Page:An introduction to ethics.djvu/107

 action is not really the child's. It might equally well have been done by a monkey. But when the child really assimilates the lesson of the kind action, and gives its penny, knowing why it does so, and having a feeling of pity in its heart, then the action is really the action of the self. It is a real expression of the self or personality.

Throughout we have seen that the self is essentially social. The consciousness of self grows through intercourse with other selves. The rudimentary self of the child gains its experience and realises itself by observing and imitating and opposing the other selves in its social environment. Apart from the influence of these other selves, it would not develop at all. And the consciousness of self always includes relations to other selves. My self-consciousness contains the conviction that I am in such and such a social position. Now this social position involves a whole system of relations to other selves in the society in which I live. These relations form part of my awareness of myself. From them I weave my notion of my social position, of my duties and my rights in the community of which I am a member.

§ 3. Personality and Vocation. Most children, as they grow up, create in imagination the kind of self they want to be. To the oft-recurring question, "And what are you going to be?" the child usually has a ready answer. But it may very frequently change its idea of its future self. At one time it wants to be a sailor, at another a minister. The young boy may experience great pleasure in dallying with a variety of possible selves. But the time comes when he must choose one of these fancied selves to be his real self.