Summerhill School
Leiston, Suffolk
My dear Reich,
- • •
March 27, 1950Just got your letter by air mail. All very well, friend, to say
don't lecture, but unless the Haymes seminar comes off with a good fee
in dollars, I can never pay our expenses. Come we must though by
hook or by crook. So much I want to talk over with you ... especially
about the devil. Your explanation of him· is new and penetrating, but I
am still troubled about his dual personality, for just as God is the
creator of the universe and the old man who forbids sex life, so the devil
seems to me to be two guys, the one who approves of joy in life,
dancing, card playing, theatres, ungloomy Sundays, and the guy who
makes people cut throats or torture Jews. "The Devil has all the best
Tunes," is a very old phrase, possibly dating back to a much less
armored civilisation.
End of term is in a week and then we'll get some rest. I don't know
how long Ena can go on being sucked dry for 8 months of the year. I
feel likewise but not so much as she does, for to be a mother to about
90 people who demand all day long is most exhausting. And we never
get anyone who will take on responsibility.
- In Ether, God and Devil.