JB/015/401/001

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79

Thus to drive or keep an unpleasant idea out of the mind
the attention must not be thrown on the idea itself,– since that would
only fix it the faster, and counteract the object. Endeavor to lay
hold of some idea that interests you, and use it as the instrument
for the expulsion of the other. If it fail to fix itself in your mind – & no other agreeable idea presents itself, – use any that even though
afflicting is less afflicting than the one you desire to be freed from.
In this case the remedy employed is analagous to that employed
in the case of a blister. By a pain less intense & less lasting, a
pain more intense & more lasting is subdued.

For example You are visited by the wrath of
a near and dear relative. You plunge into business in order to
mitigate your grief. If your grief be exceedingly afflictive
it might even happen that the business you carry on even though
accompanied by loss & vexation would bring alleviation with it.
It might even involve you in quarrels with other parties, and
still by occupying your attention distract you from the
greater grief from which you sought to escape.

But in a case like this the pursuit to which
you fly in the search of a remedy must demand your continuous
attention – it an attention continued long enough to allow the sharpness
of your sorrow to be mitigated – for if the business be soon
despatched & you are left to the action at liberty & exposed to the influence of your former feelings
your purpose will scarcely be answered. Thus, if by way of remedy
against the distress produced by the loss of a friend you betake yourself to
mere reading, especially light reading, the demand upon your attention
will be so weak that your attention will refuse obedience, and instead
of the ideas which the book presents, the distressing thought will present intrude</add
itself at every turn and take and keep its place. Nor is it irrelevant
to intend <add>compare refer here to the great advantages attendant on a busy in
contradistinction to an idle life: – to the privilege of being fitted for and
practised in a variety of occupations in comparison of being dependent
on a few; – to the distinction of having a mind highly cultivated by
study in contrast with a mind left by want of culture in emptiness
and barrenness. Perceive there are It is – generally to persons of small fortunes &
little or no education, to admit that such a domestic losses are most afflictive & irremediable.

Prima J. 113

Identifier: | JB/015/401/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	015	Main Headings	deontology
Folio number	401	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	linking material	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f79
Penner	sir john bowring	Watermarks	c wilmott 1819
Marginals		Paper Producer	andreas louriottis
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1819
Notes public		ID Number	5617
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