Machinery of the Mind, part 3 - Dion Fortune
Chapter 7: The Instincts
We have already considered the mind as a tank divided into compartments by sieves of varying diameters of mesh, let us now consider the currents that move in the water that fills the tank. We may diagrammatically conceive the inflow as taking place through one main channel into the subconscious, and there dividing into three streams. This main channel of energy, which supplies the motive power of all living creatures, has been called by many names: libido, horme, élan vitale, and bio-urge; an adequate English equivalent is the thrust of life.
This stream of psychic energy becomes specialised in the individual into divergent currents, which we call the three great instincts. The first of these is the SELF-PRESERVATION INSTINCT. Under this heading may be gathered up all the activities which are motived by (1) the Will to Live, or Self-Maintenance, and, (2) the Will to Live more Fully, or Self- Aggrandisement.
The second great instinct is that of REPRODUCTION, or SEX, whose function it is to secure race preservation. Through this channel tends to go the surplus of energy left over after the demands of self-maintenance have been fulfilled.
The third great instinct is the SOCIAL or HERD INSTINCT, by which term we designate that system of innate tendencies and capacities which enables us to co-operate with our fellows and lead a social life, with all its advantages and disadvantages.
Some animals, however, do not have this third instinct, but lead solitary lives, acknowledging no ties save those of mate and offspring; but the more highly evolved types, including man, have developed this great specialisation of psychic energy which enables them to lead a social life. These three great instincts act and react on each other in the hidden field of subconscious, and build up social organisation and individual character.
In order to understand the workings of the instincts, however, it must be clearly realised that they are universal and not personal in their scope; the survival or suffering of the unit are not considered in the scheme of things, it is the race that counts.
If we regard the instincts as subserving the welfare of the individual only, we form a concept which cannot fail to lead us astray when we seek to put our conclusions to a practical application. The workings of instinct must be viewed from the standpoint of evolutionary progress, not individual well-being. This is the point of view from which Nature frames her schemes, and we can only hope to understand her ways if we occupy her standpoint.
To regard man as actuated by reason is a hopeless error. Instinct forms the mainspring of his action, and reason is used to carry out the promptings of instinct. It must be remembered, however, that instinct does not function in crude physical forms only. Man possesses emotions and intellect as well as a body, and upon each plane of his being the instincts express themselves appropriately, functioning emotionally and intellectually as well as physically. A man uses his wits as well as his muscles in the struggle for self-preservation, and the sex instinct is not exhausted by the physical act of procreation. Emphasis is laid upon this point, because herein lies the key to the practical application of psychology to human life.
The emotions have their sources in the instincts; indeed, an emotion may be said to be the subjective aspect of an instinct. If an instinct is achieving its aim, we feel pleasure; if it is being frustrated, we feel pain; and if we anticipate its frustration, we feel fear. Whenever there is emotion, some underlying instinct must have been stirred into activity. It will thus be seen how predominating is the influence exerted by the instincts upon our lives; they may, in fact, be considered the mainsprings of motive.
At one time psychology busied itself with the reasoning processes, and looked upon man as a rational being, and indeed the man in the street still considers himself as such, but the researches of modern psychology have shown us that emotion and not reason is the actuating force, and that reason is a tool in the service of the emotions.
Chapter 8: The Self-Preservation Instinct
The self-preservation instinct appears to our consciousness under the guise of that deep-rooted clinging to life, that desire to live, which characterises every living thing. It is this instinct, functioning simply in simply organised creatures, that leads them to seek food and avoid danger, and also causes that complex organism, a civilised man, to carry out the elaborate activities of “earning a living.”
It is essentially a selfish instinct, for it leads the individual to regard his own welfare alone, and to consider others only so far as their existence is essential to his. For instance, shooting and hunting during the breeding season are forbidden by law, not out of consideration for the hunted creatures, but because the continuation of their species is useful to us.
Its influence, however, is often modified by the two other great instincts whose influence may become so strong under certain circumstances as to induce a man not only to disregard his own interests, but even to lay down his life for others.
In many varieties of animals, however, only two instincts are present, self-preservation and reproduction; but in animals that are associated together into herds or packs, a third instinct is developed, the social instinct. When this occurs, the functioning of the self-preservation instinct is greatly modified; the individual no longer owes his existence solely to his power to cope with his environment, but depends mainly upon his ability to keep his place in the herd; and upon the social organisation devolves the task of adaptation and survival. The strayed sheep is soon hunted down, the solitary wolf starves.
This is equally true of man, who is also a social animal. The misery of Central Europe, in the breakdown of social organisation following upon the war, has shown us the helplessness of the individual human being and his complete dependence upon herd life.
The self-preservation instinct and its ruthless functioning under the law of natural selection has furnished a theme to many moralists and sociologists of the materialistic type, but they are apt to forget that the socialisation of humanity has changed the nature of the problem; the unit of survival is no longer the individual, but the social organisation of which he is a member. The law of self-preservation has given place to the law of group preservation, and the centre of psychic gravity is shifted. The importance of this point cannot be over-estimated in practical psychology.
By some psychologists the instinct of nutrition is distinguished from that of self-preservation, but for all practical purposes they are identical. It must be borne in mind, in applying the standards of psychology to the human character, that in the more highly developed types of human being the self-preservation instinct is not fulfilled simply by the continuance of physical life; there is self-preservation of the personality as well as of the bodily existence, and unless a man has adequate scope for self-expression and self-development, he will experience that sense of incompleteness and imperfection characteristic of the repression of an instinct.
Chapter 9: Diseases of the Self-Preservation Instinct
The self-preservation instinct, having its source in the sense of individuality, of separateness, is the motive of our self-assertion. It is necessary that each member of a herd should have a certain amount of self-assertiveness in order to maintain his place among his fellows. If, however, this quality is above or below the requisite standard, his survival will be endangered; if, on the one hand, he is lacking in selfassertion, he will not obtain his fair share of the means of life available for the group of which he is a member. On the other hand, if his selfassertion is excessive, it may disrupt the social organisation, and either lead to the extinction of the group, or to his ejection from it. Lack of self-preservation instinct is usually due to deep-seated psychopathologies, too complex to be entered upon here; but we may say in passing that this failure is often due to a division of aims in the subconscious mind, the individual is not sure which self he ought to preserve, and so preserves neither.
An excess of self-preservation is often developed in the child who has had a hard struggle to find and express his individuality. The self-preservation instinct has a great influence upon vitality. All observant persons must have noticed how easily the man who has lost his hold upon life, or has given up hope, succumbs to disease.
Chapter 10: The Reproductive Instinct
The reproductive instinct is Nature’s mechanism for ensuring the continuation of the species, and its subjective aspect appears to us as all the emotions and sensations connected with sex.
As soon as the demands of the self-preservation instinct are satisfied, as soon as the individual is secure, adequately fed and sufficiently developed, then life tends to overflow the vessel it has filled, and this psychic pressure constitutes sex desire.
Sex, however, must not be considered under its physical manifestations only, it has an emotional and mental aspect as well. It is more than the mere overflow of energy in the act of procreation, it is also the desire for the rejuvenation and vital stimulus that is produced by the act of union. Whosoever in considering human problems fails to look beyond the physical stratum of the sex instinct, cannot fail to obtain a false perspective.
It has been laid down as a maxim that psychology and physiology ought to be kept strictly separate, but it is impossible to treat adequately of the sex instinct without considering it under both its aspects, for sex activity works in a psycho-physical circle; organic sensations stimulate the emotions, and the emotions react on the organs. A sexual image rising in the mind brings about the preliminary reaction of the physical organs of its expression; and any irritation of the physical organs, however accidental, tends to produce a corresponding emotional state. Stimulus may occur at any point on the psycho-physical circuit, and so may inhibition.
The sex instinct forms the nucleus of a huge complex, second only to the group of ideas that centres round the individuality itself. To all ideas and activities that are in any way connected with the gratification of the sexual desire, its energy readily passes over. Dress, the home, the ambitions, each and all may owe their interest to the reproductive instinct which uses them as channels for its fulfilment.
Chapter 11: Development of the Reproductive Instinct
The sex instinct, in the course of development from its infantile aspect to its adult manifestation, goes through well-marked phases which are little known outside the ranks of the psychotherapists, but which are of great importance to the educationalist and sociologist.
The sexuality of the child is simply a capacity for deriving gratification from certain feelings, and it is a diffused and vague sensation that he experiences; this capacity, however, as the child grows older, becomes gradually concentrated upon its physiological channels of activity, and as it becomes concentrated it increases in intensity, just as the placid waters of a broad and shallow river become deep and headlong in a ravine.
The interests of a very young child only gradually extend beyond his own bodily sensations, and he therefore leads an existence that is selfcentred beyond any adult conception of the term. The organs of reproduction, being very highly nerved in preparation for their future functions, are found to be capable of keener sensation than the rest of the body, and therefore attract his attention. This is the AUTO-EROTIC STAGE.
The, to a child, striking manifestations connected with the exercise of the bodily functions also attract his interest. This is the COPROPHILIC STAGE.
Later, his curiosity concerning his own body being satisfied, he begins to be curious concerning the bodies of others. This is called the HOMOSEXUAL STAGE, the stage wherein he is interested in bodies of the same sex as his own, but it might more truly be called the stage of undifferentiated interest, for the child is only interested in those who are made in the same way as himself, because he is not aware that anyone is made differently.
This curiosity being outgrown, his interest is transferred to those who are different from himself, regardless as to whether they are closely related to him or not. Soon, however, he begins to differentiate between his immediate relations and those who are less closely connected. This is called by psychologists “the raising of the incest barriers,” but to the child it appears simply as a moving on of the focus of interest; he is no longer attracted by his mother and sisters, not because he feels it is wrong to have such feelings towards them, but because familiarity breeds contempt, and gives rise to the state of mind that is expressed in the phrase “insipid as sisters’ kisses.”
The child has now attained the adult attitude towards sex, and it only remains for the physical organs to make their corresponding development at the time of puberty for the circuit to be complete.
Chapter 12: Diseases of the Reproductive Instinct
I. Should an individual be lacking in vigour, he may fail to reach his full psychic development, and stick fast at one of the earlier phases. The adult sex force therefore manifests itself in an immature form, and the individual is a pervert of a congenital type. Strange as it may seem, his peculiarity will appear to him as normal and natural, and will not interfere with the development of a high type of character and perfect health, though his path through life is rendered a difficult one owing to the insuperable obstacles to the satisfaction of his love nature.
Two courses are open to him. He may become an actual pervert, in which case he incurs the censure of society, because he is unfaithful to his trust in not using the overflow of his life force for the upbuilding of the herd, but expends it through channels that cannot lead to reproduction and thus wastes it; also because any sexual abnormality is exceedingly infectious, owing to the force of suggestion, whether by example or precept, and would lead other and normal individuals to similar antisocial action. It is this strong race-preservation instinct that gives rise to the disgust and anger of the normal individual at all forms of abnormality.
The unfortunate, however, may instead become a potential pervert, and repress into his subconscious mind desires which he feels to be wrong; he tries to lead a normal life, but the adult form of sex does not satisfy him, and in his heart he really desires the abnormal form which he should have outgrown and left behind. This wish, not being allowed by the censor to enter consciousness, has recourse to symbolic expression, and gives rise to many forms of insanity and neuroticism.
II. An individual may be developing quite normally, when some shock, often quite slight, or some undue pressure of environment, may artificially arrest his development, and he will go through much the same phases as the potential pervert, but being of better mental material to begin with, he will usually incline towards neurotic disease rather than insanity.
Those who have the care of children should be careful not to give the child a shock by administering a severe reprimand when his curiosities and activities take an undesirable form; such action gives the matter undue prominence in the child’s mind, and may lead to a stoppage of development at the phase represented by the undesirable activity. Explanation and counsel will be more effective than a scolding, and leave no undesirable after effects.
III. An individual may reach normal adulthood quite safely, but, his energies finding no outlet on that level owing to force of circumstances, they may revert to one of the primitive phases through which he has passed, and he may acquire a perversion of sexual habit with the same liabilities to disease that we have noted above.
IV. Excessive sexual activity may lead to jaded powers of response to normal sexual stimuli, and the individual may then deliberately turn to abnormal forms of gratification in the hope of obtaining satisfaction.
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