THE EVOLUTION OF INDIVIDUALITY 651 



Thoughts reproduced environment, and in the environment thus reproduced 

 the social environment became more and more prominent ; this type of inter- 

 action between organism and environment did not, therefore, take place in the 

 same rigid way as in primitive organisms, such as insects, but with the crea- 

 tion of thought so many possibilities of response arose that the actions of the 

 individual became very varied. At the same time the environment affected 

 the organism in a new way through the development of imagination and 

 suggestion. 



As a result of these modifications, the apparent freedom and the greater 

 individualization in the psychical-social sense of the higher organism have 

 evolved. In this second circuit the environment influences and in a delicate 

 manner changes the living substratum on which it acts ; it gains in importance 

 in comparison with the inheritable rigidity of the basic functions of the first 

 circuit. While thus in the more primitive organism genetic conditions deter- 

 mine more directly the behavior, and while also in the highest, most complex 

 organism, man, the basic functions are essentially fixed in a rigid way by 

 genetic factors, there develops in man a special mechanism which makes 

 possible a very sensitive interaction between organism and environment ; in 

 this sphere, the environment becomes a factor of great importance in directing 

 the behavior of the individual. In the more primitive organisms, individuality 

 is largely fixed; in man the psychical individuality is to a great extent 

 modifiable, environmental in character. The content of our mind is given 

 us by the daily experiences in life; in particular, by the suggestions of the 

 persons we meet, in whom all these influences have also entered ; but it is also 

 given us by poets, artists, philosophers and scientists. In this psychical-social 

 aspect our individuality has become the more modifiable, the greater the re- 

 finement of the nervous system has become. 



The factors entering into human behavior have reached such a degree of 

 complexity that the actions of individuals are often unpredictable, and the 

 illusion of indeterminateness in Willing and doing arises. Furthermore, the 

 contacts between individual and environment have become not only much 

 more varied and extensive — the individual being in contact with an ever en- 

 larging part of the universe — but they are also intensified. Suffering and pain 

 of the mind and elations have evolved, which had previously not existed. With 

 the increase in the importance of the central nervous mechanism there in- 

 creased the anticipations, the dread of disease and suffering and of annihila- 

 tion, as well as the fear of the intentions and actions of other human beings ; 

 but there developed also new satisfactions of wider visions, of deeper under- 

 standing. The human organism is not only shaped by the environment, but 

 more and more it reacts against it and learns to understand and modify it. 

 There develops the pleasure of creative, playful interaction with the environ- 

 ment ; but not only does man interact with the environment, he interacts and 

 learns to experiment with and, to a certain extent, to shape his own psychical- 

 social organism and those of others. While thus, in certain respects, the in- 

 dividuality becomes increasingly pronounced, in other respects, in conse- 

 quence of the more and more intricate interaction between environment and 



