In chapter seven Russell discusses the sense of sin and how he believes that it is the the most important cause of physiological unhappiness. He talks about how if a man is tempted to be sinful his conscience will experience one of two feelings: remorse or repentance. He goes on to talk about how today the word conscience can cover meaning different feelings and then gives a few different scenarios of sin and what feelings of unhappiness can take place as a result. Yet he describes the sense of sin of something much deeper that is rooted in unconscious and doesn't appear consciously because if the fear of other people's disapproval.
In the end he didn't believe that the sense of sin was the best method to arrive at a better way of life. He believed that the sense of sin could cause a man to feel inferior and hold a grudge against those who make him feel so. As well as prevent them from enjoying happiness and cause him to be disagreeable.
In chapter eight the author goes on to talk about persecution mania and stated it was recognized as a form of sanity. Basically people who are experiencing this believe that other people wish to hurt them in so manner and therefore feel that it's necessary to use some sort of violence to protect themselves. He said that milder forms of this issue often cause unhappiness. Russell believed because they were not totally insane that the issue could be dealt with by the patient himself. But overall it will be impossible for a person to feel happy if they are continually ill-treated by others.
One thing I thought was really interesting in this chapter was how he stated that persecution mania is often rooted in the exaggeration of our own merits. And how we can not expect others to think better of us than we think of them. I found this interesting because I think there is some truth to it. It made me think about my relationship with my in-laws, fake friends and so on who have often not been the kindest to me. While I initially tried to be nice to this people over time behaviors caused me to think very poorly of these people to the point I want nothing to do with them. While I'm not a fan of gossip like the Russell talked about in this scenarios, but I can see the truth in this concept.
I found chapter nine interesting because fear of public opinion and others opinions has been something that has definitely taken away from my own personal happiness at times. Russell described the fear of public opinion as needing your personal outlook on life to be approved by those who you have social relations to feel happy in life. He talked about how a person with different outlooks and opinions could find himself being an outcast which can cause him a great deal of unhappiness.
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