Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/28

 10 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING

lectual process. The organism has advanced to the rank of a conscious and, according to the measure of its conscious ness, a self-directing being. The instinctive reactions be come less definite and mechanical and fall more and more under the direction of consciousness. In even the highest species below the human level we see only the rudimentary stages of this; but in man the power of conscious self-di rection stands out as his crowning trait, the mark of his dig nity in the universe of living things.

With the growing complexity of the nervous organization and the retention and use of past experience in a word, with the development of consciousness it is clear that there is not only the possibility of responding in different ways to the same stimulus, but also the possibility of re sponding to a far greater number of stimuli, i.e., to more complicated and varying situations than the instincts equip us for dealing with adequately. When the instincts prove sufficient for conserving the vital interests of the organism, the environment is quite simple and practically unchang ing. The conscious and self-directing organism can live and move successfully in a larger, more varied and change ful world. The more the consciousness is developed, the larger, more varied and changeable becomes the world in which it is possible to live with satisfaction; and it is hard to set any limits in our imagination to this possible develop ment.

It would seem, then, that the function of consciousness is to enable the organism to adapt itself to a complex and variable environment. Unquestionably it does this ; but this function may be so represented as to carry the implication that consciousness is simply and only a serviceable instru ment of the living organism, which it enables to survive longer. But does this not &quot; place the cart before the horse &quot; ? Is consciousness subordinate to the animal or ganism ? I should prefer to say, and it seems to be in accord with all the facts, that consciousness is a higher form or manifestation of life, and that on this higher level the liv-

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