DEVELOPMENT OF PLEASURE AND PAIN 51 



currents of mundane affairs. It inspires and justifies the 

 noble ideal : fragilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei. 



In addition, and external to the fluctuating conditions of 

 the nervous system, there are permanent tendencies in our 

 nature, equally independent of rational calculations, which 

 influence the judgements we pass on the world. The first 

 of these is one of the most ancient and universal of all 

 springs of action the love of life. That this is the cause, 

 and not the result, of a conviction that life is worth living, 

 is obvious. We find it among animals which do not calcu 

 late as well as among those which do. * The fly in the 

 spider s web makes as desperate struggle against death, and 

 is actuated by the same law of nature, as the strong man 

 in his agony. l The efforts of the hare to escape the hounds 

 are not prompted by a calculation that for her the pleasures 

 of life greatly exceed the pains. Among men it is where, 

 in the judgement of all bystanders, death would be a merciful 

 release from suffering, that the dread of death is often 

 strongest. 



Vita si superest bene est. 



Hanc mihi, vel acuta 



Si sedeam cruce, sustine.* 



The desire to preserve our life tinges our valuations of it, 

 and we esteem it more highly because we are unwilling to 

 part with it. 



There is another tendency which is apt to bias our judge 

 ments in the same direction. That is, the exaggerated 

 value at which we rate ourselves, our near relatives, our 

 possessions, and all that is closely connected with us. In 

 all these our normal tendency is to dwell on what is admir 

 able, and overlook what is amiss, and, in doing that, we 

 eliminate from what is to us by far the most important part 

 of our experience nearly all that an impartial observer 

 would find to condemn. That part of our world, at any 

 rate, is not far short of perfection. It is this form of delu 

 sion which makes us unwilling to exchange our own person 

 ality with that of others. Not only have we a passionate 

 1 L. A. K. Strahan, Suicide and Insanity, p. 27. 

 D 2 



