His functioning is
not a furtherance of the generic life process. At its best, in
its direct economic bearing, it is a conversion of the economic
substance of the collectivity to a growth alien to the collective
life process -- very much after the analogy of what in medicine
would be called a benign tumor, with some tendency to transgress
the uncertain line that divides the benign from the malign
growths. The two barbarian traits, ferocity and astuteness, go to
make up the predaceous temper or spiritual attitude. They are the
expressions of a narrowly self-regarding habit of mind. Both are
highly serviceable for individual expediency in a life looking to
invidious success. Both also have a high aesthetic value. Both
are fostered by the pecuniary culture. But both alike are of no
use for the purposes of the collective life.
Chapter Eleven
The Belief in Luck
The gambling propensity is another subsidiary trait of the
barbarian temperament. It is a concomitant variation of character
of almost universal prevalence among sporting men and among men
given to warlike and emulative activities generally. This trait
also has a direct economic value. It is recognized to be a
hindrance to the highest industrial efficiency of the aggregate
in any community where it prevails in an appreciable degree.
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