From Preface:
"This book deals with the difficulties man encounters in life insofar as these difficulties have their origin in human personality; it aims at showing that much more of the difficulties and troubles man has to wrestle with spring from his own personality, or even are of his own doing, than is generally believed. It deals with the many reasons why a man may feel dissatisfied with himself and may desire to become different. And it endeavors to show that this desire is not at all hopeless, that man has many more chances of changing and of making himself change than common opinion will concede.
The arguments of the following pages are drawn from experience. They are not mere ideas derived from some philosophical or speculative idea on human personality. But they are, nevertheless, based on a definite philosophy. No treatise on human nature, or any side of it, can indeed dispense with such a philosophical basis, nor does it ever, though some authors may not be aware of their starting from a definite and general philosophy. Many of the differences of opinion which give rise to such a lot of controversies in psychology and pedagogy —not to mention other fields of research—arise not because one scholar has got hold of facts the other ignores, but from their starting from opposite platforms, that is from their adhering to opposite philosophies.
This book is based on Christian philosophy and Christian morals. They supply the general trend of the reasonings, but they are not the point from which these reasonings start. All that is explained in the following chapters is based on experience. It is facts and not speculation. And these facts may, in a way, contribute to prove the general and philosophical point of view to be true and, therefore, to be the one which will be most helpful in arranging our life.
Its being based on Christian philosophy does not make this book a treatise on religion, nor even a religious book in the true sense of the word. Though the introduction of certain notions belonging to theology—e.g., of grace or Providence or sin—cannot be avoided altogether, this book is one of psychology and written from the point of view peculiar to the psychologist. Nor is it philosophical, though it is based on a definite philosophy and, sometimes, makes appeal to philosophical ideas. This book is, in the main, one of practice. Its intention is to make clear things every man may understand and to give advice every man may follow and to show ways accessible to everyone. One need not study philosophy to become better.
Nor does its being based on Christian morals make this book one on morality. It is argued indeed that the way prescribed by morals is not only the best, but also the surest, if we want to attain satisfaction and a life as free from friction as is allowed to man. This does not mean, however, that this book is on morals. So far as the statements of morals come in, they do so because they have been found by experience to be useful rules of human behavior.
A reader desiring to know more of the principles of the philosophy of human nature will be disappointed. The book is not on them nor on the theory of psychology. It is the outcome of many years of observation, of practice, and of intercourse with many people. It does not aspire at being more than a summary of these experiences. In summarizing these experiences many details had to be left out; a complete treatise on the difficulties of human life and of the mistakes made by man and on the reasons why these mistakes are made, would have to be much larger—if such a task can be done at all. The author is fully conscious of the incompleteness of his arguments. But he is also convinced of the fact that the mistakes, or faults, or bad habits, or troubles occurring in every man's life are, all of them, essentially of the same nature, and that it is, therefore, sufficient to describe and to analyze some few to help in understanding them all.
Many a reader will feel, when perusing these pages, that he has been told nothing he did not know already. And he will be quite right. All the things detailed in this book are, more or less, known to everyone; but they are known in a dim and veiled manner. They have to be drawn into the clear light of consciousness for the sake of becoming helpful. The writer of these pages hopes not for more than for just this: that his words will be found to state but things known; if they are known to everyone, they will be true and they will tell but some essentials of human nature. Truths have to be told and considered, and not only to be felt. As long as these truths are not made fully conscious, as long as they are not made the very rules guiding our life, they are rather useless. This book desires nothing more than to show to everyone that he knows already what is amiss with him and that he knows the ways how to improve. By putting these things openly before the eyes of its readers, this book hopes to enable them to use what they know and to do what they can.
We may know perfectly what things are contained in a dark room, and we may know also how to handle those things. But we do not see them really, nor are we able to use them until the shutters are opened and the light of the day is flooding in. To open the windows of the human soul is all this book can hope to achieve.
Rudolf Allers.
Washington, D. C,
Catholic University of America."