BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, [16 Oct. 1917]
BRACERS 135148. MS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

Possessiveness1 ^, 2 in sex-relations is clearly an evil: it makes them something of a prison. The more love of a passionate kind any person can give, the better. It is clear that possessiveness is an instinct, stronger in some than in others, capable of being greatly increased or diminished by moral convictions, but present in a greater or less degree in almost every one.

In most people, it is inseparable from passion: its expression can, of course, be controlled, but the feeling itself can, except in exceptional cases, only be overcome by killing passion. When the feeling persists but its expression is suppressed, life becomes filled with fatigue and strain, and the vital energy is enormously diminished. Only very vital people can, under such circumstances, preserve enough energy to do any difficult work or to feel any joy of life.

For this reason, although possessiveness is an evil, it must, like other instincts, be taken into account in regulating life, and a theory which ignores it will have the defects of every too rigid morality, and will produce much the same bad results as are produced by Puritanism. Much can be done by education; but meanwhile the theory has to be applied with some caution.

Notes

• 1

  [document] Document 200218.

• 2

  [date] The date is taken from BR’s letter of 16 October (BRACERS 19231), with which the manuscript was enclosed.