How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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and self-abasement can be summed up in the words of
one of my patients. “ What can you expect of me,
Doctor ? I’ve been a sexual sinner since I was six years
old ! ” in answer to my question “ Why don’t you get
a job and do an honest day’s work ? ” The unconscious
malice of all self-abasement is echoed in this patient’s
words. The sense of guilt is but one form of this popular
character trait whose real purpose and meaning are
obvious : the individual who “ wrestles with tempta¬
tion ” avoids all real conflict with the actual problems of
existence. The sense of guilt is no excuse for failure,
cowardice, or unhappiness, any more than youthful
“ sins ” excuse an attitude of passive resistance toward
life. Despite the fact that long and esoterically compli¬
cated monographs have been written about the sense of
guilt and the desire for punishment—these terms remain
no more than scientific synonyms for bad manners and
a lack of social cooperation, useful only to those who
are too timid to assume the reasonable responsibilities of
adult life.
The Dynamics of Evasion
The description of the foregoing character traits and
their analysis as tools which the personality appropriates
for the efficient pursuit of its unconscious goal will already
have suggested to the reader that all so-called “ bad ”
character traits are to be considered either as good tools
designed to effect a false goal, or excellent devices for
projecting a courageous solution of life’s problems into
the indefinite future. This gives us a very good scheme
for classifying character traits. We have already sketched
the devices which the normal man chooses for the pursuit
of the rational goal of fellowship and cooperation in the
world’s work. All other character traits must, by
exclusion, be devices whereby this normal solution of
problems is evaded in one way or another.
The normal goal may be evaded by focussing on your
own superiority rather than on your contribution to the
commonweal. To this end we have such traits as ambition,