Fantasia of the UnconsciousLawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)
Philosophy
Fantasia of the Unconscious
Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)
Psychoanalysis; Sex; Subconsciousness
Now the equilibrium to be established is fourfold. There must be a
true equilibrium between what we eat and what we reject again by
excretion: likewise between the systole and diastole of the heart,
the inspiration and expiration of our breathing. Suffice to say the
equilibrium is never quite perfect. Most people are either too fat or
too thin, too hot or too cold, too slow or too quick. There is no such
thing as an _actual_ norm, a living norm. A norm is merely an
abstraction, not a reality.
The same on the psychical plane. We either love too much, or impose
our will too much, are too spiritual or too sensual. There is not and
cannot be any actual norm of human conduct. All depends, first, on the
unknown inward need within the very nuclear centers of the individual
himself, and secondly on his circumstance. Some men _must_ be too
spiritual, some _must_ be too sensual. Some _must_ be too sympathetic,
and some _must_ be too proud. We have no desire to say what men
_ought_ to be. We only wish to say there are all kinds of ways of
being, and there is no such thing as human perfection. No man can be
anything more than just himself, in genuine living relation to all his
surroundings. But that which _I_ am, when I am myself, will certainly
be anathema to those who hate individual integrity, and want to swarm.
And that which I, being myself, am in myself, may make the hair
bristle with rage on a man who is also himself, but very different
from me. Then let it bristle. And if mine bristle back again, then let
us, if we must, fly at one another like two enraged men. It is how it
should be. We've got to learn to live from the center of our own
responsibility only, and let other people do the same.
To return to the child, however, and his development on his two planes
of consciousness. There is all the time a direct dynamic connection
between child and mother, child and father also, from the start. It is
a connection on two planes, the upper and lower. From the lower
sympathetic center the profound intake of love or vibration from the
living co-respondent outside. From the upper sympathetic center the
outgoing of devotion and the passionate vibration of _given_ love,
given attention. The two sympathetic centers are always, or should
always be, counterbalanced by their corresponding voluntary centers.
From the great voluntary ganglion of the lower plane, the child is
self-willed, independent, and masterful.
In the activity of this center a boy refuses to be kissed and pawed
about, maintaining his proud independence like a little wild animal.
From this center he likes to command and to receive obedience. From
this center likewise he may be destructive and defiant and reckless,
determined to have his own way at any cost.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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