REASON V. IMPULSE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4654, 28 January 1924, Page 1

REASON V. IMPULSE.

TRAIN YOUR INSTINCTS. “ Our instincts,” writes a noted scientist, “ are the root of our ethics and just as hereditary as the form of our body. We eat, drink, and reproduce, not because mankind has reached an agreement that this is desirable, but because, machine-like, we are compelled to do so.” Those who are everlastingly reasoning about their souls and bodies, with rules of diet and rules of mental exercise and rules of holy living, usually become abnormally developed. One should refrain from doing anything rationally which might as well be done upon impulse. As a cat can see and a dog can smell far more perfectly than we, so our subconsciousness can attend to the ordinary affairs of our everyday life much more satisfactorily than can our intelligence. Of course reason is the distinguishing mark of the human being. It should judge, dispose, and regulato the movements of life. But it can easily be swamped in details, overworked in non-essentials, and from a blessing tuiin into a nuisance. If the chairman of” a great railway should potter about tending switches and driving spikes he would bo a poor chairman, and his line would soon go to smash. Reason is King, Czar, President of the human personality. And king business is different from servant girl business. A man is strong hi proportion as his instincts are true, quick, and powerful. He is dependable if his instincts are normal and accurate. He is god if his instincts are good. He is mean if his instincts are mean. The real problem in life, therefore, consists in training the instincts. This is the function of reason. It is to develop this erne and, weaken that one, to take these long policies and plans that will in time bring the instincts about to where it wants them. The task before any man is one only. It is tp get himself into a condition where he likes what he ought to take. It is to break the wild horses of passion to the saddle. It is to, tame and use the impulses of his blood. The completely moral man, therefore, is not the one who does what he ’wishes not to do, but the man who has trained himself to wish to do .what he ought to do. Then, he sleeps when he is sleepy, eats when he is hungry, drinks when he is thirsty, is pleasant when so disposed, and angry when anger arises; he walks when his legs need unstiffening, wo p ks when desire calls, plays when he feels that is needed to break monotony, prays when the spirit moves, and altogether has got the hereditary, dumb, intelligent forces in him to dp nine-tenths of the woi k, and reserves his reason to come in only occasionally to decide some great matters. There are no bad impulses ; there may be disorderly and untrained impulses, but every push of the blood in us is useful. Instinct, desire, craving, is the steam in the human engine.

A great man has great appetites, if they are well ordered he is a great, good man. If they are .selfish and embittered he is a great criminal. But a bloodless man, without strong feeling, can never be great. He may occupy a great position, be a King on a throne or a money power with bags of gold, but he himself cannot be great. Cease, then, regretting this or that fiery passion. Break it to harness. Learn how to drive it instead of letting it run away with you, and you will live to thank God for it. Real culture >s the intelligent development oE the instinct forces Nature has put in us.