And thus many of the fears by which one is haunted are these old
survivals, these inherited anxieties. Who does not know the frame
of mind when perhaps for a day, perhaps for days together, the mind
is oppressed and uneasy, scenting danger in the air, forecasting
calamity, recounting all the possible directions in which fate or
malice may have power to wound and hurt us? It is a melancholy
inheritance, but it cannot be combated by any reason. It is of no
use then to imitate Robinson Crusoe, and to make a list of one's
blessings on a piece of paper; that only increases our fear,
because it is just the chance of forfeiting such blessings of which
we are in dread! We must simply remind ourselves that we are
surrounded by old phantoms, and that we derive our weakness from
ages far back, in which risks were many and security was rare.
VI
FEARS OF CHILDHOOD
If I look back over my own life, I can discern three distinct stages
of fear and anxieties, and I expect it is the same with most people.
The terrors of childhood are very mysterious things, and their
horror consists in the child's inability to put the dread into
words.
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