The relationship to father is quite different. Mother is the home we come from， she is nature， soil， the ocean； father does not represent any such natural home. He has little connection with the child in the first years of its life， and his importance for the child in this early period cannot be compared with that of mother. But while father does not represent the natural world， he represents the other pole of human existence； the world of thought， of man-made things， of law and order， of discipline， of travel and adventure. Father is the one who teaches the child， who shows him the road into the world.
Closely related to this function is one which is connected with socio- economic development. When private property came into existence， and when private property could be inherited by one of the sons， father began to look for that son to whom he could leave his property. Naturally， that was the one whom father thought best fitted to become his successor， the son who was most like him， and consequently whom he liked the most. Fatherly love is conditional love. Its princple is “I love you because you fulfill my expectations， because you do your duty， because you are like me.” In conditional fatherly love we find， as with unconditional motherly love， a negative and a positive aspect. The negative aspect is the very fact that fatherly love has to be deserved， that it can be lost if one does not do what is expected. In the nature of fatherly love lies the fact that obedience becomes the main virtue， that disobedience is the main sin— and its punishment the withdrawal of fatherly love. The positive side is equally important. Since his love is conditioned， I can do somethingto acquire it， I can work for it； his love is not outside of my control as motherly love is.
The mother’s and the father’s attitudes toward the child correspond to the child’s own needs. The infant needs mother’s unconditional love and care physiologically as well as psychically. The child， after six， begins to need father’s love， his authority and guidance. Mother has the function of making him secure in life， father has the function of teaching him， guiding him to cope with those problems with which the particular society the child has been born into confronts him. In the ideal case， mother’s love does not try to prevent the child from growing up， does not try to put a premium on helplessness. Mother should have faith in life， hence not be overanxious， and thus not infect the child with her anxiety. Part of her life should be the wish that the child become independent and eventually separate from her. Father’s love should be guided by principles and expectations； it should be patient and tolerant， rather than threatening and authoritarian. It should give the growing child an increasing sense of competence and eventually permit him to become his own authority and to dispense with that of father.
Eventually， the mature person has come to the point where he is his own mother and his own father. He has， as it were， a motherly and a fatherly conscience. Motherly conscience says： “There is no misdeed， no crime which could deprive you of my love， of my wish for your life and happiness.” Fatherly conscience says： “You did wrong， you cannot avoid accepting certain consequences of your wrongdoing， and most of all you must change your ways if I am to like you.” The mature person has become free from the outside mother and father figures， and has built them up inside. In contrast to Freud’s concept of the super-ego， however， he has built them inside not by incorporating mother and father， but by building a motherly conscience on his own capacity for love， and a fatherly conscience on his reason and judgment. Furthermore， the mature person loves with both the motherly and the fatherly conscience， in spite of the fact that they seem to contradict each other. If he would only retain hisfatherly conscience， he would become harsh and inhuman. If he would only retain his motherly conscience， he would be apt to lose judgment and to hinder himself and others in their development.
In this development from mother-centered to father-centered attachment， and their eventual synthesis， lies the basis for mental health and the achievement of maturity. In the failure of this development lies the basic cause for neurosis. While it is beyond the scope of this book to develop this trend of thought more fully， some brief remarks may serve to clarify this statement.
24
No Such Thing as a Dumb Question
世上没有傻问题
So we keep asking， over and over， Until a handful of earthStops our mouths— But is that an answer？
Heinrich Heine， ‘Lazarus’（1854）
In East Africa， in the records of the rocks dating back to about two million years ago， you can find a sequence of worked tools that our ancestors designed and executed. Their lives depended on making and using these tools. This was， of course， Early Stone Age technology. Over time， specially fashioned stones were used for stabbing， chipping， flaking， cutting， carving. Although there are many ways of making stone tools， what is remarkable is that in a given site for enormous periods of time the tools were made in the same way—which means that there must have been educational institutions hundreds of thousands of years ago， even if it was mainly an apprenticeship system. While it’s easy to exaggerate the similarities， it’s also easy to imagine the equivalent of professors and students in loincloths， laboratory courses， examinations， failing grades， graduation ceremonies and postgraduate education.
