Resources » KM Today Blog » 5 Apr 1922
5 April 1922
Im interested in what you say of Wyndham L. [Lewis] Ive heard so very very much about him from Anne Rice and Violet Schiff .Yes I too admire his line tremendously. Its beautifully obedient to his wishes. But its queer I feel that as an artist in spite of his passions and his views and all that he lacks a real centre. Ill tell you what I mean. It sounds personal but one can't help that: we can only speak of what we have learnt. It seems to me that what one aims at is to work with ones mind and one's soul together. By soul I mean that ‘thing' that makes the mind really important. I always picture it like this. My mind is a very complicated, capable instrument. But the interior is dark. It can work in the dark & throw off all kinds of things. But behind that instrument like a very steady gentle light is the soul. And its only when the soul radiates the mind that what one does matters. . .What I aim at is that state of mind when I feel my soul and my mind are one. Its awfully terribly difficult to get at. Only solitude will do it for me - But I feel Wyndham Lewis would be inclined to call the soul tiddley ompom. It's a mystery, anyway. One aims at perfection - knows one will never achieve it and goes on aiming as though one knew the exact contrary.
[To Dorothy Brett, 4 April 1922.]