Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-05-24
Double Consciousness.

From the London Queen.
What is that strange sense that
most of US have OF a double conscious
ness-oi kind of twin seli-liks and
yet unlike the person rs We are held
by the world and known to be by
ou,selves--ot a foregone experiences
identical with this we are now under
going-of previous circumstances, Of
which tbs is only a repetition Few
of us are so unconscious, so unobser.
want, as not to have known both these
phases of ieeling-both that which
redoubies and differentiates the self,
and that which makes this place, this
person, this conversation but repe
tition OF what has already been. Per-
haps the former 1f these two states
may be referred 10 the infinite com.
plexity OF the human mind, but with
this complexity that elemental
homoeeneity which makes all the
world akin. and which Terence crys.
talized in his famous aphorism:
Homo sum: humani nihil a me alien
um puto." This being true, then every
Jekyll has ms potential Hyde, and
every Hyde his possible Jekyll; and
there are no heights nor depths TO
which we may not rise or descend, at
least in imagination. Here conscience
and neutrality-suspicious. and pc.
tentiality-make that confusion
which creates double consciousness
through single line of action. Say
we have to deal with n man whom
we have no right to offend overly,
and whom secretly we despise with
q very vehemence OF contempt.
What strong strain of double con-
seriousness is here, Our manners,
our speech, must of necessity be
smooth and without otfeBse. In our
heart We are conscious of scorn
that loathes and repudiates the
creatures of mean vices and we'll
veifed infamy, from whom. how
ever, iG is not our business
to tear the mask. We are two
people when we are in his company
one the moralist, who shakes spirit
ual fist at the other, the man OF the
world; while the man of the world
shrugs his shoulders at the moralist,
and says In unheard tones: Don't
make a fool of yourself" Again this
kind OF double consciousness comes
into play when we are in q difficulty
from which a little unworthy cbicaney
would extricate us. and where perfect
honesty will only draw the coils tight
er and deepen the hole where We were
already fallen. The two egos talk IN.
side one head, aud argue the.ca with
more or less distinc1ness. Jekyll or
Hyde? which shall it be? Being hui
man, with that nihil alienum Us the
basis OF our being, we are organically
capable OF any rascality to be com.
passed by the universal man. We
repudiate while we picture but the
ability to picture proves the ability
10 practice but for that other sell
that res I'll aiming sell, born OF the con.
seriousness of higher things. Still,
there it is; and the double moment
goes on, though it may be SO family
as not to constitute real tempta-
ton. IL may only be a consciousness
oil possible escape if we would bring
ourselves to fraud and dishonesty
without the confessed query: shall
do it2' When, indeed, it comes into
such distinctness and vitality as that
when Hyde Is as solid as Jekyll-
then we have a tougher time OF it
and a harder battle, and the spiritual
tussle Is sitter than we would per-
haps care to acknowledge. How
many Of us 60 through these tempta-
tons Is known to each mans own
soul only. What's done we partly
may compute, but not what is resist
ed, and the double consciousness
which is made by principle and pas
SION, restraint and desire, is never
revealed to others and scarcely con.
iessed to ourselves. But we all have
II, even those who conquer the evil
tendency with most apparent facility
and most thoroughness.