74 DARWINISM AND THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE 



a peculiar division of consciousness. Both man and the 

 animal know, when they are playing, that it is a pretence, 

 yet lend themselves to it. We find in other matters a 

 similar division of consciousness, especially in dreams. 

 Here we often give ourselves up to the most fantastic 

 pictures, yet the consciousness of the awakened man 

 often breaks into them, and recognises they are not 

 realities. I have often had dreams in which I was 

 chased by enemies that gained more and more on me. 

 But instead of feeling pain and anxiety I am assured by 

 a clear consciousness that it is all a dream, and I sink 

 peacefully into my dream again, and see my enemies 

 approaching to kill me. I wonder with interest what 

 the moment of death will be like, and await the experi- 

 ment calmly, saying to myself that my life will not really 

 come to an end in it. 



There is a similar duplication of consciousness in 

 play and the enjoyment of art. We are often quite 

 absorbed in a drama we are witnessing, and only 

 brought back to our real selves from time to time 

 by consciousness. We have the same experience in 

 examining paintings and sculpture. A sort of false 

 self is formed in us, full of false feeling, and our 

 real self sinks into the background. Yet we retain 

 a sense of reality, a real pleasure in the unreal ; but 

 it passes into the sphere of the pseudo-self, and lets 

 itself be borne by that. 



But why do we never confuse pretence and reality 

 in play and in art ? Must not our real self recognise 

 that the pseudo-self is only a make-believe? 



Our real self knows, or we ourselves know, that 



