552 The Outline of Science 



made up of groups of ideas complexes. Further, complexes 

 vary enormously in the emotional energy associated with them. 

 Besides the great number of minor complexes brought about by 

 a man's education, the nature of his work, and so on, there are 

 so-called universal complexes. These are the complexes which 

 centre round the three great primary instincts, or groups of in- 

 stincts, and they are known as the sex-complex, the ego-complex, 

 and the herd-complex. 



Complexes which directly centre round a great primary in- 

 stinct such as sex are associated with a great fund of emotional 

 energy. The actual mental elements present in the sex-complex 

 of any particular man, besides depending on inherited characteris- 

 tics, depend also on his personal history. The ego-complex, 

 associated with the primary instincts of nutrition and self- 

 preservation, has most of its elements beneath the conscious level ; 

 and the same may be said of the herd-complex, which depends 

 upon the gregarious instinct in man, and which plays an 

 enormously important part in his life, as we shall see. 



Amongst the three great universal complexes the ego-com- 

 plex is the oldest and most profound. This is the complex with 

 which is associated man's recognition of "his self." This very 

 powerful complex may give rise to all sorts of unpleasant mani- 

 festations, to various exhibitions of greed and of the desire of 

 self -aggrandisement ; but it also gives rise to some of the most 

 beneficent of man's activities. Amongst these we may mention 

 the desire for construction, for the making of something which 

 is a personal achievement, whether it be a house, a poem, or a 

 system of philosophy. The desire to construct has certainly been 

 one of the most potent factors in human advancement. 



The Herd-Complex 



The second great universal complex is the herd-complex, and 

 this, as we have already said, depends upon the fact that man is 

 gregarious. We do not know at what point in man's development 



