INDIVIDUALITY AND WORLD 639 



of other organ systems. In the end, the stunting of personalities thus initiated 

 reacts also unfavorably on those who have been responsible for these effects. 

 Certain nationalistic, racial and social caste-distinctive psychical class goods 

 are the most prominent types of these injurious agents, in the production of 

 which there cooperate human inventiveness, the accidents of history and the 

 desire for psychical self-maintenance, for elevation of the personality picture, 

 for mental security and for compensation for injuries received in the social 

 struggle. Humanity stumbled on these social instruments, as it did on some 

 of the basic stimulants and narcotics; those who had the power made use of 

 them, found them to their taste, and their use became general. 



These functions and consequences, which apply clearly to distinctive 

 psychical class goods, apply more or less to all distinctive psychical goods, 

 although their injurious effect is probably greatest in the case of distinctive 

 psychical class goods. There are other types of distinctive psychical goods 

 that are more individual and less injurious, such as recognition, fame and 

 glorification of a person who excels in ability and creative work. Warriors, 

 statesmen, philosophers, scientists and artists wish to have the benefit of this 

 type of distinctive psychical goods, which in addition to other advantages 

 provides a certain type of immortality and thus promises compensation for 

 the inevitable defeat in the natural struggle. 



Ultimately all psychical goods — simple and distinctive — which we re- 

 ceive from the outside become converted into and contribute to the creation 

 of inner psychical goods, of thoughts and emotion complexes, which we 

 cultivate and which sustain us in the social and natural struggle. Art, philoso- 

 phy, religion, science, principles in general, serve as the objective material 

 of these inner psychical goods and, consciously or unconsciously, they center 

 in us around the "I" concept. From the latter there develops more or less 

 clearly in every person a personality picture of himself, which is perhaps his 

 most precious possession. If this is on a high level and unchallenged, the 

 whole organism functions relatively well; if it is questioned, attacked and 

 lowered, serious consequences for the wellbeing, mental and physical, of the 

 individual may follow. Thus the preservation and elevation of inner psychical 

 goods, more or less centering around a personality picture, become the main 

 objective and the principal agent in the social struggle of individuals with 

 one another, and one of the most common weapons used in this struggle is a 

 suggestion, often attached to a word, thrown into the system of inner 

 psychical goods of an individual, which acts as an incompatible agent and 

 which tends to distort and lower his personality. In different individuals the 

 character of the inner psychical goods varies, in the same sense as do their 

 convictions, the prominence and potency of their principles, the simple and 

 distinctive psychical goods which they have received, and their inherent 

 ability to face the difficulties of the social and natural struggle. Suggestions 

 which have been given to human beings, often in the early years of their life, 

 determine largely the character of their inner psychical goods and their person- 

 ality picture. Inner psychical goods have ultimately the function of steadying 

 the individual in his social and natural struggle ; and in accordance with the de- 



