If Power Corrupts, The Reverse Is Also

The Integrative Tendencies Of The Individual Operate Through The Mechanisms Of Empathy, Sympathy, Projection, Introjection, Identification, Worship- All Of Which Make Him Feel That He Is A Part Of Some Larger Entity Which Transcends The Boundaries Of The Individual Self. This Psychological Urge To Belong, To Participate, To Commune Is As Primary And Real As Its Opposite. The All-important Question Is The Nature Of That Higher Entity Of Which The Individual Feels Himself A Part.

I Have Repeatedly Stressed That The Selfish Impulses Of Man Constitute A Much Less Historic Danger Than His Integrative Tendencies. To Put It In The Simplest Way: The Individual Who Indulges In An Excess Of Aggressive Self-assertiveness Incurs The Penalties Of Society-he Outlaws Himself, He Contracts Out Of The Hierarchy. The True Believer, On The Other Hand, Becomes More Closely Knit Into It; He Enters The Womb Of His Church, Or Party, Or Whatever The Social Holon To Which He Surrenders His Identity.

The Life We Led Was A Proof Of Man's Capacity For Adaptation.i Think That Even The Condemned Souls In Purgatory After Time Develop A Sort Of Homely Routine.that Is ,by The Way, Why Most Prison Memoirs Are Unreadable.the Difficulty Of Conveying To The Reader An Idea Of A Nightmare World From Which He Has Emerged Makes The Author Depict The Prisoner's State Of Mind As An Uninterruped Continuity Of Despair.he Fears To Appear Frivolous Or To Spoil His Effect By Admitting That Even In The Depths Of Misery Cheerfulness Keeps Breaking In.

The Inner Censor Of The Mind Of The True Believer Completes The Work Of The Public Censor; His Self-discipline Is As Tyrannical As The Obedience Imposed By The Regime; He Terrorizes His Own Conscience Into Submission;he Carries His Private Iron Curtain Inside His Skull, To Protect His Illusions Against The Intrusion Of Reality.

Hitherto Man Had To Live With The Idea Of Death As An Individual; From Now Onward Mankind Will Have To Live With The Idea Of Its Death As A Species.