=3. The Content.=--When we consider the "what" of group and customary
morality we note at once that the factors which make for the idealizing
and expansion of interests are less in evidence than those which make
for a common and social interest and satisfaction. There is indeed, as
we have noted, opportunity for memory and fancy. The traditions of the
past, the myths, the cultus, the folk songs--these keep up a mental life
which is as genuinely valued as the more physical activities. But as the
mode of life in question does not evoke the more abstractly rational
activities--reasoning, selecting, choosing--in the highest degree, the
ideals lack reach and power. It needs the incentives described in the
following chapters to call out a true life of the spirit. The social
aspects of the "what," on the other hand, are well rooted in group
morality. It is unnecessary to repeat what has been dwelt upon in the
present and preceding chapters so fully. We point out now that while the
standard is social, it is unconsciously rather than consciously social.
Or perhaps better: it is a standard of society but not a standard which
each member deliberately makes his own. He takes it as a matter of
course. He is in the clan, "with the gang"; he thinks and acts
accordingly. He cannot begin to be as selfish as a modern
individualist; he simply hasn't the imagery to conceive such an
exclusive good, nor the tools with which to carry it out. But he cannot
be as broadly social either. He may not be able to sink so low as the
civilized miser, or debauchee, or criminal, but neither can he conceive
or build up the character which implies facing opposition. The moral
hero achieves full stature only when he pits himself against others,
when he recognizes evil and fights it, when he "overcomes the world."
=4. Organization of Character.=--In the organization of stable character
the morality of custom is strong on one side. The group trains its
members to act in the ways it approves and afterwards holds them by all
the agencies in its power. It forms habits and enforces them. Its
weakness is that the element of habit is so large, that of freedom so
small. It holds up the average man; it holds back the man who might
forge ahead. It is an anchor, and a drag.
LITERATURE
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