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Untitled Article
dream . In dreams ideas are mistaken for sensations , are "believed as realities ; as soon aia they arise they are accepted , ai ^ d no association is so strong as to affo rd occasion for violence and abruptness *
So , when a philosopher knows every thing he is never surprised , sincere is prepared beforehand for every possibility ; and when he does not know the exact cause of an occurrence he knows that there is a cause , and that surprise is not the best state of mind in which to coojni ^ nce a sejarcli for it . Lesser mortals experience : t tf : ditfeteft&e 6 $ excitement when something happens a ^ expected or § 6 me | fi ! ng happens which Wasa not expected , which was jliarftly expected , which was thought just possible ; wften spm 0 &tng ; , happens contrary to what was expectejj ,, or something whic ^ h it jseems could not possibly be expected ancjl £ ven riow ,. on the liest authority , is hardly to be believed . ' ? Wonder is a continued surprise , or rather a succession of
surprises at the same instance of strangeness . We are surprised at first at the occurrence , arid we wbh ^ e * atit afterwards . Surprise , like every yiy id' emptipn , when riot iii excess , stimulates thought / and excites the ideas which have previously been conjoined with the exciting instance . The vividness of
surpnse , however , being produced by suddenness , is apt to produce such a commotion , if not confusion of the mental train , that ideas occur find depart in meaningless order . The strange event thus excij ^ s i ^ anV J 4 $ & § one after another , but among them no one whicb e ^ pfain ^ tli e strangeness , no idea of anything which could Ji&ye b eti ' ws cause of it , v ^ liich has been so associated yy \ th \ p 8 iiQ ^ ilaJr '"^ y 0 nt \ ' ) iete ^ . Every mew idea , tfrerefpre , whicli ans ^ s , giy £ s c > 6 c ^ ioil for new surprise , and with all thp va ^ t ^ 6 Y our thoughts we jajre ] constantly arid uiieas ^ ilv prOuefht back to the one difficult
association . , . Should our thoughts at last discover a cause / surprise ceases , l ^ e were surprised by the simultaneous occurrence J of two events . We thiqlc of ^ oip ^ K ing wfeich Jiiisbeen experienced , a $ the effect of the first and the cause of the second ; it has been associated witjij both j a < jrq § g Jjiis ^ bridge we escape , the current of thought flovy ^ easily npw a link of strong association has connected the break . Ilioxi g h \ ye could not pass easily Jf | pin ^ the first id ^ a ^ to 1 ; he ^ econdypiit ' practice renders the { tassage easy and rapid from the" first to the Dew , and from hat to the second . " Susceptibility 6 f stirprise , therefore , except of the cases Sii |^ l y sensitive , merely animal surprise , and still more 6 f ifbnr er , is dependent upon the possession of some ideas / Blank
Untitled Article
540 Philosophical Analysis of Hatmonks and Contrasts .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 1, 1837, page 340, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1832/page/22/
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