cide to take a bath, the whole
drama of human freedom can be–
come quite hectic or for that mat–
ter quite boring. But eating is hard–
ly a matter of choice, except for
the menu itself, nor is breathing
which can be done not only with–
out taking thought but while one
is quite unconscious. As for mak–
ing love, taking a bath is a better
example because you can keep it
clean, simple, free of fixations,
perversions, inhibitions, and an
overpowering sense of guilt.
Now despite the fact that most
of the bathtubs which exist are in
America, some Americans are not
in the habit of taking baths for
granted. I know of one American
(formerly an existentialist, by the
way) who avoids taking frequent .
baths because he feels that the tak–
ing of a bath is an
extreme situa–
tion.
(He is not averse to using
existentialist arguments when it
suits his purpose, theugh in com–
pany he attacks existentialism) . He
says that taking a bath is an ex–
treme situation because God knows
what may occur to you when you
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are in the tub, you may decide to
drown yourself because existence,
as existentialists say, is essentially
absurd;
you may decide to become
a narcissist because of the pleasures
of the warm and loving water; you
may decide to join the Roman
Catholic Church because it too is
quite comforting and comfortable.
But there's no use listing all the
catastrophes this fellow thinks may
occur to anyone in the extreme
situation of taking a bath.
So too with the bathtaking of a
close friend of mine, who finds
the taking of baths a matter of no
little thought. He takes two baths
a day, but he has to force himself
to do so because there are so many
other more important things to do
(so it seems to him!) or which he
feels he ought to do during the
time occupied in taking a bath
(note how the question of moral
value enters at this point). It is a
matter for much thought also be–
cause he has to decide whether to
take a bath or a shower. He is
afraid that sooner of later he will
break his neck slipping on a cake
of soap while taking a shower
(which he prefers to a bath), al–
though, on the other hand, he feels
that in some ways it is better to
take a shower than a bath because
then he
do~s
not have to wash out
the tub for others
(the others
are
always important, as Sartre has ob–
served) , and in short the taking
of baths is not a simple matter for
him.
Once I visited him while he
