Only the mass can redeem man from the fear of contact. It is the only condition in which this fear transforms into its opposite. To achieve this, we need the "dense mass," when one body is pressed against another, dense mass also in its mental disposition, so that we do not pay attention to who it is that is "crowding" us.

As soon as we surrender to the mass, we no longer fear contact with it. In the ideal case of the mass, everyone feels the same as the others. No difference matters, not even the difference of gender. The one who crowds us is like our very own self. Suddenly, at that moment, everything becomes as if inside a single body.

This may be one reason why the mass tries to densify as much as it can: it wants to free itself as absolutely as possible from the fear of contact between individual persons. The tighter people cling to each other, the safer they feel, the less they fear each other. This inversion of the fear of contact is characteristic of the mass. The relief that spreads within the mass reaches a remarkable degree when the mass reaches its greatest density.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]