Disraeli wrote in Vivian Grey, "Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of man." A deep understanding of life teaches us that we are not the victims of environment, but that, on the contrary, outward conditions are the manifestations of our positive or negative thoughts. Indubitably, we are able to control our thoughts and through them our conditions, provided that we are emo­tionally balanced.

It often happens that a man who has always been successful in life is suddenly subject to melancholy, for no tangible reason. During his lifelong drive for success, he has been selfishly wrapped up in his own affairs. At the peak of his maturity, however, he begins to observe the emptiness of his personal life, and accordingly becomes discontented. He has remained immature since he has not succeeded in forming his personality. Ofttimes a mental collapse is inevitable; he suffers like a child, abandoned in the dark, and unable to find the way out.

Only a few people have grown to an individual maturity without meeting any obstacles which would arrest their de­velopment. We often find persons at a blockade in the path of their evolution, whose resulting growth is extremely re­tarded. They are generally unquiet and discontented, and always complain of their bad luck. Sooner or later, however, nature demands fulfillment, and then a physical disease often results as the consequence of this mental dissatisfaction.

We recognize three different stages of evolution: (1) the forming of character, (2) the development of personality, (3) the forming of individuality. In the first stage primary knowl­edge is acquired and the character begins to form. The child learns how to distinguish between good and bad, sorrow and joy, pleasant and unpleasant feelings. With the help of wise guidance, the child accepts the discipline of his tasks, and learns how to adapt himself to his environment; affections, social feelings and the ability to cooperate now develop. When years of education are finished, the period of a freer evolution begins. The adult of good innate disposition, who has grown up in a favorable environment, will make an easy choice of career. He is full of prospects, and is eager to fol­low his own path, leaving the accustomed surroundings of childhood ties. Now he must prove whether his character is weak or strong.

This specimen of Sample 43 clearly shows the above-mentioned arrested development. It is the handwriting of a fifty-year-old woman. The childish traits with change of slant reveal that the thoughts of this writer are permanently at­tached to her childhood and adolescence. Her recollections have become treasures which impede her progress, success, and above all, adaptability to a new environment. She is obstinate in her refusal to take any interest in the new con­ditions of life since she has always depended, both physically and mentally, on the customs of her parents' home. We see sudden vertical letters in the rightward angle which denote such resistence. While her general disposition tends to opti­mism, she is, however, easily shaken by untoward events. Since she is always emphasizing the unfavorable occurrences in life, she is almost definitely predestined to be unhappy. She is fearful of any change, and especially of an unknown future.

Sample 44. This is the handwriting of a young woman of twenty-five. We see her arrested development in her fairly large writing with narrow angles which slant to the left. This shows her to be a timid person who is afraid of the future and its uncertainties. She has a firm character, but cannot easily express herself, and shuts herself away from social contacts. Though she has a sensual nature (heavy pressure and long lower loops) and needs affection, she avoids young men, and represses her natural instincts and emotions. Since she can never make up her mind, she lacks the incentive to leave her familiar surroundings and begin a life of her own. Her inferiority complex and fearfulness impede what could be an active life and drain her physical resistance.

This is the age when the formation of personality and in­dividuality should normally have begun; when exaggerated affections and a childish adherence to an accustomed environ­ment should be left behind. Most young men and women lack the courage to act upon their instincts, though an inner will to free themselves generally exists. This will often mani­fests itself in a rebellion against traditions. There are peo­ple, however, who while continuing in an opposition to the demands of their environment, until old age, are so weak and indeterminate that they lose their opportunities and con­nections.

Sample 45. We notice an exaggerated attitude of rebellion and self-defense in the handwriting of this woman of thirty, an attitude which we occasionally find during the periods of puberty and adolescence. She is a very gifted and willful per­son who has not yet succeeded in maturing her personality and individuality. She always places the responsibility for her own shortcomings on her environment rather than on herself. The constant change of slant shows, on the one hand, her rebellion, and on the other, her inability to stand on her own feet.

This magnified attitude of rebellion which is expressed in violent movements of the pen seems like the cry, "Let me go my own way. Let me be independent." The looped and un­equal handwriting reveals her vacillating nature and weak will. Her realization of her own weakness drives her to re­peated rebellions. She often displays temper and is, at times, made insupportable by her lack of control.

Generally, such periods of protest should disappear with the emergence of the adult personality which heralds the reality of life. The creation of a career brings an enlarge­ment of interests, and leaves no room for childish insubordi­nations.

Sample 46. The too wide and violent pen movements have disappeared in the handwriting of this twenty-six-year-old man. We notice through the simplified letters, which run rapidly to the right, that the writer has become quiet and objective, looking forward to a career and its possibilities. An indication of boyish feelings is still visible in an awkward curling of the capital £'s, but the writing in its entirety is formed with character. He knows how to manage his own life, and already wishes to marry and settle down.

At maturity, individuals should arrive at a certain freedom of action, when their selfish wishes should disappear and larger social problems arise to enrich their interests, thus pre­venting the following years from becoming empty and dis­tasteful.

Sample 47. We notice a case of arrested development which is manifested in the script of this fifty-year-old woman through her childish signs and backward strokes. This writer cherishes dreams of youth and illusion, instead of resigning herself to her duties as wife and mother and finding her sat­isfaction in an affection for and care of her family. Her hus­band and children suffer at the hands of her egotistic and schizophrenic dreams. Her false romanticism is uncovered by the capital M's and the sudden leftward slant of her cramped writing.

Sample 48. In the writing of this fifty-year-old-man we see the consistently indefinable formation of his letters, as well as an unnaturally restricted style of writing in general, which reveal his selfish drive to make life unpleasant for all his fel­low beings. He has a continuous feeling of lassitude, and is often in a depressed and nervous state of mind. He re­peatedly seeks a return to health in different resorts, but naturally cannot find a cure there for his malingering since his general health is satisfactory. Psychic infantilism is the reason for his hypochondria, since this man, though physi­cally mature, has remained undeveloped and childish. The diminutive proportions of his letters clearly reveal his self-centered ideas, and we notice selfish avidity and vain ambi­tion expressed in his consciously minimized lower loops. This diminution is obviously premeditated since the initials of his signature—a symbol of his self-importance—bring to light the real estimation of himself in an inconsistent free­dom of the letters.

Sample 49. From the individual shaping of letters we discern the writer's culture, talents and intuition. Understand­ing and altruism are revealed in the rightward slant and heavy pressure of the script. This writer is not concerned with his problems alone, but has learned to forget himself in a greater fulfillment of life, as well as helping those who call upon him for assistance. Because of this, he has reached a harmonious state of mind based on a well-grounded philos­ophy. This is the handwriting of the pianist Carl Friedberg.

The seed of positive evolution can be planted through the child's recognition of the existence of the external world, and his beginning to understand the first rules and laws of life. Then will follow pleasure in accomplishing his tasks, the de­velopment of affectionate and social feelings, advancing this evolution. The adolescent tries to comprehend life and to free himself from the constraining ties of childhood—he wants to find his own way, and follow wherever it leads him. This is the natural time for the formation of the personality, the realization of the evolution. The young man learns how to master his life. Now his own fate is not the only center of his interests, and the selfish wishes of his childhood change into a wider, universal horizon, opening into an altruistic concept of thought. The importance of his own personality gradually fades into a harmony which means mental balance and social adjustment.

When he is in deep communion with nature and the uni­verse, man comprehends the eternal laws of creation to which we are all subject. He feels himself to be a part of the cosmos, and knows that he is a responsible member of his community, that he must contribute to the good of the whole through his strength of character and true faith in God.

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