IN DEFENSE OF THE MIND
Arnold Pearce
So far as we are aware man is unique in the animal kingdom for the wealth and complexity of the mechanisms which have evolved to protect his rational mind from the disturbing effects of emotion. Blithely, and without batting an eyelid, he projects his own faults and failings onto others; denies or dissociates himself from discreditable events in his own past; overcompensates for real or imagined deficiencies in his make-up; represses unacceptable facets in his character and rationalises his own prejudices: all this and yet remains firmly convinced of his own sweet reasonableness and the obduracy, or worse, of others. Thus liberated from the paralysing effects of shame, guilt, and kindred emotions he is free to use his intellect to manipulate events to his own advantage—and his survival. The belief that these mental-defense mechanisms operate only in others and not in ourselves is yet another example of such defence.
