How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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savage and civilized communities share a common denominator of social responsibility. Just as in the case of work, the sexual problem is a matter whose solution cannot be left to individual caprice. Every unsocial sexual relation affects not only the individuals involved but also their neighbours and their progeny. Were it not for this fact we should not have such complicated mores respecting the sex relations. Incest, child-marriage, rape, and homo¬ sexuality would not bear the stigma of social taboo were it not for the fact that these forms of sexual union are subversive of the social good because they are socially irresponsible. Marriage and the foundation of the family and the assumption of its complicated obligations and responsibilities, or the preparation for this solution, remain, with work and social adjustment, fundamental techniques in the art of being human. And here too the converse is true—the unmarried individual, with rare exceptions, falls short of human security and happiness. Let us review briefly the basic data of this chapter. You have seen that the human being is an organism especially weak and poorly adapted for life in this world. You have seen, furthermore, that the period of dependence of the human infant is relatively longer than that of the young of any other animal. You have learned that a child’s brain grows faster than his body ; and for this reason a child is the only living organism that experiences his own deficiencies. You have found that for these three important biological reasons every human being falls heir to a feeling of inferiority. This feeling of inferiority has been compensated for by nature by means of the com¬ plicated and many-sided adjustments of social life. You have learned, moreover, that to be a complete and effective human being you must affirm the pattern of human compensations, that is, that you must accept as many of the bonds of human relationship as possible in order to be secure and happy in your humanity. We have shown that in order to gain this sense of security, totality, and happiness you must take a definite attitude toward the problems of work and of sex, and solve these problems