“What would you like?” asked Doctor Ovale his companion. “An orange juice perhaps?”
“Oh, no, no orange juice, at least not today. I think it’ll take some time before I can drink it again,” said Vivien.
There was something curious in her answer.
“Are you at war with orange juice?” asked Doctor, Ovale smiling.
“Not really, in fact I love it but certain things can sometimes spoil even a pleasant drink like fresh orange juice.”
“Forget everything that could spoil your mood,” said Doctor Ovale.
“Is that possible?” asked Vivien.
“Perhaps it is,” said Doctor Ovale.
“But how?” asked Vivien.
The waitress didn’t want to interrupt them, because she herself wanted to hear how one could forget everything that might spoil one’s mood.
“Try to understand that life is a dream. When the dream is pleasant enjoy it; when it is unpleasant, remember that it is but a dream,” said Doctor Ovale.
“That instruction is absolutely great, I must not forget it,” said Vivien.
A happy smile flitted across the waitress’ face while she was quickly writing something down on the pad she was holding in her hands.
“What would you like instead of orange juice?” Doctor Ovale asked.
“I’ll take an ice-cream, two big balls of vanilla ice-cream and a tube-like biscuit, please,” said Vivien.
“Your order is a very original one, makes me curious. I’ll take the same,” said Doctor Ovale.
“You are a psychologist, aren’t you?” asked Vivien.
“You are perfectly right,” said Doctor Ovale smiling.
“What is the purpose of psychology?” asked Vivien.
“Well, I personally think that psychology should try to understand what the soul is and how it works. The word ‘psychology’ means, in fact, the science of the soul,” said Doctor Ovale.
“But what is the soul?” asked Vivien.
“I think it is something in us that consists of all our experiences and the expression of which are always our feelings. We are conscious of a large number of our experiences; however, the number of those experiences we are not conscious of is infinitely greater. Both conscious and unconscious experiences find their expression in our feelings and in our behaviour,” answered Doctor Ovale.
“All the definitions of the soul I have read so far didn’t make much sense. The definition you have just offered to me is the best one I know,” said Vivien.
“Thank you very much. I like to hear that. By talking to people who suffer from mental strain, psychologists try to find out the cause of the mental strain. If they manage to find the cause, they try to help people who suffer to get rid of that problem,” said Doctor Ovale.
“That sounds good but does it work, or is it just a nice theory, wishful thinking?” asked Vivien.
“Well, what can I say? We try, and if it doesn’t work we try again, we just keep trying,” answered Doctor Ovale.
“You said that the soul was something that consisted of all our experiences, didn’t you?” asked Vivien.
“Yes, I did,” said Doctor Ovale.
“But all our experiences make our whole life, don’t they?” asked Vivien.
“Yes, you can put it like that,” said Doctor Ovale.
“You said ‘we’ were conscious of some of our experiences and of some ‘we’ weren’t, didn’t you?” asked Vivien.
“Yes, that’s right,” confirmed Doctor Ovale.
“But who is that ‘we’ who is aware or not aware of something? From what you have said it seems to me that the ‘we’ and the sum of all our experiences is not the same thing,” said Vivien.
“I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that question; I have never thought about that before,” said Doctor Ovale. He felt a little embarrassed.
“Are body and soul two different things?” asked Vivien.
“I don’t know exactly, but I’m inclined to think that they are,” answered Doctor Ovale.
“Do they get separated when a person dies?” Vivien asked.
“Probably they do,” answered Doctor Ovale.
“Does the soul also disintegrate like the body?” asked Vivien.
“I’m not sure but I think it does,” answered Doctor Ovale.
“If I understand you correctly, the soul dies when the body dies,” said Vivien.
“That seems to be the case, but I’m not sure,” said Doctor Ovale.
“But then the soul doesn’t exist without the body, does it,” said Vivien
“That seems to be so,” said Doctor Ovale.
“If that is true, then the soul must be contained in or at least dependent on the body, mustn’t it,” said Vivien.
“You are probably right,” said Doctor Ovale.
“From what I have understood so far I have the impression that body and soul are not two different things but just two different ways of looking at the same thing,” said Vivien.
“That’s absolutely tremendous,” said Doctor Ovale.
“Well I don’t know if that is tremendous or not, but that’s the conclusion I came to after a long meditation during my captivity,” said Vivien.
“You asked me who or what was in fact meant by ‘we’ when used by people in conversation, didn’t you?” asked Doctor Ovale.
“That’s right,” answered Vivien.
“Have you perhaps found an answer to that question, too?” Doctor Ovale asked.
“I think I have,” Vivien answered.
“Please tell me,” asked Doctor Ovale.
“That is the point where the ways of body and soul ceaselessly meet. When we speak generally we say ‘we’, when people speak of themselves as an individual then they say ‘I’,” said Vivien.
“But where do the two ways meet?” asked Doctor Ovale.
“They meet in the tube,” Vivien said her fingers turning the brownish tube-like biscuit stuck upright between the two icecream balls.
“What do you mean by tube?” asked Doctor Ovale.
“That’s the tube in which both the way to and the way from, meet and blend,” answered Vivien.
“Would you please try to explain your idea in a different way, because I still do not understand what you mean by that magic tube?” asked Doctor Ovale.
“Paying attention to differences is creating the body, and that is one way of looking through the magic tube.
Neglecting differences is creating the soul, and that is another way of looking through the magic tube,” said Vivien.
“And what is consciousness?” asked Doctor Ovale.
“It is being acquainted with these two ways, these two directions, the direction of differences that creates the body and the direction of absence of differences that creates the soul,” answered Vivien.
“And