Health and Self-Mastery Through Psycho-Analysis and Autosuggestion BOOKS BY W. J. FIELDING THE CAVEMAN WITHIN US SANITY IN SEX HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY Through Psycho-Analysis and Autosuggestion psycho-analysis-The Key to Hu- man Behavior THE PUZZLE OF PERSONALITY PEEBLES FROM PARNASSUS Health and Self-Mastery Through Psycho-Analysis and Autosuggestion BY WILLIAM J. FIELDING Author of "The Caveman Within Us," "Sanity in Sex," etc. BOSTON L0THR0P, LEE & SHEPARD CO. Copyright, 1923, By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. All Rights Reserved Health and Self-Mastery Through Psycho-Analysis and Autosuggestion PRINTED IN U. 3. A. Norwood press BERWICK & SMITH CO. NORWOOD, MASS. TO JOHN C. FIELDING Son and Boon Companion this book is Affectionately Dedicated INTRODUCTION It is obvious that the subject of health is a matter of very profound interest to every one. The earliest civilizations of which we have any tangible record have indicated their concern with this absorbing problem. It was, indeed, the classic civilization of the ancient Greeks- whose debtor we are to-day for so much that is of imperishable value-which gave us the foundation for what has developed into the modern medical and therapeutic sciences. Hippocrates is recognized as the Father of Medicine. Aristotle, encyclopaedic in the scope of his knowledge, was the leading phys- iologist of his day, as he was the foremost Athenian scientist and philosopher generally. And the versatile Plato, not content with his immortal role as the recorder of Socrates' wis- dom and explorer into the realms of abstract thought on his own account, ventured with as- tonishing accuracy into a dissertation on the functions of the brain (which at that time were not known). Many centuries before the intellectually VII VIII INTRODUCTION fertile period of the Greeks, the Hebrews, un- der the leadership of Moses and his succeeding chiefs, gave the most weighty consideration to the problems of health. This earlier approach was from the more primitive angle of emo- tionalism, and accordingly questions relating essentially to personal hygiene were governed by moral laws and ethical precepts, instead of rational regulations. These old health laws, so serviceable in their day, are still an organic part of the Hebraic theology and orthodox ritual, and are easily interpreted in the lan- guage of modern hygienic science. From this evidence we see that health-in the physical sense-has received definite at- tention for thousands of years, and to-day those branches of science which deal with ma- terial and physical problems are highly de- veloped. And in many respects, as in surgery, and more especially in the domain of personal hygiene and social sanitation, modern scien- tific methods are very effective, as the statistics of decreasing mortality prove conclusively. On the other hand, little was known of a real scientific nature about psychic problems and their bases until comparatively recent years. Nevertheless, all the ancient religions had teachings which, while not scientifically INTRODUCTION IX understood, were philosophically designed to contribute to the psychic welfare of the faith- ful. And some of the modern religious and ethical cults, such as Christian Science, New Thought, etc., have used this idea as their ma- jor premise. However, it was not until the development by Freud of his theories of the neuroses, am- plified by the significant contributions of Ad- ler, Jung, Prince, Janet, Coue, Kempf, and others, that we have had a scientific basis for approaching the problems of mental phenom- ena. From the latest developments in the study of personality, we now know that the physical and psychical components of our nature are so inseparably bound up that it is unscientific and unsound to attempt to consider them as separate entities. For all practical purposes there is one central concept-the human or- ganism. It is, therefore, always with the physical reactions and interrelations in view and carefully considered that the various psy- chic and neurotic problems are discussed in the following pages. The desirability of an insight into this situa- tion will better be appreciated when we con- sider that from seventy-five to eighty per cent. X INTRODUCTION of those who make up the vast army of the ill and indisposed are not suffering from organic troubles, but mainly from psychic or neurotic disturbances. And these perplexing-sometimes quite un- bearable-ailments cannot be relieved by treating the physical symptoms. It is neces- sary to go to the root and remove the causative factors at their source. The first requisite is that the sufferer acquire an understanding of his psychic processes, particularly the uncon- scious ones. This insight or understanding, which is supplied by a knowledge of the prin- ciples of psycho-analysis, throws an antisep- ticizing flood of light into the dark, festering recesses of the subconscious mind. It is the oxygen of the soul, and tends to alleviate the tormenting mental conflicts which so often re- flect themselves in physical symptoms of the most distressing character. Then there is the highly effective technique of obtaining mas- tery over the autonomic functions of our per- sonality through autosuggestion which will also be emphasized. The great preponderance of human ills and ailments is due to a lack of harmony between the energetic forces of the personality. This lack of harmony spells conflict, with all its dis- INTRODUCTION XI turbing or even disastrous consequences. It is the purpose of this book to explain the causes and nature of these conflicts so that they may be overcome-or, better, avoided in the first place. As most serious neurotic troubles have their origin in irrational or harmful ideas and at- titudes that have been acquired in childhood, it is hoped that the suggestions given in the concluding chapter, "Childhood Problems," will be found particularly helpful to parents and others engaged in the care and training of children. William J. Fielding. 13 South 12th Street, Newark, N. J. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE Introduction vii I. The Value of Psycho-Analysis Therapeutic and Cultural-Key to Behavior-Autosuggestion .... 1 II. Our Unconscious Mind Nature of the Unconscious-The Com- plexes-Association Test-The Libido -Sexuality-Psycho-analysis and Au- tosuggestion 16 III. The Significance of Dreams Mechanism of Dreams-Every One Dreams-Autosuggestion and Dreams -Dreams Reflect Our Real Personal- ity-Day-Dreams 46 IV. The Unconscious Basis of Wit Relieves Psychic Tension-Primitive Wit-Wit in History 79 V. Repressions and the Neuroses The Pleasure Principle-The Reality Principle-Physical Effects of Neu- roses-Kinds of Neuroses-Curative Value of Psycho-Analysis-Practice of Autosuggestion 100 XII CONTENTS XIII CHAPTER PAG1 VI. Why We Love The Parent Image-Homosexuality -Fetichism-Exhibitionism-Sadism and Masochism 136 VII. Common Unconscious Manifestations Forgetfulness and Absent-mindedness -Unconscious Dislikes-Stammering and Hesitancy in Speech-Misreading 160 VIII. Social Tendencies and the Unconscious The Ego Urge-The War Spirit- Literary Atrocities-Psychology of Rioting 172 IX. Physical Bases of the Emotions Our Biological Mechanism-The Auto- nomic Nervous System-The En- docrine Glands-The Untiring Nerves -Selecting Our Emotions . . . .188 X. Childhood Problems Neurotic Culture-Neurotic Nurseries -Instincts to Learn-Sex Education 207 Glossary 222 Bibliography 227 Index 233 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY THROUGH PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND AUTOSUGGESTION CHAPTER I THE VALUE OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS It is impossible for intelligent people to re- main indifferent to the disclosures that are be- ing made by modern scientific research into psychic and mental problems. While a num- ber of methods, involving various forms of procedure are practised in this field, partic- ularly as therapeutic or curative agencies, the ones which lead in popular interest are Psycho- analysis and Autosuggestion. An understanding of psycho-analysis carries with it the possibilities for affecting every phase of our life-our health and happiness, of influencing our conduct, individually and so- cially. It has supplied a key, not previously available, for interpreting the actions of indi- 1 2 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY viduals from the standpoint of hidden or un- conscious motives that are sometimes of irre- sistible power. At least, the force is often irresistible so long as its nature remains un- known, but by understanding its source and means of expression, we are able to direct its power into useful and constructive, instead of destructive, channels. Equally important is the new interpretation, afforded by psycho-analysis, of the social re- actions of common neurotic tendencies. This psychological explanation of certain social phenomena of a morbid character will be found illuminating, and must prove a factor in any concerted attempt or program to eliminate these evils. When such far-reaching possibilities are bound up in a principle or hypothesis, it is certain to be noticed, and to create controversy. Reactionaries and "stand-patters" in all fields of life will, of course, look upon it with alarm. It is apt to upset some prevailing notions, of which they are the accredited sponsors. Many constructive-minded persons, by nature con- servative, will question its merits or, at least, demand a full measure of proof before accept- ing its premises. This is well. The extensive interest in and controversy THE VALUE OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 3 over the subject is clearly an indication that a great number of people are desirous of know- ing something of psycho-analysis-and partic- ularly if it offers any practical advantages in solving the problems of everyday life. If it does, they want to know what the advantages are, and how the desired results may be ob- tained. After all, this is the paramount ques- tion in all the discussion of psycho-analysis. All else is incidental, a mere side-issue. The charge has been made that psycho-anal- ysis involves dangers to the individual. When carefully examined, these "dangers" are found to rest, not in psycho-analysis, but in the fact that certain individuals, from whom the ac- tualities of life have been withheld in their up- bringing, have suddenly been confronted with them in the study of this subject, with the re- sult that they have sustained a shock. This result has been due to the influence of reality (which normally should be refreshing) on the false concepts they have been taught to idealize. They would in all probability have experienced the shock sooner or later anyway, whenever they happened to come in contact with the elemental facts of life. An analogy of this condition may be found among those who have been raised with utterly 4 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY false ideas about reproduction and what the continuance of life implies. If the idea is formed that this function is the result of some mysterious or supernatural process, or, worse still, there is associated with it an irrational concept of disgust, then upon reaching ado- lescence, or later when confronted with the actual problems of sex, the individual may ex- perience a shock, the effects of which will be felt for years, or even throughout life. To blame this result on rational sex knowledge would be equivalent to holding psycho-analy- sis responsible for offending the hyperesthetic senses of its most bitter detractors. Ignorance of nature's laws has been the great obstacle to be overcome in every step up the ladder of human progress. It is there- fore especially deplorable when such ignorance is deliberately fostered, whether in the name of "innocence" or some other term which it is not. As we come to understand nature's laws, we can direct her forces to our own ends, uti- lize their energies, and minimize their dangers. Without these forces, life would be impossible, so it is not only futile, but foolish, to complain of the elements themselves. So it is with the principles of science and the laws of life. THE VALUE OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 5 When we understand them, we are enabled to profit by them, to expedite progress, advance civilization and make this world a better place to live in. When we attempt to suppress them, to ignore them, or to misuse them, we are courting the fates of adversity. And psycho-analysis is nothing more or less than an interpretation of natural laws relating to the mind and its processes. So by under- standing our subject, we acquire a practical working knowledge that may be used for the benefit of ourselves individually and mankind in general. Therapeutic and Cultural Psycho-analysis has a twofold value which places it in the front ranks of the modern con- structive sciences. First, it offers untold pos- sibilities, which are only beginning to be real- ized, as a therapeutic or curative agency for many baffling diseases. The ailments to which it affords cure or relief are not only of the mind, for it has been found that a great number of physical disorders, which hereto- fore have been considered purely of an or- ganic or a chronic functional character, are merely physical reflexes of a neurosis. Re- lieve the mind of these all-pervading neurotic 6 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY troubles, and serious physical disturbances are frequently removed. The mental disorders alone that respond to proper psycho-analytic treatment range all the way from trifling hysterical cases (which, how- ever, tend to become more severe as the indi- vidual weakens under the increasing influence of the neurosis) to "dementia praecox," a severe form of insanity which the old school psychiatrists considered hopeless. Of course, insanity that is due to disintegra- tion of the brain structure, as sometimes results from alcoholism, tertiary (third) stage of syphilis, tumorous and other morbid growths, or which is congenital, is incurable. Only the charlatan makes all-embracing claims. And psycho-analysis is not magic or alchemy, but a rational science based on very definite nat- ural laws. The second, and in a way the greater, func- tion of psycho-analysis is as a cultural study for the self-improvement and development of the individual. I emphasize its possible greater usefulness in this respect because, after all, only a very small percentage of the popu- lation is insane, and while the victims of neu- rotic disturbances make up a more important element of society, numerically, than is gen- THE VALUE OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 7 erally imagined, there is still the great mass of people who may be classed as "normal." Psycho-analysis has revolutionized our former conceptions of human behavior and con- duct. It has re-interpreted, and thrown a vastly different light on the passions, loves, hates, fears, and other primitive emotions of man. It has revealed in a startling way many of the heretofore inexplicable motives and actions of individuals. The deeper, underlying sig- nificance of seemingly inconsequential actions is often disclosed to the analytic observer at its true value-so far removed from surface indications. To the student of human problems, whether social, economic, industrial, psychical, physical, educational, or what not, psycho-analysis is of incalculable worth. It leads the way to funda- mental causes that hitherto have shielded them- selves behind an impenetrable screen, and the existence of which we have only guessed at in the misleading light of superficial appear- ances. There is scarcely any field of human en- deavor to which this science cannot be made an invaluable aid. It is the key to an unex- plored region whose portals we have just en- 8 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY tered. It is the new Lamp of Aladdin, whose light will guide us on the way to a better un- derstanding and re-evaluation of human pos- sibilities. Key to Human Behavior It is the purpose of this book to give the psycho-analytic interpretation of some of the most common and interesting revelations that come within the scope of the science. Certain commonplace actions of people, as well as other traits that are not so usual, long have baffled students of human behavior, and they generally concluded by attributing the phe- nomena to the perversity of "human nature," which, after all, offered little consolation. People realize in an indefinite way that they "take to" certain individuals-that they tend to love or esteem persons of a certain type, and to dislike and sometimes even hate another type, without themselves knowing the reason why. Most of us are cognizant of the fact that there are unfortunate people, homosexuals or perverts, that society has very ignorantly gone out of its way to persecute and penalize be- cause it has not understood the cause of their affliction. Their failure to experience sexual THE VALUE OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 9 desire in the normal, prescribed manner has been considered a deliberately cultivated or inherently vicious trait, instead of a patholog- ical condition. When the cause of an abnor- mality remains unknown, there is invariably an irrational reaction to it. There was a time when insanity was con- sidered a state of being "possessed by devils," and the victim was flogged and otherwise pun- ished for his indiscretion in harboring the damned. Conventional society has modified its views, and now takes it for granted that there are two kinds of people in the world- the sane and the insane-that the latter class is hopeless and must be confined to the asylums until released by death. Psycho-analysis has shattered this romantic theory. It has been an enigma to the student of hu- man behavior why the great masses of people remain so long in self-satisfied contentment, often under the most oppressive conditions. It has likewise been a puzzle why a certain few individuals-almost always an infinitesi- mal minority-have always resisted authority and oppression, regardless of personal sacri- fices. The pioneers in the radical, feminist, and other advanced movements illustrate this type. The martyrs of history who have died 10 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY for various causes and ideals are the best known examples of this phenomenon. Dreams have been the subject of contro- versy, speculation, and unlimited commentary throughout the ages. The real meaning and profound importance of dreams were never realized until Freud's discoveries demon- strated their vast significance, and their inti- mate relation to our life, awake as well as asleep. Our forgetfulness, or absent-mindedness, particularly when it involves a subject or de- tails with which we are quite familiar, is very embarrassing at times. Yet, that there is an unconscious "motive" in forgetting these things that we know so well, or that causes us to suffer from slips of the tongue, and to read words that are not there in sentences, is now established. Everybody enjoys wit and gets satisfaction out of a joke, particularly when it is on the other fellow. The significance of this psychic manifestation is deeper and more involved than our matter-of-fact acceptance of it has per- mitted us to comprehend. The atrocities of war, committed by people who are believed to have been uplifted by the influence of twenty centuries of Christian- THE VALUE OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 11 ity and many more centuries of cultural civili- zation, are astounding to the casual observer. The ease with which a group of people, individ- ually peaceful and law-abiding, is transformed into a destructive, even murderous, mob is seemingly incomprehensible. Still, there are very plausible reasons for these phenomena, which an understanding of the new psychology enables us to perceive. And by understanding all of these and other important factors, which a knowledge of psycho-analysis and the primitive side of our personality offers, we are better able to check and overcome our individual and social short- comings, and to re-direct our energies along constructive lines. Autosuggestion There seems to be some widespread popular confusion about the doctrine of autosuggestion, as formulated by Emile Coue. This is prob- ably due to an apparent similarity between the New Nancy formulas of "Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better," and those of other schools which ask us to declare with faith that "there is no such thing as pain," or to assure ourselves that disease exists only in our own imagination. 12 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY As a matter of fact, the difference between autosuggestion and the doctrines of various "faith-healing" cults is as wide as the poles. In the former there is not a vestige of mystical or metaphysical theory. (Of course, it is quite probable that many of Coue's patients and followers have gone to him and read his works in a mystical or metaphysical frame of mind, but that has nothing to do with the principle itself.) The outstanding feature of the new formulas of conscious autosuggestion is the discovery of the law of reversed effort. This law enun- ciates that just in so far as we make an effort to do or think or believe anything, we necessarily imply also to a proportionate extent that there is some difficulty in the matter. In a word, voluntary effort essentially presupposes the idea of a resistance to be overcome. Thus the assertion, "I will get well," neces- sarily implies "I am ill." And in dealing with these matters the very effort automatically de- feats its own ends. It is obvious, therefore, that the most favorable results can only be ob- tained by autosuggestion if the effort is neg- ligible. Of course, in dealing with objective or ex- traneous conditions-things outside ourselves THE VALUE OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 13 -we can and must use voluntary effort and will-power as well as all our other faculties. But our automatic organic mechanism, phys- ical and psychic, bears to us a totally different relation than any external, extraneous object or objects. It has an immeasurably long bio- logical heritage of the geons of time during which it functioned without intellectual super- vision or interference. It is still capable of functioning without the intellectual factor, as it does (abnormally) in the case of idiots, im- beciles, and the insane, and (normally) in every individual in the sleeping state. In fact, it functions at its best when receiving a minimum of specific attention to the details of its operation. If one concentrates his attention on the stomach, for instance, noting every reaction and stressing every gastric manifestation, however slight, the obsession will soon result in a stomach disorder. What has actually happened is that the stomach has been the ob- ject of bad suggestions (autosuggestions). They were bad because the obsession inevi- tably carried with it an unconscious, and pos- sibly a conscious, fear or worry, which actually realized the thing dreaded. Fear, when it reaches the point of an obsession or panic, acts 14 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY as a psychologic gravity which draws one into the very situation he struggles to avoid. But if bad autosuggestions are uncon- sciously and unwittingly practised, we can cor- rect the ill effects by consciously formulat- ing good, healthy autosuggestions. This in it- self is no new discovery, as the idea has been realized for centuries, and in modern times expounded by several schools of therapeutics and a number of popular writers. Formerly, however, it was the will which was stressed, as the dominating force in self- mastery. The law of reversed effort boldly smashes this dictum and proclaims that "the will always yields to the imagination. It is an absolute rule that admits of no exception." One of Coue's favorite illustrations to dem- onstrate the superiority of imagination over the will is as follows, to use his own words: "Suppose that we place on the ground a plank 30 feet long and one foot wide, it is evident that every one will be capable of going from one end to the other without stepping over the edge. But now change the conditions of the experiment, and imagine this plank placed at the height of a cathedral, who then will be cap- able of advancing even a few feet along the narrow path? Before you have taken two THE VALUE OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS 15 steps you begin to tremble, and in spite of every effort of your will, you will be certain to fall to the ground. "Why is it that you would not fall if the plank is on the ground, and why should you fall if it be raised to a height above the ground? Simply because in the first place you imagine that it is easy to go to the end of the plank, while in the second case you imagine that you cannot do so. Notice that the will is power- less to make you advance; if you imagine that you cannot, it is absolutely impossible for you to do so. If tilers and carpenters can accom- plish this feat, it is because they think they can do so." CHAPTER II OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND Before taking up the various questions about which psychic interpretations offer so much food for thought, acting as a stepping-stone to goals formerly unattainable, it is desirable briefly to outline the theory of our subject. This will enable the elementary student better to understand the new and sometimes unique terminology that has been evolved with the progress of the new psychology, and to follow more closely the logical course of the analytic procedure. While the psycho-analytic aspect of this treatise will not be based solely on the ortho- dox Freudian viewpoint-which would weaken rather than strengthen it-it is necessary to emphasize the original contributions of Freud. For without the findings of this great path- finder, the science of psycho-analysis might have lain dormant in the background of a slowly evolving psychology for many decades. However, the important works of other ana- 16 OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 17 lytic pioneers will be duly considered, and the vital contributions of all correlated and re- duced to a workable, harmonious whole. It was along about 1890 that Professor Sigmund Freud of Vienna, a pupil of Breuer and Charcot, made public his theories, devel- oped from psychic discoveries in the realm of the neuroses. Nature of the Unconscious The seat of operations of psycho-analysis and autosuggestion is the Unconscious mind. This is the field upon which they work, and the more we know of the Unconscious mind, the more we are awed by its vastness and almost immeasurable powers. To the uninitiated, this may seem paradoxi- cal, basing a highly intricate science on the un- conscious mind-which possibly suggests a con- dition of mental passiveness, inaction, or an un- knowing quantity. But the Unconscious is the unknown, rather than the unknow- ing. In reality, there is no such thing as an un- knowing part of the mind, because the mind is essentially that part of the personality that is knowing. In contradistinction to this fact, the definition of mind generally accepted be- 18 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY fore the time of analytic psychology had made mind co-extensive with consciousness. But the psycho-analysts have demonstrated that thinking goes on all the time, whether we are awake or asleep. The importance and vastness of the Uncon- scious as a psychic content may be realized when we use the simile of Dr. G. Stanley Hall, who compares the mind to an iceberg floating with one-eighth visible above the water and seven-eighths below-the one-eighth above rep- resenting the Conscious, and the seven-eighths below the Unconscious. The influence and controlling power of the unconscious desires over our thoughts and actions may be said to be in this relative proportion. Thus, the saying, "He does not know his own mind," is literally true of all of us. In the past, people who suffered from disturbances of this unknown psychic region- and they are among the most common of all human ailments-were without prospect of re- lief, unless some happy and haphazard circum- stance should intervene and unwittingly favor them. Because of the unfathomed depths from which these disorders emanated, they were beyond the range of our understanding, and OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 19 consequently not subject to effective treat- ment. These psychic disturbances, which are capa- ble of indelibly affecting and warping the per- sonality, and causing wounds and conflicts that are painful to the mind and torturous to the soul, also react in definite physical ail- ments and symptoms of the most varied character. Psycho-analysis brings to the sufferer from psychic hurts and soul-wounds his first oppor- tunity for scientific diagnosis and curative treatment, and renders to him a service similar to what surgery does for the physical body. That it should always be successful is no more to be expected than is the invariable success of surgery; in fact, less so, as the analytic treatment requires much more of the in- dividual. The relation of the unconscious mind to the conscious mind is that the former is the psychic reservoir which receives all the accu- mulations of experiences and impressions of the personality that pass through, often with- out notice, the conscious mind. The Unconscious is that region of the mind where are deposited, and have been since birth, every sight, or sound that we have perceived, 20 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY and every feeling that we have had; in fact, everything that has happened to us, however trivial. The first five years of our lives, for instance, are the most fertile in receiving impressions and gaining new experiences. It is by far the most impressionable period of life. The new and wonderful things that we have constantly observed and the sensations, joys, and other primitive emotions felt, are beyond calculation. And yet, in the lapse of time, we forget practi- cally all but a few outstanding incidents that we had experienced during that period. They are lost to the conscious mind-but not to the Unconscious. As Dr. Eduard Hitschmann (Freud's Theories of the Neuroses) has expressed it: "And still we know that our memory can be fully reviewed and reproduced at no time of life; on the other hand, psycho-analysis has shown that the very impressions which we have forgotten leave behind the deepest traces in our mental life and have become determining for our whole later development." The unconscious mental processes are di- vided into two classes, those that are "forgot- ten" on account of their lack of interest, and OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 21 those that are "repressed" on account of their painful or even shocking nature. The psychic processes of the first group con- tain all as yet unsettled thoughts, or those not yet brought to a conclusion, and while really "unconscious" they may often readily be brought into the conscious mind. Those of the second class, however, are in the highest degree unconscious, or as it has been stated, they are "unavailable for conscious- ness." This characteristic led Freud to divide the Unconscious into the "Fore-conscious" and the "Absolutely Unconscious." The term "unavailable for consciousness," however, is only a relative one, as it is the function of psycho-analysis to bring to con- sciousness the processes that are normally un- available for consciousness. Some of the natural freaks of the Fore- conscious are readily observed in our own mental operations. How often we "forget" proper names, dates and general facts that are quite familiar to us! In the Freudian sense, they simply slip into the upper stratum of the Unconscious, to be released again when some association of ideas in that region brings them to the conscious mind, or, as we have so often 22 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY noticed in our own experience, when they return to memory spontaneously, as it appears. The Complexes The storm centers around which so many psychic disturbances fasten themselves, with frequent serious physical reactions in the form of chronic disorders and pathological symp- toms, are the complexes. A complex is an outstanding idea that domi- nates in the realm of the Unconscious, and around which is grouped a phalanx of primi- tive, repressed emotions. It may consist of painful memories that have been banished into the Unconscious. Such complexes invariably assert themselves in dreams, and form the underlying mechanism of a neurosis. Not in- frequently there is formed an interrelated constellation of complexes. Some of the neuroses, like hysteria and ob- sessions (Pyscho-neurosis) are traced back by Freud to erotic experiences in childhoood; hence, to the influence of unconscious or re- pressed idea-complexes. Neurasthenia and anxiety-neuroses (true neuroses) are referred to the present abnormal condition of the sexual functions of the individ- ual. Hysteria is more psychic, and neurasthe- OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 23 nia is more toxic-but both have a sexual basis. Emotional actions indicate a complex, but they do not constitute the complex itself. The ideas around which have gathered the painful emotions are buried deep in the Unconscious. Ordinarily they escape into consciousness only occasionally, and are identified by their sensi- tiveness regarding some particular subject. When a person is "touchy" about something, it is evident that he has a complex connected with it. The most devastating of the complexes is the (Edipus-complex. This has its origin in earliest childhood and consists of an over- attachment of the son to the mother, which in its true form is accompanied by a feeling of jealousy toward the father, whose claim upon the mother's affections is resented by the young would-be rival. These tendencies are often noticed by parents, to whom this display of infantile jealousy is amusing. Of course, they are un- aware of the possibilities for future conse- quences of a dire nature that are bound up in the situation if it is not normally outgrown with the approach of puberty, rather than repressed. Considering our modern customs which 24 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY sanction much coddling of the child by its mother, there is a strong trace of the (E dipus- complex in all children, but in normal cases, as they develop into adolescence, there is a breaking away from these childhood attach- ments. Other children, however, never put aside these childish or infantile feelings and attach- ments, but carry them throughout life re- pressed in the Unconscious. These persons become neurotic, as the repressed complex furnishes an underlying basis for psycho- neuroses and certain abnormal sexual inver- sions. It is always the CE dipus-complex, or a char- acteristic trace of it, which in adult life gives rise to dreams of death of one of the parents, usually the opposite parent to that of the in- fantile attachment. Freud calls this archaic desire in the soul of the male child the (E dipus-complex in recog- nition of its analogy to the tragedy of King CEdipus of Sophocles, who was led by his fate to kill his father, Laius, and win his mother, Jocasta, for a wife. The importance of the CE dipus-complex warrants a brief review of the early Greek tragedy, from which Freud has taken the name OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 25 as a symbolic term. Laius, son of Labdacus, King of Thebes, was warned by Apollo's oracle at Delphi that he would die at the hands of his son. When the child, CE dipus was born, the father to protect himself against the pro- phetic fate, fastened the ankles of the infant and gave him to a faithful herdsman to be ex- posed on Mount Cithasron. (Exposure, it may be added, was a common method of committing infanticide in that day.) The herdsman, ignorant of the oracle's prophecy, took pity on the child and gave him to a shepherd of Polybus, King of Corinth, and that ruler, who was childless, brought him up as his own son. CE dipus never doubted his Corinthian nativ- ity until the taunt of a drunken companion aroused his suspicions, and he fled from the man and woman he had looked upon as his actual father and mother. In a narrow road- way he met an old man, Laius, disputed his right of way, and killed him and his serv- ants. Continuing his journey, he reached Thebes, which was harassed by the Sphinx. CEdipus answered the riddle of the Sphinx and thus slew the monster. The regent of Thebes rewarded him by offering him the hand of the widowed queen, Jocasta (his 26 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY mother), whom he married, not knowing the relationship. Later a terrible pestilence visited the city, and the oracle which was consulted declared that the murderer of Laius must be expelled to bring relief. (E dipus, beginning the search in good faith, discovered the truth. Horrified, he put out his eyes, and Jocasta, the moth er-wife, hanged herself. The over-attachment of the daughter to the father, which involves a more or less latent jealousy toward the mother, is termed the Electra-complex, from the myth of Electra of Euripides, who took revenge on her mother for the murder of the husband because she was in this way deprived of her beloved father. It will be noted that the Electra-complex is for women quite analogous to the (E dipus- complex in men-so much so that the latter term is often used interchangeably for both situations, it being understood that the sex of the parent is the opposite to that of the child. In order to identify the complexes, it is customary in the practice of psycho-analysis, besides studying the subject's dreams, to utilize the association test. A list of words is read to the subject, and in response to each he is required to give the first word which OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 27 occurs to him. The word read is known as the "stimulus-word," and the subject's reply is termed the "reaction-word." It is usually found that the latter is related to the former by some simple associative link. For exam- ple, if the stimulus-word is "organ," the reac- tion-word may be "music," or some other asso- ciation of a similar nature. The time elapsing between the calling out of the stimulus-word and the subject's reply is known as the reaction time, and is carefully measured by means of a stop-watch. Association Test The following stimulus-words generally em- ployed by analysts, were selected by the Zurich school: 1 head 2 green 3 water 4 to sing 5 dead 6 long 7 ship 8 to pay 9 window 10 friendly 11 to cook 12 to ask 13 cold 14 stem 15 to dance 16 village 17 lake 18 sick 19 pride 20 table 21 ink 22 angry 28 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY 23 needle 24 to swim 25 voyage 26 blue 27 lamp 28 to sin 29 bread 30 rich 31 tree 32 to prick 33 pity 34 yellow 35 mountain 36 to die 37 salt 38 new 39 custom 40 to pray 41 money 42 foolish 43 pamphlet 44 despise 45 finger 46 expensive 47 bird 48 to fall 49 book 50 unjust 51 frog 52 to part 53 hunger 54 white 55 child 56 to take away 57 pencil 58 sad 59 plum 60 to marry 61 house 62 dear 63 glass 64 to quarrel 65 fur 66 big 67 carrot 68 to paint 69 organ 70 old 71 flowers 72 to beat 73 box 74 wild 75 family 76 to wash 77 cow 78 friend OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 29 79 luck 80 lie 81 behavior 82 narrow 83 brother 84 to fear 85 love 86 false 87 anxiety 88 to kiss 89 bride 90 pure 91 door 92 to choose 93 hay 94 contented 95 ridicule 96 to sleep 97 month 98 nice 99 woman 100 to abuse When the subject repeats the stimulus-word, it betrays the fact that the word is of very per- sonal import to him. If he repeats it several times, the connotation of the word is likely to be unpleasant or humiliating. The repetition corresponds to a pronounced delay in answer- ing, as it gives the subject time to select an answer. The repetition is an attempt to con- ceal his anxiety or nervousness over the asso- ciations it brings up. As an example of the operation of this method, a concrete illustration might be ob- served. Take the following, given by Jung and Peterson, which brings out the nature of the complex that had been obsessing the sub- ject in question: 30 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY STIMULUS WORD REACTION WORD REACTION TIME (Seconds) 1 Head Hair 1.4 2 Green Meadow 1.6 3 Water Deep 5.0 4 Stick Knife 1.6 5 Long Table 1.2 6 Ship Sink 3.4 7 Ask Answer 1.6 8 Wool Knit 1.6 9 Spiteful Friendly 1.4 10 Lake Water 4.0 11 Sick Well 1.8 12 Ink Black 1.2 13 Swim Can swim 3.8 The patient who responded to this test had, during a recent attack of depression, deter- mined to commit suicide by drowning. This complex had manifested itself in the associa- tions which are italicized. Numbers 3, 6, 10, and 13 show greatly increased reaction time. There is also a significance in itself connected with reaction word 13. Jung, who has gone farthest into association experiment and has done so much to develop and elaborate the tests, asserts that his re- OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 31 searches confirm the feasibility of obtaining the principal complexes of any subj ect. In the theory of psycho-analysis, the dream is the true language and most natural medium of expression of the Unconscious, although it should be emphasized that it is not the only means of expression. It is also the chief means by which the Unconscious may be pen- etrated. Freud calls it the royal road to the Unconscious. Among other characteristic manifestations of the Unconscious are phantasying-or day- dreaming, as it is commonly called; absent- mindedness, which causes us to forget names, dates and facts with which we are really thor- oughly conversant; mistakes in speech and writing, and reading words that are not there into sentences. Wit and laughter are also manifestations of the unconscious mind, and are recognized by Freud as the mediums through which the Un- conscious obtains the greatest amount of pleas- ure within the briefest space of time. The psychological structure of a joke, in fact, greatly resembles the psychological structure of a dream. As our civilization is based upon the sup- 32 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY pression of instincts-which is, or should be, compensated for by the advantages of cultural and intellectual development-we find count- less numbers of people who have been unable to successfully transform their accumulations of bound-up energy from self-centered to social ends. The Libido The energy or prime mover of human action which Freud calls the libido, is termed by Henri Bergson the elan vital, and by Dr. Carl Jung, the horme. Other names have been proposed, one of the best English equivalents, suggested by Putnam, being the Craving. It is the craving for Life, for Love, for Action. When the libido (to adhere to the terminol- ogy of Freud) is not adequately transformed into channels that are serviceable to society, or sublimated, as this process of socialization is called, the result is a derangement of the nerv- ous system and the psychic structure-a neurosis in one of its several forms or varia- tions. The anxiety neurosis may be the result of sexual repression, or of a sudden confronting with the fact of sex (a strong argument for some general common sense instruction of OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 33 what the continuance of life implies), or of impotent husbands, frigid wives, or of dimin- ishing potency associated with increasing lust, and so on. The libido, or life force-which has been called the energetic constitution and love-life of man-must have an outlet, or play havoc with the psychic structure, and as the regula- tions of modern society necessarily forbid as an outlet the natural, crude expressions of sen- suousness which served the purpose of primi- tive peoples in so many of their activities, the energy turns within, so to speak, and works on the ego. As Dr. Hitschmann remarks, a dammed-up libido hunts out a weak place and breaks through, expressing itself in neurotic "sub- stitute gratification." Primitive man, like the child, is much in- terested in the sensations he produces with his own body. He is auto-erotic. He squanders enormous amounts of vitality in specific sen- suality, wasted energy that results in no bene- fit to the group. One of the essential objects of civilization is to convert this dissipated personal power from the sensual to activities that are useful to society. But by turning wasted energy from the 34 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY sensual to social uses, it is not meant to imply that the sex-life of normal adulthood should be or can be ignored. This, as we shall see, frequently leads to unfortunate, or even dis- astrous consequences. As Freud says, "The struggle against sen- suality consumes all of a young man's available energy at the precise moment when he needs it to win for himself a place in the social organization." And, again, in alluding to the irrational, ascetic tendency of over-sublimation, he warns: "Experience teaches us that there is for the majority of men a limit beyond which their constitution cannot comply any more with the 'cultural' demands. Those who are trying to be better than their constitution permits them to be succumb to a neurosis; they would have been better off if it had been pos- sible for them to be worse" Sexuality Interpreted in the strictly Freudian sense, nearly all of our instincts, emotions, and af- fections are motivated primarily by an un- conscious sexual urge. It should be empha- sized that Freud uses the word "sexual" in a OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 35 very broad sense; much broader than the con- ventionally educated are capable of compre- hending until after a diligent study of psycho- analytic literature, they finally perceive the meaning of this term in its true value. In a word, sexuality is not the equivalent of sensuality, but denotes the fundamental in- stinct which is the very root of the emotional life-the libido. It thus refers to the yearning for love, for marfiage, for home, for children, for the af- fection of a parent-all of a most commend- able type, which have as their unconscious bio- logical aim the perpetuation of the race. The child's sexuality is at first auto-erotic (a term which the analysts have taken from Havelock Ellis), or turned on itself; then it transfers or fixes itself to those nearest him, usually the mother or some member of the family, or the nurse; and finally, in the normal course of development, as adult life is ap- proached, it transfers it to a person outside the family group-constituting what is termed falling in love. Freud emphasizes the point that the infant enjoys in the taking of nourishment a sexual pleasure which it frequently seeks to obtain 36 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY throughout childhood by sucking, with rhyth- mic movements, independent of the taking of food. This sometimes grows to a fixed childish fault that continues even up into later years. Often there is associated with the "pleasure- sucking" a rubbing of certain sensitive parts of the body, such as the breast, or the external genitals. In this way many children proceed automatically from sucking to masturba- tion. Jung, in "The Psychology of the Uncon- scious," remarks: "Sucking still belongs to the function of nutrition, but passes beyond it, however, in that it is no longer the function of nutrition, but rhythmic activity, with pleas- ure and satisfaction as a goal, without the taking of nourishment. ... In the period of the displaced rhythmic activity, the hands appear still more clearly as an auxiliary organ; the gaining of pleasure leaves the mouth zone and turns to other regions. . . . As a rule, other openings of the body become objects of the libido interest; then the skin and special portions of that. The activity expressed in these parts, which can appear as rubbing, boring, picking, and so on, follows a certain rhythm and serves to produce pleasure. After OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 37 longer or shorter tarryings of the libido at these stations, it passes onward until it reaches the sexual (genital) zone, and there, for the first time, can be occasion for the beginning of onanistic attempts." The theory of sucking as a sexual pleasure is strengthened by the fact that the mouth and lips are known as erogenous (love- creating) zones, a significance they retain throughout normal life in the kiss. It is also a natural tendency of the infant, as well as the young child, to take a keen satis- faction in the sight of its nude body, and in feeling and playing with many or almost all of the surface parts. This manifestation is perfectly understand- able when it is taken into consideration that the erogenous zones are very diversified in childhood, including, besides the more sensitive places, practically the whole surface of the body. As the child approaches puberty, the erogenous zones normally tend to concentrate to the region of the reproductive organs. The inclination of the child to glory in its nakedness is nothing to be ashamed of, nor is the existence of an unconscious sexual motive a matter to be horrified over. This trait, like all infantile characteristics of 38 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY an erotic nature, so impressed the ancients that it became a theme of mythology. The present-day term, Narcissism, is derived from the Greek myth of Narcissus, who was in- fatuated with the reflection of himself which he saw in the pool. The child should not be treated harshly for this propensity, as such treatment leaves an indelible impression on the infant mind, and tends to set up repressions in the Unconscious that may lead to future mental conflicts. Undue erotic interest may be prevented by directing the mind of the child to various con- structive activities suitable to its age and de- velopment. This is the beginning of the pro- cess of sublimation. In regard to sexuality in childhood, Wilfrid Lay ("Man's Unconscious Conflict"), states: "The repugnance against seeing anything of the quality or intensity of adult sexual feeling attributed to children under five years of age is so strong in most people that they have ac- cused the Freudians of reading sex into every- thing. The reply to this accusation is that it is true that all excitement is primarily sexual, but the word sexual is to be understood in a very broad sense, and that, viewed from the purely scientific standpoint, and freed from OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 39 all ideas of pruriency or prudery, there is no reproach in regarding what is admitted as the prime mover of human life and activity as an essential characteristic of all ages of human life, even of infancy." When looking at it in a rational light, free from prudish notions, there is nothing about this predominant sexual urge to feel ashamed of or to apologize for. It has as its basis the one great object of race preservation, which, biologically speaking is all-important. But as we have evolved beyond the need of using practically all our instincts and activities toward the reproductive end, it follows that, while the immediate and concrete urge of sex life must normally find expression and grat- ification, the numerous secondary impulses that now have only a vestigial sexual sig- nificance, should express themselves in some other than sensuous ways. These are the qualities of the libido that can be sublimated, and diverted from erotic to socially useful fields of activity. It should not be assumed that because nat- ural instincts have no longer a specific sexual function to perform that they are not even now sensually employed. Indeed, unless weaned into constructive channels by the process of 40 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY sublimation, their constant tendency is to seek erotic satisfaction. Proof of this can be found on every hand, not only in the records of serious crimes and petty misdemeanors, but in all sorts of human impulses that are so common in every-day life, and have such varied ways of manifesting themselves, that their very universality causes us to take them for granted as a matter of course, without reflecting on their real signifi- cance. A very apt elucidation of this principle is given by Dr. William A. White ("Principles of Mental Hygiene33): "The way in which this bound-up energy is freed is by the process known as sublimation. Of course, the possible illustrations are almost infinite, for they in- clude every activity of man. For example, according to this theory, the curiosity which makes a man a scientist-let us say a micro- scopist-is traceable to that early curiosity in -looking-peeping, which has its object in see- ing forbidden sexual objects or acts. The im- mediate sexual element in the curiosity is sub- limated into a socially useful purpose to which the original pleasure is still attached, and for which it furnishes the drive. We know, too, the 'Peeping Toms,' who still show this same OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 41 form of pleasure-seeking, but have been un- able to advance their way of obtaining pleas- ure to a socially accepted means." Despite the formidable obstacles that stand in the way of a more normal sex life for the great mass of people, Freud sounds the hope- ful note of all those who have worked toward an increased control of life, maintaining that degeneration and nervousness are not in any way inevitable results of cultural progress, but excrescences that are to be avoided. Psycho-Analysis and Autosuggestion The possibilities of psycho-analysis and autosuggestion are interesting to consider, not only by themselves, but in their relation to one another. For the most part the two subjects have been treated independently and without consideration of each other. While invaluable results have been obtained in their respective fields, I believe it is in combining the two that we shall secure the greatest effectiveness and efficiency in therapeutics and promoting self- mastery. In a word, the two schools are closely allied and in a great measure inter- related and should be supplementary. Baudouin recognizes this when he remarks: "We may say, then, that psycho-analysis, in- 42 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY tuitionism (considered apart from all meta- physics) , and the teachings of the New Nancy School, contribute to the same general move- ment. These three doctrines enable us to enter the subconscious, open ways for us into the hidden recesses of our being. Thereby they greatly enlarge our knowledge of our- selves, disclosing the causes of what we have hitherto known only as effects. Since knowl- edge is power, they increase our command of life." The interesting observation has been made that psycho-analysis has somewhat the same relation to autosuggestion that algebra has to arithmetic, namely, psycho-analysis simpli- fies complicated problems, but it complicates simple problems. Like all analogies, there is some truth in this and some error. Psycho-analysis can be considered from two standpoints, first, the more restricted relation- ship of analyst and patient, and, secondly, in a far broader and more universal way as an educational study by the individual for his own self-development. With regard to the first, it is quite evident that the analyzing of patients is apt to be a long-drawn-out process and that in certain instances the same results can be accomplished much quicker by autosuggestive OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 43 treatment. This is particularly true when the morbid symptoms are due, as frequently hap- pens, to spontaneous suggestion by a simple idea. On the other hand, where the trouble is caused by devastating complexes (or a con- stellation of ideas) as a result of childhood experiences of a painful or shocking character, which have since been buried (or repressed) in the Unconscious, it cannot be removed by autosuggestion. There may be temporary help, but a recurrence of the disorder is likely, and especially at a critical time in one's ex- perience, unless the real seat of the (psychic) infection is located and, by bringing the fester- ing idea-complexes to consciousness, render- ing them powerless for further harm. Another thing that must be taken into consideration is that in the involved processes of our psychic regions, there is really no such thing as a simple problem. At best, certain of our problems may be relatively simple. In every case, even where autosuggestion is used, simultaneously or subsequently, the in- sight which an understanding of psycho-analy- sis gives will be of inestimable value in aiding the person along the road to self-mastery, self-expression, and health. Autosuggestion 44 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY deals with the phenomena of the unconscious mind. The theory of psycho-analysis, as presented in this book, is calculated to give an insight into the operations and mysteries of the unconscious mind that no existing manual of autosuggestion can supply. The Unconscious is the great inexhaustible reservoir of ideas, accumulated from our countless experiences since the beginning of life and augmented by biological memories (intuitional and instinctive propensities) that have been transmitted to us through a long line of human and prehuman ancestry. Psycho-analysis, and particularly in the form of autopsycho-analysis, i. e., training ourselves to tap and draw upon the wealth of the Unconscious, is not only conducive to mental and psychic upbuilding, but forms a valuable method of utilizing and developing our latent possibilities. It is a form of self- education that cannot be acquired in any other way. The process of going over and over and re- examining our experiences until we thoroughly understand their significance is part of the practice of self-analysis. This, of course, does not imply that one should pick out certain sordid memories and dwell on them, which is OUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND 45 bound to leave a morbid state of mind that may in time become a fixed mental condition. On the contrary, the habit of analyzing our ex- periences (if done with something of a detached, objective attitude, which may be acquired) is productive of far-reaching intel- lectual results. It is this characteristic which in part accounts for the development of so many of the world's greatest minds in connection with a sickly body or other physical handicap in childhood. A number of these great lumi- naries are mentioned in Chapter VIII, page 176. These people, cut off early in life from new experiences by physical incapacity and ill- health, became accustomed to reviewing the old ones until they had acquired an insight into, and mastery of, their mental operations. And in this accomplishment, the realization of the Socratic precept to "know thyself," there had come wisdom. CHAPTER III THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS Interest in dreams has been manifested in all ages and by all races of people. Dreams have profoundly influenced the lives of indi- viduals and the destinies of nations. There have been numerous books written on the sub- ject, and countless theories, hypotheses, and superstitions formulated with reference to dream phenomena. But notwithstanding this vast field that has been so long open for exploration, study, and research, it is only within comparatively recent years-beginning with the epochal disclosures of Freud-that any real substantial progress has been made in getting at a true understand- ing of the nature of dreams and their processes. The reason for this is the same as may be given for the slow process in all fields of scien- tific research. While dreams in the past have been generally associated with the fantastic, the unreal, the supernormal, when indeed, not the supernatural, they are now neverthe- 46 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 47 less connected with a definite science, and con- sequently great strides have been made in recent years in understanding them. The dream is always the fulfilment of a wish or craving of the Unconscious. On surface, this may seem like a rash statement, if not an utter impossibility, as we have all experienced dreams that were the very antithesis of our conscious desires and repugnant to our moral feelings. But this involves a dual considera- tion-first, that the dream represents a wish fulfilment of the Unconscious, the primitive, archaic element of our personality, and is most frequently influenced by long-forgotten infan- tile impressions and repressions; secondly, that it is always highly symbolic, and does not ex- press itself in the language of the conscious mind. To these essential points may be added the fact that the dream is seldom remembered as it was actually dreamed. The version that is remembered is termed the manifest content, and the wish concealed in the underlying thoughts which produced the dream is known as the latent content. The concealing of this latent content, as well as the lapse of memory which accompanies it, is the result of a psychic resistance or 48 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY attempt of the "psychic censor" to prevent the true motive from revealing itself.1 Hence we have the symbolic dreams, which actually have to be translated to enable us to arrive at their real meaning. This is the func- tion of psycho-analysis. The basic founda- tion of many dreams lies in the wishes of child- hood which, being unattainable, were stored away in the Unconscious. The long-forgotten wishes have normally disappeared into the un- conscious mind because of psycho-sexual de- velopment and social inhibitions. Mechanism of Dreams The manifest content of the dream is pro- duced by four chief processes which are called condensation, displacement, dramatization, and secondary elaboration. Briefly, these four terms may be described as follows: Condensation, as the name im- plies, is the constant tendency of the dream, as remembered, to be a very condensed version of the subject-matter that arose from the depths of our unconscious mind. This also includes i The psychic censor, as the term is used in Freudian psy- chology, is nothing but the inhibitions imposed upon the in- dividual by society, and once established, operates continu- ously, whether one is asleep or awake. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 49 the fusing together of dream-thoughts often resulting in a fantastic, ludicrous effect. Displacement, like condensation, acts as a potent distorting mechanism. It signifies the process by which psychic importance is trans- ferred to a given element in the manifest con- tent from quite different unrelated elements in the latent content. This causes us to place undue stress on comparatively unimportant details in the dream and to overlook as trivial other things that are really of basic importance in the latent content of the dream. Dramatization refers to the symbolic proper- ties of dream phenomena. All dreams are more or less symbolized-most of them highly so. The primary visual nature of dreams readily lends itself to this characteristic, which has been called "regard for presenta- bility." Secondary elaboration is that situation in which our consciousness contributes to this extent: When experiencing an unpleasant dream, the thought sometimes occurs to us: "This is only a dream; why worry?" Never- theless, despite this prompting of our Con- scious, we still continue dreaming-harassed on one side by the unpleasant factor of the 50 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY dream, and reassured on the other that it is not real. The savage in the child, the archaic in man, still survives in us, but is confined to that part called the Unconscious. It has not been re- placed or supplanted, but in most persons has been more or less veneered by the processes of civilization. One of the characteristics of dreams is their apparent absurdity or trivial- ity. However, psycho-analysis has proven that there are no absurd or trivial dreams. Every dream reflects a definite desire or wish on the part of the person's unconscious mind, which has an untold influence over his thoughts and actions, notwithstanding his conscious ideals when expressed in language. Coriat ("What is Psycho-Analysis?"}, sums up the significance of dreams and other mani- festations of the Unconscious, and their value as interpreting agencies, when he says: "Psy- cho-analysis presupposes that there is no mental effect without its cause, and con- sequently nervous symptoms are not chance and haphazard products, but are related to definite mental processes which are repressed in the patient's Unconscious. This relation of mental cause and effect is called determin- ism. By means of the study of dreams and THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 51 symptomatic actions and sometimes by use of association tests, psycho-analysis traces out each symptom in the patient's life history. Sometimes these symptoms are found to be deeply buried in the earliest years of child- hood." Without going extensively into the ramifica- tions of dream phenomena, it might be well to refer to certain typical dreams, which are the common lot of practically every individual. These are also notable because they usually have their origin in infantile impressions or sexual motives, although the dream may be so thoroughly couched in symbolic expressions that no actual sexual idea is apparent. There is the dream of injury to, or death of, a parent or relative near and dear to us. To suggest that we wish them harm is unthink- able. This common type of dream has its basis in a temporary childish anger, directed against the person in question, and which was accompanied by the ill-wish that for ethical reasons was repressed. It should be added that a child has a differ- ent conception of death than an adult has. To the former it merely denotes an interrup- tion of the disturbing presence of a person, or of his being out of the way for the time being. 52 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY A dream of this kind invariably has its root, if not in a true nuclear complex, then in an CE dipus tendency which survives in the Un- conscious. Some traces of this can be found in every individual, and in it Freud sees a definite incest wish toward the mother which lacks only the attribute of consciousness. Moral reactions subject this wish to repression through the functioning of the "incest barrier," an hy- pothesis that is compared to the "incest taboo" found among primitive and inferior peoples. One of the most common dreams is the so- called embarrassment dream of nakedness- a regression to our early Narcissism. Freud has been led to consider this nakedness dream as an exhibitionist quality revived in the Un- conscious, and traces it back to the universal tendency of children to disport themselves in the nude, which affords them great enjoyment and pleasure. There is another type of dream that is not uncommon, and in a pronounced form is called the anxiety-dream or nightmare. Perhaps the characteristics peculiar to this can best be described by Dr. Eduard Hitschmann {'"Freud's Theories of the Neuroses") : "The dream picture accompanied by anxiety THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 53 represents the patient (usually female) oppressed by a great and dangerous beast which threatens to throw itself on the dreamer; characteristically, it is often a stallion, or bull, thus, animals which have ever stood as symbols of the potent strength of animal masculinity. It is easy to see in these animal figures the symbolized givers of sexual gratification for- bidden by conscious thinking. A still plainer symbolism aiming at this end appears in dreams of burglars who, armed with revolvers, daggers, or similar instruments, press on upon the dreaming lady. The starting up from sleep because of such anxiety-dreams, one finds frequently in widows and ungratified women as a characteristic kind of disturbance of sleep." It has been remarked that the field of sexual symbolism is an astonishingly rich and varied one, and that a great number of symbols are definitely recognized as belonging to this cate- gory. Dr. Ernest Jones, the English analyst, maintains that "there are probably more sym- bols of the male genital organ than all other symbols put together." Thus the dreamer who dreams of a snake, a dagger, a fish, or a bird, in no way consciously regards these objects as phallic symbols, and is usually most 54 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY unwilling, until the logic of the dream analysis forces him, to accept this conclusion. We are all influenced by our unconscious mind to an immeasurable degree, and this in- fluence tends, without our realizing it, to in- terest us in those phallic symbols around which the ancients formed their myths, legends, and folk-stories. This tendency expresses itself to-day, no less than in the past, in all our litera- ture, art, and architecture, although only the initiated appreciate its extent and influence. The following short poem, "The Maiden's Dream," an ancient Greek folk-song, reprinted in the Literary Digest (New York), July 5, 1919, from a translation by Rose Kerr, may be quite meaningless to any one unacquainted with phallic literature, but to the student of this symbolism its import is obvious: Last night there came to me asleep A breath from the land of dreams: Within a garden walled and deep I saw two flowing streams And a tower of gold and ivory, Mother, canst read my dreams? Thou art the garden, daughter mine; The tower is thy grave; The streams of water flowing free THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 55 Are tears that I shall shed for thee, For love is vain to save. O Mother mine, nay, do not weep; Not skilled art thou in dreams, Our dwelling is the garden deep, My children the two streams, And the fair tower is the husband strong In whose arms I shall dream no dreams. Certain symbolism, some of which is employed in the above poem, is so universal, and its phallic meaning after thorough analysis so positive, that it has led the Freudians to con- sider it as a disguised form of sexual represen- tation. The human body is often indicated by a building, house, or church.1 The male body is represented by flat surfaces, smooth walls over which one is climbing, and the female body by set tables, walls with balconies, mounds, hills, a rolling landscape. The male genitals may be symbolized by various elongated objects, sticks, tree-trunks, pillars, towers, steeples, fruits or vegetables of like shape, and, as previously stated, birds, fishes, snakes, and all sharp weapons. Female i Thus, in common religious usage, the body is spoken of as the earthy house or temple of the soul, indicating again the close relations between religious and dream symbolism. 56 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY genitals are represented by shoes, boxes, caves, stoves, windows doors, closets, and gardens.1 Dreams of water and of bathing have a sexual significance in that they so often have a bearing on birth and parturition. The symbolic expression of dream language bears remarkable likeness to the symbolism of ancient mythology. This signifies to the student of psycho-analysis that the Uncon- scious not only gets many of its deepest impres- sions from early infancy, but that it has also in- herited race impressions that have been passed down through countless generations, and that cause us to live over again in our dreams the ineffaceable experiences of prehistoric ances- tors. One of the most typical of this class is the falling dream, which is considered by some as an heritage of the ape-man who lived in the trees. It is notable in these falling dreams that we always catch ourselves, land safely, or wake up in the excitement, which indicates that our progenitor who orginally experienced the shock which caused this indelible mental impression that has become a biological fixture, i In every Hindu temple to this day, the altar is made up of the "yoni-lingam," which represents the union of the male and female genitals on a pedestal surrounded by a snake, which in this instance symbolizes eternity. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 57 also caught himself or fell to comparative safety, else the impression could not have been carried down. Other explanations of falling dreams have been given, and it seems logical that the "sym- bolical fall" explanation and the childhood memory are important factors. In the for- mer, the dreamer, whose censorship over his Unconscious is operative even in his sleep, dreams of falling as a disguised form of satis- fying an ethically forbidden wish, sexual or otherwise. The dream represents a "fall from grace"-a temporary relief from the conven- tional restrictions-and thereby satisfies an unconscious desire of the primitive inner self. Falling dreams that are due to memories of falls in infancy must be very common. Every child has stumbled and fallen little or much. It is one of the hardships the infant must undergo in learning to walk, and in ad- justing himself to his early environment. It is obvious that some of these falls produce a powerful shock on the nervous system, leaving a permanent impression on the Unconscious, which may be projected back into the Fore- conscious (in the form of a dream) during sleep. Even many years after, some stimuli 58 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY may arouse in the psychic stream a recollec- tion of the fall, which is registered in a dream. The Unconscious dwells in a realm of phan- tasy, shuns the reality, constructs its indom- itable and superhuman heroes (Gods), and deals summarily and mercilessly with its en- emies. All the themes of mythology and folk- lore have these common characteristics. Authorities have attributed the origin of myths and fables to dream conceptions and other manifestations of the Unconscious among primitive peoples. Thus, Dr. Karl Abraham ("Dreams and Myths") says: "The myth is a fragment of the infantile soul life of the people, and the dream is the myth of the individual." Freud has stated this conclusion from his vast expe- rience in dream interpretations: "The inves- tigation of this folk-psychologic formation, myths, etc., is by no means finished at present. To take an example of this, however, it is prob- able that the myths correspond to the dis- torted residue of wish phantasies of whole na- tions, the secularized dreams of young human- ity-" Even earlier, philosophers have sensed this great truth, as we observe from Nietzsche ("Human, All Too Human") : "In our THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 59 sleep and in our dreams we pass through the whole thought of earlier humanity. I mean, in the same way that man reasons in his dreams, he reasoned when in the waking state many thousands of years. The first causa which occurred to his mind in reference to any- thing that needed explanation, satisfied him, and passed for truth. In the dream this at- avistic relic of humanity manifests its exist- ence within us, for it is the foundation upon which the higher rational faculty developed, and which is still developing in every individ- ual. The dream carries us back into earlier states of human culture, and affords us a means of understanding them better. . . ." The symbol as an expression of our uncon- scious desires is not by any means confined to dreams. We do many things in our waking hours of a symbolical nature, which satisfy our Unconscious without consciously under- standing their real significance. For instance, we throw rice and old shoes at newly-weds without comprehending the true meaning of the act. Consciously, we are following an old established custom; but unconsciously we are doing something more important. We are giving expression in a symbolical way to a wish that is quite appropriate for the occasion, 60 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY and which our standard of ethics would not permit us to express in a more direct way. During all ages and in the folklore of all races, shoes have been a symbol of the female genitals, and rice (or wheat or other common cereal) the symbol of the male fructifying seed. Hence, we unconsciously indicate the sexual character of the new relationship with the normal outcome of fruitfulness or prolif- icacy, which the conventions of modern society would not permit us openly or directly to allude to. The association of human sexual interests with the fertilization of seeds has still a tan- gible meaning for primitive people, whereas civilized people unconsciously associate the two phenomena by acts of symbolism. J. G. Frazer, in "The Magic Art," gives numerous references of this sort. Among the Ainos of Japan, the fruitfulness of the soil was assured by the magic means of showing it the spectacle of human sexual intercourse. In some parts of Java, the peasants used to go out into the fields at night for sexual intercourse when the rice was about to blossom in order to stimulate the rice to fruitfulness by their example. The ethical influence of the act is shown when it was feared that proscribed incestuous relation- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 61 ships would stimulate the soil to grow weeds and render it unfruitful. Every One Dreams Many people, taking exception to the Freudian contention regarding dreams, as- sert that they rarely, if ever, dream. There are very good scientific grounds for believing, not only that every one does dream, but that we dream continuously during our period of sleep. However, in the process of waking up in the normal manner, as we slowly gain conscious- ness, the "censor" that figuratively stands at the gate of our Unconscious subtly draws the veil over what has been transpiring, and we open our eyes with a feeling that our mind during the night has been free from all thought or effort. Our conscious mind, of course, has; our unconscious mind has not. It has been proven by experimenting with persons who claimed they "never dreamed," that they do dream, and with a little practice they can soon learn to remember their dreams. One of the best ways of testing the accuracy of the "dreamless" sleeper is to wake him up suddenly in the middle of the night or at a time he is unaccustomed to be awakened. In- 62 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY variably, it will be found, if immediately ques- tioned, that he has either a more or less distinct recollection of dreaming. This is true if the sudden waking-up proc- ess occurs once in the night, or many times. If a multiple of times, then it may be found that the sleeper has experienced a different dream each time before awakening. This gives strength to the theory that we are con- stantly dreaming of something; the themes of the dream often rapidly changing from one thing to another, sometimes blending into each other in an incoherent mass-or a constantly changing picture without apparent sense or reason. The fact, too, that dreams are highly sym- bolized, as before stated, further emphasizes this impression. When analyzed, it is usually found that the most important features or characters in the dream, as remembered, are of little relative importance. On the other hand, some minor detail or seemingly insignif- icant factor proves upon investigation to be of prime importance. Another deceiving feature of dream phe- nomena, which makes us believe that we do not dream, is that immediately upon waking we are slightly conscious of some disturbing feel- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 63 ing or annoying mental trend, but with a slight effort we pass it off. Instead of attrib- uting it to a dream, we offer ourselves the ex- cuse that it was a noise we may have heard out- side the room or that we had just dismissed from mind an unpleasant episode of the day before-just what, we cannot (or do not care to) recall. By this half-conscious, semi-deliberate ac- tion, we bow to the will of the censor and "for- get" the dream. The very fact of the univer- sal "forgetting" of dreams confirms the exis- tence of an agency which, for the want of a better term, is called the censor. If we had exercised sufficient determination to pick up the thread as it passed the out- skirts of our consciousness, we could have res- urrected perhaps a little of what had preceded. And by practice, it would gradually become possible to get a more or less well rounded mental picture of what had been transpiring in our Unconscious. Two essential facts must be remembered in trying to interpret dreams. The first is that an isolated dream cannot be used as a means of analyzing a person's psychic condition. At the best, if it is a typical dream, it can only give an idea of the general trend of the pa- 64 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY tient's thoughts on a certain subject, but a single dream, or a couple of dreams, give no perspective or background to work on. A great many dreams must be studied and analyzed, and the various tendencies compared, in order to obtain a true picture of the uncon- scious psychic operation. The other point to remember is that the ex- periences of the day before are very apt to color our dreams, even if they do not actually motivate them. As a student of my own dreams, this fact was recently impressed upon me in a very graphic manner. I had an exceedingly vivid anxiety-dream-the nightmare variety-in which I witnessed my own death, the funeral ceremony, and all the detailed arrangements that are connected with an event of this kind. It was an unusually depressing dream, as it is apt to be when one is a spectator of all the de- tails connected with his own demise and burial. Without attempting to analyze the mass of material that was involved, I merely wished to find the connection with the day before. In- cidentally, among the mourners at the funeral were grandparents and other relatives who had been dead for many years. This little denial of reality had no more influence on re- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 65 assuring my Unconscious than did the illogic of being a morbidly interested spectator at my own funeral. After awakening in an upset frame of mind, I endeavored to trace some connecting link with my activities of the day before, and while it should perhaps have been perfectly obvious, it took me some little time to recall the in- cident that explained the nature of the dream, although not of course the details involved. The previous evening I had made a little busi- ness call with the object of discussing life in- surance matters and possibly taking out a policy. The connection between life insur- ance and death is obvious, but when discussing these matters, one does not consciously dwell on it-in fact, because of the unpleasant na- ture of the subject, the tendency is to repress all but the most casual thoughts along this line. Consequently, it was these thoughts of death, unconsciously repressed, which reas- serted themselves in my dreaming state, and afforded me so much anxiety for the time be- ing. It is also important to bear in mind that the first waking impressions of a dream are the only reliable or trustworthy recollection we are able to get of it. If a person, immediately 66 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY upon waking jots down the import of the dream as he remembers it, and then later in the day recurs to the same dream, he will find not only that he has forgotten a good part of it, but quite likely that he will even give a different version of it. This is another evi- dence of the efficiency of the censor in cover- ing up the evidence of unconscious psychic activity. Dreams often reflect changes in our attitude towards life in general, and towards persons and things in particular, as well as our inner- most desires and secret cravings-the uncon- scious ones. The mellowing influence of time and the development of character affect our dream material. The whole process of past antipathy, present sympathy, or future apathy, may be summarized in a single dream. The following dream, related to me by an acquain- tance, will illustrate this characteristic: W. H. P. dreamt that an old friend had died. He attended his funeral. There was a large gathering of people present to witness the ceremony, and he noticed many strange faces. While he had his back turned toward the bier, some one said the corpse moved. He investigated and found that the hands had moved. He then suggested that the deceased THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 67 be given something to eat. Without consider- ing it anything out of the ordinary, he walked the erstwhile corpse out to the dining-room and gave it food, and the "late departed" friend was revived. Interpretation: I learned that the old friend had married a young lady seventeen years before of whom P. was also fond. The dream of death was plainly a wish fulfilment of the Unconscious. The revival of the corpse indicated a change of attitude on the part of P., who, during the interim of the passing years had become reconciled to the situation and, as he is now happily married, no longer felt resentment toward his former rival. With a return of the old feeling of friendship, he unconsciously compensated for the old un- conscious death wish by personally supervis- ing the revival of the friend from death. He assisted him from the funeral bier to the fes- tive board-the symbol of forgiveness and good will. Wish fulfilment also is evidenced in two dreams, quite different in their genesis, that recently were related to me. B. dreamt that he met the father and brother of a young lady who had worked in his office up to the time of her death. He asked them 68 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY how Miss H. was getting along. They said she was very well, and was now employed in some other establishment. The assurance that the young lady was em- ployed elsewhere, of course, was a wish that she might be alive-and, to all intents and pur- pose, she was alive as far as the Unconscious was concerned. The Unconscious is never logical, unless by accident it arrives at a logi- cal, rational conclusion. It is evident from a study of dream phe- nomena, as is indicated in the two dreams just cited in particular, that the unconscious mind does not comprehend the finality of death. As with the child, so, too, with the unconscious, primitive mind of the adult, death is merely a banishment for the time being, and from which the departed may be recalled when it suits the fancy of the undiscriminating prim- itive mind. In the other wish-fulfilment dream which I have alluded to, we find reflected the roman- tic aspirations of young womanhood. G. K. told me that she had dreamed on a certain night in two successive years-the same date and month in each instance-that she was married to a young man whom she had gone around with a few times. She said she THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 69 never had any deep feeling for the young man in question, and that she liked any one of sev- eral other young men better. In the two dreams, which seemed identical in every partic- ular, all the elaborate details of a formal wed- ding ceremony were portrayed with great fidelity. She wanted an explanation of the puzzling features that were involved in this dream representation, and particularly a solu- tion of the mystery of the repetition of the first dream exactly a year, to the very day, after the original wedding dream. It will be noted that, consciously, she was not especially attached to the bridegroom of the dream. A little questioning, however, re- vealed the fact that he was a well-set-up, at- tractive physical type, which undoubtedly ap- pealed to her erotic unconscious, but which her conscious intellectual self was quite indifferent to, probably because he did not measure up to her own intellectual standard. In regard to the repetition of the dream just a year later, I found that she kept a diary, which was her record of the time of the first dream, as well as the recurring one. The fact that she kept a diary, and referred to it occasionally, must account for the coincidence in dates. It is only fair to assume, knowing as we do of the 70 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY powers of unconscious observation and of the retentiveness of the unconscious memory, that she had recurred to the romantic episode at different times, even without consciously dwell- ing upon it, and that the date, no less than the incident of the dream, had impressed itself on her mind. And with the approach of the same day of the same month a year later, there was aroused in the unconscious mind an asso- ciation of ideas which awakened the pleasing old memory of the wedding, and caused to be enacted again the phantom nuptial drama of just a year previous. Autosuggestion and Dreams The last dream mentioned also indicates that there was the factor of unconscious auto- suggestion at work-which set in motion the association of ideas. In this connection it might be stated that suggestion influences many dreams, both of the pleasant and un- pleasant (nightmare) variety, either through reading, discussing or thinking about certain problems before retiring. This is particularly true if there is some strong emotional tinge connected with the problems. Suggestion thus inspired may be realized with remarkable accuracy. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 71 Autosuggestion is even more apparent in cases where a person deliberately chooses his own dream material, even though he may ra- tionalize the process. The most classic ex- ample of this is afforded in the instance of some of the religions of antiquity. It was the custom to practise the art of invoking dreams which were ascribed to the gods, the subject being unaware that he had caused them him- self. In the worship of Hecate, after the per- formance of certain mysterious rites, the dev- otees would have a vision of the goddess dur- ing their slumbers-provided that before going to sleep they had prayed to her with due regard for the prescribed ritual. The power- ful appeal to the imagination, of the impres- sive rites, which served to clarify the image, was highly conducive to suggestion. As suggestion exercises a profound influ- ence over the nature and trend of our dreams, it therefore follows that those who suffer from nightmares (when they are not due to rav- aging complexes) can use this fact to their advantage by consciously preparing them- selves for pleasant dreams. This may be ac- complished by encouraging the imagination along channels of pleasing and diverting thought in the evening before going to bed. 72 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY The influence may be further strengthened by developing the thinking habits and general trend of the mind along healthy, wholesome, constructive lines, which will automatically leave little room for morbid or sordid mental attitudes that are sure to reflect themselves in our dreams. And it will make it correspond- ingly unnecessary for the mind to resort to repression to shut out undesirable trains of thought, and minimize the conflicts which oc- cur when repression is actively (although un- consciously) in operation. Dreams He fleet Our Beal Personality When Nietzsche said, "nothing is more genuinely ourselves than our dreams," he made a very profound observation, notwithstand- ing the protests of those who consider dreams mere "foolishness," or those who are ashamed of their dreams, and would deny the implica- tion of ethical indifference, which dreams so strongly evidence. If we are in the latter class, we can take the position of St. Augus- tine, who was glad that God did not hold him responsible for his dreams. So while the more normal, adaptable person has his dreams, which reflect his unconscious psychic processes, and which he may find di- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 73 verting to study, the neurotic also has his dreams, which register the invisible source of his abnormalities. The victims of anxiety-dreams (night- mares) however, are not in doubt about having dreams. In fact, until the cause of the neu- rosis is removed, they suffer much from dis- turbances that result from this manifestation of the Unconscious. The paradoxical feature of these dreams is that they are a form of grat- ification-offering a substitute means of satis- faction to the Unconscious for the lack or de- nial of a normal form of obtaining pleasure or gratification. In this connection, it may be said that re- lief is frequently obtained from these anxiety- dreams or nightmares if the subject is made aware of their true import. By understand- ing their symbolic meaning, the shock is re- moved, even if the dreams continue in a milder form. It often happens that when the person becomes conversant with the symbolic signifi- cance of these dreams, the symbolism no longer recurs and dreams of a sexual nature to the ungratified take place in an undisguised form. Consequently, if the subject is enlightened and encouraged to take a common-sense view of the situation, there is little distress felt, 74 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY and the shock of the after-anxiety is largely removed. Freud maintains that the primary function of the dream is to protect sleep by giving pleasurable activities to the unconscious psy- chic processes that otherwise would tend to interfere with sleep. This is appreciated when we consider that the unconscious proc- esses are perpetually in action, only prevented from entering consciousness by the influence of the censorship. In sleep, therefore, this cen- sorship is lifted, allowing the unconscious wishes to take the field, and express themselves with abandon, making up for the repressions to which they are subjected during waking hours. The dreams of children, in particular, afford easy access to the workings of the Unconscious, because with young people-being less so- phisticated, and laboring under fewer social in- hibitions-the dreams are not so distorted by an excess of symbolization as is the case with the adult. Nevertheless, there are still count- less inhibitions to which children are subjected, as we know from the constant admonitions: "Johnny, don't do this; Johnny, don't do that," etc. Dreams are the removal of sleep-dis- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 75 turbing stimuli by way of hallucinated satis- faction. Day-Dreams Day-dreams, or phantasying, like their pro- totype of our sleep, are also wish-fulfilments. They represent a tendency on the part of the primitive side of our personality to retreat or get away from reality; to realize and enjoy for a few brief moments the unattainable. We have all "built castles in the air." Some of us have soared to untold heights-if only to come down with a crash! Wishes are as common to the beggar as to the king-per- haps more so, as the former has more to wish for that would enhance his condition of life. Unlike the dreams of our sleep, day-dreams are usually accompanied by some effort; we tend to guide them, although this tendency in many instances may be more apparent than real, as there is also the influence of our Un- conscious leading us on, whereas, we may be- lieve we are directing it. Day-dreams have both good and bad influ- ences. If we develop the power to cooperate with the unconscious psychic forces and to "ex- ploit" them through occasional use of the day- 76 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY dream, we are on the way to accomplishing some worth-while work in life. As a result of reveries or day-dreams, com- bined with some directed thinking, the poet and the artist create their immortal works; and the inventor gives to the world his epoch- making mechanical devices; the scientist dis- covers natural laws of the universe and utilizes the knowledge so gained for human progress; the ambitious student is inspired and spurred on to reach some goal of constructive effort. Such dreams have resulted in imperishable works of art and literature, great scientific and mechanical achievements, and other creative efforts. The evil side of day-dreaming is in letting the dreams run completely away with us, which in the nature of themselves they tend to do, instead of harnessing them to an object, or conquering them for a purpose. Day- dreamers of this type are represented by the loafer of all types and degrees. All lazy, indolent people work incessantly at this unpro- ductive occupation. The immature youth, until he is taught by example and precept, or forced by circum- stances, is inclined to dream when not occupied with play or work. Naturally the work is THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DREAMS 77 usually of a light, diverting nature, and as play is an expression of the unconscious wishes, we see how the Unconscious dominates the child almost completely. In most cases, it is merely a question of environmental con- ditions whether he will dream himself down into a loafer, or up into communion with the gods and become a creator of something worth while. In other words, day-dreaming in moderation is desirable under proper conditions; its abuse is the abomination. The chronic day-dreamer who becomes a victim of his fault is usually a person who avoids social intercourse. He finds his pleas- ures in dreaming, and he prefers to be alone so that his dreams may not be disturbed. Thus, he becomes anti-social. He flees from reality whenever the occasion presents itself-and he is always willing to make such occasions-and finds refuge in the unreal world of his dreams. As a result, no matter how shiftless or lazy, no matter how low he has fallen in the social scale, his dreams enable him to realize his goal of superiority. In his dreams he is again in the fairy-land of his childhood longings. The most absurd desires come true, and the dreamer is invari- 78 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY ably the favored fairy prince. This is true whether the motif of his dreams is clothed in the scenery of the early fairy tales-most often they are not-or in the pictorial effects of con- temporary life. In any event, he is regress- ing to the infantile level. CHAPTER IV THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT There are few people so devoid of an innate sense of humor that they do not respond to wit, although often they may manage to con- ceal the outward appearances of the response. Sometimes, in fact, the reaction to the stimuli of wit may not be conscious at all. There is reason to believe, however, that every person who approaches what may be called a normal mental plane experiences an unconscious, if not a conscious, response to wit, humor, the comic, the naive, caricature, etc. And in those of abnormal psychic tendencies who may not react to these stimuli, it will be found that they accomplish the same result by other means-that is, their unconscious mind is relaxed by other forms of expression or di- version. The manifestations of the various neuroses in themselves constitute an unconscious means of relief-although of an unnatural and irra- tional form. They act as a substitute means of gratification. 79 80 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY In behalf of wit, it may be said that, within bounds, it is the most social type of uncon- scious gratification. Most other forms are egotistical, such as day-dreaming, phantasy - ing, dreaming in sleep, etc., involving only the single individual. These are purely self-cen- tered means of satisfying the unconscious mind. Wit, however, has a decided social value un- less, of course, it is carried to unwarranted extremes. And it is primarily among those whose Unconscious exercises a predominating influence over their actions who are apt to in- dulge in wit that tends to be destructive or ex- tremely unpleasant. In the first place, wit usually requires a second or third person, and may involve a large audience, as is the case with professional story- tellers, vaudeville performers, and in certain other forms of organized amusement. Of course, there are plenty of instances where we smile to ourselves at jokes that come to mind, or upon reflecting on a witticism that we had once heard. But this, as a matter of fact, is an example of phantasying into which we lapse momentarily, perhaps in the midst of conscious mental effort. Thus the social value of wit is in making life THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT 81 pleasant and agreeable-sometimes even when it would be quite unbearable. It is frequently invoked under very trying or even tragic cir- cumstances. We have all heard of instances when a grim joke has been passed by some one in a perilous position. Relieves Psychic Tension It invariably relieves the tension in a crisis or at a serious climax.. Notwithstanding our realization of the desperateness or even hope- lessness of the situation, the unconscious relief or satisfaction which we experience in a joke under these circumstances often lifts us out of an agonizing suspense. If only temporarily, the relief is nevertheless real and may be a valuable psychic bracer to sustain us in a time of need. Even in the presence of death or of some inescapable fate impending, this tendency is quite universal. Soldiers before battle, and in the thick of the fight, are known to relieve the suspense by some expression of wit, how- ever grim. And it is an established fact in psychiatry that soldiers who are capable of so relaxing their psychic tension are less susceptible to shell-shock. Shell-shock, indeed, is a form of neurosis 82 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY produced by the abnormal environment, in which the victim is unable to obtain relief of the psychic tension over a more or less pro- longed period. As a consequence, shell-shock is developed, which is a neurosis or type of in- sanity that may be of almost any degree of in- tensity, as a substitute form of gratification of the self-preservation urge. Furthermore, it is usually successful to this extent: the at- tack makes the victim useless for military serv- ice, and sometimes for any other kind, so he is sent to a hospital or other institution. But even if not removed at once, he no longer suf- fers from the agonizing suspense of bombard- ment. By a very abnormal process he has been relieved. Another example of relieving the tension in the midst of death is the old custom of the Irish wake. This ancient folk-tradition of the Irish race makes full allowance for the psychic needs of the occasion by permitting light story telling and other expressions of a diverting nature. The practice of this function uncon- sciously recognizes a basic requirement of the mind. Even the hangman's noose has not deterred the victim of impending fate from having his last grim jest. A prisoner, on being led to THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT 83 execution on Monday, remarked, "Yes, this week is beginning well." As the beginning of the week for him was the end as well, this construction represents a displacement of ideas that makes it nonsensical, although the state- ment in itself has a proper meaning, hence the genuine character of the wit. Various definitions of wit have been ad- vanced by different observers of this phase of psychology. Kuno Fischer, the philosopher, characterized wit as "a playful judgment." The poet, Jean Paul, tells us that "Freedom begets wit, and wit begets freedom." Paul has also jocosely observed that "wit is the dis- guised priest who unites every couple." To this laconicism, Theodor Vischer has supple- mented the following: "He likes best to unite those couples whose marriage the relatives re- fuse to sanction." Other pithy definitions, which are appro- riate for describing certain types of wit but not others, are: "sense in nonsense" "confu- sion and clearness" "the contrast of ideas" Theo. Lipps sums it up well in these words: "Wit expresses itself in words that will not stand the test of strict logic or of the ordinary mode of thought and expression." We have been told that "brevity alone is the body and 84 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY soul of wit," to which Shakespeare must have subscribed when he made Polonius say (Ham- let, Act II, Scene 2): "Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief." Freud in "Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious" instances a number of types of witty expressions, some of which had much favor, based on the formation of mixed words. One typical illustration will set forth the char- acter and mechanism of this form of humor. Brill is quoted as follows: "A dramatic critic, summarizing three paragraphs to the effect that most plays now produced in New York City are violently emotional and hysteri- cal, remarks, 'Thespis has taken up his home in Dramatteawan!' The last word is a con- densation of drama and Matteawan. The substitution not only expresses the critic's ideas that most plays at present produced in New York are violent, emotional, and hysteri- cal, that is, insane, but it also contains the clever allusion to the nature of the problems presented by most of the plays. Matteawan is a State hospital for the criminal insane. THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT 85 Most of the plays are not only insane, but also criminal, since they treat of murders, divorces, robberies, scandals, etc." Public speakers, especially those who are in the habit of playing to the gallery, may appre- ciate the significance of Phocion's remark. On one occasion when his speech was loudly applauded, he turned to his friends and asked: "Did I say something foolish?" This ques- tion, implying the stupidity of his audience, as much as asks, "What have I said to be ashamed of, that this stupid crowd considered clever?" Wit, in substance, is a form of mental re- laxation because invariably it is illogical. And as logic is a development of the con- scious mind, the interruption of concentration, or deviation from logical reasoning, affords momentary relaxation. Primitive Wit Among those of so primitive a mentality that the faculty of logic is at a low stage of development or practically non-existent, then what we consider wit would not to them have the same significance. For instance, children two or three years of age are prone to make very "funny" remarks. 86 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY The expressions sound humorous to us because of their absolutely illogical construction. But to the child, they are not funny or humorous, because the infantile mind lacks the perception to realize that the utterance is illogical. This is the case of an unintentional misuse of words, resulting in a ludicrous effect. The child or person of primitive, undevel- oped mind laughs at what he believes to be a joke when he is placed in a position of appar- ent superiority. When an adult gets down on the floor on all-fours, and his toddling young- ster grabs his coat-tails or rides on his back and bids him assume the lowly function of the quadruped, the infant is conscious of a feeling of superiority-as we are in driving a horse. The infant becomes a very superior person in his mind, and this to him is the real kind of a joke. Wit is a diverting short-cut from the stiff- ness and sober conventionality so constantly demanded in civilized life. The whole evolu- tion of civilization has been the history of re- pressing primitive instincts. With this con- stant repression and inhibition, there develops in the unconscious side of our personality a tension of greater or lesser degree. The ever present tendency of the Unconscious is to re- THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT 87 lieve this tension. And anything that con- tributes to this form of relaxation is a mental and physical tonic. Of course, an excess of tonic, like an excess of any good thing, is un- desirable. Besides wit, petty mischief offers a favorable outlet to the youth and adolescent. It is the unconscious prompting and striving for some vague, indefinite goal of satisfaction which makes gang-companionship, with all its evil potentialities, so alluring to the boy entering upon the age of puberty. A working knowledge of adolescent psychol- ogy has taught us that a substitute form of gratification for the destructive tendencies of the gang can be obtained by the youth in athletic activities, country hikes, woodcraft, and getting back to nature generally. These diversions offer a healthy outlet for the pent- up psychic steam that accumulates so rapidly during this critical period of the boy's life when he is undergoing profound physical and psychological changes. Wit, humor, and fun are strikingly in evi- dence during the adolescent period. It is con- ceded, for instance, that the important college comic papers, conducted entirely by youths, many quite inexperienced, contain better ex- 88 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY amples of real, spontaneous wit and humor than the national comic publications, which have a nation-wide field of professional "humorists" to draw from. When a semi-civilized being or a person of very low mental status sees calamity befall another, he may sense a huge joke. It is a joke, not because the accident or misfortune is illogical, but because it raises him to a posi- tion of greater relative importance. It amounts to saying, "You are down, and I am up." The victim is now inferior. This is immensely pleasing to the Unconscious, which does not discriminate as to how the measure of superiority is attained. This quality is present in some pronounced degree among neurotics, as it is to a lesser extent among more normal persons. We have all seen examples of the busybody type of person who goes around his or her circle of acquaintances, bring- ing the latest news of misfortune that has befallen some one. Notwithstanding the con- scious lamentations that are forced upon us, the eagerness with which the oracle unfolds his story of somebody's trouble carries a connota- tion of pleasure which the student of psycho- analysis readily perceives. A very primitive Unconscious is being gratified. THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT 89 The outstanding characteristic of wit is its brevity, its quick action, its spontaneity. "A flash of wit," in its true sense, is as well phrased as "a flash of lightning." Attempted wit, that results in long, studied dissertations, no matter how carefully gotten up, is rarely, if ever, wit. While it may sometimes involve humorous situations, there is seldom present the characteristic of wit. The psychology of wit takes into account the intellectual standard of both speaker and listeners. Subtle jokes that are appreciated by persons of keen mind go over the heads of those with less perception. This tendency is often observed in vaudeville audiences, which are apt to comprise people of all types and degrees of intellectual develop- ment. A particularly subtle joke is uttered by the performer, and here and there an indi- vidual in the audience will "get it." A few seconds later quite a large number will begin to snicker, and finally the balance of the audi- ence will start to laugh-for the most part because they have caught the spirit of the occa- sion, even if they have missed the point made by the comedian. The mother-in-law motive in jokes, which is so universally invoked, is given a deeply 90 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY vital significance by Freud in his book, "To- tem and Taboo.33 Primitive races have formulated elaborate systems of taboos, and none is more important and rigid than that governing the relations between mother-in-law and son-in-law. The psychological reason is that the son-in-law sees in his wife's mother certain traits which caused him to fall in love with his wife, so that there is an emotional response to many of the mother- in-law's actions or expressions. These are unconsciously, rather than consciously, noted, however, and on the part of the mother-in-law there is the ambivalent feeling of tenderness and hostility toward her daughter's husband. The tenderness is an unconscious reciprocation of the young man's favorable notice of her personal qualities. The hostility is due to a desire, likewise unconscious, to protect herself against infatuation with the new, and often attractive, addition to the family circle. The affection of the mother-in-law for the son-in- law is not by any means uncommon in the modern world, even if the alleged traditional enmity is more advertised and forms the motive for most of the jokes. In any event, the situation is very involved psychologically, and it has received more attention, in a serious way, THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT 91 from our primitive ancestors than ourselves, in the jocular. The reasons that are advanced for taboos and regulations concerning these relations are often amusing. A Zulu woman, when asked about these restrictions, answered with great delicacy of feeling: "It is not right that he (the son-in-law) should see the breasts which nursed his wife." 1 This rationalization of a situation that is based on an unconscious mo- tive is quite analogous to the methods of civi- lized people, who can "explain" their cherished superstitions in the most ingenious, rationalized terms. Among men and women who have had few cultural advantages, wit becomes less and less subtle and descends to a lower and lower intel- lectual scale. Persons under the influence of alcohol, that is, where the conscious inhibitions are partially lifted, may consider any lewd remark as quite humorous. In this connection, Freud remarks, "Under the influence of alcohol the adult again be- comes a child who derives pleasure from the free disposal of his mental stream without being restricted by the pressure of logic." Sex and ego, as in dreams, form the under- i V. Crawley, "The Mystic Rose." 92 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY lying themes for most jokes. So either of these tendencies may easily veer into the questionable under the stimuli of their basic sources, especially when the conscious repres- sions are relaxed by convivial associations or the influence of Bacchus. Wit in History Some examples of wit are so outstanding in their excellence that they remain classics for a long time-not for current usage in lieu of the spontaneous variety, but for better illustrating the characteristics of a prominent person. These are usually the jokes of faulty logic. Those attributed to Lincoln are legion. One by Wendell Phillips was good enough to stand the test of time, as we occasionally hear it re- lated at this late day. Phillips was lecturing in Ohio, and while on a railroad journey to keep one of his appoint- ments, met in the car a number of clergymen. One of the ministers, who was particularly bitter against the abolition movement, ap- proached Mr. Phillips, and the following dia- logue ensued: "Are you Mr. Phillips?" "I am, sir." "Are you trying to free the nig- gers?" "Yes, sir, I am an abolitionist." "Well, why do you preach your doctrine up THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT 93 here? Why don't you go down South and try it there?" "Excuse me, are you a preacher?" "I am, sir." "Are you trying to save souls from hell?" "Yes, sir, that's my business." "Well, why don't you go there?" My old schoolmaster was a ready wit and a man of unusual intellectual attainments, al- though some of his personal habits were rather slovenly, making him quite a picturesque character of more than local prominence. One of his petty vices was chewing tobacco, in which he indulged himself out of school and in. One day the local Methodist preacher, a close personal friend, chided him for indulging in so unbecoming a habit, saying, "even a hog wouldn't chew tobacco." Instantly the school- master asked him if he wouldn't chew tobacco. The negative reply brought the retort: "Then you are a hog." The idea of putting the dignified parson in the same category as the hog, because they had one evident dislike in common, was ludricrous because illogical. There is the Hungarian folk-tale which tells of a blacksmith in a village who had committed a crime punishable by death. The Burgo- master, however, decreed that not the smith, but a tailor, must be hanged, as there were two tailors in the village, but only one blacksmith, 94 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY and the crime had to be expiated. This dis- placement of guilt from one person to another is contrary to all laws of conscious logic, but not so to the psychic operations of the uncon- scious. So, consciously, this ridiculous idea amuses us. There is an effective type of wit which in- volves the mechanism of representation through the opposite. An excellent specimen of this is given in the following, which might be considered "cattish": "This woman resembles Venus de Milo in many points. Like her she is extraordinarily old, has no teeth, and has white spots on the yellow surface of her body." In this example, for which we are indebted to Heine, ugliness is depicted by making it agree with the most beautiful. Lichtenberg ("The Great Mind") gives a similar example of a witticism involving this dual meaning, by making a flattering comparison and then add- ing to it details which make the subject ridic- ulous : "The attributes of the greatest men were all united in himself. Like Alexander, his head tilted to one side; like Ceesar, he always had something in his hair. He could drink coffee like Leibnitz, and once settled in his armchair THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT 95 he forgot eating and drinking, like Newton, and like him, had to be awakened. He wore a wig like Dr. Johnson, and like Cervantes, the fly of his trousers was always open." Allusion or indirect expression is often a powerful weapon when used by a skilled wit. The following anecdote offers an example of the cutting qualities of allusion when effec- tively employed: Two not over scrupulous business men, by a venture into risky schemes, amassed an enor- mous fortune and made up their mind to force their way into society. As a detail of their plan, they had their portraits painted by the most noted artist in the city. The costly pic- tures were exhibited for the first time at a great gathering, and the hosts themselves accompanied a prominent connoisseur and art critic to the wall of the salon on which the portraits hung side by side, in order to educe from him a favorable criticism. He carefully examined the portraits for a considerable time, and then appeared puzzled, as if something were missing. Finally, pointing to the bare space between the pictures, he asked, "And where is the Savior?" Lichtenberg, who was a writer of some repute in the middle of the last century, may 96 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY have been moved by a personal complex, to pen the following sententious expression, which will be appreciated by literary folk of to-day: "I look upon reviews as a kind of children's disease which more or less attacks new-born books. There are cases on record where the healthiest died of it, and the puniest have often lived through it. Many do not get it at all. Attempts have frequently been made to pre- vent the disease by means of amulets or pref- aces and dedications, or to color them up by personal pronunciamentos; but it does not always help." The natural sequel of wit or a joke is to laugh. We have all experienced the almost unbearable situation wherein our sense of humor had been touched very strongly, but the proprieties of the occasion made it imperative that we should not give way visibly or audibly to our feelings. As a consequence, we have had the painful sensation of being choked up with something that should come out or express itself. Thus, we are under a nerve-racking tension, quite ready to "explode." Laughter is the physical reaction which accompanies the response to the stimuli of wit, jokes, humor, etc. It is the THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT 97 means of a free and quick discharge of psychic energy. Besides the common (or uncommon) variety of good-natured wit, there is also the well- known brand of wit which causes pain or cha- grin to the person at whom the shaft of witti- cism is aimed. The cynic, or perpetrator of this kind of joke, thus exhibits a strong sadist tendency, which is present in all of us, but in widely varying degrees. He causes pain to another-and gets pleasure or satisfaction out of it. On the other hand, those who good- naturedly laugh at or pass off a joke of this kind, are demonstrating a well-defined masoch- istic tendency, which also is inherent in every one in some degree. Certain jokes, especially the so-called "prac- tical jokes," are frequently of an intensely irritating or even destructive character. The unconscious mind is fundamentally primitive and uncultured, and often takes a positive de- light in causing pain and misfortune to others. It craves excitement. And it is only our tens of thousands of years of human progress with the consequent development of the social in- stincts and the sublimation of the primitive 98 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY forces in our individual lives, which overcome to a large degree the destructive tendences of the archaic Unconscious. It is notable in people whose altruistic or social qualities have had little opportunity to develop-in other words, who are largely un- der the influence of their unconscious mind- and especially so among savages, that they take a weird satisfaction in the sight of pain- ful experiences of others. These atavistic traits are not uncommon, even among the most civilized people, and are brought to the surface most pronouncedly in times of war, thus affording an opportunity for the psychic and physical gratification of the primitive qualities of the Unconscious. This has led William James to suggest the possibility of a moral substitute for war, by diverting this craving of the Unconscious to other channels of large physical action, such as life on the sea, adventurous diversions, and even work at hazardous occupations, such as in mines, great engineering projects, etc. The function of wit and humor as a pro- moter of health and well-being is realized to an extent, but the real potency of this influence is not by any means appreciated. We take it as a matter of course that a certain moodiness THE UNCONSCIOUS BASIS OF WIT 99 and grouchiness accompany an indisposition. The acidity of the dyspeptic's stomach is re- flected in the sourness of his facial expression and his remarks. When the bile overflows, it is registered in the bitterness of the victim's thoughts and words. When our burdens are heavy and the out- look blue, the influence of humor from outside sources has a buoying affect, and normally this may change our whole attitude for hours. The popularity of farces, light comedies, vaudeville, and burlesques in the theatrical world, in contrast with the classic tragedies and serious plays generally, testifies to the unconscious gravitation of the average individ- ual to the bracing atmosphere of humor. CHAPTER V REPRESSIONS AND THE NEUROSES We have observed that the psyche is the scene of a constant and often intense conflict between the more primitive and the more social human impulses. It is in the course of this psychical conflict and to serve its ends that the repressions are created. In considering the relations of cause and ef- fect in the psychic realm, we must bear one great fact in mind, a fact that should be quite self-evident, but which, because of our lack of knowledge of the Unconscious, has not been realized, namely: Nothing is accidental in the psychic region. There is no "chance" in the psychic world any more than in the physical. Every effect has a cause, which, however, may be but a link in a chain of interrelated causes and effects. What seem to be accidental, unexpected hap- penings are not so in reality. We observe only some of the unconscious manifestations without realizing that they are natural reac- 100 REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 101 tions of some positive force. Thus, they ap- pear as something detached and causeless, and we give them no further consideration. The human psychic apparatus produces a ceaseless flow of impulses or discharge of en- ergy, the aim of which is the fulfilment of two great principles, upon which all life is grounded-that is, the pleasure principle, and the reality principle. According to the first, we instinctively ac- cept the pleasurable and reject the painful. According to the reality principle, we accept some painful experiences, because in doing so we follow an ideal, as a result of ethical con- siderations and the higher law of social life, as distinguished from purely self-promptings. The first is innate and spontaneous; the second results from the necessities of social adaptation. The pleasure principle has its biological foun- dation in the life urge of the individual. The reality principle is the expression of the wel- fare and continuity of the group. The Pleasure Principle The pleasure principle represents the pri- mary original form of mental activity, and is characteristic of the earliest stages of human development, both in the individual and the 102 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY race. Therefore, its most typical expression is found in the mental life of the infant, and to a less extent in the savage. Its main at- tribute is a never-ceasing demand for immedi- ate gratification of various desires that give pleasure to the Unconscious, regardless of the cost or consequences. Thus, it may be said to be ego-centric, selfish, personal, anti-social. The infant illustrates in a very observable manner the existence of the pleasure princi- ple as the basic motive for all its actions. Nothing but its own desires concerns him, and he demands with unqualified insistence their fulfilment in the shape of food, warmth, petty attentions, and any object that may come to his notice. But while the infant offers the most perfect example of the pleasure principle in operation, because it works through him with no disguise, it can be noted more or less prominently among all people. No individual is free from this trait. It is of course good that this is so, or life would be more dull and drab than it is at its worst. A normal, well-rounded personality is one in which all the basic characteristics are pres- ent in the proper degree, one balancing the other, thus preserving a desirable equilibrium, REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 103 and enabling one to face and grapple with the realities of life. This is what constitutes a healthy, adaptable human being. But, as we so well know, not every one is in this favored category. Leaving aside those who are the victims of so outrageously perni- cious an environment that any approach to normal life is impossible, there are still millions and millions of people in all walks of life who fall short, some seriously so, of this stand- ard. These unadapted people, some fitting like the proverbial square peg in a round hole, are suffering from exaggerated neurotic or psy- chotic tendencies. They range from the mildly hysterical or temperamentally unsettled to the definitely insane. And notwithstand- ing the bleak picture which the more extreme cases make, and which are unfortunate enough even when moderately advanced, they are either expressions of the pleasure principle that have followed afar some line of least re- sistance; or, conversely, they represent at- tempts to stifle or suppress the pleasure prin- ciple entirely. People who maintain their grip on the vitals of reality avoid the alluring pitfalls to which undue surrender to the pleasure principle 104 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY leads. Where the temptation is strong, there are often elaborate precautions taken to escape the dreaded fate. This is true, even when the exact situation is not consciously realized and when the precautions are the result of intuitive rather than logical effort. Primitive man offers an excellent example of this fact. He has erected an intricate set of taboos to avert the consequences of his fierce, self-seeking impulses. He realizes vaguely there are inexplicable inner forces pulling him this way and that. He does not know what these emotions and passions are, nor why or whence they come, but he senses the danger in their dominance. The so-called "civilized" man differs in de- gree rather than kind from his primitive brother. He disguises and distorts, uncon- sciously for the most part, and often with sur- prising ingenuity, that same principle which governs so largely his behavior. We have only to study our own dreams, phantasies, and often unreasonable emotions of jealousy, vanity, etc., and our tendency not to face reality, or our disinclination to accept the facts when they are displeasing, to recognize the constant pressure and frequent dominance of the pleasure principle within us. REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 105 Thousands of years of civilization with the accompanying development of cultural, ethi- cal, religious, and social factors and influences have done much to modify and adapt the power of this pleasure principle, but no amount of civilization can eliminate or crush this dynamic force. As a matter of fact, the objection is that our civilization is becoming so constantly ramified, and with such increasing swiftness, by scien- tific achievement, mechanical inventions and natural discoveries, that we can hardly adapt our primitive, slow-evolving characteristics to the more rapidly changing environment. And this condition is intensified because as a social unit, we have preferred to avoid any serious discussion or study of individual and social psychology so as better to cope with the prob- lems that confront us. The Reality Principle The reality principle, to all intents and pur- poses, is the antithesis of the pleasure prin- ciple. They are both present in all of us all the time. The condition which makes us either "normal" human beings or neurotic misfits in society, is largely governed by the proper bal- ance on the one hand, or on the other, the lack 106 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY of relative proportion of these two principles in our psychic make-up. Directly as they manifest themselves in our Unconscious, or indirectly, as in disguised forms in the Conscious, these two principles are ever exerting their respective influences- operating, or cooperating with each other, or coming into conflict, which is so very often the case. Freud has described the reality principle as having for its function the adaptation of the organism to the exigencies of reality-that is of the world animate and inanimate, which lies outside of and around every individual. It is evident that if the individual were not capable of acting upon the reality principle to a very large degree throughout life, he would as a consequence be unable to exist. He must realize the uncompromising force of sea, air, gravity, fire, wild animals, in order to maintain life. He must recognize the claims, needs and superior force of his fellow men, even in the most primitive society or com- munity. Thus, by the very act of living, even with- out definite instruction to that end, we are gathering consciously and unconsciously a working knowledge of the reality principle. REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 107 It is exemplified in the old adage of "learning by experience" rather than by hearsay or be- ing told. Sometimes, as we all know, this is a very painful way of learning, although its effective- ness is unquestioned. The child that touches a hot stove is learning by a very drastic method to adapt itself to reality. The writer once saw a bright, eight-year- old youngster attempt to walk quickly over the water as the rowboat he was in neared the shore. Although it was only the equivalent of four or five short steps, the youth received a rather sudden and aqueous awakening to a certain phase of the reality principle. This was obviously a perfect illustration of the Un- conscious in action, as consciously he knew that it is impossible to walk on water, but he was seized with an inexplicable "impulse." The development of the reality principle is through the channels of reason. Those who are of the most logical, rational turn of mind, best exemplify the reality principle. This principle is expressed in directed think- ing, in contrast to phantasying and intuitive expressions of the pleasure principle. People who have a high degree of intuition may be said to be under the influence of their 108 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY Unconscious to a greater extent than those who are not so intuitive in their decisions and actions. In many respects, this is a valuable asset, when coordinated with a discriminating objective mind, which acts as a regulator in preventing undue extremes in manifestations of the Unconscious. It is the implacable conflict between these two great principles in our psychic make-up which is the cause of repressions. And re- pressions which become so severe that they cause serious disharmony in our Unconscious result in a neurosis. In considering the value of psycho-analysis, it is well to remember that conflicts are pres- ent in all of us. This is assured by the fact that we are all endowed, to a greater or lesser degree with primitive passions and certain in- stinctive desires, and these tend inevitably to conflict 'with the social and ethical standards to which we consciously subscribe. Therefore, there are neurotic strains and tendencies in every individual, which the most rational of us demonstrate at times in little temperamental outbursts, in streaks of unrea- sonableness, and even physical indispositions that are the positive reactions of a neurosis, in- cipient or chronic. REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 109 When we realize that a neurosis, slight or severe, and many forms of insanity, reflect a lack of harmony in the psychic mechanism, in- stead of being some mysterious, far-fetched visitation of fate, we begin to see the possibili- ties for remedying the situation. This is es- pecially so when we consider that every "nor- mal" person experiences the same tendencies in a slight form, which contribute to the func- tion of a neurosis and insanity. The resemblance between dreams and insan- ity is especially notable. In our dreams we are temporarily irrational; in insanity, the subject is irrational permanently or for an extended period. Wundt, the famous psychologist, has said, "As a matter of fact, we may in the dream ourselves live through almost all symp- toms which we meet in the insane asylum." Schopenhauer, the philosopher, termed the dream a short insanity, and insanity a long dream. According to A. Kraus, the psychia- trist, "Insanity is a dream with the senses awake." Kant said, "The lunatic is a dreamer in the waking state." In convalescence from insanity, it is often noted that while the functions of the day are normal, the dream life may belong to the psy- choses. Macario gives an account of a maniac 110 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY who, after a period of complete recovery, again experienced in his dreams the flight of ideas and the passionate impulses of his disease. Physical Effects of Neuroses To thoroughly appreciate the widespread ef- fects of neurotic tendencies, it is only neces- sary to scan the list of physical ailments and symptoms that may be due to unconscious ideas which unduly influence our conduct. Dr. William A. White, in his "Principles of Mental Hygiene" states: "The number and duration of physical and apparently physical disorders which may originate at the psycho- logical level is endless. It includes many forms of asthma, sore throat, difficult nasal breathing, stammering, headache, neurasthe- nia, backache, tender spine, 'weak heart,' faint attacks, exophthalmic goiter (Graves or Base- dow's disease), aphonia, spasmodic sneezing, hiccough, rapid respiration, hay fever, gastro- intestinal disturbances (constipation, diar- rhoea, indigestion, colitis, ulcer of stomach), ptosis of kidney, diabetes, disturbances of uri- nation, polyuria, incontinence, precipitancy, menstrual disorders, auto-intoxication, (from REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 111 long digestive disturbances), nutritional dis- orders of skin, teeth, and hair, etc." Many remarkable cases have been recorded of symptoms of diseases that have been simu- ulated in hysteria. This designation is a con- venient blanket term that may be used to cover a great variety of so-called nervous ailments manifested in abnormal motor activities, func- tional disturbances, and hallucinatory expres- sions. Swisher refers to the case of a woman patient who was apparently suffering from a tumor; the swelling could be felt. It was very pronounced, and the pain severe. She was anaesthetized, preparatory to operating, when, as the ether took effect, the swelling van- ished and the "tumor" disappeared. It was an hysterical "tumor." She had probably heard or read of a tumor in some way so that the idea obsessed her, and she unconsciously imitated the growth with all its symptoms. Some hysterical functional diseases, and im- itations of specific ailments, are due to morbid experiences of early childhood that have been repressed because of their unpleasant nature. Consciously they have been "forgotten," but the unhealthy impressions they have created corrode like a putrefactive substance below the 112 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY level of consciousness, and their festering psy- chic discharge results in various pathological symptoms. Oskar Pfister cites the case of a girl sixteen years old who suffered regularly at her men- strual period from vomiting. It was found that when a child she had believed that chil- dren were born through the mouth. After en- lightenment in this particular, the symptom immediately ceased. Dr. Morton Prince in his book, "The Uncon- scious,,J describes the case of a lady who had an intense fear of white cats. As usual, the lady could not account for the fear. It was traced, however, to an incident which hap- pened thirty-five years before, when, at the age of five or six she was very much frightened by a white kitten which had a fit while she was playing with it. A striking case was that of a Russian liv- ing in America who had epileptoid fits dating from an episode which occurred seven years before but which he had completely forgot- ten. It was discovered that the attacks started in the following way. His employer had sent him out one night to look for a ring that had been lost in a ballroom. His way led him over a lonely road, by a graveyard. REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 113 As he passed the cemetery, he heard footsteps behind him, and overcome with terror, fell, partly unconscious; his whole right side be- came affected with spasms and paralysis. He was picked up in this condition and taken to a hospital. Each year he had recurring at- tacks, resulting from dreams in which he lived over the original episode, always awaking in spasms and with his right side paralyzed. Cases of phantom pregnancy have been known where the patient manifests all the symtoms of the parturient condition, even in an advanced stage. This, like countless other forms of hysteria, is due to obsessive thought on the subject (or unconscious, if not conscious, desire) until the expectation or wish becomes fulfilled in a symbolical way. Dr. E. J. Kempf, in "The Autonomic Func- tions and the Personality " gives the following list of derangements which may be caused by the repression of intense affections or desires: Loss of appetite, gastric irritability, tendency to nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, dyspnea, headache, cardiac palpitation, blushing, dis- turbances of the menses, insomnia, general hy- pochondriacal complaints, eccentric physical attitudes, and long, enduring gross psycho- neurotic derangements. 114 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY It should be emphasized, however, that while any of these disturbances may be of psycho- genic origin, no reputable psycho-analyst would claim they are always due to this cause. After soberly considering this formidable agglomeration of possibilities from repressions in the Unconscious-the very existence of which the overwhelming majority of people are in ignorance-we should see the necessity for some rational understanding of, and in- sight into, our psychic processes-particularly the unconscious ones. The modification of the elemental urges and wishes and their adaptation to the realities of environment is a long, difficult, and painful process. Beginning with the infant life, thor- oughly bound up in its egocentric activities, and progressing through childhood which is dominated by primitive emotions, we finally reach adulthood in years, but still influenced profoundly by primitive impulses and modes of thought.1 In fact a large percentage of people never grow up psychologically and emotionally, but remain at an infantile, or at the most, an adolescent level in these respects. i See "The Caveman Within Us," by William J. Fielding, for a comprehensive analysis of this subject. REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 115 Kinds of Neuroses According to the theory of Freud, the neu- roses are divided into the true neuroses and the psycho-neuroses. The true neuroses are neurasthenia and anx- iety-neurosis. These disorders, Freud main- tains, are brought about by disturbances of the sexual processes which determine the forma- tion and utilization of the sexual libido. As he summarizes it: "We can hardly avoid perceiving these processes as being, in their last analysis, chemical in their nature, so that we recognize in the true neuroses the somatic effect of disturbances in the sexual metabolism, while in the psycho-neuroses, we recognize besides the psychic effects of the same disturbances. The resemblance of the neu- roses to manifestations of intoxication and ab- stinence, following certain alkaloids, and to Basedow's and Addison's diseases obtrudes it- self clinically without any further ado, and just as these two diseases should no longer be described as nervous diseases, so will the gen- uine neuroses soon have to be removed from this class, despite their nomenclature." Neurasthenia, in Freud's opinion, is due to exaggerated sexual self-gratification, which weakens the individual's will-power by making 116 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY the goal too easily obtainable, affords inade- quate relief, diminishes potency, and, by ignor- ing the many psychological sources of excite- ment, may cause physical injury. The neu- rasthenic turns away from society, from real- ity, and, if a man, from women, for he cannot tolerate feminine imperfection. Thus, he be- comes anti-social and betrays the result of his vain strife against passion in many ways, lack of will-power, doubts about the possibility of achievement, and self-reproaches. Among the symptoms of anxiety-neurosis are general irritability, exaggerated visual and auditive sensations which are frequently the cause of sleeplessness, anxious expectations of accidents, death, insanity, accompanied in some cases by a disturbance of one or more bodily functions, respiration, circulation, glandular functions, etc. One of the most characteristic symptoms of anxiety-neurosis is a form of diz- ziness which never leads to complete loss of equilibrium. The symptoms of anxiety-neurosis are con- sidered by Freud as substitutes for the spe- cific action which should follow sexual excite- ment and which is accompanied by acceleration of the respiration, palpitation, sweating, and congestion. REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 117 It is popularly supposed that anxiety-neu- rosis is a result of overwork. Freud says, however, that the physician who informs a busy man that he has overworked himself, or an active woman that her household duties have been too burdensome, should tell his patients they are sick, not because they have sought to discharge duties which for a civilized brain are comparatively easy, but because they have neg- lected, if not stifled, their sexual life while attending to their duties. Men who resort to ungratifying forms of sexual activity and women left unsatisfied by the impotence or ejaculatio prcecox of their husbands, are often found to be suffering from anxiety-neurosis. It has been noted that people who have un- satisfactory sexual relations may sometimes escape neurotic consequences for years, but when they are confronted with a critical situ- ation or are forced to undergo a trying ordeal, an anxiety-neurosis immediately settles upon them. They had been preparing the ground- work for this condition for years, and it re- quires only the stimulus of a difficult experi- ence to start off the mechanism of the con- firmed neurosis. Characteristic of the emotional obsessions of 118 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY psycho-neurosis, sometimes referred to as psychasthenia, are various phobias or fears, namely, agoraphobia, fear of open spaces; claustrophobia, fear of closed spaces; astrapa- phobia, fear of thunder and lightning; acropho- bia, fear of being in high places; morbid de- sires for drink and drugs; volitional obses- sions; kleptomania, impulse to steal; arithmo- mania, impulse to count everything; onomat- omania, impulse to repeat one word, and so on. To afford a more scientific classification, these symptoms of psychanthenia have been divided by the psychiatrists into hysteria, anxiety-hysteria, and compulsion-neurosis. Hysteria, Freud states, is due to an emo- tional conflict between the usual urge and the sexual repression, and its symptoms have the value of a compromise between both psychic streams. Anxiety-hysteria is frequently associated with hysteria proper. In this case the anxiety arises not only from physical sources, but from a part of the ungratified desire which embraces a number of complexes. As the normal mind reacts to danger through anxiety, we might propose the analogy that in this case the mind is defending itself against internal danger. REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 119 The psycho-mechanism is the same as in hys- teria except that it does not lead to conversion into physical symptoms. Anxiety-hysteria in- variably tends to develop a phobia. The most common of hysterical phobias is agoraphobia, which interferes with the patient walking com- fortably across an empty space, although he can do so when accompanied by certain per- sons. Another anxiety hysterical disturb- ance is erythrophobia, or fear of red, which often has as its motivating basis self-reproach or shame of some sort, the feeling of being slighted or of anger. Hysteria is more peculiar to the female sex: obsessional neurosis to the male sex. The obsessional neurosis is featured by con- stant ambivalence, or the experiencing of op- posite feelings at the same time, such as love and hatred for the same person, although, of course, one of these emotions may predominate in the Conscious, and the other in the Uncon- scious. In compulsion neurosis, the thought of the possibility of death to others is often present. In every conflict, the subject awaits the death of some one important or dear to him, a rival, or one of the love objects between whom his inclination wavers. His obsession is anchored 120 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY upon a superstitious belief in the potency of his evil wishes. Superstitions of all kinds, in fact, occupy a prominent place in the com- pulsion-neurosis. The difference between neuroses and psy- choses has been made very clear by Adler, who says, "Longing for an unattainable ideal is at the bottom of both. Defeat or fear of defeat causes the weaker individual to seek a substi- tute for his real goal. At this point begins the process of psychic transformation desig- nated as a neurosis. In the neurosis, the pur- suit of the fictitious goal does not lead to an open conflict with reality, the neurotic simply considering reality as a very disturbing ele- ment, as he does in neurasthenia, hypochondria, anxiety, compulsion-neurosis, and hysteria. In the psychoses, the guiding masculine fiction appears disguised in pictures and symbols of infantile origin. The patient no longer acts as though he wished to be masculine, to be above, but as though he had already attained those ends." In substance, the neurotic is grieved by not being all-powerful. The psychotic is (in his deranged mind) all-powerful, and attempts to force his environment to share his belief. REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 121 Curative Value of Psycho-Analysis From the foregoing array of psychic disturb- ances and their reactions in physical complica- tions, it should readily be perceived that medi- cine can be of little or no service. This ex- plains why people of neurotic disposition are frequently found undergoing medical treat- ment either constantly or intermittently for years without relieving the trouble, when, in fact, it does not grow more pronounced. To those who have regressed definitely into severe neurosis, or worse, have sunk into a pathological condition of incipient or chronic insanity, even of a non-violent type, there is little hope of self-relief. If the services of a competent psycho-thera- pist are not available, a change for the better is hardly likely, unless nature in her resource- fulness overcomes the tremendous odds and brings a favorable turn or, as is more probable, some distressing causative factors are unwit- tingly or with design alleviated. We should, therefore, emphasize everything that would tend to promote the latter. Among the great outstanding causes of neu- roses is an irrational sexual life. Very many of these cases, can be afforded relief, especially 122 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY among married persons when well mated, by- obtaining some rational knowledge of sex psy- chology and of the emotional and spiritual significance of the sex. act. This will give a new meaning to the marriage relations and fre- quently change the whole outlook on life, and react immeasurably in improved mental and physical health. The writer has discussed this phase of the question at length in several divisions of his "sanity in sex," notably in the chapters "Sex Enlightenment and Conjugal Hap- "Sex Ignorance-A Cause of Marital Discord and Divorce," and "Birth Control- the New Morality.331 Notwithstanding the economic barriers so frequently in the way of a rational sex life in marriage, the advantages of realizing this goal are so great that it behooves every individual and couple who expect to continue living and have anything to live for, to avail themselves of the knowledge that is accessible. This will bring with it a new and healthier attitude in facing the problems of life. It will also banish the false notions of an irrational, soul-crucifying prudery and prurience, and en- able the father and mother to be better parents 1 Published by Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 123 and the appreciated companions of their chil- dren. The young people, in turn, will profit by this superior training and the improved insight into vital matters which it will bring them, and consequently the new generation will be healthier, more adaptable and freer from bane- ful neurotic afflictions. As we have intimated, every individual has neurotic tendencies which assert themselves at times in minor ways, but the normal individual (adult) has adapted himself to the exigencies of reality. Thus, he is not constantly swept and tossed about by these inner forces like a rudderless craft on the surging sea, as is the case of the victim of torturous repres- sions. Insanity (except when due to disintegration of the brain structure, such as may result from syphilitic lesion, alcoholic deterioration, tumor or other malignant growth, etc.) has to all ap- pearances much in common with the extremely aggravated neuroses. The appearances, how- ever, are frequently superficial and deceiving. The psychotic condition, which signifies in- sanity, has branched out in another direction or to a far greater extreme than is the case with the true neurotic, and the latter should never 124 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY permit himself to be burdened or tormented by the fear of going insane. In fact, while the fear may cause insanity (obsessional fear of anything may drive one insane), the neurotic state in itself offers negligible probability of this fate. As a practical illustration of thoroughly en- lightened treatment of insanity, and of the most forward-looking, rational views on the subject, it will be appropriate to give a brief summary of some of the things that have been accomplished by Dr. Henry A. Cotton, medi- cal director of the New Jersey State Hospital. Revolutionary strides in dealing with the prob- lems of the insane are suggested in the follow- ing facts demonstrated by Dr. Cotton. Two out of every three so-called "incurable" cases are curable if the proper treatment, physical and psychical, is given, and in time. Physical disorders, such as infected teeth and tonsils and infections of the stomach and intestines, cause more insanity than heredity. Insanity from these causes, of course, is due to the accumulation of toxins (poisons) in the system, which lower the resistence of the or- ganism, and, where there is a predisposition to that end, mental aberrations follow. One thousand patients-two-thirds of whom REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 125 under traditional regulations would be con- sidered "incurable"-have been rescued dur- ing the last three years. The curative and preventive measures adopted saved the State of New Jersey $116,- 000, during the present fiscal year. Treatment, based on thorough diagnosis, is necessary within the first few months or within the first year, otherwise the situation is greatly handicapped. After three or four years, there is little hope of affecting a cure. Over fifty per cent, of the permanent resi- dents of the State hospitals belong to the de- mentia prsecox group, which, after the first year or so, are quite hopeless. Practically all these cases could not only have been pre- vented, but their symptoms arrested after the onset, if the methods of eliminating chronic in- fection had been applied early in the course of the disease. Dr. Cotton maintains that the do-nothing policy of those who continue to oppose any form of treatment, because they are convinced that insanity is hereditary and therefore in- evitable and incurable, is a relic of medical superstition and barbarism. Hereditary insanity exists in only a little more than one-half of the patients classed as 126 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY incurable. Infection is the cause oftener than "insanity in the family." Whereas 37% of New Jersey's insane were discharged as cured prior to 1914, the follow- ing results have been obtained under the scientific therapeutic measures of the past few years: 77% were cured in 1919; 65% in 1920; and 70% in 1921. Elsewhere in the United States, not over 25% of insane patients are sufficiently improved to be discharged permanently. The main reason for citing the foregoing re- sults of enlightened methods in treating the insane, is to make known the fact that there is hope in most cases if they are given proper treatment, in time. A review of all the evidence presented in this chapter leads us to the conclusion that there is no hard and fast dividing line between the sane and the insane. Even the sanest people sometimes have fits of rage that have all the features of insanity while they last. People with pretty good practical minds oc- casionally do some very irrational or foolish things when seized by an unaccountable im- pulse. All these exhibitions are regressions from reality. Some people, it may be said, have a REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 127 predisposing temperament which makes their struggle with reality more difficult than for others. It is these individuals that the child- hood repressions or complexes affect the most profoundly. But psycho-therapeutics offers relief to them-in fact the only possibility for relief, as has been proven many times. The regressions from reality are toward childhood and the infantile state. Neurotics invest themselves with the prerogatives of chil- dren. And it is not without reason (an ir- rational one, however). To the child, many things are obtainable, and by very simple means, that the adult cannot command. The child cries for food, or pleads for something it desires, and it is brought to him. Without consciously realizing it, this easy process ap- peals irresistibly to the neurotic type of mind. So he regresses; maybe he develops some dis- ability or sickness, purely as a result of his psychic condition, and he finds he is waited upon and cared for much as he was when a child. Any number of similes could be cited to illustrate the parallel. The insane regress even farther to the in- fantile plane. The more hopelessly insane the person, the more infantile he becomes in his actions. Cases are not uncommon where 128 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY the victim is so far removed from all interest in life that he lies down, utterly disregarding his environment and all the bodily functions, sometimes assuming the prenatal position of the fetus. Suicide may be said to be a supreme mani- festation of the neurotic symptoms. The sui- cidal impulses of neurotics regularly prove by analysis to be self-punishments for death wishes directed against others. By this final act, the neurotic successfully and irretrievably flees from reality and returns to the embracing arms of Mother Earth where the problems of life will beset him no more. If he has religious scruples or superstitions, the prospect of being damned in another world is no more forbidding than the hellishness of reality in this. If he is unencumbered by theo- logical dogma, he may enter with the more abandon the endless cycle of oblivion, whose incomparable attraction is an eternity of in- ertia, silence, peace. Practice of Autosuggestion As we have observed in our present study, the conscious and unconscious regions of the mind are constantly acting and interacting on one another. Of this combination, the Uncon- REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 129 scious is the storehouse of memory. It is also a power-house which provides the energy for conscious thought and action, and supervises all the automatic processes of the body. Thus, the functioning of the vital organs, the circula- tion, digestion, respiration, the elimination of waste, and all the other manifold activities of the organism are regulated by this agency. The unconscious mind, therefore, may be said to be the director and overseer of the internal economy. It is this intimate relationship between the unconscious mind and the physical component of the organism that is capitalized both in psycho-analysis and autosuggestion. The basic principle involved is that every idea which enters the conscious mind, if it is ac- cepted by the Unconscious, is transformed by it into a reality. The process of autosuggestion, therefore, may be summed up briefly as follows: (1) The acceptation of an idea by the Un- conscious. (2) Its transformation into a reality. If the Unconscious can be induced to accept an idea, realization automatically fol- lows. As has been mentioned, imagination rather than the will, is the vitally important factor in 130 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY mental healing, or, for that matter, in any phase of psychic activity that comes under the direct spell of the Unconscious. When they conflict, the imagination inevitably overrules the will. This may be explained by the fact that imagination is native to the Unconscious; it is a product of the Unconscious. Whereas the will is a phase of the conscious mind, a product of our rational development. The will consequently cannot compete with the imagination in a sphere where the latter domi- nates and is perfectly at home. In this do- main, the will is a non-acceptable alien. As a result of the constant interrelations be- tween the psychic and physical components, it follows that any idea which exclusively occu- pies (i. e., obsesses) the mind is transformed into a physical condition. It need not be con- sciously understood; in fact, in most cases the underlying idea is not consciously realized. In still others it is not realized at its true value. Effort is the greatest enemy to the accom- plishment of desired results by autosuggestion. The conscious effort made to conquer an idea by exerting the will only serves to make the idea more powerful. The more simple and unforced the manner of application, the more effective it will be. REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 131 One advantage of this (and an obvious con- firmation of the test) is the remarkable results that are secured in treating children and people of simple, unsophisticated mental habits. The imagination in childhood is notably fertile and plastic, simple and direct in its expression. It is not yet cramped by the inhibitions of stereo- typed training and social convention. This plasticity and directness enable the child to adapt itself to new situations, to become oriented to new conditions, to accept new ideas. It is on all of these points that the ordinary adult is relatively lacking-not because he is wanting in will-power (he has a great deal more of it than the child) but because the imagination, from disuse and repression, has become static, less adaptable, unable to accept new ideas. Those rare individuals who never grow old mentally are the ones who keep the imagina- tion free and open and clear. They move with the times-but not with the crowd. They are not bound by traditions or precedent, but are able to profit by the experiences of the past in attempting to solve the problems of the present, and to face the future with courage and equanimity. Like all sciences dealing with the mind, auto- 132 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY suggestion is based on the law of mental associations. Thus, an idea is accepted by the Unconscious when it evokes similar ideas; it is rejected when it is associated with contrary ideas. A very good concrete example of this has been given which instances the contrary effects in suggesting seasickness to two differ- ent individuals;-in the one case to a sailor, and in the other to a timid passenger on board a ship. To the sailor, the word "seasickness" is associated with his own immunity from it, and therefore suggesting it to him has no ill ef- fect. To the passenger, it accords with his own fears and this will tend to aid in bringing about the condition which he is consciously struggling to avoid. If an individual is in pain, it is evident that the mere declaration that there is no pain will will most likely be an ineffectual suggestion because it gives rise to a contradiction. To meet this situation, M. Coue proposes repeat- ing the phrase, "It's going; it's going." This is hopeful; it inspires the subject with confi- dence, and it is not contradicted by his actual feelings. For instance, if suffering from a headache, the proper procedure is to affirm to yourself that it will disappear. Isolate yourself as REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 133 much as possible, close your eyes, and, with- out any effort whatever, repeat the phrase in an audible tone, moving your lips: "It's go- ing; it's going; it's going," over and over, as long as may be necessary. The distress will quickly subside, and as its passing becomes evident, conclude the words, "It's going; it's going," with the emphatic, "gone." The same procedure may be used with any variety of ache or pain. At the same time, it is not the policy of autosuggestion to ignore true physical causes. If the teeth require the attention of a dentist, the eyes the services of an oculist, or the body the administration of a surgeon, it is the part of common sense to have proper professional advice and treatment in these matters. But in emergencies, even the most distressing reactions from acute physi- cal causes can be temporarily relieved by con- scious autosuggestion. While the above-mentioned procedure is ap- plicable to specific aches or pains, there is a more general form to use in connection with rather indefinite physical and mental ailments, or when the organism as a whole is not func- tioning normally. Thus, every morning before rising, and every night on getting into bed, the subject 134 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY should close his eyes and repeat audibly a num- ber of times in a monotonous tone, the follow- ing phrase (after Coue) : "Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better." I do not see the necessity of recommending twenty as an arbitrary number of times to re- peat the phrase, as suggested by the New Nancy School. It may better be repeated time after time without regard to mere number, and at the same time, without effort that would be apt to make the process burdensome, as well as to cause a counter activity in the Unconscious. At night, the monotonous effect of the repeti- tion will have a tendency to induce sleep. Whereas, in the morning, after a restful sleep, the words need not be repeated so many times, as it is the state of mind created by the imag- ination and associated thoughts, rather than quantitative repetition, which produces the desired results. When this practice is followed with fidelity, it is undoubtedly more effective than the auto- suggestion procedure that is directed toward a specific object or condition. As there is a constant interaction between all parts of the organism, the very generality of the treatment tends to widen the scope of the unconscious REPRESSIONS AND NEUROSES 135 processes at work, and to bring about more far-reaching results. And this is further strengthened by the reassuring suggestion contained in the words, " in every way," which leaves nothing excepted. It will readily be perceived that each indi- vidual carries within him the mechanism for curing and energizing himself-it being taken for granted, of course, that the ordinary re- quirements of nutrition, hygiene, etc., are ful- filled. There is no extraneous, supernatural agency involved which must be cajoled or be- sought to act. The only requirement is the key to this existing mechanism within-and this key is supplied, more completely than through any other known means-by the com- bined measures of psycho-analysis and auto- suggestion. CHAPTER VI WHY WE LOVE We have reviewed several important phases of our unconscious psychic activities and learn that their influence on the part of the indi- vidual and indirectly on society is so tremen- dous that it can hardly be adequately described or appreciated. Our unconscious thoughts, actions, and potentialities are infinitely more diverse and far-reaching than are those of our conscious mind. This is due to the fact that, biologically speaking, our conscious mental processes which involve the use of reason, logic, judgment, and directed thinking, are of comparatively recent origin, going back perhaps some few thousand years. And sizing up the human race as it is to-day, we cannot be very enthusiastic over the general results in this phase of its develop- ment. On the other hand, the unconscious processes, which are manifested in intuitive decisions, instinctive actions, or emotional outbursts of 136 WHY WE LOVE 137 various kinds-passion, love, hate, jealousy, etc.-have had a heritage of hundreds of thou- sands of years as humans and behind that mil- lions of years more from pre-human ancestry. The Unconscious, therefore, is older and more firmly rooted in the human constitution than the Conscious, so it exerts an influence in proportion to its racial age and development. When we take into account the various man- ifestations of the love elements, we find the same conditions existing. A few of us have made some effort toward a reasonable and ra- tional approach and understanding of our erotic nature. There are many difficulties in the way of this accomplishment, due to the so- cially ingrained prurience and prudery which so warp the viewpoint of the average man and woman. But little as is the common understanding of our conscious love-life, the deeper and highly intricate processes of our unconscious love currents lie in a practically unexplored field. Affection is largely a product of the con- scious mind. By association we may learn to like and esteem persons regardless of their age or sex. We experience a feeling which com- bines respect, confidence, and interest. One 138 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY may also hold affection for a dog, horse, or other animal, or for an inanimate object. We may become attached to our home, a piece of jewelry, a book, a picture, or other article which gives us pleasure and comfort. The feeling of affection, however, while very broad in its scope, does not necessarily involve sex- uality. The attraction of a human being for a per- son of the opposite sex, is something pro- foundly different. It has a more remote back- ground in our biological heritage. It origi- nates in our Unconscious, and is one of the most primitive of all the instincts-going back to the earliest form of life. Its biological mo- tive is reproduction or race propagation-al- though, of course, its actual expression toward this end forms only an infinitesimal part of its present activity. Throughout the whole animal kingdom, the chief end of life is to make one sex attractive to, and attracted by, the other sex. Among the lower animals, this characteristic is more obvious than among human beings, even though the actual mating season may be in many cases periodical instead of continuous as among mankind. WHY WE LOVE 139 Consciously, we have devised ways and means of circumventing some of these tenden- cies. Often we find that our Unconscious has outwitted our efforts to reform ourselves. One reason is that, in our frantic desire to overcome what have been erroneously consid- ered as the grosser aspects of sex, we have at- tempted to suppress our sexual nature. And sex life cannot and will not be sup- pressed, except in a certain few cases, and then at a high cost. Sometimes the cost is ter- rific. The results of stifling normal sex ac- tivity are prominent among the casualties and tragedies of our modern civilization. In every normal person, there is a conscious or unconscious thrill, however slight, upon sight of an attractive person of the opposite sex. More often this reaction to the stimuli of sex is unconscious, as in facing the condi- tions of modern reality, we cannot concern ourselves with every passing object that is pleasing. Nevertheless, the unconscious thrill is invariably present, and we sometimes con- sciously reflect it by casting a second glance or manifesting some other form of sexual in- terest, which we may not care to recognize as such. This unconscious trait of our psychic 140 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY make-up is not very discriminating. It goes out to all fairly attractive members of the op- posite sex. There is, however, another feature of our unconscious love-emotions that evidences a marked discrimination. This factor in our psychic arrangement is responsible for count- less marital failures, resulting in unhappiness, infidelity, and divorce, when an understanding of the situation would have saved a large per- centage of these marriages, or prevented in the first place the union that resulted so disas- trously. Why is it that each of us instinctively takes to, or shows a preference for a certain type of individual of the opposite sex? Why is it that some people fall in love at first sight-often to fall out again as soon as they get a chance to become acquainted? Sometimes this characteristic in us works so subtly that we fail to realize that there are types to which we are attracted-and others that we are not attracted to at all, or are re- pelled by. Still, we all realize that we may meet cer- tain people that interest us (consciously) from the very first, and we do not know the reason why. All our reasoning may tell us that there WHY WE LOVE 141 is nothing in the individual that warrants a second thought, and yet we are attracted, sometimes quite strongly. This is an expres- sion of the unconscious love element, or un- conscious passion, in action. We all have known or heard of men and women, who have sacrificed honor, name, home, family, and everything else to indulge a pas- sion for some individual of the opposite sex. Usually the one who makes the great sacri- fice-sometimes it is one, sometimes the other, frequently both-realizes consciously that he or she is acting the part of a fool, or worse. The better judgment clearly recognizes that the only outcome can be disgrace and ruin. But the potency of the unconscious passion once more has its sway, whether for a year, a month, or a day. The millions of years of in- dulgence in unconscious desires rise above the few thousands of years of conscious reasoning power and ethical training. The stern-real- ity principle is sidetracked for the time being for the lure of the pleasure principle. The attraction of one sex for the other, as we have stated, is one of the fundamental prin- ciples of life-in all forms of life. And na- ture, which is responsible for this condition, has created a situation that more often than 142 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY not borders on a dilemma. Nature takes lit- tle account of the social conventions and of the cultural demands of civilization. If we do not, by common sense and sound judgment, make arrangements for some harmonious ad- justment of our innate forces and our environ- ment, then we suffer. The Parent Image As a result of this attraction of sex for sex, we are born with, and early develop, certain tendencies that will carry out the biological plan. In every human male, from the mo- ment of its earliest impressions, there begins to form a mental image of one woman-us- ually the mother, or her substitute-nurse, grandmother, aunt, elder sister, or other fe- male who is closely concerned with the task of nourishing and catering to the wants of the infant. The female child is similarly influ- enced by the father image-which may in- volve brother, grandfather or other male rela- tive. The strength of impression or flexibility of this image in the psyche of the individual governs his future attitude toward others of the opposite sex. This picture is carried around unconsciously in our psychic sphere, WHY WE LOVE 143 and a comparison is unconsciously made when- ever we see one of the opposite sex that in- terests us. We never lose it, although in nor- mal human beings, as puberty is approached, the influence of the image dwindles. There are others, who do not break off this infantile attachment at the pubescent period or shortly after, and while they may be nor- mal adults in every other respect, the prospect of a happy married, or a rational sex, life is not theirs-unless by means of a real insight into their condition they become acquainted with the nature and import of their complex, which banishes, or at least minimizes, its rav- ages. Striking instances could be cited to show how the parent image influences us without our having any idea of its operation. Years ago, Professor Karl Pearson ("The Grammar of Science") was puzzled to find that the color of eyes was more alike in man and wife than it should be in first cousins, according to bio- logical theory. As a man tends to marry a woman resembling his mother, and a woman tends to marry a man resembling her father, the color of the eyes must be among the first of all likenesses to be recognized and seized upon by the Unconscious. As the percentage 144 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY of men who have inherited the color of eyes of their mother, and women, the color of eyes of their father, is very great; it explains the reason for this point of common resemblance between husband and wife. Undoubtedly, there are still important prin- ciples of heredity whose mysterious ways have not been discovered. It is quite possible that some of these secrets of nature may govern the transmission of characteristics from parent to child of the opposite sex, as a means of fur- thering the scheme of life. Normal or com- mon traits are more difficult to trace for ob- vious reasons. Abnormal and unusual traits are of course easier to observe. One instance of this kind is color-blindness. A color-blind man usually will not have color-blind children; nor will the children of his son be color-blind, but the sons of his daughters will be color- blind. This form of ocular abnormality is rare in women, but it is transmitted from man to grandson through the female line. But the eye is not the only feature that at- tracts the Unconscious in the search for a mate. There is no limit to the points of re- semblance real or imaginary (as they some- times are), that the man, for instance, may find in the object of his love, which the Un- WHY WE LOVE 145 conscious perceives as likening to the mother, from whom it has received so many comforts. The likeness may be extremely slight, the ar- rangement of the hair, a similarity of posture or attitude, the walk, or, perhaps more fre- quently a resemblance in point of figure. Then, again, it may be entirely imaginary, a phantom which the Unconscious, through the the nuclear complex, senses, in its crude, prim- itive way, a new source of satisfaction and com- fort. Thus it seeks to regain lost pleasures which it has missed since the youth has passed from its mother's care, by influencing a choice in favor of the woman who resembles the infan- tile image of his mother. The man who carries the mother image in his Unconscious so that it dominates his ac- tions is a typical neurotic. We all have this image in our psyche and are influenced by it, some more and some less, but in the normal man, it is not a dominating factor. If the mother is living, it does not imply that the image corresponds with her present appearance. The impression is as she ap- peared to the Unconscious of the man when he was young. It may even be that a man treats his mother with scant consideration, is 146 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY ill-tempered and even disrespectful, and still is dominated by the infantile image of his mother which he unconsciously holds as a model for all womanhood. And all women who come within his observation fail to measure up to the set standard-even the mother in the flesh as she is at the present time. In other words, it is a symbolical image or distorted memory that he unconsciously wor- ships-a living replica of which he is ever try- ing to find for his own. But he is doomed to disappointment, because such a being-the liv- ing phantasy of his Unconscious-does not ex- ist. It is this trait which causes many men to remain unmarried throughout life, because they are unable to find the non-existent mate they are continually looking for. But worse is the fate of the man in this frame of mind who marries, because he soon finds that his wife is not the woman he thought she was. She is not, nor could she be. Nor could any other woman fill the bill. Many who are not confirmed neurotics, but who have strong tendencies in that direction, feel a similar something lacking, an indescriba- ble element, in their marriage relations. They realize that the woman they have chosen WHY WE LOVE 147 is a good wife, but there is some misgiving that they feel but cannot definitely place. If they could be brought to understand that they are simply trying to measure up a very human person with a non-existent ideal or image, they would have a key to the solution. This picture of their unconscious psychic processes would suggest to them the futility of trying to find the impossible (which is a neurotic tendency of getting away from the reality principle). Therefore, if not hopeless or too far gone, they would adjust themselves to actualities, realize that a man should love his wife for her own qualities and not feel slighted because she lacks some imaginary ones. By doing this he will be forsaking the infantile attitude of the baby who demands the moon, and cries because he cannot have it. This is substantially what the adult neurotic is doing. All of this, of course, applies with equal force to the female neurotic who is dominated by a father fixation. Countless romances and tragedies have been written around this theme, some among the oldest in the history of literature. The story of CEdipus, in its several variations by the fore- most Greek poets, is the most striking, and led 148 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY to the adoption of the name of its principal as a term well suited to express the situation. The intense feeling of (E dipus over the fate prophesied for him, and the understanding by Jocasta of mankind's unconscious incestuous promptings, are summed up admirably in the following bit of dialogue from Sophocles' ver- sion (this, of course, was before they knew their true relationship) : CEdipus-"Am I not by nature a villain? If I must needs flee the country, and having fled am to be permitted neither to behold mine own, nor to set foot on my native soil; or I am doomed to be yoked in wedlock with my mother, and to kill outright my father Polybus, who reared me, who begot me. And would not any one, pronouncing all this to be the work of a ruthless demon upon me, be right in his words ? Then O may I never, may I never, thou spotless majesty of heaven, see this day, but may I be gone among mankind into darkness ere that I view such a taint of misery come upon me." Jocasta-"But have thou no fear of the bridal alliance with thy mother; for many among mankind have ere now, and that in dreams done incest with a mother; but whosoever this reckons as nothing, he bears his life the easiest." WHY WE LOVE 149 The early Greeks realized the existence of an innate incestuous wish, and it seems to have remained for Freud to re-discover it in the nineteenth century. And there is no greater storm-center in the whole philosophy of psy- cho-analysis than on this point. It should be stated here that the psycho-analysts do not "advocate" incestuous thoughts, unconscious or otherwise. They simply point out incon- trovertible evidence of their existence, and of their influence, in symbolical, disguised forms, on mankind. Freud considers that the gen- eral incredulity of the normal grown-up per- son to the significance of unconscious incest- wishes, is due to man's aversion of his own former incest-wishes which have since suc- cumbed to repression. This parent image is the cause of many cases of impotence-called psychic impotence-be- cause in the wife the husband's Unconscious senses a member of the mother-sister class, with whom, on account of the incest barrier, it is impossible to experience the consummation of the sex act. For the same reason, it is the cause of frigid wives. And impotence, and frigidy in themselves are recognized as fertile breeding grounds for marital disharmony. It is frequently observed that men of this 150 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY type who are impotent with their wives, may resort to prostitutes and secure sexual satis- faction. This is because the prostitute being recognized by him as a low or fallen woman, is not in the mother-sister class, and therefore the incest barrier in these relations is inoper- ative. Homosexuality Analysts have also discovered that, for the reasons just cited, homosexuality is a result of a parent fixation. In this instance (for men), all women fall under the ban of the in- cest barrier, and the natural sexual urge is perverted or driven into abnormal channels- the desire for sexual congress with a member of the same sex. Instead of being due to some inherent trait or vicious tendency, it has been found that homosexuality is in many instances conditioned by environment. Thus, the boy who is raised in too exclusively feminine an environment or is Mollycoddled beyond all bounds by his mother, may develop into a homosexual. Andre Tridon ("Psycho-analysis and Be- havior") states: "Psycho-analysts are all agreed on the genesis of passive male homosex- ualism. The passive male homosexual is in WHY WE LOVE 151 every case the son of a widow or divorced mother, separated from her husband by death, desertion, or legal proceedings soon after the boy's birth. "The boy, compelled to imitate some one in order to have a standard of behavior, copies his mother's attitude of physical indifference to women and physical interest in men. In every respect except in the anatomical one, he becomes a woman, and later in life will conceive of sexual gratification as woman would. Possession by a man will become his goal." The theory of sexual perversions as a re- sult of unnatural environment has been proven to be correct by experiments of William Craig and others with pigeons. A young male pigeon raised among males in the absence of any female will, when reaching sexual matur- ity, be attracted by males only, which he will treat at mating time as though they were fe- males. A male pigeon raised among females will at mating time play the part of a female. This again is an illustration of the potential- ities of the parent image. It is even better emphasized in the case of passenger pigeons and ring doves. Passenger pigeons have never been known to mate normally with ring- 152 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY doves. However, if a ring-dove hatches the eggs of a passenger pigeon, the young male passenger pigeon, thus mothered will readily, mate with ring-doves who represent the mother-image of its unnatural environment. Furthermore, they will refuse to mate with fe- male passenger pigeons to which, if instinct or heredity were the dominant factors, they should inevitably be drawn. In this instance, the normal mother-image is missing; and en- vironment proves a more powerful determinant of behavior than inheritance. Fetichism Fetichism is the experiencing of sexual grat- ification by seeing or touching a particular part of the body, or article of wearing apparel, symbolizing a part of the body. The greatest amount of fetichism is directed toward the hair, ankles, and feet. In many cases, fetich- ism is focused on inanimate objects, such as handkerchiefs, shoes, stockings, petticoats, or other undergarments, and hair-ribbons, which are suggestive of parts of the body upon which these objects are worn. The parts of the body possessing a strong physical attraction vary widely among people. The nature of the fetich is governed by uncon- WHY WE LOVE 153 scious memories that are formed very early in life. Normally, those submerged memories lead one to admire certain features or charac- teristics of members of the opposite sex. However, it is only when an individual be- comes obsessed so that his principal interest is concentrated on a particular part of the body, or more especially on a particular object, that it is recognized pathologically as fetich- ism. In its more perverse form, the symbol has such a dominating influence over the fetich- worshipper that he prefers it to the part it represents. It is said that some fetichists, in order to indulge their fancies to the utmost, enter a line of business which gives them the maximum of opportunity, many thus becom- ing shoe salesmen to attain this object. All human beings, however, have traces of fetichism in varying degrees. When a man finds satisfaction in saving the lock of hair or the glove or handkerchief of his sweetheart, or of some one else dear to him, and when a woman treasures the flower worn by her lover, we have examples of fetichism that are quite normal and proper. Like all other abnormal- ities, the mark of distinction from the normal is in degree rather than in kind. 154 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY Exhibitionism Exhibitionism is another inherent trait in every individual that is little considered in our behavior. Little need be said in this treatise in regard to its abnormal manifestations, when the characteristic becomes a pathological con- dition, and the subject secures conscious sexual gratification by displaying very personal parts of his anatomy. This form of perversion is not rare, and is the antithesis or direct oppo- site of the desire to see sexual objects-the ab- normal type being represented by the Peeping Tom, technically known as the voyeur. It might be mentioned, in passing, that in every individual there is a group of traits that constitute the sex and ego qualities of the indi- vidual, and which combine to make up his per- sonality. Every trait has an opposing one that, in the normal person, creates a desirable equilibrium, so that the individual functions with as little friction as possible in his social relations. It is the lack of proportion in any of these expressions of the libido or life force that makes the neurotic, the abnormal man or woman-the pervert. Thus, in every individual there are both heterosexual and homosexual tendencies (in WHY WE LOVE 155 the normal person the latter are vestigial or extremely rudimentary) ; there are qualities of exhibitionism and sexual curiosity; of sadism and masochism (the former in a degree is more peculiar to men and the latter to women), and others that are not so pronounced. There are, however, countless examples of exhibitionism which are so commonplace that we simply take them for granted without question. These are fundamentally governed by our unconscious psychic processes, and are a part of the so-called secondary manifesta- tions of sex. In this class, we recognize the tendency among women to wear low-necked dresses or gowns, short skirts, sleeveless waists, transparent fabrics, and similar dress effects, which permit some display of their flesh or figure and this affords an unconscious and fre- quently a conscious gratification of woman's exhibitionist qualities. Other common ex- amples of the same thing are elaborate hair- dressing arrangements, picturesque hats, cor- sets, which are supposed to emphasize the feminine shape, extremely pointed shoes and high heels; various poses and other evidences that are considered to typify femininity. Men also have their characteristic exhibition- ist qualities. Prominent among them are 156 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY forms of dress which display or suggest mas- culine strength, such as square-cut or padded shoulders, athletic costumes, etc., and count- less acts and affectations which have as their motive the conscious or unconscious desire to attract the attention and win the admiration of the opposite sex. This quality is also a factor which spurs on certain persons of both sexes in their desire to become actors, public speakers, lecturers, dem- onstrators, or other callings of this general nature. Sadism and Masochism Sadism is the trait in our psychic make-up which causes us to get satisfaction by inflicting pain on another. Its operation is manifold and more universal than we may care to ac- knowledge. It is illustrated in the child who teases or injures cats, dogs, and other pets, or in a symbolical form in destroying dolls and toy animals. It is characterized strongly in the bully and all individuals who subject others to acts of cruelty and punishment, or in a les- ser degree to tickling, teasing, and petty an- noyances of a like nature. Parents who whip their children; men who beat their wives; boys who look for a fight; successful soldiers, pugil- WHY WE LOVE 157 ists, football players, and many others show a positive degree of sadism. There is the sadistic tendency, too, in the puritanical type of person. In his mania to suppress every evidence of what he conceives to be "grossly sexual," the professional puri- tan takes an almost uncanny satisfaction in visiting punishment upon the violator of his accepted New England code that passed for morality in the seventeenth century. I do not refer to legitimate means taken against pur- veyors of obviously filthy and obscene works; but when accredited medical books and world- renowned scientific literature are barred from the mails and their publishers prosecuted, even persecuted, it warrants some comment. In its purely sexual aspect, sadism is mani- fested by the individual (usually male) who obtains satisfaction by inflicting pain on his partner in the sex act. It may be present in a very slight degree, so that it gratifies the Un- conscious only; or it may be more emphatic, causing extreme pain or real injury to the other party. The most pronounced perver- sions or pathological form of sadism is typified in the Jack-the-Ripper, who secures sexual satisfaction by atrocious means, such as muti- lating or murdering his victim. 158 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY Masochism, while less spectacular than its opposite, sadism, is no less widespread. The two qualities are ever present in every indi- vidual, although in widely varying propor- tions, and constitute an ambivalent feature- that is, a condition whereby one may experi- ence two opposite feelings at the same time. Some persons are said to be gluttons for punishment. They can take beatings and seem to thrive on them. In arduous games or performances, such as football and prize fights (already referred to in sadism), the participants both give and take punishment at the same time and the ideal athlete is one who is adept at both. In this way he shows his sadistic-masochis- tic qualities. Examples of this kind relate to the ego rather than to the sexual nature. Nevertheless, they both have their root in the unconscious elements of the personality. The sexual side of masochism is evidenced in the person (usually female) who obtains sexual gratification through being inflicted with a certain amount of pain during inter- course. The sex act is usually accompa- nied by some slight suggestion of pain to the woman, although in the proper relations, not the slightest harm or injury is done, but even WHY WE LOVE 159 then there is a symbolic expression of this phe- nomenon-i. e., in the mastery of the male and the submission of the female. There are male masochists in the pervert class who receive sexual gratification by allow- ing themselves to be beaten-usually hiring prostitutes for that purpose. It is the masochistic trait in a normal per- son which enables him or her to render valuable social service at the cost of pain or personal sacrifice, such as nursing or administering to the afflicted. Another example is in willingly going to jail or suffering punishment for a principle or to advance a cause. On the other hand, a socially useful field for sadistic tenden- cies will be found in surgery, dentistry, the butcher business (perhaps as a subway guard!) and many other activities. CHAPTER VII COMMON UNCONSCIOUS MANIFESTATIONS Many of our actions, when analyzed in the light of the older, academic psychology, offer a very puzzling problem, but these situations are so commonplace that we experience them every day, indeed countless times each day, without giving them scarcely a thought. Prominent in the psychology of every-day erroneous actions are the numerous little slips or errors that we make in speech, writing, read- ing, misplacing articles, forgetting names, dates, etc., that are well known to us. Forgetfulness and Absent-mindedness Accepting the premise of mental cause and effect, we never make any of these trifling errors or chance actions without a cause. As a matter of fact, it is probably safe to say that we never actually forget anything that we have once learned, but that certain memories sink to the bottom of our Unconscious and are held there either by some personal complex or be- 160 UNCONSCIOUS MANIFESTATIONS 161 cause of lack of interest, so that they cannot rise again to the surface, or conscious mind, when needed. This absent-mindedness is perhaps the most universal of our self-irritating shortcomings. We are always forgetting things that we meant to do. We are forever overlooking little duties we intended to perform. It has been noticed by some observing persons that we are more apt to forget some things than others. Why this unconscious discrimination? Has our memory a convenient trap-door through which it drops what it considers un- necessary and undesirable material? Appar- ently it has. But the annoying feature is that what it passes upon as rubbish is often some- thing our rational mind considers valuable and is anxious to retain. Nevertheless, the uncon- scious factor of our personality is more potent and far-reaching than the cultural, and while we may cooperate with it, and utilize its vitality and power if we understand its natural laws and its whims, we cannot arbitrarily coerce it along objectionable channels, or blindly drive it to an unpleasant task. That is the reason we "forget." We may forget names because they have an unpleasant unconscious connotation. Freud 162 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY ("A General Introduction to Psycho-analy- sis") remarks: "If any one once has a tend- ency to forget names, you can establish by analytical investigation that he not only loses names because he himself does not like them, or because they remind him of something he does not like, but also because the same name in his mind belongs to another chain of associations, with which he has more intimate relations. The name is anchored there, as it were, and denied to the other associations activated at the moment." The name of an exceptionally likeable man or striking woman seldom has to be repeated to us. Not only does it loom large in our Con- scious, but the pleasing or attractive person- ality attracts the interest of our Unconscious, so that it has no wish to repress the thoughts which are associated with the name. On the other hand, the names of indifferent or objectionable types of people quickly pass into the Unconscious, or remain unnoticed for lack of attention. The names of those who directly or indirectly react on some painful complex are likely to be repressed, and there- fore not remembered. Freud has mentioned how unpleasantly he UNCONSCIOUS MANIFESTATIONS 163 was affected at first when a patient called S. Freud applied for treatment. As an ana- lyst, of course, he understood the situation. But how many people there are who experi- ence and sometimes show impatience or irrita- tion when meeting a stranger bearing their own name! As our name constitutes one of the elements of our personality-it has been associated with us from birth-it is an infringement on the prerogatives of our ego, when some one else with the same name comes in contact with us. So at least the Unconscious concludes. Then there is the feminist who refuses to give up her name. She retains her maiden name in marriage because she considers it an inseparable part of her personality. To part with her name would be committing a crime against her ego. As one woman has expressed it, to be known first as Nellie Smith, and then as Mrs. Thomas Jones, and maybe a few years later as Mrs. Richard Roe, is too much like the branding-iron of the cattle- breeder. To most of us, there are names, either sur- names or given names, that we have a decided prejudice against. It is invariably due to 164 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY knowing, or having at one time known, some one bearing the name and against whom we had for some reason formed an antipathy. I once inadvertently addressed as Carrie, a young lady by the name of Caroline whom I had come to know quite well. She good- naturedly asked me not to call her by that name. It wasn't that I had become unduly familiar, but it seemed that a neighbor had a mongrel dog which answered to the same name, so "Carrie," to this young lady, carried a canine connotation that was justly distaste- ful to her. Unconscious Dislikes The association of names has a correspond- ing psychology to the association of facial re- semblance, actions, mannerisms and other idio- syncrasies. A stranger frequently impresses us at first glance either favorably or decidedly unfavorably. In the latter case, we may say to ourselves, "There is something about him I don't like." If we trace this impression down to its real cause, we usually find that there is some resemblance, unconsciously noticed, to a person we for some reason dislike. As we become better acquainted, we may find that our early judgment was unwarranted. It UNCONSCIOUS MANIFESTATIONS 165 very often occurs to us that an association of personal qualities had been made, and when we become conscious of the reminiscence, we immediately dismiss our earlier prejudices. So-called absent-mindedness is another evi- dence of the same tendency on the part of the Unconscious to avoid what it dislikes-even though, consciously, we may take pleasure in the same thing. One evening I brought home a half-dozen steel pens and put them, with the little paper bag they were in, on my desk. Shortly after, I picked up the bag, slightly crumpled, and threw it in the stove with some scrap paper. About an hour later, when I wanted to use one of the pens, I definitely re- called picking up the bag and burning it with the contents. It was all done more or less automatically, unconsciously. So the Uncon- scious, which hates too much continuous appli- cation, preferring to follow the pleasure princi- ple, played a trick on me, by causing me to destroy the tools with which I work and keep the Unconscious dutifully employed up into the early morning hours, when it would much rather be engaged in phantasying or other light diversions. A slip of the tongue is among the common- est of errors for which our Unconscious can be 166 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY held responsible. It invariably denotes a wish (which is suggested by the word wrongly used), or an unpleasant association (which causes us unconsciously to avoid using the word we consciously intended to use). If John should be talking to Marian on some very intimate subject and inadvertently addresses her as Mabel (quickly correcting himself, of course), there are one hundred chances in a hundred that he is thinking of some particular Mabel. Marian, however, not knowing the significance of the uncon- scious processes, overlooks this evidence of divided allegiance. Stammering and Hesitancy in Speech Stammering in most cases has been found due to a serious personal complex. The mo- mentary hesitation or partial loss of speech of the stammerer, as in the more commonplace examples of forgetting a fact, a word, or a duty to perform, is motivated by an absurd un- conscious reason. It has been noticed that persons who stam- mer or suffer from an impediment of speech in conversation, are often able to sing well, and sometimes even to deliver a lecture without stammering or any hesitancy in their use of UNCONSCIOUS MANIFESTATIONS 167 words. This indicates that there is nothing wrong with the vocal mechanism, but that the trouble is psychic, which may often be re- moved, or greatly improved, by psycho-thera- peutic treatment. Hesitancy of speech is not confined to stam- merers alone. When our complexes are touched, we all hesitate for a moment until we make some compromise with, or placate, them. Tests covering this phase of the question have been so extensive, and the results so positive, that there can be no doubt of the relation here to unconscious psychic cause and effect, even were we disposed to question it. The use of the association tests, as referred to in Chapter II, gives further evidence of this. Misreading Misreading involves a different psychic situation from that of tongue-slips or pen-slips, as in the former case what one is reading is not a product of one's own psychic activity as in the other instances. In the large majority of cases therefore the misreading consists of a complete substitution. One substitutes another word for the word to be read and there need be no connection in meaning between the text and the product of 168 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY the misreading. In general, the slip is based upon a word resemblance. But in many cases the substitute word expresses a wish or desire of the Unconscious, and sometimes it is uttered to avoid a word that has an unpleasant conno- tation. As an example, an individual, distressed by certain needs wanders about a strange town and reads the word "Toilet" on the front door of a private house. Slightly surprised by the unusual location of the sign, on second glance, he then accurately observes that the sign reads, "To let." In reading sentences, it sometimes happens that the text itself arouses the disturbing tend- ency, so that it is then changed into the oppo- site-a negative form substituted for a posi- tive, or vice versa. In accepting the hypoth- esis of unconscious psychic activity, it is per- fectly plausible that an intensive wish may cause one to reject what appears in the written sentences (when the Conscious is not vigilantly on the alert) and so the unconscious alteration is made. Our commonplace actions, which are moti- vated by a definite purpose on the part of the Unconscious, are too numerous to fully analyze. As Pfister has shown by interesting UNCONSCIOUS MANIFESTATIONS 169 data, we never hum or whistle aimless tunes. The tune selected, or the words to which it has been set, will be found to have a direct or indirect bearing upon the individual's trend of mind or attitude at the time. Our apparently meaningless scribbles while we wait with pencil in hand at the telephone, or when otherwise disengaged from directed mental effort, reveal peculiarities of our inner self that we seldom consciously recognize. We all express our unconscious desires, atti- tudes, and thoughts, usually unrecognizable except after painstaking insight, when we find ourselves with pencil and paper, and without anything definite to write. Artists, skilled in the technique of their craft, have been known to draw very elaborate, and grotesque, pictures while under the influ- ence of the Unconscious. There is a very direct connection between our unconscious scribbles and the phenomenon of "automatic writing." It is significant that this condition is usually manifested by and at- tains its most perfect development with, peo- ple who are subject to the mental disorder known as hysteria. If an hysterical patient is engaged in con- versation, and while his attention is thus di- 170 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY verted, a pencil is placed in his right hand, it may be possible to induce him to write answers to some questions which a third person whis- pers into his ear, although he continues his original conversation along a totally different line. Under these circumstances, it will be found that the patient is absolutely unconscious of what his hand is doing; and, furthermore, he may be totally ignorant of the matter de- scribed in the writing. Events of this kind re- late to episodes in the patient's past life, which he has consciously forgotten. Experiments have succeeded in resuscitating buried memo- ries of this type. As automatic writing has played an import- ant part in the practices of spiritism, whose adherents for the most part know nothing of the functions of the unconscious mind, it is not difficult to understand why so many people have been misled by this manifestation. And the supporters of this doctrine attribute the writing to some spiritual or supernatural be- ing, rather than to the unconscious mind of the hysterical medium. In the most genuine of these demonstrations, it means merely that a dissociation of the mental processes has taken UNCONSCIOUS MANIFESTATIONS 171 place, and that one group of these processes is ignorant of what the other is doing. The attributing of phenomena of this char- acter to supernatural agencies is quite in line with past experiences in other fields of human endeavor. When natural laws have remained unknown or were misunderstood, people who were overawed by the mysterious results have attributed them to supernatural causes. And the research that has led to the discovery of unconscious psychic processes and the formu- lation of their natural laws, has been one of the most outstanding contributions to modern science. CHAPTER VIII SOCIAL TENDENCIES AND THE UNCONSCIOUS When we once understand the nature and scope of the Unconscious, which enables us to observe its far-reaching influence over the con- duct of the individual, we must at the same time take into consideration the reaction of this influence to the environment. Every in- dividual in his social relations, in his ideas and ideals, is swayed by his hidden complexes, which in turn have been acquired in his strug- gle with reality, from the very beginning of life. The vital urge, which Freud has termed the libido, the gushing spring of energy within us, can best be analyzed in its social reactions by terming it the ego, or the ego-urge. This term has the advantage of being commonly known. It is not so restricted in its scope as libido, and has quite a different connotation. Furthermore, in considering social tendencies, it is Adler, rather than Freud, who offers us so much food for thought, and Adler empha- 172 SOCIAL TENDENCIES 173 sizes the ego-urge as the dominant force of the personality. The Ego-Urge As we have seen, Freud, in accounting for our tendencies and characteristics, lays the greatest emphasis on the sex urge-although not in the restricted sense that this term is generally understood. In breaking with the purely Freudian orthodoxy, Adler considers the sex urge, while important, quite a second- ary factor in our conduct, maintaining that it is in itself largely one of the many expressions of the ego. Those who would argue that this disagree- ment between two of the great analytic au- thorities proves that the new psychology is scientifically weak, are however in error. They both accept the principle of a dominat- ing influence in our personality, and starting with this premise carry out the hypothesis to its logical conclusion. Freud, however, inter- prets the principle from the angle which is clearest to him, and Adler interprets the same phenomena as they appear to him. Adler, by the way, calls his system Individual Psychol- ogy, instead of Psycho-analysis. In order to appreciate the strength of Ad- 174 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY ler's position, it is necessary to consider the background of his hypothesis, namely, organ inferiority and its physical compensation. Few people are born with, or if so, long retain a perfectly adjusted organism. Without go- ing further into elaborate details, we know that poor eyesight and defective hearing are com- monplace. Countless numbers of people have a weak heart, or bad digestion, and the number of other organic disturbances (trivial or seri- ous) is limited only by the number of organs in the body. Now, when some particular or- gan is defective, there is always the tendency- an effort on the part of nature to strike a new adjustment-for some other organ to develop a greater functional capacity in order to over- come the handicap to the body as a whole. This interaction and this readjustment always affects the psyche, sometimes stimulating it to greater effort to compensate in an intellectual way for the physical shortcoming, and often adversely influencing the mental processes through worry and lamentation over the de- fect. One of the most far-reaching effects of or- ganic inferiority of any kind is to promote nervous activity. This increased nervous ac- tivity, if it is not given proper, constructive SOCIAL TENDENCIES 175 outlet for creative work, then turns within and works its havoc in the form of a neurosis. It is this combination of circumstances, a defective organ, a highly charged nervous system, with great energetic capacity, that has led many people to consider exceptional talent and genius as always being coupled with a neu- rotic temperament, and frequently with insan- ity. Most geniuses have had pronounced physical defects of one sort or another which have reacted in the form of increased nervous energy, and it has been natural that this excess of nervousness often finds an out- let in the shape of irrational and eccentric ac- tions. It is where the brain fails to establish a com- pensatory system, or where the unfavorable influences of environment are too powerful to overcome, that we have the neuroses and psy- choses. History offers numerous and notable examples of those who, by struggling with physical defect, have risen to heights of cre- ative achievement. Little men walk erect; tall men stoop. A subnormal eye intensifies the visual psyche. An art school showed a larger percentage of defective sight than any other gathering of young people. Mozart had an imperfectly de- 176 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY veloped ear; Beethoven had otosclerosis, and finally became totally deaf. Demosthenes stammered, but by persistently struggling against this handicap, which was perhaps hu- miliating to his ego, he became the greatest orator of his day. Socrates, laboring under the misfortune of an ugly body for which he could not physically compensate, developed a wonderful mind. 2Esop was deformed, Democritus blind and withered, Lamb stammered. Byron was club- footed, De Quincey large-headed and wizened- bodied; Epictetus, a slave, maimed in body, contributed to the wisdom of the ages. Helen Keller, overcoming unimaginable odds, devel- oped remarkable faculties to express her beau- tiful soul. Roosevelt, transformed a frail, sickly body into a human dynamo; Edison, de- fective in hearing, utilized his excessive energy in the channels of scientific achievement. Of the mythological gods, Odin had but one eye; Tyr, one hand; Vulcan was lame; Vider dumb. It is this same ego-urge that expresses it- self in every human being, normal, or abnor- mal, but in widely diverging channels and in very uneven degrees of effectiveness. It is what Nietzsche calls the "will-to-power," and SOCIAL TENDENCIES 177 Adler has explained it as the "wish-to-be- above." Every individual struggles against the hand- icaps of physique and environment. We have reviewed some of the results of compensating for physical inferiority. The struggles against the handicaps of en- vironment are no less involved. The reaction to the inhibitory forces of our environment is manifold in character, and produces para- doxical results. Undue parental repression may result in stifling the initiative of a child, in which case the energetic force turns within and through introversion creates a neurosis; or, the exercise of unwise parental restrictions may turn the child into a confirmed rebel a- gainst any kind of authority. In the former situation, the ego seeks an abnormal form of compensation through neurotic substitute sat- isfaction; in the latter, there is a normal com- pensation because it is an attempt to resist an authority that threatens the development of an individual's personality. And every liv- ing organism struggles to express itself, and resents suppression or undue repression. Radicalism is an expression of the ego-urge, which revolts against the countless inhibitions and restraints of organized society-many of 178 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY them irrational and irritating enough to be sure. As we have observed, the great masses of people have never risen above a childhood age- level. Therefore, it is a part of mass psychol- ogy that the inhibitions of childhood, as per- sonified in parental authority, should be con- tinued in the authority of organized society. Everywhere we are fenced in by "Don'ts"- in fact, the great majority of people expect them, and would be quite at sea without this constant expression of authority to look up to. Those who most sincerely respect and up- hold this situation are grown-up children- called adults-who carry about in their Un- conscious a dominating parent-image, or au- thority complex. Unable to come to any ra- tional decisions by way of independent think- ing on their own account, they always look to some superior authority when in doubt- as the child does to his father. To the child, the father, whether wise or ig- norant, is the personification of wisdom and power. As a matter of fact, the ignorant par- ent is apt to use his physical power in lieu of wisdom. The adult child finds his fancied protection, not in attempting to reason out the SOCIAL TENDENCIES 179 why and wherefore and whence of problems that confront him, but in leaning on the strength of superior authority, which he rec- ognizes in established institutions-the state, and all its subdivisions, the church, and, to a degree that he does not consciously realize, the newspaper he reads and so frequently rid- icules. The radical is a person whose ego rebels against one or several socially organized re- pressions. If a rebel against religious dogma or church authority, he may be called a free- thinker, agnostic, or atheist. If a rebel against the principle of state authority, or the eco- nomic-political system as at present organized, he may be either a Socialist, a Communist, or an anarchist. If against the injustice of man- dominated laws and institutions, she (as it usually is in this case), is said to be a feminist. If against industrial subjection, the protes- tant may be of almost any degree of mildness or extremity, from the pure and simple trade unionist to the I. W. W. In this connection Andre Tridon remarks, "The radical who worries lest his special social nostrum should not be tried out during his lifetime is as grotesque a figure as the con- 180 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY servative who believes that the progress of the world toward its unknown goal can be stopped at one certain point." The development of modern industry, with its constant trend toward specialization, is di- rectly responsible, from a psychological view- point, for acute outbreaks of the ego-urge in the way of radical agitation. The desire for individual achievement, for gratifying the in- stinct of workmanship, contrivance, or con- structiveness, is not satisfied by wholesale ma- chine production. Thus, in the fundamental cravings of the ego, there is prepared a fer- tile background for discontent. This is true irrespective of the question of wages and other working conditions. In the old days of handicraft, when the me- chanic made his product from start to finish, instead of specializing on a single part, or a single operation, he was able to display his originality and personality. This opportu- nity for creative endeavor fulfilled a psycho- logical need that is lost to modern industry. It is the problem of any society that can claim to be fundamentally sound to overcome this defect by substituting some constructive out- let for the creative instinct. The conservative, being influenced by the SOCIAL TENDENCIES 181 symbolic parent complex, defends the status quo, whether right or wrong, just or unjust, merely because it exists, is powerful, and typ- ifies authority. The true reactionary has re- gressed to the point where he will not tolerate even questioning the rights of established in- stitutions. The thought of changing them, however slightly, is unbearable. Mere discus- sion of the merits or demerits of authority as at present constituted, is wicked, irreverent- treason. His very anxiety and cocksureness indicate an unconscious doubt of the virtue and security of the power which he defends, and so he compensates for the same by an as- sumption of unqualified arrogance. The best that can be said of him is that he has a digni- fied neurosis-and often it is not so dignified. The War Spirit The economic causes of war need not be disparaged or underrated to admit of the psy- chological contribution to war. In fact, di- rectly leading up to the proclamation of war, and after the combat starts, the psychological output ranks second to none among all mili- tary paraphernalia produced. But it is stim- ulated rather than manufactured. The under- lying mechanism is already there, under the 182 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY thin cultural veneer, required only to be fanned into arsenals of emotional explosives. Behind our few thousands of years of none too successful attempts at a higher social and ethical development, there is in the evolution- ary course of human and prehuman existence a heritage of millions of years of the claw- and-fang struggle that in the great majority of individuals craves an outlet. The atavistic urges that we have repressed in normal times, cropping out in a mild and distorted form through dreams at night, phan- tasies and wit by day, are given the freest outlet possible in war. In the case of soldiers in the enemy territory, they are at their worst, including various forms of outrages (the in- vading army is always accused of atrocities, and with more or less justification). But not only at the front is this spirit in evidence; it is universal wherever the influence of war prevails. We read it in editorials, fic- tion, poetry, news articles, and what not; we hear it on the lecture platform, in the pulpit, in schools, on the street, in shops, offices, and in our homes; we see it parading before us, fluttering above us-it is visible everywhere. If our neighbor's veneer of civilization is a little thicker than our own and he does not re- SOCIAL TENDENCIES 183 spond so readily to the primitive call of the tom-toms and blare of the war spirit, we sus- pect his patriotism, or even shout "traitor." If we profiteer and a humble citizen protests against our extortionate demands for necessi- ties; or if a worker resents the conditions we prescribe that he shall work under, we indig- nantly assert our patriotism and point him out as an "enemy within." Indeed, "the time of war is one for sacrifice." We believe it was no less an authority than a former United States Attorney General who issued the edict early in the World War, which was placarded in public places all over the country: "Obey the Law and Keep Your Mouth Shut!'3 Surely as edifying in its pur- port as it is elegant in its phraseology! It would be difficult to imagine popularizing any- thing so crude except under the influence of the war spirit-and among grown-up chil- dren. We doubt whether the former Attorney General was much of a psychologist, surely not a Freudian, but nevertheless his command had more significance than was generally re- alized. These soul-stirring words, to many an adult-child, carried the implication of par- ental authority. The brusque warning might 184 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY be laughed at as a joke, or slightly resented as an infringement on a citizen's right to ex- press himself, but to the great majority it sym- bolized the voice of the great father-the state. Literary Atrocities Among by no means the minor atrocities of the war are the outbursts of "poetry" and other "literary" effusions which, true to the occasion, are born of the spirit of Mars. It is of no uncommon thing at the fever heat of war to hear clergymen-the anointed spokesmen of the Prince of Peace-declaiming the dogma of the enemy's utter destruction, and the an- nihilation of all for which he stands. This is so in all countries, so it is not a case of right or wrong, or church, or God. Otherwise, the Godly would be able to recognize the right on the side that upheld the obviously moral issue, regardless of whether it was their own or their opponent's. It is notable that among those whose elementary urges are more constantly repressed, when the ethical inhibitions of society are largely removed, they go just a little farther than others in emotional excesses. It will be noted that all these tendencies are peculiar to the neurotic-to flee from the ra- tional foundation of reality and take refuge in SOCIAL TENDENCIES 185 an unreal world that corresponds with the frantic emotional cravings. It is further em- phasized in the suppression of inanimate things which are merely symbolic of the enemy. We prevent the speaking of his language, the circulation of his literature (even the classics), the singing or playing of his music, the display of anything suggestive of him. In other words, by banishing from the sight of our eyes and the sound of orn? ears the evidence of his existence, we fancy we are the more secure and triumphant. Thus, figuratively, we follow the example of the ostrich and bury our head in the sand:-by not seeing the enemy, or his works, we tend to deny his existence. He is less of a menace to us. This is the attitude of the neurotic subject, and as before stated we all have neurotic tendencies of some degree, seeking an outlet. War is the great outlet for repressed emotions. Psychology of Rioting A similar phenomenon on a smaller social scale is evidenced in the psychology of rioting, lynching, and other mob activities. The ethics of established social practices, under the influence of the mob spirit, fade away like so much vapor. Life may be taken, property 186 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY destroyed-it is a momentary return to the crude, primitive self; a gratification of its archaic desires; a release of the psychic ten- sion and suppressed emotions. Freud, in his "Reflections On War and Death33 makes the following striking observa- tion on the superficiality of our social ethics: "The individual citizen can prove with dismay that the State forbids him to do wrong, not because it wishes to do away with wrong-doing, but because it wishes to monopolize it. . . . A State at war makes use of every act of vio- lence that would dishonor the individual. It employs not only permissible cunning, but con- scious lies and intentional deception against the enemy . . . demands the utmost obedience and sacrifice of its citizens, but at the same time, it treats them like children through an excess of secrecy and a censorship of news and expression of opinion which render the minds of those who are thus intellectually re- pressed, defenseless against every unfavorable situation and every wild rumor. It absolves itself from guarantees and treaties by which it was bound to other States, and makes una- bashed confession of its greed and aspiration to power." War is a national-international-organ- SOCIAL TENDENCIES 187 ized neurosis, biologically made possible by our long heritage of primitive instincts and emo- tions, only superficially veneered by the ethics of civilization. However, the sadistic tenden- cies which are unloosed in time of war, and which are constantly stimulated by threats of war and preparations for war, may be directed into socially constructive channels if a similar amount of effort be used toward that end. CHAPTER IX PHYSICAL BASES OF THE EMOTIONS The neurotic person is a sufferer from emo- tional malajustment. His emotional nature by some means has become disintegrated, with results that may range anywhere from a vague and indefinable feeling that he is out of har- mony with life, to complete disaster. In the constant stressing of mental and psy- chic problems, the physiological aspect of the emotions is frequently overlooked. It will not be denied that the influence of the mind-prin- cipally through unconscious ideas, complexes and stereotyped mental attitudes-is the dom- inating factor in emotional life. On the other hand, the emotions have a physiological basis and are part and parcel of the corporeal being, as will be shown later in the present chapter in discussing the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine glands. The physical side of this question therefore must not be lost sight of, because the reactions and complications of emotional expression, nor- PHYSICAL BASES OF EMOTIONS 189 mal and abnormal, involve physical as well as psychic considerations. From the purely men- tal angle, one factor has been vastly over- emphasized in the past, namely, the will. As we have observed in preceding chapters, the will is inevitably subordinated to the imagina- tion in the realm of the Unconscious-and the Unconscious is the motivating, dynamic force of our personality. Our Biological Mechanism The new dynamic conception of our subject is that the psychic and physical components of the human organism are so bound up in their inter-relations that to stress one, to the neglect of the other, can lead only to false conclusions. Both sets of factors must be considered, not only on their own account, but in their relation to each other. Man is a biological mechanism that has been evolving, developing, adjusting itself to new and changing conditions for hundreds of thou- sands of years. Behind this long human her- itage there are untold millions of years of pre- human ancestry, which have left their indel- ible imprint upon our nature and automatic conduct (or instinctive actions). The deeper we dig into the study of anthro- 190 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY pology, the more we are impressed with the tremendous influence the past has over our present conduct. And to an extent that the uninitiated person does not dream of, it is the conflict between this racial heritage and the social conventions and our ethical concepts that is responsible for the great preponderance of our illnesses and ailments. We come into the world with a mind blank of knowledge that might tend to guide us in our social relationships and civilized activities. But we are fully equipped-ready for almost immediate use-with instincts and emotions that have been picked up during countless ages of evolving life. Over the mechanism of this archaic and primitive heritage there has been applied, dur- ing the past few thousand years, a slight coat of cultural whitewash-our civilized veneer. It is an understanding of this immeasurably long biological heritage from prehuman sources which enables us to realize the basically primitive nature of the human being. It ex- plains why man is, as he has been called by Dr. Dewey, a "mosaic of original, ineradica- ble, and unlearned tendencies to action, an equipment of behavior-unit characters." Preceding the period of human develop- PHYSICAL BASES OF EMOTIONS 191 ment and growth from birth to maturity, we find positive corroborating evidence of our sub- human ancestry in the prenatal evolution of the embryo. A detailed account of this con- vincing hypothesis will be found in another work of mine.1 Thus, the law of Biogenesis or Recapitulation means a certain uniformity which exists from the beginning of life. Ev- ery organism in its development repeats the life history of the race to which it belongs. To summarize: every reptile is a fish before it is a reptile; every bird is a fish before it is a bird; every mammal is a fish before it is a mammal. Autonomic Nervous System The actual mechanism of our primitive per- sonality as it is evidenced to-day, which links the past with the present, is the autonomic nervous system, with its auxiliary, the endo- crine or ductless glands. These automatic working bases of our organism are now divulg- ing the most astonishing secrets of human be- havior in the laboratories of the experimental physiologists and psychologists. In the manifestations of this automatic mechanism within us, we are brought face to i"The Caveman Within Us," Chapter II., E. P. Dutton & Co. 192 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY face with the source of the emotions. Far re- moved from the old notion that emotions are psychic manifestations exclusively, we learn that they are mainly physiological. And they always have a physical basis. On the other hand, it is not denied that they are insepar- ably bound up with the psychic processes through mental attitudes-i. e., ideas and sen- timents. Emotions, attitudes, and secretions always go together. It is impossible to experience one without the other two. A secretion will produce an emotion, and an emotion will pro- duce an attitude or state of mind. An atti- tude will produce an appropriate secretion, which in turn will result in an emotion. This gives us an inkling of the far-reach- ing physical results that follow the practice of conscious autosuggestion-wherein we implant in our own mind ideas that reverberate with energization and health. There could be no emotion without the ap- propriate physiological basis of a secretion. Without this physical contribution, there would be no quickening of the pulse, no rising of color in the face, no arousing of the physical being generally-no thrill, in substance, no emotion. PHYSICAL BASES OF EMOTIONS 193 The autonomic nervous system is the regu- lator of the internal organs or viscera-the heart, lungs, stomach, intestines, liver, kid- neys, bladder, pancreas, etc. It also regulates the sweat glands, tear glands, pupil of the eye, genitals, rectum, and all the other organs and glands of the body. In exercising its control over these numer- ous functions of the body, the autonomic nerv- ous system performs a dual role. One di- vision acts as a motor agency, and another as a brake or inhibiting force. The first (cranio- sacral division) has as its aim the promoting of the normal activities of the organs in the regular course of life, that is, in fostering a condition of well-being, conducive to the up- keep of the individual and the continuance of the race. The second (sympathetic) division acts as an alarm agency, which prepares the individual for flight or fight, and inhibits the normal func- tioning of these organs. The physiological conditions favorable to these two forms of conduct are inevitably op- posed. When we are in a condition favorable for the appeasement of the appetite for food, we are not prepared for the exertion of flight or fight. On the other hand, as is well known, 194 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY when we are frightened or grieved, we are in no condition to eat or digest food. Thus, when we are prepared to enjoy a good meal, the nerves of the cranio-sacral division cause saliva in the mouth and the gastric juices in the stomach to flow freely. In the event of some danger (real or imaginary) suddenly presenting itself, the sympathetic nerves check these digestive activities. As a result the mouth becomes dry, and the stomach under- goes a similar change, so that we have neither the desire nor, to an extent, the ability to eat. The alarm signal has been raised by an auto- matic process within us, which is not subject to our conscious control. However, an intel- ligent understanding of the situation enables us sometimes to modify the action in a meas- ure. The opposing activities of the two divisions of the autonomic nervous system will be ob- served in the following further examples: The sympathetic dilates the pupil of the eye (a characteristic of fear), while the cranio- sacral contracts it (signifying contentment and well-being) ; the sympathetic accelerates the action of the heart (enabling it to respond to greater physical demands, originally for de- fensive struggle), while the cranio-sacral slows PHYSICAL BASES OF EMOTIONS 195 it down (giving it longer periods of rest) ; the sympathetic relaxes the lower part of the large intestines (freeing the body of an incum- brance to flight), while the cranio-sacral con- tracts it. The cranio-sacral nerves produce the excite- ment in the genital region which leads to the sexual act; while the sympathetic nerves (when danger threatens) abate that excite- ment, and make the sexual act difficult or im- possible. Every function of the body may be analyzed and its activities under various con- ditions interpreted in the light of these oppos- ing divisions of the autonomic nervous system. The Endocrine Glands The endocrine, or ductless, glands determine the basic character of our personality. We might go even farther and say that the basis of our personality is already predetermined at birth by the particular arrangement of our endocrine system. Of course, the personality is subject to all sorts of modifications, for better or for worse, by the many complicated factors of environment-i. e., family life, com- munity influences, companions, education, etc. But the point is that the specific type of our personality is already fixed at birth. 196 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY Among the most important of the endocrine glands are the pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, thymus, pineal, adrenals, gonads, etc. They produce internal secretions (or hormones) which act directly upon the organs and functions of the body through the blood. The pituitary, a small gland about the size of a hickory nut, lies in a bony setting at the base of the brain. It is divided into two parts, anterior and posterior. The secretion of the anterior regulates the growth of the bones and tendons of the body; while that of the latter (posterior) controls certain phases of the development of the nerve cells, the involuntary muscles and the brain. The thyroid is located at the frontal base of the neck, astride the windpipe. Together with the pituitary, it affects the hair growth, and influences the organs of digestion and elimination. The thyroid secretion is impor- tant in regulating energy production in the body. It is a determining factor in the all- round physical and mental development of the individual. The parathyroids, located near the tips of the thyroids, control the lime metabolism (up- building and repairing of tissues) in the body PHYSICAL BASES OF EMOTIONS 197 and influence the excitability of nerve and muscle. The thymus situated in the chest near the heart is the gland which regulates the develop- ment of childhood. It keeps us from growing up and maturing too fast. When adulthood is reached, this gland atrophies and ceases to exercise any function of importance in the glandular system. The pineal, near the center of the brain, in- fluences sex and brain development, and is also an important factor in regulating the course of adolescence and maturity. The adrenals, which lie behind the kidneys, control the pigmentation of the skin, but are of greater importance as the mobilizers of energy for emergency purposes. Their secretion, ad- renin, prepares the body for great physical exertion, and restores the tired or fatigued muscles and organs to their original ability after being subjected to intensive activity. These glands are really the seat of the "second wind," which enables the tired athlete to con- tinue with even better results after the first tired feeling of great fatigue. The gonads, or sexual glands, in addition to their function in the process of reproduction, 198 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY also produce internal secretions which regulate the development of all the secondary sex char- acteristics of the individual, male or female, as the case may be. The latest findings of endocrinology (sci- ence of the ductless glands) indicate that various types of character and temperament, emotions, moods, facial characteristics, eyes, teeth, hair, hands, form, etc., are all dependent upon the functions and relative influences and interactions of these glands. The Untiring Nerves The foregoing pages of this chapter have stressed the physical bases from which the emotions spring, or which, at least, contribute materially to their expression. Closely allied to these problems is the subject of "nerves," about which there is so much misunderstand- ing. There is ample evidence now at hand to prove that the great majority of so-called "nervous disorders," including neurasthenia and other disturbances, are not caused by nerve exhaustion, brain fag, or any other form of mental strain or overwork. The experimental psychologists and phys- iologists are unable to find any evidence that PHYSICAL BASES OF EMOTIONS 199 the brain and nerves can be exhausted by mental effort. To state it conservatively, their endurance is so great that, when the organism is properly nourished, they are to all intents and purposes practically non- exhaustible. It is now believed that mental exertion has no appreciable effect on the brain and nerve cells, but instead reacts on the senses, the blood, the organs, the muscles, and the flesh. There are, of course, instances where a person's work is obviously beyond his physical strength. But as these are not "nervous" cases, they do not come within the range of our discussion. The most painstaking research and ex- periment have proved that the so-called "nervous diseases" are not symptoms of an un- healthy condition of the nerves, brain, or spinal cord. They indicate instead a state of mis- placed, conflicting or uncontrollable interest and attention, and have their seat in the glands, the senses, the muscles, and the emotional mechanism of the body. Notwithstanding that nervous troubles have long been attributed to overwork, it is signif- icant that neurasthenia is as apt to be asso- ciated with underwork as overwork. There 200 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY are many neurotic patients who have so little to do that "killing time" is their main occupa- tion. And there are even greater numbers who have never approximated the maximum of their energetic capacity. As a matter of fact, the nervous system is at its best only when having a steady, free-moving outlet for the constant generating energy. The body is an energy-producing machine, a virtual dynamo, and the real problem of each individual's life is to learn how to expend all the energy available in a manner agreeable to himself and acceptable to society. Where the expenditure of energy is successfully expressed through activities that are interesting to the individual, there is not the least danger of nerve exhaustion or brain fag. If there are any exceptions to this rule, it will always be noted that there is a contribut- ing factor, mainly worry or fear, which is the real cause of the trouble. There is such a thing as actual disease or dis- integration of the nerve structure, as in loco- motor ataxia, resulting in paralysis, affecting those portions of the body that are controlled by the diseased nerves. These afflictions, how- ever, comprise a very small percentage of human maladies, whereas the so-called "nerv- PHYSICAL BASES OF EMOTIONS 201 ous disorders" exceed all other ailments com- bined. Dr. Paul Du Bois, an eminent authority on the psychic treatment of nervous disorders, has stated that out of all his nervous cases he has not found one which can be traced to intellectual overwork. Similar observations have been made by other specialists in neu- rology. Up to very recent years, the "rest cure" was very widely recommended for nerve sufferers. Its inefficacy has been proven, even if it has not altogether gone out of vogue. Where some good was accomplished in individual cases, it could be traced to the influence of the physician's personality, and not to the "rest." Not overwork (intellectually) but rather misdirected energy through excessive emo- tional leaks, is the cause of the typical run- down or nervous condition. Prominent among these basic causes are worry, fear, hate, and kindred emotions. Often they are not fully conscious and are hardly recognized as such by the sufferer himself, but a little in- vestigation into the mental habits of the victim invariably reveals these disintegrating factors at work. Dr. Du Bois has emphasized the possibilities 202 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY here involved in the following words: "An emotion tires the organization more than the most intense physical or intellectual work." Selecting Our Emotions We find, then, that emotional instability, psychic maladjustments, and neurotic disturb- ances, with all their far-reaching physical symptoms, are due to lack of energetic coordin- ation. As ideas and sentiments, or attitudes, are inseparably bound up with the emotions, it is impossible to conceive of an idea or to har- bor a sentiment that does not influence the whole physical being in some degree. We can, therefore, regulate our emotions, select them, if you will, by showing some intelligent discrimination in the ideas and sentiments we cultivate and entertain. It has long been observed that morose, gloomy, morbid, and kindred mental states have a depressing effect on the bodily func- tions, and that an enthusiastic state of mind reflects itself in a definite feeling of well-being throughout the whole physical organism. However, until lately, there was no scientific, systematic effort made to exploit the possibili- ties of this domain. The sentimental outpour- ings of professional optimists did little perma- PHYSICAL BASES OF EMOTIONS 203 nent good, because they dealt only with super- ficial effects, and not with underlying causes. Ideas are living, dynamic forces that perme- ate our very being. They become, in fact, part and parcel of our personality. And be- cause they live, they must express themselves. While they express themselves in words to a limited extent, they do so through the emotions to an enormous degree. All these manifestations are not noticeable in emotional outbursts, as a great amount of this idea-energization is consumed in emotional conflicts that are concealed from view. Often they are concealed from the conflict-torn indi- vidual himself-idea-complexes festering be- low the threshold of consciousness. Having grasped the significance of the fact that ideas are decisive influences in our lives, we can use this knowledge to analyze and clas- sify our ideas and consequently select our emo- tions. This does not imply that we should close our minds to the ideas or opinions of others, or re- fuse to consider all but the most limited selec- tion of abstract problems. On the contrary, we should open our minds freely and without bias to all the ideas that we can find the time to investigate, analyze, and pass upon. After all, 204 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY it is the little daily trials and tribulations (if we make them so!) that are so apt to throw our machine out of gear. Onsets of temper or temperament, outbursts of impatience and morbid streaks of dissatisfaction with affairs generally, can always be traced to ideas we have been nourishing. It is not necessary or desirable to get out of touch with reality by denying difficulties that exist. The logical thing to do is to try to over- come the cause of the trouble. The energy spent in doing this wholeheartedly will pre- vent morbid introspection, and at the same time will often solve the problems that beset us. We can analyze our ideas, if we learn to do so, and thereby reveal to ourselves their true value and relation to ourselves and our en- vironment. Thus, we shall be intelligently se- lecting our emotions and gain a fuller control and mastery over ourselves. A morbid idea or attitude, carefully nur- tured, as it so often is, will produce a morbid physical as well as mental state. As the inter- relation between the physical and psychical components of our organism is constant, the condition of one inevitably reacts on the other. PHYSICAL BASES OF EMOTIONS 205 One of the most powerful influences in our lives is suggestion, whether from without or from within (the latter being commonly known as autosuggestion). As we have ob- served before in many instances, suggestion plays a tremendous part in the matter of health and illness. Upon this truth is based the premise of those-entirely distinct from the New Nancy School-who advocate "think- ing health" and "talking health" as the best promoter of health. By all means "think" health and "talk" health-but do not stop there. Get down to basic causes. Obtain a thorough insight into the situation. It is the object of the present book to fulfill this requirement. One of the most prolific causes of nervous maladaptation is lack of constructive outlet for the utilization of the surplus energy. An adequate utilization of the libido or energetic force of the personality demands a liberal amount of ego-satisfaction. In other words, there must not only be an outlet or form of ex- pression, but the outlet must be of a nature that gives a high degree of pleasure to the indi- vidual. This fact emphasizes the desirability of congenial employment, the selecting of a 206 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY vocation that satisfies the particular bent of the ego-urge, and if possible the cultivation of a hobby, especially where one's occupation does not offer the requisite ego gratification. CHAPTER X CHILDHOOD PROBLEMS From the foregoing chapters, it is plain that the adult neurotic is a person who has the out- look in some fundamental respect of a child- but with the physical development and ener- getic constitution of a grown-up. This con- dition inevitably involves a conflict. On the one hand, there is the functioning of the ma- ture human organism, with the biological de- sires which accompany this development (even though they are not always recognized at their true value) ; and on the other hand, there is the childish or infantile attitude to- ward life, which necessarily denies adequate expression to the urges of this intricate organ- ism, and frustrates its normal cravings. It should be emphasized in passing that the neurotic characteristics of emotional under- development, or regression to the childhood state, are not always a question of education in the conventional sense, or the lack of it; nor are they a matter of one's mental age. The person 208 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY with a preadolescent mentality-beween eight and twelve years-is known as a moron. This condition, naturally, is accompanied by an emotional nature of an approximately corre- sponding age. Neurotic Culture The neurotic, on the other hand, may be a person of wide culture and learning. In fact, many neuroses have their origin in the attempt to meet cultural standards that are too high, or to attain them too quickly, causing undue emotional strain on the system at a period when the constitution cannot successfully stand it. This means that the individual has neglected or repressed certain functions that are natural to the long biological heritage of the organism, and that should be given suitable expression. And co-existent with this neglect or repres- sion of nature, there is the effort to achieve a high degree of development that is artificial (from the biological standpoint), and which civilization fosters and demands. This statement is not a criticism of cultural development, but merely a recognition of the fact that as nature makes no allowances for the extreme requirements of our highly organ- CHILDHOOD PROBLEMS 209 ized social life, each individual must make a satisfactory adjustment between his biologi- cal needs and the demands of society. In or- der to achieve the maximum of efficiency and usefulness in our social organization, it is necessary to give at least some definite con- sideration to the more primitive biological side of the personality. Neurotics among the highly educated, par- ticularly unmarried professional people who are denied normal sexual expression, are legion. While they have much learning, what they really lack is the vital quality of insight regarding their own nature. In many cases, the attempt to repress all thoughts of a sexual character from their minds has an even worse effect than the lack of normal sexual gratifi- cation which the organism consciously or un- consciously desires. Every neurosis or psychosis is a regression toward the infantile state of the individual or of his early prototype. Its tendencies are al- ways characterized by the attitude of the im- mature youth or primitive man, either in a specific sense or in general. It tends to ignore the exigencies of reality, and to follow the lines of least resistance along the capricious paths of fancy, futility or folly. 210 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY We all revert to a more primitive, irrational life in our dreams. This is a normal way of recuperating from the strain of meeting the harsh demands of reality. It relieves the psychic tension which accumulates during the day, as we conform to the highly artificial de- mands of modern society. But the neurotic in general, and the insane in particular, live in a more or less continuous dream, depending upon the extent of their affliction, and each interruption is an irritating shock. The neurotic meets the (to him) seemingly insurmountable problems of daily life with the same helplessness and fatalism that the normal person feels in the grip of a vivid anxiety-dream or nightmare. Nietzsche, who has given many apt observa- tions regarding dream phenomena and their relation to man's biological evolution and cul- tural development, makes the following com- parison between dream-life and the primitive state: "But with the same arbitrariness and con- fusion the ancients invented their mythologies, and even at the present day travelers are ac- customed to remark how prone the savage is to forgetfulness; how, after a short tension of memory, his mind begins to sway here and CHILDHOOD PROBLEMS 211 there from sheer weariness and gives forth lies and nonsense. But in dreams we all resemble the savage; bad recognition and erroneous comparisons are the reasons of the bad con- clusions, of which we are guilty in dreams: so that, when we clearly recollect what we have dreamt, we are alarmed at ourselves at harbor- ing so much foolishness within us. The per- fect distinctness of all dream-representations, which presupposes absolute faith in their reality, recall the conditions that appertain to primitive man, in whom hallucination was ex- traordinarily frequent, and sometimes simul- taneously seized entire communities, entire na- tions. Therefore, in sleep and in dreams, we once more carry out the task of earlier hu- manity." Once recognizing the relation of neuroses to a stage of halted development or a regression, it is most important from a practical stand- point to try and overcome the great predispos- ing causes of these impediments and regres- sions. Indeed, the most effective way of deal- ing with neuroses is to prevent them. It is evident that in our highly organized system of society, which demands so much of the individual, we cannot eliminate all the causes of neuroses, especially when every one 212 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY has innate traits that contain the germs of a neurosis. We all have a biological heritage which insures evidence of these qualities in some degree. While a rational sex life, proper living con- ditions, and other factors enter into the situa- tion, the fact remains that as so many neuroses have their genesis in childhood, we should therefore give children the benefit of an ade- quate insight into their psychic and emotional nature. This can be done, if the parents and teachers are initiated, in a way that will bring about the most lasting good to the individual and the race. Naturally, the beneficial results will increase extensively with every generation, because each child so trained is a potential parent or teacher, or in all likelihood will have some associations with youth and thus may in- fluence children in his maturity. It has been noted in the practice and ex- perience of neurologists and analysts that many children become neurotic because of an environment that virtually throws them into the arms of a neurosis. In some cases one or both of the parents may have decided neurotic tendencies. And as the child establishes his Neurotic Nurseries CHILDHOOD PROBLEMS 213 standard of behavior, patterns his conduct, from his parents, he seizes upon those traits be- cause they are usually conspicuous and attract the child's attention. If the neurotic tendencies are agreeable, they interest him, and therefore cause him more quickly to imitate them. If they are dis- agreeable, they none the less leave their indeli- ble impression to be repeated, consciously for their effect on others, or unconsciously from sheer force of the child's faculty of impersona- tion. There is another type of parent that can fos- ter a neurosis such as to warp the nature of a child and check the full development of nor- mal adulthood. That is the mother, or maybe the father, who because of lack of understand- ing of child-psychology, hinders its develop- ment, either by the mistaken kindness of doing too much for the child and causing it to be- come dependent and non-resourceful; or, by constant criticism and belittling the youthful efforts, causes the initiative and self-confidence of the youngster to become atrophied. In either case, the result is that the child grows up unfitted to grapple with the prob- lems of life. He is staggered by the stern de- mands of reality, and fails, or finds himself 214 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY tremendously handicapped, to meet the re- quirements of his environment. Instincts to Learn There are three instincts that contribute pri- marily to the education and development of the child. Curiosity, Imitation, and Repeti- tion. Full exercise of these instincts is abso- lutely necessary for the development of child- hood. Not only should they be tolerated, but they should be stimulated-along constructive, helpful lines. To the nervous, irritable parent, the opera- tion of these instincts is usually annoying, sometimes distracting. The curiosity of the normal child which prompts it to ask endless questions about everything that attracts its attention is astounding. From the time the infant begins to talk and walk (enabling it to come in contact with and see more things), it resolves itself into an ani- mated interrogation mark. And there is not only the verbal curiosity; there is the desire to know, for instance, of what the stuffed animal or doll is made. A little primitive ingenuity may disclose the sawdust. When this desire is satisfied, with possible disaster to the toy, the enterprising youngster may turn to the family CHILDHOOD PROBLEMS 215 cat. The curiosity that speculates on what makes the "purr," and whence it comes, may lead to the startling information that the cat has very sharp claws, and that these claws make red, irritating marks on the tender flesh, and may draw blood! It should be obvious to the resourceful, in- telligent mother, with a little knowledge of child psychology, that simple explanations of the perishable nature of favorite toys and their composition, and the self-defensive armor of the pet cat and dog, will minimize undue ex- perimentation. The robust little boy who has a strong sadist tendency, of course, will be more apt to per- form feats of vivisection on the stuffed cat than will the masochistic little girl, who pre- fers to shower devoted attentions on her doll. Her tactual curiosity will be evidenced in in- vestigating the details of the doll's clothing, examining its wonderful hair and other beauty- spots. Whereas curiosity is the instinct that leads a child to know, imitation is the instinct that leads him to do. And in the practical side of life, doing is as important as knowing. Knowledge that is acquired merely for the purpose of giving satisfaction to its possessor, 216 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY is quite a useless ornament. It becomes of lasting good only when it is applied to the extent of its possibilities. This is the charac- teristic that has put man into the time-binding class of life.1 The faculty of imitation in the child is keen and its manifestations are so ramified that we can hardly credit its real significance. Its po- tentialities for good or evil are dependent al- most entirely on the environment, and, unfor- tunately, the child cannot choose its environ- ment. The character of the child is largely moulded in its early surroundings by the parents, homelife, neighborhood associations and teachers. The future man or woman is either developed, or warped, sometimes irre- trievably so, by the early life. Thus the "formative" period of life is literally and psy- chologically well named. Professor Lester Ward has called the skilful and daring criminal the "genius of the slums." This is an expressive term, and a sad commen- tary on the irrational condition of our social organization. It means that when native tal- ent or genius finds its birthright in the slums, its aims too often become perverted, and in i Alfred Korzybski, "The Manhood of Humanity," New York, 1921. CHILDHOOD PROBLEMS 217 order to satisfy its craving for achievement, to secure an outlet for the expression of its powerful ego-urge, it almost inevitably devel- ops along some anti-social channel-into the adroit crook, or master criminal. The tendency of the child to imitate its par- ents in speech is universally noticed. The un- derlying reason for this, however, is not ade- quately realized, nor are the possibilities given anywhere near the consideration that their seriousness warrants. The child will imitate 'Tad" acts as well as "good"; improper speech as well as proper. In fact, as there is ordinarily a reaction of unusual interest on the part of adults to ques- tionable things that children say and do, the latter are quick to perceive that they have aroused unusual attention, and delight in hold- ing this attention by following up the inter- esting lead they have struck through imita- tion. Not only are children prone to imitate words and sentences, but all sorts of expressions, ac- tions, characteristics, and peculiarities, humor- ous, serious, and otherwise. Commonplace things, they imitate unconsciously for the most part, and things out of the ordinary or new, they seize upon with abandon. It is notice- 218 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY able that a small child will consistently imitate a cough, an unusual facial expression, a ges- ture, and, later, attitudes and emotional traits. Thus, it is easy to see how a great many chil- dren drift into a neurosis through sheer imita- tion of neurotic attitudes, which in time be- come ingrained into the character and person- ality. Repetition is actuated by the same biolog- ical motive as imitation. It is a factor in the process of education-for good or bad. In fact, repetition is an extended form of imita- tion. Something new and novel is more apt to be repeated. The child will repeat and keep on repeating a new word, or sound, or expression. If given a new toy drum, the little boy will beat away on some monotonous tone to the point of distraction. The noise he is making is not the incentive, but the urge to act, to use his muscles, to free his emotional tension. If another boy beats the drum, to his deprivation, he is in misery. The sounds, re- sulting from other hands, do not console him. Beating a drum, blowing a whistle, romp- ing, running, climbing, jumping, shouting, all offer an emotional outlet, combined with more or less muscular activity. They all involve forms of repetition of muscular effort and emo- CHILDHOOD PROBLEMS 219 tional discharge. This is necessary for the normal development of the child. Where the normal demands of childhood are frustrated by the denial of adequate vent to these elementary urges, there is the tendency in adult life to revert to childhood in some symbolical form. Instead of outgrowing this period by satisfying the cravings for expres- sion peculiar to the age of youth, there remains unbroken an unconscious attachment that is ever drawing the subject back to the emotion- ally unfulfilled stage of childhood. Poverty, of course, prevents a great many children from enjoying a well developed youth; but there are countless numbers of neurotics among those raised in homes of substantial means and a high degree of economic security. These cases are due to a lack of insight on the part of parents. Irrational inhibitions, and at- tempts to gain prematurely a high cultural level, may in childhood result in a twisted psy- che that retains its kinks throughout adult life. Sex Education Probably no phase of the child's education, in the great majority of cases, is more neg- lected or warped than the sexual. This does not mean that sex should be stressed in child- 220 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY hood. Instead, it should be treated in a mat- ter-of-fact way, and by neither shunning nor emphasizing it, the subject is accorded its proper place in the scheme of things.1 The child is early curious about sex and the origin of life, which is a normal manifestation of the budding intellect. This curiosity should be satisfied, as it can be in a most wholesome way, without stimulating the imagination. In fact, there is no surer way of stimulating the imagination along unhealthy channels than by attempting to evade or suppress curiosity. If the child displays too much interest in the sexual side of its body, then instead of severe reprimands, threats, or chastisement, the only rational method is to win the confidence of the child-and every parent should have and hold this confidence. And then by kindly sug- gestions, sympathetic advice and constructive supervision, the activities and interests of the child should be directed in other channels suit- able to its age and development. The dire effects of harsh admonitions and chastisement for childish expressions of sexual curiosity and interest, are incalculable. This old-fashioned treatment which has its basis in the falsity of ancient puritanical standards, has 1 See "Sanity in Sex," Chapter VIII, by William J. Fielding. CHILDHOOD PROBLEMS 221 given countless numbers of individuals a dis- torted idea of sex, and, therefore, of life in general. And only too often this baneful con- dition remains throughout life. Rational sex education has received a pow- erful impetus from the findings and construc- tive suggestions of modern, dynamic psychol- ogy. And childhood, no less than adulthood, has benefited and will continue to do so on an ever widening scale, from the epoch-making results of psycho-analysis, and of its powerful ally in the domain of the Unconscious-auto- suggestion. GLOSSARY ABASIA. Inability to walk. ABREACTION. The process of discharging re- pressed emotion connected with a painful past ex- perience by describing the experience vividly to the analyst. ADDISON'S DISEASE. Bronzed skin disease. AEROPHOBIA. Fear of high places. AGORAPHOBIA. Fear of open places. AMBIVALENCE. The experiencing of opposite feelings at the same time; such as love and hatred for the same person. AMNESIA. A complete loss of memory for a given period. ANAESTHESIA. Loss of physical sensation. APHASIA. Inability to speak. ARITHMOMANIA. The impulse to count every- thing. ASTRAPAPHOBIA. Fear of thunder and light- ning. AUTO-EROTISM. Self-gratification of an infan- tile character. AUTOSUGGESTION. The subconscious realiza- tion of an idea (usually independent of heterosug- gestion), which tends to transform itself into ac- tion. 222 GLOSSARY 223 BISEXUALISM. The condition of a person equally attracted by both sexes. CATHARSIS. A mental cleansing performed through bringing to the consciousness painful and repressed facts and experiences. CENSOR. The repressing force in the mind which tends to prevent the unpleasant from becoming conscious. CLAUSTROPHOBIA. Fear of enclosed places. COMPLEX. A group of ideas bearing upon one central idea, which is wholly or in part suppressed, together with its emotional tone. CONDENSATION. A fusion of events, thoughts, pictures, and individuals. CONSTELLATION. A group of interrelated complexes. CONVERSION. The transformation of an emo- tion into a physical manifestation. DELUSION. False belief reposing on no logical foundation. DISPLACEMENT. Substitution of an unimpor- tant idea for an important one, for purposes of concealment. ELECTRA COMPLEX. An exaggerated attach- ment, sometimes of an incestuous or neurotic ori- gin, of the female child for her father and her con- sequent hostility to her mother. EROGENOUS ZONE. Any special area of the body which may, when stimulated, give arise to erotic emotions. 224 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY ERYTHROMANIA. Compulsive blushing. ERYTHROPHOBIA. The fear of the color red. EUPHORIA. A feeling of well-being. EXHIBITIONISM. Gratification experienced through exposing one's body or genitals. EXTROVERSION. The turning of one's interests toward the outside world. FETICHISM. Gratification derived from touching or looking at certain parts of the body or a piece of apparel symbolizing a part of the body. FIXATION. The exaggerated attachment of a child for one of its parents. GRAVES' DISEASE. Exophthalmic goitre. HALLUCINATION. An auditory or visual sensa- tion originating in the mind without any external stimulus. HETEROSEXUALITY. The normal attraction for persons of the opposite sex. HOMOSEXUALITY. The abnormal attraction for persons of the same sex. INCEST. A sexual act with, or erotic desire towards, a near relative. INTROVERSION. The turning of one's interest upon one's self. KLEPTOMANIA. The impulse to steal things. LIBIDO. Freud's hypothesis of man's energetic constitution, or vital urge. In a more restricted sense, sexual craving. MASOCHISM (a term derived from Sacher-Masoch, GLOSSARY 225 who described perversions) : Gratification, some- times of a sexual nature, derived from submitting to domination or violence. MEGALOMANIA. Delusion of greatness. METABOLISM. The transformation of foodstuffs into tissue elements and of complex substances into simpler ones in the production of energy. NARCISSISM (from Narcissus, the youth who fell in love with his own image) : Gratification derived from admiring one's self. CEDIPUS COMPLEX. An exaggerated attach- ment, sometimes of an incestuous or neurotic ori- gin, of the male child for his mother and his con- sequent hostility toward his father. ONANISM. Sexual self-gratification. ONOMATOMANIA. The impulse to repeat cer- tain words. PHOBIA. An abnormal fear. POLYMORPHOUS PERVERSE (Freud). Infan- tile activities similar to adult perversions. PYROMANIA. The impulse to set fire to things. REGRESSION. Psychic reversion to an earlier or more primitive type of mental life, symbolized by more primitive forms of energetic expression, often erotic. RESISTANCE. The obstructive force tending to keep unpleasant material repressed and prevent- ing such material from entering the conscious mind. The Censor. 226 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY SADISM (from Marquis de Sade, a French per- vert) : Gratification, at times of a sexual nature, derived from overpowering or punishing others. SECONDARY ELABORATION. The attempt of the dream-work to bring a logical sequence into the apparently disconnected fabric of the dream- phantasy. SUBLIMATION. The directing of sexual crav- ings toward other aims of a non-sexual nature. TRANSFERENCE. The act of transferring (dis- placing) psychic energy from one idea to another. In case of analysis, from the patient to the psycho- analyst. TRAUMA. Injury, psychic or physical. UNCONSCIOUS. Ideas or memories which cannot be brought to consciousness without extraneous help. VOYEUR. A person who derives gratification from looking at sexual objects or witnessing sexual scenes. BIBLIOGRAPHY The following list of important books on Psycho- Analysis, Autosuggestion and related subjects will be helpful to the reader who is desirous of continu- ing the study: ADLER, ALFRED, The Neurotic Constitution, Moffat, Yard, New York. A series of studies of neurotic life. ADLER, ALFRED, Study of Organ Inferiority and its Physical Compensation, Nervous and Men- tal Disease Monograph Series No. 24. BAUDOUIN, CHARLES, Suggestion and Auto- suggestion, Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. A theoretical analysis of the doctrine of the New Nancy School. BJERRE, POUL, The History and Practice of Psy- cho-Analysis, Badger, Boston. An exposition of the subject by the leading Scandinavian analyst. BOUSFIELD, PAUL, The Elements of Practical Psycho-Analysis, Dutton, New York. An account of the theory, technique and scope of Psycho- analysis BROOKS, C. HARRY, The Practice of Autosug- gestion (By the method of Emile Coue) Dodd, Mead. CORIAT, I., The Meaning of Dreams, Little, Brown, 228 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY Boston. A Psycho-analytic interpretation of dreams. CORIAT, I., What Is Psychoanalysis? Moffat, Yard, New York. The theory explained in the form of questions and answers. COUE, EMILE, Self-Mastery through Conscious Autosuggestion, American Library Service, New York. A brief exposition by Coue of his method. CRANE, AARON MARTIN, Right and Wrong Thinking and Their Results, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston. Emphasizes the possibil- ities which man may achieve through his own mental control. EVANS, ELIDA, Problem of the Nervous Child, Dodd, Mead, New York. Tracing the ills of adult life to the environment of childhood. FERENCZI, S., Contributions to Psycho-Analysis, Badger, Boston. Papers on the question by the prominent Hungarian analyst. FIELDING, WILLIAM J., The Caveman Within Us, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. A study of the mechanism and duality of personality, as a guide to health and efficiency, through Self-mas- tery and Self-expression. FIELDING, WILLIAM J., Sanity In Sex, Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. A popular presentation of the vital problems of sex, with an important chapter on Psycho-analysis. FIELDING, WILLIAM J., Psycho-Analysis-The BIBLIOGRAPHY 229 Key to Human Behavior, Haldeman-Julius Co. Girard, Kansas. A psycho-analytic interpreta- tion of human behavior. FIELDING, WILLIAM J., The Puzzle of Person- ality, Haldeman-Julius Co. Reveals the hidden psychic and physical elements that make up per- sonality. FREUD, SIGMUND, The Interpretation of Dreams, Macmillan, New York. A comprehensive study of dreams and their relation to our waking life. FREUD, SIGMUND, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Macmillan. Explains everyday actions in the light of psycho-analysis. FREUD, SIGMUND, Wit and its Relation of the Unconscious, Moffat, Yard. An explanation of the unconscious basis of wit. FREUD, SIGMUND, Totem and Taboo, Moffat, Yard. Demonstrates the powerful unconscious in- fluences in primitive life. FREUD, SIGMUND, General Introduction to Psy- cho-Analysis, Boni & Liveright, New York. A collection of lectures on the subject. FRINK, H. W. Morbid Fears and Compulsions, Moffat, Yard. A technical review of the neuroses and their pathology. JONES, ERNEST, Papers on Psycho-Analysis, William Wood, New York. An extensive collec- tion of psycho-analytic material. JUNG, C. G., The Psychology of the Unconscious, 230 HEALTH AND SELF-MASTERY Moffat, Yard. A treatise on the unconscious mind, emphasizing its influence on mythology and religion. JUNG, C. G., Analytical Psychology, Moffat, Yard. A statement of the Zurich school of analysts. KEMPF, E. J., The Autonomic Functions and the Personality, Nervous and Mental Disease Mono- graph Series No. 28. t LAY, WILFRID, Man's Unconscious Conflict, Dodd, Mead. An exposition of the elements of Freudian psychology. LAY, WILFRID, The Child's Unconscious Mind, Dodd, Mead. Gives an insight into the psychol- ogy of childhood. LOW, BARBARA, Psycho-Analysis, Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York. A brief account of the Freudian theory. PFISTER, OSKAR, The Psycho-Analytic Method, Moffat, Yard. A comprehensive exposition of psycho-analytic principles. TRIDON, ANDRE, Psycho-Analysis, Its History, Theory and Practice, Huebsch, New York. An outline of the psycho-analytic movement from its inception. TRIDON, ANDRE, Psycho-Analysis, and Behavior, A. Knopf, New York. Emphasizes the mecha- nistic basis of behavior. TRIDON, ANDRE, Psycho-Analysis, Sleep and Dreams, Knopf. A popular treatise on sleep and dreams from the psycho-analytic standpoint. BIBLIOGRAPHY 231 WHITE, W. A., Mechanism of Character Forma- tion, Macmillan, New York. An analytic inter- pretation of character formation. WHITE, W. A., Principles of Mental Hygiene, Macmillian. A program of rational mental hy- giene. INDEX Abraham, Karl, 58 Absent-mindedness, 10, 165 Adaptation, 106 Adler, A., ix, 120, 173 Adolescence, 87 176 Ainus of Japan, 60 Alexander the Great, 94 Anxiety-neurosis, 23, 32, 116 Apollo's Oracle, 25 Aristotle, vii Association test, 27 Auto-erotic, 33 Automatic organic mechan- ism, 13 writing, 169 Autonomic nervous system, 191 Autopsycho-analysis, 44 Autosuggestion and dreams, 70 autonomic functions, x, 13, 192 bad, 13, 14 confusion about, 11 effort, 130 formula of, 11, 134 good, 14 imagination, 14, 15, 71, 129 law of reversed effort, 12 not metaphysics, 12 practice of, 128, 192 process of, 129 will, 12, 130 Bacchus, 92 Baudouin, Charles, 41 Beethoven, 176 Bergson, Henri, 32 Biogenesis, law of, 191 Biological mechanism, 189 Breurer, J., 17 Brill, A. A., 84 Byron, Lord, 176 Caesar, 94 Caveman within Us, The, 114, 191 Censor, Psychic, 48, 63, 66 Cervantes, 95 Charcot, 17 Childhood problems, xi, 207 Christian Science, ix Christianity, 10 Color-blindness, 144 Complexes, 22 Electra, 26 nuclear, 52, 145 CEdipus, 23, 26 Conflict, 106, 108 Coriat, I., 50 Cotton, H. A., 124 Cone, E., ix, 11, 14, 132 Craig, William, 151 Craving, 32 Crawley, V., 91 Delphi, 25 Dementia prcecox, 6 Democritus, 176 Demosthenes, 176 DeQuincey, 176 233 234 INDEX Dewey, John, 190 Dreams, 10 anxiety, 52, 64, 73 condensation, 48 day-, 31, 75, 76, 80 displacement, 48, 49 dramatization, 48, 49 interpretations, 66, 67 latent content, 48 manifest content, 48 mechanism of, 48 reflect real personality, 72 secondary elaboration, 48, 49 symbolism, 56, 60 typical, 51, 54 Du Bois, Paul, 201 Edison, T., 176 Ego and names, 163 urge, 173 Ejaculatio proecox, 117 Elan vital, 32 Electra complex, 26 myth of, 26 Ellis, Havelock, 35 Emotional actions, 23 obsessions, 117 Emotions, physical bases, 188 Endocrine glands, 195 Endocrinology, 198 Epictetus, 176 Erogenous zones, 37 Euripides, 26 Exhibitionism, 154 Faith-healing cults, 12 Feminists, 9 Fetichism, 152 Fielding, William J., 114, 220 Fischer, Kuna, 83 Fits, epileptoid, 112 Folklore, 58, 60, 82 Foreconscious, 21, 57 Forgetfulness, 160 Frazer, J. G., 60 Freud, Sigmund, ix, 10, 16, 17% 21, 22, 24, 31, 32, 41, 46, 52, 74, 84, 90, 91, 106, 115, 116, 117, 118,149,163, 172, 186 Freudian viewpoint, 16 Genius, 175 Glands, endocrine, 195 Greeks, ancient, vii, 149 Hall, G. Stanley, 18 Hamlet, 84 Hebraic theology, viii Hebrews, viii Hecate, worship of, 71 Heine, 94 Hippocrates, Father of Medi- cine, vii Hitschmann, E., 20, 33, 52 Homosexuality, 8, 150 Horme, 32 Human impulses, 40 behavior, 8 Humor, 79, 99 Hungarian folk-tale, 93 Husbands, impotent, 32, 117 Hysteria, 22, 118 Image, parent, 142, 145, 149 Imagination, 11, 15 Impulses, 107 Incest barrier, 52, 149 taboo, 52 wish, 52, 60 Insanity, 6, 9, 109, 124 Instincts, 32 to learn, 214 Intuitionism, 42 Irish wake, 82 INDEX 235 Jam.es, William, 98 Janet, P., ix Jocasta, 24, 26, 148 Johnson, Dr., 95 Jokes, 10, 88 practical, 87 Jones, Ernest, 53 Jung, C. G., ix, 29, 30, 32, 36 Kant, 109 Keller, Helen, 176 Kempf, E. J., ix, 113 Kerr, Rose, 54 Korzybski, A., 216 Kraus, A., 109 Labdacus, 25 Laius, 24, 25 Laughter, 31, 96 Laws, nature's, 4 Lay, Wilfrid, 38 Leibnitz, 94 Libido, 32, 33, 36, 115, 173 Lichtenberg, 94, 95 Lincoln, A., 92 Lipps, Theo., 83 Literary atrocities, 184 Literary Digest, 54 Love, 136 Masochism, 156, 158 Matteawan, 84 Mental disorders, 6 Misreading, 167 Mobs, 11 Moses, viii Mozart, 175 Mother-in-law jokes, 89 Mythology, 58 Narcissism, 38, 52 Narcissus, 38 Neurasthenia, 22, 115 Neuroses, theories of, ix anxiety, 22, 32, 116 obsessional, 119 physical effects of, 110, 113 psycho, 22, 115 true, 22, 115 Neurotic culture, 208 nurseries, 212 New Jersey State Hospital, 124 New Nancy School, 42, 205 New Thought, ix Newton, I., 95 Nietzsche, F., 58, 72, 176 Nightmare, 52, 64, 73 Nuclear complex, 52, 145 Obsessions, 22, 111 Odin, 176 CEdipus, King, 24, 147, 148 CEdipus complex, 23, 24 Organ inferiority, 174 compensation for, 175 Overwork (intellectual) and nervousness, 200 Paul, Jean, 83 Pearson, Karl, 143 Peeping Toms, 40, 154 Peterson, 29 Phallic symbolism, 54 in Hindu temple, 56 Phillips, Wendell, 92 Phantasying, 75, 80 Phister, O., 112, 168 Phobias, 118 Phocion, 85 Pigeons, experiments with, 151 Plato, vii Pleasure principle, 101 Polonius, 84 Polybus, King of Corinth, 25, 148 236 INDEX Pregnancy, phantom, 118 Primitive man, 33 taboos, 90 Prince, Morton, ix, 112 Psychic disturbances, 19 insight, x Psycho-analysis and autosuggestion, 41, 129, 135 complexes, 43, 52, 145 curative value, 121 dreams, 10, 31, 50 forgetfulness, 10, 160 gives self-understanding, x, 1, 2 human problems, 7 interpreting natural laws, 5 key to human behavior, 8 social reactions, 2, 172 therapeutic and cultural, 5 war, 10, 181 wit, 10, 79 Psycho-neuroses, 22, 24 Psychoses, 120 Putnam, J. J., 32 Radicals, 9, 179 Reactionaries, 2, 181 Reality principle, 101, 105 Religions, ancient, viii Repressions and the neuroses, 100 Reveries, 76 Reversed effort, law of, 12 Rioting, psychology of, 185 Roosevelt, T., 176 Sadism, 156 Sanity in Sex, 122, 220 St. Augustine, 72 Schopenhauer, A., 109 Sensuality, 35 Sex act, 122 education, 219 problems, of, 4, 119 Sexual functions, 22, 121 repressions, 32, 118, 139 symbolism, 60 Sexuality, 34 infant, 35 Shakespeare, 84 Shell-shock, 81, 82 Socrates, vii, 176 Socratic precept, 45 Sophocles, 24, 148 Sphinx, 25 Stammering, 166 Suicide, 128 Swisher, W. S., Ill Symbolic falls, 56 Symbolism, 54 Syphilis, 6 Taboos of primitive peoples, 53, 90, 104 Thebes, King of, 25 Totem and Taboo, 90 Tridon, Andrd, 150, 179 "Tumor," hysterical, 111 Tyr, 176 Unconscious dislikes, 164 destructive tendencies, 98 mental processes, 20 mind, 16, 31 mythology, 38 passion, 141 vastness of, 18 Untiring nerves, 198 Venus de Milo, 94 Vidir, 176 Vischer, Theo. 83 Voyeur, 154 Vulcan, 176 INDEX 237 War, atrocities of, 10 spirit, 181 White, William A., 40, 110 Will, 11, 15 Wit, 10, 31 illogical, 85, 93 primitive, 85, 91 relieves psychic tension, 81 social, 80 spontaneity of, 89 unconscious basis, 79 Wish-fulfilment, 47, 68 Wives, frigid, 33, 150 Wundt, 109 Yoni-lingham, 56 Zulu woman, 91