A man had two daughters. He was not a bad man. If, during a weekend visit to his office with his daughter, he put on a gorilla mask to scare her, then he did it for only a few minutes and only because fear is an invigorating emotion. The daughter was four years old.

If he threw his younger daughter into the deep end of the pool, or a friend’s dog into a lake against the owner’s wishes during a walk it was only to give an occasion to the child or the dog to learn that they could swim. The younger daughter was two years old at the time. She sank to the bottom of the pool like a stone and worked her way up to the surface. Stupid people stood around looking alarmed as if something was wrong. The man knew that swimming is a natural ability in animals and small children.

People did not understand that hunger and cold and fear were clean natural sensations that would wake a body up without causing damage. It was good to get that jolt from time to time to remember that you were alive! The man believed in putting a drop of tabasco on the tongues of babies to expose them to a new and strong sensation. Over-sensitive mothers would stop him. The dog owner friend had displayed an unpleasant and quarrelsome side of his personality even though his dog could swim fine, just like the man had foretold. The man had not wanted to hurt the dog in any way. He was not a bad man.

If the man threw his older daughter out of the house with her one year-old child it was because he felt confident that she could make it on her own. He wanted to give her the opportunity to prove it.

In this way, the man’s daughters learned that the strength grows not from being supported but from the removal of support.