Nowadays we do not know how often this old desire to kill is
repressed, a brain-impression of hatred thereby intensified, and a
nervous irritation caused which has its effect upon the entire
disposition. It would hardly be feasible to return to the killing to
save the irritation that follows repression; civilization has taken
us too far for that. But civilization does not necessarily mean
repression. There are many refinements of barbarity in our
civilization which might be dropped now, as the coarser expressions
of such states were dropped by our ancestors to enable them to reach
the present stage of knives and forks and napkins. And inasmuch as
we are farther on the way towards a true civilization, our progress
should be more rapid than that of our barbaric grandfathers. An
increasingly accelerated progress has proved possible in scientific
research and discovery; why not, then, in our practical dealings
with ourselves and one another?
Does it not seem likely that the various forms of nervous
irritation, excitement, or disease may result as much from the
repressed savage within us as from the complexity of civilization?
The remedy is, not to let the savage have his own way; with many of
us, indeed, this would be difficult, because of the generations of
repression behind us. It is to cast his skin, so to speak, and rise
to another order of living.
Certainly repression is only apparent progress. No good physician
would allow it in bodily disease, and, on careful observation, the
law seems to hold good in other phases of life.
There must be a practical way by which these stones, these survivals
of barbaric times, may be stepped over and made finally to
disappear.
The first necessity is to take the practical way, and not the
sentimental. Thus true sentiment is found, not lost.
The second is to follow daily, even hourly, the process of stepping
over until it comes to be indeed a matter of course. So, little by
little, shall we emerge from this mass of abnormal nervous
irritation into what is more truly life itself.
II.
PHYSICAL CARE.
REST, fresh air, exercise, and nourishment, enough of each in
proportion to the work done, are the material essentials to a
healthy physique. Indeed, so simple is the whole process of physical
care, it would seem absurd to write about it at all. The only excuse
for such writing is the constant disobedience to natural laws which
has resulted from the useless complexity of our civilization.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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