The diseases of the will / by Th. Ribot.

  • Ribot, Th. (Théodule), 1839-1916.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The diseases of the will / by Th. Ribot. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    formed into intensive. There is nothing astonishing then, if in this state of intellectual erethism, the ec- static appears transfigured, above herself Certainly the visions of the rude peasant girl of Sanderet who saw a Virgin all of gold in a paradise of silver, have little resemblance to those of a St. Teresa or a Ploti- nus ; but every intellect at the moment of ecstasy yields its maximum. Is it very necessary now to investigate why, in this state, there is neither choice nor action? How could there be choice, since choice supposes the existence of that complex whole called the ego, which has disap- peared ; since, the personality being reduced to one idea or a single vision, there is no state which can be chosen, that is to say, incorporated in the whole, to the exclusion of others ; since, in a word, there is nothing which can choose, nothing which can be chosen? As well might an election be supposed without electors or candidates. Action is thus dried up in its source, annihilated. There remain of it only the elementary forms (respira- tory movements, etc.), without which organic life would be impossible. We have here a curious case of psy- chological correlation or antagonism : all that one func- tion gains is lost by another ; all that is gained by thought is lost by movement. In this respect, ecstasy is the opposite of the states in which motility triumphs, such as epilepsy, chorea, and convulsions. Here, we see a maximum of movement with minimum of con- sciousness ; there, intensity of consciousness, with minimum of movement. There is at any moment only a certain nervous and psychic capital disponible; if it be absorbed by one function, it is to the detriment of