The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-20
The laws of the Mind.

The laws of the Mind.
| 1t is prophesied by some observers OF
the course of the worlds thought that
within the next generation there will be
| great advances in the study of psychology
and the laws of thought generally. This
seems likely, and it is by no means i'm
| possible that these advances may be
greater than anything which is now
| dreamed of.
| Ii is curious when one comes to think
of it, that the laws of the human mind
have been so little investigated or UNI
derstood in the past. To be sure. the
| laws of the human body have been quite
| as little understood by the masses of the
people, until within the last hundred
years The knowledge of natural law
seems to have made its beginnings in
the departments of science furthest from
| direct concern with human affairs 1t
| was recognized a long time ago that the
laws of mathematics were fixed; some of
the laws of physics were also understood;
the arts of painting and of music were
developed: it was understood that
painter did not do his work by chance
or inspiration, but according to certain
well-defined principles. and that no power
on earth could make it possible for
Beethoven symp. ny to be played on
jew s-harp; but all this time there was
more or less well-defined conviction in the
minds of most people that there was no
law which governed the human being.
| He was free. If he did not do right he
was to be blamed; if he did not succeed
he to be despised. Any other view Of
the case was fataIism.
There are always some minds which get
at truth, not by reason, but by intuition,
and had it not been for these, a theory
SO crooked and peculiar that above ont
lined would have come nearer wrecking
human nature than ii has. 1t will gen.
orally be found that the greatest minds
are least ready to hold their fellow beings
to account, or judge others in any way.
This is because their very greatness and
wide experience give them an intuitive
perception of the non-accountability of
human nature for most of the faults and
follies which make life inconvenient.
The fact Island It is beginning to be
realized nowadays-that every human be-
ing is made up of mass of more or less
contradictory and uncertain impulses,
tendencies, motives, and desires, which
are variously acted upon by an infinite
variety OF outside influences, and more
or less directly and powerfully Influenced
by the conscience and the will. For his
impulses. hereditary tendencies. and natU-
raj desires he is no more responsible
than for the color of his hair or the shape
of his nose. He is responsible for him
self only for the extent to which his will
can modify his character for right or
wrong: and no human being except him
self-sometimes not even himself-can tell
how much that is. 1t would seem. then.
that the thing which is above all inn
portant is to understand human nature
before judging it. j would seem that
Judgment can only be rendered by an ON
niscient observer In so far as a mans
will and motives show themselves In his
acts, we may be able to say how far
these are good or bad in. their influence.
We can see, for example, that II a wo-
man continually scolds and worries her
husband and children. the result cannot
be good; we can see that If a man beats
his wife the effect is bad in every way
But we cannot know what led to this
evil conduct. Hence we have no RICH. to
lid tha
condemn his acts, and endeavor to pre-
vent them. The distinction is subtle
one, but it is there. The law of the uni
verse is that every unjust, cruel, hypO-
critical. lying action does harm; hence,
to obey the law, every right-thinking per
son must try to diminish the number of
such actions. The law of the universe
also is that these evils are due, not always
to deliberate wrong intention, but to per-
verted right intention. hereditary impulse.
or bad training; hence 1t is a waste of
time to try to combat them without com
prehension. If a man is criminal be-
cause he is a born degenerate, it is Of no
use to treat him as if he were wholly re-
sponsible, any more than it would be
proper to reason with hungry tiger If
he does wrong because he does not know
any better, he should be taught better
But obviously the matter of first impor-
lance is TO understand the laws by which
he is governed so that we can find out
what the cause of his wrongdoing is
and that is just the matter to which |
until recently. almost no attention has
been given either in public or private
affairs.
Last night it did not appear as certain |
as formerly that there would be a gen
eral miners strike in the anthracite re- |
giOn on April !. The men are getting