Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/222

 204 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING

ality, by reason of their power to establish an abiding asso ciation of certain feelings with certain objects and ideas and thus .to fix the direction of those persistent courses of vol untary action, which alone lead to notable achievement in any sphere of life.

But another principle of great practical importance must not be lost from view if serious mistakes are to be avoided. While the improvement of the voluntary life consists largely in the organization of feeling-dispositions around certain real or ideal objects, and involves, therefore, frequent ap peals to the appropriate feelings in connection with these objects, the excitation of excessive feeling in relation to any object whatsoever never secures voluntary action at all. Again and again should it be repeated that, beyond a certain intensity, emotion no matter what its character renders deliberation and choice impossible ; the whole psycho-physi cal organism is thrown into violent commotion or abnormal tension ; the intellectual processes are disturbed or totally hindered ; and the action which results from such powerful stimulation may be a correct index of the reflex or in stinctive organization, but does not in any true sense repre sent the personality. In such emotional states we speak of a man being &quot; swept off his feet,&quot; or &quot; playing the fool,&quot; or &quot; acting silly ;&quot; or we may say he is &quot; beside himself,&quot; &quot; he is not accountable for what he says,&quot; &quot; he is crazy &quot; or &quot; daft.&quot; In more scientific phrase, his personality is for the time being disorganized. From the point of view of volition his actions are chaotic and capricious; they are not rationally controlled; they are not co-ordinated toward intelligently selected ends ; they are non-personal and would be of little significance if they did not so often result in positive injury to the moral and spiritual constitution. Such experiences do not normally tend toward the establishment of that bal ance of the emotional and intellectual processes which is so marked a characteristic of the highest and noblest personal ities. They tend rather to disturb that balance, to bring the organism under the domination of the reflexive and in-

�� �