Lipton’s Journal/January 31, 1955/325

Give-and-take. It is the life process which dominates, which characterizes every living movement. A static universe would be void of give-and-take. The essence of life movement is in the give-and-take. Naturally, this must be seen in all of its complexity. No human alive—not to mention other kinds of life—is ever simply a giver or a taker, but giving and taking predominate in various parts of the person.

So it’s suggested that the fat man for instance takes but cannot give in certain emotional ways. Basic kinds of emotional energy cannot be expended. The result is that it is stored as fat. As a corollary of this, the act of going on a diet bespeaks a profound desire to alter one’s approach to life.

For implicit in all I’ve written up to now is the idea that the psyche knows the state of the body, knows why a part functions well or badly. And a diet works or does not work in proportion as the person is profoundly ready or not ready to alter their condition. (A very frustrating thing here. As I sat down to write the note, my ideas were much bigger, much more exciting, than what I have put down here. At the last moment they deserted me. One thing I noticed over the weekend is that my S is beginning to work overtime.)