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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The image contains the following text:
frame the first commandment of the neurotic decalogue :
Thou shalt cultivate the primacy of thy ego above all the things
in the cosmos. Let thy ego be the sole measure of the value
of all things. t
2. The second basic characteristic of all the neuroses
follows directly on the fundamental fallacy of the primacy
of the individual ego and the belief in the egocentric
scheme of the cosmos. If the intactness of the ego be
maintained at all costs, it follows inevitably that the
problems, tasks, and activities of the objective world
must be abjured and avoided. Were the neurotic to
attempt the solution of the three great problems of social
adjustment, vocation, and sexual fulfilment, the primacy
of his ego could not be maintained. Reality and common
sense would intervene and teach him that cooperation, not
egoism, is essential to a happy existence.
The primary goal of each neurotic style of life is the
avoidance of the objective problems and tests of ordinary
life. To this end each neurosis is a purposive pattern of
behaviour, logical in conception (according to the private
logic of the neurosis), and rational in technique (according
to the goal of the neurosis). Single neurotic traits and
activities can be understood only when you understand
the neurotic’s objective, and once you have understood
that the neurotic is attempting to maintain the uniqueness
of his ego you know that he must retreat from reality
and all its implications, and must substitute a system of
egocentric values, private logic, special privileges, and
unique behaviour for the universal values, simple logic,
ordinary behaviour—in a word, the common sense of
normal behaviour. The second commandment of the
neurotic decalogue follows : Thou shalt abjure and avoid
all tests and problems which might detract from thy belief
in the magical primacy of thy ego. Thou shalt maintain a
special code of individual ethics and of private logic. In the
neurotic cosmos, common sense, cooperation, and reality shall
be taboo.
3. The third distinguishing characteristic of the
neurosis is the underlying emotional undercurrent of fear