36 SELF-CONSClOUSNKiiS. 



of the self-conscious mind — the error of attril)nt- 

 ing a vastly exaggerated importance to its own 

 individual self. In the last resort, self-conscious- 

 ness is only egotism turned inside out; while the 

 conceited man is a contented and well-satisfied 

 egotist, the self-conscious man is a discontented 

 and self-distrustful egotist. The only rational 

 cure for this great radical evil lies in the earnest 

 endeavor rightly to appreciate one's own individ- 

 ual insignificance as a unit in the great complex 

 mass of human society. When tiie self-conscious 

 man goes into a room, he fancies that every one of 

 the people in it is thinking about him, watching 

 him, observing him, criticising liis every word and 

 movement and action with the same eagerness that 

 he feels about them himself. But they are not ; 

 they are each of them doing exactly the same as he 

 is — thinking of themselves, and wondering what 

 opinion, in Heaven's name, he is forming about 

 them ! " What a dreadfully silly thing I said to 

 Mr. Brown ! " poor Miss Jones exclaims to herself, 

 with crimson cheeks, in the solitude of her cham- 

 ber, after she comes back from the Jenkinses' little 

 evening-party. " What on earth can he ever have 

 thought of me ! " " What a fool I made of myself 

 to that nice little Miss Jones ! " Mr. Brown 

 observes, contemplatively, as he exchanges his 

 evening-shoes for the comfortable slip[)ers()f unre- 

 claimed bachelorhood. "How dreadfully silly she 



