Not only is a parent capable of obtaining through his children the satisfaction attendant upon a prolongation of his own existence; he may also through them enjoy vicariously benefits, privileges, successes and pleasures of which he himself has been deprived or has failed to reap advantage. What the pessimist von Hartmann has styled the third stage of humanity's illusion with regard to the possibility of happiness--the idea that the pleasures which we have ourselves failed to find may nevertheless be enjoyed by those that come after us--is nowhere more strongly rooted than in the minds of parents when they think of the future of their offspring. Whether the underlying hope be illusory or not, there can be no doubt that many parents (and these on the whole of the nobler minded sort) are willing to labour that their children may enjoy the result of their efforts, to amass riches that their children may have the power that wealth confers, or even to acquiesce in personal failure, if only their children may thereby be brought nearer to success. [Sidenote: Its sociological significance] This aspect of the process of identification is one which, we may very reasonably expect, will tend to play an increasing rôle as mental development proceeds and men come to work more and more with distant ends in view. If this expectation is correct, the aspect in question is probably one of very great biological and sociological importance, for even under present conditions it is clearly of much value in stimulating effort and in fostering thoroughness, far-sightedness and care. If a man realises that on his labours are dependent not only his own happiness and well being but those of his children and his children's children, he possesses one of the highest but at the same time one of the most efficient incentives to truly moral conduct to which the developed human mind is open[213]. [Sidenote: The development of the child requires a corresponding readjustment of the parents' attitude] [Sidenote: This is as necessary for the parent as for the child]