duct were not
comprehended by the young people, and only vaguely sensed by their
parents. They were traditional ideas, generally approved by right-minded
people and passed along. Their origin, in nearly all cases, was the
accumulated experience and wisdom of people who did comprehend.

So it happens that a young woman, or a young man, of the new school,
without respect for old-fashioned teachings, and with insufficient
experience, or knowledge of their own, can fall into the error of
imagining that their selfish interests are best served by gratifying
each passing inclination.

Their first shallow mistake, as I have tried to show, is in overlooking
the lessons of others' experience.

This whole point-of-view, of course, is absolutely selfish and for the
time being, I have been content to meet them on their own ground and
answer them in terms of absolute selfishness. Even on the assumption
that a human being is a kind of animal, which feels no need of
consideration for others' welfare, and is devoid of any higher
aspirations than a full measure of selfish enjoyment--even then, purely
as a question of intelligence, a matter of policy, there are excellent
reasons why various impulses and inclinations should be resisted and
denied. The nature of these reasons I have attempted to suggest and make
clear by some haphazard examples and as previously noted, the basis of
them all is Experience.

IV

AFFECTION

There remain two other sets of reasons why our selfish inclinations
should often be denied--affection and faith. They are of a higher and
finer order. We will take them one at a time.

The conscious life of a human being is by no means limited to the
perception of sensations and the exercise of reason. These are important
functions, but they are not all. A human being is also provided with a
heart, which is capable of feeling sympathy for other human beings--for
all living things. This sympathetic feeling may cover a wide
range--pity, commiseration, friendship, admiration, devotion, adoration.

It is not the nature of mankind to live an isolated existence, in
loneliness. Boys and girls, men and women, from the beginning of life to
the end, yearn for the companionship of others with whom they can share
their thoughts and feelings, their pleasures and their pains. Through
association with others come affectionate feelings for certain ones. We
attach ourselves to them with bonds of sympathy, understanding, lo