CHAPTER VI.

EMOTIONS OF SELF.

1. THE term 'Self' is not used here in any of its wide acceptations, but is a brief title for comprehending two allied groups of Feelings-the one expressed by the names Self-gratulation, Self-complacency, Self-esteem, Pride; the other by Love of Approbation, Vanity, Desire of Fame, or Glory.

The comprehensive words Selfishness, Self-secking, Egotism, imply the collective interests of the individual, as excluding, or simply as not including, the interests of others. There are, therefore, many forms of egotism besides what are to be now treated of. For example, the love of Power (not here included) is at the extreme pole of Egotism; being scarcely, if at all compatible, with a regard to others. Many feelings are in themselves purely egotistic, but their enjoyment is not complete without a social alliance, such as Tenderness and Sexual feeling; these are sympathetic by accident, if not by design.

SELF-GRATULATION AND SELF-ESTEEM.

2. This is the feeling experienced when we behold in ourselves the qualities that, seen in others, call forth admiration, reverence, love, or esteem.

Admiration, as above stated, combines the elation of the sublime with tenderness, and is, in favourable circumstances, highly pleasurable. Any fresh display of excellence, of a kind that we are able to appreciate, fills us with delight, part of which may be set down to the indulgence of the admiring

sentiment.

In the present case, we have to consider what change is effected, when we ourselves are the admired personality. The pleasure, in such circumstances, is usually much greater. The question arises, is it the same sentiment, with assignable modifications, or is it a new feeling of the mind?

SELF-COMPLACENCY A MODE OF TENDERNESS.

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3. The PHYSICAL side of the feeling presents an expression of marked pleasure, serene and placid, such as might accompany tender feeling.

There is nothing in this expression to give a clue to the ultimate analysis of the feeling, although quite consistent with the view to be given of it from the mental side.

4. On the MENTAL side, we may consider self-complacency as a mode of tender feeling, with self for the object; the pleasure caused by it, is the pleasure of admiring an object of tender affection.

Let us suppose, first, the case of admiration drawn forth to a beloved person, as when a parent is called to witness the merits, virtues, or charms of a child. There is here obviously a double current of pleasurable excitement; the admiration wakens the affection into active exercise, and the aroused affection quickens the admiration. It is not to be believed that the pleasure of admiring one that we are interested in, from other causes, should be only the same as towards a person wholly indifferent.

Now, there are various facts to show, that every human being is disposed to contract a habitual self-tenderness, so as to become, each to one's self, an object of affection.

It is towards other personalities that we have the full and primary experience of the tender feeling, but if it can extend in any form to inanimate things, much more should it arise towards our own personality. When, besides the enjoyment of pleasures, and the pursuit of ends, we direct our attention upon self as the subject of all those pleasures and pursuits, we may be affected with a superadded tender feeling, which will in time grow into an affection. The attentions and care of the mother to the child greatly contribute to the strength of her affection; the sickly child is often the most beloved. A similar round of attentions and care, consciously bestowed on self, have a similar tendency; we may in this way, if we indulge ourselves in self-consciousness, become the object of self-tenderness, growing into self-affection (a feeling not to be confounded with what is commonly called self-love).

It is possible for the regards to take a direction so exclusively outward, to be so far absorbed with other personalities, and purely external concerns, as not to become habitual towards self. In such a situation, the self-complacent sentiment would be dried up; the sight of excellence in certain

other persons might have a warm and pleasing efficacy, while in self it would awaken but a feeble response. Such a total absence of self-gratulation may be rare, because the self-conscious tendency can hardly be nullified by any outward attractions; yet there are wide variations of degree in the feeling, as there are great differences in the choice of objects of tender concern.

If such be the derivation of the sentiment, its characters are plain. It is a pleasure of great amount, allied to the passive side of our being, and possessing all the recommendations of the tender feeling. It may subsist in a condition of weakness and prostration; it is easily sustained and recovered in the ideal form; if based on a large emotional nature, it may afford a copious well-spring of enjoyment.

It has the same high intellectual efficiency as the original form of tenderness; directing the attention, controlling the thoughts, and inducing beliefs in conformity with itself.

5. The more usual SPECIFIC FORMS of the feeling have received names in common language.

Self-complacency expresses the act of deriving pleasure from mentally revolving one's own merits, excellencies, productions, and imposing adjuncts. It also disposes us to court the sympathy and attention of others, by verbal recitals to the same effect.

Self-esteem and Self-conceit imply a settled opinion of our own merits, followed up with what is implied in esteem, namely, preference to others, on a comparison. This preference is shown most conspicuously in the feature of Self-confidence; which may be a sober and correct estimate of our own powers, but may also be an estimate heightened by self-tenderness or affection. In some characters, of great natural abundance of energy, active or emotional, the feeling is so well sustained as to dispense with the confirmation of other men's opinions. This is the respectable, but unamiable, quality of Self-sufficingness.

Self-respect and Pride suggest the feeling as a motive to conduct. Having formed a high estimate of self in certain respects, we are restrained from lowering that estimate by inconsistent conduct. The skilled workman has a pride in not sending out an inferior production. The man of upright dealings, if he is consciously proud of his own integrity, has an additional motive for strictness in acting up to it. It is the sense of honour, viewed as self-honour; and may co-exist with regard to the sentiments of others.

HUMILITY.-SELF-ABASEMENT.

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Self-pity-being sorry for one's self-is a genuine manifestation of the feeling before us. It is unmistakeable as a mode of tender feeling, and yet it ends in self; being a strong confirmation of the foregoing analysis.

Emulation, and the feeling of Superiority, express the emotion, as it arises in the act of measuring ourselves with others. All excellence requires a comparison, open or implied; when the comparison is openly made, and, when we are distinctly aware of our advantage over another person, and enjoy the pleasure of that situation, the feeling is called sense of Superiority, and the impulse to gain it, Emulation. Envy is the feeling of inferiority, with a malevolent sentiment towards the rival.

6. There are well-marked forms of Pain, in obverse correspondence to the pleasures now described.

Most amiable and estimable, on this side, is the virtue named Humility and Modesty, which, without supposing selfdepreciation, implies that, for the sake of others, we abstain from indulging self-complacent sentiment. It is a species of generosity, in renouncing a portion of self-esteem, to allow a greater share of esteem to others.

The sense of positive Worthlessness or Demerit is the genuine pain of self-tenderness, and is denoted by the names Humiliation and Self-abasement. It is not often that human beings can be made to feel this state; the regard to self is too strong to allow it a place. When it does gain a footing in the mind, the anguish and prostration are great in proportion to the joy of the opposite state. It is analogous to the discovery (also slow to be made) of demerit in objects of affection, which operates as a shock of revulsion and distress, of the severest kind. Just as the pleasures of tender feeling diffuse themselves over the life, by their ideal self-subsistence, so do the pains of worthlessness in one's own eyes, if they have once taken possession of the mind.

Self-abasement, the consequence of a sense of demerit, is also the first step towards relief; supposing, as it does, that the person has renounced all pretensions to merit, and acquiesced in the penalties of guilt. The penitential state begins with conscious worthlessness, and proceeds to regain the lost position by new endeavours.

Self-reproach is another name applicable to the loss of one's good opinion of self.

LOVE OF APPROBATION.

7. The feeling of being approved, admired, praised by others, is a heightened form of self-gratulation, due to the workings of sympathy.

The operation of sympathy will be minutely traced in a subsequent chapter. It is enough here to assume, that the coinciding expression of another person sustains and strengthens us in our own sentiments and opinions; there being assignable circumstances that vary the influence exerted by the sympathizer.

When we are affected with any emotion, the sympathy of another person may increase both the intensity of the feeling, and the power of sustaining it; in either way, adding to the pleasure of whatever is pleasurable. Our admiration of a work of genius is more prolonged, has a brighter and more enduring glow, when a sympathizing companion shares in it.

Again, as regards our strength of assurance in our opinions or convictions, we are greatly assisted by the concurrence of other persons. A conviction may be doubled or tripled in force, when repeated by one whom we greatly respect.

Now, both the circumstances named are present in the case of our being commended by others. Our self-complacency is made to burn brighter, and our estimate of self is made more secure, when another voice chimes in unison with our own.

It is also to be noticed, that a compliment from another person is an occasion for bringing our own self-complacency into action. As our various emotions show themselves only in occasional outbursts from long tracks of dormancy, we are dependent on the occurrence of the suitable stimulants. Now, as regards self-complacency, one stimulant is some fresh performance of our own; another is a tribute from some one else. Novelty in the stimulation is the condition of a copious outpouring of any emotion, pleasurable or otherwise.

To the intrinsic pleasure of Approbation, and the corresponding pain of Disapprobation, we must add the associations of other benefits attending the one, and of evils attending the other. Approbation suggests a wide circle of possible good, or the relief from possible calamities, which must greatly enhance the cheering influence exerted by it on the mind. As influences of Joy on the one hand, and of Depression on the other, the manifested opinions of our fellow-beings occupy a high place among the agencies that control our happiness."