How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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material of life, consists of two separate techniques. The first is the art of getting along with other people. The second is the art of getting along with yourself. No compensation is complete without a good development of both these techniques. As part of the first technique we have the affirmation in action of all the bonds that bind human beings together. The sense of personal weakness is best overcome by a close association with humanity. The second method, which we may call internal compensation in contrast to the first which is directed toward the environment, is based upon the fact that a certain quantum of creative energy resides in every individual. Unless this creative energy is harnessed you cannot attain complete happiness. The world is full of stunted musicians, thwarted painters, enchained sculptors, frustrated poets and novelists, frightened actors, hobbled dancers, and intimidated sportsmen. How often have you heard someone say, “I’d give everything I possess to play that nocturne ! or “ How happy I’d be if I could only write ! Frequently these are men and women who are making a very good outward adjustment, men who hold responsible jobs, women who are good mothers and housekeepers. They are unhappy because they have not tapped the creative depths in their own souls and find themselves with nothing to do when the ordinary tasks of everyday life are completed. This subject of learning to live with oneself deserves an entire book to itself. Unfortunately it is but seldom touched by psychological writers. Much muddled thinking about these creative inner compensations, more¬ over, has been foisted on the world by the Freudians who believe that art and hobbies are “ sublimations ” of sex. There is no earthly reason for believing that there is a hidden sexual energy which, comparable to electricity, can be converted into some other form of energy, such as light or heat, when it meets with resistance to its flow. You cannot convert sexuality into poetry or sculpture except by means of metaphysical fictions. If the Freudian