psychologists are dangerous, but are you suggesting there is arnpotential danger when counselors and therapists hold such psychicrnpower over their patients? You obviously know about thernreal problem of therapists taking advantage of their female patientsrn. ..rnDK: We shouldn’t be surprised if only ten percent of psychiatristsrnare serious about—or capable of—doing good, while thernother 90 percent are destructive or inefifective. You’d find thernsame ratio with plumbers or teachers.rnCreating a novel is a humblernreflection of God’s creativity,rnbecause I hold the fictional worldrnin my mind, in vast detail.rnTF: In False Memory, the highbrow characters arc entirely despicable,rnand the hero has consciouslv turned away from intellectuals,rnrejecting the world of theon,- for the real wodd of everydayrnlife. The other psychologist in the book, the hero’srnstepfather, is also (like his ambitious wife) an egocentric jerk.rnDK: I had fun working with these hvo psychologists who hadrnwritten books. A reader told me “You really gave it to pop psychology,”rnbut in fact virtually all psychology is pop psycholog}’.rnIt certainly isn’t science.rnAs a Christian and a lifelong reader in all the scienees, I don’trnsee the great gap between religion and science that is supposedrnto exist. Gertrude Himmelfarb, for example, seems to be opposedrnto science per se, especially viewing the work of geneticistsrnas a force for moral chaos. But no knowledge is inherentlyrnevil. The issue is how, with our free will, wc use that knowledge.rnI don’t see many places where science disproves anythingrnwe believe. God gave us the ability to learn, the desire to understandrncreation, and in applving that abilih’, we are in His servicernas long as we do not become arrogant.rnTF: One of your best lines comes at the beginning of FalsernMemory: It is a quotation from your mythical “Book of CountedrnSorrows,” namely, “Cod is in the details, too.” This linernseems to sum up your position that goodness—God, even—canrnbe discovered in the little texhires of everyday life. You seem tornbe telling people to find moral courage and tragedy and beautyrnin the ordinary round of things, to “Brighten the corner wherernyou are.”rnDK: Atheists are always dissatisfied with everything, and }ournknow there is no more evangelical group than atheists. In interviewsrnand conversations, if the subject of faith comes up, theyrngive the usual line, “How can you believe in a god who allowsrnterrible things to happen?” Both Scripture and science tell usrnthat for every force there is an opposing force, throughout nature.rnIt is out of this dynamic tension that wc develop our lovernof beauty and our passion for truth. Without risk, we have nornjourney, no meaning. An atheist, setting material comfort as hisrnprimar- goal, thinks I am an idiot when I talk about this.rnTF: A holy fool perhaps? Life is both too beautiful and too evilrnto be explicable by some mechanical theory. We experiencernboth gratuitous good and gratuitous evil. Acknowledging myrnown inclination toward evil was m first step toward conversion.rnDK: I have experienced within myself a kind of tug towardrnthings that are despicable. I distrust anvone who says they don’trnhae these feelings, because they are precisely the people whornwant to tell you how to live. We are aware of a struggle betweenrngood and evil witiiin ourselves tiiat reflects the larger strugglernwithin creation. Wlicn you become attuned to that, you see itrnever •where.rnIf you don’t have faith vou worn, vmreasonably abort ever-rnthing—like Cjcrtrnde Himmelfarb—worr}’ about imposing restrictionsrnon ever)’onc. Sometime I would like to discuss quantumrnplnsics, particularly string theor-, witii such people. ]VIo.strnquantum physicists don’t talk this way publicly, but some sayrnthat they cannot escape the conclusion that what they are lookingrnat is not just an ordered but a created universe.rnQuantum physics tells us fliat past, present, and future existrnsimultaneously, that tiie flow of time is an illusion, fliat realityrnconsists of infinite and largely unseen dimensions, that ever’-rnthing in flie rmiverse is intimately related. To me, this is perfecfl’rnconsistent witii my belief that the unixerse is a creation,rnthat it exists within the mind of Ciod. Creating a novel is a humblernreflection of God’s creatiiti,, because 1 hold the fictionalrnwodd in m’ mind, in vast detail. Using my creativit}’, I feel connectedrnto that greater creative spirit. I feel its reality. When myrncharacters seize the stor}’, I know some small measure of the joyrnand sorrow fliat our Creator must feel at the consequences ofrnour free will.rnTF: Letting his characters live is the novelist’s imitation of thernChristian God who made us free even to rebel against him. Inrnan ideal societ)-, not everyone is an artist, but cver’one createsrnsomething.rnDK: The people I know who arc happ’ rcfiise to blame theirrnmiser’ on others, and he are almost always in flie business ofrncreating tilings. Many of mv friends are in flie building tradesrnand arc as creative as most writers. Ironically, fliey are happierrnthan most writers, because the act of creation satisfies them, andrnthey are not plagued by flie inflated egos and competitiveness ofrnmany writers who live not for the chance to create, but for thernaftermath of creation: Celebrit}-.rnTF: Some people want to be “writers” wifliout actually havingrnto write an’thing.rnDK: When I got my first multimillion-dollar contract, manyrnwriters called up to sav, “Wonderftil! Mter these fliree books,rnvou’ll never have to write again.” I was astonished.rnThough I’ve done well b- writing, I don’t write for money.rnMy friends are not rich or consciously intellectual; they arernmosriy skilled craftsmen, who have the same sensibilih’ aboutrnlife as I do—and they are mostly conservative. They work hard,rnand fliey know what life is about. Like flieni, I love what I do,rnand after many years I have done well.rn7’/”: In Samuel Johnson’s terms, I suppose, vou could be calledrna rich blockhead. <^rn14/CHRONICLESrnrnrn