How to Read Human Nature: Its Inner States and Outer Forms — John Shaqi
How to Read Human Nature: Its Inner States and Outer FormsAtkinson, William Walker
Science
How to Read Human Nature: Its Inner States and Outer Forms
Atkinson, William Walker
Character; Personality; Phrenology; Physiognomy
Thus, it will be seen, the fact that all inward states manifest
themselves to some degree in outward physical expression, brings with it
the logical inference that particular mental states when habitually
manifested tend to fix in the physical organism the expression
associated with them. As "thoughts take form in action," so habitual
mental states tend to register traces of those actions. A piece of paper
folded in a certain way several times shows plainly the marks on the
folding. In the same manner the creases in our clothing, shoes and
gloves, show the marks of our personal physical form. A habitual mental
state of cheerfulness is accompanied by a frequent exercise of the
muscles expressing the physical signs of that feeling, and finally the
smile wrinkles are formed that all may read them. In the same way the
gloomy, pessimistic mental attitude produces the marks and wrinkles
showing the habit of frequent down-turning of the corners of our mouths.
A habitual mental attitude of suspicion will tend to impart the
appearance of the "suspicious peering" to our eyes. The mental attitude
of combativeness will likewise give us the traditional set jaw and
tightly compressed lips. The mental attitude of lack of self-respect
will show itself in our walk, and so, in the opposite manner with the
mental attitude of self-respect. People grow to walk, talk, carry
themselves, and "look like" their habitual mental attitude.
Dr. A. T. Schofield, says: "'He is a dull scholar,' it is said, 'who
cannot read a man's character even from a back view.' Round a statue of
the prince Consort in Edinburgh stand representative groups paying
homage to him. If you get a back view of any of these you can see
unconscious mind impressed on matter, and can tell at once the sailor or
soldier, peasant or scholar or workman. Look at the body and face of a
man when the mind is gone. Look at the body of a man who has lost his
self-respect. Look at the body of a thief, of a sot, of a miser. Compare
the faces and expressions of a philanthropist, of a beggar, of a
policeman, of a scholar, of a sailor, of a lawyer, of a doctor, of a
shop-walker, of a sandwich man, of a farmer, of a successful
manufacturer, of a nurse, of a refined girl, of a servant, of a barmaid,
of a nun, of a ballet dancer, of an art student, and answer to yourself
these two questions: First, are these different expressions of body and
face due essentially to _physical_ or _psychical_ causes? And, secondly,
do these psychical causes act on the facial and other muscles in
consciousness or out of consciousness. The only possible answers to
these two questions leave us with this fact, were no other proof
possible, that we each have within us an unconscious _psychical_ power
(here called the unconscious mind) which has sufficient force to act
upon the body and display psychical conceptions through physical media."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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