How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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the defects of an unsound body, but a sound body housing
an unsound mind is a constant social menace. Modern
medicine has yet to understand fully the first law of mental
hygiene : physical symptoms may have a great social value.
A sick patient is not only a defective machine : he may
be a discouraged human being broadcasting his inability
to function responsibly in terms of an “ organ dialect ”.
Some human beings say “ no ” to their obligations in so
many words. The conversion neurotic says “ no ” with
his sinus, his heart, his stomach, his sexual organs, his
skin, his blood-vessels, or any other organ that happens
to be the loudspeaker of his soul.
Another form of detour neurosis is found in a preoccupa¬
tion with metaphysical problems beyond the province of
human thought. The detour neurotic makes the solution
of these insoluble problems the condition without which
he cannot proceed to the solution of more usual problems.
Thus, some detour neurotics will not do a day’s work
until they have determined why we are here, and what
the purpose of life is, while others cannot find time to
seek a mate until they have determined the answer to
the age-old riddle of the precedence of the hen or
the egg.
If you believe there is no sense in working until you have
determined whether you will inhabit the body of a grass¬
hopper in the next world—and there is no known method
of proving this contention—there is no sense in working.
The detour neurotic applies the principle of “ lying with
the truth ” to the conduct of his life. Stuttering is an
example. The stutterer finds difficulty in making social
contacts because of his disability. He blames his disability
and isolates himself farther. He is lying with the truth.
It is more difficult to make social contacts when you are a
stutterer, but the stutterer would not stutter if he applied
himself to the task of making contacts and contributions
to society, instead of cultivating his disability. He does
not realize that he is the victim of a self-made
“ frame-up ”.
In this type of neurosis we find the best expression of