At least that is the alternative as many of us see it. And if the only alternative to an impulse spending itself in hostilities and hatreds destructive of social cohesion, were the sheer restraint of impulse by calculation and reason; if our choice were truly between chaos, anarchy, and the perpetual repression of all spontaneous and vigorous impulse--then the choice of a fatalistic refusal to reason would be justifiable. But happily that is not the alternative. The function of reason and discipline is not to repress instinct and impulse, but to turn those forces into directions in which they may have free play without disaster. The function of the compass is not to check the power of the ship's engines; it is to indicate a direction in which the power can be given full play, because the danger of running on to the rocks has been obviated. Let us first get the mere facts straight--facts as they have worked out in the War and the Peace. It is not true that the directions taken by our instincts cannot in any way be determined by our intelligence. 'A man's impulses are not fixed from the beginning by his native disposition: within certain limits they are profoundly modified by his circumstances and way of life.'[70] What we regard as the 'instinctive' part of our character is, again, within large limits very malleable: by beliefs, by social circumstances, by institutions, and above all by the suggestibility of tradition, the work is often of individual minds. It is not so much the _character_ of our impulsive and instinctive life that is changed by these influences, as the direction. The elements of human nature may remain unchangeable, but the manifestations resulting from the changing combinations may be infinitely various as are the forms of matter which result from changing combinations of the same primary elements. It is not a choice between a life of impulse and emotion on the one side, and wearisome repressions on the other. The perception that certain needs are vital will cause us to use our emotional energy for one purpose instead of another. And just because the traditions that have grouped around nationalism turn our combativeness into the direction of war, the energy brought into play by that impulse is not available for the creativeness of peace. Having become habituated to a certain reagent--the stimulus of some personal or visible enemy--energy fails to react to a stimulus which, with a different way of life, would have sufficed. Because we must have gin to summon up our energy, that is no proof that energy is impossible without it. It is hardly for an inebriate to laud the life of instinct and impulse. For the time being that is not the attitude and tendency that most needs encouragement.