Part 8

For intelligence is no guarantee against impulsive action. Love and hate and fear and jealousy and sympathy make normally wise people do exceedingly foolish things. The mob is capable of killing innocent persons. So is almost any man, when his hate is aroused.

And all men kill the thing they love, By all let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word.

These verses of Oscar Wilde’s are justified. The passions do not exert themselves in a definite and controlled direction. Therefore love can slay about as well as hate. Probably better, for the opportunities are greater.

Physical ill health is at the bottom of much stupidity. Although the direct influence upon the higher nervous centers may be little, there are all sorts of indirect effects caused by illness. Frequently the patient is in a constant state of suppressed anger. Any trifle makes him find fault with his physician and his attendants.

Sometimes, indeed, the patient does not become angry with his nurse. He may fall into an attitude of dependence upon her. This occasionally--especially in the case of men just entering the first stage of senile dementia--leads to foolish marriages.

Old age, like childhood, is more or less the scene of folly. Comparatively few individuals are as intelligent in the 70’s and 80’s as they were in the 30’s and 40’s. Most men are physically strongest at about the age of 25. The height of mental power comes later, perhaps at about 45. After that the memory tends to decline. The other mental traits become impaired usually in the 60’s.

The folly peculiar to youth depends largely upon lack of experience. Deficiency in self-control is also an important element--one, to be sure, that frequently lasts through life. Child prodigies usually show a one-sided development. Though they may be quick thinkers, they seldom probe deeply.

The thinker is immature until he has a supply of experiences and ideas at his service. These will come, if he only learns to apply the principle of order. This is the instrument with which we make the most of our minds. When we learn how to use order, we become as gods. For then we can take the chaos about us and build it into a universe.

Transcriber’s Notes

In the .txt version, surrounding characters have been used to indicate Italics Minor typographical and spelling errors have been corrected p. 29 retained unchanged the sentence beginning “The educational critics”