656 THE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF INDIVIDUALITY 



takes place also the reverse interaction, inasmuch as the character and func- 

 tioning of the higher circuits in which thoughts more and more predominate, 

 affects very potently the character and normal function of the primary 

 circuit. 



As a result of this evolution of individuality, suffering, injuries, pains and 

 satisfactions are multiplied, intensified and individualized; and all these ex- 

 periences in the psychical-social sphere affect also the primary individuality 

 as manifested in the first circuit, the effects of psychical experience becoming 

 very far-reaching and important for the organism as a whole. More and 

 more, psychical experiences come to depend on intricate social organizations, 

 on social structures, in which the social struggle, the creation, acquisition and 

 distribution not only of material but also of simple and distinctive psychical 

 goods and the state of inner psychical goods play an important part. Thus, 

 with the increasing differentiation and refinement of the sense organs and 

 of the central nervous system and with the corresponding development of a 

 complex psychical and social life, our interactions with the environment are 

 extended, our experiences multiplied and our living intensified. The psychical 

 individuality which has now been created, attempts to maintain and to 

 elevate itself and in these efforts it collides with similar efforts of other in- 

 dividuals and this is one of the principal causes of the social struggle which 

 greatly affects the psychical life and may lead to injuries. Under these condi- 

 tions there develop the need and desire for an adequate environment, suitable 

 for bodily and psychical requirements ; the individual is spurred on to modify 

 the natural and social environment and the social thought-reservoir, and by 

 these means to effect changes also in the character of the material as well as 

 of the various types of psychical goods, and so to gain rest and security 

 for himself in the natural and social struggle. 



It is primarily by facing directly the difficulties and dangers in the social 

 and natural struggle, by analysing and learning to understand these difficulties, 

 that he may hope to overcome them and be victorious in these struggles as 

 far as this is possible. Thus he may in the end achieve for himself calmness 

 and strength and he will give to others understanding. The product of 

 analytic and generalized thinking has thus entered the social thought reser- 

 voir; it lias become an instrument which man uses and which may be of 

 advantage to him in the material and social struggle. This advantage is now 

 accessible to all and is no longer individual, but it is enduring only, if the 

 underlying thinking process was sound. 



Others may renounce the life of the social and natural struggle, as far as 

 their thought is concerned; they know the impossibility of actually overcom- 

 ing the struggle in life and they retire into a type of thinking in which 

 thought is freed more and more from the disturbing elements inherent in 

 the sphere of the social struggle. Thought reproduces events, life and world 

 instead of serving as an instrument in the social struggle and it also enters 

 the social thought reservoir. Man by means of his thoughts divests himself in 

 part of his psychical individuality and identifies himself with the whole. 



But, as indicated already, thinking, especially when it is concerned with 



