The Fifth Principle is the first of three books that take as their subject aspects of the author's life. This book reflects upon a period between birth and eight years of age; the second book will address adolescence and the third, adulthood. It would be misleading to consider what follows to be autobiography, or the "case history" of an individual. The author of the book, and the individual written about, are not the same person. It is a piece of literature that furnishes an account of the methods of a mind in its efforts to prevail in oppressive circumstances