these data raise a question as to whether there is not something
fundamentally wrong with our way of life and with the aims
toward which we are striving.
Could it be that the middle-class life of prosperity, while satis-
fying our material needs leaves us with a feeling of intense bore-
dom, and that suicide and alcoholism are pathological ways of
escape from this boredom? Could it be that these figures are a
drastic illustration for the truth of the statement that "man lives
not by bread alone," and that they show that modern civilization
fails to satisfy profound needs in man? If so, what are these
needs?
The following chapters are an attempt to answer this question,
and to arrive at a critical evaluation of the effect contemporary
Western culture has on the mental health and sanity of the
people living under our system. However, before we enter into
the specific discussion of these questions, it seems that we
should take up the general problem of the pathology of nor-
malcy, which is the premise underlying the whole trend of
thought expressed in this book.