GENERAL CONTROLS OF CONDUCT 15
rupted by flashes of more intense wakefulness occasioned by the rare occurrences which call for more alert consciousness ; and in these extraordinary moments their consciousness is likely to be confused and flustered rather than alert in the proper sense of the word. There is no question that the character of the environment to which one must adjust himself has very much to do with the normal state of his consciousness. It may be straining the word, but it would not be far from the truth to say that a person living in a simple and monotonous environment forms a " habit " of dim and misty consciousness, and vice versa. In the changeful environment mental alertness in considerable measure is required in order to survive, certainly in order to prosper; and under such conditions the necessity of con tinually readjusting oneself prevents many of the habits of life from becoming so fixed as they do in relatively un changing surroundings ; but since as a rule the number of activities in which individuals engage in such complex surroundings is increased, the habits formed, while more often changed, are more numerous.
Now, it seems to be a law of social development that the environment in which men normally live becomes more complex and changeful from generation to generation. This being true, the inevitable inference is that, on the aver age and normally, the human consciousness rises in clear ness, intensity, alertness from age to age, and reason be comes an ever larger and more dominant factor in the lives of men. The conditions of life become more stimulating; life becomes more dynamic; consciousness becomes more intense, luminous, regnant; a greater demand is made upon the self-directing capacity of the personality.
If the foregoing statements are accepted, it would seem to be an inevitable conclusion that the function of persuasion assumes greater and greater importance in human life with each upward advance. It is a fact which can hardly fail to arrest attention that the arts of persuasion develop with the progress of society. Oratory is born with liberty and dies
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