There are at least four factors that can motivate (not necessitate) a person's default on the responsibility of
independence and cognitive self-reliance.
- Thinking requires an effort; thinking is mental work.
- A policy of thinking, practiced consistently as a way of life, forbids one the possibility of indulging desires or
emotions that clash with one's understanding and convictions. - Man's mind is fallible; he can make an error at any step of the thinking process—and, if he acts on his error, he
may suffer pain or defeat or destruction. - His independent thinking may bring a person into conflict with the opinions and judgments of others, thus
provoking disapproval or animosity.
Since the default under discussion does not consist of a single choice or a single moment, but of a long succession
of choices in a long succession of situations, different factors may be operative on different occasions. Sometimes,
one of these factors will tend to predominate in the case of a given individual.
By far the most commonly operative factor is fear associated with the issue of fallibility—fear of being wrong, fear
of failure, fear of the risks of acting on one's own fallible judgment; which logically implies: fear of a universe in
which success is not automatically guaranteed. This fear tends to make one susceptible to the other three factors. It
is through a successive series of surrenders to such fear—through successive retreats from the challenges of life—
that a person relinquishes the intellectual self-assertiveness which is the base of psychological sovereignty.
There are children who, when first presented with blocks or other construction toys, respond with timidity and
apprehension; they see the situation, not as a pleasurable challenge, not as an opportunity to expand their skills, but
as a threat to their "security," as an enemy which invokes feelings of helplessness by demanding that they cope with
the new. If they characteristically surrender to fear in situations of this kind, if they back away from challenges
rather than learn to master them, the effect on their psychological development is devastating: they institute a basic
sense of impotence which tends to remain with them—and to be continually reinforced—throughout their life. They
abort their own maturational development. The same principle applies to a