| One has given such extraordinary importance to the unconscious. I wonder why. Of course, it’s the fashion – it has been introduced by analysts and psychologists. Why has man given such extraordinary importance to the unconscious? It is as stupid, as trivial, as nonsensical as the conscious. The unconscious is the past, the residue of racial inheritance and so on, as the conscious is. You can wipe away the whole of the unconscious with a single sweep when you realise the great importance of looking at things without an image – to look without the past. That means to look without fear. From Public Talk 1, Rome, 10 March 1968 Read more | 