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babes are suggested; and men pent into a burning theatre have



been known to cut their way through the crowd with knives。'144'







'144' 〃'Love would not be love;' says Bourget; 'unless it could



carry one to crime。'  And so one may say that no passion would be



a veritable passion unless it could carry one to crime。〃   



(Sighele:  Psychollogie des sectes; p。 136。) In other words;



great passions annul the ordinary inhibitions set by



〃conscience。〃  And conversely; of all the criminal human beings;



the false; cowardly; sensual; or cruel persons who actually live;



there is perhaps not one whose criminal impulse may not be at



some moment overpowered by the presence of some other emotion to



which his character is also potentially liable; provided that



other emotion be only made intense enough。  Fear is usually the



most available emotion for this result in this particular class



of persons。  It stands for conscience; and may here be classed



appropriately as a 〃higher affection。〃  If we are soon to die; or



if we believe a day of judgment to be near at hand; how quickly



do we put our moral house in orderwe do not see how sin can



evermore exert temptation over us! Old…fashioned hell…fire



Christianity well knew how to extract from fear its full



equivalent in the way of fruits for repentance; and its full



conversion value。















One mode of emotional excitability is exceedingly important in



the composition of the energetic character; from its peculiarly



destructive power over inhibitions。  I mean what in its lower



form is mere irascibility; susceptibility to wrath; the fighting



temper; and what in subtler ways manifests itself as impatience;



grimness; earnestness; severity of character。 Earnestness means



willingness to live with energy; though energy bring pain。  The



pain may be pain to other people or pain to one's selfit makes



little difference; for when the strenuous mood is on one; the aim



is to break something; no matter whose or what。  Nothing



annihilates an inhibition as irresistibly as anger does it; for;



as Moltke says of war; destruction pure and simple is its



essence。  This is what makes it so invaluable an ally of every



other passion。  The sweetest delights are trampled on with a



ferocious pleasure the moment they offer themselves as checks to



a cause by which our higher indignations are elicited。  It costs



then nothing to drop friendships; to renounce long…rooted



privileges and possessions; to break with social ties。  Rather do



we take a stern joy in the astringency and desolation; and what



is called weakness of character seems in most cases to consist in



the inaptitude for these sacrificial moods; of which one's own



inferior self and its pet softnesses must often be the targets



and the victims。'145'







'145' Example:  Benjamin Constant was often marveled at as an



extraordinary instance of superior intelligence with inferior



character。  He writes (Journal; Paris; 1895; p。 56); 〃I am tossed



and dragged about by my miserable weakness。  Never was anything



so ridiculous as my indecision。  Now marriage; now solitude; now



Germany; now France hesitation upon hesitation; and all because



at bottom I am UNABLE TO GIVE UP ANYTHING。〃  He can't 〃get mad〃



at any of his alternatives; and the career of a man beset by such



an all…round amiability is hopeless。















So far I have spoken of temporary alterations produced by



shifting excitements in the same person。  But the relatively



fixed differences of character of different persons are explained



in a precisely similar way。  In a man with a liability to a



special sort of emotion; whole ranges of inhibition habitually



vanish; which in other men remain effective; and other sorts of



inhibition take their place。  When a person has an inborn genius



for certain emotions; his life differs strangely from that of



ordinary people; for none of their usual deterrents check him。 



Your mere aspirant to a type of character; on the contrary; only



shows; when your natural lover; fighter; or reformer; with whom



the passion is a gift of nature; comes along; the hopeless



inferiority of voluntary to instinctive action。  He has



deliberately to overcome his inhibitions; the genius with the



inborn passion seems not to feel them at all; he is free of all



that inner friction and nervous waste。  To a Fox; a Garibaldi; a



General Booth; a John Brown; a Louise Michel; a Bradlaugh; the



obstacles omnipotent over those around them are as if



non…existent。  Should the rest of us so disregard them; there



might be many such heroes; for many have the wish to live for



similar ideals; and only the adequate degree of



inhibition…quenching fury is lacking。'146'







'146' The great thing which the higher excitabilities give is



COURAGE; and the addition or subtraction of a certain amount of



this quality makes a different man; a different life。  Various



excitements let the courage loose。  Trustful hope will do it;



inspiring example will do it; love will do it; wrath will do it。 



In some people it is natively so high that the mere touch of



danger does it; though danger is for most men the great inhibitor



of action。  〃Love of adventure〃 becomes in such persons a ruling



passion。  〃I believe;〃 says General Skobeleff; 〃that my bravery



is simply the passion and at the same time the contempt of



danger。  The risk of life fills me with an exaggerated rapture。



The fewer there are to share it; the more I like it。  The



participation of my body in the event is required to furnish me



an adequate excitement。  Everything intellectual appears to me to



be reflex; but a meeting of man to man; a duel; a danger into



which I can throw myself headforemost; attracts me; moves me;



intoxicates me。  I am crazy for it; I love it; I adore it。  I run



after danger as one runs after women; I wish it never to stop。



Were it always the same; it would always bring me a new pleasure。







When I throw myself into an adventure in which I hope to find it;



my heart palpitates with the uncertainty; I could wish at once to



have it appear and yet to delay。  A sort of painful and delicious



shiver shakes me; my entire nature runs to meet the peril with an



impetus that my will would in vain try to resist。 (Juliette Adam: 



Le General Skobeleff; Nouvelle Revue; 1886; abridged。) Skobeleff



seems to have been a cruel egoist; but the disinterested



Garibaldi; if one may judge by his 〃Memorie;〃 lived in an



unflagging emotion of similar danger…seeking excitement。















The difference between willing and merely wishing; between having



ideals that are creative and ideals that are but pinings and



regrets; thus depends solely either on the amount of



steam…pressure chronically driving the character in the ideal



direction; or on the amount of ideal excitement transiently



acquired。  Given a certain amount of love; indignation;



generosity; magnanimity; admiration; loyalty; or enthusiasm of



self…surrender; the result is always the same。  That whole raft



of cowardly obstructions; which in tame persons and dull moods



are sovereign impediments to action; sinks away at once。  Our



conventionality;'147' our shyness; laziness; and stinginess; our



demands for precedent and permission; for guarantee and surety;



our small suspicions; timidities; despairs; where are they now? 



Severed like cobwebs; broken like bubbles in the sun







     〃Wo sind die Sorge nun und Noth



      Die mich noch gestern wollt' erschlaffen?



      Ich scham' mich dess' im Morgenroth。〃







The flood we are borne on rolls them so lightly under that their



very contact is unfelt。  Set free of them; we float and soar and



sing。  This auroral openness and uplift gives to all creative



ideal levels a bright and caroling quality; which is nowhere more



marked than where the controlling emotion is religious。  〃The



true monk;〃 writes an Italian mystic; 〃takes nothing with him but



his lyre。〃







'147' See the case on p。 69; above; where the writer describes



his experiences of communion with the Divine as consisting



〃merely in the TEMPORARY OBLITERATION OF THE CONVENTIONALITIES



which usually cover my life。〃















We may now turn from these psychological generalities to those



fruits of the religious state which form the special subject of



our present lecture。  The man who lives in his religious centre



of personal energy; and is actuated

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