Man-building; a treatise on human life and its forces

Preface

The author has sought a title for this book which would clearly express its character. From infancy to mature years there is built up a physical and mental structure which occupies a place of special honor in the world of being. Man is "but little lower than God." This statement is based on the high order of his powers. But he begins life in a condition of utter feebleness. He is, when he reaches manhood, so much more than the new-born child because of the operation of a building process which must be carried forward strictly under prescribed laws of development, if the largest results be obtained.

This is not a text-book, but a book for general reading. Yet it embraces the broad principles of three distinct but interrelated departments of science — the psychological, the physiological, and the sociological — all belonging to human life. The faculties of the mind are here presented, their functions unfolded, and the methods of their training carefully stated. The mind acts through

PREFACE

the body and is acted upon by the body. The offices of this physical structure need to be understood and its reactive power considered. And each individual is not only an individual but an inseparable component of the race. Without the world about him man's life would be sadly and fatally incomplete. Any attempt to understand the individual in the absence of society with its institutions, the privileges it presents, and the duties it exacts, must be a failure.

The purpose of this book is to aid the young in developing their powers up toward the fullest measure of capacity, and to assist the teacher in supervising the work of his pupils in their preparation for the duties of life. There have been many able scientific works given to the public on Psychology, on Physiology, and on Sociology, but none of them have combined a discussion of the broad principles belonging to these several departments of truth in their bearing practically on manhood. The aim of these works has been simply scientific, not directive as to character or to aid in the gaining of the noblest and most efficient life. The author has sought to answer the question, what can be done to help young people develop and use the powers of their being for their highest good ? In carrying out our purpose the mind is analyzed, the functions of the powers

vi

PEEFACE

pointed out, and the methods of development given. The laws and forces of life are sought to be clearly defined, bringing us face to face with the privileges offered and the duties imposed. He who would make the most of himself must understand what his powers are and how they should be employed ; what his opportunities are and how they can be utilized. This book has a positive practical aim in man-building.

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Table Of Contents

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER

I. **Know Thyself"

II. Man's Dualistic Nature ....

III. The Body a Servant of the Mind

IV. The Body an Instrument of Knowledge

PAGE

Part First Psychological

V.

Analysis of Mental Life

VI.

Mental Potentiality ....

VII.

Passing from the Potential to the

Actual

VIII.

The Light of Consciousness .

IX.

The Philosophy of Attention

X.

The Training of Attention ..

XI.

First Forms of Knowledge .

XII.

First Forms of Knowledge— Continued .

XIII.

Intellectual Training of the Child .

XIV.

Mental Growth

IX

TABLE OF CONTiENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

XV. Second Forms of Knowledge. {Memory) 62

XVI. Second Forms of Knowledge— Continued. {Association in the Action of Memory) 68

XVII. Second Forms of Knowledge— Continued. [The Life as Perpetuated by

Memory) 72

XVIII. Second Forms of Knowledge— Continued. (Reproduction as Imagination) . . . . . . .77

XIX. Second Forms of Knowledge— Continued. {Use and Abuse of Imagination) 83

XX. Third Forms of Knowledge. {First

Step — Concepts) 88

XXI. Third Forms of Knowledge — Continued. (Second Step — Judgments) . 93

XXII. Third Forms of Knowledge — Continued. (Third Step— Reasoning) . 98

XXIII. The Logic of Deeds . . . .104

XXIV. Training of the Powers of Thought 109

XXV. Fourth Forms of Knowledge. (First

Principles) 114

XXVI. Fourth Forms of Knowledge— Continued. (First Principles) . . .120

XXVII. Fourth Forms of Knowledge — Continued. (The First Cause) . . .125

XXVIII. The Sceptre of the Heart . . 130

XXIX. Feelings Discriminated . . .134

XXX. Equipment of Feelings . . .140

X

TABLE OP CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

XXXI. Control and TRAiNiNa of the

Feelings 145

XXXII. Involuntary Activities . . . 150

XXXIII. Will Defined 154

XXXIV. Dependence of Will . . .158 XXXV. Motives 162

XXXVI. Volitions are Caused . . .166

XXXVII. The Symmetry of Mental Life . 170

XXXVIII. Character 174

XXXIX. Training of the Will . . .179

XL. The Office of Conscience . . 183

XLI. The Training of Conscience . .187

XLII. The Power of Convictions . .192

XLIII. The Spiritual . . . . .196

Part Second Physiological

XLIV. Integrity and Differentiation of

THE Body 203

XLV. The Care of the Body . . .206

XLVI. Brain Forces 211

XL VII. Development in the Field of the

Physical 216

XLVIII. Persistence of Developed Forces 219

XLIX. Heredity 225

L. Impairing the Energies of Life . 229 LI. Interaction of Mind and Body in

THE Sphere of Morals . . . 234 xi

TABLE OP CONTENTS

Part Third Sociological

CHAPTER PAGE

LII. Community Life 241

LIII. MARRIAaE 244

LIV. Childhood 251

LV. School Training 258

LVI. Education by Contact .... 265

LVII. The Printed Page 271

LVIII. Influences of Travel . . o . 278 LIX. Commerce ane Industries . . . 285

LX. The City and the Country . . .291

LXI. Political Forces 299

LXII. The Church as a Sociological Organism 306

THE GATHERED THREADS LXIII. The Complete Man 317 xu

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTEE I

''KNOW THYSELF"

Pope has said, "The proper study of mankind is man." The theme is the most comprehensive of all themes of study next to that of the Supreme Being. Because of his exalted nature God has " given him dominion over the works of his hands." Such distinguished honor conferred by the Creator, who cannot make a mistake in judgment, would naturally turn our attention to the powers of him who is thus ^^ crowned with glory and honor."

In the few thousands of years in which man has been an inhabitant of the earth he has wrought out diverse and marvellous results. History is a record of his deeds. He has displayed irrepressible energy of action. Possessing a social nature communities have come into being, governments organized, laws enacted, and the boundaries of nations prescribed. Eestless and ambitious he has waged wars, blood has flowed like water, national rights have been both defended and trampled under foot. Centres of civil and military authority have been established and then swept away by the strong arm of power. Different forms of civilization have arisen and been supplanted by something that was new. The face of the earth has been transformed by art which man has developed. The forests have been levelled, the soil cultivated for the production of food, cities built, railroads devised and operated, steamships constructed, oceans navigated, commerce opened between widely separated countries, and the desert literally made to blossom as the rose.

Man has penetrated to the very heart of nature, and unearthed the secrets she had hidden away since the dawn of creation. Science is his reading of the great systems of truth God has ordained. To him " the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork." He has found out what God has been thinking about, for he has traced His handwriting on the earth and sky. He has justified the declaration that in powers of thought he was made in the divine image. He has gone farther than this even, he has scaled the battlements of time and caught visions of a future world. Eeason tells him there is an immortality of being, that life here, even in its fullest measure, is incomplete, and that it points to a sublime destiny in an eternal hereafter. A being possessed of such powers, penetrating so deeply into the constitution of things, working out such a wonderful history, cherishing such sublime hopes presents to us in his nature a subject for study

KNOWING ONE'S SELF

which must be attractive, and in the highest degree instructive.

And the importance, the interest of this subject to the student of human nature is that it is persolial, that he who studies the race is studying himself, and that he who is studying himself is studying the powers, ambitions, and fundamental principles on which all society is built, himself the microcosm making known the macrocosm. Knowing himself he knows the great world, the human universe. The extent and the certitude of his knowledge depend on the extent and reliability of the powers of knowing. Knowledge is the measure of the applied capability of knowing. The student studies the life of himself, by virtue of which life he is a student. And knowing, he seeks to understand how he knows ; feeling, the laws of feeling ; doing, the conditions of personal activity. The result is that he is intelligent as to himself ; self is no longer a mysterious energy, an unread book. Understanding his powers he knows what he can do ; understanding the laws of action of his faculties he sees how to proceed; looking forward to a future he is able to determine its degree of rationality.

Finding also the laws of progress he is able to make progress. He sees how the growth of energies may be intelligently carried forward. The supreme interest of life is its development, to become what we are capable of becoming ; to secure as large a measure of the human as it is possible to gain. We need to know the order and work of man-building if we would rear the most perfect temple of life. He who remains a riddle to himself when the solution is within his reach is unwise.

CHAPTEE II

MAN'S DUALISTIC NATURE

No conception of man is complete or adequate which does not recognize his dualistic nature. In the human person there is both mind and body. Our entire ignorance of the condition and life of a disembodied spirit renders it impossible to predicate any reliable statement in regard to the facts, or the action of spiritual forces, in a state wholly dissevered from material realities. Not doubting that the soul has a future when the body, as we here know it, is laid aside, yet it is our purpose to consider the human being as existing in and subject to the relations we sustain in this world.

God has created two dissimilar primary substances, matter and spirit. Matter, subject to innumerable forms of combination, is made known to us by its properties ; spirit is revealed by its attributes. Matter has spatial dimensions — length, breadth, and thickness; spirit does not possess

MAWS DUALISTIC NATURE

spatial magnitude, but manifests intensive energy — energy of knowing, feeling, willing. But in putting man as a spirit on the earth the Creator linked him with the material universe by means of a physical — a physiological or organic — ^nature. The body is the house the spirit occupies ; more than this, it is an instrument the spirit uses in performing its functions ; further still, it reacts on the spirit or unites with it in bringing mental products or states into existence. While it would be irrational to hold that brain is mind, yet mental action depends on the brain. The absence or derangement of the gray matter of the brain destroys or impairs the action of the mind.

To be more specific, the body performs four offices in its relations with the human spirit.

1st. The brain localizes the spirit, securing for it a definite position in space for the exercise of its energies.

2d. The brain is a medium of mental action, a material organism co-operating with spirit in bringing mental products into existence.

3d. The body is the servant of the mind which controls this physiological structure in the performance of its various offices through the brain and general nervous system.

4th. The soul or spirit gains a knowledge of material objects through sight, hearing, touch, and the other senses, all of which depend on the brain as an innervating nervous centre, and through this nervous organism the mind is impressed, stimulated, and becomes intelligent.

The word soul, as we use the term, does not mean simply spirit, but embodied spirit, or spirit that has been embodied. We do not call angels souls because we do not know that they have a physical organization. The life they live is not supposed to depend upon or to be connected with any material structure. God we know to be pure spirit, and as such we speak of Him and worship Him.

We do not base our belief in the dualistic nature of man on our ability to solve the problem of such a nature, but on the diverse powers and manifestations of our life. The body is an object of sense, like all material things, but we are conscious of thoughts, feelings, volitions ; of hopes, fears, love, hatred — innumerable products of our life — which can nowhere be traced in nature as properties of matter. The mode of union of soul and body is certainly a mystery which, probably, we will never be able to unravel. Our inability to find the link by which soul and body are united does not make the fact of such unity, in any degree, uncertain. In everything, when we come to the last analysis, there is mystery. How the animal body in its nutrition and growth tears the compounds which comprise its food in pieces, and builds up its muscles, bones, and nerves no one can tell. How the plant constructs woody fibre out of the gases of

B

MAWS DUALISTIC NATUEE

the air and the earthy material of the soil, science is unable to make known to us. How light wings its way through space and pictures on the retina of the eye an image of the object from which it emanates is inscrutable to the keenest intellect. ' The materialist, who affirms that man is wholly a material being, makes a monstrous assumption in putting mental powers and products among the forces and properties of matter. He takes a tremendous leap from that which is known in the physical world to that which is nowhere determined in material things, and sets at naught all principles of inductive logic. Underneath his inferences there are no premises. And, again, the idealist who discards matter, making the body and all other manifestations of what we call matter, to be only an outer form of the mental life — spirit the only substance and matter simply phenomenal — not only insults our senses but undermines all physical science. Idealism, like materialism, is a bald assumption, a speculative theory outside of the field of both psychological and physical investigations. In the life and activities of man we find two wholly unlike classes of powers and products which can be accounted for only on the ground of a dualistic nature. "With the fundamental philosophy of the action of the two we have nothing to do ; we must content ourselves with the facts of bodily structure and mental powers clearly determined, the mode of interaction being beyond the reach of all investigation. The origin of both parts of this dualistic nature is synchronous in the inception and birth of the human child.

Chapter III The Body A Servant Of The Mind

The content of the word manhood is found in the mental qualities of a human being, expressive of that which is high in rank, which is noble and worthy of admiration. The body is a servant of the mind : it not only reflects its spirit but it does its bidding. It shares with the mind that which is pure or impure ; it carries out the edicts of the will, responding to the desires of the heart ; and though a servant, it reacts on the inner life to enslave it or else liberate it from the sway of the passions. The actual man has physical powers and animal impulses from which his manhood cannot be severed.

The body is a structure of varied capabilities and wonderful adaptations. It contains a system of bones which give form and rigidity, and articulated so as, without the sacrifice of strength, to secure flexibility. The bones are covered with muscles, thus providing for both action and locomotion. There is a nervous system of which the

THE BODY SEEVIKG THE MIND

brain and spinal cord are the centre, from whicli come the stimulus to action, the power of healthy nutrition, and in sensations connecting the mind with the various parts of this composite structure. There is a digestive apparatus for the conversion of the food into blood. The body has a circulatory system, of arteries and veins, with the heart as an engine to pump the blood into the lungs, and then, on its return, to send it to every bone, fibre, nerve, and membrane of the body, for nutrition and life. It is supplied with a respiratory system for purification of the blood by the action of the air. It possesses provision for innumerable functions having to do with the prolongation of life and the healthy and efficient action of this complex physiological unit.

It is furnished with a distinct system of nerves whose purpose is to convey the mandates of the mind for such efforts as the mental being requires. Thus the hand, the arm, the foot, the eye, and nearly every part of our physical structure is forced into service to meet the plans and needs of daily life. There are nerves also which prompt movements for our good without waiting for an order from the mind — acting under an innate impulse — in the presence of sudden danger. It does not require an effort or command to wink when some object is thrust toward the eye. We shrink or recoil from danger when surprised by its sudden near approach. This is done before the mind has time to make a definite plan of escape, yet this instinctive action rests back on a mental apprehension of impending harm.

That the body was planned for the realization of important offices in the career of each human being is evident, for illustration, from the structure of the hand. Its position at the outer extremity of the arm ; its flexibility ; the shape, relative size, numerous bones and direction of movement of the fingers ; the sensitiveness of the finger-tips ; the opposite position and co-operative functions of the thumb and fingers ; the existence of the palm into which the thumb and fingers can be closed, all of this in agreement with the movement of the forearm, attached to the upper arm by a hinge-joint, which upper arm is connected with the body at the shoulder by a ball-and-socket joint, thus providing for the hand a large sweep of motion, with both flexibility and strength, and within the gaze of the organs of vision, so that, through structure and position, there can be intelligent employment of a most extraordinary instrument for mechanical operations, in this we find an appliance of marvellous range of uses and perfection of powers. Because of his mental capabilities man has such a hand. The animal could not use it, therefore he has not been supplied with it.

As an artisan, man needed an erect form. "Where instruments are used, even on the lowest plane of physical activity, this is necessary. Could the

THE BODY SERVING THE MIND

animal invent appliances of industry it could not employ them to any advantage. How would it handle the axe in felling trees ; the jack-plane in smoothing the wood ; the hammer in constructing a building ; the hoe in cultivating corn ; the trowel in plastering a room ? And were man a quadruped, bowed down to the earth, not only would his dignity be lowered but his capabilities greatly lessened. He is made erect because he is a man. While the mind can be trained, it is also true that the body can be educated. It is susceptible to influences good and bad. What we call skill in the arts consists of muscles and nerves trained to respond to some mental ideal. A habit is a facility of doing in some particular way, amounting to a tendency. This tendency may be not only mental but physical. The nerves act most fully in the direction in which they have before been employed. The muscles come under the same law. This gives a potency and efficiency to bodily activity which it would not otherwise possess. For the largest and best achievements in life there should be engendered physical habits which are decided and imperious, and in the direction of that which is consonant with intelligent and moral manhood. Man is successful just in proportion to the natural and vigorous movement of his activities along well-established lines for the accomplishment of the best results. The education of the body is necessary for its largest service.

CHAPTEE IV

THE BODY AN INSTEUMENT OF KNOWLEDGE

The nervous system is a medium of communication of mind with the external world. There is no other channel for this association. Supposing mental energies to be in existence, it is believed they would be wholly inactive without the brain ; and even with the brain there would be no knowledge of outer material objects in the absence of certain brain-fibres with which the body is supplied. These fibres perform a variety of offices, and introduce us to nature in a variety of ways.

1st. There are nerve-filaments in great number which terminate in the skin. By means of these we become aware of the existence and presence of material objects, through sensations of pressure and temperature. Many qualities of outward things are thus revealed to us, such as smoothness, roughness, hardness, etc., in various degrees. "We have sensations of temperature for which "heat spots" and *'cold spots" have definite locations in the skin. Through these nerves we are supplied with information of value to us in ways without number.

2d. Analogous to the above, but with special development and wider range of use, the tips of

SENSUOUS KNOWLEDGE

the fingers are exceedingly sensitive as instruments of touch. From the number of joints in the fingers and the freedom of local movements, together with the sweep of the arms these nerves of touch are capable of rendering very important service in our daily experience.

3d. The olfactory nerves, which terminate in the lining membrane of the nostrils, are adapted to reveal the presence and quality of gaseous or volatile substances. Through these nerves we have the sense of smell, which, while not very greatly educative and rather restricted in its field of service, yet both for protection against that which is hurtful, and, at times, a source of real enjoyment, imparts knowledge we could not otherwise acquire.

4th. There are gustatory nerves terminating in the tongue and soft palate by which we have the sense of taste. Taste is possible only as the substance is or becomes liquid. That which is wholly insoluble is tasteless. Taste is not always a simple sensation, but commonly is modified somewhat by pressure and smell, the relative proportion of the three being not clearly discriminated.

5th. The organ of hearing is the ear, the outer portion being so constructed as to gather vibrations of the air, which vibrations are transmitted to what is called the auditory nerve, which carries them to the brain. This nerve is sensitive to vibrations when they are not less than sixteen nor more than 36,000 in a second of time. Between these extremes sounds are produced of every grade of pitcli and effect on the sense of hearing.

The value of the ear as an instrument of knowledge can scarcely be overestimated. The objects of cognition in touch, taste, and smell must be in immediate contact with portions of the body. Hearing, however, operates through a wide range of space. It greatly enlarges our world of experience. It increases our joys and adds to our eflficiency in every domain of activity. It creates the human voice; it converts the vibrations of the stringed instrument into music ; it fills the great organ with praise to the mighty Euler of all things. It breathes accents of love, and awakens tones which bespeak the majesty of the human will. For, be it remembered, that where there is no ear there is no music, no sound, soft or loud. The vibrations of the air are not hearing, they have no harmony, only as the ear catches them up and carries the impressions received to the brain, there stirring the soul.

6th. Through the sense of sight, the mind has its broadest field of knowledge. The eye is the soul's most perfect window, as it seeks to scan this outer world as a wonderful mechanism, and in its interdependent movements. The scientist tells us that through all interstellar space there is an ether connecting these worlds together. Whatever other office it may fill, it renders a most astonishing service as a medium of light. The

SENSUOUS KNOWLEDGE

learned world agree in this, that what we call light is a result of sensations produced by certain vibrations in this ether, coming in contact with a special nerve in the eye, which communicates with the brain. When this is set in motion at the rate of 18,000,000 of vibrations per second, impinging on the nerves of temperature, we get a sensation of heat. But to secure a sensation of light through the optic nerve, the ether must have a vibration, at the lowest, of 462,000,000,000 a second, ranging up to 773,000,000,000, which is the outer limit of color. Below the former and above the latter darkness prevails. For each color there is a special rate of vibrations, the lowest giving red, the highest violet. As these streams of light enter the eye, they converge to a focus on the retina, affording the sensation of sight. If the eye is in a healthy state an image is formed on the retina sufficiently intense to make the object from which the light emanates visible, provided enough light has passed through the pupil for this purpose. The problem is twofold, focalization and intensity. Nearness of the object is an element in the problem only as it bears on these two conditions. The telescope brings stars into view, by collecting the light, which, without it, would not enter the eye. It is on the same principle the microscope operates.

Thus we do not need to wing our flight from world to world, to peer into the chambers of this great universe. This we could not do, should we desire it ; but God opens the eyes of the soul through this marvellous mechanism of vision, and we stand face to face with far-off spheres. All nature is aglow because the mind translates these vibrations of ether into pictures which tell of God's wondrous works. As there is no sound without an auditory nerve, so there is no light without the optic nerve, with the brain and mind. The soul through this nervous mechanism lights up the stars, drives darkness from the face of nature, and fills the world with beauty. Without the eye there are vibrations but not light.

It is apparent, without further discussion, that the body is endowed with special organs, by which it puts the soul in direct relation with outer realities, supplying conditions of knowledge and mental greatness. This material frame is not to be despised, for in association with it alone can man be great and find the Infinite through His works.