Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/psychologyofbehaOOseve THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR A Practical Study of Human Personality and Conduct with Special Reference to Methods of Development BY ELIZABETH SEVERN Author of "Psycho-Therapy" NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1920 Copyright, 1917 By ELIZABETH SEVERN / J/ 77 Si CONTENTS CHAPTER I jrs PAGE Some New Aspects of Mind — The Psychology of the Unconscious « 1 Growth of Psychological Inquiry — The Value of the Metaphysical Viewpoint — Applied Psychology dis- closes Human Motives and points the way to In- dividual Development — Introspection and Observation the best Methods — What determines Behaviour — How Mind and Character can be Formed — The Superman a Scientific Possibility — The Office of Hypnotism, Psycho-analysis, etc., in determining the Mental Content — The Nature of Consciousness and of Thought— Various Levels of Consciousness — The Subconsciousness as the Seat of Innate Intelligence, Common Sense, and Intuition — How the Mind Works, and the Unification of the Personality — The Self as the Organizing, Controlling Force — Uncon- scious Thinking — The Source of Memory, Feeling, Instinct, Intuition, Premonition, Inspiration, Genius, etc. — Manifestations of Consciousness in Sleep and Dreams; How to utilize this Aspect — The Plasticity of the Mind; Suggestion and what it is; its Use and Limitations; The Power of Influence; Auto-sugges- tion — The Will to Believe — The Power of Affirma- tion: Means of Developing the "Positive" Mentality — The Relation of the Personal to the Cosmic Con- sciousness. CHAPTER II Intellect — The Psychology of Perception .... 53 Intellect, the Objective Self-Knowing Phase of Con- sciousness — Distinctions between It and the Uncon- v vi CONTENTS PAGE scious — Intellect our only Medium for Reaching the In- terior Consciousness — Its Attribute of Discrimination renders it the Guiding Faculty — Comparable to the "man at the head" of any Large Organization — How to Train the Intellect — Development of Judgment and Sense of Values — Reasoning, Conscious and Sub- conscious — Importance of Logic — Intellect as the Supplying Agent — Intellect as the Adjusting Agent — Intellect as the Controlling Agent — Developing At- tention — Importance of Sustaining it with Interest and Desire — Concentration, means of Development — How far Objective Matters should be made Auto- matic — Objective Control of Internal Organs of the Body — Value of Voluntary Passivity and Meditation — An Antidote to Modern Excessiveness and Over- Stimulation — Unconscious Rumination — Directed Thinking and Value of "Silence" — Intellect the Door to the Greater Possibilities of the Mind. CHAPTER III Imagination and Memory — The Psychology of Ex- tension and Retention 110 Imagination: Reproductive — Impressibility of the Mind — Memory, Conscious and Subconscious — Noth- ing is Ever Forgotten — A Good Memory Dependent on Concentration — Fixed Ideas — The Imaginative Temperament — Readjustment of Mental Images — Imagination: Productive — The Source of Originality — Imagination the Inception of all Action — Con- scious Visualization — Two Kinds of Imaginative Thinking, a. The Aimless; b. The Directed — The Value of Reverie and Relaxed Thinking — The Imagi- nation an Outlet for Repressed Energies — The Cause of Intoxication — All Mental Images must Materialize — Expectation Plus Intention — The Pathology of Repressed Imagination — Loss of the Sense of Reality — Education of the Child's Imagination — "Imagi- nary" Diseases — Dangers of Uncontrolled Imagina- tion — All Mental Images Should Materialize in Action — Transmuting Undesirable Mental Images. CONTENTS vii CHAPTER IV PAGE Will — The Psychology of Action 146 Will Synonymous with Power: a Basic Manifesta- tion of the Life-Force and Representative of the Volition of the Universal Mind — Will is Desire in Action — Will-power vs. Fate — Free-will: dependent upon Unity with the Universal Will — Shallow Con- ceptions of Will — All Actions are the Expression of Desire — Conflict Between Conscious and Uncon- scious Will — Will to be Successful must be: a. Unified in Itself; b. Concentrated in its Action; c. Balanced with Intellect and Emotion — The Weakness of Indecision — Lack of Self-knowledge in Questions of Desire — Need of Choosing a Goal — Need of Re- flection before Action — The Dangers of Negativity — Lack of Self- Confidence — Following Lines of Least Resistance — The Force of Habit — Influence of Opin- ions of Others — Conflict of Will with Emotion — Erratic Results of the Use of the Will — Different Phases of the Personality Assume Control — Need of Unity in the Desires — Need of Belief in Desire as a Guide — When Emotions Frustrate Will — How to Develop the Will — Overdoing the Use of the Will — Effortless Activity — Three Steps in any Act of the Will: Concept, Intention, Execution — -The Discrep- ancy Between Intention and Execution Man's Great- est Weakness — The Importance of Intention — Leads to Executive Ability — Executiveness Without Crea- tiveness — The Need of the Affirmative Attitude — Mastery of the Power of the Unconscious — Deter- mination the Equivalent of Causation. t CHAPTER V Emotion — The Psychology of Feeling 191 Feeling a Generic Motive Power — Instinct is Physio- logical Feeling; Emotion is Psychological Feeling — Impulse is Unconscious Feeling — Civilization repre- sents the Development of an Awareness and Control of Feeling — Emotion now largely Superseded by Intellect — Feeling affords Deeper Revelation than Intellect — Emotional Repression and its Dangers — Applied Psychology establishes the Balance between viii CONTENTS PAGE Will Power and Emotional Power — Study of the four principal Negative Emotions: Fear, Anger, Grief, Self-love — When reduced to their Constructive Elements these become Positive Emotions — Confi- dence, Love, Joy, and Expansiveness — Necessity and Value of Emotion — Dangers in Excessive or Uncon- trolled Emotion — Pleasure and Pain: terms repre- sentative of Desire Satisfied (positive form), Desire Unsatisfied (negative form) — Superiority to either Pleasure or Pain the Ideal State — The Need of Natural Expression — Study of Subconscious Conflicts and Inhibitions — Psycho-analysis as an Interpreter of the Subconscious Emotional Life — Harmonizing Incompatible Mental and Emotional States: a. by Conscious Recognition and Transmutation; b. by Re-education and Development of True Sensuousness — Pathological Results of Internal Discords — Various Emotional Outlets: Wit and Laughter, Play, Dramatization, Music, Dancing, Painting, Crafts- manship, Intoxication, and various Psycho-neurotie States — Abstract Emotions: Love of Beauty, Free- dom, Wisdom, Humanity, Truth — The Joy of Re- sponsiveness — How to Balance Emotion and Intellect. CHAPTER VI Sex — The Psychology of the Creative Life . . .281 Sex of Paramount Importance — General Ignorance concerning it — The Necessity for Clear Knowledge — Definition of Sex as the great Creative Principle — The Psychology of Sex Undeveloped as yet — Should be treated Metaphysically and Philosophically, as well as Psychologically — The Pathology of Sex — Sex-Education should begin in Childhood — The Idea of "Animal Instincts" repressed in the Human Consciousness — Study of Natural Sciences in Child- hood a Partial Corrective — Misconceptions Concern- ing Sex — Its Personal Value not less Important than its Racial Value — Sex not merely a Physical Func- tion — Instinctive Sex: Appetite or Sensation Only — Sex as an Emotion or Idea — Regeneration and Transmutation: Mental and Moral Creativeness — Analysis of the Sex-Feeling — Based on the Positive and Negative Elements contained in the Masculine CONTENTS ix PAGE and Feminine Principles — Man Positive on the Ex- ternal Plane, Woman Positive on the Internal Plane — Woman the True Leader in all Sex-Relations — Co-operation and Equality the Secret of Sex-Happi- ness — Personal Possibilities in Sex: a. Physical, b. Emotional (Analysis of the Love-Feeling), c. Psychical, d. Intellectual, e. Spiritual (Search for the Ideal and the Completion of the Self) — Social and Economic Problems in Relation to the Personal Sex-Problem. CHAPTER VII Self — The Psychology of the Ego 328 Self the Unity underlying all Psychological Phe- nomena — Synonymous with Individuality — The True Source of all Behaviour — Personality the Aggregate of External Characteristics — The Self-feeling should be Developed in* its Positive Forms — Its Negative Forms lead to the Pathology of the Personality — Suicide and Insanity due to Derangement or Absence of the Self -feeling — What is an Ideal Character? Types of Personalities — Sanguine, Melancholic, Chol- eric, Lymphatic — The Purpose of Experience — The Development of Personality — Self Culture in its Spir- itual Sense the Key to all High Behaviour. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR CHAPTEE I SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS The study of man's thoughts, feelings, and motives is a universally fascinating one. Even the least thoughtful of us love to watch and speculate upon our neighbours ' actions and have sometimes an even greater interest for our own. Any extensive or careful analysis, how- ever, of " human nature' ' has been left almost entirely to the great philosophers and moral- izers, for the very good reason that the common knowledge of the human mind and its springs of action has been too limited and uncertain to allow of any satisfactory conclusions by the lay- man. Perhaps also it is because the race as a whole has been so engrossed with purely ma- I 2 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR terial pursuits as to remain naively uncon- scious, for the most part, of the fact that it even possessed a Mind. Modern Psychology has now changed all this and we are today embarking upon new voyages, sailing for shores not too clearly perceived, but with a serene confidence that the way is being charted even as we go, and that we will surely reach a goal. There is no doubt but that the present day interest in Mental Science and va- rious psychological problems is one of the more hopeful signs of the times and of man's general growth and evolution. The demand for au- thoritative literature on the subject is growing rapidly and the greediness of the public for even very poor food, if it but be labelled "psy- chological, ' ' is a living proof of the need, and a readiness for new light. Psychology has long been taught after a fashion in the Universities, but as the habit of academicians is, in the nature of their case, to stick tightly to what is called ' ' positive science, ' ' it has remained for a growing public to voice its want of something more vital and "appli- SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 3 cable' ' in this field; to bring out of the dry dust of polemical discussion into the liveness and activity of everyday affairs, the facts and principles which our researchers have long been labouring to develop and formulate. Owing partly to its "newness" and partly to having been juggled at the hands of untrained adherents of the "movement," "applied psy- chology" is still suffering from many incrusta- tions of ignorance, even in its own ranks, and still more from the prejudices of its misappre- hending critics. That its greatest usefulness is yet to be developed is apparent, as so far it has been greatly hampered by the narrowness of the purely academical viewpoint on the one hand, and by the unwarranted claims of its enthusias- tic but ill-informed adherents on the other. The present work is an attempt on the part of the writer to elucidate some of these tangled threads, and to make a small but new contribu- tion to a rapidly growing science — a contribu- tion which has been developed through a wide experience as a practising Psycho-therapist, in a field where there is an almost unlimited op- 4 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR portunity for the study of human motives, needs and failures. The viewpoint is frankly metaphysical rather than biological, and idealistic and suggestive rather than materialistic and " positive.' ' Yet sight has not been lost of the need of exactitude, where it is so easy to be vague ; and emphasis has been placed upon the governing principles of human conduct rather than upon its particu- lar phases. Metaphysical questions such as the differences, if there are any, between Mind and Matter, the extent of their mutual reactions, or where one begins and the other ends, are not discussed ; but that personality and its impulses are explainable, and that there is in the human mind a power which is definitely available for great ends, is the premise and main thesis of this work. This is not a new discovery; such has been the belief of the great thinkers of all time. It has merely remained for modern Psychology to furnish a better key for unlock- ing these latent forces of the human mind, open ing up to our vision treasures and possibilities hitherto unattainable. SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 5 Foremost among these discoveries is the fact that character and mentality are plastic things, capable of indefinite modification — a simple enough statement, but of far reaching signifi- cance. There has long been a curious fatalism prevalent in our estimate of " character ' ' ; we have believed ourselves doomed to carry through life just that with which we were born — character being used in this sense to signify mental and moral strength and capacity. The idea of "developing" his faculties has never entered to any extent into man's estimate of himself, regarding as he has, his particular quota of instincts, traits, and tendencies, as either God-given or inherited from his long- gone ancestors and therefore, immutable. Strangely enough the faults and defects are all usually attributed to the poor ancestors, while even the Deity doesn't receive much credit for the virtues when they exist! The Idealism of today has fortunately made us more or less dis- satisfied with "things as they are," especially with our mental equipment and our habitually poor use of what Ave have. The prevalence of 6 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR the phrase "improve your mind" is a trivial but significant indication of the trend of the times. Furthermore, we have not only come to be- lieve in " improvement, ' ' but it is personal self- improvement that interests us most. The tend- ency of modern education in all its phases is distinctly away from that kind of culture that comes by plastering on new ideas from the out- side ; it aims rather to draw out of each individ- ual his latent and undeveloped faculties, much as Luther Burbank and others have developed strange and beautiful products in the plant world by studying the potentialities of plant life and providing different and more helpful con- ditions of growth. The process of mental growth is not essen- tially different from that observable in all phases of nature. The force that works through the mind of man is similar to, if not the same, as that in the growing plant, the only vital difference being that man is a self -'knowing creature and undertakes consciously and volun- tarily that which in the lower forms is the SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 7 product of a blind, instinctive life-force. The plant passes through birth, growth, experience, unf oldment and dissolution. It follows certain immutable laws and traverses unconsciously a whole gamut of experience. On another plane, human beings are going the same way, acted upon by great laws of which they have little or no cognizance, but hurrying nevertheless to the fulfilment of their destiny. This process takes place in every human life, but with this differ- ence from the lower orders : with each degree of knowledge and awareness developed, more effort is required. Our whole progress and ex- perience, whether we know it or not, is, and should be, an endeavour to obtain more knowl- edge of the laws governing our existence and expression, thereby enabling us to become Mas- ters rather than mere pawns in the scheme of things. In so far as we understand this great principle and ally ourselves to it, bringing the pressure of our Wills and Knowledge to bear upon our problems, in so far will we achieve success in its highest sense and make real the ideal called the Superman. 8 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR To take up the question seriously of delib- erately acquiring the mental and moral charac- teristics we desire, it is first necessary to under- stand the implements with which we have to work — i.e., to analyse and learn to handle the various and complex elements of the human mind. For this we must turn to the findings of Psychology, a field where in the last few decades startling revelations have been set forth con- cerning the hitherto little known workings of the human consciousness. For, strange to say, such knowledge as we had in this domain of sci- ence was more in the nature of philosophical generalizations rather than a means for exact judgment of human thoughts and conduct. Somehow the individual had escaped being sub- jected to the microscope, whereas today he is the pivot of all our observations. It is logical perhaps that an examination of man's mental activity should have been postponed until this late date in history, though it is difficult with our present array of material to explain why such important investigations with such significant SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 9 bearings on vital personal matters should have been so long delayed. It is astonishing to realize that it is only within the last few years that any serious, sci- entific, or widespread effort has been made to understand and classify the nature of human personalities with all their complex springs of action. There has always been an eager and universal interest in the few ' ' self -revelations ' ' that were available, all published personal "Confessions," and the like. But perhaps ow- ing to its intricacy and intangibility we were slow in recognizing that the law of Cause and Effect must prevail in the workings of the human mind as elsewhere, slow to realize that given results were inevitably the outcome of certain causes. To establish any such law as this it was necessary to observe and tabulate the facts in a large number of individual in- stances, and from these deduce certain " aver- ages" or conclusions. We now have well or- ganized methods of psychological experiment, based on careful Introspection and Observation, 10 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR which incomplete though they may yet be, have furnished us with invaluable material. That man is able to study his own mind is in- disputable, though naturally not all are equally successful in such an endeavour. Certainly the more intelligent person can easily acquire a habit of dispassionate judgment of himself, and if mentally honest, can expose to his own view impulses and sources of action which were hith- erto shrouded in mystery and alike inexplicable to himself and others. To be sure, not every one is mentally honest, and likewise, those of an emotional or morbid bias would plainly be un- fitted to report very accurately on their own ideas and feelings. Much the largest portion of such psycholog- ical knowledge as we possess has come to us through the careful investigations of trained workers, and especially from researches in the field of "Abnormal Psychology, ' ' where in the study of mental pathology or diseased and dis- turbed conditions of the mind, we have gained through its very contrast our best perspective of what a normal and equable mentality should SOME NEW ASPECTS OP MIND 11 be. It is to the untiring research workers and medical men that we owe our greatest debt, for through them we have obtained our first clear glimpses of the workings of our own interior and intricate mental machinery. Psychology in its present form really had its first inception in the early French and English experiments in Hypnotism, which barely antedate our present generation. Back of this of course lies the mon- umental work of men like Spencer and Darwin, who by giving us a firm biological basis have enabled us to step more fearlessly into the realm of the purely psychic. More recently we have the movement known as Psycho-analysis, defined by Dr. Putnam of Boston as "an attempt to make the facts and principles discovered through the analysis of individual lives, of service in the study of race history and of life in general." This is, of course, a broad statement and one equally ap- plicable to many other forms of psychological inquiry. Furthermore the psycho-analytic movement must be distinguished from the psycho-analytic method, which is really a minor 12 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR consideration, though the occasion of many hot disputations. Taking its origin in pathological studies made by Dr. Breuer, of Vienna, in 1881, and later by his brilliant successor Dr. Freud, Psycho-analysis today presents us with a large mass of scientific observations and theories con- cerning human emotions and experience ; all of which has an important intrinsic value, and a still greater value as a light upon the scientific tendencies and momentum of our time. It is interesting to note in this connection that this most popular of the modern psychological movements had a practically simultaneous birth with the more thoroughly established and inval- uable work of the great psychologists, Lange and William James. The somewhat limited and arbitrary methods of Psycho-analysis and also some of its sweep- ing but unproved conclusions, justly have many critics and decriers ; but however wide the mark some of its investigators may have fallen, and however erroneous some of their conclusions may prove to be, we must take the larger view and admit that as pioneers in a new and difficult SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 13 field tliey have performed a great and needed service. In my personal work with students I have at times used psycho-analytic methods with excel- lent results, though I do not say that the appli- cation of these methods has always, or even often, led me to the same conclusions as those of its originators. Like every independent worker in this field, I have developed methods of my own, which for my purposes and intentions yield far better results, especially when working with the individual for the alleviation of various mental and physical disorders. But we have the inspiration of their theories, which depart boldly from the old established canons; only, we must go much farther than Freudianism if we are to understand man's deepest yearnings and spiritual capacities. We are led then to a brief consideration of the human Consciousness itself, since that is the field of all our operations. Fortunately we all have some idea of its nature, although clear definition is impossible owing to our being im- mersed in it, as it were, and unable therefore to 14 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR gain the vantage point of a perspective. We only know it as a form of universal, undiffer- entiated activity existing within itself, having Being or Reality distinct from other phenomena which we designate as material or objective. Also we must believe that it is an expression or part of a greater Universal Intelligence of which we are only very small portions. We do not know therefore how to define it or where to place its boundaries because of its very infin- itude and universality. Yet through the human process called Thought we are able to speak of it in symbols, to analyse and become somewhat acquainted with its manifestations, and to realize it as a sort of stream constantly pouring through us as an expression of that Supreme Consciousness which, we are all more or less aware, lies back of all manifested things. Furthermore, Thought itself is not such an intangible and elusive thing as we have imag- ined. It should be regarded as a differentiated and organized form of energy, much like other forms with which we are better acquainted, such as heat, light, or electricity. It is necessary to SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 15 understand something of this dynamic quality of Thought, in order to have any key to the psychology of man's behaviour. We often see the phrase nowadays "thoughts are things,' ' which serves to impress more of their reality upon us, and is a very good statement of the truth, especially if we accept Herbert Spencer's definition of a thing as ' ' a group of phenomena which persists." Certainly Thought not only tends to persist long after the moment of its cre- ation, but has also the quality of movement or vibration, is in fact primarily an etheric mode of motion. It may be easier however to think of Thought as a thing than as motion, for it possesses definite and concrete attributes and effects, as does any other form of energy. It is also a power of infinite extent and is limited in its use only by our small store of knowledge as to its laws. We each have a stock of Thoughts large or small, according to the degree of our capacity and experience, though of the major part of them we are mainly unconscious, owing to the generally undeveloped state of the intellect. 16 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR Those of which we are conscious concern mostly only objective matters, a knowledge of the in- ternal life being comparatively rare. The affairs of the day are eating, working, sleeping, recreation — it is thoughts of these things with which we are most familiar and which consti- tute the bulk of our known mental life. In their very nature they are necessary and useful ; but beyond them lies a vast area of mental activ- ity — mostly submerged, it is true — and yet which is so great in extent and character as to contain within it the main balance of power — this is the area of the Unconscious. The term subconsciousness has been bandied about a good deal of late years and used indis- criminately to cover all sorts of mental idiosyn- crasies, likewise numerous books have been written to explain what it is, without much result in the way of elucidation. That we re- main nearly as much in the dark as ever is not so surprising, however, when one considers the generic significance of the word swfr-conscious, i.e., below the threshold or out of the normal consciousness. Since it is not visible, and is SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 17 not easily reducible to the known mental laws, many scientists have refused to examine it, even denying its existence, and declaring that all deductions concerning it must be by infer- ence only, and hence not trustworthy. This is somewhat like having a gold mine which one has never explored, and attempting to account for it by declaring it isn't there. To explain the hid- den contents of the mind, one must first at least admit their existence, and the theory of the " subconscious ' ' or the "unconscious," when properly pursued, reveals them clearly to view. The interesting thing about the submerged phase of consciousness is that it can be mined out as easily as gold ore can be extracted from the earth, and indeed it is not unlike this sub- stance in that it is a mixture of many elements, both dross and precious metal. We must drop the simile here, however, as the contents of this mental mine are not solidified like those of a material one — indeed, they are in a state of con- stant flux and commotion, with actions and re- actions of the most complex and subtle kind When once exposed to view, as they can be by 18 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR careful research, we have laid before us the roots and sources of all our thinking. It is not that these unseen and potential elements are essentially different from the thoughts that are constantly in the foreground, but that they are more primal, productive, and intimately related to that unifying force, the Cosmic Consciousness. They are the stuff out of which our thinking life is made, though always modified by our own past experiences in consciousness, both personal and racial. Ow- ing to its complexity and comparative invisi- bility, this deeper phase of human intelligence has been sometimes inaccurately marked off and set apart as an entity in itself ; but such is not the case, there is but one consciousness. The lower levels of it should be regarded as a vast unorganized force which we are trying to har- ness and enlist in our service, an energy of which mankind has been hitherto but vaguely aware, but which holds within it all his poten- tialities for the future. In the subconsciousness lies man's greatest gift, his faculty of apprehending a priori princi- SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 19 pies and of perceiving self-evident truths ; in it lie hidden all those cognitions having their origin in the nature of the mind itself — cog- nitions, which though they may come to us through experience, are really independent of it. It is the realm of Cause — transcendental Cause, one may say, since we know its powers and capacities to be infinitely beyond our grasp and comprehension. It does not seem so im- palpable, though, when regarded in its true light as the source of the faculty known as common sense, that most uncommon possession, which should be defined as the power of the intuitive perception of truth. In order to get some conception of the rela- tion of the inner to the outer phases of con- sciousness, we might at this point best liken the mind, with its many complex and varying ele- ments, to a vast industrial plant with its myriads of workers, each with his own little circle of thought and activity but mostly uncon- scious of the vast product to which by his labour he is daily contributing; yet his existence and his work is none the less a necessary part of 20 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR the whole. Every thought and impulse that finds even a momentary place in the mind is equivalent to one of these individual workers, and an active part of the whole mechanism. This illustration is especially good for the reason that we can so easily see how the pur- pose of an industrial organization would be en- tirely frustrated were it not for the control and management that emanates from the head office, in spite of the f«act that the bulk of the work is done " below stairs," as it were. The superin- tendent of a plant sitting in his private office is not aware of all the detail and activity being carried on around him, and much of the accom- plishment of his workers must necessarily re- main unknown to him ; for were he obliged to be aware of all these various acts his own useful- ness would be seriously impaired. He has many assistants and sub-heads and managers of departments, all of whom have ideas and wills of their own and carry on their own part of the work without his immediate knowledge; yet while these helpers are for the express purpose of developing the general purpose of the whole, SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 21 we do know that among them often exists ig- norance, inharmony, or even apparently wilful disorder. Such then is the state of the average "subconsciousness"; it is this mutiny of un- disciplined servants that calls for clear sight and authoritative action on the part of the chief and is so like to our own host of unruly thoughts which would quite run away with us unless thor- oughly disciplined and mastered by a con- trolling intellect. Let us transfer this picture and imagine the intellect, or reasoning self, to be the superin- tendent sitting in the office of the brain, and further imagine the great concourse of mental activity that goes on below the surface to be the equivalent of the doings of the various depart- ments with their several heads. With this illus- tration in mind one can see the relation between the two principal phases of consciousness, with the necessity for a ruler at the head, that is, the conscious Self or Master, to direct all employes with their varied activities that are represented by the subconsciousness. The liability of servants to make mistakes is 22 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR proverbial, and it is no less true of these work- ers of the mind. It is not one of the character- istics of the subconsciousness to be infallible, though the disposition of some writers to con- fuse the subconsciousness with the soul, has led to this incongruity. Man is not only a com- posite of his past experience with its many errors, but is a mere infant as yet, as far as his mental and spiritual equipment is concerned, and is therefore completely at the mercy of his own erratic fancies and untrained forces, until he has learned co-ordination and self-mastery. Still further does my simile illustrate another attribute of the mind, namely its diversity, and its capacity for being split up into various seg- regated elements. Thus it shows itself to have many aspects quite opposite in their nature, each capable to some extent of independent action. It is thus, too, that one phase of the mind may stand apart, as it were, and survey the rest of itself, a faculty of the utmost service when any conscious improvement or self -devel- opment is undertaken. Sometimes this capac- ity for dissociation leads to trouble and dis^ SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 23 order. It is often the cause of mental and nervous maladies whose origin is to any but the trained psychologist obscure and baffling. It merely means disorganization and lack of unity in the general purposes, and calls for special analysis and reconstructive work. We must not be dismayed that the very thing we are Working to alter or improve, that is the mind itself, is also the thing with which we work — in fact, our only means of operation. That one may thus produce radical changes in the very medium in which he operates, with which he is obliged to work, is at first a little startling, but is one of the capacities of our organism with which it is important to familiarize ourselves. The subconsciousness may also be said to rep- resent the world of feeling, for in it we find the source of all our " predispositions' ' and emo- tions. Likewise it is sometimes called the "storehouse of memory,' ' but might more accu- rately be said to be the memory, since nothing that is ever experienced by us, either outwardly or inwardly, is lost or forgotten. When we say something has "slipped our memory' ' we 24 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR merely mean it has left the upper level of con- sciousness and lost itself for the time being in the darkness below. i In these subterranean passages of Uncon- scious Thought are to be found the remnants of our primitive racial Instincts, which though well-covered by the veneer of civilization, still remain intact in most of us. These supposedly outgrown feelings frequently actuate us without our conscious knowledge and furnish the unseen motives for acts which are " queer' ' or unac- countable, though essentially natural. Instinct may be either " wrong' ' or " right" according to the degree of our development and our rela- tive place in life. That is, an instinct which may be perfectly right and useful for the sav- age, is outgrown and hence harmful in the higher stages of development. In any case it is a heritage from our ancestors, and an important subconscious element not to be lost sight of in the midst of our complexities. These instincts relate not only to the bodily needs, but to all the more primitive feelings, and are built up out of the ages of experience which have preceded SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 25 us, an experience of which we would do well to avail ourselves for the most part, but which we lose or distort by a habit of smothering our natural impulses. There is -the instinct for right food, for example — possessed by the ani- mals, but largely lost in man; the instinct for outdoor life, for freedom, the power to detect danger — to mention but a few at random, all of which are very dormant, if not destroyed in most of us. When we recognize ' ' instinct ' ' and the primary reaction to life it represents, as an essential albeit unconscious form of thought, and cultivate it accordingly, we will have ac- quired a new and most valuable tool in the sci- ence of thinking. All "feelings" have, in fact, their origin in the unconscious life and form much the most vital part of the mental organism. Elaborate and lengthy distinctions have been made be- tween "thought" and "feeling" but a very simple one is to regard all feeling as an uncon- scious form of thought. As soon as one be- comes really conscious of feeling, it rises into the realm of the Intellect and is there recog- 26 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR nized and linked with the Will. Whether we should thus attempt to make all our feelings conscious ones or not is a debatable question, but in any case in studying the subconscious- ness, it is necessary to recognize in it the foun- dation of all our emotional and psychic life. That subtle power called Intuition, that is, a sudden " knowing, " is another faculty explain- able only by a realm of unconscious perception. Whole trains of thought are worked out in detail and conclusions reached below the level of the conscious brain, which in minds tempera- mentally adapted for its transmission from the lower to the upper levels of consciousness, are flashed quickly at opportune moments up into the chambers of the Intellect. There it may be recognized and accepted, though not accounted for. Such results as these are more apt to occur in the quick and penetrating type of mind, but the important fact for us to note is that when they do occur it is the best evidence possi- ble of that prescience which links the subcon- sciousness indubitably with the transcendent intelligence which animates all nature. SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 27 There are also many well-authenticated cases of Premonition where, by a still more obscure mental operation, events not yet materialized, or that haven't " happened' ' yet, as we say, are perceived in advance of their objective appear- ance. The pity is that we have allowed a scep- tical, scoffing attitude or sometimes mere incredulity, to blind us to this wonderful capac- ity of the subconsciousness. We have counted the failures and mistakes that are often made in its use, for as a faculty it is both discouraged and undeveloped ; and we have tried to explain by the unillumining word "coincidence," a phenomenon we would do ourselves far greater justice to investigate and study. There is over- whelming evidence to show that many minds have the potential faculty to perceive the shad- ows cast by coming events, or to describe cur- rent events taking place at a distance, of which they can have no conscious knowledge. It is due only to our stupid ignorance and fear that we have not long before now brought out of its potential state this delicate but powerful capac- ity of the mind. Certainly in studying the psy- 28 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR chology of Behaviour, we will have niuch be- haviour to account for in the way of psychic phenomena that cannot be accounted for with- out a better knowledge of the subconsciousness and its extent. I was about to say terrifying extent, since even our scientists seem afraid to venture far into these uncharted paths. We perhaps would not actually burn the witches at Salem today, but we would in a more refined way express our disapproval and our scorn — and incidentally our colossal ignorance. Inspiration as a psychological phenomenon, being less rare perhaps than Premonition, com- mands more respect, though hardly more under- standing. We have all experienced moments of comparative exaltation, when all our thoughts seemed to flow smoothly as a river, and when there was a sense of having tapped a reservoir of force and feeling that seemed superb in qual- ity and inexhaustible in extent. It is undeni- ably out of such states of mind as this that the world's finest creations have come — the best lit- erature, the great inventions, the finest art. All SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 29 action seems easy at such a time, for in what- ever direction the interest may lie, there is a freedom from friction, a supply of energy, a fer- tility of thought, and a daring in action un- equalled or even approached by any other state of consciousness. Genius is akin to this and is simply an uprush of the greatly extended pow- ers of the subconsciousness. Genius might indeed be defined as Frederic Myers defined it in his " Human Personality" — as "a capacity for utilizing powers which lie too deep for the or- dinary man's control." Undoubtedly the best work in the world is done when men obey their inspiration without themselves being aware that they are accomplishing their masterpieces — the greatness lying in their ability to open the doors and to function freely from the depths of their being — for Inspiration may be solicited, though not compelled. When unleashed, these powers are indeed so great as to make the man their servant rather than the master, and herein lies the danger and the penalty, since few of us are strong enough to even dare peer over the 30 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR edges into these magnificent abysses within, to say nothing of allowing them to sweep us on and up to great achievements. In a sense this hesitancy and caution is a part of the economy of nature, as we must grow strong in order to wield strong instruments. There is no reason, however, with the present state of psychological science why we may not all be uplifted by the flame from within and have no fear. In any case it is not our part to criticize or wonder at those great minds which have finally been consumed or destroyed by the forces which they once handled so valiantly. It may be a weakness to go "insane" but at least if one has tasted the fruits of high en- deavour, a downfall may be considered a glory rather than a shame. We should remember also, that the subcon- sciousness of a child possesses practically the same power and extent as that of an adult. In- deed it often seems greater, since the child is more subjective, lives "nearer to nature/ ' as we say, is less artificial. For these reasons the child's intuitive, imaginative faculties have a SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 31 freer scope, adding a charm and often a pre- science that is the delight of all. Even in the young infant there is the same potentiality, the same bundle of intelligent responsive nerve- cells, only not trained as yet in the expression of their powers. If we would but talk to and treat children with the same dignity and respect we do the older people whom we assume to have intelligence, instead of as though they were pos- sessed of empty brain boxes, the world would be saved much pain and useless misery, beginning with the next generation ! An age-long puzzle is, of course, that mani- festation of consciousness to be found in Sleep and Dreams. Although science has more re- cently succeeded in lifting this strange phe- nomenon out of the realm of superstition, it is still treated as a physical problem without much consideration of its pure subjectivity. For so long we have been taught that all dream- ing was the result of some bodily stimulus, such as a pillow pressing on the head, a creak in the door, or a disturbance in digestion, that we have been slow to come out of this materialistic con- 32 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR ception. Elaborate theories have been devised to explain these automatic reactions, and with these unsatisfying dictums we were obliged to be content, or else venture forth alone into regions of the mind where all was thought to be illusion. Sleep being considered an exclusively restora- tive function, it was thought that the automatic, unconscious, and never-ending process of " re- pair" could not go on without the complete cessation of both bodily and mental activity. This theory is still being exploited and we are all admonished to " sleep more" no matter what our disturbance or our needs. It is, of course, perfectly patent to all that the sleep-state is a necessary one and that when normal it is dis- tinctly refreshing. As a matter of fact man's faith in it as a panacea for all his ills has a foundation in truth, but does not explain, for all that, what sleep is or what happens to the con- sciousness when it slips away below the thresh- old of our sight. That Sleep is not the cessation from con- sciousness it is often thought to be, is perfectly SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 33 apparent from the simple fact of dreams, which are undeniably some form of consciousness, chaotic and fugitive though they may be. Sleep is "nature's great restorer" simply because we pass therein into another state of consciousness which, by its passivity, completes the arc of our daily activities. But we should not construe passivity as a void or a blotting out of con- sciousness. It is merely another plane of action, affording scope for more relaxed phases of thought and sensibility than those normally expressing themselves in our waking state. Either Sleep or Best means a reduction in the amount of objective concentration and all volun- tary functions, and a corresponding activity of those phases of consciousness which are ordi- narily repressed during the day. It is the alter- nate swing of the pendulum to establish the bal- ance in this world of dual manifestations and has nothing to do with repair as such, except as well-being on all planes always results in the maintenance of balance. As a fixed bodily habit Sleep has become especially necessary owing to our highly specialized mental and phy- »4 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR sical activity, but its essential use will ever be to afford an opportunity, through dreams and reverie, for the normal functioning of the mind on a different level from that which is so obviously in use during our waking moments. It is, of course, another and important phase of the subconsciousness and an aspect to which our relation should be established deliberately and consciously. Since we spend about one third of our life in this condition, what is more valuable than to find out what we can about our thoughts during the sleep period. Probably every human being dreams, a lack of recollection being no proof of the absence of such mental activity. The ma- jority, especially heavy sleepers, do not recall dream-thoughts readily, but the occasional flash- ing out of some valuable bit of knowledge, as in a "warning" dream is significant as evidence of what may be occurring in this veiled portion of the life of the mind. It has remained for Dr. Freud and his disciples to properly emphasize the importance of dreams in the psychic life and to point the way toward the use of such know]- SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 35 edge for pathological and educational purposes. This is not the place for a detailed discussion of the meaning of dreams, or whether the elaborate symbolisms worked out by the Psycho-analysts are to be depended upon as throwing much light upon the real nature of the unconscious thought- life or not. Suffice it to call the attention of the reader to the reality of this unexplored region of his own mentality, as an aspect of mind to be v observed, and to a great extent controlled. The writer has completely reorganized the disturbed dream states of many sufferers, who were the helpless victims of unwelcome dream- images roaming unrestricted throughout their brains. Much of my own knowledge, and the solution of many problems, has come to me dur- ing Sleep — sometimes unsought, sometimes de- liberately planned for; an operation not at all difficult when a certain vital awareness of the subconscious processes has been developed. And in Sleep, what a glorious freedom — one can close the door upon pressing actualities, and re- leased from the limitations of the five senses, 36 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR float away into that exquisite realm, where the unknown and the unseen is both known and seen. Now that we have established the fact that the subconsciousness is not just a bunch of forgot- ten or casual thoughts tucked off in some dark corner of the mind, we will examine one or two of its principal characteristics from a practical point of view. The first of these was pointed out very clearly by Hudson some years ago in his ' ' Law of Psychic Phenomena, ■ ' as an amenability to suggestion, implying a certain pliability of structure which has important bearings. A knowledge of the fact that the mind, or some phase of it, is peculiarly open to impressions from without, is of exceeding im- portance, since it lies within our power to a considerable degree to determine what those im- pressions shall be. Through the impressibility and responsiveness of the subconsciousness to external impressions and ideas, we have a great responsibility, and at the same time a power of unlimited value. The fact that definite concise statements could SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 37 be "suggested" so as to be received and acted upon by the mind of the subject with the great- est exactitude and rapidity, opened a new field in both Psychology and Therapeutics. It was indeed a great advance to discover that certain mental and nervous affections, or what were supposed to be diseases of the imagination, could be successfully treated by talking the pa- tient out of them; though it seems odd that this plasticity and responsiveness of the mental or- ganism was held to be a new and strange fac- ulty. It appeared nothing short of revolution- ary that a person's mental and moral nature could be altered by such a means. The wise "discoverers" overlooked the fact entirely that the influence of one mind upon another was of such common occurrence as to be practically universal; that in the relations and interrela- tions of life, no human being escaped the in- fluence of his surroundings. The truth is that suggestions are made to us all through life, from infancy onward, and even before birth in various tendencies impressed through prenatal influence, until we can truly 38 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR be said to be nothing but a composite of the never ceasing play of the "suggestive" forces about us. Practically all our physical and men- tal habits find their origin in the behests of our parents or in the customs of our community or race ; and as the subconsciousness develops long before the discriminating faculties, we grow up to find ourselves mere bundles of " sugges- tions." Every word that is spoken by family or friends has its bearing upon the tender mind of a child — every habit of thought, every fear, every inhibition is impressed, often indelibly, to remain as a brand throughout life. In the same way a child living in an atmosphere of peace and harmony, hearing only kind words and construc- tive thoughts expressed, absorbs this mental food to his benefit and advantage. All of us in our younger years, and often in adult life as well are the unconscious recipients of endless * i suggestions ' ' of all sorts and kinds. It is only once in a while that we find a renegade, usually the black sheep of the family, whose own vigor- ous personality is able to offset the many tend- SOME NEW ASPECTS OP MIND 39 encies impinged upon him by his environment, and whose inclination to make suggestions to himself is strong enough to build up a whole new set of circumstances, probably quite differ- ent from those for which he seemed destined. Such a one may justly be said to have de- veloped himself through " auto-suggestion,' ' which sounds like a term of opprobrium, but is really what modern Psychology has taught us as to the way to reach and influence our own subconscious processes. As a matter of fact, it has been the method we lacked, and the "discov- erers" of the power of suggestion have been mainly useful in the applications they have taught us. It is always a gamble to see whether in the battle of life the innate qualities with which we are endowed or the pressure of circumstances, will win. Certainly there is no better fortifica- tion or assurance of success in either direction than a knowledge of the fact that we are con- stantly absorbing ideas and feelings from all about us and reacting to various stimuli, since in such knowledge lies our only protection. We 40 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR are then at liberty to choose our influences, and to close ourselves to such as would be otherwise overwhelming or detrimental. We merely need to realize the significance of these possibilities to be able to exert an invisible but potent faculty toward an unlimited strength and usefulness. It seems simple enough, for example, to assert "1 can/ 9 when the circumstances seem to make "I can't' 9 not only nearer the truth, but inevitable. It is a powerful suggestion never- theless, and if used earnestly is capable of working wonders. Sometimes when working to change the struc- ture of the mind by eliminating or reorganizing some objectionable mental habit, we are con- fronted with a hardness and inflexibility which is truly discouraging. Nevertheless it is for- tunate that we are endowed with a sufficient amount of rigidity to offset the disintegration that would inevitably take place were we too freely acted upon by the various elements around us. The subconsciousness of a normal person does not bend too easily to whim or SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 41 caprice and it is a common fact that the older we grow the more "set" we become. It is thus believed impossible to properly acquire a new language after the adolescent period, and is no doubt also the reason why Sir William Osier jocosely advocated the elim- ination from active life of all men over sixty years of age. The trouble is that such state- ments are but half truths. The ideal mentality is that which balances itself between a wise yielding to impressions from without and a stern rejection of all that is undesirable. Such an attitude if cultivated may become so habitual as to be as vital at sixty as it is at twenty ; only whatever the direction the " cultivation ' ' may take, perseverance and endless patience are re- quired, especially if the mentality to be moulded is of the "positive" type. To understand Suggestion, or the action of one mind upon another, it is well to consider it as identical with an ordinary chemical process, where one substance when introduced into, or put into contact with another, produces a given 42 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR reaction. Exactly the same thing happens in the human mind, though we are more often un- conscious of the process than not. A new force or stimulus from without sets in motion certain inhibited mental mechanisms, which were, tem- porarily at least, beyond the reach of the sub- ject himself. There is every reason then why we should learn this law in its psychological re- lations, as well as in physics, and avail ourselves of the knowledge by introducing the right forces into our world of ideas and guarding ourselves against the wrong ones. As between teacher and student, or doctor and patient, it follows that there is a wider applica- bility of the law of Suggestion than in the indi- vidual working alone, for the reason that the teacher or doctor having a better perspective of the needs of the subject, and a more or less im- personal attitude toward them, is able to make his suggestions, or project his ideas, with a more positive force than when one is trying to be both the target and the archer at the same time. We all know the exhilaration of being told by any appreciative friend that we can do a SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 43 certain thing unusually well. It may be the whole means of enabling us to accomplish it, whereas we had believed ourselves incapable, and no amount of auto-suggestion in the form of "I can do it," "I know I can do it" would have produced the same quick and satisfying re- sults. Still, every action that we perform is the result of a previous thought, and if we take care first to develop the right thought before begin- ning, we can do much to make both thoughts and actions conform to our ideals without any help from others — provided, of course, we have learned to be "positive," for thoughts require force as well as good aim to be efficacious. For the best results, however, the work of a Psycho-analyst is indispensable. He acts as an agent or substitute, upon which the patient can transfer his unconscious psychic forces. The doctor overcomes by his skilful suggestions the unconscious conflicts and disquietudes of his subject, thus serving as a liberator or harmon- izer. Of course the whole force of a positive and carefully aimed suggestion may be lost if it 44 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR is met by an equally strong opposing one. Un- fortunately this is sometimes the case with a patient even where he thinks he is open minded and receptive and who listens obediently to vari- ous ideas, which though projected with sufficient energy to reach and benefit him, are completely annulled by some of his own subconscious or unknown convictions or prejudices. Thus a very " positive' ' or " decided" person may be difficult to influence by suggestion, even though he appears to be willing. It reminds one of the old question in Physics — "what happens when an irresistible force is met by an imponderable body"! The expert Psycho-analyst is, how- ever, usually able to get around this difficulty. There is also the person with the smooth slip- pery mind, from which suggestions glance off as from the surface of a glass ball — nothing is so annoying as to find one of these in one's own family! And then the type that drinks in eagerly every available suggestion, but has nothing but a sieve to put it in ! Such a one is the most discouraging of all, for no amount of labour seems to suffice to stop up the perfora- SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND . 45 tions. All these types serve to indicate the lim- itations of Suggestion, but they are limitations, it is plain to be seen, due to the nature of the patient and not to the principle involved. There is no question of a "weakness of will" concerned here. It is far better to be "amen- able to suggestion' 9 than not. The rock-ribbed type of mind is slow to learn. It remains too complacently ensconced behind the solid walls of its own beliefs, exerting itself only in efforts to make suggestions to other people. We all know, theoretically at least, how absurd it is to go about giving unasked advice, and we should know that it is equally futile to make " suggestions,' ' no matter how good, when they are not wanted. Perhaps this is the first rule to remember in making use of this psychological law — i.e., not to make ourselves moral mentors, or assume the responsibility for anybody. The very first re- quirement for suggestion to take effect, is that the recipient should desire it enough to be re- ceptive. If not so by nature, he can become so voluntarily. It may involve his assuming an 46 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR attitude that is not felt, but very often by doing so he conies to a new and useful viewpoint not otherwise to be achieved. In fact, we are altogether too much afraid of the power of persuasion and of being made to do things ' ' against our will. ' ' If our wills are obviously working in the wrong direction, we should be very grateful for a person or a process by which they may be set right. If we are labouring under the weight of a wrong idea from which we cannot free ourselves, even though we may know it to be wrong, what a blessing that relief can be obtained through the intervention of another mind and another will ! It is not necessarily a sign of weakness to be " suggestible, " it is rather an enviable state, for it implies an open and growing mind instead of one that is fixed, static, and hidebound. There is a state of over-suggestibility which presents many difficulties, if not actual dangers. It is a type common enough to miss being called "pathological," but is nevertheless often very troublesome. For example, a patient of mine reports that she dare not buy anything in a shop SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 47 without first going home to ' ' think it over, ' ' as she is almost certain to be so influenced by the salesperson as to purchase something she does not want. This is plainly an extreme of suggestibility; but how can such a mind be helped into a stronger and more stable state, except by the influence of Suggestion? The form of treatment in a case like this should be somewhat after this fashion: "You will never be persuaded to buy anything you do not want — you will always know your own mind — you are perfectly sure of yourself — you cannot be influenced by any one except when you desire. ' ' Eepetitions of constructive statements like these will finally relieve the patient of her too great susceptibilities and put her in a position ulti- mately to be independent of all suggestion. This illustration will suggest the wide field of this powerful means of alleviation for numer- ous pathological conditions which we have never before been able to meet. Nor is it neces- sary that it should be limited only to profes- sional use, for it is perfectly possible for a person of even ordinary intelligence to con- 48 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR stantly apply this law for his own benefit and advantage. Furthermore, its use in the train- ing of children is almost unlimited. I wish only to warn against the exceedingly shallow and short-sighted use that is made of Sugges- tion by many amateur teachers and practition- ers, persons who have no eye for underlying causes and who by their methods, if they are not doing actual harm, are at least wasting their time in mere self-delusion. To pour indiscriminate suggestions into a mind which is constantly creating new trouble and turmoil for itself, without the proper train- ing and necessary reorganization, is like empty- ing little pails of water into the roaring sea, expecting some miraculous transformation therefrom. Here is where we find the real limitations of Suggestion and where other and more essentially spiritual forces are required to effect any material changes. An aptitude for assuming the " other f el- low V viewpoint, at least tentatively, is not un- like the will to believe, as enunciated by William James. It is an attitude necessary not only SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 49 when one desires to benefit by Suggestion, but is an important one for broadening one's life as a whole. It is deprecated by those who move through life with the one idea of avoiding mis- takes, and who because of their very care and excessive caution miss most that is desirable. To many of these it may be temperamentally impossible to "will to believe," but to the fear- less ones who take life as an adventure and are willing to "try" various paths, there is al- ways the reward of a new vision and a new opportunity. Sometimes one climbs an un- promising hill, perhaps only half believing that it will lead him where he desires to go, but, willing to ' ' take a chance, ' ' he finds on its sum- mit that his hopes are more than realized by the enchanting vistas spread out before him. Something like this attitude is essential to the mental seeker ; the eternal critic, the sceptic and unbeliever, lacks one of the first and best im- plements for the study of the peculiarly delicate and evanescent fabric of the mind. There are limits to credulity, of course, which any sen- sible person will mark out for himself and ob- 50 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR serve; but above all, if one is to coax out of his concealed depths many of the treasures of the consciousness which lie below its threshold, he must have learned the secret of impelling his will in the direction of his expectancy and faith, he must have trained himself in the will to believe. Such pliability should be possessed by every one and having once found and adopted this valuable and constructive attitude, it will not be difficult for the student of Psychology to fol- low me in what I have to say as to the power of Affirmation. ' ' Affirmation ' ? in this sense has a special meaning — it is an asserting or de- claring to be true something which does not seem to be true at the time but which one de- sires to see realized. In the chapter on Im- agination I will explain this process more fully, but here I wish to draw attention to the fact that to think scientifically, one must give up all preconceived ideas as to the reality — though not the actuality — of the fact-world; he must begin by assuming that what he desires to bring to pass already exists in reality, and that it is SOME NEW ASPECTS OF MIND 51 for him, by a definite and controlled thought- process, to project those ideas into objective and actual existence. An Affirmation is making a definite state- ment of a condition one wishes to attain, as though it were already attained. This is using the Imagination and Intellect to shape and formulate the unorganized elements of Con- sciousness, and is the very foundation of all worth while effort to deal with Behaviour. To believe in and to aver a thing with confidence is the first step toward bringing it into being and completion, and can be secured only by constant assertion of power and capacity on the part of the doer. When once mastered it is an open sesame to the solution of all problems. To the initiated Affirmation becomes an habit- ual mode of thought. It is a "positive" state of mind, expressing both expectation and belief and is not based on outward appearances. We all know the inspiring effects of asserting strength and courage where none is felt, of say- ing "I am able," or "I am not afraid" when both weakness and fear may be the dominant 52 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR sensations. The nearer one can come to realizv ing these assertions of potential power to be the realities, and the more one can train one 's mind to depend upon this mode of thought as a rod and staff in the time of trouble, the greater will be one's support and the higher the achieve- ment. It is after all only a mode for utilizing that eternal energy which fills the Universe, a key that unlocks some of the sealed chambers of the mind and reveals how we may-avail ourselves of some of the infinite potentialities of the Cosmic Consciousness. CHAPTER II INTELLECT THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERCEPTION- INTELLECT, in the history of Philosophy and Psychology, has had, as a term, various mean- ings and definitions. I shall use it to distin- guish that comparatively small but important part of the mind which is conscious and self- knowing, the cognitive faculty, capable of form- ing comparisons and judgment. Because it is the practical, reasoning, obvious, everyday phase of consciousness and also the only one we ordinarily know I shall also call it objective, to distinguish it from those less tangible though more inherent phases of intelligence which we have just been considering. Intellect is the mechanism by which we gain knowledge of the external world. Spinoza taught that knowledge might be acquired in four ways. 53 U THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR Hearsay Experience ^ Eeasoning Intuition. Intuition, as we have already seen in the preceding chapter, is the rapid and sure work- ing of the inner consciousness. The other three in our list are the distinctly intellectual or ob- jective processes, and the preponderance of their number is indicative of the extent to which we live in the Intellect, as compared to the more interior and instinctive portions of our being. This is not to say at all that we are "intellec- tual" in the ordinary sense, but only that we have so far graduated out of the earlier stages of racial growth as to put nearly all the em- phasis, at the present time, on external modes. Our "knowledge" is no longer a matter of in- herent perception, as it once was, but a collec- tion of information gained almost exclusively through objective channels. So far has this tendency progressed that we have come to wor- ship Intellect to the exclusion or disadvantage pf all the other powers of the mind, INTELLECT 55 Hearsay, to begin with, absolutely dominates the thought-life of the average person. Through the conscious brain are received, sec- ond-hand, the heterogeneous ideas of other people— accepted credulously, usually, almost as a religion, without even a question as to their truth or accuracy. Much of our education and even the reading of books, unless combined with an independent reasoning faculty, comes under this head. Experience is a dear teacher and none of us entirely escape her hard lessons, but as few possess a mentality sufficiently active to adjudge her precepts properly, the knowledge gained by means of experience is often purely objective and an empty thing. Reasoning as an active, conscious faculty is so dormant in most people, except in its most primitive phases or in its subjective aspects, that it does not play a very large part in their acquisition of knowledge; though by the great savants and leaders of the race it has long been held to be man's crowning glory and surest guide. 56 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR I hope to add my quota of emphasis to the importance of the reasoning faculty and espe- cially to explain how it may be better developed ; but while calling attention to this direction and possibility, I wish the reader to keep the true perspective by holding ever before him the foundation on which it is built, i.e., the natural, logical, primal, reasoning intelligence, which though submerged and invisible is the inherit- ance of every man. This inherent intelligence which is a symbol of man's unity with the All- Knowing Mind, is potential — the Intellect is but a handle for reaching it. "Character consists in knowledge of the union which the mind has with the whole of nature" said Spinoza, yet we go on trying to "make" character by the most inadequate means possible — that is by rules and regulations which concern the outer life alone, by excessive contact with the mere world of things, scarcely ever with the inner world of feeling and percep- tion, the world of Nature and of Truth. Undoubtedly the inevitable period of igno- rance preceding maturity in all lives, that is INTELLECT 57 when the inner consciousness is yet unknown to itself, requires some rules and guidance for its conduct and unfoldment; but it appears that we become obsessed by these prescriptions, for most of us live and die without much knowledge of anything deeper than the superficial world of things, and are built up mainly out of hearsay, some experience, and ocoasionaly a little rea- soning. So far has this fetish progressed in mod- ern times and especially in the Western world, as to very nearly exclude those valuable and ex- quisite attributes arising from the speculative and philosophical mind of the Orient. We are so overrun with the mere doing of things, with pride in material accomplishments, with " effi- ciency,' ' " education,' ' "business," "success," "getting-on," etc., that we have practically obliterated the faculties of the inner life and lost the power of drawing upon our deeper selves for knowledge. All of this is closely concerned with our un- due exaltation of the Intellect ; and though it is obvious that we require the very best possible 58 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR use of all our external faculties, it is my conten- tion that most of the claims, and all of the methods, of modern thought, and especially its system of ' ' education, ' ' are erroneous — errone- ous for the reason that the true foundation for all development is not recognized — which is, first, that knowledge is already inherent in the mind of man, and, second, it requires a training of the senses rather than the Intellect, to bring it out. Not until these facts are firmly estab- lished can we proceed with safety to a consid- eration of how to train the Intellect. And then we must draw the distinction sharply : that the brain-faculty is foremost in this category solely because it is the only organ of the interior life known to our consciousness, and that it is nothing but a tool; and I shall endeavour by pointing out its particular office to aid the stu- dent of Behaviour to make new and useful ad- justments for himself — to reach, in short, those greater depths within, which are, after all, to be approached and successfully appropriated only by an obedient brain. This view of the human mind as an instru- INTELLECT 59 ment only, reminds one of the theory advanced by certain materialists, that the brain is like any other secreting organ of the body, only that it secretes thought, instead of bile as does the liver, etc. There was a time when I regarded this view as an insult to human intelligence; but after all what is the difference % If we but regard an individual life as an indigitated por- tion of a great, all-pervading life, we have a very good analogy; the brain is at best but an organ of the Intellect which in its turn is also an organ of other more important elements of consciousness ; and the whole human conscious- ness is but an organ for the manifestation of a Universal Consciousness which flows through us like a stream, for purposes only vaguely com- prehended by our finite minds. Which digres- sion is necessary in order that when we speak of the Intellect as a monitor or executive officer of the whole mechanism, we shall not confuse it, as is so often done, with that essential "I" lying back of all psychology. Perhaps the best illustration possible of the Intellect in its relation to other phases of con- 60 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR sciousness, is to consider it as the "man at the head," the executor who sits in his office to con- trol the volume of business that is represented by his organization ; but we must remember that he is merely an administrator, and not the busi- ness itself; for though the power that is ex- pressed through him is essentially the same as that in all his workers, there is the marked difference of function and position. He may, and should be, the sole director; if not, all his subconscious thoughts, feelings and impulses rise up to threaten and unseat him — not an inr frequent occurrence as we all have occasion to know. The Intellect might be likened too, to the engi- neer using his locomotive, as we use both body and brain as a vehicle for experience and prog- ress through life. As the directing element of a powerful mechanism, an engineer is the equiv- alent of the Intellect. Through him the cur- rents of power from the generative sources of his machine make connection with the body of the engine, just as the internal life, with its reservoirs of energy, is applied through the INTELLECT 61 Intellect to the external and concrete experi- ences of life. The engineer uses his position as executor to regulate both the extent and the direction of this power, thus paralleling the office of the Intellect with its faculty for judg- ment and discrimination. It is exactly this development of judgment, or a right sense of values, that should be the main object of all intellectual training. And the power to consciously and efficiently operate the mind is as dependent upon training and organ- ization, as it is in the case of the engineer. This is just what modern education fails to do ; and the lack is the more pronounced in the mental world of today, because it is so strongly emphasized in the material world. Our thoughts are scattered and unrestrained: whereas they should be at least as orderly and easily ascertainable as our bank accounts or our libraries or the contents of our wardrobes: but to do this it is necessary to evolve a well-regulated personal thought-system corresponding in its careful organization to that in vogue in the best industries, in our 62 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR homes, our clubs, and our charities. The con- tents of our minds are much in need of renova- tion, with the installation of a system compara- ble to the classified card-index of a good library. Not to know what one knows, is, to put it mildly, a drawback: and until we develop discrimina- tion, self-analysis and impersonal self-judg- ment, we are in no position to realize upon our inherent powers and capabilities. Thus the first step in intellectual training becomes ap- parent. Let us now examine more closely that dis- tinctive attribute of the Intellect, which I have called Discrimination. It represents a selec- tive power of prime importance, which a little thought will show, is not characteristic of the whole mind. The deeper phases of the think- ing process are, because of their very uncon- sciousness, at the mercy of whatever winds may blow. Through the Intellect we have a handle with which we are able to guide and di- rect these forces, because with it we can discern, compare, choose, eliminate, and determine. It leads us for this reason, beyond and out of the INTELLECT 63 instinctive discrimination of the animal plane and thus renders an important and necessary service in our progress toward culture. As a balance and medium for all the active and positive elements of our being, Intellect is paramount. Unless it is awake and alert, most of the power generated in the motive centres of /the mind is dissipated through a lack of proper control. For Discrimination means a suitable use of our own material quite as much as the selection or rejection of anything in the outside world. And the especial quality of the Intellect is such as to enable us to develop the necessary sense of values, by means of which all our other faculties may be utilized to the full. It is indeed the only faculty by which we may stretch to the full measure of our powers ; hence the exalted position rightly accorded to it by all men of learning. This does not mean, though, that a right sense of values is possessed by all "intellectual" peo- ple, for they, even more than others, are apt to mistake objective for true knowledge and ele- vate themselves with a false importance. All 64 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR of which implies, even in people of the higher types, a neglect of this very faculty of discrim- ination on which they pride themselves, and a stupid disregard for the really fundamental sources of knowledge. It is as though man had found such an en- chanting toy in his unfolding mentality as to become engrossed in admiration of it, forget- ting meanwhile that Intelligence is a universal , principle of Nature, expressing itself through any really responsive human machine without regard to education or acquired proficiencies. Yet my thesis is that our advantage is greater with "acquired proficiencies' ' than without them ; and that with a right training we are less likely to mistake the means used for the end sought or the thing-in-itself. Wisdom we all desire — Intellect may be the gateway to it, but no more. How universally nevertheless do we confuse the two. To return then to a discussion of what Dis- crimination means, Emerson quotes the In- dian Vedas in one of his Essays — "He that can discriminate is the father of his father," thus INTELLECT 65 showing his opinion of the value enfolded in this power of perceiving differences, of weigh- ing, comparing, balancing. Nothing in fact in- dicates a loss of mental balance so clearly as the feebleness, or absence, of the power to dis- cern values — witness, for example, the mind of a fanatic or person of a single idea, where there is no discrimination — the result is narrowness instead of breadth, and inconsistency instead of poise, the ultimate end of which is insanity. All of us are a little "off" at times, when we lose the perspective and steadiness that comes from having a sure hand on the throttle of our engine. And we do not seem to realize that though the engine may continue to run for some time without the directing intelligence of the engineer, the inevitable end of such a course can be nothing but disaster. There are all shades and grades of the dis- criminative faculty to be observed in human beings, from those who split so many hairs and hold such a tight rein on themselves as to scarcely move at all, to the emotional and un- reliable type who go from one extreme of 66 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR feeling to another and accept all things good or bad without even an attempt at judgment or cal- culation. Too much discrimination leads to ex- cessive caution, inhibition, and fear, too little makes but a weakling and a weather vane, both of small account in this world of competition. We know very well how little value is to be placed upon the opinions of those who lack this important quality. They lose all the fine points; "rave" over everything that appeals to them: find it always "wonderful," "superb," or "absolutely great"; or else they condemn with ruthlessness all that they do not like, never knowing in either case anything but the extreme degree. The mind to be at its best then, must be able to clearly distinguish and compare. Its ca- pacity to mark differences is the equivalent of the "feelers" or antennae of the insect, testing, trying, accepting or rejecting, according to its needs. The mind is a crucible, into which vari- ous elements are being constantly poured. The reflective capacity of the Intellect enables us to select and arrange these elements to the best INTELLECT 67 advantage. We are always in the process of choosing our environment, albeit unconsciously, and making our own reactions to it. If then in every choice this marvellous discriminative faculty of ours were at work, think how differ- ent would be the result, how many mistakes avoided and pain saved, how much more every move might count. If we but observed even the same degree of fas- tidiousness for our mental food and experiences that the average person displays for his physi- cal sustenance, there would be an immediate and astounding revolution. While more than considerable care and thought has been bestowed upon questions of dietetics, hygiene, housing, selection of occupations, etc., we continue to de- lude ourselves with the idea that we are develop- ing Intellect while continuing to feed it, without concern, on a diet distinguished mostly for the absence of nourishment and quality. I speak not only of books and the generally wasteful reading matter with which people fill their minds, but of the material we are more or less forced to receive into our consciousness by 68 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR - contact with the life around us — the vapid con- versations, the hideous and stupid sign boards that for ever confront us with their undesired information; not to speak of wasted hours of mental activity dignified by the name of "amusement"; and the idle relations with the thoughtless, the vulgar, or the stupid ones, who circle us on every side. Nor is this all; we de- liberately embroil ourselves, or fall headlong, into situations for which we have no real taste, and frequently create galling personal bonds which a lifetime does not suffice to dissolve; suffering experiences which our souls bear wit- ness are but superfluous stings of the lash — all for no better reason than that we have not ex- ercised the simple but most precious attribute of discrimination. These are but sketchy examples, which the reader can develop as far as he likes, concern- ing the office of the Intellect as monitor, exercis- ing its discretion as to what shall be permitted to enter the mind from outside and what shall not. I think the few illustrations cited are suffi- cient to indicate that it is a function which, at INTELLECT 69 best, is very little used. In this sense the In- tellect is a feeding machine turning over raw material to be worked upon by the constantly revolving forces in the mind — a machine that in most instances is sadly out of commission. The significance of this widespread habit of intellectual inertia is especially impressive when one considers that by most psychologists the Intellect is regarded as the only agent of supply; that is, that outside of certain in- herited tendencies, no impressions ever reach the brain except through the avenues of the five senses. If this were the case, and my conten- tion be admitted that these senses are in the average person more than half asleep, one would be driven to the conclusion that we were all hopelessly stupid. But fortunately we are not confined to the testimony of the senses only, for the acquisition of knowledge. We have the limitless source of Intuition, as we have already seen ; and in addi- tion there is no question but that innumerable impressions reach the mind by means of quite other paths — paths less material but none the 70 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR less effective. I am well aware that the major- ity of psychologists reject this view; but as the majority are avowed materialists, and refuse to examine or admit the extensive evidence con- cerning telepathy and the transmission of the finer psychic vibrations from mind to mind, they naturally remain in ignorance of the fact that Thought is so subtle a force that it may pervade the ether like electricity and pass di- rectly through what is called space, just as messages are transmitted by wireless telegra- phy without the apparatus that was once con- sidered so essential. Thus we have an un- doubted and powerful means of supplying our- selves with mental material quite apart from our original equipment of inherent knowledge and the usual sense acquisitions — one to be cherished and developed as the best possible means of enlarging our horizon and increasing our store. But to return to the questions of intellectual methods, I have already spoken of avoiding the ingestion of undesirable or harmful material, I now wish to call attention to the importance of INTELLECT 71 Elimination as a mental habit. Vast piles of mental junk are absorbed daily and yearly by almost every one, as we have already seen. Even intelligent people, either through gen- eral carelessness, or perhaps sometimes imbued with a blind desire for knowledge, have a habit of absorbing with avidity everything within their range. These extend all the way from the newspaper habitue to the studious ones who consume the public library. By some kind of topsy-turvy reasoning all this is thought to be an admirable trait. What a fallacy it is, is shown by the perniciousness of the result — loss of the critical faculties and power to think for one's self. Even though the contents of all the books, papers, lectures, etc., were good, it would yet leave the mind of the reader with a mass of indigestible material, most of which he can never use, and which as a clog to the wheels of his machinery is scarcely exceeded by any other one element in his life. It is safe to say then that some nine-tenths of our reading matter, not to say our "affairs," should be eliminated — we could even afford to 72 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR dispense with many of the facts now in our possession if we could but replace the space they occupy with the power to think. Life today is very complex and full of dangerous non-es- sentials. Just ask yourself honestly how many things you are now doing that you would be better off without and see if you cannot trim down your mind to advantage. Let us turn our attention now to another as- pect of the workings of the discriminative fac- ulty, that is, of the passing upon and turning out the finished article, the 'product of the mind. There must be a control of expression; and the intellectual or discriminative person rarely ever "spills," that is, empties his mind, without care and forethought as to the fitness or wis- dom of expressing his feelings and opinions, or without a forecast as to the probable result of his actions. There is an undeniable power implied in this reserve and he often leaves us wondering what else lies in the back of his brain. It is calculation and finesse, the prod- uct of discrimination and control — attributes never found in the primitive emotional types, INTELLECT 73 who have not the -power to say one thing while feeling another, or to express their feelings only in part. Some expression of the face or un- conscious movement of the body is sure to be- tray their inner state even if it is not spoken in words. Since the burden of my thesis is for greater freedom and spontaneity in Behaviour, rather than for restraint, I am not arguing the case in favour of those who can so successfully hide their thoughts, particularly as the ultimate logical outcome of this capacity is the quality of deceit which we all despise even though paying tribute to the cleverness it implies. We must admit that a considerable degree of Intellect is involved in all dissembling and that there are innumerable situations in life requiring the ex- ercise of the faculty. Without discrimination of this sort there would be no such thing for ex- ample, as the " successful business man," and the popularity of the stage hero who succeeds in "putting it over" his antagonist by means of his "wits" is proof enough of its wide appeal. Nor must it be forgotten that dissimulation is 74 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR to a certain extent absolutely required by tlie conventionalities of organized society, where it is politely called politeness. Whatever its basis, whether sympathy and kindness or merely self-seeking, the art of politeness or graceful social intercourse has its place and marks a de- gree of self-control and discriminative power which is in itself most admirable. Politeness is of course an acquisition of civilization. It is not a natural possession of either children or primitive peoples. They are swayed by their natural feelings with a serene disregard for the disconcerting effects of thus naively ex- posing them — which is one of the reasons we love them so! This quality of frankness and naivete has its own charm, and is indeed an ideal for the race to which we may hope to return — after we have mastered the Intellect. At present let us con- sider some of the advantages to be secured by the person who can hold his mental content in check, exhibiting to the world only that which his own higher sense of discrimination has passed upon and approved. With a criterion INTELLECT 75 of this sort, both his words and actions may pass from a crude or destructive state so as to become uniformly gracious and useful. Such a one does not carp or criticize or speak un- kindly of any one, or talk of illness and suffer- ing, of accident, quarrels, or depressing things. He may have thoughts and feelings of all these things within himself, but he declines to add to the world's pain by producing them. Such a control is something to command the active admiration of all and can with advantage be made an unvarying rule of life. With the re- straining influence of the Intellect one can ex- ercise selection, even in the things he shall be spontaneous about, and cultivate optimism as a duty and a habit. There is, of course, a danger in this: in the persistent optimist, for instance, there is an ag- gravating tendency — an intention to be "cheer- ful" at any cost, which frequently obliges him to exclude all the facts in the case and thus lose his perspective. Such rather than admit any weakness or physical infirmity, prefer to go o» from bad to worse until help is useless ; or they 76 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR may cheerily assert that " everything is all right," when one knows quite well it is all wrong. Such an attitude may be the simple expression of a " stout heart"; but more often it betrays a serious lack of discrimination and results in unmitigated weakness. Perhaps the hardest thing in life after all, is to face facts as they are, for almost every one cherishes some pet illusions. The only way out of this jungle of error is through the proper development of the discriminative sense and the assertion of the power of the Intellect. In addition to being the supplying agent of the mind, the Intellect exercises the equally im- portant function of adjusting agent; for after exercising due care as to what we shall admit into our minds we have still to think about what shall happen after it is there. If troubled with mental indigestion or defective assimila- tion, as most of us are, it is no safer to neglect the signs and symptoms than it is in the similar case of physical disturbance. In fact, it is even more important to regulate the mental proc- esses, as those who are familiar with my Psy- INTELLECT 77 cho-Therapy l will know, for the reason that the physical body and all its disturbances are but a reflection of its prevalent mental states. To really achieve the habit of right mental adjustment requires some working basis in one's life, some religion or philosophy which supplies one with dependable standards. Most of the many sufferers who have come to me for help, whether the trouble were physical or men- tal, seemed to be floundering in abysses of ig- norance as to the meaning of life and their place in it. The work of the well-trained psy- chologist is to help them find and establish some such relationship, for without a certain knowledge of Self, all else is superficial. Fric- tion cannot be ultimately eliminated until its exact source has been located; but if an effort is made to harmonize discordant or puzzling experiences with one's deeper consciousness a certain amount of adjustment can always be secured. To take up one phase of it, let us grant first that our mental material is derived mainly from i See Psycho-Therapy, page 91. 78 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR experience; after which one must realize that it is what we think about that experience rather than the experience itself that counts. It is the reaction we have to deal with; the mere incidents of life, once past, are of little mo- ment. It is the residuum or precipitate left from our varied contacts with life, whether in the imagination or actuality, that constitutes the essential quality of the mind. This residuum is due to the estimate made and the attitude as- sumed at the time of each occurrence. Every action, every thought even, leaves its mark in the subconscious memory. Nor do any two people carry away exactly the same impressions from any experience, no two ever draw out of a book or a play or a friend the same elements. Each is different — some of the discriminations made are deter- mined by instinct, some by reasoning and some by other influences. But it is the reflection fol- lowing — or possibly the absence of it — that de- termines what shall be finally retained in the consciousness. If we would but take time to do so, we could make our reflections constructive INTELLECT 79 ones, whatever the nature of the experience giv- ing rise to them may have been. We can de- velop the "philosophical" mind, whatever our temperaments or tendencies, thus learning to erase the scars and marks of injury as we go along, turning evil, failure, pain, and ignorance into knowledge, power, and harmony. It can be seen that to accomplish such an end as this we must know both how to discard and adjust, that it is as important to "forget" as it is to "retain"; for our minds not only con- stantly collect debris, but we allow this un- suitable material to remain indefinitely, with no check to its corroding and destructive ac- tion. Take, for instance, how many poor souls are labouring under the burden of regret — regret for past acts of their own, for lost opportuni- ties, for the failures of friends and loved ones, for the seeming injustice of fate ; and although we consider regret only as a "feeling," it gives birth to many useless and impeding thoughts. When memories like this come crowding up out of the subconsciousness, as they so often 80 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR do especially in moments of quiet or reverie, it should be a warning sign. It is time for the Intellect to take hold and weed out the rubbish, to discriminate against or to adjust the mani- festly conflicting elements. What has been the mental process preceding the recollection of such unhappy thoughts'? First, that the occasion that produced them was not met constructively, that is, with a balance and sureness and with the resilience of spirit necessary to pass through pain without scar. The attitude toward the experience was too lim- ited, bound up perhaps with ignorance, self- pity, or selfishness of some kind, so that there was left somewhere in the consciousness an in- delible mark, a self -injury, a rankling thought or feeling that continued to wreak vengeance upon its surroundings; otherwise no " regrets" could appear. And in the course of time, though the occasion of all this trouble may have been quite forgotten, the corroding action goes on unbroken, feeding back to the conscious In- tellect a repetition and multiplication of itself INTELLECT 81 until one becomes quite buried and lost under the weight of it. It follows then that the power of the Intellect to discriminate and adjust should be deliber- ately applied in all matters of the Emotions, as well as in mental processes alone. Whatever may be the material presented, the Intellect should be able to so harmonize and adjust it with its own needs and laws of being as to en- tirely assimilate it; for it is only the non-as- similated material that poisons or causes pain. The first step is to forestall future trouble by refusing to admit and harbour any dis- turbed feelings about the experiences of the present, and secondly by refusing to longer nourish and sustain those relics of the past already in the mind which on examination prove to be destructive. By means of this conscious self -knowing part of our mind we are actually able to uproot and weed out those obnoxious growths which we have so long nurtured. It should be a daily custom — not to look back- ward of course, but to keep in order our mental 82 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR house and garden ; to adjust ourselves comfort- ably and happily to each daily experience, and never to go to sleep with any disturbing emo- tions to mar our rest. With such a habit, any chronic friction becomes an impossibility and one of the greatest prerogatives of the Intel- lect has been fulfilled. It is just here that the reconstructive work of Psycho-therapy and Psycho-analysis be- comes of such value. While every student of Psychology can do much toward the rearrang- ing of his own mind, he should not be surprised or discouraged that he meets problems that he cannot solve alone. It requires special knowl- edge and years of experiment, as well as an earnest devotion to the cause to achieve the ex- pertness essential to this delicate work. The practitioner of Applied Psychology comes to have the same skill in solving mental problems as the experienced constructive engineer pos- sesses in his field. Psycho-therapy is far from being a completed science, but the imperative need for exact knowledge in these more subtle paths of the mind is so apparent that more and INTELLECT 83 more are the seekers after health, efficiency, and a satisfactory condnct of life turning to these avenues for the solution of every problem both personal and social. Perhaps the New Education will establish "mental laboratories' ' where every maladjustment or inefficiency will be scientifically treated after the manner of all the other special disorders. It has often been said that what especially dis- tinguishes man from the brute creation is that phase of intelligence known as Reason. If the reader has followed me closely in my discus- sion of the nature and the use of Discrimina- tion, he will have already perceived that it is in essence but an application of the power to reason, and that it is developed to a greater or less degree in men according to their varying mental status. Let us look first at the steps in the ordinary reasoning process, a sequence that marks all our mental activities in a way, though not al- ways perceptible. To indicate it somewhat after the manner of Locke in his Human Un- derstanding; every action of the mind re- 84 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR quires first, perceiving the facts ; second, order- ing them; third, comparing them; and fourth, drawing conclusions from them. Analysed, this is what we do in all our conscious thinking. Thus it will be seen that while studying Dis- crimination, we have come very close to that primary and distinguishing attribute of man's intelligence called Reason. Not Eeason in the Aristotelian or Kantian sense of a priori or in- tuitive knowledge, but Reason as the means by which the human mind organizes and utilizes its intuitive knowledge. The first point that I wish to make clear in connection with the power of Eeason, is that it does not belong to the conscious plane of activity only. We are fairly familiar with its objective application, but we must now per- ceive it as an attribute of the whole mind, and recognize that logical, sequential mental action belongs even more to the subconsciousness than it does to the Intellect — a fact seldom realized or brought to our attention. Not only this, but in reality every mind rea- sons, however immature; every thought or ac- INTELLECT 85 tion is the result of a previous series of thoughts or actions, all of which are perfectly logical in their sequence. Even ' i intuition ' ' is really but the result of rapid or instantaneous reasoning, and though the original premise on which the result is based may have been erroneous, mak- ing the final conclusion still more so, yet the process is inevitably exact and without flaw. This fact deprives intuition and all subcon- scious functioning of much of its romantic mys- tery. It is necessary that we fling away our veil of ignorance in this respect and recognize for once and all that the workings of the human mind in all its phases are based on absolute logic. To once grasp this truth is to dissipate our old fear that instinct and intuition are un- deserving and unreliable attributes — even if the world in general has tossed them carelessly to women and animals as inferior qualities. But the power thus so lightly dismissed is in- deed very profound, based as it is on nothing less than the indubitable orderliness inherent in the human mind. The frequency with which we arrive at false or "illogical" conclusions is 86 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR due wholly to a failure to supply the mind with right material in the beginning. Thoughts do not "happen"; no matter how wrong, ab- surd, or inconsistent they may be, there is al- ways cause for their existence. If the con- clusion is faulty, it is certain there was some- where an error in the premise, and the reason is not far to seek: instead of searching out truth with all our ardour, we are brought up on shams and compromises — deviations are thus inevi- table, our deductions partake of the taint, whether we will or no. If it were not true that the mind is always logical, the phenomena of Suggestion, so con- stantly demonstrated in psychological practice, would be impossible. Suggestion is a mental process by means of which certain ideas are projected into another mind to take the place of those already there. It is the "influence" of one mind over another and is a useful method for substituting constructive thoughts for those deemed to be erroneous or undesirable. It is useful because it supplies a new premise and pnce any premise is accepted by the mind, it INTELLECT 87 becomes a vital force productive of its own kind. And, as the nature of the mind itself absolutely requires the working out to a logi- cal conclusion of any idea which has really found lodgment therein, we see the reason of expecting vital results from the insertion of a new idea by means of Suggestion. Sometimes these developments are slow, or delayed for long periods of time ; and again they are deflected by still other ideas or counter-sug- gestions which prove stronger. But when they work at all they work logically. To develop a proper technique of thinking therefore means a careful utilization of this natural power of de- duction, by supplying and sticking to those ideas which we wish to see developed and acted upon. We might define Reason as the power of assembling facts and viewing them in perspec- tive. Essentially it means grasp. Let us con- sider some of our present day habits of thought that tend to prevent or destroy this valuable capacity. There is of course, the mind that is congenitally weak and unable to take hold of anything, a type in which even the best training 88 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR might fail to produce any very specific results. But the most of our trouble is due simply to not thinking. Indeed we take such superficial views of most things that the veriest " dabbler' ' in any line may become a make-believe — and what is worse — a successful, hero, if he but pour out a sufficient volley of bombastic words to tickle the ears of the thoughtless. We are mentally lazy, too ready to accept authority, whether it be in religion, or medicine, or by the mere assertion of a self-appointed prophet in any line. It is so much easier to take the ready- made opinions of others than it is to exert our own forces to the extent of creating opinions for ourselves. We go to lectures to get quota- tions on other people's thoughts and we pride ourselves on becoming connoisseurs in the art of collecting other people's ideas. In the same way do we all fall more or less under the spell of the printed page. Most per- sons need but to read a statement to solemnly believe that it is true, no matter how inaccurate or even absurd it may be. Our critical and questioning faculties are so dormant as to leave INTELLECT 89 us almost helpless before the influence of any and every assertion. This is " knowledge by hearsay" with a vengeance. Already I have called attention to the great multiplicity of things with which we have to deal in our present complex civilization, and the resulting confusion and incapacity to deal satis- factorily with any of them. It is clear that we must simplify life more in order to live it well ; and in spite of a strong tendency to exaggera- tion and over-elaboration, there is at present also a steadily growing undercurrent of feel- ing for "reality" — a current that is sweeping away many of the useless and wasteful things of life. This tendency is something that we should aim to develop individually however ; especially by efforts to make Living a vital subject, a subject of which knowledge should be imparted in early life as of a precious art. We should aim for the adoption of simple, orderly, daily habits of thought and action, such as finishing things which are begun, or availing ourselves of the logical alternative of discarding them al- 90 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR together if not worth finishing. In early child- hood the mind should be trained until it is sec- ond nature to forget that which is non-essential and retain that which is of value. It should be taught to see things in groups, clean-cut, according to type and classification, it should be led into the habit of perceiving the relations that exist between all facts and all ideas. This should constitute the principal element of edu- cation, not a mass of mere information, nor even a facility in dealing with information. The Intellect is given us as a means of mani- festing and materializing Life. To this end it can be seen how important it is that Logic should be brought out from the dry tomes of the academicians, and made a living vital mode of thought for every one. There is a steadily growing protest against the mere machinery of living as it is constituted today, to which it may not be amiss to call at- tention while we are studying the place of the Intellect in human action. There are so many purely objective things seeming to have to be done just to get through the day that the great- INTELLECT 91 est difficulty is experienced in making time for anything more satisfying or worth while. Most of us deplore this situation and yet continue to live helplessly under the domination of circum- stance. There is the ubiquitous telephone, the much travelling about, the meeting of appoint- ments, the watching of servants and employes, and for women, the tyranny of dress and house- hold. There is beyond doubt a maddening mul- tiplicity of inescapable detail attached to mod- ern life ; but the very intensity of the pressure of it should awaken us to genuine effort to organize our individual lives so far as possible on a different and better basis. To do this one must become somewhat of a law unto himself, an individualist, a unit, a centre that establishes its own rate of vibration and determines the direction of its own activity apart from the social mass. To stem the tide of habit, convention, and universal custom, re- quires conviction and the courage born of con- viction. It is not the regime for weak and un- certain characters, but for the meaningful life it is an essential. 92 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR There is no other handle by which to deal with these complications of living than the han- dle of an active Intellect. The discerning, dis- criminating, reasoning faculty enables us to see life as a group phenomenon, as a problem to be tackled where and how we will, and solved by scientific method according to our best ideals. Assuming that my reader is ready to do this and seeking the way, I suggest a careful con- sideration of the following phases of Psychol- ogy which I am setting forth as a means to at- tain this end. Attention is really the secret of all efficient action. The very centre of all vital thinking is the power to hold steadily to a focal point, yet the ease with which we are whisked away into unintentional paths betrays how little sov- ereignty we are used to exercising. It is a well-known fact that the power of sustained thought is the unmistakable mark of the force- ful and well developed mind; though the lack of it is such a common characteristic as to occa- sion little comment. Scattered, intermittent or INTELLECT 93 unruly thinking is the general habit ; and when excessive is the cause of many nervous dis- orders if not of a breaking mentality or bodily disease. Attention has to do with the direction of thought, and consists in centering all one 's men- tal energy on a given point at one time. Angell defines it as "a rudimentary form of conation or will. ' ' I should call it more than ' ' rudimen- tary,' ' as it requires a considerable degree of volition, especially when the act is a deliberate, conscious one; but thinking with or to a pur- pose is not beyond the powers of any intelligent determined person. Being a self-initiated ac- tivity it naturally falls without the province of many, since there are those who seem to be minus the instinct or capacity for propelling themselves in any direction. To chain the darting, lightning-like and com- plex movements of an active mind into some- thing like definite concerted action, and concen- trated power, upon a fixed point, calls for an effort of the will which is perhaps not easily self-imposed; but since to gain the power of 94 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR voluntary attention is indispensable for any- thing like an adequate mental life, it follows that the effort must be made. Fortunately it is not so difficult as it may seem. The first requisite to insure one's Attention being riveted upon the purposes in hand, is that Interest and Desire shall be united with it. And this co-ordination is the whole secret of the possession of the power of Attention ; for there is no trouble in attending to things which com- mand one's interest. The ingenuity and inten- sity of interest exhibited by a small boy desir- ous of escaping the infliction of an attendance at school, is a case in point; yet when set at some exercise in which he has no interest, his at- tention lags to such a degree that he appears to be no less than a dunce. We have then two courses of action open to us : either to do only the things we desire to do, or else learn to create an interest in those things which we feel we ought to do. Both avenues must be pondered, for both will yield results and much can be promised when they are culti- vated and mastered. In either case we are INTELLECT 95 opening the way to the acquisition of the power of Attention. Attention like every other conscious faculty has its subconscious counterpart which does many things contrary to our acknowledged in- tention, and is therefore ■ termed involuntary. We receive innumerable impressions through the senses of which we are unaware at the time, discovering long after perhaps that our Atten- tion has been most active without our knowing it. Especially is this true in emotional matters and it would be well were we always to review our thoughts and feelings of the day to see which ones have stuck. Sometimes we carry away impressions quite the contrary of those we have voluntarily admitted into conscious- ness; always these are the result of subcon- scious Attention bestowed unawares. Of course the real test in the use of Attention is to be able to withdraw it at will from any point upon which it may have become fixed, and trans- fer it to a desired subject. In the following chapter on Imagination we will see how this can be done. 96 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR There is also the kind of Attention we give to mechanical duties of various sorts, which might be called automatic, so subconscious or " sec- ond nature ' ' has it become. By the cumulative force of habit one acquires proficiency through mere routine such as is afforded by almost any daily occupation or business. Constant repeti- tion in any line of action tends to centre the Attention upon that line, until conscious Will is no longer required. Inability to place and hold the mind upon' any new and unfamiliar subject is no occasion for discouragement, as new paths in the brain have to be made ; but the continued absence of the power of Attention can always be accounted for by the absence of any vital interest — there are no associated emo- tions strong enough to sustain it. In some of the modern Mental Science cults, considerable emphasis has rightly been placed upon the subject of Concentration, with many suggestions as to how to acquire it. Though the methods given are apt to be superficial and in- adequate, yet the idea as a whole is most valu- able, as perhaps no faculty is in greater need of INTELLECT 97 cultivation these days than this very one of Concentration. Numerous books have been written and published on "just how to do it," most of which give only too painful internal evidence of an absence of the very thing they seek to inculcate. Yet the trend is in the right direction and if followed will help to simplify and strengthen all phases of the mental life. Concentration is but a highly vitalized power of Attention and when active serves as a burn- ing glass through which all the energy of the mind may be centred with its full force upon any chosen point. The value of it is obvious, the means of acquiring and exercising it are less so. The habit of carrying many things in the mind at one time and giving only desultory at- tention to any of them is both common and pernicious ; one of the best accomplishments of a trained mind is that enabling it to bring all its force to bear upon a single point at will, which cannot well be done if one has "too many irons in the fire," mentally speaking. Even the simple, trivial, objective things of life should have our full attention when we are 98 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR engaged with them, though as a matter of course certain acts will become habitual or auto- matic and can be relegated to the care of the subconsciousness as completely as the act of breathing. Even these should not be dismissed until they have been concentrated on and thor- oughly mastered. Thus it is well for the sake of discipline to try putting the whole mind upon such matters as dressing, eating, walking, etc. In the beginning it will be found very tiresome but this is only a proof that the mind is unac- customed to being centred in an objective way. When one has learned the lesson of doing things quickly and proficiently (which is not difficult with concentration) it is not only possi- ble but an advantage to cease the close watch- fulness and care — but not before. The Intel- lect is the leader — if everything passing through it were thoroughly ordered, all that dropped into the subconsciousness from it would be the same — even all our instincts and impulses would become orderly in time. To develop Directed Thinking is the primary function of the Intellect. Careful practice in INTELLECT 99 simple Observation is a good way to begin. Try to tell what you have seen or heard each day — to yourself; write it out, if need be to make it clear. Find out whether you have noticed things and learn to take them in at a glance. Glance at a dozen unfamiliar objects on. a table and see how many of them you are able to recall — the difference in the results is largely a dif- ference of concentration. After training the senses in this way, try the more objective ex- ercise of observing your thoughts, and see how many of them you can inscribe; tedious per- haps — but invaluable. For some people it is very necessary to ar- range their work on a schedule, that is, to pro- vide a careful list of the affairs requiring at- tention and make a point of giving each thing as it comes along its full share of thought to the exclusion of all else. This habit if adhered to will do much to cure insidious mental weak- nesses such as wandering, indecision or hesi- tation; waste of time, inability to pass readily from one occupation to another, and a general disorderliness are all things that can be over- 100 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR come by the persistent practice of concentra- tion. There is a danger in this method as there is in most good things, and those who by nature are devoted to detail and meticulous habits should take care not to allow themselves to fall into the rut of hard and fast rules from which they can be extricated only with difficulty. There is a liability of placing so much depend- ence upon plans and regulations as to lose all adaptability — the Will may even become inert and unresponsive when not supplied with some such assistance or stimulus. A pathetic evi- dence of such a tendency when carried to an extreme, is to be found in the ex-convict, who when released from a long siege of disciplinary habits is more or less unable to formulate, much less to execute, any adequate plan of life for himself. A number of methods are in vogue for de- veloping Concentration which are in the nature of mental gymnastics, and which when used with discrimination have a certain value. Such for example is the exercise of looking fixedly at any INTELLECT 101 small object with the idea of excluding all other thoughts from the mind, except those concern- ing it. The difficulty of doing even a simple tlr'ng like this makes apparent, not an inherent weakness, but rather that our methods of edu- cation are so faulty as to deprive the mind of its natural ability to fix the attention at will. This is especially true of women, who finding little in their customary daily occupations call- ing for sustained thought, are usually unable to devote themselves to a single line of thought with any success — especially if it be in the na- ture of an abstraction. One pity is that no stress is placed upon the Sciences in our popu- lar educational curriculums — especially for women. Nothing is so efficacious as Science for the development of Observation, Concentra- tion, Exactitude and Power — in short, for all that is implied in Directed Thinking. The power to exclude unsolicited ideas and mental images, especially at such time as one is trying to focus the mind, seems in the beginning almost impossible of achievement, and it is only by recurring to the original intention with per- 102 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR sistent practice that any progress is made. The effort calls upon the Will to such an pxtent in most cases as to become very fatiguing in a short time, but will yield results if returned to at suitable intervals. If one could but have the same intensity of interest that exists in the mind of a cat when watching a mousehole, there would probably be no difficulty whatsoever ! If when taking up a book or entering a dis- cussion of any kind, one exercised the will enough to exclude all else but the thing in hand, the experience would be both useful and pleas- ant — for itself, and as discipline. We all know the disconcerting effects of meeting a new person whose attention is most evidently else- where and who cannot even for the sake of courtesy bring his mentality to bear upon the situation. How valuable then, to make each social contact an opportunity for the practice of concentration I In temperaments inclined to dreaminess and ' ' wandering " it is desirable to force the mind upon all such matters as these at the time of their doing — a still further and important step INTELLECT 103 is to begin developing an internal physical con- sciousness. Not of course, the morbid kind of attention which we frequently see bestowed by self-indulgent persons whose only interest is their symptoms ; but there is a constructive at- titude wherein it is possible to rescue from the abysses of subconscious oblivion a clear and certain knowledge of the action of all the or- gans of the body. The practical value of such an accomplish- ment is perfectly patent when one stops to think of how utterly at the mercy of our in- ternal workings most of us are. It is still more important as a means of organizing and in- tegrating one's whole mentality. The 'physical body is the only medium we possess for touch- ing life and the more thoroughly we master a sense of its operations, the more fully do we unite our subconscious intelligence to the ob- jective consciousness. We have much to learn of the Yogis of the East in this matter, who by their wonderful knowledge and subjugation of the body proclaim their mastery of the Intellect. Concentration when highly developed implies 104 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR a comparative anaesthesia to all other impres- sions than the one in hand. Distractions do not distract, even the ragged edges of competitive thoughts gradually disappear until there is ab- solute clarity, and with it a feeling of great power. It then becomes a state of abstraction, a subjective aspect of Intellect which should properly be called Meditation, Meditation may be either an impalpable rev- erie, or it may be a dry, clear, coherent Ideation. In either case it is a form of Concentration, though comparatively very passive in its qual- ity and in that particular quite the antithesis of the positive form of thinking usually associated with Concentration. Meditation is not unlike sleep in its passivity, but it has the value of be- ing a state entered voluntarily and for a given purpose and is one of the most profitable phases of the mental life. It is as necessary to be able to " ruminate' ' at will as it is to add up a column of figures. "What happens during rumination is a sort of simmering process by which assimilation and general mental unity takes place. It aids per- INTELLECT 105 ceptibly in the notice the mind naturally takes of its own operations — it is Reflection, the act by which the mind turns upon itself, to weigh and ponder its own thoughts and feelings, to realize upon its own unknown resources. It is, of course, not enough that we should think and feel in a subjective way, for the logi- cal end of this alone would be a self -annihilat- ing sort of ecstasy — but to be able to look within with a clear, unshrinking gaze, and to make a habit of thus taking stock of one's mental assets and liabilities, is a mental function that should be performed daily — and is by the real quester. The voluntary meditative life is more essential to balance and usefulness than the much vaunted activity to which we are urged by almost everything in our environment. The need of solitude is not sufficiently emphasized— every one needs to be alone sometimes — and there should be a period of Eeflection every night before going to sleep in which to revolve the matters of the day and put them in their proper places. Furthermore, Meditation is one of the doors 106 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR into the Universal Consciousness — to go into it is like entering a beautiful room in one's house set aside as a sanctuary. It enables one to plumb the depths and richness of the thought world. It brings relaxation; without its sooth- ing ministrations we are quick to tire under the high geared pace that life imposes upon us, and find ourselves with a paucity of that power and enthusiasm which alone makes life worth living. The word Contemplation, which best expresses the exalted mental activity made pos- sible by Meditation, implies the going into a temple, the cutting off of the distractions of the world of sense and resting upon the poised cen- tre to be found within. It also represents an entrance into that " silence' 7 wherein may be heard the voice of Nature — it is thus very often associated with acts of devotion or communion, and is beyond a doubt the means of a perfect passage from the world of materiality and sensation into the world of reality and pure knowledge. This interior world is unhappily closed to those who persist in living only in the world INTELLECT 107 of things, but the subjective phases of the in- tellectual life come naturally to those of the thoughtful or reflective temperament. It pro- duces the philosophers and mystics and is a great joy and solace to its possessors. Even in the less intense and isolated forms, all intellectual action brings its own peculiar satisfactions. He who has it is never lonely or looking for occupation. Always there is some- thing to ' ' think about ' ' ; through printed pages the great minds of all ages are open to him, his friends and interests are not limited by time or distance. He often finds fascination in the mere study of words — symbols of man's thoughts and feelings as they are — and he is ever keen to increase his own power of expres- sion through words, knowing that the channel of the Intellect is one of the most permanent and powerful of all. There are, I suppose, people who " think too much." They suffer from a multiplicity of mental images, which are apt to be vivid and persistent, and which tend to a permanent state of intellectual doubt if not of actual bewilder- 108 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR ment. They are tormented by a mental con- flict which is as disturbing as an emotional con- flict. They usually see both sides of a question at once and can argue equally well for the af- firmative or negative ; and though this capacity may at times produce both confusion and an- noyance, it is a distinct advantage when it can be held in check; for it is true that the more highly intellectual a man becomes, the less par- tisan he is able to be. The "judicial tempera- ment' y is rarely if ever united to an insignifi- cant intellect; but it needs strong sympathies and a unified Will to make it effective. The ability to see a problem from all angles is the mark not only of " broad-mindedness,' ' but is the essential point of departure for a student of truth. It is necessary of course to guard against uncertainty and vagueness but it is equally necessary to be as impartial and universal in one's thought as it is possible to be in this world of illusions. Yet while I am counselling the development and more skilled use of the Intellect, I desire to show that the only true value in such de- INTELLECT 109 velopment is that of perfecting an instrument. As an end in itself it is so little worth while. Intellectual action alone, without emotion and imagination, tends to fixity, inflexibility, and artificiality. An example of this result is the type known as the " money-maker," who through calculation and shrewdness exercises his intellectual powers to great advantage ; but this is living on the surface and has little in it- self of satisfaction or permanent value. Not but that ' ' business ' ' can be a noble pursuit, with the best of opportunities for all one 's powers — it can even be filled with romance and poetic feeling as well as practical advantage. But all intellectual life, without the warmth and sensi- tiveness of the heart, without the vitality of great purposes, without the touch of the "soul" in it, is as dust and ashes. For insight and power, for health and pros- perity, for the realization of all our dreams, we need directed thinking; but in the perfect- ing of this marvellous instrument of the mind, the Intellect, let us not forget the greater things that await its usage. CHAPTER III IMAGINATION AND MEMORY THE PSYCHOLOGY OF EXTENSION" AND KE- TENTION Imagination, or the image-making faculty of the mind, is the power of presenting to con- sciousness objects other than those directly per- ceived through the senses. To understand what I shall say about it, the reader must dis- possess himself of the common notion that it has any connection with the meaning usually ascribed to the word "imaginary" — that is, in the sense of being erroneous, impossible, or "unreal." True Imagination is not synony- mous with fancy or chimera, but is, on the contrary, our most important constructive fac- ulty and may be said to perform the initial and essential part in every human act. Probably the reader is beginning to perceive, if he has not always known, that "man does no IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 111 not live by his senses alone' '; that he has an inner life quite real and distinct from anything concerned with outward experiences and im- pressions. This life is, from my point of view, of such ultimate and supreme importance, that I present these psychological studies principally as a means of exploring its possibilities and plumbing its hidden depths. To this end a careful examination of the Imagination is vi- tal, as it is pre-eminently a subjective function. We are all familiar with the curious capacity of the mind to re-present by means of mental pictures the objects we have seen, or experi- ences through which we have passed. It is as though at the moment of seeing or experiencing a thing we were able to put on some inner closet shelf an exact image or counterpart of that object or experience ; and by the process called recollection we may enter that closet at will and view its contents. Sometimes the objects therein collected are more like jacks-in-the-box, possessing concealed springs that cause them to jump out at us in the least expected moments ; neither are all of these images beautiful or 112 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR pleasant to contemplate (hence the ' 'family skeleton' ' to be found in some closet in every house). But the fact remains that we do carry about with us a mental museum or junkshop which exists solely by virtue of the re-produc- tive function of the Imagination. It is this faculty which constitutes Memory and which we will consider first. By reason of his capacity for retentiveness, man bears with him indelibly the marks of all his previous experiences — probably it is why he can never entirely escape that intangible something represented by his "past." How can it be otherwise when he carries with him tucked safely away in innumerable brain cells, all that he has ever seen, heard, felt or known? Indeed, if he did not thus retain all his past experience, he would have no standard of measurement, no faculty of comparison, noth- ing by which to judge present acts and thus "learn his lessons." Furthermore, in his power of recollecting the past, lies also his power of constructing the future, and what is still more important, his appreciation of the IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 113 reality of the present; for time and space are but creations of the Imagination, necessary mechanisms for projecting the interior con- cepts of the mind upon the screen of life. The important thing to realize is, that how- ever jumbled or vague our various impressions may be, they are never lost to us. The fact that they do abide with us and that under cer- tain conditions we may have access to them, is our reason for claiming Memory in a sense not possessed by the animals. We should dismiss the idea that Memory is a separate function of the mind with a special "seat" in the brain. It merely represents the impressibility and re- taining power of the mind and is the result of a kind of photographic process which is con- stantly taking place. If our powers of per- ception, attention, and receptivity are all in good working order, we have an automatic prod- uct termed Memory, Beyond this, Memory is hard to define, for it is like an aroma, as elusive as the fragrance of a flower — it is something "thrown off," from a normally functioning mental organism. 114 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR An inability to "remember" is but one of the many annoying evidences often forced upon us that our mental machinery is not running smoothly and that there is friction or waste somewhere. It may mean defective visualiz- ing power, or it may mean mere disorderliness. Whatever the cause it can be remedied by the application of proper psychological exercises; for "loss of memory" is a simple psychological phenomenon of a pathological nature, a symp- tom of "sand in the machinery," which needs but proper diagnosis and care to be mastered. Most memory-training "systems" overlook the real causes of forgetfulness and attempt to remedy the defects by purely objective means, such as the association between words, etc. Such methods are mostly props, if not delusions, and fail because they have no proper foundation, not being built upon any true knowl- edge of the mind. They may be useful in so far as they emphasize the necessity for a tech- nique of thinking, but they do not supply the need to which they call attention. A good Memory is really a matter of being IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 115 able to concentrate. Some people concentrate easily, it is a subconscious habit with them. Others scatter all their thoughts and thus blur every impression. For our mental pictures, whether the result of things seen and heard, or based upon abstract interior conceptions, must be vivid and clear-cut to be retained. Whatever we really centre our mind upon, we are not likely to forget. The attention may be bestowed momentarily or even uncon- sciously, but it must be bestowed. When to this we add the power of Interest and Desire, we have the best and strongest mental images, the best conditions, for a good Memory. Even minor objective details can be retained in this way, if we but learn the secret of making vivid impressions at will, thus stamping the thought indelibly on the sensitive plate of the subcon- sciousness. Our thought force is usually so dispersed and therefore so enfeebled, that it is no wonder we are unable to retain much or ac- curately. To keep any one thought or object in the mind clearly, it must be vitalized by attention. 116 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR In a normal well trained mind, this would not need to be done consciously each time, though as a step to that much-to-be-desired condition of a " perfect memory" it is a practice not to be omitted. There is of course involuntary Memory, when we retain pictures of things we have seen but did not notice at the" time, when images reap- pear which were not created by any conscious act of will. Such occur more readily in con- nection with intense emotional experiences, showing that in a highly sensitized state of mind, the keenness of its impressions is greatly enhanced. Who has not thus remembered some trivial detail, such as that in the midst of a certain great emotional crisis he stood on a blue carpet? Certain hypnotic experiments have been made, proving that the mind thus takes cog- nizance of and retains indefinitely many im- pressions without any conscious knowledge — and these impressions are not always through the eyes, or any of the senses for that matter, IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 117 though they add immeasurably to our store of knowledge. Since so many of our mental images are in- voluntary and undiscriminating ones, unbidden reproductions of things that we have experi- enced, seen or known, the importance of un- dertaking a conscious and vigorous control of them is manifest. Memory is a precious possession, affording as it does a constant standard of comparison and a criterion by which to measure present activities. Also by means of it we can furnish our minds with all that is useful and lovely in life and enhance our pleas- ures to an unlimited degree, by being able to re-live them again in the Imagination, and by relating them afresh to all that we know and feel, until they present a whole fabric of irides- cent beauty. But without a well developed selective power, without the control of the cen- sor Intellect, we are constantly retaining and reviewing many useless, if not unpleasant or harmful, images. Most of us are quite swamped at times by unwanted and disagree- 118 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR able thoughts and feelings which have had their origin in the past, and over which we seem pow- erless. If not mastered or dispersed, these may hold us like a cloud of black imps to darken all our days. Such are the " fixed ideas," the un- solicited impressions, that arise from an exag- gerated memory, an over-susceptibility of the retentive faculty. Fortunately unpleasant experiences like these can be avoided by the wise expedient of taking care to disperse the disturbing images at the time they originate. If such an effort were made every day, the time would never come when the mind was more like an old neglected cistern than the clear flowing stream it ought to be. We should take time to arrange our thoughts, with a view to erasing the effects of such as are not pleasing or helpful. There is a psychic process by which thoughts can be completely annihilated — and if not successful in this we can at least relegate them to the closet shelf in such a manner that they will no longer hurt or trouble us. We often hear lamentations and complaints IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 119 of an inability to * i remember ' ' ; but if the truth were told, there is far more suffering from an inability to "forget." It would be an unthink- able burden to have to carry in our objective consciousness every item of experience, every scrap of information, every impression we ever received. From this horror we are mercifully relieved in our capacity to "forget," or drop into the limbo of the subconsciousness that which we do not need in the present. Only, we don't even know how to forget properly, and many people carry with them all their lives the most undesired remembrances. Nothing, as I have said, ever really leaves the mind, which has once entered it — and this should be a consolation to those who think they have "no memory." But to those to whom this idea is painful, I can offer hope, because the whole faculty of retention can be brought under the domination of the will in such a way as to distribute and harmonize all the impres- sions ever received. When this is effectually done, certain forms are dissipated and only the elements remain, thus freeing the mind from 120 THE PSYCHOLOGY OP BEHAVIOUR irritating images: there is no over-intensity on any one particular point, no strain or pres- sure to inflame the surrounding parts. To make my meaning clear, I will give an example which we may all observe at times— that is, the after effects of severe grief or pain. Take two cases in which some personal loss may represent the same degree of sorrow and suf- fering. In one case there will be a complete, perhaps even rapid, readjustment to life. The sensitiveness to pain will be no less keen, the images no less vivid, but the final result will be as it should be, fairly complete internal har- mony. In another case with the same circum- stances, there will be an accentuation of the ex- perience, a clinging thereto, an intense re-liv- ing of all the pain associated with it, until the balance of the mental organism is so disturbed that it stands little chance of ever being able to right itself. This is the type of mind that is apt to run to " fixed ideas" and makes end- less trouble for itself. With a combination of ultra-sensitiveness, over-intensity, and a lack of internal harmoniz- IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 121 ing power, much suffering and often irrepara- ble injury is caused to the mental machinery. People of a vivid imaginative temperament should cultivate two things; first, a resiliency of spirit and compactness of organization that will give a healthy rebound from all shocks. This will provide the right reaction and thus enable them to withstand all misfortune. Sec- ondly, they should take especial care as to what impressions they permit to enter their minds, and work assidiously to eliminate all the irri- tating and destructive ones. They should do all this and yet avoid introspection; using all their natural tenacity, or holding power, to keep the right pictures and to soften and sublimate the disturbing ones. Only so will these gifted people avoid much ultimate damage and con- fusion. This readjusting process is all the work of the Imagination. We should understand that to merely blot a picture from out of the con- scious mind is not real "forgetting,"— whether it be done voluntarily by great effort, or whether it occur accidentally and unintention- 122 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR ally. To lose the power of recalling to con- sciousness at will something that was once known or thought of, is annoying enough: but to be unable to reshape our images at mil is far worse. The former defect can be remedied by better concentration and increased visualizing power. But to "forget" in the sense in which I* am now using it, means not only to drop below the surface of the mind but to erase from the total consciousness the effect of certain original disturbing causes. It is essentially a process of reconstruction rather than obscura- tion, and is a practical possibility because of the creative quality of the Imagination. We all suffer at times from a dislike of facing disagreeable things and prefer to push them from out the field of immediate consciousness rather than to reflect upon them until their power of annoying us is dissipated or mastered. It is the line of least resistance and it avails us little. We escape nothing by it : on the contrary we but increase the burden of that inevitable day when the neglected unwelcome thought- images come trooping back to mock us. And IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 123 indeed they often do this work in secret, under- mining the best of superstructures, as the Freudians have so well shown us. But for every enemy we have a weapon, and in this case a very powerful one, for the work of the Imag- ination is not only to re-produce, it is in itself a supreme productive agent. There is nothing new under the sun, and thought is a universal substance, equally avail- able to all of us. But there is such a thing as originality, and it consists in being able to rearrange all the images present in our minds, so as to produce a new combination. We have developed these images through experience, sense-impressions, and also by intuition or first- hand knowledge; and no two people ever put them together alike. Those whose patterns are the most unlike the whole mass or group- thought are the most original — and original- ity is the distinctive attribute of an active Im- agination, an important phase of the productive mind. Now it is quite true that we cannot conceive of anything which is not, that is, the ideas of 124 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR which our images are composed are somewhere existent and always have been, in that imma- nent Mind or Intelligence which constitutes the stream of consciousness upon which we for ever draw. Our part is to give new shape and sem- blance to the thought-elements, which otherwise presumably remain undifferentiated and form- less. The inventions of the aeroplane and tele- phone, for instance, were conceived in the Im- agination of some gifted mind. They are con- cretized forms of abstract ideas such as flying, floating, space, gravitation, sound, vibrations, etc. All these things come within the range of general experience : the perception and com- bination of them resulting in the aeroplane and telephone is the result of pure creativeness and originality — the invention of some particular mind ; but the function is more or less active in all of us, and not confined to mechanical inven- tions alone by any means. It is of course not difficult to recognize the creativeness of the Imagination in invention, or in works of art, such as music and painting; IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 125 but except by Psychologists the association be- tween Imagination and the *nore ordinary acts of life is not so clearly recognized. All psycho-physical activity is the result of previous psycho-physical processes, that is, we can perform no act that we have not previously been able to visualize. Not all these visual images are by any means conscious, as in the case of the child who instinctively reaches for food before he has been able to think out the process. Nevertheless, were it not for the possession by inheritance or otherwise of the mental image, no act would ensue. The effi- ciency of any act is very largely determined by the quality or vividness of the mental picture that preceded it, hence the people of quick, alert activity are the people of strong, clear Imagi- nation. Whenever confronted by a problem their mind grasps the essentials of it and rear- ranges them into a product that is quickly trans- lated into action — such never fail in " presence of mind." In sleep we have a successive jumble of im- ages which appear to be the most bizarre of 126 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR inventions possible; the difference between these and the most finished work of art, which was produced by inspiration as we say, is solely one of orderliness or the reasoning process. Subconscious reasoning means the logical rela- tion and sequence of mental images — it means visualizing in an orderly way. In other words, the creation of a picture which is held in the inner eye is the beginning of every activity — the inception of all accomplishment takes place in the Imagination. It is important that the visualizing power be not impaired, as it often is, by various dis- turbances to the psychic life. One should be able, without difficulty, for instance, to graphi- cally depict to oneself all incidents or feelings out of past experience that have any mental or emotional value. Things with strong emotional associations are naturally the most vital and clear, but mental recollections should also be vivid. Some people are not very successful in creating a mental image of persons or places with which they have been most familiar — even to close the eyes and reproduce in the Imagina- IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 127 tion an object just previously heheld is difficult for some ; but it should be possible to so drama- tize all experiences as to make them live again in the mind when one desires. Train yourself until you can visualize anything you choose, from a rose to a complete Utopia. Once accom- plished, this power will serve you well; but without being able to readily re-create what one has previously experienced, how can one hope to mould a clear well-cut model for any future achievement. To make a mental image not based on facts proves a stumbling block to many, they can only image that which is, or has been, present to sense — all pictures of the future have for them to be predicated on the actualities of the present. If they are encased in limitations and afflictions today, they cannot create an image of freedom for tomorrow. Such as these find difficulty in availing themselves of the prin- ciples of mental healing, one of which absolutely requires the formation of an image of health in the mind of the patient, irrespective of the present conditions. It is surprising how few 128 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR people can think of themselves as being well if immediate circumstances are to the contrary. If the would-be inventor of the telephone had said "the sound of the human voice cannot travel so far, there is no means of conducting it," he would have been stating a fact then ex- istent; but his success with the invention was solely dependent upon the power of his Imagi- nation to ignore this condition, and to conceive an original idea, out of "thin air" if you will, but in reality out of his own creative intelli- gence. Ergo, there is no greater mistake than to say of anything, "it can't de done" — unless one desires to seal its doom. There are two kinds of imaging, the aimless, as in reverie, and the directed, as in reflection or any conscious thinking-out process. Eeverie has a definite value and place in the mental life and while if over-indulged it may become a source of weakness or danger, it is very necessary as the relaxing passive element with which to balance the more usual activity of the Imagination. The exigencies of daily affairs ordinarily require that we hold a tight IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 129 rein and adhere to certain courses. As a con- trast to this, it is essential that there should be periods when the mind may be permitted to roam of its own accord, when we may indulge in thoughts of things that are forbidden by the usual press of externalities — thus one may en- joy again the delights of some previous experi- ence, or concoct new ones, made up half of hope and half of memory. Not infrequently one is the recipient of real " inspirations' ' at such times — the creative life being so sternly re- pressed by our constant and enforced activity, wells up at last to warm us with its greater richness and attractiveness. Naturally, nearly all mental images are closely associated with the emotions, and the danger of too much " day-dreaming' ' or build- ing " castles in the air" is obvious. Yet, were it not for the Imagination wherein repressed emotions find a natural vent, the pressure and friction would be very great indeed. Modern life gives but little room for the play of fancy, the poetic, the romantic, the mysterious, the sensuous — all are smothered or held in check. 130 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR The inhibitions of convention and the require- ments of a highly organized society lop off so many avenues of natural emotional expression that the Imagination tends to become over- crowded with images of the affective or feeling life. Things that would never linger there be- come intense and even obsessing when physical and emotional activity is limited. Yet in the absence of normal, healthy avenues of dis- charge, the Imagination is the only outlet. It has indeed a true value in itself as a safety value and a respite from the restrictions that even normal life imposes ; but the balance must be found and held. Among the destructive habits that develop from a repressed Imagination, is the extensive use of drugs and intoxicants, common to all peoples. The means are dangerous and ar- tificial, and the end sought is unrevealed to most of their users, but the result is, neverthe- less, a liberation and expansion of the psychic faculties not so easily obtained, otherwise, in this world of materiality. The desire to ex- perience, at least occasionally, the flights of IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 131 Imagination which occur automatically in cer- tain subjective states, is practically universal. One does not, for that reason, counsel the use of artificial stimulants, only, it is well to under- stand something of the reason for their wide- spread prevalence. The tobacco user speaks of how smoking "soothes his nerves,' ' not realizing that he is thus expressing the need for some sort of suit- able reaction from his artificial tensions. The delights of the opium user are well known. The same sense of freedom, which is experi- enced under this drug is also not infrequently induced by various anaesthetics which set free certain nerve centres otherwise inhib- ited. The dangers of such usages, and the inevita- ble harm that results from forming a habit in connection with them, is not due to the alluring use of the imaginative faculties thus made pos- sible, or even to the physical reactions, unpleas- ant and destructive though they may be. The real peril lies in the dependence placed upon an artificial stimulus, and the weakening of 132 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR will resulting from so soon finding it indispen- sable. That the call to free the imagination is strong, may be guessed from the frequency with which such means are adopted. The ease with which many people come to feel that such things are requisite should give us pause, and be rea- son for a careful study of the psychological process involved in the experience. Even a cursory look into this matter would be enough to prevent our grudging the poor man his glass of beer in which he is supposed to " drown his sorrows." Through the narrowness of his en- vironment he has learned little enough of other ways in which to release himself from the con- stantly impinging presence of cold, hard facts ; and little wonder is it that he seeks such solace as he may, in what is called the "cup of for- getfulness." Medical men who work in the slums have re- ported that among people who are too poor to have even the glass of beer, or a pipe to smoke, they have occasionally found the curious habit of steadfastly staring at a lighted lamp, or IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 133 other bright object, with the unconscious pur- pose of becoming self -hypnotized into compara- tive subjectivity. Thus unwittingly do the ig- norant seek respite from the everlasting burden of objectivity and sense-impressions — an escape similar to, but not quite the same, as that ob- tained in sleep, where the Imagination is turned loose in dreams. All these things show only too plainly the need for directed thinking in relation to the Imagination as well as to the Intellect. Obvi- ously, it needs "free play" — but quite as clearly it is a force to be harnessed and subjugated to the Will. Especially is this true because the Imagination, more than any other faculty, leads the way in the formation of character and determines the quality of all our actions. It does this because it creates all our mental pic- tures, the prevailing ones of which materialize themselves in the personality. There is no psychological law better estab- lished than the one concerned with the material- ization of Thought, The nature of all thought is to externalize itself and this law requires 134 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR that every intense image shall be actualized in some outward form. So strong is this se- quence that it is not safe to admit any repre- sentation to consciousness if its subsequent ex- ternal materialization is not desired. Fleet- ing and vague images do not of course have any weight and because of their lack of vitality die in the embryonic stage — but an intense and un- wavering desire or mental picture is as certain to produce its counterpart in the external world as the day is to follow the night. From this significant fact has arisen a certain cult that makes a point of telling you that you can "get what you want" just by "expecting" it. Expectation is a mighty force, but needless to say it has to be properly co-ordinated with many other elements in the mind before becom- ing usefully active. For one thing it must be united with Intention. A mere vapoury wish does not usually materialize itself, but an in- tention always does, if not deflected by other counter-elements. As a matter of fact a clear strong image al- ways implies an intention of some sort, be- IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 135 cause it is a representation of a desire. The fundamental projective nature of desire will be treated in the following chapter. Here we have only to do with the imaginative powers; but there is probably no fact in the whole of Psychology that is more significant and pro- found than the one that shows us the Imagina- tion as the source and starting-point of all our actions. Every thought or concept that is con- ceived bears in it a potential energy that leads inevitably to expression of some kind. The concretizing of an image or idea al- ways results in action. Usually this is direct, such as the instinctive caresses resulting from mental images of tenderness or affection; but in the case of artists, or those of strongly imaginative temperament, their haunting ideas may take form in the production of a work of art rather than in a direct physical way. Their images tend to this form of creativeness rather than ordinary objective activity, which ac- counts for what is called their ' ' impractical- ity." When such a tendency becomes extreme the creator is over-balanced on the side of in- 136 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR trospection and subjectivity and there is a loss of the sense of reality leading ultimately to complete hallucination. When there is an unequable or inhibited state of mind in which the imaginative life does not find its way out into some sort of expres- sion, the naturally fluid state of the conscious- ness is interfered with and ends in a patho- logical condition of more or less seriousness. A detachment ensues from the life of fact and objectivity, there is a split in the consciousness which drives the sufferer still deeper into his own involved imaginative processes and sepa- rates him in proportion from externality. If taken in hand early, such a tendency can be rectified and a marriage established between the practical and the psychical elements of con- sciousness. In children where the impulse is strong to live in a world of their own creation, we some- times observe a loss of the sense of reality which deprives them of the power of clear distinction between subjective and objective phenomena. They cannot tell whether the things they think IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 137 are "real" or imaginary — often the inventions of their own fancy appear much more actual to them than do obviously objective things. The greatest mistake possible in such cases is to imply untruthfulness or wilful misrepresen- tation; quiet reasoning frequently repeated, with suitable physical activity will serve to re- store the child quite naturally to the needed balance. Indeed there is a period in childhood during the development of the imaginative life when it is absolutely necessary for him to be allowed freedom in the realm of his own Imag- ination. We should not forget that the very faculty we so often seek to curb is one of the most stimulating and precious in our posses- sion and that ordinarily no pains should be spared to foster it during the period of its natural inception — that is, in childhood. Instead of this, however, the custom is to disperse with the rude hand of "experience" or "mature judgment" the delicate and gos- samer-like creations of the childish imagination. What buds we destroy that might later bear beautiful blossoms, there is no telling. Cer- 138 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR tain it is that by our impatience and inexcus- able matter-of-factness, we often injure past all remedying the most vital spark in the youth- ful mind. In the midst of the pedagogic babel of the day, one is able to discern but a few sane pre- cepts for the cultivation of the child. Among these, however, is the important one that an objective education begun too early is a serious hindrance to the development of the child, as it strongly tends to repress his natural creative- ness and destroy his equally natural subjectiv- ity, wherein we know not how many beautiful things are being conceived and nurtured, which in the normal course of events would come to fruition later in life. A child's education up to nine or ten years should ordinarily consist only of simple but true answers to his instinctive questions, with the addition of such toys or play materials as will afford scope for his Imagination. Among these are all the things with which he can build or construct, but the simpler they are the IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 139 better, such as sand or wet clay, enabling him to mould and give form to all his simpler concepts. He thus symbolically expresses in its primitive form what he will later develop through the complexities of a more mature mental life. The child's most valuable asset, that is curi- osity, will not vent itself in destructive channels if he is supplied with the right material for his natural inventiveness. In the case of a very active or vital child, to supply this need re- quires some ingenuity in these days of civilized artificiality; but if parents would expend even a little time and interest in providing suitable material for their children, the next generation would be a surprising improvement on this one. The child's whole growth is led by the de- velopment of his Imagination, and as he is usually more a product of his environment than anything else, his mental images as he grows older are not apt to exceed those of the people around him or of his station in life. He does not expect more than a certain quota and kind of experience and is therefore not able to pro- 140 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR duce it; which is a pity, for it is very much this quality of expectancy that determines the scope of a man's achievement. If a child were constantly discouraged in his efforts to learn to walk, if he were told from the beginning that he never could or should walk, his Imagination would be so stunted by this treatment as to prevent his ever develop- ing this most instinctive and natural function. And to face the facts quite frankly, nine-tenths of our illnesses and general inhibitions are built up out of just such training, by constantly hear- ing that we must "be careful" and "not to do this or that." By constant references, inten- tional or otherwise, to our mistakes, supposed ignorance, stupidities, and insufficiencies, we grow up with such a clamp on our Imagination as to be unable to believe in either beauty or proficiency for ourselves. What a degradation we have fostered here, only some one like a Psycho-therapist can know, who daily hears and sees evidences of various cramping and detrimental habits, of thwarted hopes, of dead- ened or perverted Imaginations. IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 141 Perhaps the reader will discern at this point some connection between what I have just said and the so-called "imaginary" diseases. No condition is "imaginary" if it exists; the fact* that it may be existing only in the mind of the sufferer does not make it any the less real for that. Practically all the ills that flesh is heir to are connected with, if not the direct outcome of, a diseased imagination, so that those self- satisfied ones who pride themselves upon hav- ing a "reaP' illness, have much yet to learn as to what reality consists in. In any case the thought of disease has to be eradicated and the Imagination guided into more healthy and con- structive channels. The dangers of the excessive use of the Im- agination have already been indicated. Since the exercise of it is a delightful one, it may easily draw our interest beyond its proper bal- ance and lure us into paths not necessarily harmful in themselves, but which by their at- traction may draw us too frequently and thus destroy the mental equilibrium and wholesome- ness. 142 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR There are natures very prone to this habit, natures lacking usually in strong physical qual- ities, so that the inclination to think about things rather than do them is a very pleasing one. We thus see developed habits of vague- ness and uncertainty, with a corresponding lack of the power of execution. It is so easy by means of the Imagination to dramatize one's thoughts and experiences, it calls for so little exertion and holds such peculiar satisfactions of its own, that there is a real and insidious harm in allowing this tendency to go unchecked. Particularly is this true where the scenes and sensations depicted in the mind are more espe- cially concerned with the inhibited impulses and emotional tendencies. The most deleterious habits are often formed this way which — and to this I wish to call special attention — are injurious, not because of the emotions con- cerned in them, not even because they so often relate to the sex life, but because being the up- risings of instincts and passions which can find no expression in the normal, physical life, they IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 143 are all diverted into and overburden the chan- nels of the Imagination. That there must be an outlet of some kind is obvious, and that this escape valve is auto- matically furnished by means of the internal psychic life is equally obvious. This is in itself perfectly right and normal — the injury arises from the fact that all our mental images should exist for the sole purpose of initiating concrete acts in the world of materiality, and are in- tended to precede and dominate the objective life. What we cannot for one reason or another ex- press in the world of materiality, we must find some adjustment for. Simple repression is usually resorted to, but repression alone is dangerous. The original image must be de- stroyed, blotted out ; and the desire which gave it birth must be transmuted into another form. On the whole, it is essential to know and abide by this rule — that any idea, feeling, or senti- ment recognized as arising from within, which does not take form in action, which does not 144 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR express itself in fact or deed, is certain to re- act upon the mental organism- to its serious detriment. If strong it will ferment and poison the system ; if weak, it will evaporate into mere nothingness before it can be used. The mod- ern slogan of "do it now" has its value — and should be supplemented by "or set it right/' To intend to do a thing, to hold the mental pic- ture of it and yet never really do it, is about as subversive of real progress as anything well can be. Perhaps the only thing that is worse is to hold on to the image and worry over it. Far better would it be never to have conceived the idea than to prevent its birth, after the con- ception. But then the world is full of abortive- ness. There is in us all, nevertheless, an undying desire to transcend the monotones of life; a strong wish to do and be something. We long to break the limits of our horizon, knowing in- stinctively that we have lived too closely bound to earth, scarcely daring to expand to our full height. We crave excitement, which is but one way of saying how tired we are of the prairie IMAGINATION AND MEMORY 145 tameness stretching out on every side. We live in the utmost matter-of-factness — impris- oned by our devotion to utilitarianism — when life might be one great and unending adventure. The answer is, cherish your Imagination. Let it take you across the Alps of your hopes, never failing to follow it as closely as a shadow, The power of your mind to conceive, construct and produce is but an augury and a promise: believe in it, trust your aspirations; and in that time will all your dreams "come true." CHAPTER IV WILL THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ACTION" Trust in thine own untried capacity, As thou wouldst trust in God Himself. Thy soul is but an emanation from the whole. Thou dost not dream what forces lie in thee, Vast and unfathomed as the grandest sea. Thy silent mind o'er diamond caves may roll; Go seek them; but let pilot Will control Those passions which thy favouring winds can be. No man shall place a limit to thy strength; Such triumphs as no mortal ever gained May yet be thine if thou wilt but believe In thy Creator and thyself — At length, some feet will tread all heights now unattained— Why not thine own? Press on; Achieve! Achieve! E. W. Wilcox. Will — is there a word more full of magic? Does it not contain enfolded within its silent depths almost all that we can conceive of as be- ing desirable? For it implies poiver, and with power what does it matter with what obstacles *46 WILL 147 we are confronted, what problems we are asked to solve I That there is good reason for this universal feeling of respect for Will, I shall seek to show ; for in its last analysis this towering attribute of man represents the original capacity of the soul, and can be defined as nothing less than the impulse of Life itself, of origin mysterious and divine. Let us clear our horizon at once of the limited view of Will which conceives of it as mere dominating selfishness, a power to master or influence others, or an unreasoning stubborn- ness. Let us also be rid of the concept which visions a person of Will as a sort of frozen au- tomaton, a being in whom cold intellect super- sedes all natural human instinct and emotion. Resistlessness is indeed an attribute of the will-ful person, but true Will is far deeper than all matters of intellect or emotion. Will is the machinery for converting the static energies of the soul into dynamic power, a means of accelerating and expressing the Life-urge in every human being. It leads in- 148 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR evitably into action, it consummates — it is in fact, the exact point of application of the ab- stract cosmic energy to human life. Or, it may be visualized as a galvanic thread on which all the activities of life are strung and the force by which they are energized. Indeed, so profound is Will in its nature that it has been expressed by some of the philosophers as being synony- mous with God. It is this essentially spiritual nature of Will that I wish to emphasize, as I consider such a conception the only one lead- ing to any proper understanding or use of it. If we see Will as a spontaneous expression of a deep inner force, a force which animates every life and all Life, a Supreme Urge in fact, we can for one thing, trust it. If we as human beings are, as I conceive it, exfoliations of the Divine Mind or Supreme Being, we are also expressions of the Supreme Will, and have, in our power to will, a divine manifestation or "spark"; a faculty which should be as a guid- ing star, a criterion, a force upon which to de- pend, an unfailing power with which to hew our way through life. In it we find our raison WILL 149 d'etre, and because of it we should dare to be- lieve in the expression and fulfilment of our desires. Even that much-prized and elusive thing, a " personality/ ' is almost wholly dependent upon the degree of development of the Will — certainly a will-less person cannot be said to have a personality — and the absence of it indi- cates more than anything else, a characterless being, so lacking in magnetism and direction as to be usually passed by unnoticed. This wonderful endowment then, this Will that impels us to work, to live, to love, in fact to all expression and accomplishment, is simply the life-force in action; the same as Bergson's elan vital, and Freud's Libido. To make it more concrete, I shall define it as Desire in Ac- tion. Let us look into the generic meaning of De- sire. In its largest sense, it will be seen to be the volition of the universal Mind. This voli- tion, or power to act, is implanted in all forms of life, but comes to its highest fruition in the human mind. It is the urge of which I have 150 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR already spoken, leading always to movement and to activity. The Universe is a visible manifestation of the Desire of the Supreme Intelligence. Man as a microcosm or miniature reproduction of the Universal Prototype is an indigitation rep- resenting individualized desire; furthermore every man has a dominant and peculiar desire which distinguishes him from all other men. Still further, it is easily to be seen that every man is a bundle of many and various desires, some of them confused and conflicting, others clear and readily perceived; but in their en- tirety constituting practically all of his per- sonal life. Thus Desire is the determining element back of all predispositions and per- sonal tendencies, all character, personality and " temperament.' ' Life as it is lived is an unending struggle to satisfy a "want." This want takes on multi- tudinous forms, and drives us constantly in an endeavour to fulfil an insatiable and eternal de- sire. This inward craving for fulfilment ig WILL 151 met by a consciousness of the power to act; and it is this which constitutes Will. Thus we naturally associate will-power with an active or vital person, one who can bring to bear upon any problem a moving power suffi- cient to consummate and achieve it. Will is the point of ignition, as it were, at which the potential energies of the soul are liberated and converted into active dynamic power. It is man's greatest tool for accom- plishment. All other of his attributes are sub- servient to it. The general unawareness of man of his true unity with Nature has condemned him for ages to a belief in the dominance of the superior elements of the Universe rather than in himself. It is as though an invisible director were al- ways pulling wires from behind the scenes and making him act like a puppet. And until he awakens to a greater sense of his own capacity, he will be doomed to his old belief in "Fate" or "Providence" as a force before which he is destined to bow in acknowledgment of his own 152 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR futility. This same universal power is often personalized as a God, who must be propitiated and conciliated in an endeavour to bend His Will if possible in some mysterious way to ours. Even when Fate is designated as Nature, Principle, or First Cause, it has been regarded as a thing apart from man, and as being hopelessly, impersonally implacable and cold. Sometimes too, it has been called a Devil, since aught else, devised but to thwart and frustrate. " Inherited tendencies" have also been called in to account for this mysterious worker which seems so often to defy our Will ; and some peo- ple, born apparently to create opposition, are reduced to the simple ignominy of declaring that "the whole world is against them." In these various ways has man expressed his blind recognition of the existence of some law, some force which was bigger than he, and against which he seems to be for ever strug- gling ; and always he has managed to put him- self mostly at cross purposes with this great WILL 153 undercurrent, this transcendent Will, which I prefer to call Desire. As for the word Desire, he has dragged it in the dust and spat upon it as though to challenge with his disapproval this supreme force of the Universe. When however, man comes to understand his relation to all the cosmic energies, as he is now beginning to, he will no longer feel that sense of separateness, which has driven him to supplication as the only means known to him for the fulfilment of his desires. He will know himself rather as a part of Pate itself, he will discover his personal Will to be one of the greatest channels of expression for the Divine Will. His conception of himself will be raised accordingly, he will become aware of his power. Perhaps man's evolution has been possible only through this long combat, but for those who have the intelligence to see, there is a bet- ter and happier way than that imposed upon us by constant and painful resistance. There is in truth such a thing as Free Will. It lies in the simple recognition by man himself of his oneness with the Universal Will and hence a 154 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR belief in the power and supremacy of his own. The question is not, as Locke said long ago, whether the Will be free but whether the man be free. My conception of the Superman is that his foremost attribute will be an under- standing of the law of Freedom, thus making his Will paramount. I well know the opposition that this attitude toward life arouses in many, especially those whose lives are cramped and bound. It strikes nothing less than terror to the hearts of those who have been taught to look upon man as a worm of the dust, and disconcerts the gentle souls who see in it only irreverence and sedi- tion. That it endows us with a majesty and Will to which we have long been accustomed is no rea- son for fear or hesitancy in using the forces of nature of which we are now obtaining a knowl- edge. "Fate is unpenetrated causes/ ' says Emerson — "he who sees through the design presides over it and must Will that which must be" — "Will is poured into the souls of all men as the soul itself which constitutes them men." WILL 155 Therefore we have but to realize the fatefulness of our own Wills to become true masters, the makers of our own destiny. That this mighty precept cannot be applied without thought, intelligence, or a sense of val- ues, especially spiritual values, I think is self- evident. The vital truth that man's Will is in its essential nature limitless, has been made un- seemly by those of ready tongue, who with no foundation or qualification for the statement, unequivocally declare — "You can have all you want, you only need to want it hard enough." I suppose every great teaching has been re- flected in some degraded form by the thought- less and uninitiated ; but I can conceive of noth- ing more shallow or foolish than to urge us to seek hastily, without knowledge of the psychol- ogy of desire, without consideration even of Law and Order, Truth and Fitness, to seize upon that which we "want," if we can. Depth of thought and sobriety of action are more re- quired in this matter of Will than in any other department of human activity, for it brings in the whole moral question of Duty, or the recog- 156 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR nition of the rights of others, as well as a knowledge of our own capacity. The charge is often made, and rightly so, that much of the popular teaching regarding the human Will is distinctly unethical, in that it encourages the rank selfishness of a world al- ready overridden with selfishness. This is no doubt true, but there is a clear distinction to be made between this spurious imitation, and the truth concerning the divinity of desire, or the right and potent use of our Wills. If the latter leads to selfishness, it is but the Higher Selfishness which makes us stronger and more useful in every way, for from this vantage point we do not and cannot make the mistake of trying to impinge our own Wills and opin- ions upon others. The wise man demands freedom but knows that it cannot be acquired unless he gives in kind ; and also he looks upon life from the esoteric rather than the exoteric point of view, seeing the inner meaning and valuing the things of mind and soul above those of place, power, or position. He knows that material things can be acquired or pre- WILL 157 eminence gained, through an application of his Will, but he also knows the dangers and futili- ties involved in seeking these things for them- selves alone, and in striving to advance himself at the expense of others. , He knows too that often enough the Universal Will is overwhelm- ing, as in this present world-war which is upon us. Not that a Supreme Being has decreed it so but that the totality of human Thought and Will has expressed itself in this disastrous and overwhelming way. The problem is for each one of us to find our own little orbit of action, and when found, to bring a determinism to bear upon it in such a way that it becomes, as nearly as may be, a perfect life-unit. Few of us ever see our lives in this detached manner, few of us ever believe that we can master circumstances enough to earn the coveted freedom. Our ordinary life is made up of actions that are largely automatic, habits and conventions that form a crust around our free expression; and it is only occasionally that we seem to burst through this crust and express our whole 158 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR selves. It is not always that free action is called for; bnt the test of it and the secret of acquiring it, lies in a unified personality. It is only when onr acts spring from onr whole selves that they may be said to express free- will. This is not only free-will in the mere sense of choice, that is, the ability to select be- tween two or more paths of action, but it means also real creativeness and an irresistible driv- ing power that puts things through. There have been many philosophers and thinkers to deny the freedom of the Will — it is one of the oldest questions of the world and it is not yet settled; but those who have de- clared that independence of action was futile and in the end always defeated, have not reck- oned with the constantly unfolding spiritual powers in man — such a view clips his wings at the outset by teaching him that he can never fly. We have only to look about us to see how im- perious a man's Will may be — we have only to compare lives of inefficiency and failure with those where every obstacle, no matter how in- surmountable it seemed, was met and overcome WILL 159 by means of a mighty force within. How many times do we see a life cast in the moulds of pov- erty, ill health, disloyal friends, or unscrupu- lous enemies, a life without position, place or power in the world, but possessed of a Will which chooses its own way and makes that way unaided, simply by liberating the force en- folded in unquenchable desire, a force which in time dissolves every obstacle and surmounts all impediments. Still, what is surprising to most people is to discover that we never do anything that we have not willed to do; not consciously willed of course, for the deeper phases of Will, always at work in the lower levels of consciousness, are those which usually determine our actions. This invisible element in the Will is the discon- certing one, for it is very often in direct opposi- tion to the views and purposes of the conscious self. It is the reason of the self -frustration that causes so much trouble and makes us feel that we are the victims of fate. The truth is that the restraint lies not without but within, and unless the enemy within the gates is extir- 160 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR pated or reconciled, life remains that which it usually appears to be, an endless friction and strife, leading only to the despairing and hope- less question of "what is the use"? Our pet belief is that we are being constantly forced by circumstances into various avenues of action, all "against our will. ,, Never was there a greater delusion, for if we submit to an external restraint of any kind, it is because we prefer it to the combat necessary to gain our freedom. So many lives are made up of the breathless sort of feeling that comes from constant oppo- sition and from the being obliged to do almost everything that they do not want to do. Yet the fact remains and on closer inspection will be seen to be always true, that somewhere within the depths of our own make-up, there is always a thread of Desire, a purpose, an im- pulse, that is solely responsible for our doing everything — -even the very things we were ap- parently resisting with all our might. It is the resistance of our own unconscious desires that causes most of the mischief and forces us WILL 161 to remain in conditions we dislike and resent. It is these same desires which compel ns in di- rections we never thought or dreamed of. And it is nothing more or less than our own personal "Will, encrusted with all its limitations, whicli keeps us just where we are and which deter- mines every act of our lives. As it is Unconscious Will that accounts so largely for the variability of man's behaviour, it behooves us to remedy our ignorance, so far as we may, of what goes on below the surface. Even a cursory inspection reveals the fact that we are made up of a bundle of crisscross threads and impulses and desires, so, conflicting in their nature that the wonder is that we ever make a single forward unified movement. "We hardly know our own minds at all, being the repositories, as we are, of innumerable in- herited impulses, and, to some extent, of all the Wills of all the other human beings with whom we in any way come in contact. A brief study of mob psychology is proof, if such were needed, of the inability of the aver- age human being to protect himself from the 162 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR Wills of those about him. When these coal- esce, as they always do, more or less, especially under the strain of any emotional excitement, they present a force that is practically irresist- ible. In a way it is mob psychology that gov- erns us all still and it requires a definite and conscious effort to raise one's self from out the slough that is made up of one part "in- fluence' ' and the other part "susceptibility." While the Will constitutes the very citadel of our being, it is constantly assaulted because of the extremely volatile quality of human na- ture, which furnishes the chief cause of divi- sion and weakness at the very source and origin of all our activities. By volatile, I mean that excessive susceptibility that comes of our be- longing largely, as yet, to the group conscious- ness. Hawthorne expresses this very effec- tively somewhere in the "Scarlet Letter." He says, "It is anything but agreeable to be haunted by a suspicion that one's intellect is exhaling } without one's consciousness, like ether out of a phial; so that, at every glance, you find a smaller . . . residuum," Yet this WILL 163 is what is happening to most of us, practically all of the time. We are permitting ourselves to be disjpexs&d instead of maintaining the necessary integration. The progress of humanity is toward individ- ualization, which means a recognition by the individual of his own power and right to power. This represents a degree of ^/-consciousness attained only by the few (as Will has hitherto been largely a blind force), but it is not beyond the reach of any. My first prescription therefore for a i ' strong Will" is an independent and self-confident atti- tude as being the best means to lift us out of the group consciousness or race-thought, into one of our own making. We are much too much influenced by outside things — especially by our family, friends, the community and na- tion. We do not know what we think or what we want, because our habit has been to move only in established directions. The paths in the brain are mostly deep ruts worn there by long use, sustained by reverence for custom and tradition, 164 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR This prevailing attitude has an intimate rela- tion to what is called a "weak will." Inher- ently every one is the possessor of a Will, else he would not be self-existent, to say nothing of self-sustaining. The weakness to be observed on all sides is the result, not of inherent lack of strength, but of a division, due to too much obeisance to that which is without and not enough recognition of that which is within. The consequence is indecisiveness, than which there is no more fundamental defect. Even a slight degree of indecision disorganizes and neutralizes the force of the Will as nothing else can, and our aim should be to always act de- cisively even in the trivial things of life, rather than weigh and balance conditions until our original force is diminished or expended. To ask the average person what he really wants is to throw him into a state of confusion in which he flounders indefinitely before he is able to catch upon even one thread that will hold him. All are desirous of changing and bettering their conditions in one way or an- other, but few realize that their failure to WILL 165 achieve this progress is due more to an inabil- ity to clearly determine what they want and to abide by that determination, than to any other one factor. Even when recognized, the want takes the form of wishing rather than willing, which is a purely negative form and accom- plishes nothing. Will to be effective must therefore be posi- tive, concentrated, and unified. The force of it is dependent upon the intensity of the desire behind it, and the elimination, or subjection at least, of every other conflicting desire. It is remarkable that so many people are unable to co-ordinate their various desires enough to cen- tralize them into one general purpose. The power of the strongest current of water can be nullified, for instance, when it is met by an ob- stacle sufficient to turn its concentrated volume into a spray of multitudinous and separate drops. Many persons with the finest natural equipment are thus hopelessly weakened by an inability to throw into one steady stream their various impulses and purposes. The common expression i ' to make a point of ' ' 166 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR doing something indicates very well the mental operation that must prevail where success is to be achieved. We must "make a point of," that is converge, the conflicting elements in our natures until the full weight of them can for the time being be put upon a single point. Only thus is sufficient power generated to make a for- ward movement worth anything. Where so many fail is that the force of their Will is dif- fused over innumerable interests and half formed impulses, until its entire potentiality is dispersed and lost. To be successful then in the use of the Will re- quires a very intimate relation between it and the selective discriminating quality of the In- tellect, which we have already considered. It also means sacrifice, in that no human life is strong enough or long enough to satisfy every potential desire that springs up within it. Something must be eliminated, something selected, a singleness of purpose developed to secure anything like a full fruition of its power. There is a very common habit, especially characteristic of Americans, of always "do- WILL 167 rag" something, with comparatively little or no direction. It is the result no doubt of an intense wish to "get on," admirable enough in itself, but detrimental in the extreme unless properly balanced and controlled. The ideal of our present civilization seems to be emula- tion, a desire to excel at any cost in almost every field of endeavour. Compared to the dreamy passivity of the Oriental, it may be re- garded as a virtue, but as a nation we are over- balanced in our admiration for "will-power" per se, with a comparatively small considera- tion of the goal toward which we may be aim- ing. More thought should be given to the pur- pose of our actions, which would abrogate many of them entirely, and make the chosen ones more effective. This whole question of being too susceptible to outside influences may be summed up as rep- resenting a negative state of mind. Negativ- ity* psychologically speaking, is a state of men- tal passivity — not necessarily weakness, but frequently leading to weakness because it lacks resistance. 168 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR There are certain natures which may be said to be " negative' ' in their general quality, not lacking in beauty or attractiveness for this rea- son, but usually deficient in that projecting power or aggressiveness which is the expres- sion of a normally active Will. Such people are frequently more agreeable companions than the more active ones and are attractive because of their very restfulness; just as we may sometimes prefer looking at the modest hare-bell rather than the naming poppy. Very often, too, this passive manner and attitude is but external, and conceals a character much less yielding than it appears, though as a rule it is a sign of dangerous negativity. Those born with a sweet and sympathetic disposition, given to retiring into the back- ground when any more positive personality chooses to assert itself, suffer not so much from a weak Will, as from a form of sensitiveness which becomes positively harmful because of its inhibitory action upon their own natural impulses. The fact that this nature may be fine, or even of exquisite quality, and that it is WILL 169 usually an unselfish one, does not prevent it from entertaining too much respect and con- sideration for others to properly exercise its own rights and desires. It may even become, and often does, a regular door-mat, to be im- posed upon and walked over by every stronger nature in its vicinity — a disastrous phase of negativity, needless to say. As a Psycho-therapist and adviser to the sick and distressed, it has fallen within my province to bolster up a wavering self-confidence and to encourage more positive and ruthless attitudes than could well be believed by those less experi- enced in the pains and perplexities of a suffer- ing humanity. Strange as it may seem, nega- tivity prevails far more than its opposite, a positive egotism. Every one has his vulnerable spot or weakness, the point where his resistance melts away and breaks down. No doubt this is fortunate in a world yet governed by selfishness and greed — nevertheless, I must urge upon my readers the cultivation of that positive state of mind that knows no self-distrust, no uncer- tainty, no quiescence. 170 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR Perhaps one of the most desirable natures to have is that which hides an iron hand beneath a velvet glove — a simile that represents, though crudely, the right balance that should be main- tained between the negative and positive men- tal states. Even those possessed of a reasonably active and positive Will are often caught in the en- tangling mesh of "following the line of least resistance. ' ' Unfortunately for those who love ease, the easiest way is seldom the best way. It means sliding rather than propelling, going with the current rather than creating a cur- rent for one's self. Great are the delusions that people create for themselves to hide the fact that they are not willing to make a fight, exert the necessary amount of resistance to overcome the various circumstances which arise as obstacles in their path. To follow the line of least resistance is in- deed simply following an opposite attraction of some sort; it pleases them better, though they may not think so, to continue floating along the stream of circumstance than to WILL 171 buckle down and do some hard rowing. It is sheer mental laziness, a general dislike for ex- ertion, a hatred of disturbance, and it leads to a damaging procrastination, if not to complete frustration and loss. It is one of the most in- sidious as well as common forms of the nega- tive state of mind, and it can be eradicated only by earnest determined practice, a discipline that allows no slips, no variations in its self- imposed rigour. Closely allied to the generally negative trend of most minds, is the paralyzing force of Habit. Habit in itself is constructive enough, indeed absolutely essential in that it enables us to turn over to the subconsciousness the doing of in- numerable things which would be painfully la- borious did they not so easily become automatic. Habit, however, like everything else must be properly balanced to be ii^eful and many of us are standing helplessly on the negative side of this mental attribute. We are " staying put'' with a vengeance, remaining bound by customs the usefulness of which we have long since outgrown. 172 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR The amazing number of early inhibitions which are uncovered by present psycho-ana- lytic methods, serves as a sufficient warning to the wise of the habitual attitude. How many people are doing foolish things because they never thought of doing them any other way. How many refrain from new lines of action just because ' i it isn 't done. ' ' How many of the pre- cepts acquired in childhood have been bete noires which we dare not attack. Nothing is so inhibitory to the development of new ideas as Habit. It is so much easier to go on in the old grooves than it is to carve out new ones ; but who of us would not rather have the initiative to blaze a new trail than to follow unresistingly in the old ones? To be success- ful in the use of the Will signifies somewhat of iconoclasm. One must dare to be a bieaker of idols would he give evidence of his divine origins. We have already considered that phase of negativity which inclines to bow before the opinions and force of others, thus causing a di- vision within the self ; we have now to consider WILL 173 another and even more important phase of it which has to do with that inner conflict personal to each hnman being, that battle and separa- tion within himself which is an inevitable source of trouble and weakness until the all important lesson of self-mastery has been learned. I have already touched upon this in my refer- ence to the necessity for personal discipline, and I shall consider still more fully in the succeed- ing chapter the nature and significance of Emo- tion as a driving force in human nature, and as the greatest obstacle to the supremacy of In- tellect and conscious Will. I wish here simply to call attention to the dominance of unreason- ing Feeling as the worst enemy of the free use of the Will, and show that the autonomy of the Self must be cultivated as against momentary propensions and blind desires. As a matter of fact, action is usually deter- mined by the phase of the personality upper- most at the moment. It is not chance or ca- price in the sense of an external force or fate, but some one of the many complex elements in the mind emerging for the time being, which 174 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR takes the reins and drives us whither it wills. H. G. Wells says in one of his books: "It is just as though we were each of us not one per- son but many persons, who sometimes meet and shout all together, and then disperse and forget and plot against each other.' ' Actions of this kind are without objective other than that dictated by impulse, and are necessarily erratic and tangential. Naturally the outcome is but partially effective and usually falls far short of the mark intended. In a sense this uncertainty in the utilization of the Will is providential, for the reason that man in his present undeveloped state is unable to use so dynamic a power in a consistently con- structive manner. The number of requests a practising Psychologist receives, for instance, of knowledge of how to "influence others' ' and make some one do what he does not want to do, is disheartening. Such a projection of will- power is of course perfectly possible and evi- dences of its use on the psychic plane are nu- merous and easily verifiable; but they are not the lines of action that it is wise to give in- WILL 175 struction in even when one knows something of the procedure, because of the very real danger in the psychic use of the Will, both to the op- erator and to his subject. It is well, therefore, as I have just intimated, that the impelling force of the Will does not al- ways secure its end; but I assume that my readers are interested, as I am, in a purely constructive development of the Will, and to- ward this end I can give many assurances of an increased personal power and efficiency by the eradication of internal dissension and the assertion of proper authority over the emo- tions. A man is internally free only when the ends he pursues have his whole-hearted approval; but most of us start out to do things without much thought as to whether the accomplish- ment of those particular aims are what we most desire or not. If one really desires wealth, for instance, it can be acquired by sufficient concen- tration upon it ; but to do this successfully re- quires sacrifice of many other occupations and interests, the loss of which may never be com- 176 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR pensated for by the satisfaction of the desire to be rich. Thus a certain amount of delibera- tion should be one's habit before attempting to project one's force in any given direction. Much waste is occasioned by following false leads, leads that do not draw forth one's full quota of strength because they do not repre- sent one's full desire. We all know that the shortest distance be- tween any two points is a straight line, and we should learn to utilize Will in this way, that is, by being so certain of our direction that there is no wavering. When once chosen, a plan should be adhered to without the slightest doubt or deviation, unless indeed all the orig- inal factors upon which one's decision was made should be changed. Otherwise there will be numerous conflicting desires which if they do not exactly oppose the original desire will prob- ably succeed in negating its final consummation by reason of the variance implied. A man thinks he wishes to change his busi- ness, for example, but feels that he is obliged to continue in it by force of circumstances. He WILL 177 does not realize that the phrase "by force of circumstances ' ' implies another Will in him- self than the one which would lead him to give up or change his business. His basic desire is to be engaged in some lucrative occupation, something that will earn his living, enable him to care for his family, etc.; but the conflict arises when the form of this occupation is to be de- termined. If he remains where he is, it is because he prefers it to the exertion of his Will that will be required to create new cir- cumstances for himself; it is this preference which makes him continue with that which he declares he is not willing to continue. In order to work upon a straight line in a situation like this, it is first Well to deliberate upon the fundamental and general purpose — the desire to be active and successful. To be busy and even moderately successful is worth a great deal, so much, in fact, that the contempla- tion of it should remove for the most part the - minor oppositions within one's self which tend to create friction. There is a still further con- structive attitude^ however, which would seek 178 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR to harmonize both the original desire and the lesser one concerning the form which that de- sire should take. Few men are successful in any line of endeavour that does not command their spontaneous interest — in other words, one should aim to unite his liking for certain forms of activity with his need for a good liv- ing. This is only one instance of many which will suggest themselves to the mind of the thought- ful reader, as to the manner in which he should handle his own desires. It should be his creed to believe in them, to regard them as the only sure guide posts to success; and where cir- cumstances force a division of his interests, he should make himself like even that, until he is able to blend the opposing elements. It is in order here to call attention to the fact that dislike in any form is a negative state of mind, although it often appears to be the con- trary. It is negative because it represents a i ' split' ' in one's self. We do not bother to dis- like the things that do not concern us — we are merely indifferent to them — and if we enter- WILL 179 tain a feeling of opposition, it indicates two con- flicting wishes within one 's self which have not been properly co-ordinated. Further, nothing betrays the presence of an unconscious trend in the opposite direction so much as a marked strenuousness of conscious effort to overcome or avoid it. The woman for instance, who is frequent in her protestations that her husband loves her is but thus expressing her unconscious fear that he does not. "Qui s' excuse s' accuse." "Where Intellect and Emotion are properly balanced, Will has the best possible opportu- nity for free expression. We all know the diffi- culty of exercising the Will against the motive power that is supplied by Desire. Even in the simple matter ^)f going for a walk one may find it very fatiguing to insist on the necessary mus- cular activity, whereas when the attention is distracted by means of pleasant company, the effort or feeling of resistance is quite removed. So, would we have our behaviour harmonious and forceful, we must utilize the impelling power of Emotion where we can; but at the same time we must learn to draw very clearly 180 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR that line of demarcation where Feeling assumes the dominant role, subjugating the Will into a pitiful insignificance. Perhaps in no place is this frequent occur- rence more noticeable than in the dominance of physical sensations. The common tendency to pet and pamper various bodily symptoms is but an evidence of the ascendancy of Feeling over Will. Whereas one person will be prostrated by a pain, another with the same annoyance will preserve his poise and mastery, thus short- ening by many minutes or years, as the case may be, the disturbing experience. The ex- treme susceptibility of many patients to various meteorological conditions, changes in tempera- ture, clothing, surroundings, food, and sleep, but indicate how dormant is the Will and how exalted is Sensation. The tendency to self-indulgence does not confine itself only to physical habits, but spreads through the entire emotional and psychic life. It is a marvellous endowment to be able to feel, to be so sensitized as to register all grades and forms of sensation; but nothing WILL 181 is more weakening or injurious than to allow this faculty complete sway without holding the Will in its position of authority, where it may temper and control as it can and should. With many years' experience as a Psycho- therapist as the basis of my opinion, I find no human attribute in greater need of develop- ment than that of the Will. A large number of definite physical diseases can be entirely overcome by a proper re-education of the sub- conscious Will; and even those that are more complicated psychologically, still require the discipline that leads to self-mastery, especially the mastery of the feelings. There are those of course, whose insistence on the use of their Will is excessive and who suffer accordingly a dearth of ease, spontane- ity, and natural feeling. There is such a thing as trying too hard and as a habit it becomes detrimental in that it creates tension and de- velops a "hot box" somewhere in the system, either physically or mentally. Many disease reactions arise out of this state of mind and many are the disappointments 182 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR also that await those who do not know the bal- ancing law of non-resistance. Where to draw the line between an unswerving determinism and an easy adaptable non-resistance that has in it somewhat of the quality of unconcern — this is a problem that cannot be solved by one for another. By experience, however, one eventually learns the joy of effortless activity. "How to develop the Will" is one of those catch phrases of modern days so well illustra- tive of our desire to "get on" and extract the juice of life in the quickest way possible with- out much question as to whether we are really satisfying our hunger. The charlatan, or even the sincere but poorly informed psychologist, does not require unusual enterprise to attract public attention to his wares, if he but utter the magic phrase "how to develop the Will." The extensive but ill-assorted modern litera- ture on the subject of the Will centres almost wholly about this phrase, and while some of it is rich in suggestion and not infrequently con- tains evidences of genuine effort to be helpful, it is as a rule so lacking in any understanding WILL 183 of the true nature of the subject as to be prac- tically useless. It is like trying to run a motor- car without any knowledge of the engine or its construction, so that the first obstacle met with on the road is more than apt to cause a break- down. Having examined somewhat of the principle and origin of Will power, we know that any efforts to develop it with success must be based on a knowledge of its complexities and its rela- tion to the whole mind of which it is so integral a part. To bring forth any act of the Will in its com- pletion, there are, as I conceive it, three steps which are quite readily distinguishable. a. Concept b. Intention c. Execution. The first of these, "Concept," is really a creation of the Imagination, a forming in the mind of an Idea; a recognition of Concept, or Ideation, is the first step in any act of the Will. The second, "Intention" is an expression of Desire. It supplies motive-power for the men- 184 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR tal image, thus vitalizing the Concept to the point of definite form — the second step in any act of the Will. The third, "Execution," represents that crisp finishing quality which brings things forth from the inner world into outer manifestation, and is the consummation of any act of the Will. These three elements must be properly com- bined and related for Will to be effective. We can see about us at any time and in the acts of most people, evidences of some one of these phases separated from its proper sequence — the result being equivalent to a dog trying to walk on three legs when he was meant to use four. Let us take the phase of Concept alone. Many people are teeming with ideas and men- tal images, producing more concepts than they know what to do with. The result is a mass of undigested material floating around vaguely in their minds, their creators quite unable to formulate anything clearly enough to bring either intention or execution to bear upon it. Inventors, notably prolific in their creation of WILL 185 ideas, are equally notable for their impractical- ity — their inability to " bring down to earth" the concepts which crowd their brains. There are others besides "inventors' ' too, who fall within this class ! Dreamers we call them and we may love them, but how we do wish that they might bring their thinking forth into the objective world, rather than waste so much of it in the realm of fancy. There are also those who are for all practical purposes devoid of ideas, who lack the imag- ing, apprehending faculty to such an extent that they are without any premise from which to make a move. They cannot intend any- thing, because of the vagueness and generally nebulous quality of all their thinking. With either too many or too few "ideas," one is liable to failure. Probably the most frequent of all is the type of person who is full of intentions, whose con- cepts are fairly clear and who "means" to utilize them all, but who yet lacks the Will to execute any of his various notions. "We all know the name of the place to which this road 186 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR leads. Nothing is more self -deluding than to carry about a lot of perfectly good intentions without materializing them. He who gives a promise lightly without intention or thought of the labour entailed to consummate it, is the cause not only of many unhappy hours to his family and friends, but injures himself past redemption through falling into a habit of sheer futility. The discrepancy between Intention and Execution marks man's greatest weakness and his behaviour is more hampered by this limitation of mental abortiveness than by any other thing. Intentions that bear fruit mark the person possessed of executive ability and are charac- teristic of all those who occupy high places. If one made a habit of finishing all the things that one begins, even in the details, it would not be long before the power of bringing to a success- ful close any project, on however large a scale, would be not only possible but habitual. A type of which we see much in these days however, is one in which ' ' Execution ' ' is de- veloped to a high degree without a correspond- WILL 187 ing balance in the other two phases of the Will — it becomes a mere case of "doing" without respect to quality or purpose. Such a one is always "executing" something, his ideas are literally "done to death" by his overwhelming desire to be active, to bring to pass, willy nilly. He hurries from place to place, he is for ever busy and he frequently does get things done; but what it is that he is getting done never troubles him. He lacks plan and purpose, has no clear conception or even intentions ; or pos- sibly has such a multiplicity of both that he never has time to follow them out and thus utilize to some advantage his capacity for exe- cution. We speak of a musical person as pos- sessing good execution when he has facility without the soul or spirit of the composition he should be endeavouring to interpret. Mere ac- tivity is the outermost rim of the circle repre- sented by Will, a hollow hoop without the cen- tralizing and spiritual quality which constitutes its very essence. We are, of course, using our Wills every day and all the time, but between the uncertainty 188 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR with which we use them and the superficiality that prevails, it is small wonder that we so sel- dom attain our true ends. To sum up the ethi- cal as well as the practical import of a study of Will, I should first say that we need above all to cultivate an affirmative attitude; secondly that we should search much more deeply for our springs of action than we have been accustomed to. Emerson's magnificent statement "I am, therefore, I can" should help us in the first. To live with such a maxim in the foreground of one's consciousness, is to develop those settled principles and consistent policies which alone lead to lasting achievement. The Opportunist is one without fixed purpose or reasoned action, he usually " tries to do his best" under the cir- cumstances, but fails because his action is all pendent upon externalities. He takes "circum- stances" as his premise rather than the sure granite of his own Will. Determination is the equivalent of Causation in the physical world. Man is his own unfailing source — if he but knew it. WILL 189 The second important element to master in the Will is the power of the Unconscious. Here we have a host of impulses, most of them primal, crude, unshaped, and powerful. De- sire, which is behind all Will, represents a whole strata of instinctive feelings which are in them- selves a force so great as to prove irresistible, more often than not. These tendencies are Will in its most fundamental aspect, Will in- spired by the great natural motive-power of Feeling. Our whole progress hangs upon the guidance through the Intellect of unconscious Will — it does not imply the suppression of Emo- tion, but the proper placing of it in relation to purpose and Intention. It is necessary also to place a new value on Desire. Desire in its true sense is frequently very dormant, latent, lost in the depths of the subconsciousness, and the cultivation of it is a department of human activity by itself. Every one who finds himself weak on this score, in- clined to indifference or unconcern, would do well to listen as with his ear to the ground, for those under-currents of feeling in himself, those 190 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR cravings which represent the purpose and di- rection of his being. One of our great modern publicists, David Jayne Hill, says — ' ' The great problem of society is to release the free activity of human faculties." This is indeed the prob- lem of society and also the problem of the in- dividual. If our schools were what they should be, instructors in the great problems of the mental and moral life, the first and last lessons would be concerned with the development and control of the human "Will. CHAPTER V EMOTION THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FEELING Emotion, the mainspring of all Behaviour and the human expression of Feeling or responsive- ness to life, is the first and most primitive phase of cognition or self -consciousness, the most defi- nitely recognizable of all the psychic states. Because primitive it is powerful — that is, primi- tive in the sense of being essential and original, not superadded, complex, or developed, as is the Intellect. Instincts, man's simplest feel- ings, represent his very first reactions to his environment, and as Emotion implies a con- scious recognition of this feeling-state it may be said to mark the beginnings of self -conscious- ness. Both in development of the race and of the individual, Feeling always precedes Thought. In animals we call it Instinct. In his early 191 192 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR stages of development, Instinct prevails in man also, even as it does in the child, and it is only with the growth of the Intellect that we have what may be properly called Emotion. Instincts, belonging as they do to the more primitive phases of existence, have come to be associated more especially with physiological needs and processes. Emotions are essentially psychological in their nature, because they ap- pear only in those stages of development where an unfolding Intellect has made it possible to apprehend or be aware of our inherited instinc- tive forces and reactions. We do not, therefore, say of animals that they have Emotions, al- though we know that they do possess feelings. Carrying this distinction further, all man's un- conscious feelings would be Instincts and all his conscious feelings Emotions; but as it is im- possible for obvious reasons to make such a di- vision exact, I shall use the terms in a somewhat looser sense, with reference to their various inter-relations. The baby begins by feeling his way through life. In Feeling he evinces his first power of EMOTION 193 response to his environment. He feels not only physically, but psychically as well, and his re- action to his surroundings is for a long time wholly dependent upon his power to thus ap- prehend the external world. With the develop- ment of the Intellect the feeling phase of con- sciousness subsides to some extent, though still active in the subconsciousness; and though neither the child nor primitive man is aware of the function of feeling, he is completely dom- inated by it until such time as the Intellect may, after a long and uncertain battle, gain its as- cendancy. The child or the immature man is therefore apt to be "impulsive," that is, he responds quickly and unconsciously to his own various psychic states and translates them into action without forethought or question — a necessary mode o% development in the earlier stages and one not to be too quickly supplanted by more intellectual methods at any time. Yet civilization represents our effort as a whole to become aware of our various Feelings and learn to master them. Nature's blind 194 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR forces, always silently and potently at work, are constantly clashing with the growing force of Intellect. The whole of man's progress is marked by the development of the seeds of self- consciousness, until by means of the Will, as we have seen, he rises to kingship in a realm where he has so long been the mere puppet of a blind fate. This combat is fundamental, never-end- ing, and frequently discouraging. The odds are great against us in the elemental domain of the Emotions, though not too great, as any sane and thoughtful person knows. As though fearing our lack of control, we in- stinctively shrink from Feeling, per se,. prob- ably because it implies an agitation. The orig- inal meaning of the word Emotion was commo- tion, and our appreciation of this its real sig- nificance, leads us to seek refuge very often in the calmer states where Intellect alone prevails. Also, with the development of the refinements and discriminations of civilization, many of our original feelings, especially the instincts, be- come unseemly, too animal-like, to pass the EMOTION 195 approval of our higher natures and we thus wish to repress them. Granting all this, it must be admitted for the proper contrast and balance, that we have also lost much, since this original and primitive form of response to life has become so overlaid with intellectual conceptions. Whether it be through fear of a force not yet understood and con- quered, or whether to the emasculating influ- ence of purely intellectual refinements, the fact remains that the essential power and value of Feeling has been reduced to a minimum that is distinctly detrimental to the harmony and strength of life as a whole. All education tends to deprecate any display of Emotion; we have even reached the point where to conceal it entirely is considered as a mark of the highest culture. This alone im- plies our false estimate of its value and leads to its further diminution or extinction; and in the meantime we are left at the mercy of a force which knows no mercy — we have merely repressed and checked — we have not mastered, 196 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR The path leading toward the ultimate suprem- acy of the Intellect and Will is, of course, as I have already pointed out, both an important and necessary one, for the reason that conscious Intellect is the only qualifying agent for Emo- tion, and affords the guiding channel for a power otherwise unrestrained and dangerous in its intensity. But we have gone so far in the worship of the controlling and inhibiting facul- ties, as to lose our perspective and essential hold on some of the more vital things, without really gaining the sovereignty we are aiming for. We have succeeded only in suppressing or distorting practically all of our natural im- pulses. Scarcely one of them flows forth with- out the restraining influence of social conven- tion, public opinion, personal advantage, or some other modifying agent, until we have com- pletely deflected at its very source the main- spring and impulse of all human behaviour. We have seen how the infant leads a subjective and natural existence, but we have failed to notice that in the subsequent development of the conscious controlling faculties, the original EMOTION 197 foundation has been much tampered with and in many instances wholly disorganized. We forget the tremendous potentiality that lies concealed in our capacity to Feel. All through life it affords a far wider scope and a deeper revelation than the Intellect. It im- plies, indeed, nothing less than the whole realm of the Unconscious with all the delicate appre- hensions of its Intuition. Though less discriminating Feeling is far more subtle and penetrating because of its very subjectivity; and because it is capable of tak- ing us into the deeps of experience and touch- ing the divine fires, we recoil in trepidation, afraid, perhaps, to approach those elements of unalloyed power. What is enthusiasm, for instance, but an in- tense capacity to feel, and what is there to be found of strength in the cold passionless sur- vey of life afforded by the Intellect, unless it is vitalized by the Emotions? How far can In- tellect carry one in an appreciation of nature, beauty, music, and all the warm human rela- tionships such as love, reverence, and sympa- 198 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR thy? These are the things we feel, and while the explanations afforded by the Intellect are both useful and interesting, how paltry and in- significant they appear by the side of the actual experience and realization. It is like standing outside of a beautiful palace, vainly trying to describe by means of words the wonderful possessions it contains — one must enter and see and feel for himself, in order to know or appreciate its contents. And so it is with life, we must first ex- perience or feel, afterward we can take the detached view afforded by the Intellect and draw what conclusions Eeason dictates. The problem then, manifestly, is to find the balance between Emotional Power on the one side and Will Power and Intellect on the other. In the first case, we have the whole gamut of human feeling from its most savage primitive instincts up to its highest aspirations and sym- pathies. The greater the power, the greater the haz- ard in the possession of it. Man's highest ca- pacity lies in his sensitiveness to Feeling, but EMOTION 199 in it also is enfolded his bitterest enemy and his greatest liability to error. Fortunately in the Will he has the right commanding and re- straining influence, which can check, co-ordi- nate, and encourage wherever required for his best interests. It must of course be properly aligned with the Intellect and stand in the fore- front as would a general leading an army, if the eternal combat is to be solved. In order to throw some light upon this baf- fling problem of the control of the Emotions, and to enable earnest students of Psychology to so determine their own behaviour that it shall always be constructive, a close study of the action and reaction of the many and com- plex human impulses is most necessary. In the first place, it is possible to make two general classifications, which though very broad in their nature, assist materially in re- ducing to its elements this appallingly compli- cated task. They are the simple ones that we have already observed in some of the previous studies — i.e., that of negative and positive. With a little research and experience it is pos- 200 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF*BEHAVIOUR sible to place all Emotions clearly in one or the other of these divisions. Under Negative Emotions I have classed all those attributes requiring Control or the inter- ference of the Will; and under Positive Emo- tions, are all such as need to be encouraged or developed to make for a strong and rounded character. It might be thought at first glance that this classification would be the old familiar one of Vice and Virtue, but such is not the case, especially if one is to regard human motives, as one should, from a purely dispassionate and un-moral point of view. Most works on ethical Psychology make the error of cataloging certain of our traits and tendencies as "good," and the others as "bad." In truth there is no such dis- tinction whatever, as all the discord and pain and so-called evil in life rises solely out of a lack of proportion and proper relativity. There is no Emotion which in its essential na- ture can be called bad; but all of them, even the best, may be so misplaced or ill-used as to EMOTION 201 become, in effect, the worst. Of the Negative Emotions I mention four primary ones — Fear Anger Grief Self-love The first of these, Fear, has the widest ramifications and is the most destructive of them all. The usual conception of Fear is one associating it exclusively with physical cow- ardice, but it requires only a moment's thought to perceive the fallacy of this view, for Fear has many forms and in one way or another is so prevalent as to honeycomb the whole fabric of the emotional life. In its positive and constructive form Fear is simply caution or forethought, a defensive conservative instinct and an attitude necessary as a protection against the uncertainties of life ; but the more common and negative aspect of it is that of " worry.' ? Fore-thought becomes fear-thought when it does not build or con- struct a way out of the difficulty — a mere worry, which consists in treading ceaselessly 202 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR in a circle, arriving nowhere. It expresses nothing but futility and is the outcome of ha- bitually regarding life and all its forces as an enemy rather than a friend. Such a state of mind is Fear in its very essence and implies in oneself a lack of confidence or power to over- come. That many diseases and physical breakdowns are due directly to the worry habit is now a mat- ter of common knowledge; though the medical man with his material remedies has no way of dealing with the mental cause of his patient's weakened resistance. He may suggest a sea voyage or change of scene in the hope that this re-distribution of attention may divert the mind of the patient from its destructive chan- nels. In some cases such is sufficient to effect a cure — more often, however, it is necessary to directly attack the Fear or worry itself in order to remove the depressing symptoms, this being the essential task of the Psycho-therapist. Many experiments have been made of late years and articles written to prove the pres- ence of toxic elements in the blood as the im- EMOTION 203 mediate result of the fear-state; and the close relation between morbid mental states and the secreting glandular action of the body has also been demonstrated. There is in these facts alone, one would think, a sufficient deterring in- fluence to restrain the constant tendency to in- dulge in fears and doubts ; but their forms are insidious and numerous and their hold so strong as to paralyze the Will and becloud the Intellect of the average sufferer. Among the most prevalent specific forms of the anxiety-habit is that of the fear of disease in itself, many illnesses being the direct out- come of it especially when it is strong enough to become an obsession or fixed idea. Often a particular disease, or even an accident, will be unconsciously selected as the bugbear to dis- turb the peace of one's mental household. Frequently the sufferer from a phobia of this kind has no knowledge of whence came his thoughts on the subject. Under proper analy- sis they usually can be uncovered and the bring- ing of them into daylight may be sufficient to release the " common sense' ' that has been in- 204 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR hibited thereby. Our part as students of Be- haviour is to recognize these various mental states as pathological and to seek so far as we personally are concerned to avoid the entrance or fixation in our minds of any concepts based on Fear. Next to a fear of disease, in its frequency and destructiveness, comes a fear of failure, a feel- ing directly related to the struggle for exist- ence, especially the economic struggle and the desire to "get on" to which I have referred before. Much of this Fear is artificial because based on false standards. It is an expression of that overwhelming desire to "keep up ap- pearances.' ' It leads to show and pretence, in a vain effort to bolster up a nature lacking in self-confidence and independence. Yet it is necessary to admit that this anxiety also has its positive side and being the out- growth as it very often is of admirable ambi- tion pitted against the complexities of modern civilization, we must have more patience and sympathy with it than with many of the other negative mental states. The main business of EMOTION 205 life is to secure by one's own efforts that which is necessary to live and grow by, and while this often seems a most difficult thing to do, I firmly believe that if less attention were bestowed upon various external obstacles, such as the economic conditions of the times, etc., and more upon the internal functions of Will and Intellect, there would turn out to be enough for everybody, with no very good basis for this prevalent anxiety. Nature is lavish, only man is niggardly, and with the enlargement of his consciousness to the inclusion of the higher elements of mind and soul, he will no longer feel the pinch and cramp of conditions — he will instead declare his freedom and know that there is no such thing as failure except to those who believe in it. It is only a relative term anyway, and does not exist for those whose faith in themselves remains unimpaired. Fear of opinion is another negative state that absolutely determines the lives of most people. I have already spoken of how few know the na- ture of their true desires, there are equally few 206 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR who know and live by their own opinions. So subtle and so strong is the pressure of subcon- scious thought-currents that the majority do not realize that most of their ideas have been made for them by others and accepted at secondhand. I should say too that there is quite as much Fear of holding to one's own opinion as there is of incurring the disfavour of others. How often we are untrue to the deeper flashes of our own consciousness is indicated by the fact that at some later period, when perhaps a greater or better known mind gives voice to our smothered feelings, do we see that we were afraid to recog- nize our own mental offspring. "No one's else opinion can be as good as mine — for me" should be the creed of every man. And as for the opin- ions of others, why exalt them so? Beyond a reasonable receptivity and desire to profit by the findings of others we should have no room for their opinions as such. As for collective opinion, that known as convention, there are times when it is fitting that one should bend to it for the sake of peace or the good of the whole, but to live by it is to be hampered in the soul. EMOTION 207 It is only he who is fearless in both thought and action who attains to any real happiness or strength. Many are the cowards who hav- ing the intelligence to see what is just and right, yet lack the courage to uphold their views and by silence give consent to that which in their hearts they disapprove. As to the causes of Fear there are many; inherited race-thoughts start us off with many deeply imbedded superstitions and destructive ideas in our subconsciousness of which we are never aware until they break forth at some un- expected moment. There are fears galore based upon our own past painful experiences and those of our ancestors: and even more that have no "facts" for their basis at all; but probably the most prolific source of all is that arising in early childhood, when the exceedingly harmful methods employed by most parents to gain the obedience of their offspring leads them unwittingly into marking for life the mind of a sensitive child with some fear that would otherwise be quite alien to his nature. 208 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR From the very beginning the child has a price placed upon his veracity, his kindliness, his sociability, his natural curiosity — in short, upon nearly all of his most useful instincts. The average parent does not hesitate to stoop to the most primitive and barbarous methods and customs in order to impress his authority upon his child. He threatens him with the vengeance of everything from the dog and the policeman up to his Creator. Thus the child's natural instinct of Fear, which might other- wise remain dormant until it was needed in self- protection, is fed on the vagaries and stupidities of his elders until it outweighs every other feel- ing in his little brain. Having made a special study of the origin of the innumerable Fears with which the average adult is burdened, I have come to the conclu- sion that we are, in the care of our children, still in the dark ages of superstition — for we almost universally sentence these free young lives to an inescapable fate, by instilling into them in their tender years all our own weak- nesses, and then adding thereunto some spe- EMOTION 209 cially devised ones, as it were, to fit the inno- cence of childhood. An excellent exercise for any student of Be- haviour is to have a quiet seance with himself in which to make an honest list of all his Fears — for to entertain even one means not only a diminution of one's strength and resistance, but also a loss of opportunity. Let him real- ize that all Fear is founded primarily on a sense of inferiority and that if he would be rid of the misery of anxiety, or a sense of defeat, he must do so by changing the pivot or point of balance between his own power and the power with which he endows mere circumstance. It means the use of the "Will of course ; and a rousing of the deep forces of the Self. Once this positive state is thoroughly established, which it may be in any case by earnest prac- tice, there is no place left for the fear-feeling to assert itself — even the habit of "apprehen- siveness" and the fear of Fear may be thus overcome. The Imagination is of course pro- ductive of all sorts of disturbing images and gives rise to forebodings based either on experi- 210 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR ence or on prospective situations which it builds up out of sheer contrariness and lack of con- trol; but he who claims any mastery of his Emotions becomes likewise a master of his Im- agination and bids it build only those images which in the end will enable him to cast out all Fear. Next to Fear, Anger properly takes its place as the greatest influence on human be- haviour. All the centuries of civilization have not been able to eradicate or even ameliorate to any extent this expression of the instinct to fight; which in most of its manifestations in civilized society would give better grounds than anything else for a belief in human depravity or "original sin." Yet, Anger is one of those primitive feelings designed to help us main- tain our individuality and establish our place in life, and when expressed as "righteous in- dignation' ' there is nothing finer. It is mani- festly a part of what is called the cruelty of nature, wherein every unit, every atom has some part to play and holds its own only by reason of friction and resistance. EMOTION 211 We know the prevalence of this law in the animal and plant world; and how out of the eternal conflict there is always a "survival of the fittest.' ' This action and reaction of each unit one against the other when manifested in the life of man, whose most primal instinct of all is self -protection, expresses itself naturally as combativeness or Anger. It is the offensive form of the conservative instinct, and the en- tire absence of it means either a flatness or a yielding quality in the make-up which is sure to be disastrous. There are many natures too good or too soft and sympathetic to be pos- sessed of enough strength or aggression to bring these virtues into their rightful fruition. The person who is incapable of feeling indigna- tion or Anger is incapable of meeting life with sufficient self-assertion to ever master its op- positions and its obstacles. With the development of the race there has come gradually the development of the social instinct with its larger aspects of unselfishness and altruism, until today our ideals are those of community life and co-operation. Every 212 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR life is now more or less protected by a common aim or sentiment, the instinct of " humanity,' y so that Anger in its cruder forms is confined mostly to the savage races. In tracing this development we can see how an instinct which is essentially protective in its nature, may become detrimental, both to its posses- sor and its object, if it be entertained to any extent. Yet the power to resent an imposition and to protect one's own against assault, is necessary — we have not yet reached the point where any one individual is accorded his "rights" unless he evinces an ability to secure them on his own behalf. Having thus drawn attention to the positive phases of Anger, I wish to dwell a little upon the weakness of its negative side which shows forth in many ways, such as resentment, irri- tability, animosity, and hatred. It is my firm belief that there is no place for any of these emotions in a well-regulated life. As is the case with all the primitive instincts, Anger is the greatest possible drawback un- EMOTION 213 less it is mastered and controlled. It always expresses an inner conflict of some kind and usually betrays a lack of poise and dignity, which does not speak well for the character of its possessor. There is the Anger which rises quickly and subsides almost as soon as it is born, which is really more of an escape valve than anything else, and for which its possessor is usually quickly forgiven; but even this dis- play of temper is not agreeable or constructive and exhibits a weakness or vulnerability. So strong may the emotion of Anger become as to drive its victim into acts of the greatest violence, for which he is obliged to spend a life- time of regret. Its presence shows strength of a kind, but also, because of the lack of control, a great weakness. There are those who contend that it is neces- sary to be able to hate, as an evidence of strength. This is a foolish fallacy; for while admitting the necessity of the potentiality, there is no necessity whatever for such a de- gree of aggression, even on the mental plane. Hatred is an element equalled in its destructive 214 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR power by almost no other human feeling — if man is anywhere to demonstrate his supremacy over the animal world it must be at this point, for hatred is the result of the power of the In- tellect added to Anger. One may hate, in the sense of disapprove, many of the obnoxious or offensive elements of life with all propriety, although ignoring is a much more effective weapon. But of real hatred the evil is unto the hater much more than the hated — an overmastering emotion with nought but poison in it. Even the lesser forms of hatred such as quar- relsomeness, animosity and meanness are all a great wastage of human energy. They never by any chance do good and they are always certain to do harm. Where we see them active we may know without further examination that their possessor is low indeed in the scale of development spiritually. Among the lighter aspects of Anger, irri- tability is perhaps the most common and an- noying one. Those who habitually give vent to this Emotion are not only a great trial to their EMOTION 215 companions but are really destructive agents in that they are the active centres of disturbed forces and thereby destroy much of the peace and harmony of those about them. Of course, there is the old excuse of bad digestion, etc., for those afflicted with this unfortunate habit, but if a close examination be made, it will usually be found that the habit preceded the gastric disturbance and nine times out of ten was the cause of it. Like every other peccadillo, irritability has its pathological side. Untold benefit has al- ready accrued from the work of Psycho-ther- apists and Psycho-analysts who have found in various repressions and mental mal-adjust- ments the hidden cause of an irritability that was as unaccountable to its possessor as to his friends. Always a search should be made for the "sore spot" in the mind — once found the Anger can be removed or properly harmonized with its constituent elements. But a bad disposition is very often only an expression of a self-indulgent nature, using this unconscious means to call attention to it- 216 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR self. A habit of "grouchiness" is well-nigh inexcusable, betraying as it does a long har- boured resentment of some kind. The feeling of pleasantness as well as that of exasperation, can be encouraged no matter what we may have to contend with, and is in itself a partial cure for the annoying circumstances whatever they may be. As for bursts of temper, they are but external signs of some repressed and unassimilated force, usually where the creative life has been checked or hemmed in until it finds this de- structive mode of relieving the pressure. They can be " cured' ' just as any other disease can be. Many cases have been overcome by a sim- ple determination on the part of the victim to effect a change, but they also often require ex- pert analysis to uncover their true cause. All parents should be well enough trained in this mode of observation to find the reason of bad temper in their children — more often than not they may find it in themselves ! Resentment, a feeling of annoyance for the failure of people or conditions to come up to EMOTION 217 our own standards, is a form of Anger. Here again I must counsel the non-resistant mental attitude, for lie who carries a resentment in his heart knows not the law of personal free- dom, he is binding himself by demanding that of another which he has not seen fit, or is not able, to give. The whole attitude is based on a false conception of our claims upon others; we really have no claims at all and in all per- sonal relations at least, should be content to accept that which is extended spontaneously, asking or expecting nothing more. When properly understood this spirit is perfectly compatible with a righteous self-assertion, which to be successful must be maintained with- out the slightest trace of Anger. Nursing a Grievance is still another form of Anger, often protracted into a subconscious resentment lasting over a long period of time. I thus know of one otherwise admirable woman who has for many years nourished and suf- fered from this destructive feeling all because her husband's sister has never seen fit to call upon her and welcome her as one of his fam- 218 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR ily. Small or large as the cause may be, the emotion itself is strongly akin to revenge, only it is more negative being a combination of hurt pride with Anger. So many useless and unnecessary forms of Anger prevail where there is an admixture, more or less, of blind self-love, or perhaps a feeling of having been overridden. If one has been triumphed over by another Will it should be accepted gracefully with a quiet reservation to the effect that a new standard has been set for one's strength, a new reach required. In- stead of resenting the success of a more positive Will, or feeling "injured," one should seek to become equally as positive ; or if inclined to be "argumentative," learn to relax and not "care." Only thus can one remove the sting that comes from having been "hurt" — to be given to "feeling hurt" is a negative form of Anger and avails one nothing — a recognition of it should be a sufficient incentive to arouse the Will to a more constructive action. Selfishness, or self-love, is the primary root of all evil. It is, in its way, as negative as EMOTION 219 Fear, refuting as it does all the outgoing and expanding elements that distinguish human be- ing as apart from animals. In spite of its appearance as a positive expression, we can easily perceive its utterly negative character when we realize how completely it is the denial of all that is progressive and constructive. It tends to destroy the whole fabric of human life by separating and tearing apart, exalting as it does oneself at the expense of others. It may show as avariciousness and soulless greed, or it may be only a carelessness of the comfort and happiness of others; but in all forms it is offensive because so completely ob- verse to all that is highest and best in life. The deep and almost unconquerable influence of self-love is due to its inherently protective and conserving nature. There are people, for instance, who are not selfish enough for their own welfare, who lose the best of life by their readiness to be imposed upon by other stronger natures. Yet even selfishness can scarcely be said to exist per se, it is more like a shadow which obscures the original principle underly- 220 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR ing it — its basis being no less than that spirit- ual principle of the consciousness of Self, which we shall consider later, and without which we can do nothing. As all the emphasis is usually placed upon the obvious unpleasant- ness and disadvantage of selfishness, it is well to remember that it is not an unmixed evil. Selfishness may be defined as an undue at- tachment to one's own interest. I will pause to mention only a few of its many forms. Jeal- ousy is a common one, being an attempt to claim that which is of no value unless freely given — it belongs to the intense and passionate natures as a rule, but cannot coexist with a large un- selfish viewpoint. Vanity and conceit are evidences of petty selfishness — extremely small views of the Self, with a consequent exaggeration of the personal self. Thoughtlessness of others arises from self-absorption and a limited horizon. All of these conditions can be overcome by a reason- able amount of practice and a true knowledge of the meaning of the Self — provided there is sufficient desire to make the effort; but people EMOTION 221 who persist in marring their lives with these and other outcroppings of the selfish spirit, must be left to work out their own salvation — i no one can do it for them. To pass from Selfishness to another more ob- viously negative state let us consider Grief. All Pain is the evidence of the absence of some- thing, and among our mlost acute pains is that sense of loss called Grief. Although al- most every one recognizes its destructiveness, it nevertheless ranks among the most uncon- trollable of the Emotions. There are few who have yet learned the lesson of conscious ad- justment, so that when affliction befalls them, of whatever nature, they are able to accept it calmly and without the shattering that seems so unavoidable to those stricken with sorrow. As a rule their behaviour displays the greatest weakness, all centred around their own especial deprivation. The mind refuses to work save in the reiterated contemplation of its loss, and all normal functions are reduced to their mini- mum. While the utter lack of a capacity for Grief 222 THE PSYCHOLOGY OP BEHAVIOUR would of course signify a lack of sensitiveness or power to feel bordering on the unhuman, there is almost always a desire to indulge in these devastating Emotions to the full. As we are always being beset by difficulties, it is one of those seemingly irresistible tendencies which it is most important to understand and control. Even great personal losses as by death can be met with fortitude based upon a faith in the eternal goodness of all things. Such a view requires a detachment from a purely per- sonal attitude, it is true, and a considerable amount of poise ; but it brings its own reward. It is well to recognize in this connection that Grief in all its phases is based on a generic instability, is essentially selfish in its nature, and has no aspect of constructiveness in it. Much Grief in the form of regret is wasted over various small losses, especially of purely material things. Perhaps it is small wonder that such is the case when it is a fact that most people gauge their happiness by the standard of whether they possess much or little. The dis- possession of a trinket will sometimes occa- EMOTION 223 sion as much expenditure of feeling and force as would be required to construct an engine or write a book. Those who have not yet risen above the bondage of mere things and of trivialities of all sorts are linked to a continual series of dis- appointments and regrets. The acquisition of things may be a pleasant pursuit and a means of producing happiness — popularity and good fortune are always to be desired — but when these become ends in themselves, the propor- tion is lost and some form of pain is inevitable — most of it unnecessary and wasted. Closely allied to Grief is Despondency, or a mental depression of some duration and inten- sity. It is a common habit to those of much susceptibility, especially where the Imagina- tion is well developed and the Will compara- tively weak. In psychic impressionable natures it often takes the form of ' ' apprehensiveness, f ' a nameless fear or foreboding which cannot be readily thrown off. It has its origin in the subconscious life and is often most tenacious, even where the intentions are good. Being a 224 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR sticky, clammy state of mind, however, some- what of the nature of a miasma, it cannot long flourish in a wholesome and positive mentality. It is really a pathological, emotional state due to a sickness of the soul, but it can be cast out like other dark-hued emotions with the cul- tivation of a healthy mental attitude. " Moodiness' ' is another form of a disturbed psychic life and is a dangerous indulgence when carried to any extreme, calling for an active control of the Will. All morbid mental states throw a veil around the personality that tends to smother its creator and depress its beholders. Perhaps the worst of despondency is that it so thoroughly envelops him who has once given way to it, as to shut out all healthier, brighter thoughts — all consciousness of light, truth, and freedom. The only successful mode of treat- ment is preventive in character, establishing opposite states of mind with such firmness that the victim of his own feelings can no longer fall into this abyss of misery. The primary Positive Emotions are — EMOTION 225 Confidence Love Joy Expansiveness. All of these represent the higher aspects of the consciousness — those furthest removed from the distinctly animal stage. Confidence might be considered an exception in its physical sense of self-preservation, but dealt with as a mental or emotional quality it contains within it the essence of all human achievement, and is, therefore, the most necessary among the traits to be strengthened or cultivated. Self-confidence being closely allied to some of the lower and more disagreeable phases of the personality is often mistaken for them, be- ing confused with mere egoism or con r *\ The latter represent a fondness for the good opin- ion of others which is not characteristic of true self-confidence — a desire for approbation and attention being the direct outcome of a lack of egotism or right understanding of the dignity and power of the Self. An undue love of ap- 226 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR probation is a fundamental weakness tending to undermine all the other virtues, none of which can bloom without the nourishing in- fluence of self-knowledge and self-belief. Any- mental structure reared without this primary element lacks the strength and calibre to make it stand. It is amazing how in the training and de- velopment of children we manage to deprive them of this one great force with which they might attack life successfully. Ambition is curbed and the desire to excel tapped at its very root by the inculcation of self -distrust and a consciousness of weakness or inability. We seem to be afraid to give praise even when praise is due. Little do we realize the constructive force of discriminating approval, even when the act upon which it is bestowed is not all that we could desire. The wise mother will, for ex- ample, commend her child for an attempt to write or sew, even though the effort has been most clumsy and the result poor. All things are comparative in their value and when every EMOTION 227 honest effort is rightly appreciated the results are proportionately great. Thus are laid the seeds of self-confidence which cannot be broken down by the hard knocks and disappointments of life. So important is a real egotism that even that one who monopolizes attention, disregards the opinions of others and seems oversure of him- self is much more to be admired and far hap- pier than he who is beset by doubt and indeci- sion and who is, therefore, inhibited in drawing upon his potential powers. While the distinc- tion should always be kept clear between the pettiness, the thoughtlessness, and the unkind- ness that may arise from mere egoism, I can- not too much emphasize the need of a constant and vital egotism, as the one great antidote to fear and weakness. Otherwise the feeling of self-depreciation in- sensibly gains the ascendancy simply by a mere force of habit. Each effort is disintegrated by carrying hidden within its core the seeds of de- struction. I find, therefore, that in the ma- jority of people constant affirmations are re- 228 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR quired, to overcome this weakness and to de- velop the necessary " sense of self." The self-confident mind and no other can give play to the natural instinct of curiosity, which is our only means of pushing ahead and acquiring the necessary knowledge of life. To lack in mental curiosity is to lack in initiative and therefore in experience. It is to remain "put," either paralyzed by fear or anaesthe- tized by sheer passivity. The curiosity of chil- dren should be encouraged, each question asked should be answered and true knowledge be- stowed; for the curiosity that leads to the query is a positive manifestation and will be- come morbid and destructive only when turned in on itself, by reason of failure to secure the coveted information. Curiosity in the sense of prying into other people 's affairs is simply an unbridled and un- sympathetic desire to "know." It lacks dis- crimination and develops mostly in cramped and narrow lives, or in the minds of those who have no true consciousness of Self and thus EMOTION 229 become aggressively occupied with the con- cerns of others. To feel confident and sure is not only a much to be envied state but a most requisite one. If not blessed with it by nature, you should pro- ceed to acquire it without further delay. It means power and so much does the world love power that it permits, or even encourages, an assumption of power by persons little fitted in point of character, but possessed of a cer- tain aggressiveness of manner that impresses and overwhelms. The common success of the charlatan or im- postor, is a living proof of our admiration of real egotism even though we deny it. The fact that a persistent practitioner of fraud is really but preparing his own funeral does not deter us at all from bowing at the feet of the power he displays while he is successful. All the more reason then why every effort should be made to inculcate a personal self- belief when one is working along lines of Truth ; for a feeling of pride and confidence, of 230 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR being able to create and achieve whatever our inner desires suggest to us, is indispensable to the sustenance of our vitality, happiness and success. Confidence is almost wholly a matter of the realization of the powers of the Self and it should come first in the development of the emotional life as it naturally does in the devel- opment of the race. Next to confidence in point of importance and constructive force comes Love, that sym- pathetic and tender feeling which takes the in- dividual out of his isolation and binds him to the rest of creation. All our ethical exhorta- tions have for the past few centuries placed an emphasis upon Love, but we are in spite of this a long way from the comprehension, to say nothing of the application, of this supreme law of life. It may be because we are now trying to de- velop affection and the social sense before hav- ing proceeded very far with the development of the individual and his power to love. It is like trying to draw a circle before knowing how to make a straight line; the former is but an EMOTION 231 extension of the latter and cannot be produced without a knowledge of line. The circle as a symbol represents the universal life, the straight line the individual life. Before we can experience the emotion of real Love, which is an outgoing from the Self to others, we must first experience self-love, or the recognition of Self. This is the manner of growth in the child and should have a significance for all students of Behaviour. I give thus briefly my reasons for placing Love second rather than first in the list of the Positive Emotions and I offer it also as a suggestion for a method to be developed for the education of the young. Love in the abstract is the attractive prin- ciple in contradistinction to the aversion rep- resented by Anger. Its tendency is all toward unity, fusion even, whereas the more primitive instinct leads to division and separateness. Fortunately for our happiness and the develop- ment of the race as a whole, Love is such a powerful instinct as to touch us all somewhere, sometime, even the animals showing many signs of this ennobling emotion. 232 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR But strong as it is, and salutary as it is, there is no one trait requiring more in the way of di- rection and control. Love is based on Desire, and when unrestrained it tends to covetousness and becomes the very antithesis of itself, swing- ing back from the unselfishness which is its core, into the supreme selfishness that shows as a wish for possession and ownership. This is the more common form as between men and women and usually characterizes most parental love as well. Love, more than any other emotion, requires Freedom for its highest expression, and when we can understand the true meaning of the phrase "free love," not as an illegitimate pas- sion between the sexes, but as a term descrip- tive of the real nature of man's most elevated feeling, we will be at the beginning of the great revelations which life has in store for us. I have already spoken of the Freedom of the Will, but the Freedom of Love is still greater. Carrying us as it does into the realms of the creative, super-physical, and spiritual life, we find in it the basis of all aspiration, re- EMOTION 233 ligious feeling, and the instinct for humanita- rianism which in different ways has character- ized the race from its beginnings. Love is naturally constructive, it develops thoughtfulness and protection for others, it enlarges the whole scope of the personality and is the only known antidote for selfishness. Not always however ; for there is a tyranny of Love that is more destructive than its natural com- plement, hate. It threatens and coaxes, it drags and cajoles — and masters even while it We all need more Love, both to give and to receive it. We need the universal Love which makes us tolerant and kind. We need the per- sonal Love which brings intimacy and under- standing. And the great and unalterable law is, that we will get exactly as much of both of these as we are able and willing to give. Let us therefore cultivate one power to love, for it is the light of existence, and the only thing that will satisfy the soul's deepest craving. Agreeability, in the sense of a good disposi- tion, or kindly feeling, is an expression of Love 234 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR that perhaps has more to do with the comfort and pleasantness of existence than any other quality. It is in itself merely a demeanour, but is the evidence of a permanently sympathetic attitude, which is the opposite of that disagree- ableness of manner and uncordiality character- istic of those whose affective life harbours any degree of resentment. Agreeability appears in the individual when he is developed far enough out of the habit of petty selfishness to realize the feelings of others as he does of him- self. It tends also to ease of manner and adaptability ; though when united with insincer- ity, it becomes mere deceit and is of course no longer constructive. One of the most difficult problems for the self- confident nature is to learn how to project it- self into the lives and feelings of others. Sym- pathy is the means by which it is accomplished, and any success in thus entering into unity with another life is dependent upon the development and combination of the love-feeling with a true consciousness of one's own being. Curiously enough, the emergence of one or the other of EMOTION 235 these phases tends to obliterate its opposite, so that he who is full of sympathy and tenderness is seldom self-sufficient and virile ; while he who gives evidence of these latter strong traits, is more apt to be inconsiderate, if not ruthless with others. But what an ideal is achieved when unto strength is added tenderness, as when love and sympathy are united with inde- pendent power. By studying the feelings and probable de- sires of those about us we can learn to enter into their inner and psychic lives so as to become one with them, and relieve, by some sort of subtle telepathy their sense of aloneness. This is beyond doubt the very essence of the love-feeling and makes, automatically, the hap- piness of the loved one to become paramount. Sympathy can very easily lose its positive character, however, and become merely maudlin or sentimental ; or it may be the source of great weakness and trouble by taking one too far off one's own centre. Many times very antipa- thetic natures are bound by a kind of psychic sympathy or susceptibility that they cannot 236 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR seem to escape. They forget that when Love ceases to be constructive it becomes an enemy calling aloud for vanquishment. Appreciation is an important phase of Love that is too frequently overlooked. By Appre- ciation I do not mean gratitude — an emotion which like effusiveness, is dangerous because of its weakness — but a recognition of kindness and a desire to meet it in kind if possible. Courtesy is a conventionalized form of Appre- ciation and a most requisite one as a lubricant to the machinery of life. Appreciation is a state of mind, which may not always be expressed in words but which can stand much more display than is ordinarily ac- corded it. This emotion, however, like many other phases of Feeling, especially those con- cerned with Love, is often neglected or even sternly repressed rather than encouraged and given vent. We seem to be ashamed of our finer feelings, and especially among men there is a common dread of giving evidence of any soft- ness of heart. This is probably a remnant of our earlier and more savage life — in any case, EMOTION 237 it deprives us of one of the joys and construc- tive expressions of which we are so much in need. Joy is the third in my list of Emotions call- ing for cultivation and care. Life presents so many difficulties to the average person as to lead him, by the time he has reached middle age at least, to doubt the reality of the existence of happiness and our habit is as a whole to look more upon the dark side of things than to dwell upon the brightness. By so doing much weight is added to our troubles, for we are missing the one salient fact in connection with the whole problem, which is that either joy or sadness exists only in the mind and is not a thing de- pendent upon the conditions of life. To prove this we have only to look about us and see among many of those who are sorely pressed by want or sorrow, a spirit of true op- timism and cheer. The valiant and happy are seldom among those whose circumstances would lead us to expect it of them. As a matter of fact the gloom and mists of life are usually dissipated by a persistent spirit 238 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR of cheer; certainly nothing adds so much to the ease with which tasks are accomplished and perplexities endured. We constantly vitalize our unhappy thoughts and conditions by At- tention — things that would disappear of them- selves quite readily are kept alive and active by the constant and depressing notice bestowed upon them. Everything from physical pain to the deep- est soul disappointment can be ameliorated by the application of a persistently joyful spirit. This is not a counsel to shallow optimism which refuses to see or admit the problems of life, but it is a very potent suggestion for the ac- quisition of that happiness which the whole world seeks. Joy is an affirmative attitude, and a state of mind dependent partly upon habit and partly upon an inward unity which gives one a feeling of well being which external conditions have not the power to disturb. I think we should believe in happiness more than we do. Certainly nothing is more con- ducive to health, prosperity and achievement than to expect it and have faith in it. We EMOTION 239 should not be afraid to be happy and to give vent to it when we are, knowing that in so doing we are spreading into some of life's dark corners a true radiance. Happiness can be cultivated by auto-suggestion until one rises to that height of independence in his feelings that, bring life what it may, he remains undisturbed and possessed of his strongest and best weapon — a joyful spirit. To have a capacity for joy- ful emotion, for enthusiasm, for unquenchable spontaneity, like that of a child, supplies life with the real zest and thrill it ought to have. To pass from Joy to the fourth in my list, I have used the general term of Expansiveness to represent the Emotion opposed to that of self- love. My reasons for doing so will be appar- ent, I think, from the foregoing discussion of the principal feelings that are grouped under the heading of positive — they are all expansive in character. Joy may be pictured as a straight line going upwards, Expansiveness or Unself- ishness can be indicated by a circle on a hori- zontal plane — it suggests breadth and inclu- 240 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR siveness, it does away with the contractions that are always consequent upon the feelings of Fear, Grief, and Anger. On the mental plane Expansiveness means breadth and catholicity of thought, freedom from prejudice and provincialism. On the emotional plane it means sociability, frankness, liberality, and affection. It is geniality and openness of spirit as opposed to secretiveness, shyness, envy, rivalry, acquisitiveness, coldness and snobbishness. Eleutherian is a Greek word meaning "like a free man, freely giving, bountiful/ ' and it seems to me the best to de- scribe the antithesis of the narrowness of self- love. Truly it is the mark of the enlightened soul. Keally, Expansiveness means to dive into life. up to the hilt, which is what the selfish person never does. It is the only means of obtaining real knowledge, there is little gained in standing to one side and watching life pass by. He who has a zest for experience with an equal willingness to be enough of a "sport" to pay the necessary price in pain for EMOTION 241 his knowledge, is the one who, if he survives, is the strongest and best fitted to be a leader among his fellow men. But the inhibitory feel- ings often master ; one of the strongest of them is the dread of making mistakes, than which there can be no greater restraint from the ful- ness of life. Even the worst of crimes is not life at its weakest and poorest, it is rather life at its fullest and best, turned, perhaps by a trifling incident, in the wrong direction. Why stop so much to question whether the impulse be right or wrong? To dillydally over one's feelings and convictions, to weigh and compare them with others, to analyze, is but to lose the capacity for emotion and the power to act. It is far better to do something than to do nothing through doubt or indecision. Whether one be resolutely virtuous or the most hardened sinner is of less import than whether one has the freedom of Will and the courage of his con- viction to live as he sees fit. The prevalence of the critical and prejudiced spirit, the great ig- norance of one-half of the world as to how the other half lives, are but evidences of the pau- 242 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR city of our Emotions as a whole and our dread of increasing the meagre store. To have experienced something usually means to have understood it, at least in some degree ; and nothing is a better cure for narrowness and selfishness than actual contact with the breadth, depth, and power of human Emotions. With experience one may pass from the kindergarten to the university in the realm of Feelings quite as much -as in the life of the Intellect. One learns in time to discard the impulses which are useless and curb those which are dangerous —one gains the courage to dare to feel, as well as to guard against satiety. The Emotions are ofttimes treated, it is true, with the same disregard that the drunkard treats his body, with a resulting loss of sensi- tiveness and freshness and power. The mod- ern man's "brainstorm" or the hysterical woman's uncontrolled outbursts are but emo- tional orgies showing an excitability and excess that can only react to their serious detriment. Nothing runs away with us so quickly as Feel- ings, and especially those that are indulged in EMOTION 243 for their own sake. The woman who "enjoys poor health/' or the man who "carries a chip on his shoulder/ ' the habitually "injured' ' per- son, the sexual pervert, the religious fanatic, are all from the same stem and are in sad need of regulation and self-government. But these are excrescences on life's tree and have no bearing on the essential soundness of our in- nate Feelings and our privilege of luxuriating in them. Broadly speaking, Emotions may be divided, and usually are, into the two general groups of Pleasure and Pain. There has always been contention between the various schools of metaphysics as to which of these was the posi- tive and which the negative state, some claim- ing that Pain was due merely to the absence of Pleasure and was, therefore, the positive one; while others, claiming that Pleasure was due to cessation of Pain, stated it as the posi- tive one. Without attempting here to solve the old question of whether evil "exists" or not, I wish to make it plain that as a working philos- ophy of life, I have found nothing to equal 244 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR that which chooses Pleasure as its positive element and believes therefore that Pain is negative. This gives Pain the same kind of reality the darkness possesses, which is not much, as we know by seeing how easily it can be dissipated with the appearance of the light. Perhaps Pleasure and Pain will always exist in about equal parts, somewhat the same as the phenomena of day and night. I daresay Pain is quite as necessary a reaction to life as Pleas- ure is ; but in our present state of development it is possible to place the emphasis upon the pleasurable Emotions — certainly Pain should never be sought for its own sake as it some- times is, especially by the habitual melancholic, or the emotional fanatic who thus finds an out- let for feelings he does not understand how to otherwise express. Where unavoidable Pain must be stoically endured; but if our habit were only to search more deeply for causes, and we could recognize Pain, as we should, as a sign that we were on the wrong track, it would not be long before we could eliminate most of our painful experiences. EMOTION 245 Pain whether physical or mental is a danger signal to warn us that we are out of order some- where, and that it is "up to us" to find the cause and set it right. Instead of this, all our attention is given to Pain as a symptom — the Pain-consciousness is positively acute in most people — and their readiness to experience, en- large upon, and apparently revel in sensations of discomfort of all kinds, be they mental or physical, is but a commentary upon the present perversity of human nature. No allowance is made for natural adaptability, for powers of endurance, or for the Reason with which we are endowed, by means of which the distress might be ameliorated or excised. There is a chronic form of Pain called hy- peraesthesia — it is a sort of moral and emo- tional sensitiveness which makes almost every- thing in one's environment to become painful, producing a state of high tension and excit- ability difficult of comprehension by the less complex and more stolid nature. It might fairly be rated a pathological condition; and while it calls for some tenderness in handling, 246 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR the only real relief for these sufferers is to get a better balance by the development of greater ruggedness in their emotional-physical na- tures. It has been said that one's power of enjoy- ment is measured by one's capacity for Pain — a truth worth pondering, since it shows how perfectly balanced are all laws and all elements in one's life, and how one must reach in both directions in order to extend the ability to Feel. It is true that if one is capable of deep suffer- ing, one is also capable of a greater apprecia- tion of the things that go to make for satisfac- tion and joy, and one should not be afraid of either direction. I shall not attempt to write a homily on the "uses of adversity," since I believe much more in the uses of good fortune; but we cannot afford to overlook the undoubted fact that Pain is superior in its volitional efficacy; for it does drive us to action, and increases the life-scope as nothing else can. The reason is, that all Pain being due to an absence of some of the vital powers of life or to their harmonious EMOTION 247 workings, forces us because of its discomfort to remedy the defect. Hence, in a way, troubles are good for us. We have only to look to the infant to see how completely his reactions to life are established by his various pain-experiences — he seeks food because he suffers pain without it, and he avoids the things that hurt because after a cer- tain number of repetitions he cannot but asso- ciate them with the pain-sensation. I do not offer this fundamental truth in the belief that it will afford any great comfort to my suffering reader, but only to help him to a little philoso- phy as to the reason for the existence of Pain and to show him that in himself lies the key to an ultimate escape from it. Both Pleasure and Pain emerge from a neu- tral state which is prior to and distinct from both of them. This state might be called Con- tentment and in its immature phases represents an embryonic stage like that of the seed which has not yet developed its potential powers. In our progress through Life and Emotion we swing from one extreme to the other, from 248 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR Pleasure to Pain and back again until we finally gain a fine equilibrium, a state of superi- ority to either one, which might again be called Contentment or imperturbability. It is not, however, the Contentment of ignorance, stagna- tion or lack of feeling, it is rather the measure that accrues to one who has glimpsed the whole arc of human experience. This was what the Stoics of old worked for and it is not beyond the attainment of the modern student of Psychology who knows that it is his own attitude toward life that determines whether Pain or Pleasure shall predominate with him. Although Control and Stoicism are among the most admirable virtues, my reader will have gathered by now that the positive Emotions should all represent in some way the natural law of Expression, the unfolding and showing forth of the instinctive life forces. The great crime of civilization has been its ruthless sup- pression of all the natural feelings. All the way through it has struggled to overlay the purely human elements with the restraining and artificial domination of the Intellect, until to- EMOTION 249 day, in all social intercourse at least, the emo- tional life is seriously maimed and almost use- less. This implies a grave loss of force and spontaneity; and in addition there are various emotional complications resulting from the holding back and retention of feelings which in the natural course of things should be ex- pressed. Ideas which in themselves may be quite harmless ferment and produce destructive re- actions when checked and held in suspension in the subconsciousness. For as we have al- ready seen, to "forget" a thing is not to de- stroy it. Mere intellectual concepts may quickly fade away into nothingness, but Feel- ings, once generated, do not dissipate them- selves without having left their mark and produced reactions that may continue indefi- nitely according to the amount of force that was created or expended. This important psychological fact and the unceasing antagon- ism between the critical objective consciousness and the uncritical but powerful urge of vital- ity in the subconsciousness accounts for the 250 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR constant " surge' ' of the emotional life and ex- plains most of the inconsistencies of human be- haviour. The greatest conflict is between the primor- dial craving of the soul for life, love, and ac- tivity and the many restrictions imposed by so- cial conditions upon the expression of that craving. The resulting disquietude is a char- acteristic element in the subconsciousness of practically every one and is thus a social prob- lem as well as an individual one. Fortunately it can be solved individually, so that happiness and harmony will be manifested on the external plane in the natural course. There is quite a distinction between working to settle this an- tagonism in one's self, and making an antagon- ist of society by blaming it for all one's ills. It is not so necessary to break with established customs in order to satisfy those cravings which seem to go counter to the conventions, as it is to secure a harmonious internal adjust- ment. To completely harmonize the conscious and unconscious life requires much knowledge and EMOTION 251 intellectual endowment and it is a problem upon which we are just embarking in any conscious scientific way. It might be said to be the prob- lem of human life today. I find it comparatively simple to secure the desired results in responsive individuals, though it is more difficult to formulate laws and meth- ods that are applicable to all cases. The all- important fact to be taken into consideration is that Thoughts and Feelings once repressed on account of their painful nature, or never recog- nized, do continue to be active and operate along lines of their own in the subconsciousness. We know that they repeatedly attempt to arise to consciousness and that because of our wish to forget or our refusal to recognize them there, they are forced to assume various disguises and emerge in unexpected or substitute forms. Thus is often revealed to us a thought or wish that we never believed we could have enter- tained, thus do we experience various " mental landslides ' ' when unknown or long latent parts of the subconsciousness suddenly rise to the surface causing dire confusion. 252 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR The skilled Psychologist through long experi- ence is able to recognize many of these disguised expressions at once and knows his "types" as thoroughly as does the biologist. The fun- damental theory of Psycho-analysis is that the symptoms of hysterical patients (of which there is a much wider class than is generally supposed) depend upon impressive but forgot- ten scenes in their lives. The treatment con- sists in causing the patients to recall and re- produce these experiences in consciousness, a process very properly designated as catharsis, because the whole idea is to eliminate the source of the trouble. The symptoms themselves rep- resent undischarged centres of excitement and only require conversion into normal channels for relief to ensue — hence the necessity of the "clearing-out" process. To give a simple but common example, it is a habit in a certain type of woman to try and conceal a recognized sex-attraction. She does this by feigning a coldness she does not feel. The wish to repress any evidence of her feel- ings turns the natural eagerness and desire EMOTION 253 into an appearance of repulsion, producing a cold and disagreeable manner. The real feel- ing is of course the exact opposite of this and if of any intensity leads either to hysteria or to recklessness. The cure obviously is to effect a compro- mise between the desire to show feeling and the equally strong one to hide it. Unless the case is a chronic or unusually severe one, a recognition of the internal conflict followed by a reasonable amount of expression such as the conventions permit, will equalize the pressure sufficiently to allow the psychic life to become normal. The display of aversion is clearly the result of too much fear in the first place and an inability to be natural. This fear takes refuge in the common convention that a woman must not show her feelings in relation to the opposite sex, and produces an unconscious im- passe resulting in a more or less serious mental and physical disturbance. The method here outlined sounds simple enough, but is, as a matter of fact, a most diffi- cult and delicate process even where the sub- 254 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR ject of the operation accords her conscious co- operation. It must be remembered that the very presence of her trouble is an indication of a subconscious rebellion. Sometimes many weeks, or even months, are required to effect the needed change; but the mere fact that it can be done at all is one of the marvels of mod- ern psychological achievement. There are many other situations dissimilar to this one, which call for the same principle in treatment. Mental jars and emotional crises seldom pass without leaving a scar of some kind, so that the old wounds need to be re- opened and thoroughly cleansed before health and comfort can be properly restored. Most conflicts of this nature could be avoided if we were more willing to realize our nearness to the life of the primitive plane from which as a race we are not very far removed in spite of all our development. Furthermore, the moral distinctions that have come with the gradual unfolding of man's higher nature are as yet almost entirely arbitrary and superficial, giving rise to endless conflicts, doubts, and in- EMOTION 255 compatibilities. Thus the internal moral-emo- tional life becomes a hot-bed of dissension. We usually try to settle it by accepting the conven- tional dictums, at the same time denying them vigorously in our secret thoughts and feelings. Many there are, for instance, who subscribe to the established religious customs of the day purely because it gives them a comfortable feel- ing to think that somebody or something is upholding our " morals." As for actually put- ting into practice the precepts they pretend to admire, they will tell you, if frank, that it is quite impossible, that the ideals are impracti- cable and beyond the reach of human nature ! Such as these never stop to question the fu- tility of an ideal that is not believed in, much less do they realize the danger accruing from the psychological anomaly thus created. Some- times they succeed in adapting themselves to this curious double standard and so escape to some extent the suffering consequent upon try- ing to go two ways at one time. The more sin- cere the person, the greater his problem, al- though real sincerity is usually backed up by a 256 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR strength enabling him to solve the question definitely one way or another. He does not then subscribe to one code of action while his heart and belief are in another, or delude him- self by shallow hypocrisy. This whole question merely indicates that the emotional life has up to the present time been unregulated, left to the mercy of fancy, whim, or headlong impulse. The only regulation we have known has been that built upon stern pre- cepts concerned with unpleasant words like "duty," "punishment," or "being found out." A control imposed only by outward necessity is no control at all — an unwilling obedience is valueless because it does not touch the heart. I shall not further moralize. What is para- mount is an agreement in one's self, a balanc- ing and blending of all the Emotions and a will- ingness to accept into consciousness all our im- pulses however contrary or ignoble they may seem. Herein lies the crux of the whole matter. It is not necessary to give expression in the form of action to those Emotions which we know EMOTION 257 are destructive, or "wrong" as we like to call it. There must always be the curb of the Will and the supremacy of the higher nature, but there are means of escape from this seemingly irreconcilable situation, whereby we can main- tain the proper restraint and yet at the same time find expression or reconciliation for the impulses that are usually inhibited. The first of these consists, as we have already seen, in the simple recognition by the conscious mind of the inhibition. Most of our primitive impulses are so far buried that we are no longer aware of their existence and a certain amount of analytical probing is most salutary, in turn- ing up to consciousness elemental forces that we have consciously or unconsciously repressed. This is the Freudian method and an impor- tant one, even though they place too much em- phasis upon the analytical process with a cor- responding weakness on the constructive side. For while the raising into consciousness of some forgotten or inhibited emotional complex is often sufficient to eliminate the disturbance and restore harmony, it is in a comparatively small 258 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR proportion of cases that this happy result ac- crues without a subsequent careful synthesis of all the elements that have been torn apart in the effort to extract the offending member. To perform this operation as it is done by the average present-day Psycho-analyst is like hav- ing a surgical process for the removal of a tumour without any succeeding medical care for the upbuilding of the weakened constitution. The mind is a delicate instrument and the ap- plication to it of the analytical process is more than likely to produce a mental shock of some kind, a reaction simple or violent according to the extent of the original damage. The Chris- tian Scientists call it a "chemicalization" and all Mental Scientists know the symptoms even though unacquainted, as often happens, with the rationale of their treatment. The disturbing reaction, while practically un- avoidable in the nature of the circumstances, need not last long however, when a wise manip- ulator is in charge of the case. The subject of right psychological treatment quickly regains his poise and finds himself upon a much higher EMOTION 259 plane than before the operation; but the treat- ment is only just begun. The subject — or the patient, as it usually happens, since Repression always makes one ill ultimately — must first learn something of his own mental processes and be led step by step into a reorganization of them on a more harmonious and stronger basis. The real means of escape from the conflict between Nature and Intellect lies in the process called Transmutation, in which we can con- sciously recognize and raise to a higher form of expression feelings that in their primitive state would not be constructive or fitting to our environment. Thus the common craving for Love, if re- strained might lead to a destructive anti-social conduct. The craving for Love is however a natural and legitimate feeling and should be so recognized. If it cannot be satisfied in the or- dinary course of circumstances, it can be trans- muted or changed on to some other plane of ex- pression. In the case of the unmarried woman for example, whose instinctive wants are apt to be blighted, it is possible for her to find relief 260 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR and satisfaction in certain constructive occupa- tions where there is an outlet for her creative- ness and desire to give. Better still, and even necessary in some instances, if her repressed emotions can find expression in some kind of an affectionate attachment — perhaps for a child, where the maternal instinct comes into play and the responsiveness evoked from the child is such as to supply the needed heart-interest. A different form of Transmutation is that achieved by the artist, who through his creative imagination turns his various haunting ideas and generative impulses into works of art rather than into actions, thus obtaining both production and relief. The Psycho-therapist is confronted with a great variety of problems, all calling for endless ingenuity in developing a constructive adapta- bility in the many desequilibres who come to him for treatment. The larger his experience in life, the wider the range of his sympathies and the greater his aspirational qualities, the more successful will he be in helping them to acquire the needed strength and balance. EMOTION 261 Of these psychological difficulties there are many varieties with symptoms ranging all the way from simple " nervousness' ' through the neuroses and psychoses, to complete insanity. The great affliction of mental unbalance may be said to be almost wholly due to emotional repression of some sort, throwing too much weight upon a single idea or feeling. The pity is that life is so adamantine in some of its demands that the good of the individual is so often overlooked and sacrificed. Psycho- therapy is filling a great need and doing a great work in this field where untold suffering has so long been without remedy. So many emotional states are purely "sub- stitute" ones in the effort of the conscious self to avoid a painful issue. Various "gusts" of feeling are thus likely to rise unbidden, possibly in the form of unreasonable anger, or as un- expected "tendernesses," or in excessive or misplaced mirth. What is called a "nervous laugh" is always the evidence of obstruction to some desire, usually one concerned with the affectional nature. 262 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR The whole subject of laughter is of the ut- most importance in this connection, but as sev- eral notable treatises have been devoted to this topic especially, I will not say more here than to recommend normal wholesome laughter as one of the best possible outlets for accumulated feelings. The popularity of light amusement and entertainments that tickle the sense of humour all have a perfectly sound psycho- logical basis. In practically all forms of wit and humour as well as many other modes of naive expression, the heart of man instinc- tively lays bare its hidden motives. In excess all these expressions become hysterias, phobias, or some kind of mental compulsion beyond con- trol of the conscious Will. But a readiness to see the " funny" side of things, a real sense of humour, is indeed the saving grace of life and does more than any- thing else to preserve the mental balance. He who can secure sufficient detachment to be amused at himself is in little danger of carry- ing bruised feelings about with him or becom- ing the victim of a "sore spot" or abrasion in EMOTION 263 his own mind. Wit finds expression in intel- lectual form but is essentially an emotional ex- perience — one to be sedulously fostered and indulged in, without too much respect to cir- cumstance or fitness. It is a particularly effec- tual means of Transmutation, though it might be better if the subject were more often aware of what repression he is giving vent to in his spontaneous moods. This leads me to a consideration of the sec- ond means of reconciling the opposition always present between the primitive Emotions and the Intellect. It is a matter of Education, though not in the usual fashion, for it consists in encouraging and developing the sensuous or emotional side of life — learning how to aban- don oneself to all forms of Feeling that are not intrinsically destructive. Herbert Spencer said, "Whatever moral benefit can be effected by education must be effected by an education which is emotional rather than perceptive." And what is Emotional education! It is learning to utilize that which is conceived in the Imagination and developed through the 264 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR Senses; it is spontaneity, creativeness, a sense of comradeship and friendly competition, and, above all, the power of passing without break from thought and fancy into act. It includes as a matter of course a recognition of obstacles and limitations, but only as challenges to a fuller expression of a power that is felt to be inherent. One of the earliest and most instinctive forms of Sense-education is imitation and make-be- lieve. Every child lives in a world of his own creation which is for the most part a reproduc- tion in miniature of the life he sees enacted about him. It is closely allied to the play-in- stinct, which is an intrinsic delight in activity for its own sake without any ulterior motive such as the Intellect always supplies in later life. Play is an expression of sensuous freedom, it supplies refreshment by means of the release it allows the simple unaffected spontaneity native to childhood — it bubbles forth without the consideration and calculation that is essen- tial in maturer years when work becomes the order of the day. EMOTION 265 Work is imposed, necessitous, restraining — though the wise man is careful to choose a work that is play to him. If successful in this, his occupation does not drain and fatigue him, but serves more or less as recreation does, to release his inner desires which are the natural incentive to all activity. Any restraint can be borne, however, if it is relieved with frequent intervals of play. We speak of the "play" of the imagination, of "playing" the piano, phrases indicative of some of the means at our disposal for emotional expression. It is change, not rest, that we need; and especially a faculty for luxuriating in the realm of the purely sensuous. It is a matter for serious consideration in this over-intellectualized age, to develop by defi- nite intention the simple functions of the five senses — sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch — things almost forgotten in their finer mani- festations except by the epicure or aesthete. Sensuous perception is dulled in most of us. We do not see colours, hear delicate sounds, smell or taste with any sensitiveness; and as 266 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR for touch, who but the blind or those deprived of some one of the normal senses is able to draw upon anything like the fulness of this marvellous means of perception. The power to gain pleasure from stroking an old Greek vase, or to stoop and caress the violets as Tennyson was known to do, is a sign of strength as well as exquisite sensuousness. There is no better avenue for the projection of the sensuous, impulsive creative self than in a true appreciation of and participation in the various art-forms. As a race we are sadly in need of the development of the natural aesthetic instinct. Of course, Intellect enters to some ex- tent into all aesthetic attitudes ; but Emotion is the stronger element and makes for a sort of detached interest, contemplative in its nature and without desire for consideration of prac- tical utility. To be able to thus enjoy things that have no utilitarian value is a sign not only of a developed mind, but of developed Emotions as well, and is one of the higher pleasures de- pendent upon civilization and culture. It must EMOTION 267 be remembered, however, that culture is not a matter of books or acquired formulas, it is simply being "human" and it comes from a wide and sympathetic contact with people. It grows out of the play-spirit far more than it does out of the university or the cloister. We all love the natural person, thus paying a com- pliment, even though unwittingly, to the emo- tional power and lack of self -consciousness that combine to produce real spontaneity. To tell the truth, we love all Feeling but are too civilized and artificial to admit it. We show how much we love it by going to the theatre where we can enjoy it by proxy or in secret as it were — where the villain can be as villain- ous and the heroine as beautiful and sentimen- tal as one could wish. We thus momentarily create the illusion that we are experiencing these things. The greatest applause is be- stowed by the audience when the players give expression to some sentiment of which they ap- prove and not when the art of presenting these emotions is at its best or highest. This is quite as it should be, since the latter requires an 268 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR aesthetic appreciation and is therefore largely intellectual, while the sentiment expressed al- lows a real opportunity for self -dramatization — a very vital human matter as we have al- ready seen. The actors and their parts do indeed sym- bolize the various phases of our own personali- ties and in their tragic conflicts represent to us our own emotional battles. The very human desire that all shall come out happily in the end of the play expresses the inherent wish in every heart for harmony and fitness in life. Our need of dramatic representations is all the more acute because we do not ordinarily dare to confess our own feelings and the extent to which we are subject to the very things we deny. The stage supplies this deficiency to a considerable extent and also enlarges the scope of our emotional life because it develops situa- tions which we as individuals would never be likely to experience. We would therefore be far more normal and happy if the universal dramatic instinct which shows itself so natu- rally in childhood were to be truly cherished EMOTION 269 and developed. The results would be still more efficacious if we were ourselves the actors instead of being only detached spectators. The present-day movement for the commu- nity-drama is a move in the right direction and will do much for life in America if it can ever be popularized to the point of becoming spon- taneous and natural to any large number of people. We love little children because they exhibit and take pleasure in that instinctive part of their being which we as adults have grown to dislike and fear. But before we can give expression to our natural feelings with all the directness, simplicity, and power native to children, and without apology, we shall have to grow much. Next to the Drama, Music is the most univer- sally available of all our art-expressions. It has the added advantage of being the most sub- jective and therefore the simplest and most sensuous. To understand and get the most out of modern music requires of course a certain amount of knowledge and training, but this re- fers to the technique of its production and has 270 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR little to do with the relaxation and sensuous enjoyment to be obtained from almost any kind of harmonious sound. Music should not be approached intellectually — the essential thing is to listen and to feel — let the thinking come afterward. The invention of the modern piano is a prac- tical help in the development of the emotional life, as it has made music available in the homes of nearly every one. This has been in- creased by the still later development of music produced mechanically, thus doing away with the necessity for the acquisition of a per- sonal technique — though the disadvantages are obvious. Every one who is the owner of a musical in- strument should encourage the habit of musical improvisation. Merely letting the hands wan- der over the keys without much consideration of form or rhythm serves both as recreation and self-expression. Every one should sing also — both alone and in choruses. Even me- chanical music has, generally speaking, a sooth- ing effect and can be utilized in a practical way EMOTION 271 by reproducing records of the impulses and emotional concepts that appeal to us the most. We thus have an opportunity of entering into the internal experiences of great geniuses and extending our own perceptions accordingly. Closely allied to Music is Dancing, than which there is no finer art-expression. It is primor- dial and instinctive like Music and has the added value of uniting bodily activity with the psychic and emotional appreciations aroused by the other arts. A certain amount of danc- ing or its equivalent is really essential to any well balanced life ; not so much the convention- alized forms prevalent in the modern ballroom — though they have their uses — but the more aesthetic forms which give vent to a refined play-instinct and the creative imagination. The pantomime-dance especially is valuable. As a picturing out of the various emotions it is symbolical, full of significance, expresses many delicate nuances of feeling ; that is to say it has the essential and fundamental character of aes- thetic creation, proceeding entirely from mate- rial within the dancer's consciousness. 272 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR The plasticity and beauty as well as the sen- suousness of dancing is almost universally ad- mired, but like so many of our emotional pleas- ures we prefer to pay others to do it for us — we would rather sit and watch a dancer than to be human enough or natural enough to take part in the demonstration ourselves. Dancing, especially improvisation, should be as much a part of our emotional education as instrumen- tal music — if we would all start the day by a little private seance in which we danced and acted out our inmost feelings, not only the day would be richer, but the whole of life. Painting and Drawing are arts which owing to the need of a technique are less available to everybody than the art-forms just mentioned. They are nevertheless of exceeding importance in the development of the emotional life and of much wider applicability than is generally be- lieved. Since Drawing and Painting have been introduced into our public school systems, there has been full and amazing evidence of the uni- versality of this power of representation — even what we call talent is so frequent as to be EMOTION 273 most surprising to those who have given the subject little thought. There is, however, every reason why this faculty should be present in all of us, as it is the most natural instinct imaginable to wish to re-present our thoughts by means of drawn symbols. It is in most cases merely latent — due again to the restraints of civilization and intellectual forms of education. Primitive man instinctively produced symbols and images which today we prize as true artistic treasures, little realizing that we could all do about as well if not better, were we allowed some free- dom in the matter from infancy on. Craftsmanship is that combination of a love of beauty with utilitarianism which has in re- cent years again become more popular as a means of personal expression than has been the case since the wide introduction of machinery. The efficiency and economy of machine made articles has threatened to entirely stifle the ex- pression of that beautiful and fitting human de- sire to make with our own hands the things needed for household and personal use and 274 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR adornment. We owe much to William Morris and his collaborators for re-inspiring the spirit of personal craftsmanship, and if we are wise we will teach not only our children but ourselves the value and superiority of handmade things. We will not neglect this wholesome and useful form of aesthetic self-expression. This projection of the self, especially of the Emotional self, into objective and permanent forms is highly valuable as a means of ma- terializing the life of the Imagination. It is essentially an expression of Feeling, and all art that departs from this primary law de- parts also from its essential function and there- fore its greatest value. The modern movement in the art world is "Impressionistic" in type — that is, it aims to produce certain emotions in its beholders rather than exact representations of material objects. Even though some of its efforts to thus divorce Intellect from Emotion have been grotesque in the extreme, the tend- ency itself is not only valuable from an artistic point of view, but is of great import as a prom- ise of a freer and more sensuous expression in all life. EMOTION 275 The love of Beauty is in itself probably the highest form of aspiration of which the human soul is capable. It is Love in its most imper- sonal and therefore its most spiritual form; it is passion sublimated to the nth degree ; it is also an emotional outlet, and he who has not yet learned the joy of an appreciation of Beauty in some form is indeed barren and drear. We need in America especially to cultivate this sense — in Literature, in Civics, in Architecture, in Decoration, and in our personal lives. In Europe it is much more a part of the life of the people, owing to their age-long art tradi- tions. The Beauty-lover finds in the Old World much more to satisfy and feed him, much more of the "atmosphere" in which he likes to bask. We have to thank the Latin peoples not only for their art-forms but for the fine Emotions and passionate impulses which gave birth to the art-life that is so characteristic of them. If we could but tear away our sedateness, our proprieties, and our worship of Ideas rather than of Feelings, we would be free of the greatest hampering elements in our self- 276 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR elected paths of progress. Freedom means neither license nor immorality, though unfor- tunately it is associated with these ideas in the minds of most. Eeal freedom, as we have al- ready observed, has its first essential in self- expression and is therefore the very basis of a constructive emotional life. But while pleading for expression, I shall pause long enough to draw attention to one more phase of it — an unbridled and excessive one which is all too common. I speak of In- toxication, a state in which there is generally a real riot of Emotion. It is usually induced artificially by means of drugs or liquor, though there are many kinds of ' ' drunks ' ' besides this one. In the chapter on Imagination we have already seen how the creative side of the men- tality finds more freedom when the usual in- hibitions of objective Intellect are thus re- moved. It is this desire subconsciously apprehended which leads to drink as a vent for repressed Emotions. It is a common sight to see any one who is under the influence of liquor be- EMOTION 277 having exactly opposite to his usual habit. The man who is well behaved and considerate in his normal state will become quarrelsome and even violent when the censorship of Intellect and Will is weakened or removed. Likewise it is a common phenomenon to see unusual af- fection or sentimentality displayed when the discriminating appraisal of pride and mastery is absent. These are but signs of impulses from which the embargo has been removed, and should make us pause long enough to better un- derstand the nature of the intense longing that is the downfall of so many. Drinking to excess is a symptom, — it shows a marked loss of psychic balance, and may, in irregulated lives, be a useful and even a neces- sary escape valve. It is for this reason a seri- ous matter to inflict compulsory prohibition. It is not really legitimate to shut off the only means of emotional release available to the majority, until a constructive substitute is pro- vided. To do so is merely to strike at symptoms, not causes. There is no value, either practical or 278 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR moral, in preventing the act while the cause remains untouched — I with Mark Twain, "hate those enemies of the human race who go around enslaving God's free people with pledges — to quit drinking instead of to quit wanting to drink"! To really alter the desire-life enough to purge the world of this, one of its greatest evils, would mean subconscious re-education on a wholesale plan and is not at the present time practical except in individual cases. Therefore nothing but damaging explosions can be expected with the shock-absorber of intoxication entirely re- moved. If all lives were worked out on a normal basis there would be no need of, and practically no desire for, spirituous liquors. Even as a stimulant they would be unnecessary, because in a sane and balanced life, the natural Emotions would supply sufficient motive power without external aids. It is only where one is righting against one's self that drugs are needed to dull the sensibilities. The man who "drinks to drown his sorrow" is merely follow- ing the line of least resistance, dreading to meet EMOTION 279 the issue squarely of his loss. If he but knew it, he only defers that day when he must really solve his problem with an active Will and manly courage. It is plain to be seen that advantageous and attractive as the expression of Emotion is, it must be tempered and united with a control- ling Intellect. Yet there are many times — and these are the things that I feel most impelled to impress upon my readers — when Intellect should be utterly abandoned and deserted. One must, in order to be truly responsive, whether it be in the purely human relations or in an appreciation of the abstract virtues such as Wisdom, Truth, and Beauty, be able to be like a harp upon which the winds of life are playing — able to give forth in the many and varied forms that life affords, an expression of true sensibility, a responsiveness that knows no bounds. I have tried within the brief span of a chapter to give some survey of the Emotions as a whole, though all that can be said is cold and inade- quate as compared to the dominant part played 280 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR by the passions in human life. If I have suc- ceeded in pointing the way toward the balance that is possible between seemingly irresistible emotional tendencies and the arrestive power of the Will, my efforts will not be without value. It is probable that in the perusal of my obser- vations on the subject each of my readers will find that certain profound and more or less hidden states of feeling have arisen to his con- sciousness. This also is a practical result which if achieved cannot fail to be of con- siderable personal value. While the forego- ing study of the Emotions is far from being exhaustive, it should serve as a sort of diagram- matic starting point for the sincere student who finds the study of human impulses not only of great fascination, but of the greatest serv- ice in pointing the way to that superior life which we all, in our hearts, believe and hope for. The following study on "Sex" is an effort to supply in part, the characteristic omission or deficiency in the treatment of this most vital of all the Emotions. CHAPTER VI SEX THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CREATIVE LIFE Sex, as every one knows, is, with the exception of self-preservation, the strongest and most vital of the human instincts. Its importance to the individual and to the race as a whole is manifestly paramount, and the day has come when we must fling aside our conventional attitudes and dare to search into its meaning and manifestations, with at least the same sin- cerity we approach other and less vital sub- jects. I have devoted a chapter to Sex in this volume, not only because it is a subject en- crusted with the most dense and dangerous ig- norance, but because it has more to do with the shaping of our Behaviour and our destiny than any other single force or influence in life. Let the reader who would decry or doubt this 281 282 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF "BEHAVIOUR statement be very frank and honest with him- self (or herself as the case may be, as women are less likely to admit it than men) and if such a one does not agree with me after a careful reading it will be for one or two rea- sons; either through ignorance of the facts of life, or, through prejudice and bad training, he is too disturbed by the truth to want to admit it into his consciousness. At first glance it seems inexplicable to the unbiased student of life, that anything so cen- trally concerned with our very existence, and so evidently capable of causing both the great- est happiness and the greatest harm, should have been so sedulously kept in its chambers of darkness, breeding endless errors and de- struction, when it should have been above all other things a matter of earnest study and a light on the path as to the significance of life. The reason is not far to seek however. The vast range of sexual activities and their un- disputed dominion over the destinies of men, even though but dimly apprehended, has over- whelmed us with a sense of futility and caused SEX 283 us to ignore and shrink from its power — like ostriches in the sand. It is fear that has kept us from a knowledge of the Great Mystery; and woe unto him who dares to disturb the world's sleep by tearing away any of the veils before the Temple! Yet some one must speak the word to dispel the darkness that beclouds the Truth and even a small contribution to our limited and distorted knowledge is indispensa- ble from the point of view of the progress and welfare of both the individual and the race. What then is Sex! That no real definition exists is but one of the many stumbling blocks in the way of our path to knowledge. Cer- tainly Sex is not a mere anatomical distinction with its implications of physical attraction; and neither is it a state of mind, although it gives rise to innumerable psychological mani- festations of the most profound sort. It must be seen clearly, at the outset, that Sex is a discarnate thing, an abstraction, and quite be- yond the reach, in its entirety, of the mind of man. We can, however, dimly recognize it as a Principle — a universal creative Force, im- 284 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR manent and profound, an Energy, showing it- self forth in humanity as an Instinct and an Emotion truly titanic in its proportions. I have chosen in this study to regard Sex as the great Emotion, albeit somewhat abstractly. To treat of it at all adequately I must depart from the more closely psychological method which I have followed up to this point, for the pertinent reason that there is as yet no estab- lished Psychology of Sex; also any study of the motives activating the sex-life, must, to be of value, include a philosophy of Sex, a consideration of its origin, nature and purpose, which is much wider than is generally supposed. Such research as has been made has been almost entirely physiological in character, treat- ing Sex as a physical instinct only, with the single purpose of propagation as its end and raison d'etre. Love has, of course, been dealt with in relation to Sex, but only as implying the addition of a certain degree of tenderness to simple sexuality — while some, regarding Love as a higher evolution and self-existent, have differentiated it entirely from the sex-in- SEX 285 stinct. But elevating Love to the dignity of an Emotion (which as we will remember is merely a conscious awareness of an instinct) does not divorce or separate it in any way from its sexual origin and foundation. Sex, like many other Forces and Feelings, becomes very complex when it rises from the animal' into its human manifestations, and takes on a different cast, as it should; and while we shall consider it almost exclusively from the emotional standpoint, as one of the main- springs of human behaviour, I maintain that we cannot do so to any purpose without a full recognition of it as an Abstract Principle which is inherent, innate, and of supreme value as a plastic force in the hands of man. This might be called for the sake of distinc- tion a purely " human' ' view, one aiming to get at the heart of the subject as nearly as possi- ble in its relation to the daily lives of men and women; yet even here the number of laws to be deduced is few, and any frank discussion of personal sex-problems being somewhat beyond the scope of this work, it is very difficult to 286 THE PSYCHOLOGY OP BEHAVIOUR convey that knowledge which the author feels to be of paramount importance in the treatment of Behaviour. The only available Psychology of Sex up to date, beyond the observations of men like Her- bert Spencer and Havelock Ellis, and the scat- tered work of the modern novelists, is that to be found in the recent but extensive studies in mental Pathology. The Pathology of Sex is extremely valuable, throwing as it does much needed illumination on the hitherto hidden phases of the normal healthy sex-life. A knowledge of life that does not include a certain degree of information on this subject is not only incomplete, but is seriously hampered. Only by some acquaintance with the appalling and widespread degeneracies of Sex, for in- stance, can one gain any perspective of its mys- terious power, as well as the criminal ignorance which surrounds it on all sides. Studies such as these if carried to any extent may, of course, produce morbid reactions of a harmful charac- ter and should be undertaken only by a mature and well-balanced mind or under proper direc- SEX 287 tion ; for it is not difficult when peering for long into these abysses to lose one's faith in the real whole someness and stability of human beings. As for any belief in the essential purity of Sex, needless to say it cannot be found in the fields of Pathology, and to tarry too long therein may deprive one of that which one al- ready has. Yet I see no hope for the future of humanity without that kind and quality of courage which fears nothing, not even the de- pravity before which human nature so often lies abject. To see is to remedy, mayhap — at least we can do nothing with our eyes bandaged and our hands tied. I have just said that the study of Sexual Pathology should be undertaken only by the mature and serious-minded — this is true enough, but if we were only big enough and clear enough in our own minds about the entire subject of Sex to educate our chil- dren properly, the whole problem of Sexual Pathology would shortly be solved, or very nearly so. For the harm begins with our un- 288 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR willingness to answer the natural questions of the child when they first arise in his conscious- ness. We hate to admit — for reasons inex- plicable, except perhaps for shame at our own failure to solve the problem — the appearance of the Sex-instinct in the child. As a matter of course it first develops at about five years of age — last probably in the chronology of the instincts — and it is at this period that the child first , begins his natural inquiries, which are destined to be met with such lies and evasions as to finally discourage him and turn back upon himself the rising currents of his most vital energies. What untold harm is generated at this point there is no computing; but certain it is that none but the most favoured child es- capes the discord and marring incident upon such an experience. And when I say favoured, I mean either that child born of such parents that he is reared in both freedom and wisdom, or that still more unusual one who is of such temperamental soundness as to escape un- scathed, by miracle as it were, from the psycho- SEX 289 logical mires and tangles thus imposed upon him. Why is it that parents evade this plain duty, this one path more vital to the welfare of their children than any other 1 It is not because they are entirely without knowledge, for life has taught it to them, usually with much pain and many scars. It is not because they are afraid of "putting the wrong thoughts into the chil- dren's minds ' ' for they know quite well what the right ones are. They have only to look back into their own childhood to know that in the absence of the right attitude and instruction from the parents, the child will inevitably sat- isfy his curiosity in channels that are sure to be saturated with poison. No, it is none of these things, it is simply cowardice, a dread of facing facts that are too big for them and an unwillingness to rise superior to the lethargy and silence imposed by custom. Probably this reluctance has its origin in an acquired dislike and desire to repress what is felt to be only an "animal instinct " — somehow with the development of the Intellect has come 290 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR a breaking away from natural standards and a heady sort of contempt for conditions which at an earlier stage of our evolution were accepted simply enough. It is not natural, it is not sensible, and it is not right, to assume an attitude of moral superiority toward Sex or any other vital fact of life. And yet we do it. I believe a study of Natural Science in the early years of life would do much to dissipate the prudish and harmful feeling about "ani- mal instincts." Children born and raised in the country where they see the natural life of animals are more apt to be normal in their attitude toward certain primitive facts, but even they could gain a new and deeper significance by the wider and more thoughtful observation to be obtained through scientific studies. Less time spent upon dead languages and imperti- nent mathematical problems and more upon ob- taining knowledge of the vital human processes would do much to eradicate the false and shal- low ignorance so prevalent today. It would do much to save the innocent, weak, and a§- SEX 291 piring children who are set out upon life's way in utter ignorance of its manifold dangers and pitfalls. It is true there has been a certain amount of modern agitation for sex-education in the schools, which has resulted in hopeful attempts in this direction. They are, however, perfunctory, in the nature of the circumstances ; and the duty (and incidentally the privilege) falls back upon the parent, who is after all the only one who can speak of the finer and more intimate phases of Sex with the proper delicacy. But to successfully teach anything about Sex to either young or old, we must first strip it of some of the many misconceptions surround- ing it. Having disposed of the folly of our habit of silence in connection with it and of the fallacious attitude which sees in it something intrinsically low and ignoble, let us now consider the important question of the true function of the sex-principle, as it shows itself in the physi- cal relations of men and women. There has always been a strong contingent insisting upon the purely racial functions of 292 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR Sex and who believe that it exists only for the perpetuity of the race without respect to individual desires or welfare. It has been con- tended that Nature, the blind force bent upon multiplication and continuity, brings each pair together with the single ulterior design of unit- ing them for reproductive purposes. The universality and seeming inevitability of the law of reproduction gives some ground, of course, for such a claim; but if we as human beings have been endowed with Beason, and Will, and Emotions, and if, furthermore, we have come into any degree of spiritual self- consciousness, what can it all be for if not to declare our rights as individuals in matters so pertinent as these! What can be of greater importance than the personal sex-life? Yet we have been taught that an absolute resignation and obeisance to the universal laws is necessary in this, while en- deavouring with serious purpose to free our- selves from other conditions no less universal and apparently as inevitable. We do not spare any effort to overcome sickness and disease, for SEX 293 instance, and to save all forms of human life, even those that are defective or useless alike to society and to themselves. Yet any discussion of " birth-control' ' or possible checks to popu- lation is met with a storm of protest and cries of " race-suicide." From a sociological standpoint even the senile decadence and death of the individual may be shown to be advantageous to the race, but it would certainly be odd to describe this as ad- vantageous to the individual. Certain physical feelings plainly lead to the propagation of the species, but this does not help us at all to as- certain what unknown character and signifi- cance they may have as sources of expression and fulfilment for the individual. To suppose for a moment that the majority of people meet in a physical union for the specific purpose of reproduction, or to satisfy their parental feelings, is sheer folly; and to sidestep the question by assuming that this function was made desirable simply to main- tain the race, is equally fallacious, reducing the whole matter to a purely mechanical device, 294 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR eliminating every one of its psychical, emo- tional, and spiritual elements. The error lies in placing Sex among the in- evitable fatalities of life and then endeavour- ing to find suitable explanations that will enable us to submit gracefully to a force which appar- ently we cannot escape. Quite apart from its undeniable collective social purpose, we should frankly recognize that it is intended, in its higher phases, to augment and sustain the indi- vidual — to serve man rather than enslave him. Let us briefly trace the evolution of Sex from its early or instinctive state. In the majority of animals and in some men it does not rise above the level of a mere physical sensation, blind and insistent; even in beings devoid of nervous systems, as in the vegetable or animal micro-organisms, we find the same law at work. The equivalent of sexual attraction is even to be found in the mineral world in the chemical se- lective affinity plainly apparent between certain atoms. In man this instinct evinces itself as a semi-conscious appetite, a hunger, driving him by its force to seek satisfaction as best he may SEX 295 and in much the same manner as he obtains food for the body. Eising from the realm of simple physical impulse Sex becomes an Emotion, an Idea, where . instead of being a blind isolated force, it becomes a conscious and complex desire, united in varying measure to all the finest instincts in human nature. We have already considered what the power of untrammeled Emotion may be and can realize that the Sex- emotion, especially, requires for its higher ex- pression a tempering by, and coalescence with, the Will. When this point is reached we have a truly spiritual impulse, containing and in- cluding in itself the whole range of human ex- pression. When once we appreciate the exalted heights to which Sex as a force may attain, we can better understand that the opposite end of this pole of possibilities must be as low as the one is high. In other words the depths of infamy to which the human manifestations of Sex have descended are but measures of the magnificent heights to which it may reach. 296 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR The degree of these possibilities and this de- velopment are solely dependent upon the indi- vidual. In so far as he can personally realize the depth and significance of the Sex-feeling, in so far can he elevate himself and the race. To begin with, he must know that Sex is mental and spiritual as well as physical; he must see the sex-act not only in its utilitarian aspect but as a symbol of the great creative act by which all life came into being. He must recognize himself as a Conscious Creator; not only a creator in the physical sense, contributing his quota to the world's population; but as a generator of force, magnetism, of ideas and emotional power, which when once conceived and released are undoubtedly the greatest con- tributions any one human being can make to life. It may be a new idea to many that the genera- tion of either mental or emotional power has anything to do with Sex or with the sex-rela- tion. The thought of it as existing solely for the satisfaction of a physical need has been ad- hered to so closely that its connection with and SEX 297 instigation of the higher mental and emotional processes has been for the most part over- looked. It is true of course that both ideas and emo- tional power can be formed and projected by one individual alone, and quite apart from the sex-act, although even then the process is es- sentially a generative one ; but when two people come together who are in any sense mated, there is not only an exchange of their respective qualities, there is also the creation of some- thing new, a power, a third element which rep- resents the sum total and combination of all their energies and attributes. This is true to some extent even when there is no conscious sex-feeling between them, as in the case of friends; but the greater the intimacy the greater the possibili- ties ; and the something new that is created be- comes the joint possession of both. When it is a physical union only that takes place, the natural outcome is a physical conception, the production of another human being; when the contact is on one of the higher planes also, 298 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR there may be in addition, or instead of, the usnal physical outcome, a conception and birth of new powers, new visions — an im-material fruition it is true, but who shall say that it is not of at least equal import, if not greater? The generative process when thus ethereal- ized may perhaps no longer be called genera- tion; but it can be called regeneration, in that it 1 ' makes over" the persons participating in it and transmutes a physical impulse into an ex- hilarating experience that co-ordinates and blends the entire nature. It involves the con- scious sublimation of an instinct, which though intrinsically good, has hitherto been very lim- ited in its expression ; and it opens the door on some of those hidden springs of creative energy which animate us all at times. It tends also to bring under the control of the conscious Will a force that is ordinarily only intermittent in its manifestation. The reason of all this is not far to seek. Again we see the quality of Nature expressing itself, this time in the positive and negative ele- SEX 299 ments as represented by man and woman. Each possesses certain inherent qualities which complement and fulfil those of the other. Man is simple, dominant, his natural occupations those of the forager and provider — woman is complex and receptive, her functions those of tending, giving form and direction to that which is supplied her. These characteristics are gen- eral, though a gradual fusion is to be noted as taking place between the sexes which points to an extension of the capacities of both men and women until each is all-inclusive and self-suf- ficient. This does not necessarily imply a com- plete absorption of one in the other and a con- sequent loss of their separate characteristics. The Androgyne, toward which I feel we are tending, will not be a sexless creature, but a more complete one, thus making the process of give and take between men and women one of infinitely greater potentialities that at present. While the male is to all appearances the stronger and more dominant of the two sexes, this is true on the external plane only. Psychi- 300 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR cally the relations of the two are reversed, and as between them woman becomes the positive element, the leader. A common misconception is that women are more apathetic and weaker sexually than men. As a matter of fact they are much less passive sexually than is generally supposed and should be given credit for the same primary endow- ment that we assume quite naturally belongs to man. There are, of course, a considerable number of women of markedly cold natures, even among women who are not only intelligent and capable, but attractive to the opposite sex; but this is one of the variations and abnormal- ities incident upon a certain type and does not apply at all to women in general. Not only is the normal woman well-sexed, but she is capable by reason of greater imagination and sensitiveness, of express- ing her sex-feelings in stronger, finer and more varied ways than a man. She possesses what most men do not, a power of diffusion, so that passion is not to her a thing concentrated only in the sex-act but a force capable of inspir- SEX 301 ing all kinds of deep emotion, especially that of affectionate and maternal regard. A woman's mate is to her always somewhat of a child — which is as it should be, since most men never outgrow boyhood even in their maturity. The presence of the more delicate and intu- itive sides of a woman's nature fit her in a pe- culiar way to be the leader, if not the aggressor, in the sex-relation. This is quite contrary to the conventional opinion which assumes that a woman's part is always, or should be, that of passivity or acquiescence, that it is not "womanly" to permit even the faintest sign of her natural desire to show itself. Nothing could be more absurd or contrary to nature, since the primary law in regard to the relation of the sexes is that it is a matter concerning each alike, a partnership, an expression of equality. The spontaneity of such an attitude has of course been much disturbed or destroyed by the property rights vested in man and his assumption of possession or ownership of the woman. As a matter of fact, and fortunately for the 302 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR happiness and good of the race, women have more or less evaded this imposition, by the de- velopment of subtlety and finesse. If this tend- ency becomes at times sheer craftiness, it is but an expression of the law of compensation, an inevitable reaction from too much pressure and constraint. By means of her subtlety and in- tuition, woman more often than not leads, if she does not control man, in all the varied rela- tions which in the natural course consummate themselves in a sex-union or marriage. She is quicker, more perceptive, and unconsciously takes advantage of man's lesser knowledge of himself, and of his general inarticulateness. The pity is that this superiority is not usually maintained after marriage — then, something ap- parently innate in the woman, a certain weak- ness and tendency to slavishness, betrays her. She becomes abject under the power of her emotions and bestows herself without reserve. Nothing is more fatal to the permanance and pleasure of the relationship — not because of anything innately ignoble in the man, but be- cause the woman has abdicated her natural po- SEX 303 sition of prophetess and guide into those mys- terious realms which are always better known to her than to her mate. Also in the exercise of her power of elective affinity, she has deprived the man of his equally strong desire to seek — in fact, as his affection and attentions very largely centre around him- self as "quester," this quality must be fostered and not smothered by his mate. He knows in- stinctively that the woman's knowledge and feeling is finer and deeper than his — with this she must content herself. All men of fine feeling recognize this dif- ference and would prefer that a woman main- tain at least a degree of aloofness, not more than is compatible with ardent and loving ex- pressions to be sure, but enough to permit him to feel that he still retains his own freedom and individuality, as well as to allow him the posses- sion of a certain Ideal to which he may look for guidance. All of these delicacies and interrelations of Sex are quite missed ordinarily because the conventional point of view is so firmly fixed 304 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR upon the man as a "lord of creation'' and the woman as his "serf." That this unfortunate inequality has prevailed for the most part for ages past does not mean that, in spite of an outward seeming, many have not come much nearer to the true secrets of Sex than would have been supposed; and where today the re- lationship is still so often one of inequality, of master and slave, we must not forget that when such is the case it is quite as much the fault of the acquiescing, self-immolating woman as it is of the egotistic and dominating male. Both sexes have yet much to learn — there is great hope in the comparative freedom between them that is more customary today, especially in America, than probably ever be- fore. If we can develop a true co-operation and better sense of camaraderie, we will have paved the way toward that ideal union of which we all dream. In that day men will cease their patronage of women, women will cease their machinations for the enmeshing of men. Sex will be in a fair way to become the constructive SEX 305 personal element it was meant to be, as well as the great upbuilder of the race. To better arrive at the personal possibilities in Sex, let us outline again more definitely its several planes of expression. On the physical plane we have the whole problem of genera- tion, which through the modern science of Eugenics has been given some small part of the attention it deserves. We study zealously in order to master every detail of the law of re- production when we wish to breed cattle or other fine animals, and definite specific results are secured, showing how far man has pro- gressed in his mastery of these physical laws. Certainly the production of the human species is of infinitely greater importance than the breeding of animals, though the present trend in this direction confines itself so closely to the purely mechanical and physical side of the ques- tion as to be very limited in its value. In order to have vigorous and well endowed offspring, men and women have many other problems to consider than the merely physical ones. The conception of a child should be a 306 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR sacrament ; which implies not only a high inten- tion, but has even more to do with mind and soul states than it has with the body. "When this is understood, and not before, our children will be the outcome of our higlfest and most com- plete selves and worthy of our best desires. It seems in this connection almost unneces- sary to call attention to that view which regards the physical sex-craving as a law unto itself. Yet there are many still bound by it, especially among men, who having always claimed "free- dom" to satisfy this appetite, know compara- tively little of the possibilities and advantages of restraint. Too often does the man prepare the funeral of his own pleasure either through a degrading promiscuity, or by attempting to ex- ercise a mastership over his partner rather than over himself. In nothing is he more likely to be selfish and yet nothing will deprive him more quickly or completely of the possibility of an adequate response from his mate. Clearly no man has the moral right to enter into the marriage relation without having first demonstrated to himself that he is a master of SEX 307 his physical feelings and capable of self-control. Many there are who possess these virtues in other fields and yet neglect them sadly in the most important relationship in life and thus destroy the finest and best that would otherwise be in store for them. There are women too who need this caution, women who though they may display it in somewhat different ways, yet tinge all their behaviour with an unmastered sex-in- stinct. Another phase of the physical side of Sex is the constructive one it affords of an oppor- tunity for the exchange of magnetism or bodily vibrations. Though it is not possible to sep- arate these entirely from vibrations character- istic of the mental and emotional life, we all know the physical magnetism and power of the human " touch" and the pleasure it gives us merely to be near certain people. This sensa- tion arises from the stimulus of harmonious vibrations and where the sex-element in it is strong it can be exceedingly invigourating and salubrious. To make the interchange of any value, the 308 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR magnetic output between the two must bt nearly equalized; otherwise we see the com- mon phenomenon of one of the pair waxing strong at the expense of the other. Physical intercourse should augment the strength of both parties to it and in the absence of this some important readjustment is required be- tween them. In the emotional realm of Sex there is the greatest possible range and it is the one most widely experienced^ in spite of the commonly- held idea that Sex is entirely physical. The emotionalism of Sex is only partially under- stood, and the Freudian contention that all emotions are associated with the sex-emotion has raised a storm of protest; but this is only because the universal significance of Sex is not yet comprehended. The sex-feeling has, emotionally, two prin- cipal functions. It is at the same time the greatest outlet and the greatest stimulus of which we have any knowledge. It is in the na- ture of a tonic — simply to feel that one is de- sired, and attractive in the eyes of the op- SEX 309 posite sex is a great exhilaration. This feel- ing is especially strong in women who often covet admiration that they never wish to see realized or consummated in any way. They are satisfied and thrive upon the simple stimulus of having aroused an attraction or desire in another. This emotion extends all the way from the most innocent and uncon- scious flirtation or " passing attraction," to a state of vampirism or deliberate exercise of sex-power for the enslavement of another. If all sex-emotion is repressed, the result is either irritability and extreme sensitiveness, or great depression and lack of vitality. If ex- cessive it satiates and weakens, though the danger on this score is comparatively small, except where there is no natural check as in cases of solitary indulgence. Many and serious pathological states result from a misuse of the sex-emotion, especially from a long continued abstinence, even in those of a very normal and equable temperament. An extended deprivation in either sex, for whatever reason, is productive of all sorts of 310 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR mental, moral, nervous, and physical disorders. Compensating factors may be provided, of course, to ameliorate the intensity of the symp- toms; congenial friends, creative occupation, and outdoor life do much to maintain the dis- turbed equilibrium; but the fact still remains, however much we may dislike to admit it, that the complete abstinence from both physical and emotional sex elements is abnormal and brings its own penalty. Physicians know this but can do little, as ordi- narily the only advice they can give is imprac- ticable and apt to be anti-social in its applica- tion. The problem is manifestly one for treat- ment by the Psycho-therapist, who if he can- not remedy the lack in his patient's life, can at least offer him some reasonable substitutes in the way of mental and emotional expressions. A gentle stimulus of the sex-emotion is gained through all normal social intercourse, and especially in such amusements as dancing, where the magnetic exchanges are secured as well. Any segregation of the sexes that is long continued cannot be otherwise than detrimen- SEX 311 tal. It is particularly desirable that during the adolescent period there should be a free inter- mingling, in spite of the distractions and loss of mental interests that is often claimed as a re- sult of association in this period. The "old maid" who lives in a family of brothers or masculine friends seldom develops the peculiar- ities so characteristic of her in an isolated state. Men lose not only their charm and gentleness of manner when much separated from women but suffer other depletions as well. Theoretically the association of man and wife is supposed to supply all the needed elements ; as a matter of fact the relationship is seldom ideal enough to make this fully practicable, and the line therefore that has been drawn around married people is both arbitrary and harmful to their best interests. A free interchange of social pleasures between both the married and the unmarried is essential to any degree of emotional balance. The alleged dangers lying in these associations are little enough in com- parison to the richness to be gained through the added variety and freedom. 312 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR Many and subtle are the elements drawing men and women together, but none is so potent and inclusive as that of sex-love — a relation, by the way, which is comparatively recent in the history of the world, at least in the ideal sense in which we now conceive it. Let us analyze it a little, and we find its nucleus to be the attrac- tion or fascination usually called "physical" for lack of- any better name. It is, of course, the great animating sex-principle, without , which love is a mere shadow. Let us see now what emotions are most closely associated with and built upon this centre. To begin with there is the sentiment which we term Affection, a feeling that must be re- garded as an independent sentiment, as it can exist between those of the same sex; but one which in the love-relation is greatly exalted. It leads to tenderness, consideration and a desire to conserve the happiness of the one loved. Sex-love also awakens a feeling for personal beauty which includes a whole set of valuable and pleasurable emotions. Particularly is this true of the feeling entertained by men for the SEX 313 women they love, which is as it should be since women's especial function is to represent the real principle of beauty. A man hitherto quite unconscious of the existence of beauty, finds himself aroused to a whole new series of per- ceptions under the influence of a sex attraction. All love that is worthy of the name includes the sentiments of admiration, respect, or rev- erence. These also are feelings which may exist outside Sex but which in this relation become in a high degree active. In the more intellec- tualized forms of love it is quite impossible for the sex-feeling to exist except in conjunction with sincere admiration or even adulation; and who has not revelled in the love of approbation that is thus satisfied! Being preferred above all others and by that one admired above all others, affords the deepest gratification possi- ble and lends a real support. Furthermore, to have succeeded in gaining such attachment from and sway over another is a proof of power and attractiveness which cannot fail to increase and sustain one's self-esteem. Noth- ing so elevates a man in his own opinion as to 314 THE PSYCHOLOGY OP BEHAVIOUR have secured a response from the woman he values above all others. A common attribute of sex-love is the 'pro- prietary feeling, the pleasure of possession, the belonging to each other. Sometimes this emo- tion is so strong as to make for selfish isolation, a state particularly noticeable in the first be- ginnings of the relation and one which if in- dulged in too much soon destroys itself. It also nurses foolish jealousies and sometimes bondage and tyranny. This sense of " belonging, ' ' however, is closely allied to the extended sympathetic per- ception that comes from being able to unite one's self so closely with another. All pleas- ures are doubled by another 's sympathetic com- panionship, all sorrows assuaged by the same sense of sharing — it leads to, and has in it the possibilities of the finest kind of comradeship. There may even be a real mental affinity, though this seldom develops in a like degree with the emotional one. That real companionship is seldom attained in marriage is not due to an intrinsic barrier SEX 315 in the relation, but to a lack of knowledge and appreciation of its true possibilities. Un- doubtedly the greatest pleasure in a true union is the intoxication ensuing upon the demolition of the barriers that naturally sur- round each human being. The greater the in- timacy the greater the concessions required, yet the sense of thus acquiring a greater liberty of action, of crossing the subtle boundaries which may not ordinarily be crossed, affords an in- tense gratification and relief from the feeling of personal isolation which for ever enfolds us. Beside and beyond all these feelings, there is at the root of all love-attractions and attach- ments, the unconscious search for an ideal, the quest of each soul for its mate, its completion and fulfilment. The hope is always that these wants may be realized in a single individual and throughout a whole lifetime — an ideal which puts a heavy responsibility, whether he will or no, on every person presuming to enter such a relationship. Much of the unhappiness in marriage might be avoided if so much were not ex- 316 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR pected of it — if we could find somewhere the golden mean between excessive exactions and a demoralizing laxness. We long so much to concretize and personalize our Ideal that we forget that no one human being can be perfect enough to fulfil it. Yet the emotion which in- spires this search and thus dramatizes a real spiritual need is of the finest and should be safeguarded accordingly. To destroy faith and trust by a conscious be- trayal is universally conceded to be a heinous sin and opposed in its very nature to the in- tegrity which is the foundation of all love and friendship. But what is much more common, though less recognized, is the pain and disap- pointment consequent upon the failure of the loved one to live up to the expectations he or she originally created. However unreasonable it may be, it is a fact that more tragedies hang upon this unsatisfied desire than upon anything else in life. Perhaps in time, with a better emotional education, greater tolerance, and freer social conditions, we will be able to heal this demoralizing sorrow. SEX 317 Occasionally we see love relations between the sexes that are entirely devoid of the sexual element, that is, in its recognized physical form. Owing to the comparative freedom from con- flict and intensity, there is a certain quiet com- radeship to be obtained from such a union not unlike that between friends of the same sex 5 but there is no question that it lacks the sparkle and effervescence of the more complete union that has as its basis an expression of the creative fires. The distinctions between the emotional and the psychical phases of Sex are clear enough to the Psychologist but too subtle and intricate to be considered in detail here. Suffice it to say that the more attenuated and penetrating intermingling that takes place between two sensitives on the psychical plane establishes a more perfect polarity and represents the pro- gression of Sex into higher and still higher phases. Between people who have been in- timately connected there is a subtle alliance created that persists, as though they were for ever present each with the other. It is the 318 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR indication of a greater degree of unity, though it does not always represent harmony. It may lead to the most exquisite delight or it may produce unutterable torture. The difference lies in whether the psychical closeness is supplemented by all the other ele- ments in the nature — if not, great discord is an almost certain result. It is possible, for in- stance, to find unity in a physical intercourse that does not include any other elements, and it is even possible to find points of emotional contact which are sufficient in themselves; but when the plane of psychical contact is reached, the capacity of the participants is greatly ex- tended and it is with great difficulty that one can escape its bonds. For this reason the greatest care should be taken that no psychic coalition should take place, unless one has absolute trust and confi- dence in one's mate, as well as a protecting measure of self-sufficiency. For it is like the mingling of liquids, once combined their identity is lost, they cannot again be withdrawn into their respective selves — at least not without an SEX 319 elaborate process of mental alchemy not known to many. We often observe great friction and incom- patibility between people whose nearness to each other can be nothing bnt an irritation and pain ; yet they seem quite unable to .effect the separation that the circumstances would seem to require. We are often witness to attrac- tions of so violent a nature that they are in effect repulsions and yet the bond still holds. We can only conclude that somewhere in the nature a hold has been gained, and a psychic fusion consummated, which proves an irresisti- ble obstacle for the Will. Some hidden ele- ment is being satisfied even though everything in the conscious life is at war with it. Psychic unity often extends to the trans- ference of mental and physical qualities from one to the other, and occasionally disturbing physical symptoms are also transmitted so that each member of the pair becomes ill if the other is affected. Strange presentiments arise in re- lation to the one who may chance to be absent, and not infrequently his or her mental state, or 320 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR even actions, may be photographed vividly on the mind of the other. All of these phenomena occur, at times, under other circumstances than those connected with physical intercourse, but they are nevertheless augmented by and very largely the result of commingling sex-forces. Another phase of the psychical union is the stimulation it affords the Imagination. Un- der proper and balanced conditions a stimula- tion of sex-passion will greatly increase the fecundity of the imagination — thus are pro- duced many of our finest works of art, music, and literature, all of which are creations, pure expressions of Sex. The transference of vari- ous talents may be deliberately effected in this manner by the initiated, so that a quite unpro- ductive person may suddenly give signs of the acquisition of new powers and capacities, such as writing poetry or accomplishing any other creative labour with unusual dispatch and abil- ity. The dangers of psychical sex-expression without any accompanying physical inter- change have already been touched upon in the SEX 321 chapter on Imagination. The strange be- haviour of many poor unfortunates is all clearly accounted for when we understand the strong tendency of the Imagination to dwell upon erotic impulses, especially when deprived or limited in other ways. All intellectual companionships are the ex- pression of Sex on the mental plane. They are equally possible and even more common between those of the same sex as of the opposite one, the brain being in one case characteristically positive, in the other negative, irrespective of whether it is in a feminine or a masculine body. The combination of complementary forces on this plane is most stimulating and helpful, it is the basis of all real friendship and affords an opportunity not only for an exchange of ideas but actually creates and produces ideas. "Platonic" friendships come in this class, often affording a real satisfaction, though each one of them naturally contains the seeds of a more frankly sexual relationship and thus supplies, in addition, a certain zest, if not danger, to those concerned in it. 322 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR The presence of a strongly creative nature in an intellectual company is sure to show itself by an emission of sparks from the mind, which tends to stimulate and draw a response from all those present. For this reason we are much better able to express ourselves in the presence of certain people than of others; ease takes the place of embarrassment when the creative forces are working well on the mental plane between those concerned. All intellectual achievements are the fruit of the hidden sex- life and represent a transmutation of creative energy from the physical to the mental plane. Sometimes this transfer may be so complete as to leave one physically depleted. "While the strongly intellectual nature is not necessarily cold, it often appears so by reason of the con- stant and habitual sublimation of its sex-force into more attenuated forms. As between men and women a strongly intellectual attachment does not as a rule demonstrate itself on the physical-emotional plane and vice versa — though, of course, the ideal for which we all strive is the complete unity of the two. SEX 323 It only remains to speak of the soul-union, that strange and intoxicating transmission of the life-force that takes place between those who can meet on the spiritual plane. That such an achievement may be the direct outcome of a sex-union is among the secrets known only to those whose personal development has al- lowed them a glimpse of another plane of ex- perience, a state of consciousness which ap- proaches the cosmic. In its quality and extent every form of as- piration is the expression of a sex-yearning and in no better way can this realization of the superior forces of the universe be attained than through the spiritual union of aspiring lovers. Each carries, or gives, all that he has, or is, to the other. Each finds in the soul of his mate a certain completion for himself — indeed so complete is the absorption in a mystical union of this kind that the sense of self is entirely lost. There is a melting away of all the bar- riers and something of the meaning of uni- versality and transcendence is at least momen- tarily realized. It is the contention of some 324 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR that such a union precludes the need of, or de- sire for, any contact on the physical plane, but except in extremely isolated cases, I see no signs as yet of our having outgrown the need and advantage of our physical selves. Sex is a force that lends lustre to all it touches — if it can glorify the mind and soul, why not the body also? The solution of the ever perplexing Sex prob- lem must of necessity be a personal one. There is no question but that the existing social order combats nature's greatest passion vigorously and relentlessly — more bruises, pains, sacri- fices, and tragedies are exacted of us here than anywhere. We feel the need of guarding this instinct — and we guard it so fiercely as to very nearly destroy ourselves. We hate repres- sion and we fear freedom, — but between the two we oscillate and strangle. We object to and see the folly of the i ' double standard, ' ' yet we are afraid of its only alternative — a greater free- dom for. women — knowing full well that man will not relinquish such as he already pos- sesses. We crave a means of limiting off- SEX 325 spring and saving our women some of the bur- dens of excessive child-bearing — yet we dread the dissemination of the knowledge that would make this possible. We feel that woman should have a free and untrammelled choice of her mate, yet we hedge her about with every pre- caution and restraint, discourage her free association with men, and provide her with no means of economic independence. We shrink lest the taint of some sexual " perver- sion' ' or unmentionable disease shall touch us or those near to us, yet we sedulously secrete any knowledge we may possess on the subject, leading our children and young people to the very doors of fate and resigning them to it with scarce a qualm as to their utter and helpless ignorance. All these are social problems of the gravest import, about which the widest divergence of opinion is held. But may the day be hastened when we can attack these things fearlessly and strip Sex of the whole mass of conditions which are not truly germane to it — the day when women will be permitted more than the one 326 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR virtue of sex-chastity, and when they are eman- cipated from an undesired maternity; when homo-sexuality, however unfortunate, is known to be neither a crime nor a disease ; when even marriage and divorce will not be matters of public grace or disgrace, but entirely personal voluntary concerns ; when the economic changes that are agitating the world today shall have re- solved themselves into constructive and stable elements ; and especially when women shall have been accorded the position of dignity and inde- pendence which they are now showing signs of being ready to fill — in that day truly we will be in sight of the millennium. Let us do our part in preparation for it by realizing that the Sex-instinct is the centre around which everything revolves, that noth- ing exists but through it. Sex is the great de- veloper of character, the great motive power behind work and play alike — activity of every sort. It lends strength to the Will, it warms and colours life with all that is beautiful and good. It is likewise the root of all religious feeling, in that it expresses the search for the SEX 327 ideal and an aspiration for the highest ends to which man can reach, either in fact or in imag- ination. It is The Force — let us by so recog- nizing it fortify and prepare ourselves to grap- ple with and master it. CHAPTER VII SELF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE EGO Humak beings, outside of their physical bodies and simple mental attributes, are elusive, diffi- cult to account for — with all our analysis there is always a mysterious x somewhere in the com- position that seems to escape our most careful dissections. And pure science permits of the introduction of no mysticism into its sacred precincts — there all must be verifiable, proven, reduced to "facts." This is all necessary enough as a method and when confined to cer- tain domains or departments of human re- search, but it gives us no grasp at all when we come to look for some unifying element, the background or substance which we feel must lie behind all psychological phenomena. We seek reality — above all, we seek it in ourselves, in that spiritual entity forming the core of every life — but we do not find it in Science. 328 SELF 329 We can only search within our own conscious- ness for what is ' i behind ' ' — and in some fortui- tous moments we are rewarded with a flash, an illuminating glimpse of that string upon which all the beads of our personality are hung. It is the Self, the indissoluble Ego, the Essence of all being. In a vague way man is always aware of himself, but his sense of Self increases grad- ually in proportion to his development until he recognizes an inner identity so permanent and cohesive as to withstand all the invasions and mutations of life and experience. So strong is this feeling that in most cases he is conscious of a great longing for, if not a certitude of, an indefinite continuation of himself in time. Be- lief in personal immortality is as old as the human race itself and as ineradicable, despite a discouraging lack of "proof." The "7" which constitutes the pivot of the universe for each one of us, is an indivisible monad, possessing an unchanging and inde- structible nature of its own. Around it are grouped many thoughts and feelings of vary- 330 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR ing proportion and quality in each human be- ing, accretions that in their entirety make up the character or personality. We know the "I" as the basis, a reality, apart from the contents of the mind. We are conscious of perceptions, emotions, volitions, etc, but as compared with the Self, these things are objec- tive and mere accumulations. They may be said to constitute ''Personality" however, or the acquired qualities upon which Behaviour so largely depends. Personality is a universal characteristic shared in some degree by every one, it is subject to mutation and variation, and it can be de- veloped. The very origin of the word "per- sonal" indicates something assumed or put on, designating as it did the masks worn by the actors in the ancient plays. Personality is the colour, or dress, as it were, of the Ego. It varies according to the plane of development of the Ego and also changes with each experi- ence ; but it should not be confused with Individ- uality, which expresses the innateness of char- acter or the essence of selfhood. SELF 331 Individuality is dependent on the timbre or vibratory quality that distinguishes each of us from the other and is not perceptibly al- tered throughout a lifetime, although we have reason to believe that it, too, is a liv- ing, growing thing, capable of infinite develop- ment. Personality is dependent upon many things — ancestry, influence of family and en- vironment, intelligence, education, ideals, ex- perience, physical semblance, manners — all go to make up a something which is too ethereal to define, yet which is clearly per- ceived by every one. It is a composite and fluid thing — and it expands as one's conscious- ness spreads out from the physical self to its appurtenances. One's clothes, manners and dwelling place are, for instance, an expression of one's personality; and the same may be said of one's friends, fortune, business, club, church and country. The trouble is that we take such a superficial view of life as a rule that we fail to see the inner life at all, either of others or ourselves. We should be able to pierce the outer coverings, 332 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR not only such externalities as physical appear- ance, manner and dress, but even those mental guises assumed quite unconsciously by all of us. How often we are deceived by that which appears to be virtue, only to prove itself the very opposite. How seldom can we recog- nize and judge rightly of those soul qualities which alone distinguish a man for what he is rather than for what he seems to be. We are sadly in need of more thought and reflection as to the true nature of the Self and its function as the ultimate director of all our destinies. In some measure all are possessed of a self- feeling, but the real consciousness of Self comes only with maturity of mind and soul. The self- feeling pure and simple is an intellectualized form of the instinct of conservation — it is man at the point in his development where reflection first enters in to make him aware of his strength or weakness, or what he feels to be such. By providing him with a consciousness of his pow- ers it permits him somewhat of a true measure of his pretensions, so that his ambitions do not too far outrun his ability to materialize them. SELF 333 The self-feeling is developed first through contact with our fellow men and especially through the intercourse afforded by language. Without language we should be mutually ex- clusive and impenetrable. With it each mind transcends its own limits and shares the minds of others. This enables one to gain a perspec- tive of one 's self and is therefore the beginning of the self -feeling as well as the social feeling. In the higher states this mental contact is en- hanced by the development of intuition and the various forms of psychic intercommunication that it affords — all of which serves under normal circumstances to increase the conscious- ness of Self. Unless very fundamental and well-developed however, the self-feeling is de- pendent on the approbation of others and is im- paired by criticism or fear of blame. This is the mark of the undeveloped Ego and the cause of much weakness and unhappiness. A com- fortable feeling of self-sufficiency accompanies a true amour-propre, which implies that the Ego is a well organized unit and not to be dis- turbed by externalities. 334 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR The self -feeling has two clearly defined forms, the positive one which may be called pride, lead- ing to strength, courage, and aggression. The negative form, or humility, leads mostly to weakness and impotence but is nevertheless an expression of the consciousness of Self. Cour- age is man's greatest virtue, Nietzsche has told us ; and as its very foundation is this same sense of Self, it is plain to see the reason of the dif- ference in the attack made by different people upon life. But true courage as well as true un- selfishness grows out of a recognition of the "I" rather than the "me" — it is impersonal, not personal. In its excessive or pathological forms the self -feeling becomes anti-social and destructive in its nature, forming some of the many well defined disturbances of the personality. When it is an exaggeration of the importance of the self (the little one, not the big one) it is called megalomania and leads to ruthlessness and cruelty. Or it may take the apparently nega- tive but equally destructive form of self-pity, a SELF 335 desire to attract attention by playing Upon the sympathy or tenderness of others. The personality is indeed subject to many diseases. The widespread " mental-nervous " afflictions of the day are all derangements of the personality, due mostly to the high living and great waste of vitality which is character- istic of our race and time — all making for " nervousness' ' or disintegration. There are other causes more obscure and fundamental, having to do with the incarnation of the Ego in its physical body. Even in persons who appear quite normal this occult process is sometimes incomplete, making any thorough co-ordination between the several planes of expression diffi- cult or impossible. Even such intricate prob- lems as this can be overcome, however, by cer- tain methods of re-integration on the psychic plane. The greatest danger to the personality is that of dissociation. In its extreme form we have multiple or alternating personalities, where one phase emerges with such strength 336 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR and vividness as to temporarily, or perhaps for a long period of time, entirely eclipse the oth- ers. The chapter on Repressions suggested some of the most frequent causes of this patho- logical condition, but a quite common and normal cause arises from the tendency inher- ent in all of us to show only single phases of ourselves to different people. Thus one friend draws out the gay and flippant side, another knows us only as serious and philosophical, still another may arouse a subconscious resentment or antagonism, while in the presence of certain people we are sure to be both thoughtful and tender. These variations are inevitable of course, and lend both colour and charm to life ; but if each aspect is too long continued in its separate groove, we are apt to have a phase of dissociation which may result disastrously. Thus a man who is persistently of one type and character in his business relations may in the bosom of his family show quite another self — too often a less attractive one, I fear. Disintegration is the logical outcome of dis- sociation and other negative disturbances of SELF 337 the personality. In its most serious and final form it results in insanity or suicide. All the stages from simple day-dreaming and fits of " abstraction " to violent madness are but dis- turbances of the Ego, and with our present knowledge of its psychology, much pain and calamity can be averted by proper treatment and re-integration. The fatal impulse to sui- cide which is characteristic of some tempera- ments and against which they may have to fight a whole lifetime, is due primarily to a weakened sense of Self. Whether deliberate or involun- tary, it represents a struggle between the natural instinct of conservation and a feeling that life is insupportable and not worth while. It is not, to my mind, a moral matter — every human being has the inalienable right to do with his life as he pleases; but it is sad in- deed, because so unnecessary and so contrary to the law of progression through experience, to find the sense of Self so deficient as to lead to the very negation of life itself. The self- assertive person feels his power; the more negative character, or one rendered so by the 338 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR separation and conflict between various phases in his own personality, delivers himself over to a feeling of weakness, denying Self at its very source, and thus defeats the purpose of his existence here. We have in the previous chapters analyzed the principal forces at work in the human mind. Let us now suppose a personality made up of these different elements that is so well-propor- tioned and blended as to be ideal in character. Above all it would represent balance and poise — traits that can be acquired in no other way than by a proper fusion and equilibrium be- tween Will, Intellect, Emotion and all the other ingredients that go to make up a personality. If the Will, for instance, is too strong in pro- portion, the nature is hard, over-bearing, and insistent; if the Intellect predominates, it is cold, dry, and critical; and if Emotions are in the ascendancy, it is soft, vague, and impulsive. "When, however, all these attributes are united and balanced there is strength, brilliance, and beauty. Next to balance let us place the sense of Self SELF 339 as the most essential foundation of character. Without self-knowledge the finest qualities are of little advantage or utility. There must be an awareness of power and a belief in it ; there must be a well-integrated consciousness equally active on the three planes of being, i.e., the spiritual, mental, and physical. With this as a background we have, first, the positive element of the Will lending force, in- tegrity, and executiveness to the character — it forms the "backbone,' ' without which our ideal would be a spineless phantom: next, the Emo- tions supplying warmth, colour, passion and propulsion — foremost among which is Sex with its creativeness, and all the sensibilities that make for fineness; then Imagination with its touch of light and aspiration over all — for the character that has not its moments of flight and speculation, that cannot drift at times from the moorings of the Will into reverie and medita- tion, is indeed dull and sodden. But added to all this there must be the tem- pering and guiding influence of the Intellect, the mechanism by which the sense of Self is raised 340 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR into real objectivity and the deep impulses are formed and co-ordinated into a definite focus. With intellectual activity comes the pursuit of Truth for its own sake, research, and the ac- quisition of knowledge — all of which act as screens upon which are thrown images of that reality which would otherwise remain for ever concealed within. With a true consciousness of Self, the high moral attitude that lifts the character out of inferiority or mediocrity is an inevitable sequence. So too comes a cer- tainty of power, a knowledge of latent depths and how to use them, and a keenness of percep- tion approaching divination. In short the ideal character is the all-inclusive one which has welcomed its experience, digested it thor- oughly, and given back to the world and its Source the full extent of that which it was created to convey. To be sure, so complete a personality is sel- dom if ever met with. v Life is made up of off- shoots and bypaths, and most people are one- sided and unfinished. We swing first in one direction and then the other, gathering strength SELF 341 from both our successes and our failures. Naturally our enterprises increase as the arc of our consciousness expands — and vice versa. Sometimes the Intellect outruns the moral sense in its development and we have clever- ness, brilliance, " success " without a corre- sponding elevation in the emotional and spirit- ual phases; or again we have aspiration and "saintliness" combined with mental and physi- cal weakness. Very often too, a personality "breaks down" or disintegrates, through the buffetings of life — though we know that the Self remains intact throughout all experience. Undoubtedly the purpose of experience is to enable the Self to anneal all the elements of life into a unity. Experience may come in two ways ; either it precedes perception, the knowl- edge and awareness of a thing coming only after it has been brought to consciousness by actual facts or a "living through" it — thus practical experience leads in time to the form- ulation of theories, the discovery of laws. Or, perception may precede experience, the con- sciousness being enabled by some kind of in- 342 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR tuition to pierce the barriers of ignorance that surround it and knowledge is obtained as in a vision which may later be put to the test of ap- plication — thus do the dreamers work. Usually experience forms the text-book of life, of which reflection is the commentary. We learn to know of things, really, through touching them, but their true significance is borne in upon us later by the judgments of the Intel- lect and perceptive powers of the mind. A per- sonality is, therefore, very much coloured, first, by the extent of its experience; and second, by its emotional reactions, or the amount of thought and contemplation bestowed upon that experience. The question of how personalities come to be what they are is, it seems to me, very largely one of the Self. We know, of course, the power of inheritance, but that which is inherited is after all only a tendency, due to the fact that Habits in one generation become Instincts in the next. There are too many variations in the law of heredity to make it a satisfactory and inclusive explanation of the wide varieties of SELF 343 types and the many exceptions to be observed on every hand. Undoubtedly there is in the Self a qual- ity like that of a magnet which attracts to it certain and definite experiences and which as surely excludes others. Lives begun under the same influences become so divergent that we are forced to look very deep within for the determining forces. Thus one life follows lines of quietude and serenity with little to break or mar it either within or with- out ; while another contains some mysterious but fiery spark that attracts a wide range of ex- perience, great contrasts, constant movement. Always the Self is behind these deviations, drawing with unerring knowledge that which best conserves its own purposes and welfare. Also in considering the Self as an entity, we must not forget that each one has some end to which he alone is adapted — his quality and his idiosyncrasies distinguish him from every other particle in the universe and render him an essential part of the whole. To those whose tendency is toward self-depreciation, this 344 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR thought is especially valuable. However tied one's hands may seem to be, however many limitations one battles against, we should never forget the necessity and the indestructibility of the Self. I will now consider rather briefly a few prin- cipal types of personality. There is the ancient classification which was originally physiological but has been more or less used in a psycho- logical sense as well. This consists of the Sanguine temperament, reputed to be light, ver- satile, optimistic, and superficial; the Melan- cholic, which is deep, self -involved, hesitating; the Choleric, the intense, active nature with great imagination and tenacious passions, and the Lymphatic which is soft and slow, with not much initiative, but great dependability. These of course, are very general types ad- mitting of endless admixtures. There is for in- stance the distinctly unstable personality which has no special form of its own, takes on the characteristics of its environment, is largely the product of its circumstances, and plastic to excess. SELF 345 There is another large class quite distinct from this, with much more intelligence and strength but which yet suffers from a form of instability — they are the sensitives — emotional and impressionable in the extreme, like delicate instruments in a perpetual state of vibration. In spite of well-developed Intellects their life is mainly subjective. They form a large pro- portion of the well known "nervous" tempera- ments, are often inclined to pessimism, and are especially liable to the maladies incident to a disturbed personality. Then there are those who are instinctively and unceasingly active, exuberant, over-flowing with energy. Feeling their strength they are usually optimistic, gay, enterprising, bold; but unless characterized also by unusual intelli- gence, lack in the necessary steadiness and re- serve. In many ways, however, the active ones are like the emotional type, which is quick, volatile, acts upon impulse and is guided largely by in- tuition. It is attractive, possesses warm and intense feelings, but does not always sustain 346 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR them. Its activity lias its own special charac- teristic of being intermittent or spasmodic, arising as it does from strong emotions and not from permanent reserves of energy. It is in- dolent and energetic by turns and requires peri- ods of solitude in which to recover after its characteristic and impetuous outbursts. To this group belong most of the artists and cre- ative workers, who accomplish things by " in- spiration' ' or unconscious impulse; then under- going periods of exhaustion and impotence. Because more marked in its characteristics this type is frequently said to have " temperament " — the word really conveying our idea of the crescendo that is characteristic of any vivid personality. In contrast to all this is the lymphatic tem- perament, distinguished by a certain apathy tending to inertia; they are indifferent rather than plastic. When the intelligence is low they are sluggish and incapable; with a high degree of Intellect they evince the greatest reliability and because of the absence of excitability are able to plan and calculate to great advantage. SELF 347' They may have very deep feelings, but do not show them; and they cannot be moved or per- suaded by external influences. They are more often contemplative than active, and constitute what may be called the moral temperaments — may even become stoics. Much unhappiness could be avoided if we would only permit people the luxury of their own peculiarities and not desire so ardently to make them over according to our own mould. This world would be a poor place without the stimulus of diversity, yet each one of us in- stinctively desires to make it all over on his own pattern. If this constructive impulse were devoted to making ourselves over, seeking a rounded development inclusive of all types and temperaments, things would be better. Each man's gait, look and behaviour re- veals all his private history — these things are a kaleidoscopic commentary on his age, station and quality; they change as he changes, and can be neither hurried nor delayed. If he accepts a new fact or truth and acts upon it, it is because he is ready for it, and cannot 348 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BEHAVIOUR be denied; if he passes by with eyes closed he has only published his immaturity. The antiquity of the soul, or how many forms it has ascended through, cannot be concealed. Elevation of character, graciousness of man- ner, poise and balance, strength and power, are all unerring indicators of how far one has pro- gressed in life's unending cycle. That this passage of the soul through eternity may be accelerated by man's own awakening consciousness of Self, all nature conspires to tell us. Self -culture, in its true sense, that is, for high ends, is man's most noble occupation. "A great Idealist never can be egotistic," says Buskin. ' ' The whole of his power depends upon his losing sight and feeling of his own ex- istence, and becoming a mere witness and mirror of truth, and a scribe of visions — always passive in sight, passive in utterance, lament- ing continually that he cannot completely reflect nor clearly utter all he has seen — not by any means a proud state for a man to be in. It is the man who has no invention who is always setting things in order, and putting the world SELF 349 to rights, and mending, and beautifying, and pluming himself on his doings, as supreme in all ways." Hence, the culture of the Self lifts one above all pettiness, minimizes the importance of the personal "me," and supplies an impregnable support. It provides a perception of the in- exhaustibleness of nature — which is the secret of immortal youth. It obliterates the sense of struggle, wipes out convulsions, despair, and the gnashing of teeth — in short, it is the only path to liberation and high behaviour. 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