FEELING 83
a fact of transcendant importance to those whose special occupation it is to persuade men to action, which of neces sity involves appeals to the feelings.
How often does the preacher find his congregation grow ing more unresponsive to an appeal which once was effec tive with them ! And this explains why it is that he so often finds it necessary to employ other means for the purpose of inducing in his hearers a heightened state of susceptibility to an old appeal in order to secure a response which afore time came so readily. How often does the politician find his audiences listening with increasing coldness to phrases and slogans which once seemed to open as by magic the flood-gates of political passion ! In such cases the preacher and the politician may not realize how effectively the law of adaptation has been at work in their own souls also ; are not aware that the same series of ideas which they are re peating to less responsive hearers no longer evoke in their own hearts the same sincerity and depth of feeling. From this point of view we may understand better the causes which are impelling so many preachers, especially evangel ists, to the employment of " sensational " methods. These adventitious and sometimes questionable devices may serve the purpose of inducing for the time being a heightened sen sibility to worn-out appeals to feeling, but the law of adap tation cannot be successfully evaded, as the extraordinary unresponsiveness of people who have been often influenced by these methods abundantly shows ; and the constant em ployment of such means of inducing temporary sensibility only makes more precipitous the way that leads down to absolute insensibility.
9. The strength of the stimulus as related to the feel ing-tone, (i) It takes a stimulus of a certain strength to awaken consciousness at all; and persons differ in this re spect as to different stimuli. But after a stimulus has passed the threshold of consciousness, its strength deter mines the character of the feeling-tone it awakens. (2) A stimulus of a certain strength may awaken a pleasant feel-
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