It is not
uncommon for people who suffer from them to examine their
consciences, rake up forgotten transgressions, and feel themselves
to be under the anger of God. I do not mean that such scrutiny of
life is wholly undesirable; depression, though it exaggerates our
sinfulness, has a wonderful way of laying its finger on what is
amiss, but we must not wilfully continue in sadness; and sadness is
often a combination of an old instinct with the staleness which
comes of civilised life; and a return to nature, as it is called,
is often a cure, because civilisation has this disadvantage, that
it often takes from us the necessity of doing many of the things
which it is normal to man by inheritance to do--fighting, hunting,
preparing food, working with the hands. We combat these old
instincts artificially by games and exercises. It is humiliating
again to think that golf is an artificial substitute for man's need
to hunt and plough, but it is undoubtedly true; and thus to break
with the monotony of civilisation, and to delude the mind into
believing that it is occupied with primal needs is often a great
refreshment.
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