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Pápa, December 31, 1914
Dear Professor,
So, let us pay homage to the ancient thought-magic and wish each other a happy New Year. If this magical practice had a metaphysical or physical background besides the metapsychological, then the total wish [Gesamtwunsch]
of so many unhappy and dissatisfied millions would this time have to condense into a fearsome power, which would move every obstacle to peace out of the way. Let us hope that even without the aid of such occult powers (which unfortunately don't manifest themselves anywhere) the spiritual and material exhaustion of all parties will soon manage to bring about an understanding. Looking back among the personal events of the year gone by, I must single out the few weeks of analysis with you as the most valuable. Despite their incompleteness, I note daily that you were nonetheless able to a certain extent to change my neurotic attitude, which has been evident for a number of years. This personal factor heightens—where possible—the gratitude that I otherwise owe the creator of psychoanalysis.
The last time we were together1 I was pleased about, in addition to your mental freshness and fruitfulness, also my own conduct; the directness and lack of inhibition in my relations with you is certainly a consequence of talking things out analytically.
The external fates which await us may impinge on you more than on me. You have to concern yourself with your life's work and your family, but I—despite my years—have still not reached anything definitive [das Definitivum], and I am still deeply mired in the juvenile—not to mention the infantile. Perhaps this chronic juvenilism keeps one from aging prematurely; certainly it hinders one from fulfilling one's personal and social task.
Let's leave the ruminating aside! I will proceed with the magic phrases and wish all your dear ones the best for the coming year.
May I send cordial and grateful regards from your lovingly devoted
Ferenczi
I will send the manuscript2 when the mail is less c