News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1914-07-29
Copyright. 1914. by A. S. Cray
NEURASTHENIA - (BRAIN FAG)-
ITS CAUSE AND CORRECTION
PART TWO.
.HXXNNXHXNNXNxNAXHHNHNxNI

note the operation of general law
which is that everything contains
within itself the elements for it's own
destruction. Man himself, of course
as part of the universe, is subject
to all these laws, and therefore, as
might be expected, the elements for
our own self-destruction are to be
found in the very instincts and facul-
ties that raise us superior to the brute.
The history of the past 10000 years
as indelibly written in the substance
of the earth itself proves civilization
to be an intermittent and recurrent
phenomena. Nations rise, bloom and
decay because with the accumulation
OF material wealth the pressure Of ne
cessity decreases and the individual
citizen, ceasing to strive, relaxes and
becomes soft or prematurely senile-
even neurasthenic if you please.
When weary it is very easy and very
pleasant to relax and sink into that
delightfully."- dreamy state; but here
lies the danger, for it is in that state
one so readily becomes retrospective
and by imperceptible stages drifts
into self-sympathy and self-pity and
quickly becomes self-conscious and
self-centered.
A self-centered mind is like a root
bound plant; unless the roots are
shaken out and freed so they may con-
tinuously reach out into new soil that
will Cd
Smash the pot and the roots will shoot
out into new soil and the plant will
grow and thrive. Just so the self-cen-
tered mind must break out of its shell
of self and forget itself in working,
fighting, striving for something worth
while.
The dominating instinct in man is
fear and this is why self-contempla-
ton is dangerous. There are many
store rooms in the basement of mans
consciousness, commonly known as
the sub-conscious mind, and in these
dark and forgotten corners many
strange things are stored, only wait
ing for the opportunity when they
may come forth to puzzle and con-
found US.
There is nothing mysterious or ter
rible about the subconscious phenom-
ena if, with a full knowledge of the
laws of the universe, of which we are
part, we frankly consider ourselves
a link in the chain of life extending
from an incomprehensibly remote past
to an equally incomprehensible and re-
mote future.
We deem it not at all strange, mere
ly because we happen to be familiar
with the fact, that there are handed
down to us strong memories out of the
remote past in the form of striking re-
semblances to a grandparent, or to
a great-grandparent, or to one even
still more remote. All inherited traits
are but cell memories; then why
strange or mysterious that there should
and from the same source out of that
misty past, dim memories, vague and
nebular. but none the less memories,
of past long left behind in the ad-
Tancing consciousness of the race?
In these latent impressions will be /
found the key to the very pitiful truth |
that the dominant impression in the |
mind of man is that OF fear, and that |
this is undoubtedly the source of those !
so-called causeless terrors CT early |
childhood coming at a period before |
terror should be known, and in later |
years coming to US SO furtively in the |
might and in all weakened conditions |
due to illness, to sudden surprise, or
to relaxation from any cause, a fear |
to overcome by any reason
ing because it was burned into our
sympathetic nervous systems back in |
the past when devils lurked behind |
every leaf and man was in constant |
terror of the unknown.
With the dawn of more intelligent |
comprehension of the universe there
has come an appreciation that natures |
IRE so vast and contain so
many complex and never to be under
stood forces that balance and counter
balance each other, that ones conf
dence in ones self is always in inverse
to ones knowledge of the
laws involved. Hence, the most intel
ligent physician uses the least medi-
cine because he realizes more keenly
than -ny one else the completely of
the phenomena with which he has to
deal and the extent to which conclu-
sions are likely to be vitiated by I'M
known factors in the problem. And
today, throughout the world, the issue
Is being reverently but boldly met
The remedy for our ills? To investi-
gate; to think; to become PERSONAL
ties; to lay aside all fads and fancies,
all prejudices, all superstition and ira
dition, and take such, steps for the re-
moval of the known cause as are found
TO be necessary in the light Of the
truth derived from modern methods
Of scientific investigation-all the
while remembering that the only
strong individuals are those who work,
and that work alone gives courage
ans faith