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PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND PSYCHIATRY 379
to be himself so proud and independent in comparison with nature— an attitude which in primitive people was possible only to kings and magicians. Otiiers, on the contrary, wih perceive the most important gains in the sacrifice of the individual for the whole, the feeling of fellowship, and the self-control which civili- sation demands, or will call special attention to the lofty superiority of the civihsed religions. I acknowledge all these qualities, but should like to allude to a few on the darker side.
First of all I may point to the unequal distribution of the material advantages of civilisation. It is not the possession of this or that quantity of goods that makes a, person fortunate, but the fact that there are but few of his wishes that cannot be gratified. Modern intercourse, in dangling before the e3^es of the poor all kinds of riches, creates more requirements tlian can be gratified- the tradesman even thinks it is his duty 'to create requirements'. p- That is to say, he makes an occupation by making human beings
dissatisfied.
Secondly, as contrasting with the security of modern life I may point to wars and class warfare, which, it is true, do not occur incidentally in the course of everyday existence, but which, nevertheless,
••^H.^> . occur with the same regularity as the manic phases of a periodic
sC|^" psychosis, or the attacks of an epileptic. Wars belong to society,
r*'^;'--' as the other manifestations belong to disease.
. /,. Too little consideration is given to the fact that in the ethical
advantages of civilised society the social elements are by no means
j composed exclusively of 'sublimated' erotic impulses. Civilised
' society consists rather of a nucleus working for the whole— a nucleus
which is indeed actually held together by love, and of a great number of individuals whose interest in society is the interest of the beast of prey for its spoil. The latter group depends on
t cultural control and exercises this control for its purpose; its
cultural progress makes the ethical advantages .of civilisation
': Illusory. ,u;,., .^ri,!.,.^:.;;,: _..., ,.U, ' "V!',T "'"'V
tf. Finally- I believe that the loss even as regards cultural values which the civilisation of to-day brings with it is not estimated at ( its true extent. It seems to me that logic cannot increase with,
^ but only at the expense of ethics and aesthetics. While among
I primitive peoples every woman can make a pretty ornament or
I vessel herself, in civilised lands the artist is only a freak of nature.
I" In lands where industrial civilisation has progressed farthest there
