THE PURPOSE OF 
 EDUCATION 
 
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 Eonfcon: FETTER LANE, E.G. 
 
 C. F. CLAY, MANAGER 
 
 100, PRINCES STREET 
 Berlin: A. ASHER AND CO. 
 F. A. BROCKHAUS 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 : MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. 
 Toronto : J. M. DENT AND SONS, LTD. 
 THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 
 
 gorft: 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
THE PURPOSE OF 
 EDUCATION 
 
 An Examination of the Education Problem 
 in the Light of Recent Psychological Research 
 
 by 
 ST GEORGE LANE FOX PITT 
 
 Member of the Permanent Executive Council 
 
 of the 
 International Moral Education Congress 
 
 and 
 Member of the Council of the Society for Psychical Research 
 
 Cambridge : 
 at the University Press 
 
L-BlOJ! 
 
 ''-> 
 
 CambrtUge: 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRBSS 
 
PREFACE 
 T7XPERIMENTAL psychology has made con- 
 
 I ' i 
 
 siderable progress in recent years. Fresh 
 knowledge as to the facts relating to the 
 working of the human mind has been dis- 
 covered ; and a new terminology has been 
 evolved. 
 
 It is the object of the present work to apply 
 this knowledge to the elucidation of educational 
 problems, in the hopes that some of the confusions 
 and difficulties which prevail, both in the public 
 mind and that of experts, may, to some extent 
 at any rate, be cleared up. Much of the ground 
 covered will naturally be familiar to teachers 
 and students of the subject ; but the explana- 
 tions offered of the psychical processes involved 
 in the art of pedagogy may be helpful in the 
 endeavour of reformers to improve and systema- 
 tise the somewhat chaotic methods at present 
 in vogue. 
 
 The chief difficulty encountered in all 
 attempts at the effective presentation of un- 
 
 325430 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 familiar ideas, consists in the discovery and 
 adaptation of a suitable terminology. To some 
 extent, no doubt, this difficulty can be met by 
 the practice of paraphrasing, but the employment 
 of a precise and systematic nomenclature is also 
 important. It is not improbable that many 
 readers may be irritated and even put off by 
 the frequent use in these pages of the word 
 " complex " for the purpose of indicating those 
 egocentric phases of mind, which are more 
 usually, if more vaguely, denominated by the 
 words memory, mood, or motive. The term 
 "complex" is now, however, current and ac- 
 cepted in all the more important works, recently 
 issued, which bear upon medical, or abnormal 
 psychology and kindred subjects. The study of 
 abnormal psychology has helped to reveal the 
 rationale and modus operandi of thought and 
 feeling, and the term " complex " has been used 
 to designate an undoubted discovery, arising 
 out of this study, as to the mode in which 
 specific psycho-physical processes occur and 
 function, not only in morbid conditions of mind 
 and body, but also in normal life. The author 
 hopes, therefore, that its use may be admitted 
 here as being neither arbitrary, nor pedantic. 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 Great stress has been laid on the educational 
 value of high ideals : upon their inculcation and 
 growth. With this end in view an attempt is 
 made to indicate certain important distinctions 
 and discriminations, which are essential pre- 
 liminaries to that true unification of thought 
 lying at the root of universal beliefs. It is 
 easy enough to profess admiration for the ideal 
 human qualities : charity, tolerance, impartial- 
 ity, honesty and the like ; but it is very difficult 
 to understand why, in practice, these ideals 
 should so often be disregarded, no,t to say 
 systematically ignored. The use of certain 
 familiar words is often supposed to supply an 
 "explanation." " Mystery," " sin," " selfishness," 
 "disobedience," "malice," "ignorance" are all 
 made to serve their turn. Words, however, 
 are not explanations. Explanations are the 
 product of experience and meditation through 
 which there is an awakening of the higher 
 faculties of insight and understanding. 
 
 It is, of course, generally recognised that 
 certain familiar expressions convey varying 
 implications according to the context in which 
 they occur ; and that this represents a common 
 linguistic difficulty. The inconvenience of this 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 ambiguity, however, becomes a serious trouble 
 when, as sometimes happens, the different 
 meanings attached to the same word are 
 diametrically opposed. Thus "charity" suggests 
 both "self-denial" and "self-gratification" in 
 varying degrees dependent on our preconcep- 
 tions as to the theory of "self." So it is with 
 " tolerance," " impartiality " and " honesty." 
 
 In the contemplation of the huge extent of 
 human suffering some are apt to grow impatient 
 and to demand the discovery of an immediate 
 and final remedy ! In this search the trend of 
 thought seems to oscillate between one extreme 
 and another. At one time the prevailing view 
 is directed towards making exaggerated claims 
 for the importance of the inner life, and at other 
 times it is directed towards an exaggeration 
 of the importance of "environment." It is 
 one of the main objects of these pages to 
 indicate the middle path, which avoids these 
 two extremes. 
 
 ST G. L. F. P. 
 
 TRAVELLERS' CLUB, 
 PALL MALL, 
 
 LONDON. 
 19 October, 1913 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. HUMAN PERSONALITY 1 
 
 II. EMOTION AND INSTINCT 25 
 
 III. CHARACTER VERSUS REPUTATION . . .35 
 
 IV. INCENTIVES TO EFFORT. ECONOMICS . . 40 
 
 V. SPECIALISATION 55 
 
 VI. MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT . . . .61 
 
 VII. RELIGIONS, IDEALS, THE TWICE-BORN . . 71 
 
EBEATA 
 
 p. 8, line 2, for nobility read mobility 
 
 p. 62, line 4 also in footnote and p. 63, line 2, for physic read 
 psychic 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 HUMAN PERSONALITY 
 
 IT is a commonplace saying that ignorance 
 and prejudice die hard. It is not, however, so 
 easily perceived that the death of this ignorance 
 and prejudice almost invariably gives rise to their 
 re-birth in new forms, which are but a shade 
 nearer to the expression of the truth than the old 
 forms they have replaced. So also is there re- 
 birth of universal truths, those grand synthetic 
 generalizations, which obtain with more or less 
 persistence among all peoples and in all times. 
 With truth there can be nothing fundamentally 
 new, though its re-expression in terms of current 
 experience may come with all the force and 
 attractiveness of novelty. But the barrier to its 
 reception is just this ignorance and prejudice 
 in the public mind, which it is the function of 
 education to remove. Thus we find many words 
 and phrases in the literature of all nations, 
 bearing testimony to the contradictory nature 
 of current beliefs and to the survival of old ones 
 
 P. 1 
 
2 EtMAN PERSONALITY [CH. 
 
 as to the meaning and import of the human per- 
 sonality. These beliefs fall in two main classes. 
 According to the first and most numerous class, a 
 "person" is the combination of a body, or physical 
 organism with a permanent, more or less inde- 
 pendent, soul-entity which animates it ; and for 
 such the great work of education consists in the 
 harmonising of these two factors. The combi- 
 nation of body and soul, we are told, is something 
 radically "evil." "Man is born in iniquity" and 
 unless "saved," destined to perdition. With the 
 second class of beliefs, the body is regarded 
 as the real fact ; the mind or character being 
 considered as a quality or function of the 
 physical organism, to be developed like a plant 
 by contact with a suitable "environment." The 
 propounders of this school of thought, while 
 admitting as a rule, that much may be due 
 to "heredity," insist, nevertheless, that the child 
 is born fundamentally "good" and that the 
 whole function of education is the skilful draw- 
 ing out of its innate excellencies. 
 
 Now controversialists holding diametrically 
 opposed doctrines, while vainly imagining that 
 they have established the validity of their 
 own thesis by an elaborate refutation of their 
 
il HUMAN PERSONALITY 3 
 
 opponents' point of view, are apt to exclaim 
 "Both doctrines cannot be true/' Well, perhaps 
 not, but they can both be false, as indeed, 
 almost invariably, they are. 
 
 Crude generalizations of either kind must as 
 far as possible be discarded and their special 
 nomenclature dispensed with, in order to clear 
 the mind from misconception preparatory to giv- 
 ing serious and unbiassed consideration to the 
 results and conclusions of modern psychology, 
 on the point at issue. 
 
 This done, it may be stated positively, as a 
 fact which has been clearly demonstrated, that 
 the human personality under a thoroughgoing 
 analysis, exhibits not a permanent and unalter- 
 ably separate entity, but a vast combination or 
 aggregation of variegated, fluctuating and loosely 
 organised physical and psychic phases and po- 
 tentialities, of which no more than a minute 
 fragment makes its presence manifest to our 
 ordinary, or "normal" waking consciousness. 
 An illustration which has been found helpful, 
 though the analogy must not be pressed too far, 
 compares personality to an iceberg, ever changing 
 in structure and substance, the great bulk of 
 which is always invisible and submerged. 
 
 12 
 
4 HUMAN PERSONALITY [OH. 
 
 As we approach to anything in the nature of 
 fixity and permanence so we approach the im- 
 personal. 
 
 We are all familiar with such phrases as 
 being, or not being in a " mood " for anything : 
 we speak of an attentive or a careless mood, a 
 pleasant or a nasty mood, etc. We recognise 
 the mental phenomena to which such phrases 
 apply and as a rule we accept them as important 
 factors in our lives, but we often misinterpret 
 their meaning, or put them down as inexplicable. 
 
 Modern psychology explains the mystery by 
 indicating the nature of the human mind. The 
 study of modern psychology has shown that the 
 mind is composed of a vast number and great 
 variety of psycho-physical " complexes. " 
 
 A "complex" may be defined as a group 1 or 
 system or " stream " of closely associated ideas, 
 linked together in some experience, or succession 
 of experiences, with corresponding emotions, 
 perceptions, " memories/ 3 interests and range of 
 
 1 Neither u group," nor "system," nor "stream" are 
 quite suitable terms to express that combination of ideas 
 associated in a complex. " Vortex " might perhaps serve, 
 though it would suggest analogy with fluid motion, which 
 would have a misleading implication. " Dynamic System " 
 would probably be the least objectionable. 
 
i] HUMAN PERSONALITY 5 
 
 volitions ; linked in such a manner as to be 
 capable of so dominating some portion of the 
 brain and nervous system as to generate a 
 consciousness 1 , in conjunction with those ideas, 
 of egoistic self-hood, however transitory and 
 imperfect in its manifestation. The stimulation 
 of one element of a complex will, generally 
 speaking, excites activity in some or all the rest. 
 Notwithstanding their apparent independence 
 in functioning, all complexes are really allied to 
 one another, more or less correlated and inter- 
 dependent, but imperfectly co-ordinated in their 
 manifestation. According to the rise and fall 
 of different complexes in the field of vivid or 
 focussed consciousness, so is one's change of 
 mood. 
 
 The element of " emotion," sometimes called 
 
 1 The term " consciousness " implies transitory phases 
 of mind, yielding conditions of awareness in great variety. 
 These conditions usually involve the focussing of attention 
 upon specific phenomena. The term " subconscious, " as 
 applied to mind, indicates such conditions of its develop- 
 ment as are differentiated and, while not specifically 
 focussed, are yet capable of being focussed. " Unconscious 
 mind" is used to denote the potentiality of mind, i.e., 
 mind, which is psychically undeveloped, individually undif- 
 ferentiated and unprepared for focussing, as being outside 
 human experience, in the sense of not having been assimi- 
 lated with it. (See also Chapter VI.) 
 
6 HUMAN PERSONALITY [CH. 
 
 " feeling," is of great importance in the function- 
 ing of a complex, as determining its relative 
 capacity for persistence and isolated activity, 
 and is dealt with more fully in a separate 
 chapter ; but it will suffice for a moment to 
 say that the term is used here as an expression 
 for the likes and dislikes, the pleasures and 
 pains, as also such comparative notions as " pre- 
 ferences" and "choice of evils," which are charac- 
 teristic of the bulk of our ordinary thoughts. 
 
 The discovery of psycho-physical complexes 
 was foreshadowed, though somewhat vaguely, by 
 Herbart, in his enunciation of what he terms 
 " apperception masses." 
 
 The types of complexes are very various, but 
 they may be classified roughly as belonging to 
 three main orders : 
 
 1. The minor variety, which is by far the 
 most numerous kind and is, generally speaking, 
 the more limited and transitory. They have 
 their genesis in what are ordinarily called 
 "events," or specific experiences ; as for ex- 
 ample a particular meal, a game, a privation, 
 a lesson, an accident, a dispute, a punishment, 
 an illness, a success or a failure. Even such a 
 combination of events closely associated in our 
 
i] HUMAN PERSONALITY 7 
 
 thoughts as constitute in themselves the separate 
 and peculiar incidents of our lives in the nature 
 of " personal experiences " great or small, form 
 the basis of a minor complex. 
 
 2. The intermediate variety, comprising 
 various intellectual concepts of a co-ordinating 
 and synthetic nature. These complexes are in 
 touch with certain specific "environments," both 
 material and psychic, or what is often ignorantly 
 styled "the real world." To this order, all 
 viewed as transcending mere personal ex- 
 periences, belong our notions of heat and cold, 
 light, sound, weight, energy, space, number, and 
 the qualities of matter ; the ideas of life and 
 death, and of hunger and thirst and food ; also 
 the intellectual and moral qualities, such as 
 kindness, cruelty, uprightness, diligence, clever- 
 ness and modesty. The element of personal 
 experience, although an undoubted factor in 
 the acquisition of such " concepts," is subordin- 
 ated to the idea of universality. These complexes 
 are in fact the equivalents of " concepts." 
 
 3. The great complex, i.e., the personality or 
 character as a whole. This complex, rarely awak- 
 ened as a vivid consciousness, is in harmony with 
 the universal life. It has infinite potentialities. 
 
8 HUMAN PERSONALITY [OH. 
 
 The strength and worth of our personality 
 is determined by the quality, nobility and the 
 co-ordination of the complexes out of which it 
 is composed. 
 
 At any moment a specific complex, or several 
 simultaneously (forming a "co-consciousness") 
 may emerge into the field of normal, waking, 
 focussed or vivid consciousness, while the rest, 
 the vast majority, remain for the time being 
 submerged ; exercising, no doubt, a vague kind 
 of subtle influence in our thoughts and actions, 
 though "automatically," unvolitionally, and so 
 to speak, surreptitiously. There is an abund- 
 ance of evidence, however, that while sub- 
 merged in the subconscious strata of our 
 existence, our dormant complexes do not per- 
 sist in a static condition, but are subject to 
 continual change. Nor do they remain isolated, 
 for it has been demonstrated by means of 
 hypnotic experiments 1 , that after successive 
 emergence, they reappear modified by the 
 assimilation of qualities and tendencies derived 
 from allied complexes ; even, be it said (though 
 the fact is sometimes disputed), by psychic 
 
 1 See The Dissociation of a Personality by Morton 
 Prince, M.D. (Longman & Co.) 
 
i] HUMAN PERSONALITY 9 
 
 communion with the subconscious elements of 
 other personalities. 
 
 The same ideas, or to speak more correctly, 
 similar concepts, may occur in various complexes, 
 though allied to different feelings. Thus, for 
 example, the idea food would present itself as 
 attractive or the reverse according to the 
 condition of the stomach and nervous system, 
 the state of one's appetite, or dominant mood. 
 
 Let us now consider the origin and growth of 
 complexes. They are the outcome of experience, 
 both physical and psychical, though to what 
 degree or in what manner respectively we shall 
 not attempt to consider here. It will be enough 
 at this juncture to point out that, although the 
 distinction made between the physical instrument 
 of thought and the psychical powers, is not to 
 be regarded as amounting to independence, or 
 absolute separateness of function, yet for the 
 better understanding of educational processes, 
 precise terminological definitions of these con- 
 cepts, are of very great scientific importance. 
 
 It cannot be too strongly insisted upon that 
 complexes are not static entities, but that they are 
 each one ever changing and developing through 
 their tendency to strengthen and perpetuate 
 
10 HUMAN PERSONALITY [CH. 
 
 themselves by adaption to or assimilation with 
 their respective " environments," or that aspect 
 of real life to which they are complementary in 
 the existing world "outside." In this struggle 
 our various complexes compete, conflict and 
 co-operate. In other words, each complex 
 "ego" seeking to assimilate, or to destroy the 
 " non-ego " gives rise to a change in both. It is 
 this process which is most fundamental in the 
 functioning of individualised life. 
 
 Now each fresh stimulative contact of the 
 organism with some chosen, or "accidental" 1 
 environment makes an addition to, or some 
 modification in, one or more of our complexes ; 
 so also when we "reflect," or "meditate," the 
 mental operation involved implies some interac- 
 tion between the complexes ; while the relatively 
 exclusive absorption, or concentration of con- 
 sciousness, in one complex, such as is character- 
 istic of intense emotion, great interest, idle 
 brooding, or preoccupation of the mind with 
 a "fixed idea," may tend to the strengthening 
 
 1 An environment is called "accidental" when its 
 presence is unexpected, or unusual ; or where there is an 
 absence of full awareness as to its relativity and proximity 
 to the organism. (See Chapter VI.) 
 
i] HUMAN PERSONALITY 11 
 
 of that complex and facilitate its repeated 
 emergence in a more or less "dissociated" form. 
 Assuming now that the development, or, as 
 some would say, the awakening, of high character 
 is the supreme aim of education, it must be 
 obvious, from what has been said, that exclusive 
 or too persistent concentration of consciousness 
 in particular complexes is not advantageous, 
 but the reverse. The right process for such an 
 awakening is the harmonious development of 
 various complexes in co-ordination with and in 
 subordination to the intermediate complexes, in 
 the first place, and then finally with the great 
 complex, in so far as its awakening may be 
 rendered possible. This later aspect of the 
 problem is further considered in the chapter 
 dealing with ideals. 
 
 The spontaneous tendency of complexes to 
 assimilate with one another may be greatly 
 facilitated by conscious effort, in conjunction 
 with suitable externals in the shape of apparatus 
 for illustration. In all individuals there are 
 certain complexes which are, so to speak, near 
 the surface, and thus more easily accessible. A 
 skilled teacher will, therefore, by suggestion, 
 endeavour to connect the subject he proposes 
 
12 HUMAN PERSONALITY [CH. 
 
 to introduce to his pupils with some familiar 
 group of ideas and interests. In this way the 
 mind which is brought into action will be such 
 an associated system of complexes manufactured 
 as it were for the purpose of receiving instruc- 
 tion. And indeed it is generally admitted that 
 the best form of "discipline" which can be 
 employed, is the concentrated attention of the 
 pupil ; awakened by a genuine interest in the 
 subject itself, rather than by a fear of the 
 consequences of inattention and neglect. 
 
 One of the most important facts, which the 
 investigations of modern psychology has re- 
 vealed, is the extremely limited range of choice, 
 in the determination of his conduct, which falls 
 to the lot of the average child, or indeed, for 
 that matter, of the average human being. Each 
 complex, or group of complexes, has its own 
 sphere of freedom of action and volition. In 
 the actual practical life of an individual he 
 becomes aware, though without full compre- 
 hension of its meaning, of a continual conflict 
 of his numerous spheres of thought and action. 
 True liberty is, therefore, not a mere condition 
 of life which can be arbitrarily "given" or 
 "taken away" by economic conditions, social 
 
i] HUMAN PERSONALITY 13 
 
 conventions, or political institutions. It is a 
 quality which springs from within and has to be 
 gained by effort and perseverance ; while that 
 power, above all others, which can stimulate effort 
 and make it effective in the direction of gaining 
 mental freedom, is the assimilation of a right 
 idea, to the extent of generating a true convic- 
 tion, or what is termed a correct point of view. 
 The test of right ideas and points of view is 
 their power to harmonise and resolve the scat- 
 tered contents of our manifold minor complexes 
 in relation to one another, and to some of those 
 complexes which belong to a higher order. The 
 awakening of such true convictions is the real 
 meaning of revelation. We may pass our lives 
 in the repeated contemplation of various familiar 
 phenomena, the connection between which is 
 not suspected, when suddenly there arises a 
 perception of their true relationship. What is 
 this but a revelation ? 
 
 Living in a damp cold climate we notice that 
 grass will not grow well under a big tree. We 
 also notice that on the north side of a wall our 
 gardens will not flourish. From these and 
 similar phenomena we infer that sunlight is 
 needed for vegetation. Most of us feel brighter, 
 
14 HUMAN PERSONALITY [CH. 
 
 more cheerful and in better health with much 
 sunlight. The idea grows on us that sunlight 
 is not only a good thing, but that the more we 
 can get of it the better. We congratulate one 
 another on the brightness and warmth of "fine " 
 weather and deplore the coming of cold and 
 damp. But let us visit a very dry hot climate, 
 and the condition of things is reversed. We 
 find that vegetation flourishes most luxuriantly 
 under the shade of a cliff, and everything ex- 
 posed to the open sunlight is dried up. People 
 congratulate themselves on the presence of clouds 
 and rain ! Comparisons suggest themselves to 
 our minds ; and, by degrees to some, to others 
 suddenly, there dawns upon our minds the ideas 
 of moderation, proportion, balance. If now our 
 complexes are mobile, that is to say if they are 
 not charged too strongly with the tenacity of 
 emotion, which tends to restrict and obstruct 
 the reception of new ideas, this sense of modera- 
 tion once gained in certain connections will 
 rapidly spread to others. 
 
 The laws which govern the emergence of 
 complexes are roughly speaking fourfold. Each 
 complex has its own dynamic and inherent 
 forces, which will, after a certain lapse of time 
 
i] HUMAN PERSONALITY 15 
 
 and change of physical condition, bring it to the 
 surface of its own accord, as for example in 
 dreams. Then there is an emergence due to the 
 exercise of the senses. Next there is an emer- 
 gence possible in response to verbal suggestion. 
 And finally there is the emergence due to our 
 meditations. One might add, of course, a 
 composite cause of emergence due to an inde- 
 terminate combination of any, or all of the 
 above. 
 
 Space would not allow of a very full discussion 
 of the experimental investigations which have 
 led up to the generalizations and conclusions 
 arrived at. But it may be stated that the 
 author has himself made innumerable experi- 
 ments on his own personality extending over 
 some thirty years. With the help of anaesthetics 
 and other expedients, he has done much to verify, 
 correct and explore the work of other investiga- 
 tors. The serious student, however, may be 
 referred to the Proceedings of the Society for 
 Psychical Research, especially Part XL VI, which 
 contains some very suggestive papers. 
 
 By way of illustrating what has been called 
 a "dissociated" complex we may append the 
 following extract from a very interesting paper, 
 
16 HUMAN PERSONALITY [OH. 
 
 appearing in that volume, from the pen of Dr 
 T. W. Mitchelt :- 
 
 "A complex formed in relation to some event 
 accompanied by great emotion may become 
 dissociated from the personal consciousness, so 
 that all recollection of the event and of the 
 feelings and actions connected with it becomes 
 impossible. A complex so dissociated does not 
 cease to be capable of functioning. For the 
 time being it may become latent, but it may 
 occasionally exhibit extremely independent ac- 
 tivity. A case recorded by Professor Janet 1 
 well illustrates the results of the functioning of 
 such dissociated complexes. 
 
 "A young girl nursed her dying mother. The 
 poor woman, who had reached the last stage of 
 consumption, lived alone with her daughter in 
 a poor garret. Death came slowly with suffoca- 
 tion, blood vomiting, and all its frightful proces- 
 sion of symptoms. The girl struggled hopelessly 
 against the impossible. She watched her mother 
 during sixty nights, working at her sewing-ma- 
 chine to earn a few pennies necessary to sustain 
 their lives. After the mother's death she tried to 
 revive the corpse, to call the breath back again ; 
 1 The Major Symptoms of Hysteria, p. 29. 
 
i] HUMAN PERSONALITY 17 
 
 then, as she put the limbs upright, the body fell 
 to the floor, and it took infinite exertion to lift 
 it up again into the bed. Some time after the 
 funeral the young girl began to fall into som- 
 nambulic attacks in which she acted again all 
 the events that took place at her mother's death, 
 without forgetting the least detail. 
 
 "One of the characteristics of these recurrent 
 psychomotor states or somnambulisms, as Janet 
 calls them, is that they repeat themselves inde- 
 finitely. Not only are the attacks always (almost) 
 exactly alike, repeating the same movements, 
 expressions and words, but in the course of the 
 same attack the same scene may be repeated 
 many times (almost) exactly in the same way. 
 The patient acts out some past experience as if 
 in a dream, and during the attack the senses are 
 shut to all impressions not connected with the 
 dream. He perceives nothing except the idea 
 he is possessed of, and he remembers nothing 
 except that one idea. When the attack is over 
 there is a return of all sensations, the lost 
 memories of waking life are restored, and the 
 events of the dream are forgotten. This loss of 
 memory bears not only on the period of the 
 somnambulism ; it bears also on the event that 
 
 P. 2 
 
18 HUMAN PERSONALITY [OH. 
 
 has given birth to the somnambulism, on all the 
 facts that are connected with it, and on the 
 feelings that are related to it. Thus the young 
 girl referred to forgot during her waking state 
 all the events connected with her mother's illness 
 and death. She was callous and insensible, and 
 her filial love, the feeling of affection she had 
 felt for her mother, seemed to have quite van- 
 ished." 
 
 This example shows how intense emotions 
 may so develop and dissociate a complex as to 
 throw the whole order and arrangement of our 
 lives out of gear. Inasmuch, however, as the 
 emotional element supplies, or rather concen- 
 trates, the driving power of our activities in the 
 early stages of our mental growth, it is of great 
 importance that we should make a special effort 
 to understand its true meaning and function. 
 
 What it is exactly that people mean when 
 they insist that a sound educational system 
 should include the cultivation of the feelings 
 as well as of the intellect, it would be difficult 
 to say ; for the growth of the feelings in one 
 direction or another is inevitable. But vaguely 
 no doubt, the suggestion is that the mere ac- 
 quisition by children of mental and manual skiD, 
 
i] HUMAN PERSONALITY 19 
 
 added to a familiarity with certain intellectual 
 concepts, without however an awakening of lofty 
 aspirations, sympathy and kindness of heart, is 
 morally speaking unprofitable, and may be indeed 
 a curse rather than a blessing. 
 
 Now whatever importance we may attach to 
 the influence of heredity, and this factor should 
 by no means be disregarded, it is quite certain 
 that an individual's tastes, that is to say, his 
 likes and dislikes, his aims and preferences, are 
 not fixed and unchangeable elements, but that 
 they are qualities which can be cultivated, 
 repressed and developed within a wide range of 
 limits. It is, moreover, a well established fact 
 that an ordinary individual's tastes are dependent 
 on his beliefs, perceptions and habitual habits 
 of thought. In other words, he likes what he 
 believes in ; and also, in spite of his methods of 
 "reasoning" (we might almost say in consequence 
 of them) he is disposed to believe in the truth 
 of what he likes. What we like and believe in, 
 with some degree of persistence, is commonly 
 called our "ideals." 
 
 We may remark in passing that this very 
 generally recognised psychological fact, as to the 
 interdependence of beliefs and wishes, is often 
 
 22 
 
20 HUMAN PERSONALITY [OH. 
 
 dismissed with the phrase that "the wish is 
 father to the thought," as a sufficient explanation. 
 But it sometimes happens that the word "neces- 
 sity " is used to express some attitudes of mind, 
 attuned to strong and deeply-rooted wishes or 
 cravings ; especially where such feelings syn- 
 chronise with the mental attitude of those with 
 whom we have to deal. Thus we often speak of 
 our "economic necessities" when we seek to give 
 euphemistic expression to those settled mental 
 habits, based upon desires and beliefs to which 
 we have merely grown accustomed. The cravings 
 which have engendered certain habits of thought 
 are in this manner made to appear to be of such 
 compelling force as to suggest the idea of some- 
 thing fixed and irrevocable, springing out of 
 the very essence of our nature, determining our 
 actions " against our will " and contrary to our 
 "interests" ! It will soon be made clear, however, 
 that all our cravings are only relative and 
 conditional, and that they should never, except 
 by a misuse of terms, be spoken of as permanent 
 or irresistible. 
 
 This brings us to the important and very 
 difficult subject of instincts. The term "instinct" 
 has been variously and inconsistently applied to 
 
i] HUMAN PERSONALITY 21 
 
 a vast number of conflicting desires and pro- 
 clivities, but generally to those more or less 
 spontaneous tendencies, which prompt an organ- 
 ism's activities towards the advancement, or 
 maintenance, of its "well-being." Instinct has 
 been aptly defined as the inborn experience of 
 the race to which the organism belongs. But 
 what is race-experience? Clearly it must be 
 the outcome of an aggregate individual experi- 
 ence a synthetic boiling down of innumerable 
 efforts, trials, successes and failures. 
 
 However vast and profound this experience 
 may be, it cannot approach infallibility, as the 
 circumstances in which the organism finds 
 itself placed can be varied practically without 
 limit. 
 
 In the early part of this chapter we have 
 seen that an essential element in the composition 
 of complexes is experience ; and it is obvious 
 that the nucleus of all individual experience 
 must be race-experience. In other words, a 
 complex has its primary basis in instinct. Inas- 
 much, however, as the individual experience is 
 ever widening and deepening, the instincts 
 themselves must be ever changing. They can 
 consequently be modified and improved by 
 
22 HUMAN PERSONALITY [CH. 
 
 individual effort, notwithstanding Herbert Spen- 
 cer's sage remark that "there is no political 
 alchemy by which you can get golden conduct 
 out of leaden instincts." 
 
 The most fundamental instinct is that which 
 is known as the instinct of self-preservation. 
 That little word "self" is responsible for much 
 confusion of thought. Its ambiguity causes it 
 to be allied to a number of conflicting ideas, 
 but, in the main, it has opprobrious implications. 
 Thus we speak of selfish, self-seeking, and self- 
 absorbed ; whilst in an opposite sense we applaud 
 self-improvement, self-respect and self-reverence. 
 Professor Huxley once pointed out that an evil 
 effect of superficial education was due to confu- 
 sion of thought which arose from the ambiguity 
 of terms in current use, and argued that many 
 imagined that they were well educated when 
 they had merely learnt the art of stringing 
 words together without associating with them 
 any particular ideas ! 
 
 The distinction between egoism and true 
 individuality is of very great importance ; and 
 may help us to keep clear from the confusion 
 which arises from the ambiguity of the word 
 self. The characteristic mark of egoism, then, 
 
I] HUMAN PERSONALITY 23 
 
 is the mental seizing upon limitations, a mere 
 complex reaction, a futile endeavour in the 
 direction of fixity and permanence in the pheno- 
 menal world ; while individuality, on the other 
 hand, implies, in its best sense, a continuity of 
 higher effort in the direction of inward growth, 
 expansion and unity. Those revelations of the 
 real correlation of the forces underlying all 
 phenomena which we have spoken of, are a 
 constant accompaniment of genuine individual 
 growth. Such revelations, or true perceptions, 
 have tremendous executive power as compared 
 with the force of mere egoistic tendencies, with 
 which they are generally in conflict, though their 
 respective energies need not in practice be wholly 
 incompatible with one another. Those illumin- 
 ating ideas and perceptions are indeed the 
 fundamental basis of all true modesty ; but 
 modesty must not be confused with timidity. 
 
 To return now to the instinct of self-preser- 
 vation. It will at once be seen that its tendencies 
 and activities may vary according to whether it 
 is acting upon the organism from a higher or 
 lower plane of evolution whether, that is to 
 say, its energies are directed towards preserving 
 the physical organism merely, or promoting the 
 
24 HUMAN PERSONALITY [CH. I 
 
 spiritual growth of the individual. This differ- 
 entiation of instinctive feeling gives rise to a 
 conflict among the complexes ; and all conflict 
 is painful. 
 
 The conclusion which we draw from these 
 reflections is that the only real remedy for 
 human pain, as distinguished from temporary 
 palliatives, is such systematic education as will 
 effectively subordinate our lower to our higher 
 purpose. This may be called a truism ; but the 
 study of the conclusions of psychology, and their 
 intelligent application to practical life, will help 
 to keep its truth actively in view. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 EMOTION AND INSTINCT 
 
 WE have seen that emotion is an essential 
 element in the formation of complexes. Let us 
 endeavour to elucidate the matter by means of 
 concrete illustrations. 
 
 The ordinary human mind is a crowded 
 aggregation of incipient beliefs, mental habits, 
 concepts, longings and aversions, for the most 
 part instinctive, mere potentialities. There is 
 no such thing as an empty mind : nor is there 
 any unchanging mind. These crowds of beliefs 
 and tendencies are necessarily correlated, and, 
 as the individual life develops, they fluctuate, 
 mingle and conflict. 
 
 A proposition presenting itself for consi- 
 deration, either at the instance of outward 
 circumstances, or as the result of meditations, 
 is accepted as true, or is rejected as false, with 
 varying degrees of hesitation, according to our 
 moods. If the proposition appeals to us as 
 
26 EMOTION AND INSTINCT [CH. 
 
 decidedly advantageous, that is to say, if it 
 seems to open up the prospect of pleasurable 
 emotion, and if it be not in strong disagreement 
 with some particular habit of thought at the 
 time active, the tendency of the mind is to 
 accept such a proposition as a true pronounce- 
 ment. Its disagreeableness, on the contrary, at 
 once prompts its rejection. There are exceptions 
 to the latter course in the case of so-called 
 timid natures, whose egoism takes the form of 
 credulity or over-suggestability, coupled with 
 a morbid apprehension of any invasion of the 
 sanctity of their personality : but this exception 
 does not affect the general rule. 
 
 Let the proposition, for example, be related 
 to Art, some question of architectural style, a 
 scheme of decoration, the quality or disposition 
 of furniture : we call it a matter of good or of 
 bad taste, according to our predilections. Let 
 us suppose that it is a political question, or one 
 of literature, science, or religion : and that it 
 forms the topic of discussion with acquaintances : 
 if now it should happen that the question is one 
 which excites in us strong feelings, then agree- 
 ment stimulates mutual interest and sympathy 
 between individuals : often quite irrespective of 
 
ii] EMOTION AND INSTINCT 27 
 
 the real character and essential merits of the 
 subject discussed. The tendency also is towards 
 hasty and unwarranted generalization. We are 
 apt to call the people, who agree with us, nice 
 people, interesting and well-informed : while 
 those who disagree with us are ignorant and 
 evilly-disposed ! Furthermore, when a proposi- 
 tion is supposed to correspond with what we 
 imagine to be the universal experience of our 
 fellows, tested by observation and accepted on 
 authority, we call it "objective truth." Thus in 
 former days the revolution of the sun and stars 
 round the earth, as centre of the universe, was 
 an obvious " fact," an " objective truth " : and 
 Galileo for holding contrary views was considered 
 an enemy of the human race ! 
 
 The contention here is not that there are no 
 reliable criteria for distinguishing right from 
 wrong, what is true from what is false ; but that 
 they do not exist wholly apart from the element 
 of mind, of which the emotional quality is an 
 important factor in their growth and deter- 
 mination. In other words human judgment is 
 necessarily related to temporal conditions ; and 
 at its best it is neither absolute nor final. How- 
 ever much we may insist, as we often do, that 
 
28 EMOTION AND INSTINCT [OH. 
 
 we are quite impartial in our judgments, and 
 however near some may approach that ideal ; 
 yet it can hardly be gainsaid that, in practical 
 life, impartiality is never to be counted on. 
 
 Many years ago John Stuart Mill argued 
 with great force that all our accepted rules 
 dealing with the idea of justice and fair play 
 were mere human conventions based upon es- 
 tablished beliefs of very slight permanent validity. 
 Such conventions have their value, no doubt, in 
 giving expression to prevalent beliefs ; helping 
 men to co-operate, by reminding them of their 
 mutual obligations ; but no sensible person 
 to-day would insist that any convention, although 
 it may be embodied in the law of the land, must 
 be regarded as absolutely fixed and irrevocable. 
 Trouble inevitably arises when sections of the 
 community, having lost faith in the authority of 
 certain conventions, find themselves in conflict 
 with the law, while at the same time other 
 sections insist upon the sacredness of the law, 
 as an embodiment of eternal truth. More 
 especially is this the case when, as often happens, 
 the same individuals or groups accept conflicting 
 conventions with almost equal fervour ! 
 
 The organised life of civilised states has 
 
n] EMOTION AND INSTINCT 29 
 
 developed rapidly, and it has certainly become 
 very complicated, but all the elaborate machinery 
 set up by democracies for the readjustment of 
 laws by means of legislation, and for the altera- 
 tion of the personnel of administration, appears 
 to be still quite inadequate to cope with the very 
 numerous manifestations of discontent. The 
 demands made in diverse quarters for the greater 
 satisfaction of "natural rights" is becoming 
 daily more insistent. On all sides the cry is the 
 same : " All we ask for is justice " ; and few 
 there are who suspect that the only real satis- 
 faction comes from within. 
 
 Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice 
 was evidently written with the object of bringing 
 home to the average intelligence the great truth 
 that "laws" must be harmonised to conform 
 with mercy ; and it is rather curious to note, 
 that notwithstanding our professedly great ad- 
 miration for Shakespeare, what a confused kind 
 of controversy is invariably provoked by the 
 occasional revival of public presentations of this 
 play. 
 
 The spirit of unrest, which at present prevails 
 in all departments of our communal life, both 
 in thought and practice, seems to call loudly for 
 
30 EMOTION AND INSTINCT [OH. 
 
 the awakening of some higher faith in the 
 purpose and destiny of individual existence ; 
 and how is this possible without a serious effort 
 being made to introduce a really moral and 
 religious atmosphere into popular education ? 
 For it is difficult to see how all this confusion in 
 our intellectual standards of value can by any 
 possibility be resolved, so long as the egoistic 
 and emotional character of the human mind 
 remains undisciplined and rampant. When, 
 however, the energies of our emotions are 
 subdued or sublimated by alliance with higher 
 ideals, then there is more elasticity and free 
 play between the minor complexes, less danger 
 of their dissociative emergence into conscious- 
 ness, and as a consequence a clearance of the 
 field for the exercise of our higher powers of 
 perception and understanding. 
 
 We have seen that it is instinct which is the 
 foundation and origin of the complexes ; and 
 that instinct has a twofold function : first the 
 development, preservation and reproduction of 
 the physical organism, as an individual organism ; 
 and secondly the evolution of this organism as 
 an instrument, or vehicle of the higher purpose 
 of the race to which it belongs. These two 
 
ii] EMOTION AND INSTINCT 31 
 
 functions may operate harmoniously together ; 
 or they may act, if undue stress is laid on one or 
 the other function, in apparent conflict. 
 
 Activity due to instinct is either pleasurable, 
 or painful, according to whether it is directed 
 positively or negatively. It is directed positively 
 in the exercise of the nutritive and reproductive 
 functions of our bodies, in the development of 
 the various senses and organs of the body, and 
 in the development of the intellectual faculties. 
 It is directed negatively when it manifests itself 
 as warnings and pains, which arise from the 
 apprehension of dangers, either physical, intel- 
 lectual, or moral, such as occur in the form of 
 disease, or in the form of violent shocks to the 
 system. The correct interpretation of instinctive 
 feelings is, therefore, of the highest importance 
 to our welfare ; and it follows that we should 
 endeavour as early as possible to supplement 
 the instinctive tendencies of our nature by the 
 cultivation of intelligent volitions, and by the 
 stimulation of the habit of rapidly forming sound 
 judgments in difficult situations. If we allow 
 mere pleasurable sensations to prompt our 
 thoughts and actions, thus using what intellec- 
 tual powers we may first acquire towards the 
 
32 EMOTION AND INSTINCT [CH. 
 
 gratification of instinctive desires, our instincts 
 themselves become perverted. Such perversion 
 is unfortunately only too common. We see the 
 wholesome appetite for food rapidly degenerate 
 into gluttony. We see the instincts of self-pre- 
 servation, of sense development, of reproduction 
 and of intellectual growth pervertedinto luxurious 
 living, aesthetic sensuality, lust and vanity. 
 
 A great danger lurks in the oft repeated 
 saying : " Let us enjoy ourselves while we are 
 young and when we can." There is fortunately 
 a happy mean which lies between the extreme 
 of asceticism, of puritanical notions which regard 
 all enjoyment as sinful, on the one hand ; and 
 of the opposite extreme, the short-sighted 
 hedonism of mere pleasure seeking, on the 
 other. 
 
 The reaction against repression, as an educa- 
 tional ideal, seems to have gone quite far enough, 
 so that we are now confronted with some very 
 extravagant claims as to the "rights of children." 
 Many are apt now-a-days to lose sight of the 
 important fact that habits, growing out of the 
 unrestrained vent given to instinctive feelings 
 in youth, are likely to become very stubborn 
 barriers to the individual's higher intellectual 
 
n] EMOTION AND INSTINCT 33 
 
 and moral development. These habits tend 
 towards^ the production of a multitude of irra- 
 tional and superstitious beliefs, fancies, false and 
 exaggerated expectations. Vague notions of 
 "luck" and "chance" fill the thoughts with an 
 inevitable train of disappointments, resentments 
 and bitterness. 
 
 If all instincts were directed simply towards 
 the preservation, development and reproduction 
 of the physical organism, without regard to any 
 higher human purpose, then indeed the contin- 
 uity of mankind as a manifestation of spiritual 
 life would be impossible. As a fact, however, 
 there are instinctive energies continually exerting 
 themselves throughout the various phases of our 
 intellectual and moral growth ; and inasmuch 
 as the healthy development of this growth in- 
 volves the harmonious interaction, mutually 
 conscious and volitional, between different in- 
 dividual lives, too great importance cannot be 
 attached to the intelligent co-ordination, sub- 
 limation and systematic training of instinctive 
 feelings. 
 
 One of the most noticeable consequences of 
 the neglect of such systematic training is to be 
 seen in the mental habit of impatience with 
 
 p. 3 
 
34 EMOTION AND INSTINCT [CH. n 
 
 outward conditions ; that exaggerated longing 
 for the immediate emergence of tangible results 
 from all efforts and actions ; a longing which 
 often finds expression in a futile and vulgar 
 utilitarianism. Then again that narrow outlook 
 upon life engendered by strong feelings associated 
 with an inadequate intellectual and moral equip- 
 ment, leads to what is known as "cock-sureness"- 
 a distressing form of conceit impenetrable to 
 pure reason. The immensity of the phenomenal 
 world, with its balancing tendencies of innumer- 
 able conflicting influences, is disputed or ignored ; 
 and the pain, which follows disillusionment, finds 
 its vent in pessimism, or in the preposterous 
 doctrine called the " philosophy of discontent." 
 
 But patience is not apathy. Energies well 
 directed, first within and then without, lead to 
 lasting results ; and unsought for though they 
 be in their outward aspect, their fruit is the 
 growth of a noble character. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 CHARACTER VERSUS REPUTATION 
 
 ARE character and reputation necessarily in 
 opposition to one another ? The answer to this 
 question must depend, as in all verbal proposi- 
 tions, on the implication of the words used. 
 
 Shakespeare makes lago say to Othello : 
 
 "Good name, in man or woman, dear my lord, 
 Is the immediate jewel of their souls : 
 Who steals my purse steals trash ; 'tis something, 
 
 nothing ; 
 
 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; 
 But he who filches from me my good name, 
 Robs me of that, which not enriches him, 
 And makes me poor indeed." 
 
 This is a striking passage and is often quoted, 
 but, if carefully analysed, it soon becomes ap- 
 parent that neither from a legal, economic, nor 
 from an ethical point of view is it at all sound. 
 Moreover on another occasion the same worthy 
 says to Cassio : " Reputation is an idle and 
 most false imposition ; oft got without merit, 
 
 32 
 
36 CHARACTER VERSUS [CH. 
 
 and lost without deserving." Now lago was a 
 clever rascal of good repute, who did not, as a 
 rule, say things with a view to helping his 
 fellow-creatures to arrive at a better under- 
 standing of what was true ; and in both the 
 above citations he was endeavouring to mislead 
 by specious and fallacious utterances. Good 
 name and good reputation are synonymous ; 
 but they do not invariably tally with good 
 character; for the character of an individual 
 is his actual nature, his true qualities, capacities 
 and disposition ; while his reputation is the 
 recorded or otherwise expressed opinions, or 
 beliefs, which are generally held in regard to 
 him and his works. There may be much coinci- 
 dence between reputation and character, but 
 it need not necessarily be so. Both have their 
 proper uses in their respective spheres. It will, 
 however, be very generally conceded as being 
 quite obvious that character, as an aim and as 
 a determining factor in mankind's well-being, is 
 of immeasurably greater importance than mere 
 reputation. Very generally conceded, that is to 
 say, by those, who will pause to reflect ; for it 
 must be admitted that the opposite view prevails 
 largely in our practical work-a-day life. 
 
in] REPUTATION 37 
 
 How does the confusion arise ? In the first 
 place it is held, and quite properly, that we can 
 only judge of results, unless indeed we are 
 endowed with super-normal faculties, which, as 
 a rule, we do not possess. Thus the habit grows 
 of looking for results and endeavouring to obtain 
 them, not as a means of forming sound judg- 
 ments, as to the meaning and purpose of life, 
 but as constituting in themselves the true use 
 and goal of our existence. It is, then, just this 
 inversion of the proper relations of the inward 
 and outward, of means and end, that is re- 
 sponsible for the pernicious custom, widely 
 prevalent, of neglecting, not to say ignoring, the 
 importance of character-training. 
 
 One of the worst consequences of this exag- 
 gerated regard for reputation is the constant 
 struggle to appear consistent and to gain, by 
 one trick or another, some of the outward 
 marks of virtue, ability, distinction and credi- 
 bility, rather than to make the effort to develop 
 the higher qualities in themselves. Thus as 
 civilization advances and the complications of 
 life grow greater, we are confounded with the 
 most deplorable waste of human energy in the 
 vain attempt of individuals, groups, classes and 
 
38 CHARACTER VERSUS [CH. 
 
 nations to maintain their position in the eyes of 
 the world ; a struggle which manifests itself in 
 that great mass of affectation and vulgar display ; 
 and in those varieties of fraud, folly and make- 
 belief, which we all see and deplore, but fail 
 adequately to cope with. It is important to 
 note, however, that this exaggerated and topsy- 
 turvy attitude towards the relative positions of 
 character and reputation does not necessitate 
 either the repudiation, nor even the disregard, 
 of one or the other. It is a question solely of 
 the view we take of their relative positions. 
 The point is : which shall be predominant ; 
 which is to be subordinated and which is to be 
 considered supreme? For undoubtedly a due 
 regard to reputation has its value in the regula- 
 tion of our lives. It is a form of discipline 
 which under present conditions cannot well be 
 dispensed with. It is a useful corrective, a test, 
 or measure of practical efficiency, and a strong, 
 though an inferior, incentive, to honest effort. 
 It is not uncommon, for example, to hear people 
 protest that they do not care in the least for 
 what others say, or think of them ; without, in 
 fact, having any genuine belief in the truth of 
 their protestation. This reckless pretence that 
 
in] REPUTATION 39 
 
 one is always following the dictates of "con- 
 science" when, in truth, the actual prompter 
 is some egoistic delusion, whether it be mere 
 vanity or ill-temper, tends by constant repetition 
 to destroy the sense of shame which is a very 
 powerful moral force. 
 
 The difficulty of the educational problem, 
 which presents itself when we endeavour to 
 inculcate the superiority of character to reputa- 
 tion, lies in the fact that the early stages of 
 child-development depend so largely upon the 
 feeding and cultivation of the minor complexes, 
 in which narrow egocentric thoughts and feelings 
 must necessarily predominate. The problem 
 then assumes this form : how are we to counter- 
 act these budding and multifarious egoisms in 
 the minor complexes without destroying all 
 incentives to effort ? This problem is the 
 subject of the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 INCENTIVES TO EFFORT. ECONOMICS 
 
 WE exert ourselves to obtain pleasure and 
 to avoid pain ; to reach out towards what 
 attracts, and to escape from what repels. Ex- 
 perience teaches us what is good for us. Thus 
 stated the question of our incentives appears 
 simple enough. But in reality it is not so. 
 
 A child sees something that looks good, or 
 smells good, and so thrusts it into his mouth. 
 He may find it bitter, or too hot, not at all 
 what he expected. Grown-up people likewise 
 are deceived by their senses, by their opinions, 
 by their false inferences and expectations. 
 What is learnt by experience one day may 
 have to be unlearnt the next. Further, similar 
 objects may appear attractive at one time and 
 repellent at another. Even at the same moment 
 we may be both attracted and repelled by the 
 same, or what appears to be the same, course 
 of action by different sides of our nature, by 
 different complexes in short. 
 
CH. iv] ECONOMICS 41 
 
 It is true, of course, that certain customs 
 and beliefs have gained general acceptance as 
 a result partly of experience and partly of 
 tradition. 
 
 Let us examine some of these accepted 
 beliefs. Physical and mental enjoyment, result- 
 ing from the exercise of the senses, bodily 
 exercise, rational intellectual pursuits and di- 
 versions, which meet with approbation, applause, 
 or "legitimate success," and which result in 
 personal advancement in the eyes of the world ; 
 a life, in short, of distinction, pleasure or ease ; 
 any, or all these aims, are, by tacit consent, 
 recognised as worthy objects of existence ; and 
 advantageous, not to say necessary, incentives 
 to effort. The making of adequate provisions 
 for securing and perpetuating such obviously 
 good things, is called foresight, prudence, com- 
 monsense. Yet, strange to say, we can, in 
 certain moods, admire far more the motives of 
 those who systematically discard all such aims 
 as these. In our higher moods the ordinary 
 outlook upon life appears to us, not as com- 
 monsense, but as commonplace, selfish and 
 vulgar ! 
 
 That beautiful word love is much used and 
 
42 INCENTIVES TO EFFORT [OH. 
 
 abused in describing human motives. It is, in 
 fact, associated with two distinct ideas having 
 opposed tendencies. Correctly it is used to 
 denote that expansive force in our nature arising 
 out of a surrender of egoistic thoughts and 
 feelings ; but it is also used as applying to the 
 extension of our egoism as allied to the sense of 
 property and possession. In this sense it would 
 more properly be termed affection. In its best 
 meaning, love is indicative of the highest 
 religious emotion, not the mere profession of 
 a creed, nor mere devotion to ceremonial 
 observances, but as indicating reverence for 
 the eternally true, and the divinely beautiful 
 in both man and nature. In the other sense, 
 love implies a mere attachment to our belong- 
 ings, or would-be possessions, such as our homes, 
 families, friends. Thus an individual says he 
 loves, when he speaks of the things that are 
 particularly his, or the things he would like to 
 have. He says : I love my home (or our 
 home), my family, my friends, my art, my 
 country, my religion. These objects may cer- 
 tainly be shared with others, but mixed with 
 the idea of exclusion and proprietorship. This 
 is not true love, but affection. It is only when 
 
iv] ECONOMICS 43 
 
 the egoistic feeling is in abeyance that we can 
 truly be said to love. Then indeed we see life 
 in its proper perspective. We are then able to 
 perceive that the basis upon which the great 
 bulk of human motives rests, is the sense of 
 separateness ; that sense which arises from our 
 deeply rooted belief in our physical and psychic 
 isolation. In that belief we develop most of our 
 ideals, we seek our security, and we formulate 
 our plans. 
 
 However much we may protest that this 
 belief is delusive and misleading, its almost 
 universal existence is a hard fact, a fact which 
 has to be reckoned with and provided for, if we 
 would deal with our fellow-men. What is more, 
 an adequate understanding of its true meaning 
 and implication, its force, scope and limitations, 
 must be acquired before we can make any 
 serious progress in any attempt to remove its 
 baneful influence by means of education. 
 
 It is to the sense of separateness that the 
 economic fabric of our lives is due. Economic 
 systems at once emphasize the fact of its exist- 
 ence, and supply, though only partially and 
 imperfectly, a means of escape. This sense of 
 separateness, as it obtains in the ordinary 
 
44 INCENTIVES TO EFFORT [OH. 
 
 human mind, is somewhat distorted, perverted, 
 and, so to speak, uneducated. It tends to 
 promote error of judgment in so far as it makes 
 the temporary and conditional limits of percep- 
 tion appear absolute and final. It obscures one 
 of the most fundamental facts of life, for, whether 
 we know it or not, we are necessarily inter- 
 dependent, we must perforce co-operate with 
 one another, however much we may hug the 
 belief in our independence. Herein arises, by 
 a process of inversion, a strange anomaly. We 
 have come to regard money, the very instrument 
 forged by long ages of civilization to unite our 
 energies in productive activity, as the real basis 
 of true independence ; as indeed the only effec- 
 tive and honourable means of securing freedom 
 in our lives ! 
 
 It is often assumed, as a self-evident proposi- 
 tion, that finance is an absolutely essential factor 
 in the production of life's necessaries. A 
 moment's reflection would convince us how 
 absurd the proposition is, for it does not require 
 any great stretch of imagination to conceive of 
 a state of existence in which human beings had 
 learnt to co-operate spontaneously for their 
 mutual aid, without requiring any cumbersome 
 
iv] ECONOMICS 45 
 
 machinery for measuring, checking and regulat- 
 ing their individual and collective activities. 
 History has, in fact, furnished us with examples 
 of such true community of interest and endeav- 
 our. One might instance the building of some 
 of our finest cathedrals. Even to-day the best 
 part of our social life has a non-economic basis. 
 The suggestion is not that we could forthwith 
 dispense with our economic system, or even that 
 at this stage it would be advantageous. The 
 point is, that finance absorbs too much of our 
 thoughts, and wrongly. The economic sphere 
 has become too dominant, too insistent ; it no 
 longer occupies its proper place in our lives. 
 The instrument, or servant, has become master ! 
 
 Why is this ? It is the outcome of that pro- 
 cess of perversion, or rather inversion, already 
 referred to in the last chapter. Civilization has 
 developed very rapidly. The application of our 
 minds to material considerations has, in pro- 
 portion to our moral growth, been somewhat 
 overdone, and a readjustment, a systematic 
 co-ordination has become necessary. 
 
 Money is supposed to be a standard of 
 "value" and a measure of "value." Much has 
 been written as to the meaning of value. It is 
 
46 INCENTIVES TO EFFORT [CH. 
 
 not, however, necessary to enter here into the 
 technical minutiae of economic science. From 
 a psychological point of view, value is the 
 mental estimation of what appears to us good, 
 or desirable ; but seeing that such estimation 
 varies from time to time, both with the 
 same individual according to his conditions 
 and circumstances, and with the different in- 
 dividuals into whose lives we enter, it is evidently 
 a bootless task to attempt to fix, or define, some 
 measure of value so as to give it anything 
 approaching to universal application. Money, 
 no doubt, has its own function in its proper 
 sphere, but the mistake we are constantly 
 making is to try to measure by its means that 
 with which it is altogether incommensurate. 
 
 The delusion that money is an universal 
 power, meeting all human needs, is a supersti- 
 tion amounting almost to idolatry. 
 
 Those moments in which we feel and perceive 
 the underlying oneness of our lives are, it must 
 be admitted, very rare. We do not at all times 
 and in all circumstances realise our essential 
 interdependence. Our whole natures have not 
 yet acquired the capacity of giving and receiving 
 freely. There is that in us, more especially as 
 
iv] ECONOMICS 47 
 
 regards what we call our material interests, 
 which demands a quid pro quo for services 
 rendered and "benefits" exchanged. It is our 
 " dignity," we say, which demands it. Our " self- 
 respect" requires it. Why, without such demand 
 " we should be the prey to the idle, the greedy, 
 the vicious ! " But that which really makes the 
 demand is the innate egoism of our rudimentary 
 natures, however much we may dress it up in 
 high-sounding phrases. It is egoism which 
 creates economic values just as certainly as it 
 creates vice and greed and indolence. 
 
 Let us be clear about this before we set 
 about to find the remedy for our present ills. 
 
 Viewing the various social and political 
 institutions of our times with honest and impar- 
 tial judgment we cannot help seeing that they 
 are all, more or less, built up on what is termed 
 an economic basis. Whatever may be the 
 superstructure, the foundation, or legal status, 
 is one of " property," " endowment," and " con- 
 tract." Religious, charitable, philanthropic, 
 educational, industrial institutions, the institu- 
 tions of marriage, of birth, of rank, of social 
 procedure are all incorporated under the laws 
 of contract relating to property, for privileged, 
 
48 INCENTIVES TO EFFORT [CH. 
 
 or exclusive use. Their dignity, prestige, honour, 
 the measure of their freedom, power and stability 
 are generally estimated in terms of money. 
 Persons and institutions without property have 
 " no stake in the country." Indeed with many 
 people money has come to be regarded as a 
 substitute for exertion, as the only true refuge 
 and safeguard ; even also as a means of covering 
 over and concealing vice ! Money is the power 
 most admired, most respected, most coveted by 
 the mass of mankind to-day, rich and poor 
 alike ; who are rapidly coming to consider that 
 the "struggle for life" is a financial struggle, 
 pure and simple ! 
 
 That this should be the state of civilization 
 in which we find ourselves placed, is evidence of 
 the way in which we have been brought up, and 
 of the ideals under whose influence we have 
 grown to be what we are. The facts need not 
 be insisted on in any carping, or malignant 
 spirit, but if we would emancipate ourselves 
 from this thraldom it must be boldly and frankly 
 recognised. 
 
 The ambiguity of the term "wealth" is a 
 serious difficulty, for it has a strictly limited 
 signification in the sphere of economics, and it 
 
iv] ECONOMICS 49 
 
 is used in a far wider sense in general literature 
 and poetry and also colloquially. In its technical 
 meaning, wealth is that which can be recognised 
 by law as property, either personal, or collective, 
 which can, therefore, be made the subject of 
 bargain and contract ; and which has in con- 
 sequence an "exchange value." Beneficence, 
 in a spiritual sense, is in no way implied in the 
 conception of economic wealth, any more than 
 the idea of true self-sacrifice can be involved in 
 the motives of economic gain. The power of 
 spiritual beneficence is, no doubt, stupendous in 
 its own sphere in the determination of human 
 welfare, but it belongs to a quality of thought 
 and action fundamentally distinct from those 
 obtaining in the world of economics. In our 
 dealings with one another these two spheres 
 may indeed seem to be inextricably mixed up, 
 but with the help of a higher insight they can 
 be distinguished, and if we are wise we should 
 endeavour to avoid all unnecessary confusion 
 between them. Services rendered from motives 
 of true love, services rendered with the sponta- 
 neous feeling and conviction that all our truest 
 interests and ultimate ends cannot be in any 
 sense opposed, is essentially free service. Such 
 p. 4 
 
50 INCENTIVES TO EFFORT [OH. 
 
 service is altogether unlike a business transac- 
 tion, for it is not something which can be bought 
 and sold We are fortunately, most of us, aware, 
 in some parts of our lives, that humanity is 
 capable of acts of true kindness ; and we know 
 that, while such acts generally inspire a kind of 
 reciprocity both in substance and feeling, they 
 involve no definite provision for any return in 
 the nature of a stipulated "consideration," or 
 quid pro quo. In legal parlance they are " acts 
 of grace," which cannot be made the subject of 
 litigation for the enforcement either of benefits, 
 or pains and penalties. 
 
 The aims of commerce, as commerce, are 
 those of self-preservation and self-gratification, 
 both in a very narrow sense ; and self-aggran- 
 disement, in a worldly sense ; strictly personal, 
 or for our belongings. The methods of commerce 
 are those of strenuous competition. 
 
 If we concentrate our energies upon com- 
 mercial pursuits and deliberately adopt their 
 methods, aims and ideals, as our own, making 
 them the dominant purpose and mainspring of 
 our lives, to the neglect, or subordination of 
 our spiritual capacities and potentialities, we 
 can, beyond doubt, achieve a certain kind of 
 
iv] ECONOMICS 51 
 
 temporal success ; but the spiritual side of our 
 nature will not for ever be denied. Some crisis 
 will arise, whether it takes the form of disease, 
 disaster, or death, which will find us unprepared, 
 and shatter the fabric we have made. This 
 is no mere hypothesis, but the universal ex- 
 perience. 
 
 It is often urged that the two sides of our 
 nature can be made to work hand in hand. 
 Possibly, but the important question is : which 
 shall be dominant ? Unless we constantly keep 
 our minds clear on this point, the risk is very 
 great. It is easy enough to say, as many do, 
 that we will first make our worldly position 
 secure, and then use the vantage ground, so 
 gained, to " do good " afterwards. A strenuous 
 commercial life as things are to-day, is not the 
 best school for learning the nature of good, or 
 high moral purpose. Many there are who learn 
 too late that there is truth in the saying that 
 one cannot serve both God and Mammon. 
 
 The real remedy for our ills is to be found, 
 and found solely, in sound educational methods ; 
 and this is not possible without knowledge of the 
 composition and working of the human mind. 
 This knowledge must in the first instance be 
 
 42 
 
52 INCENTIVES TO EFFORT [CH. 
 
 gained by teachers, and it must be skilfully and 
 fearlessly applied in practice. 
 
 We have seen that, by enlarging the field of 
 vision and consciousness, complexes can be 
 united, resolved and co-ordinated, so extending 
 and purifying the sphere of experience and 
 volition ; and that the real strength and great- 
 ness of individuality lies in the direction of 
 the impersonal. These are fundamental facts 
 handed down to us by the noblest traditions 
 and confirmed by experimental psychological 
 research. 
 
 The genuine understanding of these funda- 
 mental facts would lead to the remodelling and 
 readjustment of our whole educational system. 
 Competition as an incentive to effort (and 
 incidentally as the great fostering cause of 
 egoism) would be abolished. Punishment would 
 be mitigated. Bribes would disappear. Children 
 would be discouraged from assimilating false 
 ideals while their minds are young and plastic. 
 Nobler ideals would be placed before them and 
 we would contrive, by suitable examples and 
 illustrations, to make these appear really inter- 
 esting and attractive. Ideals so instilled tend 
 to become insfinctive and would have vastly 
 
iv] ECONOMICS 53 
 
 greater weight and influence over life and 
 conduct, than mere intellectual concepts, ac- 
 quired later in life. 
 
 These higher instinctive aims, thoughts and 
 feelings, ever seeking their expression in action, 
 would, as life continues, extend their scope, 
 strengthen their energies, and bring the individ- 
 uality into more harmonious communion with 
 other individualities, and with the outer world. 
 The truer the instincts, the more real becomes 
 the growth of the individuality in the direction 
 of the impersonal. 
 
 In the incompletely developed mind the field 
 of vivid consciousness, being necessarily narrow 
 and circumscribed, a vast number of life's 
 operations must pertain to the instinctive order. 
 In psychical research these are what have been 
 termed " automatisms." In using this term it is 
 important to bear in mind, however, that such 
 instinctive acts are by no means removed from 
 all element of responsibility. It is true, no 
 doubt, that automatisms, while functioning, have 
 the effect of committing the individual without 
 his having been fully aware of what he was 
 about. Inasmuch, however, as they were the 
 outcome of some, it may be, innumerable 
 
54 INCENTIVES TO EFFORT [CH. iv 
 
 conscious efforts, or musings, they must be 
 regarded as being in fact, the deferred conse- 
 quences of previous volitional activity. These 
 considerations add point to the insistence upon 
 the value in psychological study to the health- 
 ful and systematic governance of our lives. 
 With a proper understanding of the laws of 
 complex formation, and of the laws which 
 regulate their interdependence, emergence and 
 co-ordination, an immense diminution could be 
 effected in human suffering and worry. By 
 means of such understanding we could substitute 
 comparatively simple and direct methods, for 
 the cumbersome experiments, failures and false 
 inferences which characterise the ordinary pro- 
 cesses of social evolution. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 ^ 
 
 SPECIALIZATION 
 
 THE innumerable divisions and subdivisions 
 in the organised life of a community renders 
 some kind of specialization as regards instruction 
 and training a virtual necessity. The various de- 
 partments of State, the division of labour in pro- 
 ductive and distributive enterprise, the growth 
 differentiation of professional occupations, &f 
 scientific research and recreative pursuits, all 
 these tend to create an imperative demand for 
 specially equipped and efficient workers, and as 
 a consequence for " vocational training." 
 
 In recent years specialization has grown very 
 fast and has already produced surprising results ; 
 but carried to extremes it has very serious 
 drawbacks. For it has the effect of narrowing 
 down the individual outlook, and of isolating, or 
 dissociating, the component parts of the social 
 organism ; with the result that efficiency is, on 
 
56 SPECIALIZATION [OH. 
 
 the whole, not gained, but lost. The pernicious 
 craze for " record breaking " ; that extravagant 
 longing to achieve something striking, or sensa- 
 tional, something that will "stir the public 
 mind" to admiration and applause, fosters a 
 most unwholesome influence in our midst. The 
 concentration of people's thoughts and imagina- 
 tion upon the ephemeral data of outward events, 
 as though these constituted in themselves the 
 object and goal of existence, must tend to divert 
 attention from really important matters, to 
 distort and confuse our sense of proportion ; and 
 make us lose sight of what is fundamentally 
 essential to our welfare and true progress. 
 
 Not so very long ago it was very commonly 
 held that by a vigorous application of the mind 
 to no matter what subject, one could thereby 
 develop certain important "faculties," which 
 were called "the will," "the memory," "the power 
 of concentration," and " the power of observation " ; 
 and that once gained these "faculties" could be 
 applied to any and all purposes ! Modern phy- 
 siological and psychological research has utterly 
 exploded this doctrine. This research clearly 
 indicates that observation, memory, concentra- 
 tion and volition are developed only in association 
 
v] SPECIALIZATION 57 
 
 with specific ideas, emotions and actions ; that 
 the development of these mental powers, along 
 certain lines, involves the development of specific 
 portions of the brain and nervous system ; and 
 that, for the higher purposes of our communal 
 life, or for any purpose, other than those so 
 specifically developed, these awakened powers 
 of the mind are quite useless ; unless, indeed, 
 there is an adequate extension of the associative 
 process, linking the specific complexes, so formed, 
 with other complexes, especiallv with the more 
 general, or co-ordinating complexes. 
 
 An uneducated farmer, calling at a country 
 house to obtain the signature of a local magnate 
 to some document, was asked to wait in the library. 
 He afterwards expressed to a friend his astonish- 
 ment at the large number of " Bibles," which he 
 had u observed," stored up on the shelves. The 
 Family Bible was the only book with which he was 
 familiar and it happened to have an outward 
 resemblance to the books in the library. Hence 
 his inference as the outcome of his "observa- 
 tions " ! But let the owner of the library, the 
 educated man of affairs, quite uninstructed in 
 practical agricultural operations, walk the fields 
 with this man of the soil, and the tables would be 
 
58 SPECIALIZATION [OH. 
 
 turned; all his widely cultivated and scholarly 
 powers of observation would serve him but little, 
 and, as likely as not he would make just as foolish 
 observations as that of the uncultured farmer. 
 So it is in other fields we will find observation, 
 knowledge, volition, linked with the memory of 
 what is familiar. 
 
 "Familiarity breeds contempt" expresses only 
 a half-truth, for familiarity also breeds affection 
 and interest. But it is true that phenomena 
 familiar to an expert, a specialist, may seem 
 utterly commonplace to him and to his fellow- 
 experts, while to a non-expert, or to an expert 
 in another line, the same phenomena may appear 
 to be very wonderful and mysterious, so long as 
 they are still unfamiliar. 
 
 It is difficult, no doubt, but few things are 
 more important in education than to bear in 
 mind, and to inculcate, the changing nature 
 of everything and everybody. There are, of 
 course, degrees of duration, but nothing is 
 absolutely static ; everything is related, condi- 
 tioned and transitory. The nearest approach 
 we can make to fixity and permanence is to 
 be found in our enunciation of fundamental 
 principles, or laws ; but even here it must not 
 
v] SPECIALIZATION 59 
 
 be forgotten that such enunciations are them- 
 selves dependent on our powers of expression 
 and understanding ; by no means immutable 
 factors. 
 
 The common practice of labelling men ac- 
 cording to their chief avocations is responsible 
 for much unnecessary confusion ; and it is 
 sometimes a serious bar to our estimation of 
 the real worth of an individual. We often hear 
 such contemptuous exclamations as: "What 
 can a lawyer know about farming?" "How 
 can a doctor make a good man of business?" 
 "Let the shoemaker stick to his last," and the 
 like. The idea being that competence in one 
 special line must necessarily involve disquali- 
 fication for proficiency in other directions. 
 Generalizations of this sort are just as misleading, 
 in their own way, as their opposite extremes, 
 to which reference has just been made. For 
 they leave out of account a very valuable human 
 quality, namely versatility, which, though often 
 spoken of disparagingly, is essential to good 
 citizenship. It has frequently been noticed how 
 a first-rate lawyer, a highly skilled journalist, 
 or a prominent statesman can, by strenuous 
 application, and a short term of study, become 
 
80 SPECIALIZATION [OH. v 
 
 thoroughly expert in almost any branch of 
 knowledge. 
 
 True versatility is acquired by the subli- 
 mation and a drastic subordination (not the 
 repression) of the emotional element in most 
 of the complexes. A versatile individual is one 
 who has, in his own person, exemplified the 
 process of co-ordination, whereby his higher 
 complexes are awakened. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT 
 
 THE mental habit of differentiating all life's 
 experiences into "subject" and "object," of 
 drawing a rigid line of demarcation between 
 these mental products, and of calling the object 
 the "reality" the "actual fact," as distinguished 
 from what is supposed to represent merely 
 transitory subjective states, is a habit which has 
 become so deeply ingrained in the human mind, 
 that it is difficult now-a-days to induce anyone 
 seriously to consider a question from a different 
 point of view. Indeed it is this deeply ingrained 
 mental habit, with all its definitions, categories 
 and other conventions, which forms the basis of 
 the " exact sciences." Yet it is admitted by all 
 trained thinkers that our knowledge of matter 
 and its qualities, our conceptions of time, space 
 and motion, all in short that we believe concern- 
 ing life, growth, form and substance, is reducible 
 to more or less systematised mental phases, or 
 concepts, arising out of sense experiences. 
 
62 MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT [CH. 
 
 It is true, no doubt, that our general powers 
 of observation lead us to infer that every living 
 organism is capable of experiencing such definite 
 recurrences of physic phases 1 with such regular- 
 ity and persistency as to indicate seemingly the 
 existence of an " environment " independent of 
 the organism itself. We cannot, however, 
 properly, be said to know the existence of 
 anything beyond our mental states. We know, 
 in other words, the occurrence of phenomena, 
 and we infer the laws of their relation and 
 causation, but we do not know of their indepen- 
 dent existence. 
 
 It is particularly important to be clear on 
 this point, because the term phenomenon is now 
 frequently used, not in its proper philosophical 
 signification of an appearance, but as the 
 equivalent of reality, of "the objective truth." 
 
 "The truth" is, indeed, an expression very 
 commonly employed, though improperly. It is, 
 in fact, an abstraction, the discovery of which 
 can, in a sense, be aimed at, but that which we 
 actually find, and which we can properly be 
 
 1 It should be noted here that the phrase "physic 
 phase" used above does not necessarily involve such in- 
 dividualised developments as consciousness, or perception. 
 
vi] MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT 63 
 
 said to know, is the true, the relation between 
 one physic phase and another. All this is quite 
 elementary, but it is important to bear it in 
 mind. 
 
 What, then, we do, when we have phenomena 
 under observation, is to differentiate or polarise 
 experience in accordance with well established 
 mental habits, and under the operation of more 
 or less ascertainable laws of mind. Individual 
 observers, however, are not isolated, and they 
 can, in varying degrees, share each other's 
 experiences. It is this all important fact which 
 is the true inwardness of the Christian saying : 
 " We are members one of another." To use the 
 term mind, in its broad signification, is to 
 designate that power or principle which is 
 common to all existence. Mind does not exist 
 solely in its transitory manifestations, as con- 
 sciousness and perception. It is an aspect of 
 manifestation of all that is, whether we call it 
 animate or inanimate, material or spiritual. It 
 is the basis of all experience. The ordinary 
 individualised mind is partly "unconscious," 
 latent, undifferentiated ; the rest is either 
 "conscious," or "sub-conscious," in extent or pro- 
 portion respectively, according to the individual's 
 
64 MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT [CH. 
 
 development, qualities and circumstance. There 
 are, of course, as we have seen, varying kinds and 
 degrees of the conscious and the subconscious, 
 but what we are concerned with at the moment 
 is the fact, that a great region of mind is neither 
 conscious nor subconscious, but still is mind 
 potentially and the existence of which is actually 
 felt when we engage in the operation of observing 
 fresh phenomena. Thus "environments" are 
 aspects of mind which vary indefinitely according 
 to their observers, whether individual or collec- 
 tive, according, that is to say, to the experiences 
 through which they are evoked. There are, 
 however, always three kinds of environment 
 corresponding to specific experiences. These 
 are : (1) the environment due to unconscious 
 mind, unassimilated to individualised life and 
 practically universal ; (2) the environment due 
 to the subconscious mind of the observers, which 
 corresponds to the "Zeitgeist," or "Herd instinct" 
 (somewhat of a misnomer), and it is from this 
 environment that fashions, customs and conven- 
 tions have their rise ; (3) the environment due 
 to the vivid waking consciousness of individual 
 or collective observers. 
 
 The most truly valuable of all experiences 
 
vij MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT 65 
 
 are those in which all three kinds of environment 
 are evoked, or manifest themselves, harmoniously 
 together. That is to say, when consciousness 
 is, so to speak, focussed concentrically through 
 them all. This form of experience is, generally 
 speaking, the outcome of perfect health and 
 sanity. 
 
 Once these fundamental conceptions are 
 grasped by the reader, he can extend, apply and 
 illustrate their meaning by reference to his own 
 personal experiences. 
 
 It might be objected, perhaps, that all 
 personal experience implies the pre-existence 
 of a separate subject, or self ; but this objection 
 is nothing more than a re-assertion of the 
 determined habit of differentiating all experience 
 into subject and object. That this habit prevails 
 is not now in question, and there is no immediate 
 dispute as to its fundamental importance to 
 individual existence ; but the formulation of 
 such an objection, in a philosophical discussion, 
 indicates the obtrusion of what may be termed 
 an intellectual complex of a pronounced egoistic 
 type. The formation of this complex is, in fact, 
 one of our chief difficulties, for it may be 
 strongly emotional as well as intellectual, and 
 
 P. 5 
 
66 MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT [CH. 
 
 it constitutes a serious bar to healthy mental 
 development. ]f, however, it does not assert 
 itself too strongly, we are enabled to perceive 
 that experience is not, and never can be, a 
 KJmple duality, consisting of subject and object 
 only ; but that in all experience there is present 
 a third element, or aspect, or term. In other 
 words a krwwer and a thing ktvown, implies 
 knowledge : a perceiver and an object per wived, 
 implies a perception. In all experiences these 
 three terms must necessarily co-exist; and 
 inasmuch as each term bears a determinative 
 relation to the other two, any attempt to dis- 
 sociate them, to treat any one or two of them 
 as though they could exist apart independently, 
 must lead to error. The slightest change in 
 one implies a change in all Thus a sequence 
 of experiences, in time, involves a respective 
 modification in these three variables. 
 
 When we sj>eak of a series of "events," we 
 make use of a customary convention, which 
 certainly suggests the fixity and independence 
 of one element, the objective, in this trinity of 
 <:xp<:rk-nce. That this convention has great 
 value as an expedient for our practical conveni- 
 ence, in view of the well-established polarisation 
 
vi] MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT 67 
 
 habits of thought, is undoubted ; but that the 
 convention is not only fallible in its applications. 
 but is productive of strife and confusion, is 
 evident from a conflict of testimony adduced in 
 every lawsuit ; in political, scientific and religious 
 discussions ; and in that aggregation of irrecon- 
 cilable data, which is compiled in the name of 
 "history." 
 
 The fact is that the actual determination of 
 one or of two elements of this experience trinity, 
 isolated from the rest, is not possible, any more 
 than it is possible to make one or two straight 
 lines enclose a space. Yet it is this impossible 
 task that the human personality is ever en- 
 deavouring to accomplish. One of the results 
 of this endeavour is the evolution and multipli- 
 cation of concepts or ideas in very great variety 
 and complexity. As humanity is at present 
 constituted the process of concept evolution is 
 quite necessary, and within their proper sphere 
 of activity these concepts, however various and 
 complex, are, of course, of very great practical 
 utility ; but for man's true mental development, 
 their subordination to the higher evolutionary 
 processes, both in the individual and the race, is 
 absolutely necessary. 
 
 52 
 
68 MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT [CH. 
 
 The cramming of the individual mind with 
 a large number of concepts, with their names, 
 symbols and formulae, may indeed result in the 
 acquisition of a specific variety of intellectual 
 efficiency, related to that system of thought to 
 which the concepts belong ; but unless there is, 
 at the same time, an awakening of some percep- 
 tion of the proper limitations of such a system 
 and of its essentially relative nature, this mental 
 cramming will be a hindrance rather than an 
 assistance to higher intellectual growth. 
 
 Let us take, for example, one of the most 
 important generalizations of modern science, 
 namely that of "energy." Energy is said to 
 manifest itself as light, heat, mechanical work, 
 chemical affinity, electricity, etc. Energy mani- 
 fested in one form can be transmuted into its 
 equivalent in another form and then back again 
 into its original condition without loss. The 
 transmission of force in railway locomotion will 
 serve to illustrate the theory of conversion and 
 conservation of energy. The potential chemical 
 affinity of the fuel burned in the furnace of the 
 engine is converted into heat. Part of this 
 liberated heat energy is dissipated by conduction 
 and radiation, but is all scientifically accounted 
 
vi] MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT 69 
 
 for. The remainder of the heat energy is 
 converted into mechanical work through the 
 expansive force of steam. This mechanical 
 work is expended in overcoming the "inertia" 
 of the moving mass, and at times also in over- 
 coming the force of gravity. Ultimately, through 
 the resistances of friction and of " concussion/' 
 the energy of mechanical motion is re-converted 
 into heat. 
 
 From the restricted point of view of physical 
 science, energy is constant, unchanged and un- 
 changeable. From the point of view of psychology, 
 however, nothing remains the same, and all the 
 modification in the manifestations of energy is 
 determined by the directive powers of mind. Thus 
 in the illustration above cited this directive power 
 is, in great measure, our corporate intellectual life ; 
 and quite obviously it is of material importance 
 that the mechanical energy of the moving mass 
 should be systematically re-converted into heat 
 through the agency of brakes, rather than 
 through the more irregular mode of a collision ! 
 
 The directive and co-ordinating powers of 
 mind, in the determination of the manifesta- 
 tions of energy, vary according to the varying 
 forms in which life's processes are organised. 
 
70 MULTIPLEX ENVIRONMENT [CH. vi 
 
 Thus, in the functioning of the human organism 
 and of animal organisms generally, (viewing 
 these primarily as vital organisms,) the directive 
 powers take the form of conscious, subconscious, 
 or unconscious activities, usually in combination. 
 In the functioning of vegetable life, they are 
 for the most part unconscious, but also collec- 
 tively subconscious, using this term in its broadest 
 signification. While in the mineral kingdom the 
 directive powers, though still mind, are strictly 
 unconscious. (See note p. 5, Chapter I.) 
 
 We come, therefore, to the conclusion that 
 there is a great multiplicity of "environments " ; 
 and that these exist, not wholly apart from and 
 independently of physic phases, but as comple- 
 mentary to them, in their multiplicity. Further, 
 that the awakening of our higher powers of 
 synthetic understanding enables us to perceive 
 that through their fluctuations and mutations 
 all psychic phases, whether we regard them in 
 the light of "environments," states of "con- 
 sciousness/' " subconsciousness," " unconscious- 
 ness," or of "concepts," are necessarily correlated 
 and interdependent, and that they are, without 
 exception, subject to the reign of universal 
 laws. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 RELIGIONS, IDEALS, THE TWICE-BORN 
 
 FEW subjects present greater difficulties to 
 the art of definition than those arising out of 
 that confused maze of conflicting ideas, customs 
 and traditions associated with the word religion. 
 
 To say that religion is the sphere of human 
 thought and practice, which pertains to the 
 unmanifest side of individual and communal 
 life, or what is usually termed the region of the 
 " unseen," does not really carry us very far ; for 
 religion brings us in contact with those deep 
 and intense convictions in the mind of man 
 which have impelling forces greater in their 
 scope and more enduring in their effects than 
 those which arise out of physical conditions 
 alone. But -these convictions are of various 
 kinds and they impel men in different directions. 
 They unite men into groups, they divide groups 
 into sections, and they isolate individuals one 
 from another. Religions, religious institutions 
 
72 RELIGIONS, IDEALS [OH. 
 
 and sects are almost innumerable. Their exist- 
 ence is based upon an immense variety of 
 seemingly incompatible traditions, customs and 
 creeds, which in their turn are associated with 
 all kinds of human passions, good, bad and 
 indifferent. Further, there is no fixity in 
 religious systems. Like physical organisms they 
 grow in strength to fruition and then decay. 
 One religion appears to spring from another, or 
 its life may be enriched and impoverished by 
 the assimilation of ideas and influences derived 
 from several sources simultaneously. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, all the confusion 
 and perplexities which surround the subject, 
 it is possible to discern, underlying the religious 
 history of mankind, certain clear conceptions of 
 priceless value ; conceptions as to the aims, 
 purposes and destiny of human life ; conceptions 
 determining the emotions, conduct and language 
 of individuals and races ; but all such concep- 
 tions belong properly to the domain of psychology. 
 
 It may be confidently asserted that practically 
 every individual, with scarcely any exception, 
 has at some time or another undergone distinct 
 religious experiences. Experiences, that is to 
 say, which exalt the mind to a State of ecstasy ; 
 
vii] THE TWICE-BORN 73 
 
 and whether it be the ecstasy of awe, of hope, or 
 of rapture, such states of mind indicate for the 
 individual his partial awakening to a perception 
 of the real meaning of the existence to which he 
 has been born. 
 
 William James in that illuminating work 
 Varieties of Religious Experience, has shown 
 that there is a great similarity in the essence 
 of these experiences, as distinguished from the 
 mode of their separate occurrence. He con- 
 tended, however, that, in a great majority of 
 cases, the intellectual capacity of the individuals 
 who have these experiences is not adequate to 
 a fall and proper interpretation of their mean- 
 ing; and that even when they are understood, 
 the understanding is very rarely accompanied 
 by the power to give such expression to their 
 meaning in words as would carry conviction to 
 the minds of others. Yet there is an abundance 
 of evidence adduced making it perfectly clear 
 that many of the experiences belong to the same 
 order ; and that they must have been very real 
 indeed to those who underwent them. 
 
 Several cases are cited in which a great 
 mental revulsion takes place, a revulsion 
 amounting to " conversion," or " change of 
 
 55 
 
74 RELIGIONS, IDEALS [OH. 
 
 heart." In these cases the whole personal 
 outlook is radically altered. Interests, tastes, 
 aims and habits are transformed. The most 
 intimate disposition seems to be fundamentally 
 modified and renewed. The narrow and short- 
 sighted self-interest, which actuates the ordinary 
 individual life, gives place to higher human 
 interests. The love of pleasure and gain yields 
 to the love of truth, or, as they generally prefer 
 to express it, to the love of God. Lust, anger 
 and pride are subdued, while the individual 
 energies so liberated find expression in bene- 
 volent activities. But, as William James points 
 out, these changes of character are often neither 
 so sudden nor so radical as they appear to be. 
 
 It will be remembered that, in the first 
 chapter, personality was compared to an iceberg. 
 Now an iceberg, unless it happens to be stranded, 
 is a great mass of floating ice of which a small 
 fraction only can be seen above the surface of 
 the water. Ordinarily speaking, we depend upon 
 our physical powers of vision in order to deter- 
 mine the size, shape and position of these very 
 formidable obstacles to safe navigation, but we 
 have learnt, at a severe cost, how unreliable this 
 dependence upon mere eyesight can be. 
 
vn] THE TWICE-BORN 75 
 
 The floating mass is continually shifting its 
 centre of gravity. Occasionally, therefore, it 
 happens that suddenly the visible portion dis- 
 appears from view, and another portion, or it 
 may be several portions simultaneously, emerge 
 from invisible depths. Similarly what might be 
 described as the centre of force in one's per- 
 sonality is subject, on occasion, to rapid and 
 momentous changes of position in relation to 
 the correlated system of complexes out of which 
 the personality is composed. It is just these 
 sudden changes in the centre of force which are 
 often spoken of as "conversion." Those portions of 
 personality which emerge from the subconscious 
 in our altered condition, are not, in fact, newly 
 created entities, they are merely transposed, 
 and thus, for the time being, rendered dominant. 
 What is more, the new position may resemble 
 one of "unstable equilibrium," and it even 
 suggests, to those who take a too rigid view of 
 a fixed hypothetical self, a want of genuineness 
 in the conversion ; but, by a careful investigation 
 of a large number of cases, William James came 
 to the conclusion that simulation was not the 
 true explanation of the changed life, which 
 followed upon conversion. 
 
76 RELIGIONS, IDEALS [OH. 
 
 The true explanation is briefly this : certain 
 ideas, which correspond to what may be called 
 the religious beliefs of others, are assimilated 
 intellectually by an individual. In other words 
 these ideas become familiar, in a kind of un- 
 attached manner, to a group of complexes, 
 which, linked together for practical purposes, 
 constitute the normal waking personality ; but 
 the emotions properly associated with these 
 ideas belong to another group of complexes, 
 which are, for the time being, instinctive, sub- 
 conscious, or latent ; and to these they gravitate 
 and with them they coalesce. This process 
 continues until this latter group has gained 
 sufficient inherent strength, aided perhaps by 
 some special outward circumstances, to force its 
 emergence into vivid consciousness. 
 
 It is obvious that such spasmodic conversions 
 have their drawbacks ; and that the steady 
 persistent growth of high character is far pre- 
 ferable. If one might venture upon an extension 
 of the iceberg simile, a permanent change of 
 heart would be comparable to the actual melting 
 of the ice itself, so that its waters may combine 
 freely with the waters of the ocean. 
 
 This last suggestion brings us to a point of 
 
vii] THE TWICE-BORN 77 
 
 great importance, namely, the extremely limited 
 value of all imagery, and the great danger 
 involved in dwelling upon a supposed analog} 7 , 
 which, though it may offer some passing help in 
 the effective expression of an idea, cannot be 
 properly regarded as the only symbol conveying 
 that idea, or true for all time. More especially 
 is this the case when we are endeavouring to 
 explain some aspect of a process deep and 
 far-reaching as is the growth and evolution of 
 human individuality. 
 
 Images, phrases and formulas, which have 
 been either invented or evolved for the purpose 
 of conveying great truths, are undoubtedly quite 
 necessary as educational instruments. But the 
 inveterate tendency of the human mind to dwell 
 needlessly upon such instruments, inverts their 
 proper relation in thought to the truths they 
 are intended to teach ; and hence there arise all 
 the evils of dogmatism and idolatry. A well 
 made scaffolding, erected upon a sound system, 
 is a useful contrivance for enabling us to build 
 a great edifice, but if we forget the purpose for 
 which the scaffolding was contrived and so erect 
 it that its subsequent removal would endanger 
 the stability of the edifice itself, it will readily 
 
78 RELIGIONS, IDEALS [OH. 
 
 be seen that it was not fulfilling its proper 
 function. The application of this principle to 
 education may not be quite so obvious, but it 
 can hardly be less important. Creeds, conven- 
 tions and traditions, by long use and familiarity, 
 breed in the mind of man those egoistic affections 
 and attachments, which, with their restricting 
 influence upon perception and volition, bar the 
 way to spiritual growth and understanding. In 
 this way the vehicles, instruments, servants and 
 friends, which man has created for his higher 
 purposes and ends, tend to become his most 
 formidable obstacles and his deadliest foes. 
 
 What is a true ideal? Can it exist apart 
 from the vehicle through which it finds access 
 to the human mind? This is a difficult meta- 
 physical problem and it is not necessary to solve 
 it here. But perhaps the best way of dealing 
 with it, is to show that practically the same 
 ideal may be found embodied in a great variety 
 of different dresses and shapes. This is the 
 province of comparative religion and philosophy ; 
 and already much excellent educational work 
 has been done in its fields. 
 
 In the framing of ideals, and in order to 
 make sure that they are really true and likely 
 
vn] THE TWICE-BORN 79 
 
 to be helpful towards furthering the perfection 
 of mankind, it is important, in the first place, to 
 form some clear conceptions as to the goal 
 towards which humanity is tending. As to this, 
 there seem to be prevalent two sets of ideals 
 opposed to one another. In both human happi- 
 ness is the goal. According to one set of ideals 
 the world is to be made a better place to live in. 
 Our notions of what is good for us are to be 
 accepted as practically fixed, while circumstances 
 and conditions are to be adjusted to suit them. 
 According to the opposite set of ideals we must 
 take the world as it is, call it "Nature" and 
 adapt our tastes and notions to suit it ! It will 
 be surmised from a perusal of the preceding 
 pages that, according to the psychological view, 
 both sets of ideals are equally fallacious. Hap- 
 piness can only be real and lasting when we 
 have entirely overcome that grasping attitude 
 of mind which seeks to fix either mental 
 disposition or environment as being capable of 
 maintaining respectively permanent indepen- 
 dence apart from one another. 
 
 It is the conquest of this grasping disposition 
 of heart and mind which is the true meaning 
 and implication of the process of being "born 
 
80 RELIGIONS, IDEALS [CH. 
 
 again in the spirit." All ideals which conduce 
 towards the attainment of this blessed state are, 
 therefore, from a religious point of view, worthy 
 and noble ; all others are false and misleading. 
 
 The ivay or path towards the attainment of 
 this state is accompanied by higher instinctive 
 efforts, but it is essentially a rational way, using 
 the term rational in contradistinction to mere 
 intellectualism based upon the formation and 
 arrangement of concepts. It is thus a process 
 of rationalising instincts, subordinating those of 
 reproduction and preservation to those innate 
 spiritual tendencies, which make for human 
 perfection, or wholeness. Mere devotion to 
 noble ideals is not sufficient. New and keener 
 mental powers and faculties must be developed 
 and maintained. Mere repression is useless. 
 No part of our nature can be ignored in the 
 spiritual process. The lower instincts have to 
 be sublimated, not denied. Unless this is 
 thoroughly accepted and understood, the indi- 
 vidual can never gain any lasting confidence 
 and security. The process is called painful, but 
 although it is true that great suffering is in- 
 volved, the pain which has to be endured is 
 more than counterbalanced by the joy of 
 
vn] THE TWICE-BORN 81 
 
 achievement, and is ever diminishing in in- 
 tensity. 
 
 In our efforts towards perfection there must 
 be true self-examination ; not mere intellectual 
 introspection. The recorded wisdom of our pre- 
 decessors, and that of contemporary thinkers, 
 is certainly of some avail, but each individual 
 must rely chiefly upon his own inward efforts to 
 break that crusted mass of ignorance, precon- 
 ception and prejudice, which we all inherit. In 
 the end, no doubt, one finds that these efforts 
 and the glorified traditions of the past are really 
 identical in purpose ; but the actual discovery 
 of this identity and the realisation of its truth is 
 part of the process which each individual must 
 necessarily undergo for himself. 
 
 Then can we not help one another? Yes, 
 surely. As William James points out in his 
 Varieties of Religious Experience the practice 
 of " confession " may have very great value 
 psychologically, provided the confessor has a 
 large and well equipped mind, which unfortu- 
 nately is not usually the case. He should be 
 thoroughly well versed in psychology, and he 
 should be possessed of more than an average 
 knowledge of the affairs of the world. He 
 
82 RELIGIONS, IDEALS [OH. 
 
 should also be sincere, kind-hearted, disin- 
 terested and, above all, he should be endowed 
 with a large fund of commonsense. The pro- 
 fessional " confessor " is rarely so equipped, and, 
 consequently, the operation in his hands may be 
 worse than useless. 
 
 It often happens, at the present time, that 
 those in trouble fall back on the doctor or the 
 lawyer for advice and guidance. Is it too much 
 to hope that some day, in the distant future, the 
 properly qualified doctor, surgeon, lawyer and 
 teacher may each and all of them combine in 
 themselves the highest functions of both priest 
 and healer ? 
 
 Careless, or unskilled discussions may some- 
 times have the effect of awakening the great 
 complex, the whole personality ; especially if it 
 has been awakened before, or even if it has 
 previously been on the verge of an awakening ; 
 but more often such discussions, when they 
 effect a change in the point of view, have merely 
 been instrumental in altering the field of con- 
 sciousness, by bringing another unimportant 
 complex into the focus of awareness. 
 
 As indicated in Chapter IV, great importance 
 attaches to the development of higher incentives 
 
vii] THE TWICE-BORN 83 
 
 to effort. How often we repeat or refer to the 
 " Sermon on the Mount," and pay lip service to 
 its beauty and its truth ! But what is its true 
 meaning? "A counsel of perfection" is the 
 glib official reply. Certainly, but has it no 
 practical value, and, if so, what is it intended to 
 convey ? Restated in cold prosaic language, the 
 lesson there inculcated urges us to rely less 
 upon the seen, the concrete, the physically 
 tangible ; and more upon the spiritual side of 
 our natures, unmanifest to our senses, but none 
 the less real and permanent. We are there told 
 on authority that by this way we gain true 
 security and everlasting peace. 
 
 It is the object of these pages to point out 
 that this teaching is in strict accord with the 
 conclusions of recent psychological research 
 
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