Mental nearness
Abstract
Nearness of minds is a feeling of community between one person and others. It not only exists solely in the mind of the person who experiences it, but it is entirely free from any implication of necessary reciprocity. Mental distance is not dependent upon spatial relationships, so arbitrary units like millimeters are not applicable. Like the graduations of sentiments, measurement is possible by the rank order method of the degrees of mental nearness. One of the factors that sometimes evokes feelings of nearness is physical propinquity. Yet too close propinquity not infrequently destroys what lesser degrees evoke. Most people crave physical nearness to those who are mentally near to them. All family ties count in the gradient. Frequently there is an inhibitory effect of dissimilar mores on the feeling of nearness. A common language is not a for mental nearness, but it has obvious importance as an instrument for promoting intellectual community.