CONSCIENCE AND SUPEREGO 441 



the primary instinctive movements, but also from the processes 

 of identification, reaction formation, and the other mechanisms 

 which can be adopted to cope with difficulties. Finally, he 

 underlined the extent to which these movements and develop- 

 ments, being unconscious, are, once formed, not susceptible to 

 easy reformation. 



All this is of major import in problems of judging, guiding 

 and reforming consciences. Until the factors are understood 

 which have gone into the formation of norms of conduct, the 

 conduct itself cannot be fully evaluated — how many evil dis- 

 positions which puzzle, perplex and depress their possessors 

 would be easier to bear with and perhaps master, if their 

 origins were known, and the importance of their presence not 

 so much exaggerated. Until the process of formation of psy- 

 chological dispositions is understood, how can the ground be 

 prepared for effecting a change .^^ Freud's work underlines the 

 fact that consciences cannot be reformed by simple instruction, 

 the re-educative process must go deeper, into the reformation 

 of attitudes and emotional patterns, and sometimes therapy 

 is necessary, and sometimes, perhaps, the only solution is to 

 tolerate the situation. In short, an examination of superego 

 functions can give some idea of the elements in man's sense 

 of obligation which are not an outgrowth of true moral sense, 

 as certain feelings of guilt are not representative of true guilt, 

 and of the origins of these elements in the depths of feeling 

 and instinct, of their validity, therefore, if there is any, and 

 of their invalidity, and finally of their curability if they are 

 curable. Certainly, this would lead to the formation of a more 

 balanced conscience. 



(3) Some practical applications. 



The insights opened up by depth psychology have not been 

 overlooked by moralists studying the various shapes which 

 consciences actually assume in ordinary life. The most explicit 

 applications to date have been made in reference to the 

 scrupulous conscience, which exhibits the classic pattern of 



