imaginary person in a book or on the stage unable to feel sympathy for the real
suffering which exists all around them. The story is told of a lady at the theater
who wept over the suffering of the hero in the play; and at the moment she was
shedding the unnecessary tears, her own coachman, whom she had compelled to
wait for her in the street, was frozen to death. Our seemingly prosaic
environment is full of suggestions to the emotional life, and books and plays
should only help to develop in us the power rightly to respond to these
suggestions.
Harm in Emotional Overexcitement.—Danger may exist also in still another
line; namely, that of emotional overexcitement. There is a great nervous strain in
high emotional tension. Nothing is more exhausting than a severe fit of anger; it
leaves its victim weak and limp. A severe case of fright often incapacitates one
for mental or physical labor for hours, or it may even result in permanent injury.
The whole nervous tone is distinctly lowered by sorrow, and even excessive joy
may be harmful.
In our actual, everyday life, there is little danger from emotional overexcitement
unless it be in the case of fear in children, as was shown in the discussion on
instincts, and in that of grief over the loss of objects that are dear to us. Most of
our childish fears we could just as well avoid if our elders were wiser in the
matter of guarding us against those that are unnecessary. The griefs we cannot
hope to escape, although we can do much to control them. Long-continued
emotional excitement, unless it is followed by corresponding activity, gives us
those who weep over the wrongs of humanity, but never do anything to right
them; who are sorry to the point of death over human suffering, but cannot be
induced to lend their aid to its alleviation. We could very well spare a thousand
of those in the world who merely feel, for one who acts, James tells us.
We should watch, then, that our good feelings do not simply evaporate as
feelings, but that they find some place to apply themselves to accomplish good;
that we do not, like Hamlet, rave over wrongs which need to be righted, but
never bring ourselves to the point where we take a hand in their righting. If our
emotional life is to be rich and deep in its feeling and effective in its results on
our acts and character, it must find its outlet in deeds.
4. EMOTIONS AS MOTIVES
Emotion is always dynamic, and our feelings constitute our strongest motives to