Zentrope

oldhollywood:

Psychology Today: Do you have any formal interest in psychology?

Werner Herzog: I loathe psychology as one of the major faults of our civilization nowadays. There’s something not right about this amount of introspection. I can only give you a metaphor: When you move into an apartment, you cannot start to illuminate every last corner with neon light. If there are no dark corners or hidden niches, your house becomes uninhabitable. Human beings who are trying to self-reflect and explore their innermost being to the last corner become uninhabitable people.

Psychology Today: Let’s not forget that psychology isn’t just about introspection; it can shed light on other people.

Herzog: No, you can understand others by other means. By dint of compassion, you understand other people, and there is a concordance of hearts. That is something different. Move away from psychology and engage in concordance of hearts.

(via, photo by Beat Presser)

I’ve no opinion on the efficacy of psychology (I think there have been some real strides, though, of the post-talking-cure kind of thing), but I really sympathize with what Herzog is saying, here. Too much analysis of any kind, of breaking things down into ever finer-grained categories, seems to do more harm than good.