The Many Sources of Impressions.—The nature of the impressions w come to
us and how they all lead on toward ultimate expression is shown in the
accompanying diagram (Fig. 20). Our material environment is thrusting
impressions upon us every moment of our life; also, the material objects with
which we deal have become so saturated with social values that each comes to us
with a double significance, and what an object means often stands for more than
what it is. From the lives of people with whom we daily mingle; from the wider
circle whose lives do not immediately touch ours, but who are interpreted to us
by the press, by history and literature; from the social institutions into which
have gone the lives of millions, and of which our lives form a part, there come to
us constantly a flood of impressions whose influence cannot be measured. So
likewise with religious impressions. God is all about us and within us. He speaks
to us from every nook and corner of nature, and communes with us through the
still small voice from within, if we will but listen. The Bible, religious
instruction, and the lives of good people are other sources of religious
impressions constantly tending to mold our lives. The beautiful in nature, art,
and human conduct constantly appeals to us in æssthetic impressions.
All Impressions Lead toward Expression.—Each of these groups of
impressions may be subdivided and extended into an almost indefinite number
and variety, the different groups meeting and overlapping, it is true, yet each
preserving reasonably distinct characteristics. A common characteristic of them
all, as shown in the diagram, is that they all point toward expression. The
varieties of light, color, form, and distance which we get through vision are not
merely that we may know these phenomena of nature, but that, knowing them,
we may use the knowledge in making proper responses to our environment. Our
power to know human sympathy and love through our social impressions are not
merely that we may feel these emotions, but that, feeling them, we may act in
response to them.
It is impossible to classify logically in any simple scheme all the possible forms
of expression. The diagram will serve, however, to call attention to some of the
chief modes of bodily expression, and also to the results of the bodily
expressions in the arts and vocations. Here again the process of subdivision and
extension can be carried out indefinitely. The laugh can be made to tell many
different stories. Crying may express bitter sorrow or uncontrollable joy. Vocal
speech may be carried on in a thousand tongues. Dramatic action may be made
to portray the whole range of human feelings. Plays and games are wide enough
in their scope to satisfy the demands of all ages and every people. The