How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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- Publication/creation
- London : George Routledge, 1932.
- Physical description
- xiv, 374 pages ; 22 cm
- Contributors
- Wolfe, W. Béran 1900-1935.
- Notes
-
This edition was reprinted in 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946 and 1948.
Copy 1 Note: 1937 reprint. X158203
- Attribution and usage
-
Wellcome Collection
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desires). But whatever the unconscious goal or its
conscious crystallization in reality, the goal always
represents a substitution of a “ plus ” for the “ minus ”
he has experienced as a child. We have learned that
everyone’s life is a direct and unit pattern of striving from
the “ minus ” situation of childhood to the imagined,
unformulated, unconscious goal of the “ plus ” situation
of adulthood, via the half-way goal crystallized in some
conscious representation or symbolization of the complete
goal of godlike power.
Once the goal of our striving is set in our unconscious,
and crystallized, for convenience, in some conscious
attribute of totality, we look about us for ways and means
of attaining our purpose, and the sum total of these ways
and means is called character and personality. It is no
more reasonable to believe that Mr. Jones is always late
for appointments because of deviations in the secretion
of his pituitary gland than it is to believe that an epileptic
fit is an indication of daemonic domination of the
diseased. It is no more reasonable to believe that
Mr. Johnson always drives his car at the head of a
procession because his sexual libido has been repressed,
than it is to believe that he wears blue neck-ties
because he is habitually constipated. Anyone who really
understands human nature must realize that these
character traits are not the accidental products of the
interaction of blind hereditary or glandular forces. These
traits are logical and rational tools which Mr. Jones and
Mr. Johnson have selected from an imposing catalogue
of possible habits, traits, reactions and responses, because
they are the most appropriate means of attaining their
respective goals in life.
Let us look into the history of Mr. Jones. He was the
spoiled child of wealthy parents. His childhood was a
happy dream, an ideal paradise of parasitic irresponsibility.
His parents fell upon evil days, and lost their fortune
after Mr. Tones had already reconciled himself to a life
of leisure and enjoyment. For the first time in his lire
Mr. Jones did not know where he would obtain his next