Cop yri g h t, 1 91 5,

B r LI TT LE , B R OW N ,
AN D COM P A N' .

A ll rig h ts reserved

Publi h d s e ,
M ay, 1915
R p int d N
e r e , o ve mbe r, 19 16

Se t up by J S C a shing Co N o rwo od , M ass U S A

and e lectro typ e d . . . . .

Pressw ork by S I P a rkhil l

. . C o , Bo st o n , M ass' U S A
. . . .
E D I TO R I A L I NT R OD U CT I ON

HIS is o ne of a series of handbooks

designed t o extend know ledge of
the important discoveries affect
ing individual and social welfare that have
been made during recent years through
p sychological research M ost o f the books
.

in the series will deal with special problems

as illumined by the results o f investigations
aiming directly at their solution B ut the
.

p resent volume is o f a more general charac

ter having as its main purpose the focus
,

sing o f attention on the aid a fforded by

mod ern psychology to the upbuilding o f a
really sound and p ractical p hilosophy of
life
.
0

U ndoubtedly the outstandin g feature of

the p s ycholo gi ca l researches o f the p as t
 ED IT OR IAL INT R ODUCT I ON

quarter of a century has been the e xp lora

tion o f that vast and p reviously almost
,

unknown region of the human mind

,

termed the subconscious The dis
.

c o v e ry that complicated mental processes

may and constantly do go o n beneath the

, ,

threshold of consciousness and that these

,

processes include a dynamic action perpet

u a lly and profou n

dly affecting the con
scious self fo r good o r for ill has led to ,

further discoveries that have already been

turned to good account .

P articularly helpful has been the demon

stra t io n of the permanence of the ex
p e ri e n ce and memories o f the rst years o f
life and the r ole played by them as deter
,

minants o f adult character behavior and, ,

health There has even come into being a

.

new department o f medicine based o n this ,

pro ved relationship o f subconscious mem

o rie s and certain maladies the psycho
neuroses or fun ctional nervous and mental
,

disorders .
 EDITORIAL INTRO DUC T I ON

B ut it is no t only t o th e p hys i ci an th at
the exploration o f the subconscious has
been of great helpfulness I ts results are .

equally important to the parent the educa ,

tor the social reformer I ndeed as D octor

, .
,

P utnam makes clear they are o f p rime

,

signicance to all o f us .

Fo r o ne thing knowledge o f them gives

,

us a far better understanding o f ourselves

and o ur fellows thereby leading to greater
,

insight into means o f se lf im p rovement -

,

and leading also to a more tolerant and

j ust V iew o f those abou t us And fully .
,

as importa nt the resu l ts o f modern investi

,

g a t io n o f the subconscious p oint t he way ,

when prope rly considered to a surer grasp ,

o f the meaning o f the universe and o ur own

place in it They have that is to say a

.
, ,

p hilosophical and spiritual as well as a

psychological value .

Thi s it is D octor P utnam s eff ort to e s

ta blish and the result is a volume that

,

sh oul d brin g encouragemen t to all oppres sed

vu
 EDITORIAL INTRO DUC T I O N

by the seeming impossibility o f reconci ling

the intuitions o f religious faith with the
dictates o f modern science That the nd
.

ings of the eld o f science medical p sy

ch o l o gy in which D octor P utnam him
self has so long and ably labored tend to
,

reinforce no t w eaken religious conviction

, , ,

is his rm belief ; and he has presented

his reasons for this belie f with ad mi rable
candor and force .

Apart from this larger aspect his book is

,

o f direct value t o his readers because of

the light it throws o n the subject with

which it is primarily concerned human
motives The hidden impulses that so
.

often hurry us to rash actions ; the weeds

in o u r minds that need to be uprooted lest
they obtain a fatal dominance over o ur
constructive energies ; the secret sources
of harmful habits o n all o f these D o ctor

P utnam turns the revealing gleam o f p sy

cho lo g ica l analysis .

Throughout he rightly emp has i z e s the

viii
imp ortance of studying moti ves wi th refer

them rather than with reference to their

,

face value ; and attacking them from this

,

better point o f V iew he brings to every

,

reader a message o f personal importance .

H ADDINGTON B RUCE
. .
 P R E FA CE

De p otio n' designatio

(An a ct o rmo tiv e is no t cl e arly unde rstoo d until

it bee n
ha s dene d in te rms o f its m o st si gnicant
mea ning s ' .

I
HE p ractical imp ortance fo r the
study of motives of the sentiment
that this L atin line so tersely ren
ders has imp ressed itself strongly o n my
,

mind in the course o f the past two years .

D uring this p eriod I have had occasion t o

study men s motives at close range and ,

have become convinced that in order t o

understand them fully one sho uld dene
them very clearly in such terms as W i ll
indicate the greatest dangers and the best
hop es toward which they p oin t M otive s .

xi
 PRE FACE

are at best such mi x ed affairs and the ,

chances are so many fo r de c eiving ourselves

as to the deeper bearings o f o ur thoughts
and acts that the temptation instinctively
,

to take advantage o f o ne or another o f these

opportunities is almost irresistible .

O ne of the most striking ways in which

men acknowledge the ties that bind them
to their fellows is through accepting social
standards in the interpretation o f their
o wn intentions .The conventions of
society endorse o r j us ti fy man y an act
and many a failure t o act behind which,

motives lie which in the case o f one or

another given person may be o f a sort
that social conventions did not and could
not contemp late A word or act that
.

means little to one person may thri ll with

emotion for another and no general rule
,

as to their use o r avoidance could possibly

be adopted E very one must j udge for
.

himself in such matters but to do this in

,

any thorough going fash i on

-
to th e e x
,

X11
 P RE FACE

tent fo r examp l e o f espousing an unp o p u

, ,

lar cause or o f seeing through and perhaps

,

abandoning a strong prej udice or o f assum ,

ing voluntarily a serious responsibility

to do this means t o prove oneself po s
sessed o f unusual strength o f character and
will The situation here involved is made
.

more comp lex through the fact that while

the temptation is strong to shrink from
assuming full responsibility fo r o ur acts
and from facing o ut o u r obscurer and
dee p er lying motives it is an easy matter
-
, ,

by going a short dista nce in these dire c

tions t o p ersuade ourselves that we have
,

gone a long distance An d it is easy .

also t o utilize self blame in such a way as

-

to secure a sense o f satisfaction through

which no real change o f tem p era m ent is
brought about .

Fo r reasons such as these an d es p ecially,

i n V i ew o f a series o f i mportant practical

investigations to wh i ch attention will be
c a ll ed it has s e e m ed to me worth while
,
 PREFACE

to emphasize the importance o f training

ourselves to see gleaming through o u r
,

immediate and partial motives a back ,

ground o f stronger tendencies from which

these motives derive their main sign i
cance I believe o n the o ne hand that
.
, ,

men are more strongly bound than they

usually recognize by a sense o f obligations
,

denable as ideal Whatever name o ne

.

may choose for these ties they are virtu ,

ally religious in their nature and the rec ,

o gn itio n of them often gives rise t o a

feeling o f new birth The sense o f these .

obligations even though unacknowledged

,

o r denied makes itself fe lt through the

,

host of lesser motives .

On the other hand men are handi ,

capped by passions longings personal a m

, ,

bitions cravings for success and mastery

, ,

to a degree of which they are never wholly

cons cious N o t only a portion o f men s
.

acts but all o f them derive some coloring

from these sources The inuences under
.

x iv
 PRE FACE

lying them are not to be designated as

bad but as tendencies needing to be a pp re
,

c ia t e d and utilized in the service o f prog

ress of the best sort .

S uch progress implies constant re inter -

p re t a t io n of o u r motives with reference

both to the desires and instincts which
belong to us by virtue o f o ur evolutional
history and those which belong to us by
virtue o f o ur social relations hi ps co n ,

stru e d in the widest possible sense .

I n the rst chapter I propose to carry

further the description o f these two main
sources of motives and to indicate the
,

relative signicance o f the two correspond

ing modes o f approach t o the study of
them , namely the philosophic and the
,

p sycho analytic methods

-
.

The second chapter will take up the

relation o f the individual t o the creative
energy which underlies the un i verse This
.

will be done for the purpose o f suggesting

a rational basis fo r the religious co nce p
XV
 PRE FACE

tions which are taken as constituting o ne

source of human motives .

I n the third chapter the history o f the

psycho analytic movement will be given
-

at greater length .

I n the fourth chapter some o f the prin

cip le s brought to light through psycho
analysis and their interest fo r educators
will be pointed o u t .

I n the fth chapter a number of ques

tions already discussed will be taken up
afresh o n the basis o f certai n Si mple dia
grams .

I n the sixth chapter it will be shown

that human progress is to be regarded as
equivalent t o the discovery o f new rela
t io nship s between the inner world of one s

o wn spirit and the world o f empirical

exp eri ence .

JAM E S JAC' SON PUTNAM , MD

. .

APR IL 12 , 19 15 .
 CON T E N TS

I . MAIN S OU R CE S OF M OT IV E S
II . T H E RAT I ONAL B AS IS OF RE L I G ION

III .

E DU CAT I ONAL B E AR I NG S OF P S ' CH O

ANAL' SIS
 HUMAN MOT IVE S

in such a way as to bring out the contrast

between them yet with the aim of showing
,

that the di fferences underlying this co n

trast are susceptible Of being reconciled in
a new and rational s ynthesis is the pur ,

p ose Of this book .

I shall call these two sorts Of motives ,

provisionally motives Of constructiveness

,

and motives Of adaptation but it will ,

appear that the sources from which they

spring are not fully indicated by these
names A motive su m marizes the life his
.

tory Of the individual who entertains it ,

and like the individual hi mself may be said

, ,

to stand at the point Of intersection Of

numerous lines Of energy each Of which ,

H a th ha d e l se whe re its se tting ,

An d co me th fro m af ar .

The main lines Of energy with which a m a n

m ust reckon represent o n the o ne hand his

, ,

evolutional biologic history with all that

, ,

that implies in the way Of half blind self -

assertion temp tation struggle victory and

, , , ,

2
 MAIN SO URCES OF MOT IVES

defeat ; and o n the other hand hi s sp irit

, ,

ual history ,
that is hi s relationship t o
,

the life Of the universe as a whole T O feel .

the right to assert this relationship and the

abi lity to recognize its bearings entails o n
human beings the same sort Of responsi
bility that the members Of an intrinsically
noble family feel with regard t o the main

t e na nce o f its traditions . N oblesse oblige .

R eally t o know a thing o r to understand

a situation means more than to be able t o
recognize it when met again I t means to
.

know what it stands for and what it may

lead to to be acquainted with its history
, ,

and to appreciate as the essential element

in that history the creative energy which
made the thing o r situation what it is and ,

which has a signicance far transcending

the meaning Of this particular and partial
manifestation Of its capacity to create .

This principle is peculiarly imp ortant

where motives are in question That which
.

o ne m ost nee ds t o know about a man is

3
 H UMAN MOT I VES

his dee p er lying trends Of character and

-

their source This knowledge is difcult to

.

gain but the search is Of a worthy sort and

,

should not be hampered by the p assing Of

j udgments w hi ch m ight have been deferred .

Praising and blaming whether Of others o r ,

Of oneself Often i mply m otives which are

,

not what they app ear to be W e ought to .

take sides denitely f o r good and against

,

evil B ut in order t o do this to good pur

.

pose we need to have a more realizing sense

Of the nature and the history Of o ur own
personal tendencies both the inuences
that imprison us within the toils Of self
indulgence and those that make us free
and Of the same and kindred tendencies in
the history Of mankind .

I t usually happens that men are moved

by broader and better motives than they
are consciously aware Of and th at to be S O

moved is virtually to acknowledge Obliga

, ,

tions o f which the nal implicatio n can be

e xp ressed only in ideal terms .

4
 MA IN SO UR CES OF MOT IVE S

We are told by botanists that the root

lets Of many plants extend far more widely
than an ordinary inspection would sug
gest Between the rows in o ur vegeta ble
.

gardens delicate brils are said to extend

to such a distance and in such neness
that only special methods Of investigation
are able to detect them ; and yet their
existence is important for the we ll being -

o f the plant to which they lead B ut if .

the plant is dependent upon what happens

in these distant and unseen brils S O a , ,

thousand times more and in a far more

complex sense are the trends Of character
, ,

temperament and desire o f a human

,

being determined by the unseen roo tlets

o f emotional interest that extend far around

him into the remotest corner Of his pas t

life into the lives o f other men and into a
,

foreshadowed life that he can call infe re n ,

t ia lly his o wn
, E merson has said with
.
,

j ust insight ' The end that man harries

is lov e o f the best
.
I t is however
.
, ,

5
 HU MAN M OT IVES

equally true that he is harried by a half

knowledge Of his hampering and repressed
desires Between these two poles he moves
.
,

and from their inuence his various mo

t iv e s gain their strength .

The instinctive though unspoken recog

, ,

n it io n of the rst Of these poles o f origin is

afrmed by men s willingness to live and
to die fo r results that they can never see ,

and could not possibly dene unless by

saying perhaps that they knew in what
, ,

direction and in Obedience to what prin

cip l e s these ends were to be sought When .

one looks closely at the inuences that

inspire to patriotism for example it be
, ,

comes clear that behind the love Of country

there li es a love of humanity and j ustice
and freedom L ovelace s inspiring lines
.

uld no t l o v e thee de ar
I co , , so mu ch ,

Lo v d I no t hono ur m o re

express a range Of thought analogous t o

many that pass unexpressed But the .

best nal term Of such thoughts is no t

6
 MAIN SOURCES OF MOT IVES

always held before the mind ; no r is it

sufciently realized to what extent these
broader motives are mixe d with others ,

which are mischievous largely because they

are unconsciously entertained and are there
fore unregulated by the conscious reason .

T O ask what this best nal term would

be is virtually equivalent to asking whether
there is any rational goal Of human life .

This question can I think be condently

, ,

answered . But the acknowledge m ent Of

such a goal would imply the conscious
acknowledgement of ideal relationships ,

denable in religious term s though equally

,

susceptible o f philosophic denition .

Beyond the communities and social

groups with which we are familiar and
which we feel ourselves under Obligation
to uphold it is easy t o imagine others
,

which we can conceive o f as in a practical

,

sense still better and to recognize that

, ,

in them the higher more constructive

,

qualiti es o f men fashioned like ourselves

7
 HUMAN M OT IVE S

would nd a freer chance Of expression .

But as beyond this humanly possible

,

community we must believe in the exist

ence of an ideal community just as be,

yond the picturable world o f time and

space we must believe in the existence
Of an unpicturable world o f power made
,

intelligible to us through the sense that

we have o f our o wn constructive powers .

Constructiveness is seen to the best a d

vantage in the daily affairs Of life at those
moments when the reason the intuition
, ,

and the will place the individual nearest to

his ideal best O nly the n ca n he accomplish
.

the utmost Of which he is capable toward

the establishment o f the best tendencies

in human affairs B ut the best in o ne
.

self is only to be stated in terms o f a
creative energy greater than can nd ex
pression in any nite life .

The question as to what o ne ought to

consider the nal measure Of constructive
ness, that is the question as to the nal
,

8
 HUMAN MOT IVES

ti es 1s seen many o f the incongruities may

,

be found to result from the freedom inhe r

ent in the parts o f this system Of things .

For if freedom is present at all it must,

be present everywhere The excellence

.

that we conceive o f is an excellence that

we can approach in practice . An d if it
thus exists in us it must exist in some sense ,

in the universe Of which we are a part .

H o w little are most Of us aware Of the

existence and availability Of these great
forces o f creative energy ' Why is this
so ' What is the nature and what the
origin Of the tangle Of hampering inuences
by which we are encompassed and which
,

prevent us from being what we might

otherwise become ' This inquiry brings
us face to face w ith the second class o f
motives and a hint as to its answer is
,

given in the very eagerness that prompts

the question M en are creatures Of long
.

ing and they would never do their best

,

i f this were not the case This longing

lO
 MAIN SO URCES OF MOT IVES

may be based on a genuine and intense

desire for the accomplishment o f what
their intelligence and reason stamp as
best ; o r it may be a longing for personal
gratication and ambition .

The power which should S how itself in

deeds Of the best sort Often evaporates in
the express i on Of a sentiment that de
scribes h o w ne such deeds would be if
done S trong and elusive passions are
.

at work in us which we must learn to

utilize for good ends at the cost if we do
, ,

n o t Of seeing them master us in the inter

,

ests Of ends that are undesirable I t is

as if antagonistic groups o f spirits were
competing eagerly fo r the control Of o u r
motives and emotions and even o f our
thoughts and acts These Spirits are o u r
.

better selves and o ur less good selves o r ,

o ur more mature and relatively immature

selves striving for mastery The person

, .

who chooses the expedient and sets aside

the better is not simply o n e who fails to
11
 H UMAN M OT IVE S

do his best ; he is o ne who virtually accep t s

the domination Of something in himself
o f which he hardly realizes the presence o r

the force and who yields to the strong pull

,

Of an instinctive longing which demands

an outlet and o f which it is o ur business t o
understand the nature .

The motives Of every one of us vary

extremely in detail according to the par
,

t icula r circumstances which give rise to

them ; the point o f essential interest is ,

however that they are very apt to imply

,

the presence o f repressed emotions o f which

we are unconscious but whi ch ne v e rthe
less live within u s as relatively independent ,

active agents that can exert a strong

inuence o n o ur conduct and o ur thoughts .

This situation will be made clearer if

we p ause to consider under what condi
t i ons the conicts and repressions arise ,

in dealing with which men have to call

compromises and adaptations to their aid .

S tated in broad terms it may be said that

,

12
 MAIN SO URCES OF MOT IVE S

all created beings have a certain amount

o f freedom and that by virtue o f this
,

freedom their interests are bound to clash .

This freedom furthermore applies not

, ,

alone to men themselves regarded as ,

units but also to the thoughts and emotions

,

o f men especially those that having been

, ,

expelle d ( through repression ' from the
society o f that special group o f feelings

which we elect to call ourselves become ,

organized and systematized into com

p lexes , somewhat as the M iltonic S atan ,

cast out o f heaven organized himself in

,

hell The di e re nce betwee n a comple x
.

and a p erson is immense in detail ; b ut

,

the resemblance is also well dened and ,

a certa in amount o f individuality and

free d om may be ascribed to the former as
well as to the latter .

The reason that repression gains its
p osition of importance in o ur lives is that
there are many emotional desires which
make a strong app eal yet which the de
13
 H UMAN MOT IVE S

mands o f social convention an d o ur o wn

consciences forbid us openly to a ckno wl
edge The repression o f an emotion d oes
.

not mean necessarily its elimination O n .

the contrary it may secure its preserva

,

tion in a very undesirable and deeply

rooted form P rej udices are based upon
.

repression and every o ne is aware how

,

utterly unreasonable they are how they ,

resist the educative inuences o f e x p e ri

ence and with what virulence they inject
,

themselves into o ur lives and hamper o r

modify o ur j udgments The same is true
.

of superstition I nto a world Of social

.

conventions every child is born but he ,

is born too with a capacity to entertain

, ,

longings and cravings We wish for pleas

.

ure ; we nd that we must conform to

rules The result is the adoption Of com
.

promises in which both pleasure and con

formity nd themselves represented even ,

if only by the aid Of symbols .

I t must be clearly understoo d as a ,

14
 MAIN SO UR C E S OF M OT IVES

fact o f great signicance that a man is ,

never exclusively the expression of his own

ideals a disembodied so ul nourishing itself
,

on inspiration and the worship Of the best .

O n the contrary he has a body and an

,

evolutional history a strong sense Of

,

separate individuality and physiological

needs But these conditions o f existence
.
,

if in o ne sense they antagonize the in u

ence o f the spirit which is immanent in
all m en and which keeps alive in them
an ideal o f brotherhood are nevertheless ,

capable o f making that brotherhood more

real in another way L i mi tation is the
.

necessary condition Of e o rt and the results

'

o f limitation gure inevitably sometimes

, ,

as good sometimes as evil

, E ven o ur .

ideals would no t have their present form

were it not that o ur lo t is cast in a world
Of limitation in which progress is possible
,

only through conscious effort co mpro mise ,

and adaptation .

B ut com p romise and adaptation have a

15
 H UMAN MOT IVE S

d eep root also in the egoistic desires o f

infancy when cultivated too much in and
,

for themselves and t o o little as a bridge

leading to better things E ven the best
.

men and women may be torn by the con

ict s to which the cravings of infantile
origin gave rise and some Of the ne
,

persons whom D ante places in his H ell

o r allows to toil painfully up the steep

sides Of the H ill o f P urgatory are Of this

description S ociety demands loyalty and
.

severely p unishes its disloyal members ,

even though the tendency to be disloyal

may have overwhelmed them unawares .

That these cravings have this consequence

needs emphasis ; for so conspicuously nec os
sary and useful are acts done under the
inuence of motives of compromise and
adaptation that it is di fcult to get a
hearing for the arguments which show in
what subtle ways and yet with what
,

p oignant force they are ap t t o make

,

the m selves o ur masters and to restrain

16
 H UMAN MOT IVE S

decisions The choices and decisions o f

.

the organisms whose lives prepared the

way through aeons o f time for ours present
, , ,

themselves to us as instincts and these ,

instincts p lace forces in o ur hands w hi ch

we are under constant temp tation to abuse .

Corres p onding to the two sorts of motives

which I have designated constructive and
adap ti ve there are two modes Of approach
,

to the investigation o f o ur motives O ne . .

of them 1s that with which every p erson is

more o r less familiar under the form Of
p h ilosophical reasoning especially as the
,

p hilosophy Of religion I n order to gain

.

the best knowledge o f human nature by

this method we ought rst Of all to con
, , ,

sider man at his best as he is when in

,

the full ood Of intelligent realization o f

his o wn possibilities and in the full ood
o f his power t o make sacrices to form

ra t l o na l idea l s
, t o see into and beyon d
actual situations to the meanings and the
values that lie concealed in them H av .

18
 MAIN SO URCES OF MOT IVES

ing learned through a contemp lation and

,

sc rutiny such as this t o ap p reciate the

,

nature of men at their best and t o recog

nize the capacity in them t o work fo r the
m ost constructive soc ial and ideal ends ,

we have the right to feel ourselves p re

p ared to see the true nature o f the p roc esses
that characterize those tendencies in the
lives Of men which prevent them from co n
forming sys tematically to their o wn ideals .

At e a ch point it is possible to trace the

i nuence Of these tendencies assum ing
,

the guise o f nee df ul comp romise and a d

a p ta t io n
, though based on the instinctive
desire to p reserve motives and emotions
which those who entertain them unawares
would fain th i nk themselves t o have ban
ishe d altogether .

The m ature man i s a m ore nat ura l o b

j ce t of primary study than the imma ture
man or the child because the traits that
,

make him mat ure correspond to the traits

w i th which we as rational be ing s en ter
, ,

19
 H UMAN MOT IVE S

o n o ur task To accustom ourselves t o the

.

study Of immaturity and childhood before

p roceeding to the study of maturity and
manhood is Often to habituate ourselves
to an undesirable limitation Of o ur vision
with reference to the scope of the enter
p rise Ou which we enter .

The second mode o f approach is through

what has been called the psycho analytic
-

method which is to all intents and pur
,

p oses a form Of the genetic method .

The genetic method is that best known to us

a s the D arwinian mode o f studying o r

ganie and p sychologic evolution and resem ,

bles that mode Of research in the respect

that both o f them begin with the a pp a r
e ntly S impler manifestations o f life and
proceed from these toward the app ar
e ntly more complex forms .

I do not rank the philosophic and the

genetic modes o f approach as equally signi
cant in all respects for the study Of human
li fe bu t as i ndisp ensable each o f the m t o the
, ,

20
 MAIN SO URCES OF M OTI VE S

other I f o ne had to choose be twee n the m

.
,

it would be more imp ortant t o secure the

benets that ow from the s tu d y o f men
at their best and in their strength than ,

as they appear when seen at their second

best and in their immaturity and weak
ness B ut for my part I feel gratefu l
.
, ,

for having had the op p ortun i ty o f a ppre

cia t in g the benet o f each o ne o f these

sources o f kn owledge o f manki nd because ,

I feel sure that neither alone can gi ve us

, ,

what we need And I S hall endeavor t o

.

point out that f ailure t o acqu i re th e ki n d

o f kno w ledge which comes through the
use Of the psycho analytic method and
-
,

especially the attitude O f resistance which

makes men unwilling t o seek this knowl
edge and leads them to misunderstand its
bearings are serious handicap s t o their
,

p rogress in the ordinary affairs O f life and

to their power to understan d and sym
p a t h iz e with their fellow men Fo r in .

order to know human nat ure a t its bes t

21
 HUMAN M OTIVES

and t o feel our sympathies going o ut not ,

to a few selected p ersons but to men in ,

general we must learn to know men at

,

their weakest as well as at their strongest

points and t o see that the di e re nce be
,

tween success and failure is a difference

Of degree N o t only this but the respects
.
,

in which men are disguised from them

selves through repression act as so many
, ,

1
blind spots by virtue o f which they
,

become unable to see certain qualities in

their neighbors I t is f o r this reason that .

many otherwise ne persons are S O narrow

in their appreciation o f their fellow men .

These two modes o f approach while ,

apparently S O di e re nt have some strik

,

ing points o f resemblance both in method ,

and in aim .

The psycho analytic mode o f approach-

deals with men primarily o n the basis Of

their concrete experiences since birth the ,

1 I f t th
re e r c ll d bli nd p t f th r t i n th p
o e so - a e

s o o e e a, e res

e nce of which i n t r c gni d u nt il m d ic i u d f m king

s o e o ze so e ev e s se or a

its pp
a nt
a re .

22
 M AIN SO UR CES OF MOT IVES

record o f which their memories are urged

and aided t o complete and usually do
,

comp lete t o an extent not p reviously con

t e m p la t e d as possible I t is the concrete
.

individual that is studied ; but through

the accumulated knowledge o f many indi
v idu a ls we learn to comprehend many

slight hints which each one s memory can

furnish The philosophic o r rational mode

.

Of approach on the other hand is based

, ,

o n the Observation that no logically minded -

p erson ( and that means in e e ct no per

,

,

son 'nds it possible to think any particular

thought without realizing o n reection , ,

that this implies entertaining other

thoughts without which the rst would
be incomplete .

H e must for example recogn i z e as a

, , ,

basis fo r every thought worth naming ,

the fact that he is himself a living self ,

consistent person ; and also that other

p ersons exist with whom he can communi
c ate an d t o who m he is bo un d b y c er ta i n
23
 HUMAN M OT IVES

ties . Aperson may become so accus

t o m e d to neglecting these presu pp ositions
and necessary inferences o f his thought
that he would acknow ledge no recognition
o f them at all . B ut if he is led to look at
himself intelligently and encouraged to
,

break down the resistances which he may

be inclined to oppose the evidence fo r
,

the validity o f certain inferences becomes S O

strong that it can scarcely be disregarded .

By virtue Of this reasoning he nds him

,

self forced to recognize layer upon layer

o f thought that make him look at the

Obj ect Of his primary inquiry in a wider

and wider form H e nds rst that all
.
, ,

things are related ; and later that this

, ,

relationship should not be dened in any

way that would make it inconsistent with
the action Of his o wn mind From the .

xe d relatio nships between things Of the

sort contemplated by science he moves ,

o n to the conception o f self relation -

that is to a relation characteri z e d b y a

,

24
 HUMAN MOT IVES

differ strikingly in app earance ( the rst

o f them being based o n the recovery o f

concrete memories o ne by o ne through

, ,

processes o f association and by the aid o f

hints derived from the analysis o f dreams ,

the other depending on the conscious recog

n it io n o n e after another Of a series of l o g
, ,

ical inferences and deductions ' yet in fact ,

the resemblances between them are equally

striking and equally imp ortant I n using .

either mode real emotional resistances o f

, , ,

the nature o f xed prej udices have t o be

,

broken down ; and further analysis woul d

S how that in both cases these resistances

are analogous in origin and nature At .

any rate the task Of overcoming them is

so difcult that one is reminded in dealing ,

with them o f the story Of the god Thor

, ,

to whom the task was assigned Of emptying

an innocent seeming horn o f wine o n the
-
,

contents Of which after taking dee p

,

draughts he was chagrined to nd that he

,

had made bu t slight imp ress i on L ater i t .

,

26
 MAIN S OURCES OF MOT IVES

was mockingly explained to him that the

horn was magically connected wi th the
sea Another more homely but equally
.

good illustration of the same point is that

told by E merson with regard to the weed
ing o f a garden The would be g ardener
.
-

thinks at rst that he has an easy task

, ,

before him but each weed pulled up reveals

,

m any more that lie behind S O it is with

.

people s resistance t o the recognition o f

their o wn memories o r the logical inferences

from their thoughts We think our knowl
.

edge Of ourselves is reasonably accurate

and are sure that if the Opportunity were
o e re d we should be willing and glad to

enlarge its boundaries B ut when the o p

.

'

p o rt u n ity really does O e r that is , ,

the moment we nd ourselves beginning

to see o ur o wn characters and tempera
m ents o r even o ur present body Of knowl
,

edge in a new light especially if in this

, ,

p rocess we come u p against something

which deman d s the brea king down o f a
27
 H UMAN M OT IVES

p rej udice at that mom ent we look about

,

instinctively t o nd reasons fo r calling Off

the dogs lest they re a lly nd the quarry

.
,

I f we could be absolutely sure what the

nature Of the quarry was perhaps the search ,

for it would be continued But to know .

this would be to have a knowledge which

would make the search itself unnecessary .

We must then go o n slowly perhaps pain

, , , ,

fully step by step ; Or else w e must aid

,

ourselves by constructing with the help ,

Of imagination a notion o f the goal

, .

S ome new meaning o r motive always lies

behind the meanings and motives which
the person under investigation thrusts for
ward as those by w hich his thoughts and
conduct are inspired A ny o n e familiar .

with the S ocratic method Of inquiry as ,

illustrated for example in the R epublic
, ,

Of P lato will appreciate the signi cance o f

,

this statement The inquiries conducted

.

by the great analyzer proceeded o n both

these lines and the person under interro
,

98
 MAIN S OURCES OF MOT IVES

g a t io was made to bring out mo tive after

n

motive inference behind inference until he

, ,

arrived at the real basis Of his thought .

N ot only is this true but it is true also

,

that between the concrete experiences and

the logical inferences themselves if o ne ,

looks closely at the matter th e differ ,

ence is not so great as at rst sight a p

pears I t is alw ays p ossible to substitute
.

the creative energy o f a thing o r a sit

nation for the concrete thing itsel f This .

cannot be denied W e must deal with

.

concrete s i tuations We must deal also

.

with their causes I f facts are stubborn

.

things the creative energies that li e behind

,

them are still more stubborn If elec .

t ricity makes the lamp glow and if it is ,

the light thus given that we wish to under

stand then it is the light tha t we must
,
.

study B ut n o student should be blinded

.

by this fact t o the still greater f a c t o f the

unseen current that ows silently through
the dark and hidden wire I n the li gh t o f
.

29
 HUMAN M OT IVES

the underlying tendency even dull an d ,

O bscure facts gain a new richness and mean

ing The student o f psycho analysis who
.
-

has studied carefully the association

method especially with reference t o the
,

analysis o f dreams must have become

,

aware that when we seem to study e x p e ri

e n ce s and actual memories it is really the
,

tendencies the traits ( especially Of child

,

hood 'which lie behind these memories and

behind the grotesqu enesses and picturesque
fa cades of dreams that are the real Obj ects
of our search These traits contain as
.
,

elements emotional longings which the

,

censorship of social conscience forbids us

openly to entertain .

I n spite Of the determined search for the

concrete even the most scientic and em
,

p ir ica l of O bservers nds it unavoidable ,

from time t o time to speak o f the energy

,

which feeds o ur li ves and makes possible

o u r instinctive as well as o ur purposive

acts and m o tives as a , reservoir of

30
 MAIN S O URCES OF M OT IVES

force a stream a current and so on

, , , .

To do this however is t o recognize that

, ,

an act is what it is because it is the expres

sion Of a creative energy and my co nt e n,

tion is that this element o f creative energy

is th e real Obj ect to w hich o ur attention
should mainly be devoted U nless we .

learn to appreciate this causal energy and

to nd its analogue in ourselves the co n ,

t e m p l a t io n o f the act is vain .

T O use o ne more simile suggested by a ,

friend we m ay lie o n the grass and watch

,

with innite enj oyment a soft cloud resting

quietly upon the mountain top the type ,

and emblem of repose B ut if we climb .

the mounta in and visit the cloud itself we ,

may nd that a strong wind is rushing

through it constantly bringing moisture
,

which is quickly deposited and again as

quickly taken up T O discover this aspect
.

of the cloud s life is to learn a lesson

that might aid o ne t o appreciate the fact

that human beings and human motives ,

31
 H UMAN M OT IVES

Signicant though they may be regarded

in and f or themselves are far more sig ,

ni ca n t when regarded as the exp ression of

something greater than themselves These .

are considerations to which the genetic

method devoted as it is to the study O f the
,

panoramic details o f o ur un folding lives

and debarred fro m the study o f deeper
lying causes cannot p ossibly do j ustice
, .

But in fact the genetic method leads

, ,

straight and Of necessity to the p hilOS Op hic

m ethod .

I have undertaken in this chapter to

show that o u r motives are derived from
two main sources I n everything that we
.

do we Obey o n the o ne hand an im p ulse

, ,

stronger than most people are aware o f ,

which if taken b y itself would make us

, ,

entertain motives and p erform acts corre

sp o n din g to o u r best possible ideals an d

implying the activity o f a power greater

than ourselves O bedience to this power
.

does no t dep rive us o f o ur inde p endence ,

32
 H UMAN M OT IVES

di ffer widely really resemble each other at

,

many points ; and that this resemblance

is seen to be greater when instead Of giving
o u r attention only to concrete experiences
,

o r to forces treated as concrete elements ,

as the student o f natural science n e ce s

sa rily treats them we substitute for them
, ,

in o ur thought the creative energy of

,

which they are the e xpression.

 CH A P T E R II

The Ra ti ona l B asis of Re ligion

T he ro u nde d wo rld is fa ir to se e ,

N ine ti me s fo lde d in my ste ry '

Th o ugh b a f e d se e rs ca nno t i mp art
T he se cre t o f it s l ab o ri ng he a rt
,

Thro b th ine wi th N a ture s thro bb ing bre ast

And a ll is cl e a r fro m e a st t o we st .

Sp iri t th a t l urk s e ach fo rm wi th i n

B e ck o ns to sp iri t o f its kin ;
S e lf k i ndl e d e v e ry a t o m gl o ws
-
,

An d h i nt s the future wh i ch i t o we s .

N the previous chapter I have shown

reason for adducing a religious stand
ard Of motives as the one to be relied
upon for furnishing the main goal O f prog
ress and I now wish to Offer further reasons
, ,

o f a more philosophical sort fo r doing this

, .

I t is neither in a doctrinal nor an unduly

mystical sense that I undertake the a dv o
cacy o f religion but because I wish to a c
,

35
 HUMAN M OT IV ES

know l edge th e supre m acy o f this inuence

in o ur lives I am well aware that the
.

church with all that it implies is a place

, ,

where reason and rational emotion nd

themselves side by side with passion and
superstition If however
.
,
Or in so far as
, ,

religion is the expression o f the truth it ,

expresses the most important aspect o f the

truth ; and t o support it strenuously in its
best form is an essential p reliminary to the
elimination o f its abuses .

T O some people the religious feeling

comes without e ffort and gives a j o y and
sense of dignity t o daily life B ut there .

are others who can only believe what they

can classify in accordance with the kind
Of evidence that they are in the habit o f
employing and who therefore set aside
,

the claims o f religion altogether as founded ,

on sentiment alone E ven at the best

.
,

they feel the religious standard could be

,

Of no especial value except as fostering

good conduct and loyalty o f purp ose .

36
 THE RAT I ONAL BASIS OF RELIGI ON

And since by virtue o f their intelligence

, ,

they have tacitly accepted these standards

o f conduct as binding they see nothing to
,

be gained through the assertion o f rela

tions Of Obligation toward an invisible and
illimitable being and through the Obse rv
,

ance o f ceremonials which they cannot

j ustify without compromising their honesty
and their reason The religious attitude
.
,

they think is only the expression o f a sen

,

t im e nt founded in a longing fo r excitement

and compensation and the claim fo r an

,

absolute anything at all is philosoph
ica lly untenable and practically un ne ce s
sary This attitude is well dened in part
.
, ,

in the follo w ing sentiment expressed a few

years ago by an eminent E nglish writer o n
philosophy '

We do n o t need to know what is a bso
lut e ly good in order to know that one thing
is better than another We do n o t need t o
.

know the elixir Of life in order to know that

beef is more nourishing than straw and ,

water h ea lth ier th an absinthe We do not

.

37
 H UMAN M OT IV E S

nee d to be assured of immortality in order

to j udge that a life is worth living We do .

not need to kn ow absolute truth in order to

detect a lie The fact is that o ur ideals are
.

n o t actually prior t o the particular e x p e ri

e n ce s they profess to explain but are built

up o u t o f suggestions derived from the

latter.

I f these various p rop ositions were ration

ally tenable and if when conscientiously
,

adhered to the y could be made t o furnish

a satisfactory basis o f social morals they ,

ought to be accepted But if they do

.

not seem o f this character we ought to

,

come forward with o u r obj ections were ,

it only fo r the sake o f the many persons

who are still in doubt and to whom o ur
particular line Of reasoning might appeal .

I t is certain that m o ra l crises Often come

when both d ecision and conduct need the
best prop and spur that can be giventhem ,

and the sense Of obligation that goes with

adherence to a big cause is surely greater
than that which a little cause can set in
38
 THE RAT I ONAL BASIS OF RE LIGI ON

action I n this sense if in no other we

.
, ,

do need to know what is absolutely good
in order to know that o ne thing is better
than another U nless we prepare ourselves
.

f o r the coming of such crises we are sure

,

to nd ourselves like the foolish virgins

, ,

with o ur lamps unlled and with o ur m inds

unfurnished with the knowledge O f what
source t o turn t o fo r the needful Oil .

I t is asserted that m en nd in the grati

ca t io n o f personal desires and in the defense
o f their o wn re side s motives o f greater
strength than any feeling Of Obligation
tow ard an invisible idea' can supply .

But this is a m istake The social whole

.

and its representative spirit are the real

centre Of every man s devotion .

M y o wn reasons fo r giving my alle

g ia n c e to the re l igious standard and for
endorsing the Observance Of suitable reli
g io u s ceremonials are as foll ows
I t is true that ceremonials can serve the
ends Of sup erstition and this should be
,

39
 HUMAN M OT IVE S

made known But even superstition m ay

.

carry the germs o f somethi ng better We

keep birthdays and make much Of the a n
n iv e rsa rie s Of the birth o r death o f great

men without feeling that o ur o wn sense o f

dignity su e rs impairment thereby Fur

.

t he rm o re the recognition o f such feelings o f

,

affection and respect shows that we

acknowledge something within us that is
a little better than what we are able under
ordinary conditions to put immediately.

into practice .

The situation as regards religion seems

t o me to be Of the same sort w ith this .

We all strive to S how reason love and will

, ,

in the conduct Of o ur a ff airs and in o ur

dealings w ith o ne another We realize
.
,

also that neither reason love n o r will can

, , ,

exist o r be used alone and that it is only

,

for the convenience o f o u r speech that we

reason as if this possibility existed The .

nearer we come to the point Of acting o r

thinking in such a way that our inte lli
40
 HUMAN M OT IVES

must no t however be allowed to beco m e

, ,

the masters o f our thoughts and feelings

nor should we fail to determine through ,

scrutiny j ust what these thoughts and feel

,

in gs are .

I f the universe has a personality O f

which w e can assert at least that it can
, ,

not be incompatible with o ur o wn and tha t

it lends dignity to o ur o wn a nd if we be,

lieve this personality to be under an in

herent Obligation to make itself prevail at
its best j ust as each nite p erso n is glad to
,

give the best expression to his p ersonality ,

then we should reco gnize the sa m e sort

Of Obligation t o w ork in harmony with the
universe personality that we feel w ith refe r
- '

ence to the endorsement Of o u r o wn sense

Of loyalty rationality and constructiveness
, , .

I n asking whether the universe is per

sonal we ought t o begin by admitting that
o ne portion Of it surely is namely o ur
, ,

selves W e cannot use o ur reason t o

.

afrm o ur doubts and at the same time

42
 T HE RAT I ONAL B ASI S OF R E L IGI ON

deny our reason We cannot assert o ur

.

o wn power of disinterested love and will

and at the same time deny that love and

will exist Finally since it is impossible
.
,

that a thing which has a certain perfectness

should have come into existence except as
the exp ression o r through the inuence Of
, ,

a pre existing something that was at least

equally perfect then the degree of per
,

fe ct io n found by us in ourselves and attrib

ut e d by us as a necessity Of o u r thought
, ,

t o mankind at large must have been for ,

ever in existence as a fundamental element ,

o r condition Of the universal life Of which

,

o ur o wn is an integral part The sym .

phony cannot create the composer ; its

existence presupposes him .

I was much impressed recently to hear

a distinguished and clear thinking pro -

fe sso r o f philosophy whose attitude with

,

regard to realism had made me expect a
different opinion on this point assert that ,

if G od exists it must be as an inuence o r

,

43


H U M AN M OT IVES

energy permeating the universe as an

essential feature Of it and as present in
every detail and part Of it and that in ,

fact he believed this to be the case This .

is my o wn opinion .

The fact is that if o ne is willing to see

that any and every investigation must
start with the acceptance o n the part Of ,

the man who makes it Of himself at his , ,

best as afrming a condition which the

,

nished investigation must ratify and to

which it must conform much discussion ,

would be spared .

H ere we are with our o wn duties and

,

our o wn powers and compelled to recog

,

nize the existence Of other men Of like ,

sort at the cost Of denying if we refuse

, ,

to do so the very condition that we began

,

by assuming as essential .

But the allegiance which we admit as

due to ourselves as partially rational ,

p artially disinterested beings capable in , ,

s p ite o f o ur limi tations Of conceiving o f

,

44
 T HE RAT I ONAL B ASIS OF RE LI GI ON

p ersons and a world not thus li mited ;

this same allegiance w e owe in redoubled ,

measure t o the Being whom we thus

,

conceive and whose existence in co nce iv

, ,

in g o f it we a frm
, I n any investigation
.

into the secrets of life the inquirer is sure

,

to nd what he brings no less n o more

, , .

T he whole man must give and nd him

self While striving to nd himself he
.
,

may at rst look at the world naively as

, , ,

a world o f separate and individual things ;

then i n accordance with scientic teach
,

ing as a world o f xed forces and relations

, .

B ut here o n e cannot stop Fixe d relations .

have no standing in a world Of real change ,

except as forms o f speech that is except

, ,

as pointing to the self relationships o f per

-

sonal life E ventually o ne must assume

.

these self relationships o f spontaneous p er

-

sonal life to be characteristic Of the uni

verse as a whole even the world of nature
,

conceived o f as e xisting in relation t o

p ersons .

45
 HUMAN MOT IVES

I respect the agnostic attitude o f s e i en

t ic men and believe it t o be the expression

o f a genuine honesty .But when it is too

tenaciously adhered to and the arguments
,

that to me appeal so strongly fail to con

vince I feel the right to think that this
,

attitu d e is quite as much in need o f e x p la

nation and defense as the attitude o f the
believer M any persons nd it extremely
.

difcult t o gain a practical sense of Obliga

tion, as resting o n them by virtue o f an
origin an d destiny o f the sort here assumed ,

to recognize in their belief the basis of a

real source o f motives This is largely be
.

cause they co nsider it impossible to estab

lish either their origin o r their destiny in an
,

idealistic sense o r thi nk that at best these

,

cannot be dened except in terms o f the

most shadowy description ' e t such p er
.

sons are Often t o be seen sacricing them

selves for a feeling o f Obligation which it
would be impossible to defend in scientic
terms M any o f th em would be able t o
.

46
 THE RAT I ONAL B ASIS OF RE LIGI ON

endorse in practice the ne lines that stand

over the gateway t o S oldiers Field at

H arvard U niversity

Th o ugh l o v e re p ine a nd re ason ch afe

, ,

The re ca me a v o ice wi th o ut re pl y ,

Tis m an s p e rd i ti o n t o be saf e

Whe n for the truth he o ught to die .

B ut to do this to re bind oneself in this

,
-

fashion is to accept and assert o ne o f the

,

essential conditions of religion .

I f we go further and express the idea in

a form at once more personal and more
universal we must take G o d o r H is e q u iv a
, ,

lent as the Obj ect o f our devotion This

, .

should n o t be considered as amounting t o

the postulation o f some cold and innitely
remote idea We use these terms
.

Go d and the universe to express
something which we feel to be in us yet ,

which transcends us and the oth er persons

to whom we m i ght feel that o ur loyalty
was due T o do this is equivalent t o th e
.

47
 H UMAN M OT IVES

asserti on in its nal form o f the Obliga

, ,

tion which every man is under to maintain

the dignity o f mankind at its best .

A di fculty in the way o f adopting this

religio us ideal as a standard o f Obligation

is that the terms universe and G od ,

besides bei ng shadowy have connotations ,

that to many people are positively

obnoxious They suggest sentimentality
.

and emotional excess I t is for reasons .

such as this that men s attitude toward
religion is at p resent in a peculiar state .

O ne observer after another has declared ,

o n the basis o f positive evidence that two ,

tendencies o f opposite sorts are now a p

p arent side by side O n the o ne hand
, .

men are leaving the establishe d churches ,

while on the other the religious sentiment

as such accomp anied with the desire for
,

opp ortunities o f union o n some re ligious

basis is distinctly o n the increase S ome
, .

established forms however we must have

, , ,

j ust as the soul must have a body and it ,

48
 HUMAN M OT IVES

yet see and feel and hear and also that ,

language is capable o f making evident to

us mentally relations which no sense can
, ,

ratify .

T O learn to make the unpicturable world

real is to make o u r way toward a light
which constantly grows brighter ; and as
we near its source we learn to rej ect fo r ,

good and all the idea that to discuss matters

,

o f this sort is to study something that a

man might almost pride himself on being

ignorant o f or certainly might be content
,

to remain ignorant o f without a ckn o wl

edging any serious gap in his education .

A ttitudes Of this sort I now look upon as

mainly reactions Of defense .

What we most care for in the world are

love j ustice honor power
, , , all Of which
,

are unpicturable and are related to the

various form s Of energy without which
nothing could exist To gain a realizing
.

sense that these forms Of energy are just

as real as any fact in nature is to make an
50
 THE RAT I ONAL B ASIS OF RE LIGI ON

advance well w orth the working for S uch .

an advance cannot be gained without labor ,

f o r to feel the reality o f a world o f this

sort to learn to live in the midst Of these
,

unpicturable energies requires p ractice j ust

,

as truly as it requires p ractice to feel at

home in any unfami liar environment M any .

have learned this lesson and have made

their knowledge an inuence o f real sig
n i ca n ce in their lives ; and among these

I think especially Of H elen ' eller who has ,

described the progress o f her o wn en lighten

ment in striking terms G rop ing her way
.

through her o ne channel in her search for

,

the ful lness Of the picturable world she ,

found at last and as if suddenly that her

, , ,

mind with its power Of retaining its own

,

self consistenc y th rough its consta ntly and

-

innitely changing relationships arrived at

,

last at a p oint where her blindness and her

deafness became almost banished T O .

ward the end Of the chapter in which she

describes her p rogress she says '
51
 H UMAN M OT IVE S

Anc i ent p hilosophy o e rs

an argument
which seems still valid There i s in the
.

blind as in the seeing an A bsolute which

gives truth t o what we know to be true ,

order to what is orderly beauty to the beau

,

tiful touchableness to what is tangible

, .

I f this is granted it follow s that this A bso

lute is n o t imperfect incomplete partial
, , .

I t must needs go beyond the limited evi

dence Of o ur sensations and also give light
,

t o what is invisible music t o the musical

,

that silence dulls Thus mind itself com

.

p els us to acknowledge that w e are in a

world Of intellectual order beauty and har
, ,

mony . Thus deafness and blindness

do no t exist in the immaterial mind which ,

is philosophically the real world but are ,

banished with the material senses R eality .

,

Of which V isible things are the symbol ,

shines before my mind While I walk about

.

my chamber with unsteady steps my spirit ,

sweeps S kyward on eagle wings and looks

o ut with unquenchable vision u p on the

world o f eternal beauty .

A lthough we live and breathe and have

o ur being in an unpicturable world a ,

world not O f things but o f values the ,

p rej udice against studying the nature of

52
 T HE RAT I ONAL B ASIS OF RELI GI ON

this world still retains i ts f orce I t is O ften.

thought that no o ne could breathe in any ,

p ractical and practicable sense the rare ,

atmosphere o f an unpicturable worl d and ,

that if I mmanuel ' ant said that time an d

s p ace exist only in our minds as a ne ce s ,

sary condition fo r o ur thinking he was ,

talki ng a sort o f nonsense which coul d

be treated with neglect if no t contem p t
, .

P ersons not in the habit o f dening to

themselves the conditions o f ex i stence o f
the unpicturable world o f i deal values are
apt to make errors o f two sorts T he y .

rst clothe this world in f orms details an d , ,

colors which are taken from the lif e of

evolution and experience and represen t th e
p roj ection Of experience and then nd ing
, ,

themselves unable to accep t a world so

p ictured they reject the arguments for
,

its existence altogether I n order that

.

these pitfalls may be avoided it sho ul d be ,

seen that what is claimed is the p ossess i on

o f something , itse lf unde nable in d e ta i l ,

53
 HUMAN M OT IVES

which underlies all forms and makes e x

p e rie n ce possible and
.
intelligible E ven .

what we call the world o f reality is to a

great extent a vision but the power to e n
,

t e rta in such visions unpicturable though

,

they are remains o ur best possession

, .

E very thinking person knows that if

matter is a condition to a certain extent
, ,

o f the existence and manifestation Of force ,

nevertheless matter as ordinarily con

,

ce iv e d , is nothing without force and that ,

in fact there is a strong tendency even on ,

the part Of physicists to move toward ,

conceptions Of matter such as indicate a

growing sus p icion o n their part that force
can at least be conceived o f for p urposes of ,

study as detache d from these other mani

,

fe st a t io n s o f themselves that are cal l ed

matter Wherever electricity and magnet
.

ism are found for instance one se es them

, ,

always in a double form I mponderable .

and unpicturable as they are they are ,

capable nevertheless Of dividing themselves

54
 T HE RA TI ONAL B ASIS OF RE LIGI ON

into p ositive and negative uids that ,

i s o f acting up on themselves with nothing

, ,

else between And when it comes t o

.

the introspection o f o ur o wn thought the

same thing hap pens o n a larger scale I t is .

n o t w ith o u r bodily eyes that we see o u r

thoughts and yet we do Observe the m

, .

I n addition to the reasons already urged

f o r hostility t o metaphysical ideas the ,

common argument should be mentioned

that mind cannot be fundamental in the
world because if we go back to the time
,

when no organic life existed o n o ur plane t

th ere is no ev i dence that mind existed
either By th i s argument mind seems t o
.
,

be ruled o ut O f the universe altogether .

I t is f orgotten however that no o ne would

, ,

admit fo r a moment that the absence o f

organic life in the ordinary acceptation o f
,

the w ord meant the banishment o f the

,

laws Of physics .

But what are the laws o f p hys i cs ' Are

the y something that can have a real and
55
 HUMAN M OT IVE S

permanent and s p ontaneous existence con

j oined with the capacity f o r creating out o f
themselves the minds o f living beings '
O r are they formulas o f measurement
adopted by men for particular acts with ,

the accomplishment o f particular results

in view j ust as they use foot rules as a
,
-

convenient but entirely arbitrary mode o f

measurement ' N O o ne can sit long ,

to day among a group o f scientic men

-
,

freely talking together without hearing

,

astounding admissions from them as t o

occurrences that seem to show when the ,

matter is looked into closely that the phys

,

ical laws are only ap p roximations t o the

truth .

The fact is that when inquiring as t o

the relative validity Of physical laws and
mental laws it is with ourselves that we
,

are under Obligation t o begin and Ourselves

that we must take into account at every
stage Of the proceedings as furnishing at
,

on c e the p owers that work and the tools

56
 H UMAN M OT IVES

totality o f the expressions and life o f the

world will when considered in its co n
-
,

scious unity This denition will be
.

better understood if it is translated into

terms o f o u r own experience To speak o f.

any being as consciously un ied is t o
say that he is conscious of himself as re
maining virtually the same person from
o n e day to the next although in reality we
,

must admit that neither in a physical no r

a mental sense is it possible for a p erson t o
remain the same even from one moment
to the next The sense of unity
. that is ,

o f self consistency
-
through this change
means something more than that to a
considerable extent the two circles which
we might regard as standing the o ne for the
,

individual o f to day the other for the indi

-
,

vidual Of yesterday or to morrow could -

,

be thought of as overlap p ing I t is even .

doubtful whether in any p roper sense such

an overlapping could be postulated at all .

But the real point is that a self co nscmusly -

58
 T HE RATI ONAL B ASIS OF RELI GI ON

unied person i s o ne who no t only can

but must express himself in constantly new
forms and thus S how himself t o be a per
son Of many sides o r many possibilities .

'
This kind o f unity o r individuality which
, ,

is best dened in the expression that a per

so n is never so much himself as when he is

giving himself wholly to some cause outside

hi m self is a unity no t denable in terms of
,

physical laws but characteristic of spon

,

t a ne o u s life
. T O say that G o d is the
totality of the exp ressions Of the world will -

is again to say nothing more than what can

j ustly be a frmed of every man N O other .

den ition Of a personality is possible for ,

nothing lives except as it acts and the acts

,

that we have done and that contribute to

make us what we are still live T o say
, .

that G o d creates man and the worl d and

is immanent in the acts and thoughts o f
men is also entirely explicable if thought ,

o f from th e light of our o wn experience .

D o we no t m ake o ur o wn thoughts and

59
 HUMAN M OT IVES

acts and are we no t immanent in them '

,

D o we not also at each moment make

, ,

o u r bodies when we bend them t o o u r

,

wills and set up mechanisms which there

after will do what was once the immediate
expression Of o u r bidding '
We cannot think either Of ourselves or
o f the world as partly living ( that is partly ,

animated by a spontaneous life 'and partly

dead although we must be prepared t o see
,

constantly appearances that might be taken

as giving rise to this idea j ust as again , , ,

in the case Of the rising and setting o f the

sun we seem to see that luminary going
,

up and down The particles Of o ur skin

.

and its appendages seem indeed to dry , ,

up and disappear But here comes the .

law of the conservation Of energy to o u r

aid These particles take the same place
.

that the leaves take that fall from the

forest trees S ooner o r later they become
.

converted into soil and new leaves come ,

aga in ; that is they never get far away

,

60
 THE RAT I ONAL B AS I S OF RELIGI ON

from a state in which they are virtually

portions Of the spontaneous life and energy
Of the world An d so o ur o wn bodies are
.

in close relation to o ur personal lives and ,

the laws of physics to the laws Of the mind .

M otion would soon cease and would never

have be gun unless beyond the bodies
moved there had been some source Of energy
that was self renewing T O this energy in
-
.
,

its simplest form the name Of purus
,

actus pure activity o r self activity is
, ,
-
,

given ; and it needs but little change in point

of V iew to recognize the practical identity

l

o f this principle with the p o u sse e v i ta e

and 'la n vi ta l Of Bergson with which ,

every one is n o w familiar with the vital
,

impulse accepted as essential by some
biologists and with the energy assumed
,

by psycho analytic writers to be resident

-

in o ur instincts .

E verythin g which is real is self active -

.

and nothing except that which is real in

this sense exists fo r us at a ll unless as an ,

61
 H U MA N M OT IVES

abstraction Of the imagination T O this .

self activity must be accorded the same

-

pow er Of acti n g o n itself with which the

study o f electricity and magnetism has
made us all familiar But it should be
.

clearly recognized that these two ways in

which self activity expresses itself although
-
,

near enough alike to permit the use Of the

more familiar as a guide t o the understand
ing Of the less familiar are by n o means
,

identical S elf activity in its simplest

.
-
,

manifestation that is as constituting

,

the life o f nature is to be thought o f as

like a sequence Of tones ( discords it may ,

be 'which if taken by themselves are Of no

value but which may be conceived o f as
infused with the meaning o f the whole
musical composition Of which they are a
part O r again such simpler manifesta
.
, ,

tions might be compared to the rst out

line drawn by a great master and intended
to foreshadow his nished composition ; o r
t o the se lf active proposition o f the logician
-
,

62
 T HE RAT I ONAL B ASIS OF RE LIGI ON

which brings o ut through its spontaneous

life hidden possibilities Of meaning and Of
power .

S O rst expressing itself through phys

,

ical laws then through such forms o f

,

activity as are characteristic in the se

q u e n ce s Of the vegetable world and the
animal world a point is reached Of which
,

E merson speaks when he says '

And we ll the p ri m a l p i o ne e r
' ne w the stro ng t a sk t o i t a ssi g ne d ,

P a ti e nt th ro u gh H e a v e n s e n o rm o u s y e ar

T o build in m a tte r h o m e f o r m i nd
'

M ore and more as time goes o n it is

, ,

seen that the evidences o f apparent deter

minism in the world numerous as they are, ,

tend t o disappear The history Of man

.

kind and the history Of the individual alike

are histories o n the whole Of the grow th
, ,

Of freedom The stream is Often inter

.

rup t e d Often seems to take a backward

,

course ; but its main o w is onward ;

63
 HUMAN M OT IVES
Fo r He th a t worke th h i gh and wi se ,

N o r p a u se s in his pl an ,

Wi ll ta ke the sun o ut Of the sk ie s

E re free d o m o ut o f m an .

The universe is a self consistent whole

-
,

rational and free ever and eternally chang

,

ing in detail yet without losing its con

sistency with itself By the same right
.
,

we continue from week to week and from

year to y ear to call ourselves by the same
name to feel ourselves responsible for the
,

acts that as other persons we once did and

as other persons we shall do E ach frag .

ment o f the universe is living and by the ,

law in accordance with which life is self

division and creation and every element Of
that w hi ch creates p asses into the created ,

every particle o f the universe has a measure

o f freedom that is of choice O f this
, .

p ower o f choice evidence is to be seen

,

even in the lowest forms of organisms

known t o men But freedom cannot exist
.

without c onict and clash and through ,

64
 H UMAN MOT IVES
a nd g n ti n p ci lly by uch m n D ct W T H i
e e ra o es e a s e as o or . . a rr s,

P f R yc P f
ro e sso r B wn nd th o e, f lik t ding
ro e sso r o e, a o e rs o e s an .

I t i mp t nc h
s c tly b n p int d t f h by D ct
or a e a s re e n ee o e ou a re s o or

C J ' y P f
. . f M th m tic in C lum bi Uni
e se r,
ro e sso r O ity a e a s o a v e rs ,

in hi dd titl d Sci nc d R ligi n th R ti n l nd

s a re ss e n e

e e an e o , e a o a a

th S u p ti l
e e rra o na .

I thi nt iki g nd in pi i ng p p D ct ' y p int t

s s r n a s r a er o or e se r o s ou

th t hum n f culti
a o ur bl t f ll w qu c f ny nd
a a e s e na e us o o o se en es o a a

ever y t up t n ind t mi t d
so r c di g p i t B
o a e er na e a n e v e r-re e n o n . e

y nd y p int t which nit int llig nc l d

o e v er o o w d o ur e e e e ea s us, e n

o u l blig d t inf th i t nc f m thi g which t n

rse v e s o e o er e ex s e e o so e n ra

c d
s en p w f l gic l d iti n Th ugh c y in
s o ur o er o o a e n o . ro ne e ssa r

f f thi
e re nce s o tw c mp ll d t g t b y d th pictu bl
s so r e a re o e e o e e on e ra e

t th u np ictu bl w l d b y
o e d ti m d p c t
ra e l in nitor , e on e an s a e o a re a e,

a nd b y nd t h m nt l e p ti
o f l gic le t t m t l lif
e a O e ra o ns O o a so r o a en a e

t n c ding l gic Th i nt ti g dd cl with th t t

ra s e n o . e e re s n a re ss o se s e s a e

m nt th t i y c t g y wh th l w f ig w

e a n e v er a e or e re e a s o re a so n re n e

nd th t th g tp c a f I d li ti
e p i t l ft t m
re a ro e ss o ea za on o n s a o o so e

f m b th l w w d th t lik t h Cl f ll Cl
or a ov e e a s' e n a e e ass o a a sse s,

lik th J i t Ai m ti n f ll P p iti n lik th L gic l S m

e e o n r a o o a ro os o s, e e o a u

o f ll R l ti
a lik Omni ci c lik B uty b lut
e a o ns, e s en e, e ea a so e so ,

too , E t n lity O m i p t c Om ni p
er a c N c ity F t
, n o en e, re se n e , e e ss or a e,

Unc diti d F d m S lf d t mi ti P f ct Ju tic

on o ne ree o or e -
e er na o n, er e s e,

Uni l H m y th G d
v e rsa f G d F licity D i i
ar on , nd e oo ne ss o o , e v ne , a

m ny th
a up m i d l d up m p f cti n f ti l
o er s re e ea s a n s re e er e o s o ra o na

ex p i nc nd th ught
er e ll f th m f m
e a f B i ng b lut
o , a re a o e or s o e a so e,

c n ti tuti ng n O w l d
o s lm Sup ti n l
a v er or , a rea e rra o a .

To dbt e uch w l d w
a e the in di
it c
ex s en e

o f s a or e re a va s

p ut I n m e .
qui ck
so lu nd u t i n
e se nse , wh t a soe v e r e ns, res, a s s a s,

i t A pi ti n i n t m ck d R
ex s s . s un tt in bl i d l
ra o s o o e . ea so n s

a a a e ea s

a re th l i ght gi i ng E th
e f Li f Th in i th p ci u nd
- v er o e . e re s e re o s a

abi ding li ty f th O w l d rea o e v er or .

66
 CH A P TE R III

The P sycho-A na lytic M ovement

Of the t m o f me n s p a ssi o ns the cl ash

s or , of

the i r de e ds
I a m the so u l a nd the b re a th ,

T he we a v e r O f l if e s we b '

B irth and de a th ,

Fl o o d a nd e bb
T he p a tte rn gro ws
Life o ws a nd gl o ws
S O a t T i m e s ro a ri ng l o o m do m y shuttl e s we av e

M e n s l i v e s a s a g a rb fo r the Go d o f Lo v e

.

T he E arth S p iri t ,Fa u st Pa rt I, .

H IS chapter is intended to give a

more systematic account than has
thus far been attempted of the
p sycho analytic movement its aims its
-
, ,

accomplishments and the signicance for

,

the study Of human motives Of the re

pressed tendencies with which it d eals .

The psycho ana lytic movement may be

-

dened as an attemp t to make the facts

67
 HUMAN M OT IVES

and p rinciples discovered through the

analysis Of individual lives Of service in
the study o f race history and Of life in
general The p sycho a na lytic method is the
.
-

name given to the special means by which

the memory is aided to penetrate into the
forgotten portions o f one s life with the

view Of bringing to the light of clear co n

scio u sne ss the details Of emotional co n
ict s which in spite Of being out Of S ight
, ,

exert an inuence Often Of an unfavorable

,

sort o n the development Of character and

,

temperament as well as o n the motives

, ,

the habits and the thoughts The memory

, .

accomplishes this by passing from o n e t o

another o f a long series Of events related
to each other by ties Of the most varied
sorts and in doing S O it makes use Of the
, ,

aid furnished by inferential thinking and

utilizes the hints provided by vast treas
u rie s o f accumulated knowledge The aim .

is a practical o n e and the question is how

,

the p erson under investigation can best be

68

THE PSYCH O ANALYT IC MO VEME NT

helped t o gain a deeper and more int e lli

gent insight into his o wn life E very .

thought every emotion even is partly

, ,

rational partly an expression of feeling

, ,

and partly a manifestation o f will I f the .

element Of reason 1s accentuated the ele ,

ment o f emotion must p lay a part more in

harmony with reason This is education .

and leads to a gain in mental stability and

health The da ta that are needed must
.

be sought fo r at rst by burrow ing in the

dark closet Of one s mental life somewhat

as o ne digs fo r I ndian relics in an Old shell

heap ; that is by giving rein to one s
,

memory and one s power of thought and

,

encouraging it to go o n a voyage o f dis

c o v e ry without reference to what may be

discovered When found these
. relics
,

prove to be anything but inert facts O n .

the contrary they are very active agents

, ,

insistent o n their rights and difcult t o

subdue .

The starting p oints for such p roc esses

69
 H UMAN M OT IVES

of search into the unconscious life through ,

association are contr i buted by ideas that

,

come into the patient s mind as if acci
dentally o r that are furnished by dreams ,

which unimportant though they may seem

,

to be are really found whe n a na lyzed

,
1
, ,

to be based largely on fundamental e x p e ri

o f early childhood I n similar

e n ce s .

fashion conversations
, word association ,
-

tests indeed almost any material that the

,

patient s random non selective thoughts ,
-

may o ffer can serve as points o f depar

,

ture fo r these analyses .

H aving dened thus briey what psycho

analysis aims primarily t o do I beg leave , ,

before proceeding further to indicate the ,

position Of this important mo vement when

'

considered in relation to the other prin

c ip a l mode o f approach to the study of

human life and mot i ves w hich has been

mentioned in the preceding chapters .

I t i n t th d m t y
1
s o n t t ll it th t h
e re a thi
s or , as o e rs e s , a as s

signic nc but th d p lyi ng m m y c mpl

a e, e d wn ut
ee e r- e or o e x es ra o

by oci ti n
ass a o .

70

T HE PSYCH O ANALYT IC MOVE MENT

P rofessor S igmund Freud who has been,

the real li f e and soul o f this movement

from the beginning has stated and reiter
,

ated in clear terms tha t no generalizations

should be drawn from the data which the
method furnishes that are not fully j usti
e d by the clinical Observations H e has .

always asserted that he makes no claim

to have discovered anything like the sole
avenue t o the explanation of human life
and human conduct H e and his im m e di
.

ate followers have felt themselves to be

dealing merely with a well de ne d scie n -

t ic investigation
,
the study namely of , ,

a certain portion of the unconscious life ,

that portion which is made up Of emotions

which are unwelcome ( for social reasons '
and therefore repressed yet which are
, ,

longed for as sources o f enj oyment They .

have carefully avoided so far as this was

,

practicable the postulation of any denite

,

theological or philosophical opinions P sy .

cho analysts might reach what conclusions

-

71
 H UMAN M OT IVE S

th ey wished o n such points as these o r ,

any points though with the understanding

,

that if they found themselves impelled

to use methods o r assert principles that
were essentially incompatible with those
o n w hich Freud had based his denition

o f psycho analysis
-
they should no longer
,

designate their methods by that term I .

do n o t consider that this applies to the atti

tude I take because I accept Freud s de ni
,

tion and merely assert that psycho analytic -

doctrines like al l scientic doctrines are

,

valid only within certain denite li mi ts .

I t is truly re m arkable what a touchstone

has been p ut into o u r hands through this
signicant movement wherewith to dis ,

t ing uish real motives fro m the apparent

motives which overlie them and under , ,

neath the faults and failings the fears and ,

Obsessive habits Of adult life to trace the ,

workings Of the instincti ve cravings Of

imaginative pleasure seeking and pain
,
-
,

shunning infancy dragging back the adult

,

72
 H UMAN M OT IVES

The rst im p ulse to these investigations

came from D octor J Breuer o f Vienna who
.
,

had occasion in 188 1 to treat an in te lli

, ,

gent young woman su ffering fro m hysteria

in a serious form characterized by paralyses
,

and contractions and disorders Of speech ,

f o r which he tried in vain the usual means

Of cure With hi m was associated as
.
,

student and assistant S igmund Freud

, .

D octor B reuer found that the facts offered

by this patient in e xplanation of her ill
ness although they were freely furnished
,

and represented her entire history S O far

as her consciousness could give it consti ,

t u t e d only a fraction o f the story which in

the end her memory succeeded in drawing

from its depths U nder the inuence o f
.

a special method Of inquiry the history

,

was gradually recovered Of many e x p e ri

e nce s which had apparently been forgotten

and which proved to be Of an emotional

character connected w i th personal long
,

ings th at h a d not been gratied I n p ro

.

74
 THE
PSYCH O ANALYT IC M OVE MENT

p ortion as the barriers were thrown down

that separated the hidden portion Of the
patient s past from that o f which she had

remained consciously aware o ne and ,

another Of her distressing sympto ms

drop p ed away .

N O further investigations were under

taken for a number o f years ; but the
facts Observed had made a deep impres
sion u p on Freud and he meditated upon
,

them during a period o f ten years a part ,

Of which time he spent as a student Of

Charcot in P aris O n his return to Vienna
.
,

he urged B reuer to take up the matter

again and to utilize the striking results
,

Obtained in this case as a basis f o r investi

g a t io n s upon a larger scale A fter this .
,

fo r a time the t wo worked together later

, ,

Freud alone I n a recent review Of these

.

experiences and o f the subsequent history

o f the psycho analytic m ovement
-
Freud ,

points o ut that B reuer who was a much ,

Older man and a student o f general medi

75
 HUMAN M OT IVES

cine withdrew from the enterprise ( as the

,

former believes 'at a point when he became

half consciously aw are whither it was driving
o r rather that it was driving in a dire c
,

tion in which he did n o t care to go further .

Freud was then and has remained a

, ,

man Of keen insight and o f remarkable

,

honesty and fearlessness S pecial reasons

.

Of a p ersonal character had led him to

interest himself in the treatment Of ner
vous disorders and the study Of medicine
,

was the natural avenue t o that eld .

H aving once made his choice he found him ,

self captured and engrossed by the interest

o f this new movement which had impressed
,

him from the outset as o n e Of great impor

tance H e felt himself a pioneer in a new
.

country and under conscientious Obligation

,

to report without hesitation everything

, ,

that he found th ere exactly as he found it .

I n no other way can any pioneer explorer

full his Obligations to w ard mankind whose ,

unchosen representative he is .

76

T HE PSYCH O ANALYT IC M OVEMENT

O ne of the rst facts that forced itself

gradually more and more upon his notice
was that the childhood Of patients with
nervous symptoms is in an unexpected ,

degree and sense the parent Of their later

,

years ; and also that the symptoms w hich

many Of them present later form a sort of
hieroglyphic language in which their earlier
history is preserved H e learned to see
.

that the accounts w hich his patients gave

to explain the onset o f their illnesses had
by no means the signicance which they
p urported to have M ost o f these nervous
.

disorders come on either in p uberty ,

that is at the beginning Of one o f the great

,

crit ica l p e rio ds o f life or at a time w hen

,

the person concerned is subj ected to some

o n e o r another of the inevitable strains Of

p ersonal domestic o r social responsibi lity

, , .

This is no more true ho wever Of nervous

, ,

invalids than it is o f persons living the

ordinary life Of citizens in the community .

The long shadows Of coming responsibility ,

77
 HUMAN M OT IVE S

which begin to make their appearance

during adolescence the necessity virtual
, ,

if n o t actual Of thinking Of oneself as a

,

husband a wife a parent the acute o r

, , ,

prolonged strains o f increasing cares grow ,

ing anxiety coupled with the Obligation

,

to bear one s burdens to a great extent
alone , all these diE lcult ie s present o r ,

to come combine to accentuate any specic

,

tendencies to weakness Of whatever sort , .

But over and above these causes and as ,

furnishing a virtual preparation for them ,

there are to be found by careful searching

, ,

a series o f predispositions due partly to ,

the accentuation in infancy and child

,

hood Of particular traits and tendencies

,

o f temperament and character o r to the ,

establishment Of partial arrests Of develop

ment at certain points along the line o f
rapidly changing infancy and chi ldhood .

Thus are laid down what might be called

sp ecial lines o f least resistance .

From the individual himself a ll the

78

T HE PSYCH O ANALYTIC MOVE MENT

details o f this early history are hidden .

What he feels and what he tries to ward

Off is a sense Of distress which he often

recogni z es as a sense Of estrangement

from himself 1
What he does not recognize
.

is that in consequence of these temporary

inhibitions t o further progress that be
came established in infancy and early
childhood he became subj ect to special
,

forms of temptation which were thereafter

to be reckoned with When prevented .

from pushing forward toward the best

outcome the stream Of energy o f which
,

the individual is the expression occupies

channels which would otherwise have been
left un o o de d I n like fashion the child
.

who cannot enter into the life o f his school

companions nds some means of occupying
his wits and hands and thus Opens doors ,

for himself into modes o f gratication and

1
The b ing in th g p f
se nse of e e ras o so me ag ncy f ign t
e o re o

o neself which cc mp ni thi n

, a o a es s se se o f t ng m nt i th
es ra e e , s e

q ui l nt f th d m ni c p in nci nt

e va e o e e o ossess o o f th e a e s
.

79
 H U MAN MOT IVES

exc i tement to which he wi ll remai n only

t o o liable t o return.

I n his attempt to secure for himself

some measure o f relief from these feelings
of distress the individual now grown
, ,

older feels forced to explain them in some

,

manner which is consonant with his pre

v io us training and his theory o f life how
,

ever crude this theory may be N O per .

son can live happily in a world that seems

o ut o f relation to his thought ; and every
m an who feels himself surrounded by in u
e nce s that he cannot understand must per

f orce attem p t to seek some sort o f rational

e xp lanation which may have reference
,

only t o a particular situation or may in

,

volve though perhaps without his knowl

,

edge the framing Of some unifying theory

,

o f the universe, which under the cir

cum sta nce s is likely to be imperfect It .

i s as a p art Of the attempt to secure such

an e xplanation that the patient lays stress
o n this o r that fatigue this o r that partie
,

80
 H UMAN M OT IVE S

especial phase Of childhood it is now more ,

possible to state The later events Of life

.
,

in other words owe a large portion of their

,

power fo r harm to the fact that they repro

duce I n new shape o ld emotional excesses
, ,

and limitations o f childish form and child

,

ish substance Children love fairy stories

.

and love to invent them fo r themselves ;

and they Often g o o n still as children , ,

more mature in years but still immature

in fact ,telling themselves fairy stories to
the end o f time .

P erhaps through the accompanying set

o f gures it will be possible to gain a better

grasp Of this idea L et us suppose that

.

D represents ( by its wholly arbitrarily

chosen shape 'o ne o r another Of these later
experiences which is the apparent cause
Of some undesirable peculiarity o f character .

S uch assumed causes are illness Of some

.

sort losing one s possessions the death Of

,

,

a relative o r friend and S O o n , .

L et me say again that I do not d eny that

82

T HE PSYCH O ANALYT IC M OVE MEN T

events like these whose number is innite

, ,

m ay in this o r that particular case exert

a considerable share o f the inuence th at
has been ascribed to them All that I .

would afrm is that in everybody s his

tory the effect o f these la ter occurrences is

immensely accentuated if earlier e x p e ri
e n c e s o f an emotional sort have occurred

in infancy and early childhood strong ,

enough t o give a set to the patient sC

traits and w ith a su fci ently accurate

,

resemblance to the later experiences t o

have enabled the patient s instinct to utilize

the latter as means o f vaguely recalling

the f ormer .

I n the case suggested by the diagram ,

the gu res A B C and D although by no

, , , ,

means alike resemble o ne another in several

,

respects . Birds Of a feather ock to

gether in the mental as in the p hysical
world ; and if the experience A whi ch we ,

assume to have been one occurring durin g

the p las tic p eriod o f infanc y t ri vi al th ough
,

83
 H U MAN MOT IVE S

i t wou ld perhaps have seemed in the eyes

o f the adult was able to make a powerful
,

emotional impression at that

Th e Ad ul t
time it will seek to reproduce
,

itself later through B and C

and D and through a thou
,

sand more such B s and 0 s

and D s This tendency will

.

a l so be a much stronger o ne
if the emotional experience A
was wholly o r in part re
, ,

pressed a t the time Of its o c

currence o r soon after Fo r
, .

these repressed experiences

have a marvellous ability to
resist the inuence o f time .

The only part o f all this p ro

cess o f which the patient re
'

Th e Ch il d
tains conscious awareness may
o r lnf a nt
be a sense Of nameless distress ,

corresponding t o the conict between t wo

sets o f desires which he had felt I t is this
.

nameless d istress that forces him to adop t

84
 HUMAN M OT IVES

to conclude that only those persons suf

fer from these nervous disorders whose sex
emotions ( the word being taken in a sense
presently t o be dened ' are in some way
disturbed This state ment was at rst
.

o n e Of concomitance rather than Of cause .

But the causal signicance o f it became ,

as time went o n forced more and more

,

into the foreground Of discussion When .

One who is furnished with the information

that is n o w available looks back upon the
formative period Of these doctrines and
lays aside prej udice o f all sorts it seems ,

extraordinary that the generalization given

should have aroused the storm Of comment
that it did Fo r the persons whom Freud
.

studied were speaking broad ly persons

, ,

in whom the evidences of the emotional

life are alw ays prominent ; that is rst ,

Of all his patients then the great class Of

, ,

artists o f every form and sort painters , ,

scul ptors poets musicians writers o f c

, , ,

tion and rep resentatives O

, f reli gion an d
86

THE P SYCH O ANALYT IC M OVEMENT

philosophy Of certain typ es

, persons in ,

a word who have strong emotions which

,

they cannot express directly and so must

e x press indirectly
, as by symbols S tat
.

ing this in another way Freud and the

,

psycho analysts have but followed the lead

-

Of the innumerable writers o f romance ,

song and drama seeking only to carry

, ,

further and t o express in scientic terms

what these others had given utterance t o
in other fashions .

Freud has never asserted it as his opinion ,

and it certainly is n o t mine that this is the

,

only root from which artistic expression

springs O n the other hand it is probable
.

that all artistic productions are partly

referable to this source and a close exam
,

ina tio n Of many o f them would enable

any one t o j ustify the opinion that it is a
source which is largely drawn upon T O .

feel that in saying this I bring an unj ust

accusation against artists and those whose
exp res sion p artakes o f the artistic woul d
87
 HU MAN M OT IVES

be t o seriously misunderstand my mean

ing and the facts at issue We need not.
,

indeed conne ourselves to writers of

,

romance E very student o f folk lore and

.
-

the histories Of primitive races every ,

student Of evolution such as D arwin is

, ,

aware that reproduction forms an essen

tial part Of the duty o f every living thing ,

and that the preparations for it are multi

fold and vast to a degree innitely tran
scending o n e might think the actual
necessities Of the case I t is S O imperative
that plants and animals should provide
for the perpetuation Of their species that
they a d opt inconceivably subtle and varied
methods to bring this result about and to
make sure that it shall succeed I t is in .

this light that the whole matter should be

studied and no thinking person can remain
,

in ignorance o f the fact that a large pro

portion o f the conventions Of men s social

lives have among other things this end

, ,

in V i ew Around this great fun c tion o f

.

88
 HU MAN M OT IVES

O ne can readily see at the same time

, ,

how it hap p ened that people shrank so

strongly and so bitterly from accepting
Freud s aphoristic proposition and declined

utterly to treat his statements with the

respect they would have shown to a ny
other scientic generalization standing on
a similar f oundation Of Observation H ow
.

numerous and important are the conclu

sions that have been reached on data
gathered with less conscientiousness and
pains and less convincing than those which
he brought forward ' I ndeed one Of the
,

most interesting and important pieces of

evidence I n the case is the very fact of this
hostility ; and Freud tells us that he him
self a t rst shared in the repugnance and,

that he might never have reached the

conclusions he did reach had he not remem
bered certain strong opinions casually
dropped by several Of his teachers which
,

he was at rst inclined to disbelieve but

which retained a ho l d u p on his me m ory .

90

THE PSYCH O ANALYT IC MO VEMENT

The fact of the presence o f this resist

ance in people s minds is I repeat one o f , ,

the strongest reasons for believing that we

have here to deal with a set Of feelings that
are in the rst place intensely strong
, , ,

in the next place vigorously repressed ,

and in the third p lace preserved th rough

, ,

this very repression as furnishing a real

and desirable richness o f meaning to all
the acts of daily life in which personal rela
tio nship s are concerned and also as f urnish
,

ing a treasure house o f excitement on which

-

we can instincti vely draw even to an unde

,

sirable extent without making it appear

, ,

even to ourselves that this is being done

, .

The poet who stirs o ur emotions with

his recitals of deeds or thoughts t o which

the term excess might j ustiably be
applied has no realization that this excess
o n which he counts has its root in the re p re s

sions Of his sex e m otions I t is no t nece s

.

sary that he should become aware o f thi s

fa ct unless as a student in this eld But
,
.

91
 HUMAN M OT IVE S

on the other hand it is important that

,

those persons in society be they intelligent

,

laymen disinterested mothers o r educators

, , ,

w ho desire to form their opinions o n the

basis of a real knowledge Of human nature ,

should know all that they can o f the p rin

cip le s here at stake .

We Often hear it said that Fre ud and his

f ollowers have gone too far in classi
ca t io n s Of this sort and in the references
that they make to symbolizations Of innu
m e ra ble sorts . But it is forgotten or not ,

reali z ed that the use o f these sy m bo liz a

,

tions dates back fo r the most part to

periods so remote that their historical
origin is shrouded in deep mystery and , ,

o n the other hand , that the importance o f

the classication is n o t apparent until the
time comes when it must be used t o serve
some really practical end I repeat how .
,

ever that the striking fact is the attitude

,

o f hosti lity to the suggestion o f the validity

o f a classication such as this an attitude ,

92
 HUMAN M OT IVES

O n the other hand it has been an a cco m

,

p a n im e n t o f the growth o f the desire for a

fuller life Of the spirit and an immortality,

through which the p ains and sorro w s o f

this world should be shaken O o r left

behind S ome persons consider the body as

.

a cage a prison house and the home Of dust

,
-
,

and decay in which we are compelled t o live

but from which we should long and aspire
t o escape N eedless to say there are
.
,

still many religious sects the world over

among whom feelings o f this sort are
carried t o an unwarrantable point .

B ut the fact that has been overlooked

in all these tendencies is that when we are
dealing with human nature we are deal
ing with a power t o which we may for the ,

moment blind ourselves and that can be

, ,

m odied but cannot be obliterated .

I t is in seeking and nding eve r new -

outlets f or these repressed emotions that

adaptation O ften in inj urious forms takes
, ,

p lace.

94

THE P SYC H O ANALYTI C MOVEMEN T

I have called attention to the fact that

it is in the periods of infancy and early
childhood that the lines o f least resistance
are laid down traits and tendencies formed
, ,

and compromises adopted which the adult

needs only to follow later in order to nd
himself launched o n a path Of trouble ,

the source Of which is hidden even from

himself A ll that I can say o n this point
.
,

to which a volume might easily be devoted ,

must be condensed into a few paragraphs .

B ut it is so important that I cannot pass

it altogether by .

I f any one should imagine that it was

my intention to characterize the period
o f infancy and childhood as one o f gross

sensuality Of such a sort f o r example

, ,

as really to j ustify in a psychological sense

the term original S in which o ur fathers
,

used so freely to cover such facts as those

Of which I am about to speak he would
,

be very much mistaken O n the contrary

.
,

I feel myse lf entirely in sympathy with

95
 H U MAN M OT IVE S

the best that the poets Of childhood such ,

as Wordsworth have maintained E spe

, .

c ia l ly do I recognize the truth Of the state

ment made by Froebel with regard to the

play Of childhood which he characterizes
,

as a pure and spiritual activity typical ,

o f the inner natural life in man saying ,

o f it that it gives larger freedom and

contentment inner and outer rest peace
, ,

with the world . O ne o f the best o u t
comes o f o ur elaborate studies in philosophy
a nd p sychology in ethics and morals and
,

the art Of living would be the recovery

, ,

in a form penetrated through with self con -

scious recognition ,Of the glorious self

forgetting spontaneity the creativeness,

that knows no bounds the sense of com

,

ra de ship which com p etition only strength

ens the power Of passing without a

,

break from thought and fancy into act ,

the power of recognizing Obstacles and limi

t a t io ns as fences to be climbed in response
,

t o a c hallenge j oyfully acce p ted o f all

,

96
 H UMAN M OT IVE S

as sources Of possible ( and always personal '

gratication ; what wonder is it that the
young child should become an egoist as ,

he does '
Another striking fact about the infant
is that he comes into the world as the
i nheritor o f tendencies which had their
origin and usefulness in dark periods Of
his development Of which we know the
,

history only through the researches o f

biologists .

To pass hastily onward I would simply ,

state that in the child s next period he

comes in contact with persons that is with , ,

society , namely the society o f his mother

,

and his nurse The greatest real service

.

that such persons can render the young

child is to make Of themselves a bridge
over which he may pass into a broader
life B ut t o o often led thereto by their

.
,

Own selshness and ignorance their o wn ,

still living and active immaturity they ,

fail in this i mp ortant mission and let them

98
 THE
PSYCH O ANALYT IC M OVEMEN T

selves become of too much importance

to the child in and fo r themselves .

I will summarize in brief by pointing

, ,

o ut that childhood consecrate it and admire

,

it as we may corresponds to the period

,

Of immaturity O f the race I t is the .

U nshapen L and o f the G reeks the home ,

Of fantasies Of power and longi ng .

O ne cannot t o o much admire the myth

o f H ercules ( whose stre n gth it should be ,

noted lay no t in his muscles but in his

,

reason and his will' who strangled when ,

an infant in his cradle the serpents sent ,

against him by the envious Juno The .

serpent as most people are aware re p re

, ,

sents two things ' temptat i on as in the ,

G arden Of E den and wisdom as when it

, ,

is made to symbol i z e the physician s power

o f healing I t is wholly within the accepted

.

interpretation O f primitive customs and

mythology for us to assert as a meani n g ,

if not the meani ng o f this story that

, ,

H ercules in strangling these se rpents sym

, ,

99
 HUMAN M OT IVES

bolize d the overcoming o f temptation on

the one hand and the gaining of wisdom
and O f force Of character on the other .

I t will be remembered for example that

, ,

among o u r o wn I ndians the strength and

courage Of the conquered enemy are sup
posed to pass into the soul of the warrior
by whom he has been vanquished .

I t is needless to say that I appreciate ,

as well as any one that most children are

,

preserved from wandering very far into

the blind alleys Of self assertion and o f
-

self indulgence
-
.S ome distance they must
wander and some Obstacles they must
,

conquer I t is well fo r them that they

.

have these Obstacles to face ; it is well also

that the Obstacles are not greater But .

the duty devolves o n those who guard

and guide their footsteps to see that they
learn n o t t o disguise and repress their pur
poses and do not go too far astray
, .

The subject o f repression should be

sufciently intelligible in its main outlines
100
 HUMAN M OT IVES

sense o f that word o r which lie fo r the

,

moment outside the circle Of his conscious

attention is o f course very large ; but the
, ,

interest o f the unconscious for the psycho

analyst lies not alone in this fact but as ,

much and more in the fact of the energetic

p art which these groups of repressed and
organized emotions continue to play on ,

which we turn our ha cks for the distinct

reason that they have an interest for us
and yet are felt to be o ut o f harmony with
the main purposes Of our conscious lives .

I f looked at in this way it might be said

,

that these repressed emotions carefully ,

concealed from us though they are lie ,

really near the surface o f our minds We .

close our eyes to them indeed but can nd

, ,

them if we are willing and have taught

, ,

ourselves to look for them S hould we

, .

look for them and should we endeavor t o

,

break down the resistances within o u r mi nds

that p rompt us not to do so ' This ques
tion is answered by di e re nt sorts o f p eop le
'

102
 THE
P SYCH O ANALYT IC MOVE MENT

in two di e re nt ways S ome p ersons feel

.

that their repressions are natural and useful ,

and that instead of trying to reveal their

troublesome emotions to themselves they
should turn away from them and devote
themselves to some work o f usefulness in
the community SO widely do circum
.

stances vary that there is no general rule

to give ; and I have indeed studiously , ,

avoided going deeply into any medical or

therapeutical argument Two things how .
,

ever I will say The rst i s that a per

, .

so n reaps no benet from claimi ng that

the tendencies which he dep recates are

not his o wn that he is not responsible for
,

his unconscious thoughts I n my opinion .

this is o ne of the numerous reactions o f

defense and o ne of an Obj ectionable kind
,
.

What do we gain and what does the world

,

gain either the world of science o r the

,

world of social life through such a refusal

,

o n the part o f any o ne t o make himself

resp onsible fo r what is really a p ortion o f

103
 HUMAN M OT IVE S

himself ' I t is not so much a question Of

who is responsible for these repressed
emotions as it is of the fact that they are
playing an important part in o ur lives
and in the community and that we are the
,

only persons who can take charge Of them .

I t is a matter Of choice with each person

h o w far he will agree to accept the re
S ponsibility for his unconscious thoughts .

H e need not do S O if he feels that his real

welfare is best served by keeping them
concealed and ignoring their existence
.

and if he is n o t hampered by a haunting

consciousness o f their presence H e does
.

himself no indignity o n the other hand

, ,

if he chooses to consider and study their

nature and to lay the ghosts Of his fears
and desires by meeting them face to face .

T O do t hi s is usually t o nd that they

indicate the presence Of tendencies which
are natural but which need to be under
stood respected and controlled
, , .

104
 H UMAN M OT IVES

doctor and patient and cannot be used

,

except o n a relatively small scale If .

anything more extensive is to be aecom

p l ish e d this can be done only through the ,

voluntary e o rt s of intelligent and inter

'

e st e d persons wh o are willing to study at

once themselves and those under their

charge and to restrain within modest limits
,

their expectations Of denite results .

N either teachers nor parents can make

themselves psycho analysts without a spe
-

cia l t raining
. What they can do is to recog
ni z e what the essential aims Of the psycho
analytic method are and to what i t s suc
,

cess is mainly due ; and then to make

themselves masters Of a few o f the prin
cip le s which its use has emphasized and
,

to consider in what w ay these principles

can be applied t o children at large in the
,

schoolroom and at home .

The aim Of the psycho analytic method

-
,

as used in medical prac tice is t o bring

,

the whol e mass o f thoughts an d emotions

106
 E DUCATI ONAL B EAR INGS

which are actively inuencing the motives

and the conduct of a patient under the
control o f his conscious will R ecognizing
.

the fact that these emotions have had no

adequate out let and are o ut o f harmony
with the main body of the motives which the
patient as a member o f society a ckn o wl
, ,

edges as his Own the p hysician helps him

,

to nd an outlet for them in speech and ,

to discover in this way a means Of recon

ciliation between them and himse lf .

The patient is encouraged to give the

fullest expression to his thoughts and t o , ,

this end to place himself successively and

, ,

repeatedly and by the aid o f memory and

imagination in the various situations rep
,

resenting the deeper layers Of his present

ideas and emotions and those Of his youth
and so far as possible of his childh ood
, ,

and his infancy These deep going con

.
-

v e rsa t io n s are the equivalent in aim of

, ,

those which every j udicious mother and

teacher gladly encourage child and pup il to
107
 H UMAN MOT IVE S

carry o n S O far as circumstances may

,

p ermi t The sole purpose in undertaking

.

them in the case o f the physician and

,

his patient is to aid the latter to dene

,

the conicts which harass him and to nd

that the si gnicance o f these conicts shifts
as he transfers them on to higher levels
and brings them within the reach o f a
wider knowledge and a broader and more
generous outlook .

A conict thus transferred to a higher

level is a conict largely solved ; but in
order that its expression o n this level
should be reached an appreciative hear
,

ing must rst be accorded t o it o n a level

that corresponds to the fantasy weaving -

days Of childhood when the real world was

,

o f a very di e re n t sort from any with which

the adult in his ignorance Of himself is

, ,

still familiar S tevenson has lighted up

.

a small fragment Of this situation in his

story The L antern Bearers
, H e makes
.

many a reader thrill with symp athy for

1 08
 H UMAN M OT IVE S

to understand the child s gropings or a t ,

the least not to stie or check his inquiries ,

whatever direction they may take 1

The .

essential thing is that the child should be

given the best possible chance to show all
that he has in him Of understanding o f , ,

p oetry Of personal power and that these

, ,

forces should be led gradually into the

channels of broader social ends H e should .

neither be attered nor too much per ,

sua de d nor too much indulged no r too

, ,

much dominated I f conformity is de .

m a nde d in lesser matters as it must be , ,

care should be taken that it does not make

itself felt as a controlling inuence through
2
o ut .

1
I c d t th c f ul di ng f ll duc t
re o mm e n o n d e a re rea o a e a ors a a

mi bl b k Th I ndi i d u l D li qu nt by Willi m H ly

ra e oo , e v a e n e , a ea ,

wh w k in c nn cti n wi th th Ju nil C u t f Chic g i

o se or o e o e ve e o r o a o s

w ll kn wn
e o .

2
I t i t u th t ci ty h t n n c nf mi t but th t d ncy
s r e a so e a es a o - o or s , e en e

t
o ac e c p t thi ttitu d h l d b g d d with u p ici
s a E ch
e s ou e re ar e s s on . a

in di i du l m y b i d t b u u d d with in i ibl n t
v a a e sa o e s rro n e an v s e e .

S l ng
o o h c nf m h d
as n t f
e l th t ; but l t him t y
o or s, e oe s o ee e ne e r

t b
o k w y f m c nf mity nd h nd him lf p i n
rea a a ro o or , a e s se a r so er .

Thi itu ti n i h w
s s a m o ubtl nd m int ting th n
s, o e v e r, o re s e a o re e res a

110
 ED U CAT I ONAL B EARINGS

A bove all the possib i lity shou ld be

,

recognized by parents and teachers that

t o indulge o r t o domi nate a child Often

means only to seek an outlet fo r one s o wn

desires .

I t is no doubt true that there is a cer

tain danger Of over doing intimate co n -

v e rsa tio n s with children j ust as there is ,

danger attaching t o almost every powerful

inuence S O long as free talking means
.

continuous progress and especially S O long ,

as it is found to lead to a greater sense o f

freedom and happiness to an increased ,

p articipation in the child s companionship

its e ffect may j ustly be estimated as bene

cia l I f the time arrives when the desire
.

to talk becomes a source Of undue excite

ment o r morbid gratication on the child s

part it should be regarded as the con

,

theillu t ti n w ul d ugg t A c t in m unt f n n n

s ra o o s es . er a a o
'

o o -co

f mi ty i p mi tt d th t w m y h th n f b i g f
or s er e , so a e a ave e se se o e n re e .

D c i d i thi w y m y p n f il t
e e ve n s li t wh t t t
a , an e rso s a o rea ze o a ex e n

be c ove e td and is a t mp t ti
e a on to be s hunn d e .

111
 H UMAN M OT IVE S

d i tion calling for careful consideration o n

its own merits .

The criterion o f willingness o n the part

o f the child to recognize himself as a social

being whether in play o r work is Of the

, ,

highest value I t is the community which

.

is the unit not the individual regarded as

,

alone E ven the most misanthropic the

.
,

most shy self cons cious and unsociable or

,
-
,

a sociable Of persons virtually recognizes

-

this truth T O social life of some sort the

.

a e ct io n and devotion of the parent should

be the avenue and the bridge .

I am not dealing here however with , ,

the innumerable troubles and dangers to

which children are exposed but am only ,

suggesting measures which all thoughtful

and intelligent parents can protably use
with a view to keeping their children from
f orming to o strongly the repression habit .

Any emotional excess carries with it a

c er tain danger and yet no development can
,

be i deal . E very decision involves cutting

1 12
 HUMAN M OT IVES

on the act itself the result may be that

the underlying tendency passes uncorrected
and shows itself in some n e w form The .

ancient myth Of the O ld M an Of the S ea

may protably be recalled in this connec
tion as I llustrating h o w fertile a dominant
,

tendency may show itself in the invention

o f ever new manifestations Of itself . H er
cules in this instance who had the inte lli
, ,

gence to see through these diversities o f

form to the motive that underlay them ,

may serve as the representative Of the in

t e llige nt parent o r teacher who does not

allow his imagination to be carried away

too easily with the idea that because he
has induced the child to repress some o u t
ward habit he has necessarily aided him
thereby to overcome the self indulgent
-

motive Of which the habit was only one

exp ression .

The next question that arises is as to

the mental qualications Of the parent o r
the teacher t o serve as instructor o f the
114
 EDUCAT I ONAL B EARINGS

child I believe that in preparation fo r

.

this task they could and should scrutini z e

carefully their o wn unconscious tendencies
and motives In making this attempt
.

they should determine to avoid the pitfall

of self depreciation and self reproach
- -
,

a habit w hich is exceedingly enticing be

cause it can mask itself as a rational
acknowledgment o f error whereas it is in
,

reality little else than a form Of egotism .

The intelligent commander wishin g to push

forward against an enemy that he fears
does not p ause long to d w ell upon his mi s
takes ; and yet he makes himself aware o f
them What is needed by most peop le
.

is more knowledge of the possibi lities ,

capacities and dangers which lie about the

,

pathways of their children and themselves ;

but the habit o f passing j udgments and
forming moral estimates is more likely t o
hamper than t o help O n the other hand
.
,

any one may pro p erly feel at liberty t o

view with susp icion emotional excess in
1 15
 HU MAN MOT IVE S

e very form E ach individual must dec i d e

.
,

with reference to a given case what form he ,

will let his feelings take but should prepare ,

himself to discover that an over strong

emotion of o n e sort is pretty certain t o be
counterbalanced by some opposing ten
deney Of which he is unaware The wisest .

person is he who can clearly see both these

antagonistic tendencies B ut it is o f some .

value to know that they are there and ,

strengthened by that knowledge t o march

forward toward the performance o f o ur
tasks lled with sympathy for o u r neigh
,

bors and lled too with the strong desire

, , ,

to do o ur best for the welfare Of the co m

munity .

There is a tendency among physicians and

teachers to make their personal inuence
over their patients o r pupils count as t o o
strong a factor They do n o t su fciently
.

realize in doing this that the ultimate

, ,

result may be to diminish the latter s sense
o f in d e p endence I emp hasi z e this p oin t
.

116
 HUMAN M OT IVE S

te ristics should be thought o f as always

p resent although usually concealed and ,

there is n o suicie nt reason why o n e per

son should plume himself o n the absence
of these traits o r why another should
blame himself because he has them M en.

tal good health is more clearly evidenced

by the desire to learn h o w best t o deal with
the qualities o f which we nd ourselves in
charge than in xing the gaze o n the re
sp e ct s in which we seem t o be superior .

I t might be said that all men warm their

hands at the re where some get burned ,

the re namely o f emotional excitement

, ,

and repression , and we should not hesi

tate to admit this fact .

The true relationship between sick

ness and health from the particular
,

point o f view here under consideration ,

becomes much clearer when the fact is

borne in mind that the sym p toms o f
disease in general are to be thought Of as
in part the signs o f reactions O f a normal
118
 EDUCAT I ONAL B EARINGS

s ort D isease is often p op ularly considere d

.

as nothing but a visitation a misfortune , ,

t o be recovered from if possible and other

wise t o be endured with such fortitude as
o ne can muster With increasing knowl
edge Of pathological processes it became
evident however many years ago that a
, , ,

good many o f the phenomena even o f ,

bodily disease could be better classied

,

as phenomena o f health R eactions o f .

this sort ( that is healthy responses o n the

,

part Of the organism to the challenge o f

di fculty' are always to be discovered if
o ne looks for them N ature is always
.

active and j ust as surely as water seeks

,

everywhere its level o r as melted wa x

accommodates itself t o rough surfaces so
does this tendency toward the establish
ment o f new equilibriums S how itself even ,

from the moment when the forces o f de

struction set about their work The results .

o f these reactions are interesting and in

stru ctive from the scienti c stand p oin t ,

119
 HUMAN M OT IVES

but not invari ably satisfactory from the

standpoint o f the individual regarded as
a member o f society Compensation Often
.
,

times so useful may pass into over com

,
-

p e n sa t io n Of a harmful sort W e must be .

prepared in any case to see a very di e r

, ,

ent result from that which our narrow

experience had led us to expect I n our .

dread Of responsibility and Of getting far

from goal we ofte n underrate the re
sources Of nature a nd Of ourselves and in ,

stinc tiv e ly repel every change even if for

a gain But no gain comes without sacri

.

ce and E merson shows himse lf t o be a

,

sound observer in sayi ng

When good is near y o u when you have ,

life in yourself it is n o t by any known or

,

accustomed way ; y o u S hall not discern

the footprints Of any other ; y o u shall not
see the face Of man ; y o u shall no t hear
any name ;
. the way the thought the, ,

good shall be wholly strange and new

, .

I rst learned the propriety Of thus

l ooking u p on disease as a rea c tion an d
12 0
 HUMAN M OT IVES

has befallen him and seems to open a new

vista into a distressing future But let .

the Observer think himself more accurately

into the situation endeavoring from the
,

standpoint Of scientic appreciation to

look deeply into the process going o n within

the patient s mind and brain and it will ,

be seen that behind all this j argon s p eech

there lies a genuine effort to nd means
of adequate expression and that forces,

are at work in him which tend on the ,

whole toward the recovery of a relatively

,

stable equilibrium What we then as

.
, ,

students Of scientic truth desiring to ,

become familiar with the resources of

life at its best should let ourselves be most
,

impressed with is not the signs Of diso r

,

g a n iz a t io n in such a p atient s case

but the ,

S igns o f a healthy power and determina

tion o n the part o f the elemental forces Of

his being t o nd some new means Of read
j ustment These elemental forces should be
.

reinf orced by insight intelligence and w ill

, , .

122
 EDUCAT I ONAL B EARINGS
Fe a r no t the n th o u chi ld inrm
, ,

The re s no god da re wro ng a wo rm ;

Laure l cro wns cl e a v e t o de se rts

,

And p o we r t o h i m who p o we r e x e rt s .

H a st no t thy sha re ' On winge d fe e t ,

LO i t ru she s the e t o mee t ;

And a ll tha t Na tu re m a de thy Own ,

Fl o a ting in a ir o r pe nt in sto ne,

Wi ll ri v e the hill s and swi m the se a ,

And l i k e t hy sha do w foll o w the e
, , .

I f o ne compares a series o f these re a c

tions di e ring from each other in com
,

p l e x it
,y it will be found possible after ex ,

tending the list somewhat a t each end t o ,

Obtain a fresh and striking illustration

o f one Of the main theses of this book .

The p rincipal forms Of reaction thus

far considered have been those involving
biological and pathological processes rather ,

than those of the mental life I n order .

to bring out clearly however the idea that

, ,

I have in mind I will call to the attention

,

o f the reader that there are other forms

of resp onse whi ch are charac teristic o f

123
 H U MAN MOT IVE S

certain p rocesses Of nature that do not

involve organic life at all and yet which ,

simulate reactions Of organic life S ome .

Of the phenomena relating to the repair Of

inj ured crystals are Of this sort and there ,

are others which S how perhaps even more

strikingly than this that tendencies exist
,

which cause even the inorganic world to

react in a quasi purposive manner t o dis
-

t u rba nce s o f its equili brium I n the case .

Of the crystals no matter what the injury

,

may be the outcome o f these responses is

, ,

under favorable conditions restoratio n o f

the damaged structure t o its original form .

N o t only this but chemists and physi

,

cists have shown that a closer relationship

1

than has usually been recognized exists

between natural phenomena and the higher
needs o f organic life The earth s crust .

,

it would appear was prepared for the

,

coming of beings Of the typ e and with the

requirements o f man .

L J H nd Fitn f E n ir nm nt
1
. . e n e rso ' ess o v o e .

12 4
 HUMAN M OT IVES

nervous symptoms di e r in no essential

respect from a large group o f other phe

nomena which would ordinarily be classied
as temperamental traits ; and for the sake
Of making the comparison seem more
reasonable we will assume that reference is
,

here made to traits which cause annoyance

t o those possessing them o r interfere with
,

their happiness and their usefulness as

members o f society The generalizations
o f Hu ghlin g s J ackson were cited mainly

to S how that the concep tions with refer

ence t o disease which we employ t o serve
o ur daily needs are misleading when they

are adopted as the basis o f a sci entic classi

ca t io n
. I make this statement here again
in the hope that by o ffering a somewhat
more scientic explanation o f these traits
and symptoms I can make it easier fo r
those who are hampered by them to deal
with them to better purpose I t is an im
.

portant fact that the elemental pleasure ,

l oving tendencies of o ur nature which are

,

12 6
 EDUCAT I ONAL B EAR INGS

always prominent in childhood continue,

to make themselves felt in later years ,

though without co mi ng clearly to o ur

consciousness At the same time every
.

o n e is under the necessity o f conforming

to social conventions and to the demands

,

Of conscience which broadly speaking is Of

, ,

social origin S uch being the case let us

.
,

assume that a child in consequence Of con

,

ict s within his mind oc curring as the result

o f temptations not necessarily very 1m
portant from the adult standpoint ac

quires the habit Of anxiety G roping for

.

means t o free himself from th is state he ,

instinctively refers this anxiety to some

special cause ; and thus is developed o ne o r
another o r a series Of the meaningless
, ,

fears o f which every o ne has heard and

which most persons have experienced .

The point to w hich I desire to call

attention is that t o thus shift the burden
o f the an xi ety from its unkn own origin
t o an app arently reasonable cause which is
12 7
 H U MAN MOT IV E S

no t i n fact the real cause is a sort o f ,

resp onse which in a sense rep resents a

gain.
3
Wholly incap able o f arguing o ut
the whole process in his mind the child ,

feels the original strain Of the conict as

something from which he seeks relief B y .

dint o f what we will now s p eak o f as a

reaction ( casting aside the mi sleading name
of he states the p roblem t o
himself in a form which has at least the
app earance Of rationality no t reali z ing that
,

in his symptoms his rep resse d e m ot i ons are

p resent in disguise .

L ooking at the matter in this way we ,

can see that the reaction as a whole while ,

i t induces a result which in i tse l f is unde

sirable and o ne for which those who desire
,

t o hel p the child would gladly substitute

a better outcome brings with it an adjust
,

ment which i f his unconscious mind had

,

the p ower to express itself would be recog,

niz e d as benecial The number o f p os

.

sib l e reac t ions o f this kind is almost inde

12 8
 HU M AN M OT IVES

unsatisfactory benet is obtainable th rough

them . I f therefore we choose to place
, ,

ourselves in an attitude o f responsibility

toward o ur mental p rocesses the terms ,

desire and gain as applying to these
symptoms o r reactions seem no t wholly
o u t o f place .

This same statement may be made o f a

large proportion o f o ur common symptoms ,

as well as Of the Obj ectionable traits and

tendencies o f emotion in general There .

is something in the person so reacting that

welcomes the result even if the person as
,

a whole would gladly have rej ected it .

Finally we come to the highest reactions

,

Of all , those which every o ne would

recognize to be in harmony with his best
p urp oses a nd will and would wish to make
habitual They involve self sa crice and
.
-

a postponement Of narrower and more per

sonal desires in the interests o f the larger
social whole o f which each individual is a
m ember and a re p resentative .

130
 EDUCAT I ONAL B EAR INGS

If no w we glance once more over thi s

, ,

whole series o f reactions what shall we

,

consider as their nature ' I t is impossible

to regard some Of them as of o ne origin
and the rest as o f a wholly different sort ,

without denying the unity Of nature I f .

the simpler reac tions are determined by

some inuence Of which a physical o r a
chemical phenomenon is usually t o be
regarded as the typ e have we a right to
,

classify the rest even those which have

,

here been denominated as highest in the

,

same category ' O n the other hand shall

,

we follow the reverse p rocess and regard

the whole series as in some sense per

sonal ' I have said enough to indicate
that my j udgment is in favor Of th e latter
choice ; and I call attention t o the fact
that a number Of eminent students o f
evolution have pointed o ut that the law
O f the survival o f the ttest no longer
see ms to a o rd an adequate explanation

o f conduct th e moment we p ass from th e

131
 HUMAN M OT IVES

consideration o f the acts o f animals lower

in the scale than man to the motives and
the acts o f man himself .

Treatment by psycho analysis in brief

-
, ,

is a kind o f education The largest part

.

Of the benet to be derived from it is to

be Obtained not so much through the dis

c o v e ry Of the special hidden cause or causes

of this o r that particular symptom as ,

through the general development Of char

acter that goes o n gradually as a result
Of the removal Of the inhibitions by which
this development which is part o f the nor
mal birthright of every individual had
been hitherto obstructed I t is sometimes
.

tempting for the sake Of a striking simile

, ,

to recall to o neself the story Of the Frog

P rince o r some kindred fairy tale or myth -
,

as hinting a t the possibility Of a sudden

change o f temperament in the desired di re c

tion B ut although the simile is a sound

.

o n e if rightly used , a fairer illustration of

the course o f improvement in most cases
1 32
 CH A P TE R V

I nstincts a nd I de a ls

P R E SE N T in this chap ter two dia

grams and a table which are intended
to exp lain as if seen from a new
,

angle some o f the p rinciples asserted in

,

the foregoing pages together with certain

,

others that have not as yet been O e re d .

The rst two gures should be understood

S imply as i llustrating the doctrine that
both Of the two forms o f inuence so fre
quently referred to make themselves felt

at every point in a person s life and play
their respective parts in the determi nation
o f all his acts
.

Figure I represents the view that a man s

ideal possibilities are implicitly and infer

e nt ia lly present ( o r immanent ' in all
that he is and does throughout his life .

134
 IN S TINC TS AN D IDEALS

Th ese i deal possibilities are active in pro

p ortion to the degree that the individual
life con f orms t o the type Of the universe
li fe and are therefore more e e ctiv e accord
,

ing as the individual is more really mature ;

but it is suggested that they e xist as real
forces even in earliest infancy .

M at u rit y

FI G . I . F I G 11
. .

Figure II S hows that the converse is

true Of a man s tendency to adap tation

and compromise This tendency also is .

p resent throughout life but is greater or ,

less according as immaturity is greater or

less .

The most real thing about a man

may be dened I think as the creative
, ,

135
 HUMAN M OT IVES

spirit which is immanent in him and

without which he cannot do his best .

This immanent creative energy I have

,

indicated in Figure I by the mathematical

S ign Of innity .

Taken at their face value these gures

,

might seem to imply a belief on my part

that the inuence which I have designated

as man s immanent ideal is felt more in
later life than it is in infancy and that the
,

reverse is true o f the i nuences which a t

tend the necessity Of dealing with the
repressed emotions and their consequences .

S uch an assertion as this would be only

relatively true however and if it had
, ,

been convenient I should have avoided

altogether by the use o f di fferent colors
, ,

the implication given through the heavier

and lighter shading The idea presented
.

has been brought forward in earlier pages ,

and seems indeed S imple enough But .

it is n o t usually accepted t o the e x tent

that I believe it should be .

136
 HUMAN M OT IVES

t ree s life is certainly not to be considered
as apart from the creative energy that
made that tree possible and might create
others o f like sort I n each and every
.

p articular animal o r plant the creative

energy Of the corresponding species is

certainly immanent ; and if we had the
pers p icacity to see it we should undoubt
e dly nd some S I gn some anatomical mark
,

even in each part o f such an organism at

, ,

each moment o f its development in which ,

its entire history would be hinted at or

foreshadowed This is a proposition which
.

the microscope cannot demonstrate as true .

B ut when one looks at a fern in the early

summer and nds at its root the prepara
tion for the new ferns o f the next year ,

it seems impossible to doubt that one is

in the presence o f a tendency which could
be traced much further .

Figures I and II as I have said ill us

, ,

trate the same principle but in Figure II

,

the a pp lication o f the princi p le is reversed .

138
 INST INC TS AND IDEALS

AS the better is immanent in the less

good and as a man s best possibi lities
,

exert an inuence even while the necessity

fo r adaptation and compromise seems pres
ent so the necessity for adaptation and
,

compro mi se extends throughout his life

and makes its inuence felt in modifying
even the most constructive acts and
thoughts .

O ne illustration will be s ufcient at this

p oint though many others will be found
,

scattered through the book I take it .

from the great subj ect Of love parent ,

alike o f good and harm The best that

.

this magic word implies corresponds t o

the best possibilities Of man s nature .

B ut the great and sacred word may be

used like the ag Of an honorable nation
hoisted over a pirate s ship T O be genuine

.

and at its best the love for another person

,

S hould mean the desire to do for that per

son the best that coul d be done or to ,

arouse in him th e best that he is capable

139
 HUMAN M OT IVES

of exp ressing I t aims to induce in the

.

p erson loved somethi ng Of the same sense

Of freedom and unselsh devotion by which
it is itself inspired .A close inspection
Ofte n reveals the fact that even when love
f o r another see m s most warm the dominant
impulse may be a p assiona te love o f self .

This admixture should be recognized a nd

the misplaced energy gradually diverted to
a better channel But the situation should
.

no t be complicated through the intro du c

tion o f self de p reciation which leads to no

-
,

good out com e .

14 0
 H UMAN M OT IVE S

This table aims to make easier Of com '

p rehension some o f the different stages

through which every person must pass in
the course o f hi s j ourney from the period
Of birth and more especially from the time
,

when as a child he begins to eat Of the

Tree o f ' nowledge Of G ood and E vil u p ,

t o the later period when by the aid o f

,

e xp erience well utilized he reaches the

,

summit o f his possibilities A lthough in

.
,

general terms this j ourney is spoken Of

,

as the passage from youth to mature life ,

it would be better characteri z ed in a ,

psychological sense as a passage from a

,

virtual immaturity to a virtual maturity .

Fo r maturity does not necessarily imply

fullness o f years ; nor is fullness o f years
capable by itself o f eliminating immaturity .

I t seemed to me impossible to represent

in a diagram the interpenetrati on and
coalescence which characterize the di ff erent
qualities suggested in the table S tudents.

o f p sychology know well that into each

142
 INST INCT S AND ID EALS

act and thought o f a given moment the

whole past experience Of the actor o r the
thinker enters But o ne may go further
.

than this and assert as I have endeavored

,

to make clear that in a certain sense the

,

possibilities Of the future are foreshadowed

in the occurrences o f the present .

I t is also impossible to indicate by the

table the fact that the deno mi nations used
are intended to be suggestive only and ,

that their signicance changes with the

changing circumstances Of a given case .

S elf assertion and egoism for example are

-
, ,

o f value if thought Of not as a nal state

,

but as bridges o r ste pp ing stones toward -

some better outcome S elf assertion and .

-

egoism may however be only euphe mi sms

, ,

fo r overbearing domination the narrown ess ,

which robs sympathy Of its best attributes ,

and thoughtlessness po inting to w ard

cruelty E ach o ne o f these Obj ectionable
.

qualities may be hidden ( through re p re s

sion ' though its p resence in the unco n
,

14 3
 H U MAN M OT IVE S

s c i ous m ind may be hinted at through the

outward display o f its opposite j ust as ,

love and hate fear and desire etc form

, , .
,

natural couples only o ne half o f which

,

is manifested externally M ore common .

than this is the situation in which self

assertion limits progress as seen in the case,

O f the wife o f the clergyman in The S er

vant in the H ouse and in the narrow
,

attitudes o f re ligious sects sometimes pass ,

ing into a latitudinarianism which i n its

turn runs the danger o f sinking into
,

i ndifferentism .

I t is unnecessary to say more about the

c ontrast between disinterested love and
p assionate o r self love B ut a word may
-
.

be added about the contrast which this

tabular view points out between the power
o f imagination and fantasy in its di e re n t

forms O ne Often hears it said that the

.

imagination so vivid in the child but

, ,

p resent at all ages is one o f man s m ost

,

s p l endid attributes And so it is in so

.
,

14 4
 HUMAN M OT IVES

of gratication only the same imagined ,

tragedies clothed in the garments which

,

the real fears o f adult life have woven ,

form companions o f a very different sort .

The better use Of the imagination is

that Of serving to illuminate the dark and

dull places of one s life and Of giving clues
to the investigating power o f reason I t .

is with the repression into the subconscious

life Of the fantasies Of immature type that
their p otency fo r harm begins .

I n the passage from the narrow life o f

immaturity egoism passion craving and
, , , ,

self assertion
-
cultivated in and for them
selves to the disinterested life which it

is every one s birthright to enj oy there are ,

many intermediate goals some Of which ,

might count virtually as the nal goal I .

have attempted in the table to indicate

, ,

the value o f some Of these results by ,

G
speaking o f genuineness as in art , ,

science and occupations of all sorts The

, .

che mi st working p erhaps unseen and un

, ,

14 6
 INST INC TS AND IDEALS

known i n his laboratory but with the rest ,

of mankind inferentially and virtually

p resent in his mind is in reality doing con
,

struct iv e ly social w ork o f a high order .

S o t o o there are persons who do no t p ro

, ,

fess religion many indeed who may

,

avowedly discard religion in the ordinary

sense yet who are m oving even in so
, ,

doing toward a life Of ideal usefuln ess in

, ,

the same sense that this is true Of persons

o f the A bou Ben A dhem type I w ould .

only urge that such workers mi ght p ro t

ably go o ne step further th an they do ,

and become the conscious and out spoken -

advocates Of the pri nc i ples whi ch they

p ractice The person whose mind works
.

rationally and who is willing t o think out

,

his thoughts and to a ccept the ultimate

conclusions to which his inferences lead ,

surely gains something o f value through a

more positive assertion of his faith .

H aving thus I trust made it cle ar that

, ,

I h a ve p la c ed at o ne end o f this ta b le the

147
 HU MAN M OT IVE S

qualities which mark o ne of the p oles Of

human motives and at the other end the
qualities which mark the other pole I ,

would call attention to a few other points

o f interest which the table may help to

make more clear I n the rst place the

.
,

attempts at self satisfying ra t io n a liz a
-

tion, etc are the attempts which every
.
,

individual makes from earli est childhood

,

onward to square the world with his

,

desire o n the o ne hand and with his limited

intelligence and limited power Of love will , ,

and insight on the other Feeling a pp re

, .

he nsiv e or inclined to worry o r in any

, ,

sense threatened with discomfort he adopts ,

an explanation which satises him for the

moment and yet which is very far from
,

laying bare the real cause of the unco m

fo rt a ble situation This real cause lies
.

usually in his o wn temperament and is

.

closely related to a variety o f experiences

Of early life through which the tendency
in question was emphasi z ed and intensied .

14 8
 HU MAN M OT IVES

tion indicates a limitation Of the i r usefu l

,

ness I t is all very well to say that our

.

instincts when brought into conict with

,

o n e another work o u t to this or that result

, .

But from what source do our instincts

come I be li eve there is only o ne possible
source Of all power in the world G ood .
,

bad and indi ff erent so long as we are

, ,

anything at all we are the chil d ren o f the

,

self active energy the purus actus
-
, of ,

which the whole universe and each smallest

p art o f it consist .

I t is impossible to exp ress through a

diagram or table the fact to which I wish
next to call attention but reference to it ,

belongs in this place The essential func .

tion Of all life is to re p roduce and t o per

p e t u a t e itself in so m,e f or m T o live or .

to think is in essence to endeavor co m

, ,

p l e t e ly to express and thus to rep roduce

, ,

ourselves in our dealings with the outer

,

world and with all the problems which come

bef ore us .E very motive i s a c re ative
150
 INST INCT S AND IDEALS

ten d ency a tendency to mak e some new

,

step toward the establishment o f a rela

t io nship between the world without us and
the world within us Biology teaches the
.

same lesson .

Finally I wish to call attention t o the

,

fact that the di fferent tendencies of human

nature to wh i ch different motives corre
sp o n d may be thought o f better as super
,

im p osed o ne u p on the other ( Or as inter

,

woven o r mutually i nterpenetrating' than ,

as arranged in the linear series whi ch the

necessities o f d i agra m and tab l e maki ng -

require Whenever a person nds himself

.

confronted b y a difcult p roblem a ,

situation which re p eats itse l f with each

o ne Of us at every moment h e must ,

necessarily meet that problem in a great

many di e re nt ways at once H e see m s

.

to respond t o it nally with a s i ngle act ,

due one might sup p ose to a S ingle motive

, , .

B ut if we had the p ower t o look into the

fac t s we should nd that the p rob le m had
,

15 1
 HUMAN M OT IVE S

app ealed to every layer so to speak o f

, ,

the man s nature and that the various
,

responses corresponding t o these di fferent

layers had played denite parts in the
determination Of the result The nal act
.

of response to such a problem fails to

give any adequate idea o f the di e re nt ele
ments Of this medley Of emotions and o f
thoughts although expert observers can
,

see in it something o f the medley .

The inferences which I desire to draw

are two in number ' I n the rst place all ,

these partial emotions lend a certain rich

ness t o the result conce i ved o f as a complex
thought or as a motive ; and again the, ,

analysis o f these complex thoughts and

emotions into their partial elements is Often
Of the highest value .

I had at rst intended to introduce a

diagram t o indicate the tendency which
the development Of every individual ex
hibit s in greater o r less measure to become
,

c he cked o r arrested at o ne or another stage ,

152
 HUM AN M OT IVES

p hase of interest in others rst as resem

,

bling and rep eating himself then as fur ,

nishin g a su p plement to himself and giving

an opportunity for the e xpenditure of

rapidly evolving interest and affection I t .

has been found that in stead of going

steadily onward through these different
phases toward a further stage o f develop
ment in which better possibilities will be

come revealed the child s progress may
,

be checked in any o ne Of them in such a

way that the main line o f development is
interfered with to a greater o r less degree ,

and sometimes seriously These relative

.

arrests o r x a tio ns give rise to s p ecia l
, ,

sorts Of cravings o r temptations which

always remain lurking in the background .

The kind of xation o r arrest which it is

easiest to understand is that which results
in egoism o f an aggravated sort The .

tendency to be egoistic to love to see one

,

self On a pinnacle without regard to the

way in whi ch o ne gets there i s a lway s ,

154
 INST INCT S AND IDEALS

p resent in some measure and is Often very

di fcult t o shake O Child o r man we

.
,

all long to see ourselves prominent and ,

instinctively devise a thousand ways Of

cultivating this longing without seeming t o
ourselves to be doing so The child in his
.

development may be su p posed to touch ,

o r follow for short distances many lines o f

,

evolution which he shortly afterward re

j e c.t s A n d yet
, in times O f stress he is
,

likely t o revert to them again because they

represent periods o f his existence which in
his infancy and immaturity made strong
claims o n his attention .

I have attempted in Figure III to indi

cate a few Of these side tracks the psycho
-
,

logical history Of which is so remarkable ,

and which are t o be thought Of as occurring

( under the inuence o f some special stress '
as the secondary result o f a relative arrest
o f develo p ment at o ne o r another phase o f

infancy ( not indicated in the gure ' The .

m ore imp or ta nt o f these side tracks are-

155
 H UMAN MOT IVES

the inveterate egoism above ment i oned ,

the tendency to over done individualism

-
,

self assertion
-
, will to power through
,

which the develop ment o f individuals and

Ma t urity

FI G II I
. .

nat i ons i s o ften checked I ndividuali sm

.

and self assertion have at times been

-

l auded as so valuable that to attack them

seems almost a ground for criticism And .

indeed it is true that the willingness t o go

156
 HUM AN M OT IVE S

it based as it was o n the doctrine of

, , ,

the voluntary endorsement o f that which

each person nds genuinely present in
himself What was in N ietzsche s mind
.

when he did not go to o far was like that ,

which was in E merson s mind when he

-

said , I f I am the D evil s child I will

live from the D evil B ut unfortunately
.
, ,

this self assertiveness can be terribly over

-

done with the result that the person sub

,

j cet t o it becomes an advocate Of criticism

gone mad instead o f a center Of helpful
,

ness to his neighbors and his community .

O ne should remember S hakespeare s

striking lines
0 i t is e x ce ll e nt
,

T o ha v e a g ia nt s st re ngt h ; b ut i t is tyranno us

T o use i t l i ke a gi ant .

The tendency t o use one s strength like a
giant ( that is like an overgrown but im
,

mature being' is the tendency which is

often cultivated under the false notion that
t o do so is a sign o f manly courage ; but
15 8
 IN ST IN CT S AND IDEALS

there are times when the courage to le t the
1
courage sink is a S ign of greater pro mi se ,

both for the individual and for mankind .

I t is with reference to this point that I

would call attention again to the Obliga
tion which those persons are under who
believe as I do in the importance o f study
, ,

ing motives with reference to the creative

forces that underlie them to realize that ,

neither self assertion n o r efciency n o r

-
, ,

the will to po w er can be taken as a nal
goal I t is quite amazing h o w prevalent
.

the contrary notion is H o w much easier

.

it is to arouse a cry o f sympathy f o r such

martial o r stoical appeals as those con

t a in e d in the I nv ict u s by H enley and ,

' ipling s I f than for many a far nobler

,
.

appeal that relies o n the belief that deep

seated genuine devotion to the common
,

welfare as e xpressing o ur complete selves

, ,

is the only standard on which we should

ultimately rely '
 H UMAN MOT IVES

The moment individualism ceases to be

a stepping stone to something better and
-

gets itself ranked as a goal to be pursued

in and for itself alone it unmasks itself as
,

a sign that the development o f the indi

vidual received a check at an earlier stage ,

and that we have before us a situation o f

immaturity .

Analogous to th e side lines and rela

t iv e ly blind alleys referred t o in the fore
going pages is the strong craving which is
felt by every o ne from time t o time and ,

by some persons in an insistent form to ,

escape from the steep and narrow path Of

responsibility and e ffort and t o get back
into conditions o f rest and p leasure This .

craving for relaxation and irresponsibility

is the longing to get back into the period
o f childhood not as it e xists but as we
, ,

p icture it to ourselves The childhood of

.

most p ersons is not wholly a time Of un

alloyed happiness but Often a p eriod of
,

renuncia tion sorrow and disappointment

, ,
.

16 0
 HUMAN M OT IVES

I t is true however that every individual

, , ,

as well in adult life as in infancy and Old

age instinctively supplements the details
,

o f the world Of his actual knowledge and of

his toil and pain with the far wider and

,

more satisfying world o f his imagination ,

and escapes when he can from the former

to the latter j ust as many people escape
,

if they can nd excuse to do so from the

situations of actual responsibility to situa
tions from which responsibility is absent 1
.

An analogy might be pointed o u t be

tween this process Of retrogression and the
analogous process well known to go o n as
o ne of the features o f evolution Animal .

species and plants revert to forms that

m aintain themselves more easily that ,

is to forms that do no t require so much

,

vital energy for their maintenance as the

more complex forms from which the rever
sion has taken place I n the Old saying of .

doubtful you scratch a R us

S F g u t r c nt b k Th D d f R p n i bili ty
1
ee a e s e e oo , e rea o es o s .

16 2
 IN ST I N CT S AND IDEALS

Sian you will nd a Tartar we see the,

hint of another form o f this reversion and ,

the imagination Of any o ne even when not ,

stimulated by the history Of war w ill ,

supply plenty Of instances Of like kind .

The state ind icated by the name Tartar
could be better expressed in psychological
terms as the state so common in child
,

hood when the tendency is present which

,

the adult in looking back upon it char

, ,

a ct e riz e s as cruel
. P eople are t o o ready
to accept these tendencies in themselves
and the motives that go with them with ,

o u t reali z ing the importance Of hunting

them to their lairs and calling them by

names that need not neces sarily be hard
in the adult sense but should clearly char
,

a ct e riz e their true or i gin .

T OO easy contentment is the condition

t o be mainly dreaded The whole river
.

Of life source and all belongs inferentially

, ,

to every man ; but in order t o enter into

the value o f th is possession we should ,

163
 HUMAN M OT IVES

learn t o see its dangerous cataracts and

W hirlpools as well as the calm reaches over

which we may pass t o and fro without

danger I f we must carry within the
.

depths o f o u r lives without realizing that

,

we do so an U nshapen L and Of emotions

,

where G orgons and Titans have their

home we should remember that the deni
,

z ens o f this unshapen land represent sources

o f undifferentiated energy which we like ,

P erseus may conquer and make our own

, .

Finally I wish to f orestall the criticis m

,

which might easily be made that I have ,

said nothing about Fear as a source Of

human motives I ad m it the fact and
.

would only say that fear shows itself o n ,

close analysis to be mainly important in

, ,

the develop m ent O f the child as a p roduct ,

Of undue desire o r longing We learn to .

fear largely through learning t o entertain

uncontrolled l ongings and cravings Thus .

the primary Object o f o ur fears is o ur

e m otions o r ourselves
, .

164
 HUMAN M OT IVES

ings and among others the striking p oem

, ,

Compensation which is quoted in p art
,

o n an earlier page .

Why is it that these poems fascinate

some readers and repel others ' I s the
attraction which they exert due only to
the challenge to o ur wits brought by the
p aradoxes which they present ; o r do we
feel that these paradoxes contain vital
truths o f universal ap plication but such as
lend themselves to poetical statement by
reason o f their subtlety '
I f I can answer these questions satis
fa ct o rily o r rather if I can make int e lli
, , ,

g ib l e an a i rm a t iv e answer t o the last

question I shall feel that I have j ustied
,

the assertion made on an early page ,

namely that it ought to be possible to

,

make a synthesis o f the two groups o f

motives here considered o f such a sort as ,

to bring o u t the best meanings Of both .

E merson s idea which is the idea o f the

p hilosop h i cal school o f though t fo r which

166
 AN ATT EMPT AT SYN TH ES IS

he s ta nds i s that progress consists in an

,

eternal seeking a never ending attem p t t o

,
-

n d ever new and richer meanin gs in life .

G od o e rs t o every mind its choice

between truth and repose Take which .

you please you can never have both
, .

The powerful thinker L essing whose , ,

N athan der Weise has stimulated sp e cu

lation in so many minds wrote in another , ,

connection a searching passage bearing o n

,

this problem O f which I Offer here a free

,

translation .

I f G od should o e r me the Truth in his

right hand and in his left hand the S earch

,

fo r Truth even burdened with the condition

,

that the search would be in vain I would ,

humbly take the treasure which the left

hand O ffered saying Father here I rest
, , ,

my choice Absolute Truth remains for

.

Thee alone .

L et no one f eel mocked and d i sa pp o inted

by hav ing this p erp etual search held up t o
hi m as a goal I s it no t tru e that G o d
.

167
 HUMAN M OT IVE S

himself as the creative spirit o f the un i

,

verse is to be thought o f in these terms

, ,

namely as an E ternal R enewer of e v o l u

,

tion ' I s n o t His functi on the utilization

o f self activity f o r the perpetual recreating
-

Of endless spirals leading up to self conscious -

beings who have the po w er t o conceive

the whole scheme and to make perpetually
, ,

in their turn an ever renew ed search for

,

higher forms Of self expression ' A uni

-

verse constructed in this fashion implies ,

it is true incessant conict and at times

, ,

these conicts may impress o n e as int o l

crable B ut can any one formulate a uni
.

verse containing free beings yet from which

conict S hould be excluded ' This has
been attempted in the past and is
attempted at the present day by those
who seek rest and expect to nd it in a n
other world than this B ut wiser people.

realize that a H eaven Of rest would be an

intolerable prison house which no con
-
,

ce iv a ble number Of compensatory p leas

168
 HUMAN MOT IVES

feel the inuence Of this truth i n an intui

tive o r religious sense .

Let it not be supposed however that , ,

the outcomes proposed by E merson in the ,

form o f the richer meanings which the uni

verse O ffers to all who Will seek for them ,

are to be had only fo r the asking T O assert .

this would be to overlook a number o f

i mp ortant facts When he says that evil
.

will bless and ( as in
, Compensation '
that our o wn best selves rush in spite of ,

all Obstacles to meet us he announces

, ,

what may be not what must be The, .

determination Of the actual outcome rests

with us When pain adversity sorrow
.
, , ,

Or temptation make their challenge to the

human soul they may call forth a courage
,

and faith that seem to be born Of the

need for them and thus lift the life o f him
,

who undergoes the trial to a higher plane .

O ne o f the most typical forms Of the

rounding o ut of the circle such as E mer
so n re f ers t o with the result that what
,

170
 AN A TTE MPT AT SYNT HESIS

may be poetically dene d as evil shall
be found to bless is given in the history o f
,

compensation as applied t o conditions Of

organic imperfection The deaf Beethoven
.

expresses his power of inward hearing in

symphonies which o ne may assume
without his deafness he could never have
produced The blind and deaf H elen
.

' eller discovers a world of beauty and

music richer than that in which she other
wise would have lived I n a somewhat
.

similar fashion the blinded and careworn

Faust abandoning as vain his attemp t
,

to discover happiness in merely nominal

p leasures learns at last that he has in him
,

the power to nd a better satisfaction in a

life o f wholly different sort .

E merson s concep tion can be utilized

still further as a means of clothing with a

new value some Of the lessons o f e x p e
rie nce
. The introspection Of p sycho
analysis fo r example which most people
, ,

obj ect t o at the outset because they con

171
 HUMAN M OT IVES

sider it as equivalent to what ordinarily

passes by the name Of intros p ection is ,

found in the end if all goes well to be , ,

something very di fferent When we look .

at ourselves with morbid introspection we

gain from this e o rt ( which is really a

means for securing gratication ' only the

intensication Of an Obj ectionable emotion .

But if for this morbid scrutiny we co n

scie n t io u sly substitute a rational self
scrutiny the result is useful E very effort
, .

has in it something o f reason something ,

of feeling and something o f will And

, .

the more we introduce reason into this

mixture the less important relatively
, ,

speaking becomes the part played by

,

emotion until as the nal outcome the

, , ,

emotion itself becomes an element in the

furtherance o f rational e ff ort 1
I n a simi
1
with thi i d in
I t wa s s n m l y th t th
ea vi we th e i dea , a e , a e

hum n p i n d m ti
a a ss o h ld
s an eul i f ightly int
o o ns s ou , as a r e, r er

p t d
re e dan imil t d b bl t c nt ibut m thing f lu
a ss a e , e a e o o r e so e o va e

t
o l if i
en i t b t
s f m th t I pl c d t th b ginni g f th
es or a a e a e e n o e

acco unt f th p ych

o n lytic m
e s m nt ( Ch p t
o-a I I I ' th
a ov e e a er e

172
 HU MAN M OT IVES

satises is that which comes through the

discovery Of better adaptations between
ourselves and the life around us The .

j ustication fo r introducing in a book on

motives the reasoning followed in this
chapter is that the choice o f motives ,

whether voluntarily or instinctively made ,

must depend in the nal analysis o n the

standards arrived at through education ,

the true function Of which consists in lead

ing to the discovery of deeper and deeper
relationships between the O utside world
and the inner life .

I conclude this chapter as I began it , ,

with a quotation from E merson the T wo ,

R ivers .

Thy summe r V Oi ce M uske taquit

, ,
1

Re p e a ts the mu si c O f the ra in ;
But swee te r riv e rs p ul sing it
Thro ugh th ee a s th o u thro ugh Co ncord Pl ain
, .

Th o u inthy na rro w b a nks art p e nt

The stre a m I l o v e unb o un de d g o e s

1
The Co n c d Ri
or ve r .

1 74
 AN ATTEM PT AT SYNT HESIS
Thro ugh o o d a nd se a a nd rma me nt ;

Thro ugh ye ars thro ugh me n thr

, o ugh N a t ure ee t
, ,

Thro ugh l o v e a nd th o ught t hro ugh p owe r and

,

M uske ta quit , go bl in strong

a ,

Of S h ard a nd i n t m ak e s j e we l s gay ;
Th e y l o se the ir grie f who he ar his so ng ,

And W he re he wi nds is the day O f day .

SO fo rth a nd b ri ghte r fa re s my stre a m ,

Wh o drink i t sh a ll no t th i rst a ga in ;
N O darkne ss sta ins its e q u a l gle a m ,

And a ge s dro p in i t l ik e ra i n
.

R . W E M E R SON
. .

E ND

175
 INDEX
I m ag in ti a o n, t bla e, 14 1 va l ue o f ps y ch o -ana l y si s
144 14 6 . fo r,
1 12 1 16 .

I mm a ne n c e, doc tri n e Of , Ph il o so p hi m th d 18 23 ;
c e o , ,

134 13 9 . as c nt t d with p y
o ra s e s

In di i d u li
v a sm , t bla e, 14 1 ; cho -a n l yti m th d 22
a c e o ,

15 6 , 15 7 . 31 .

I nf a n cy , se e CH I L DH OO D . yi
P h s ca l l aw s , re a l ti o n to
m e n al t l a ws , 55 , 5 6 , 6 0,
JA C ' S ON , J . H U G H LI N G S , 61 .

12 1, 122 , 12 6 . Pla t 28 o, .

Ps y ch n l y i o -a g n a l s s, e e ra

' A N T I M M NU E L 53
, A , . a cc u nt Of 67104 ;
o , re

' e ll e r H e l e n
, 51 , , 17 1 ; l ti n t d uc ti n 69
a o o e a o ,

u t d 52
q o e , . 70 ,

105 133 ; p c ti c l ra a

' y e C J 6 6n
se r, . . a s,

i m 106 108 ; th e ra

' i p l ing R u d y d , ar , 15 9 .
p u
e ti c ti en 1 3 2 a13 3 ; o , ,

r l ti n t
e a m b i d i nt
o o or ro

LE S S IN G G E 16 7 , . .
, . sp e ctio n , 1 7 1, 17 2 .

i it ti
L m a o n , s gn a n i i c c e o f,

15 . R ATI ONAL I A TIO N ' , t bl a e,

14 1 ; 14 8 , 149 .

M A T U R I T' ( an d i m m a t u r Rea c ti o ns, v ar e i ti es o f

,

ity ' ,

19 9 1 , 13 2 , 1 35 , c
o m r
a e p1 23 131 ; d , of

136 , 142 , 158 , 1 60 . de fe nse , 1 03 12 9 ; ( se e ,

M o ti v e s , of c o ns r t uc ti ve a l so S ' M P T O M S ' .

n e ss, 210 ; t b l 14 1 ;
a e, R e a so ning n fe re n al , 24 , i ti ,

of a d p t ti
a a on a nd co m 4 1 ; p h l o so hi , 3 5 6 6 i p c .

p ro mi se ,

1 0 15 , 94 ; i i
Re l g o n , ra o n a l as s o f, ti b i
t b
a l e , 14 1 ; an t a go n s i ti c 3 5 65 ; s en crit i c i ti c

so ur e s, 1 34 c cism s Of , 3 7 4 6 ; re a l ti o n

. ,

M yth s an d fa iy tl
r a e s, 2 6, to p e rso na l ity , 0
4 41 ;
73 , 83 , 9 9 , 1 00, 1 14 , 132 ,
m e ani n g o f G o d 5 7 5 8 ; ,

142 , 173 .
po ttit u d t w d
p ul ar a e o ar ,

36 4 8 ; c
,
m ni l 39 e re o a s, ,

N I ET ' S CH E , 15 7, 158 . 40 ; u p r titi n 39 4 0 ;

s e s o , ,

( se e a sol 16 5
P AR EN T S AN D T EA C H E R S , Re pr i e ss o n , 12 , 13 , 14 , 7 1,
178

117 133 .

UN CO NSC I OU S , TH E , 101 ,
102 , 128 , 1 99 respo n

S ELF - ACT IV I T' , 6 1 , 62 , 15 0,

16 8 .

Se l f -re l a ti o n , 24 , 4 5 , 5 8 .

64 , 65 .

S ha ke spe a re , qu t d o e , 15 8 . Un p i c t urabl e wo rl d,
54 .

re a l ti o n ,

1 17 12 2 .

39 96 , 153 .

S te v e nso n , R L . .
, 108 .

179
M I ND AND HEALTH S ERI ES

A di c l h ndb k w i tt n by mi n nt p ci l i t
ser es o f i me a a oo s r e e e s e a s s

a nd di t d b y H ADD IN G TO N B R U CE nd d i g n d t p nt
e e . a es e o re se

th e re sul t f c n t r h
s o nd l i ni l
re p i nc in f m in
e re sea c a c ca ex er e e a or

t ll igibl t th l y p ubl i c nd m di c l p f
e e o e i n
a a e a ro ess o .

Huma n M oti v es By JA MES JA C ' S O N P UT M M D P . NA ,

. .
,
ro

fesso r E m i tu D i er f th N u Sy t m H
s, d U ni
seases o e e rv o s s e , a rva r

v e rsity C n ulti ng N u l gi t M
, o s hu tt G n l H p it l e ro o s , assa c se s e e ra os a ,

B t n
os o m . n t
I z o . e .

Th e M eaning of Dream By I SA DO R H CORI A M D Fir t s . . T, . .

, s

A i t nt V i iti ng P h y ici n N
ss s a s u Di B t n C it y H s a , e rv o s seases, os o os

p it l I m
a . zn t o . e .

S l ee p and S l ee pl essness By H ADD IN G TO N B R U C E A M . .

,
. .

I z mo . net .

Fear and I t s Consequences By B OR IS

. SiD I s .M D D i ct . .
, re or

of th e S i d i P y ch th
s s o e ra p uti c I n ti tut P
e s e, o rtsmo uth N w H mp , e a

h ol i sm I ts Cause s and I t Cure By S AM U M C C O M B

Al co , s . EL ,

D D D i ct
. .
,
E mm nu l A lc h lic Cl ini c B t n
re or a e o o , os o .

I nsanity and I t s Prev enti on By M S G REGO R ' M D . . .

,
. .
,

R i d nt Al i ni t B ll u H p it l N w ' k
es e e s , e ev e os a ,
e or .

M orb id Bread By A A B R I M D Ch i f f Cli ni c ins . . . L L, . .

,
e o

P ychi t y nd Cli ni c l A i t n t in N u l gy C lum b i U

s a r a a ss s a e ro o ,
o a

T he I nuence J By
of G E G E V N D
oy A R RO
. M D OR . . E RN , . .
,

P ro fe sso r Of P h y i l gy T uf t C ll g M di c l nd D n t l
s o o ,
s o e e e a a e a

LITTLE, BROWN, CO , Publi shers, BOSTON

.