This interpretation does not cancel the features of con-
version; perhaps even the adult can be summoned back
to what he should be, but this is so difficult that such a
change could not be considered a mere return to human
nature. Whereas in the child the normal psychic charac-
teristics can easily emerge, and then all the conditions that
were deviations from the norm disappear together, just as
with restored health all the symptoms of illness vanish. If
we observe children in the light of this understanding, we
should very often be able to recognise spontaneous emer-
gences of normality even where the conditions of environ-
ment are unfavourable. And, though driven under because
unrecognised and unassisted, they return, as vital energies
that make a place for themselves in the midst of obstacles,
seeking to prevail. It might be said that the normal ener-
gies of the child teach us a lesson of forgiveness, as in the
words of Christ, "Thou shalt not forgive seven times, but
seventy times seven." Thus the deeper nature of the child
returns to the surface not seven times but seventy times seven,
however it be repressed by the adult. It is, therefore, not a
transitory episode of infant life that engulfs the characteristics
of normality, but a struggle due to continuous repression.

OBSERVING the features that disappear with normalization,
we find to our surprise that these embrace nearly the whole
of what are considered characteristics of childhood. Not

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