ABSTRACT
The psychological explanation of sin is difficult to express in words, but can be revealed in the analysis of the unconscious mind by an analyst who discards the doctrine of original sin, and firmly believes in the divine origin of every instinctive impulse. The fundamental basis of Lane's technique was his conviction that the thoughts, impulses, or actions of which the morally trained individual is ashamed, and believes to be evil, are, in fact, the expressions of his inherited divinity, which has been suppressed because it appeared to be in conflict with moral precepts implanted in childhood. The unconscious desire for emotional happiness that is divine and perfect in a man who believes himself to be human and imperfect, has to be expressed consciously in some form of pleasure which is also human and imperfect. If the impulse could be acknowledged as divine, and directed by love, it would find expression creatively in any form of service.
