152 ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST 



rarity brings with it a certain glow, an irradiation 

 of peculiarly pleasurable nature. Furthermore, dis- 

 sociation in most cases is not complete ; now and 

 again, and especially when there is successful sub- 

 limation — in some people when in love, in others 

 with religious ecstasy, in others again with some 

 form of art — now and again re-association of the 

 parts occurs, and there is an extraordinary sense 

 of the irruption of some vast beneficent force, some 

 great extra-personal flood of soul, into the meagre 

 stream of everyday life. The lives of a certain 

 number of saints and ascetics, mystics and poets, 

 abound with phenomena of this sort ; and apparently 

 the sense of value attaching to the occasional complete 

 attainment of such satisfactory states of the soul, 

 combined with the conscious daily quest for sub- 

 limation which is inevitable when the most important 

 part of the primitive emotions are repressed, is such 

 a vivid experience that it satisfies the mind and enables 

 such persons to carry on, and to do work sometimes 

 of the highest value. 



On the other hand, men and women with this type 

 of mental development naturally tend to be unstable ; 

 they cannot be sure of their capacity, whether for 

 routine work or creative thought or spiritual experi- 

 ence, from day to day. Their mental life has a 

 tendency to wear thin, their sense of eifort and 

 struggle to increase and lead to breakdown. It is 

 in the long run an unsatisfactory way of organizing 



