Only very gradually does function define
itself. To complete inexperience this is a coherent and
undifferentiated world, in which, as someone has said of a school of
philosophers, all facts are born free and equal. Those facts which
belong together in the world have not yet been separated from those
which happen to lie side by side in the stream of consciousness.
At first, says Ferenczi, the baby gets some of the things it wants by
crying for them. This is "the period of magical hallucinatory
omnipotence." In its second phase the child points to the things it
wants, and they are given to it. "Omnipotence by the help of magic
gestures." Later, the child learns to talk, asks for what it wishes,
and is partially successful. "The period of magic thoughts and magic
words." Each phase may persist for certain situations, though overlaid
and only visible at times, as for example, in the little harmless
superstitions from which few of us are wholly free. In each phase,
partial success tends to confirm that way of acting, while failure
tends to stimulate the development of another. Many individuals,
parties, and even nations, rarely appear to transcend the magical
organization of experience. But in the more advanced sections of the
most advanced peoples, trial and error after repeated failure has led
to the invention of a new principle. The moon, they learn, is not
moved by baying at it.
Pages:
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84