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1003 Seestrasse, Küsnach-Zürich, 11 August 1910
Dear Professor Freud,
I realize now that my debut as regent has turned out less than brilliantly because of the resistances I contracted in Nuremberg to Adler
and Stekel. I shall try to do better next time. So far as the Vienna organ is concerned, I have encouraged everyone in my vicinity to collaborate and shall myself contribute to the first number—nothing much as my hands are pretty empty. It was only to be expected that Leonardo would meet with opposition since the intellectual freedom of this work far exceeds that of its predecessors. In the meantime, I have been reading about Leonardo so as to deepen my impression of your work and get down to the bed-rock—you are right on every point. If we can rely on the facts, it can only have been as you say. What the rabble say about it is neither here nor there; the thing is beautifully done and leads to exalted spheres of knowledge. Only simpletons will stumble over the difficulties of detail. It is a grim pleasure to be God knows how many decades ahead of these duffers.
I try to be as amiable with people as I can. But to get any results I would have to be on duty day and night. Hardly is my back turned than they start getting paranoid. This is not my fault, it's the fault of the progress of your ΨA. It is inevitable that a ray of light should break forth from occasional remarks, revealing the rapid advances in knowledge which till now we have enjoyed in silence. Each of these sparks is a threat and an insult in itself. I am well aware of that and am doing my best to keep quiet, but “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,”1 though rarely. I heartily agree that we went ahead too fast. Even among the “favourably disposed” there are far too many who haven't the faintest idea of what ΨA is really about and especially of its historical significance. My ear is now cocked at our adversaries; they are saying some very remarkable things which ought to open our ey