<\/p>\n
CONTENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n Part I The Will.<\/strong> Part ll The Power of Will.<\/strong> Part Ill The Development of Will.<\/strong> <\/p>\n Chapter 1 – What is the Will?<\/strong><\/p>\n There is no form of mental activity so universal in its visible manifestations as that which we call the Will. And, likewise, there is none so generally misunderstood and so little understood as the Will. When we come to consider the nature of the Will we find ourselves confronting a score of definitions, theories and beliefs. In fact, it almost may be said that to each and every individual the word “Will\u201d has a different meaning, or a different shade of meaning. Ask yourself what you mean when you say “the Will;\u201d then ask a few of your friends and associates, and see how widely varying are the answers and definitions. While we shall ever try to avoid philosophical hair-splitting, in this series of books on The New Psychology, nevertheless we find from time to time that we must come to some sort of clear understanding with our readers regarding the meaning of certain terms; and in order to do so we must analyze those terms and consider the views of the best authorities regarding them. And this course is especially needed in the case of the term before us\u2014The Will. What is The Will?<\/p>\n Passing by the philosophical conceptions of Will, in the sense of a universal acting mind, as postulated by Schopenhauer, von Hartmann, Nietsche and others, and confining ourselves closely to the psychological acceptation of the term, let us consult the various authorities. A leading American dictionary defines “Will\u201d as follows: “The determination or choice of one possessing authority; discretionary pleasure, command, decree;\u201d also “Arbitrary power, disposal, or authority, absolute power to control determine or dispose,\u201d also “Strong wish or inclination, desire, intention, disposition, pleasure;\u201d also: “That which is strongly desired or wished for as ‘He had his will.’\u201d The same authority gives the following note regarding the philosophical meaning of the term: “Though the word will has often been used, as it popularly is, in two senses\u2014(I) the power of the mind which enables a person to choose between two courses of action; and (II) the actual exercise of that power\u2014strict reasoners separate these meanings, calling the former will and the latter volition. Will in this limited sense is that mental power or faculty by which, of two or more objects of desire or courses of action presented to it, it chooses one, rejecting the other or others. To what extent this power of selection is arbitrary, or is the result of necessity, has been for ages a subject of controversy. The division of the mental powers which came down from antiquity, and was most generally adopted by the philosophers, were the powers belonging to the understanding, and those belonging to the will. Reid adopted it, although considering it not quite logical. “Under the will\u201d he says, “we comprehend our active powers and all that lead to action or influence the mind to act, such as appetite, passions, affections.\u201d Brown considered this classification as very illogical, considering that the will was not in any way opposed to the intellect, but exercised in the intellectual department an empire almost as wide as that which was allotted to itself. “We reason\u201d he says, “and plan and invent, at least as voluntarily as we esteem or hate, or hope or fear. The term Active Powers used by Reid is a synonym for the Will.\u201d<\/p>\n In order to see still further the confusing uses of this word, consider the definitions of the same authority of the term used as a verb: “To determine by an act of choice; to form a wish or volition; to exercise an act of the will; to desire, to wish; to be willing, to consent; to decide, to ordain; to form a volition of; to have an intention, purpose or desire of; to intend; to convey or express a command or authoritative instructions to; to direct; to order; to desire or wish to produce or cause; to be anxious for.\u201d There are other special definitions which we have omitted, but we think that those quoted will enable you to form an idea of the confusion naturally resulting from the many and varied uses of the term, all of which usages are backed by good authority.<\/p>\n Baldwin’s “Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology\u201d says of the Will: “The use of the term ‘Will’ is so varied that it is impossible to get from the history any exclusive meaning. Three usages hold their own for the reason that they are associated with the different points of view from which the subject is approached.\u201d The same authority, accordingly, proceeds to consider the term from the viewpoint of these three respective usages, as follows: (I) The viewpoint of Conation, which term is defined as: “The theoretical elements of consciousness showing itself in tendencies, impulses, desires, and acts of Volition. Stated in its most general form, Conation is unrest. It exists when and so far as a present state of consciousness tends by its intrinsic nature to develop into something else.\u201d (II) The viewpoint of an Intermediate State beginning with Conation and ending with Volition; or, “That Conative organization of which Volition is the terminus and end\u201d (the word “end\u201d being used in the sense of “completion\u201d). (III) The viewpoint of Volition, which term is defined as: “The settlement by the mind of a psychic issue, the adoption of an end (or completion) leading to an act or action.\u201d<\/p>\n After wandering around and about in the philosophical and psychological of attempts to define and analyze Will, the careful thinker manages to make his escape, and then, after considering that which he finds within himself answering to the name of Will, he comes to the conclusion that Will, as he finds it within himself, is composed of three phases or stages; viz.<\/p>\n The new school of philosophy, as represented by William James and others holding similar ideas, lays special stress upon the phases of will which we have called Action-Will. In their text-books the feature or phase of “Action\u201d is emphasized. James says: “Desire, wish, will, are states of mind which everyone knows, and which no definition can make plainer. We desire to feel, to have, to do, all sorts of things which at the moment are not felt, had or done. If with the desire there goes a sense that attainment is not possible, we simply wish; but if we believe that the end is in our power, we will that the desired feeling, having, or doing, shall be real; and real it presently becomes, either immediately upon the willing or after certain preliminaries have been fulfilled….We know what it is to get out of bed on a freezing morning in a room without a fire, and how the very vital principle within us protests against the ordeal. Probably most persons have lain on certain mornings for an hour at a time unable to brace themselves to the resolve. We think how late we shall be, how the duties of the day will suffer; we say, ‘I must get up; this is ignominious’ etc., but still the warm couch feels too delicious, the cold outside too cruel, and the resolution faints away and postpones itself again and again just as it seemed on the verge of bursting the resistance and passing over into the decisive act. Now how do we ever get up under such circumstances? If I may generalize from my experience, we more often than not get up without any struggle or decision at all. We suddenly find that we have got up. A fortunate lapse of consciousness occurs; we forget both the warmth and the cold; we fall into some reverie connected with the day’s life, in the course of which the idea flashes across us, ‘Hello! I must lie here no longer’\u2014an idea which at that lucky instant awakens no contradictory or paralyzing suggestions, and consequently produces immediately its appropriate motor effect. It was our acute consciousness of both the warmth and the cold during the period of struggle, which paralyzed our activity then and kept our idea of rising in the condition of wish and not of will. The moment these inhibitory ideas ceased, the original idea exerted its effects.\u201d<\/p>\n Halleck, following the same trend of thought, says: “Will concerns itself with action. The student must keep that fact before him, no matter how complex the process seems….We shall see that the will is restricted to certain kinds of action. From the cradle to the grave, we are never passive recipients of anything; in other words we are never without the activity of will in the broadest sense of the term. How shall we distinguish between feeling and will? There is no more precise line of demarkation than exists between the Atlantic Ocean and Davis Strait. We saw, while studying sensation and perception, that the various mental powers worked in such unison that it was hard to separate them exactly from each other. The difficulty is especially great in separating feeling from will, because there so often seems to be no break between the two processes. We are aided in marking off these powers by two sets of experiences.<\/p>\n The New Psychology is an agreement with the above quoted school of academic psychology which holds that the essence of Will is in the Acting and Doing. Action is the reason for Will\u2014it is its Ultimate Explanation.<\/p>\n Chapter II.- Desire Will.<\/strong><\/p>\n We have seen that the first meaning of the term “the Will\u201d\u2014or the first phase of the manifestation of the Will\u2014according to the viewpoint, is that which we have called Desire-Will. In one sense Desire is one of the meanings of Will; in another, it is one of the three phases or manifestations of the Will. Desire, like Will has many definitions. In the popular usage Desire means: “An emotion, eagerness, or excitement of the mind directed toward the attainment, enjoyment, or possession of some object from which pleasure, profit, or gratification is expected; an earnest wish, longing, or aspiration for a thing; lust, appetite, craving; wish, will or aspiration; etc.\u201d Crabbe gives the following various shades of meanings of the synonyms of Desire: “The desire is imperious, it demands a gratification; the wish is less vehement, it consists of a strong inclination; longing is an impatient and continued species of desire; hankering is a desire for that which is set out of one’s reach; coveting is a desire for that which belongs to another, or what is in his power to grant; we desire or long for that which is near at hand, or within view; we wish for and covet that which is more remote, or less distinctly seen; we hanker after that which has been once enjoyed; a discontented person wishes for more than he has; he who is in a strange land longs to see his native country; vicious men hanker after the pleasures which are denied them; ambitious men covet honors, avaricious men covet riches.\u201d These shades of meaning are but various phases of the “want to\u201d feeling which is the essence of Desire. The word will is sometimes used to express Desire in its phase of wish, pleasure, etc., it being said that “he wills\u201d to do or have a thing in the sense of “he wishes\u201d to have or do the thing; or in the sense that “it pleases him\u201d to have or do the thing. Likewise a very strong desire is often called “will,\u201d probably because of its intensity and because the action of the will follows so closely upon the desire that the two seem to blend and become one. To outward appearances there is indeed very little distinction between a strong, ardent, active desire and the manifestation of the will, because the latter flows out in response to the former and seems to be a part of it rather than a resulting effect. It is often said of a person that “he has had his will,\u201d meaning he has gratified his desire or “want to.\u201d<\/p>\n But a close analysis will always distinguish the two phases of Desire-Will and Action-Will in all manifestations of Will, even if the intermediate phase, or Decisive-Will be not apparent. There must be always a “want to,\u201d conscious, subconscious, or superconscious, before there is the response of Action. Desire and Will cannot be divorced in active manifestations of Will. It is true that one may feel Desire and not manifest the Action-Will, but one never releases the Action-Will without the existence of precedent Desire in some form or phase, direct or indirect, close or remote. This being so, we may see the importance of an understanding of, and control of, our Desires. If Desire is the great inciter of the Will, then if we control, rouse or restrain Desire, we have in our hands the mastery of Will.<\/p>\n Desire is precedent to every act of the Will; that is, Desire along either conscious, subconscious, or superconscious lines. Desire contains within itself two phases or stages, i. e., (1) the stage of feeling; and (2) the manifestation of the call upon the Will. In many cases Desire does not advance beyond the feeling stage\u2014it contents itself with a more or less vague feeling or attraction toward the thing or object which aroused it, and it manifests little or no call upon the Will. In other cases the feeling excited blazes up so fiercely that the second phase, the phase of calling upon the Will to respond and bring about gratification and accomplishment, is vigorously manifested. This “feeling,\u201d of course, is in the direction of “the attainment, enjoyment, or possession of some object from which pleasure, profit, or gratification is expected,\u201d or else the reverse phase of “escape from, getting rid of, or striving away from, some object thought to be the possible, probable, or existing source of pain, discomfort, or dissatisfaction.\u201d There must always be an object precedent to this feeling stage of Desire; that is, either an object calling forth the “want to\u201d of possession, act, or attainment; or else an object from which one wishes to escape.<\/p>\n It is a paradox of psychology that while Desire arouses Will, yet Will may arouse Desire. That is, while the Desire-Will may and does call into activity the Action-Will, nevertheless the Decisive-Will may employ the Action-Will to direct and hold the attention upon some object until interest and consequent Desire is aroused in the mind. But, of course, even in this case there must be some form of precedent Desire inspiring the Intellect or Decisive-Will to so act. Interest and attention have a tendency to arouse Desire, and in that sense these mental acts may be considered as precedent conditions to desire, inasmuch as they hold up to Desire the objects calculated to arouse the feeling phase of the latter. Interest and attention may be aroused without the use of the Will of the individual, by the presentation of outside objects. But the Will may inhibit or destroy the attraction of the outer object; or, on the other hand, may encourage and develop it by directing the attention and thus arousing interest. There exist numerous instances of this action and reaction in the phenomena of Will.<\/p>\n We have spoken of subconscious and superconscious Desires. Subconscious Desire has several possible causes. Many of our subconscious desires are the result of heredity and race experience. We find many feelings arising from the depth of the subconsciousness which startle us by their unsuspecting presence and unexpected appearance. We have countless seed-desires in the great storehouse of the subconscious, which lie latent there awaiting the appearance of some object or circumstances which will revive the latent vigor within them, and which will start them forward toward the field of consciousness in their attempt to manifest the second stage of Desire\u2014the stage of the call upon the Action-Will. Likewise we have many subconscious desires which have been placed in the subconscious storehouse by reason of our own experiences, and the suggestions we have received from others or from ourselves, as we have explained in the volume upon “Suggestion and Auto-Suggestion.\u201d These desires also move forward toward possible manifestation, upon the appearance of some exciting object of circumstances. The greater portion of our desires arises below the field of consciousness, having lain latent in that great storehouse of desires, instinct, inclination and tendencies\u2014the subconsciousness.<\/p>\n The only conscious desires we have are those which are in the field of consciousness by reason of the attraction and exciting influence of objects or circumstances which either cause us to “want to,\u201d or else to “get-away-from.\u201d In what has been called the superconscious region of the mind\u2014that higher and greater field of mentation toward the unfoldment of whose faculties we are evolving\u2014 there are also many seeds of Desire, some of which occasionally drop down into the field of consciousness and there arouse strange feelings, and “want-to\u201d or “get-away-from\u201d calls upon the Will. We call these Intuitional Promptings and similar names, or even imagine that we are receiving suggestions from beings on a higher plane\u2014but they really come from our own higher regions. We hesitate to speak regarding these things in this book, lest we be accused of trying to lead you into the field of transcendentalism, but a mention of them is necessary. These desires from the “above\u201d regions of our minds are usually in the direction of a get-away-from or a let-it-alone feeling more or less strong. In many cases we will avoid dangerous actions and doings by heeding these warnings from the superconscious regions of our minds. When these feelings are of the “want-to\u201d kind, it will be found, always that they are desires or inclinations toward objects or things high up in the scale and never in a downward direction. Desires from “above\u201d always lead “up\u201d never “down\u201d\u2014let this ever be the test by which you may know them; the touchstone to apply to intuitional promptings.<\/p>\n Desire being the first stage of Will, and precedent to the activities of the Will it is of importance that one should learn to encourage or discourage desires, according to their nature. Desires not conducive to the highest satisfaction, duty and attainment should be repressed. Desires conducive to that which is best should be encouraged. Desires may be encouraged by directing attention and interest upon the proper object, employing the imagination<\/a> in this task. By dwelling upon the proper ideal holding the attention and interest firmly upon it, and aiding this by employing the imagination<\/a> in the direction of furnishing the appropriate Mental Images, the appropriate desire may be kindled in activity and vigor; and if the process be continued it will pass readily into its second phase\u2014that of the call upon the Action-Will. Desires may be discouraged or inhibited by directing the attention and interest (aided by the imagination) upon ideals diametrically opposed to those which you desire to restrain or kill out. Concentrate on the opposite\u2014this is the rule of The New Psychology where it is found expedient to restrain, or inhibit mental states of any kind.<\/p>\n If you desire to increase and develop the Will along any particular lines, the first thing you should do is to build up your Desire for the attainment of the thing. You should use every possible effort to cultivate the appropriate Desire\u2014to fan into a fierce blaze its spark which you find within yourself. You should dwell upon it, and encourage it in every way. To get the benefit of the Will, you must “want-to\u201d and “want-to\u201d earnestly, actively, vigorously, constantly, persistently\u2014”want-to\u201d in a degree that will demand a response of the Will, and which will brook no refusal. Such Desire is the heat which produces the steam of the Action-Will. Turn on your drafts and keep the fires of Desire fiercely burning, if you wish to keep on “a full head of steam\u201d of Will.<\/p>\n Chapter III. – DECISIVE WlLL<\/strong><\/p>\n Passing from the consideration of the first phase of Will\u2014 the phase which we have called Desire-Will\u2014let us now turn our attention to the second phase\u2014the phase which we have called Decisive-Will. It is this second phase of Will which is included in that definition of Will which states that Will is: “The determination or choice of one possessing authority; discretionary pleasure; command decree; the power of mind which enables a person to choose between two courses of action; the faculty by which one determines by act of choice; the faculty by which one decides; the settlement by the mind of a psychic issue; the adoption of an end.\u201d As we have seen in a preceding chapter, this phase of Will may be considered in two aspects: (1) Latent Will, which consists of the power to choose or decide between conflicting motives or desires; and (2) Volition, which consists of the actual exercise of that power. The one is the possibility, the other the actuality\u2014the one latency; the other activity.<\/p>\n While this definition, usage and conception of the term is not the popular one, it is the one to which philosophy has held firmly, and around which has ever raged the conflict regarding the “Freedom of the Will.\u201d And if we consider the matter carefully, we may see that the philosophers had good reason to assume that in this phase of the Will\u2014this intermediate phase\u2014there was vested the secret of the Will of man. In fact it is through the gateway of this phase that we may hope to come to some sort of an understanding of the Ultimate Will\u2014if at all.<\/p>\n All this may seem somewhat tedious to those who have picked up this book hoping to arrive at what is to them the essence of the subject of Will\u2014how to develop a Strong Will and how to use it. But such persons will find that which they seek only through a consideration of this phase of the Will. Not through the metaphysical or philosophical subtleties shall we find that for which we seek\u2014we shall have little to do with such. But through the insight which this phase gives us regarding the Ego or “I,\u201d we shall finally find the path to Power of Will.<\/p>\n Decisive-Will! What is meant by this term? The authorities define the word, “decisive\u201d as follows: “Having the power or attribute of deciding or determining; conclusive, final; irrevocable, unalterable; characterized by firmness decision or resolution;\u2014that which decides.\u201d The word “decide\u201d in its original meaning implied the act of “cutting off\u201d or separation. In its ordinary sense it means: “To determine; settle; or to make up one’s mind\u201d The terms are generally in the sense of a mental settlement or conclusion of something under consideration\u2014a “setting aside\u201d of one thing as the proper one apart from the rejected ones. And in the power of the individual to intelligently set aside, select and determine, and then to maintain the decision, lies the strength of that individual’s Decisive-Will.<\/p>\n In the lower forms of life, and in the cases of many men, there is but a limited use of this Decisive-Will. The mind of such a creature or person has but little place for this faculty, if such it may be called. Desire usurps its place and the decision is made immediately, and on the spot, by the stronger or more pressing desire conquering the weaker ones\u2014the survival in consciousness of the strongest desire. Intellect or reason plays but a small part in such decisions. The nearest and strongest desire always wins the day. The psychological axiom is that the degree of desire depends upon the amount of pleasure or pain connected with the idea. The lesser pleasure is sacrificed for the greater\u2014the greater pain is discarded in favor of the lesser, according to the law which impels us “of two evils to choose the lesser.\u201d But the perspective of space and time distorts the relative importance of these desire motives. Nearness in time and space of the object of the desire causes that desire to seem larger than something of equal value further removed in space or time\u2014and the desire takes its degree of strength from the apparent importance of its object. There is always the tendency to sell the birthright inheritance of the future, for the mess of pottage of the present\u2014particularly if we happen to be very hungry. One dollar to-day seems much more attractive than two dollars a year hence. The so-called “pleasures\u201d of youth are purchased at an exorbitant price, bearing usurious interest, to be paid at some time in the future\u2014but many gladly pay the price, the nearness of the present desire dimming the larger value so far distant. A penny held close to the eye will seem larger than the full moon. And so while it is true, as a general proposition, that the strongest desire wins\u2014still the element of perspective and experience has much to do with the element of strength of desires. And here is one of the ways in which the Decisive-Will operates.<\/p>\n But, you may object is not this Decisive-Will only the faculty of Intellectual Deliberation, instead of a phase of Will? The question is proper\u2014the distinction a nice one. It is true that the Intellect does play an important part in the decision\u2014the Will uses it for that purpose. The Will experiences the feeling of need to decide, and it summons the Intellect to assist in the deliberation. The Will calls upon the Imagination, and Memory as well, and summons from the latter the record of past impressions stored away in its depths, using the Imagination to picture the possible application of these experiences in the present and future. But by the use of the Attention (the chief instrument of the Decisive-Will) the Will holds these images and memories in the field of consciousness while the Intellect weighs and compares their values; or else sends them back into the subconsciousness, as not needed further, often accompanied with a demand for further data. If Decisive-Will be absent, the Desire-Will passes at once into Action-Will, according to the desire of the moment\u2014the whole operation is that which we style “Impulse.\u201d<\/p>\n The variety of the objects that may be summoned before the Intellect in times of deliberation depends, of course, upon the entire intellectual equipment of the individual. His decision depends upon his ability to weigh, measure and compare. But the final decision is vested in the Decisive-Will\u2014the judge upon the mental bench, representing His Majesty Yourself, or the “I.\u201d Many men of fine intellectual equipment and fine sense of discrimination, lack that peculiar something which enables others to “make up their minds.\u201d This “making up of the mind\u201d is the final step of deliberation, and often the most difficult one. It is distinctively an act of the Will. It is accomplished by fixing the Attention firmly upon that which the judgment has reported as the best in sight, and then holding the attention upon it, and dismissing the conflicting objects of desire and attention which stay to torment the man lacking this Decisive-Will. Many people have the Decisive-Will but feebly developed, and find it almost impossible to make up their minds\u2014they prefer to delegate to others the performance of that important task. The other objectionable pole is decision without due deliberation. The middle course is the wise one\u2014deliberate carefully, and then use the Will to decide firmly.<\/p>\n Hoffding gives us an illustration of the vacillating will in his well-known character of Jeppe. Jeppe feels the desire to take a drink of spirits. He has money enough to pay for it, but his wife has bidden him purchase a supply of soap with it, and she will beat him if be spends it otherwise. Thereupon arises the deliberation. His stomach wants the liquor\u2014his back fears the beating. “My stomach says you shall\u2014my back says you shall not,\u201d says Jeppe. The stomach and the back fight it out for some time, but finally Jeppe asserts himself, and fastening his attention upon his stomach, and driving his back out of the field of consciousness, he reasons thus: “Is not my stomach more to me than my back? ‘Yes!’ say I\u2014therefore ‘Yes’ it is!\u201d And the stomach wins the day. Akin to this is the old philosophical puzzle of the donkey, who while quite hungry, suddenly espied two equally attractive, equally large and equally near, stacks of hay. The desire for each being equal, the poor donkey was unable to decide upon the one towards which to move\u2014and consequently died from starvation and indecision. Had the donkey possessed Decision, he would have said: “Each seems attractive\u2014the two are equally large and equally near\u2014I must choose one or the other, and then forget the remaining one,\u201d and accordingly he would have fixed his attention upon one arbitrarily selected, and moved toward it. This does not prove the freedom of the will, but merely illustrates the actual working of the Decisive-Will. In Jeppe’s case the drink seemed less remote than the beating. Had he seen his wife in the distance, or another woman with a club in her hand, the perspective would have changed, and the back would have won the day.<\/p>\n The Decisive-Will uses the faculty of attention as its important instrument. In the same way it is able to withdraw the attention from objects and ideas calculated to interfere with the chosen course. This latter is called Inhibition and is distinctly an act of the Will. Combining Voluntary Attention and Voluntary Inhibition, we have that process of the mind which we call Concentration, which is a mark of the man of the Strong Will, in all walks of life. Concentration is a focusing of the mental energies, under the Will\u2014a direction of the forces of one’s character upon a fixed object or thing. Genius is made up largely of Concentration.<\/p>\n So we have seen the part played by the Decisive-Will, which is the Intermediate Stage of Will\u2014which comes in between Desire-Will and Action Will. We shall have much to do with Decisive Will and its attributes, in this book, so we may dismiss it for the present and pass on to the consideration of Will in Action.<\/p>\n Chapter IV. – ACTION WILL<\/strong><\/p>\n Having considered the first two phases of Will, known as Desire-Will and Decisive-Will, respectively, let us proceed to a consideration of the third phase which we have called Action-Will. This phase of Will may be called the dynamic phase or aspect. The authorities tell us that “Will concerns itself with action,\u201d first, last and all the time\u2014in Action lies the “willness\u201d of Will. We may desire to have or to do a thing very much; we may even decide to have or to do the thing, and to perform the acts leading to the having or doing\u2014 but unless the desire and decision spring into action, or unless the spring of the Action-Will is released, there is lacking the full manifestation of Will. The essence of Will lies in the actual doing. The mental attitude of the man of Will is represented by his conscious fooling of “I Do!\u201d Not alone that he desires to do; or that he has decided to do; but that he actually does.<\/p>\n The text-books on psychology devote much space and attention to the subject of “reflex actions,\u201d “impulsive actions,\u201d “instinctive actions\u201d and other non-deliberative actions of the Will. These phases of the general subject are very interesting to the scientific student of psychology, but we feel that they may be passed over with bare mention in this book which is chiefly devoted to the development and scientific use of the will by the individual in his every-day life. It is interesting to know why we are violently moved by reflex action when we are tickled in the ribs; and why the headless frog raises its hind-foot to brush the needle pricking its side; and why we act instinctively or impulsively in certain cases\u2014but these things have very little to do with the training, exercise and development of that which men call Will-Power and the intelligent and purposeful use of the Will. About the only practical thing about these subjects is the fact that by an act of the will the individual may restrain or inhibit these reflex, impulsive, or instinctive movements and acts of the Will\u2014and that he may establish other and new reflexes, impulses and instincts by an effort of will.<\/p>\n The manifestation of Action-Will with which we are chiefly concerned is that which may be called the result of deliberative reasoning, and which is first aroused by Desire, then weighed, tested, considered and balanced by reason and judgment; then acted upon by the Decision-Will, and then released into action by that peculiar quality of Will which “lets go\u201d the stored up energy of the Action-Will.<\/p>\n It is true that all desire-ideas have a motor aspect; that is, that all ideas at all akin to desire or “want\u201d exert a “pull\u201d upon the Action-Will, the degree and strength varying according to circumstances, past experience, character, etc. And it is likewise true, and this is a most important fact, that the majority of these pulls are hindered, restricted or annulled by the exercise of the restraining powers of the Decisive-Will. In the lower animal and in young children, there is at first a quick passage from the desire to the pull upon the Action-Will, and the resulting act. As the animal or the child gains in experience, it learns that his unrestrained exercise of the pull upon the Action-Will is often followed by unpleasant and undesirable consequences, and a new set of desires\u2014negative desires\u2014arise, and what is called prudence, caution or fear arises. Thenceforth the Deliberative-Will in some slight degree is brought into play, for there are two sets of desires struggling for precedence and manifestation. The Decisive Will acts as a restrainer of impulsive action.<\/p>\n This inhibitive action of the Decisive-Will manifests in advanced individuals in what is called Self-Control. The more advanced the individual, the greater the amount of Self-Control, as a rule. Strong Will evidences not only in the power to exert strong Will Action, but also in the power to strongly inhibit action along undesirable lines. In fact, Self-control and Self-restraint are the ear-marks of the individual of the Strong Will. If every desire and impulse were carried to completion in action, the individual would soon perish from the result of his folly and lack of self-control. The strong-willed person is able to restrain an impulse toward immediate pleasure, in favor of some greater satisfaction removed by distance in space or time. He restrains the lesser satisfaction to gain the greater\u2014he suffers the lesser pain in order to escape the greater. Inhibition has been called “the brakes of the Will.\u201d It is most desirable to acquire the control of those brakes.<\/p>\n James says of inhibition of motor impulses: “As mental evolution goes on, the complexity of human consciousness grows ever greater, and with it the multiplication of the inhibitions to which every impulse is exposed… Inhibition has a bad as well as a good side; and if a man’s impulses are in the main orderly as well as prompt, if he has the courage to accept their consequences, and intellect to lead them to a successful end, he is all the better for his hair-trigger organization, and for not being ‘sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought.’ Many of the most successful military and revolutionary characters in history have belonged to this simple but quick-witted impulsive type. Problems come harder to reflective and inhibitive minds. They can, it is true, solve much vaster problems; and they can avoid many a mistake to which the men of impulse are exposed. But when the latter do not make mistakes, or when they are always able to retrieve them, theirs is one of the most engaging and indispensable of human types.\u201d It would seem that a happy mean between the two extremes mentioned would be the desirable course to follow. Halleck says regarding inhibition: “Inhibition makes its appearance only with education and experience. Animals, young children, and savages restrain few actions. If the tail of a cat is pinched, the customary action will follow. If the feelings of a cultivated person are hurt, there will often be no outward sign. If food is placed before an animal, it will gorge what it can and trample the rest. In the same way many young people cannot inhibit the tendency to waste time and trample on their golden opportunities. The effort of a developed will is nowhere more marked than in inhibition.\u201d<\/p>\n Action-Will manifests in a number of ways, which may be classed roughly as follows:<\/p>\n While many of the manifestations of the Action-Will may seem to be outside the above classification, still a little analysis will usually show that even these manifestations are composed of variations, or combinations of the above classes or phases in varying degree.<\/p>\n Chapter V. – The Ultimate Will<\/strong><\/p>\n While we have determined to avoid leading the student of this series of books into the deeper waters of metaphysics or philosophy, nevertheless we cannot resist the temptation to call your attention at this point of our consideration of Will, to the fact that there is a school of philosophy which departs from the more orthodox schools in its conception of Will as the underlying principle of mind or life. The more orthodox schools of philosophy (if such a term may be used in this connection) postulate the existence of Reason or Intelligence as the fundamental and basic Something under and behind the phenomena of Being. These schools imply that that which is called Will is subordinate to Reason by reason of its nature, and that accordingly the Ego is rational in its highest nature and volitional only in a secondary manifestation. The heterodox school of philosophy referred to, is known as the school of Voluntarism and holds that Being is, in its inmost nature, Will\u2014that Reason and Intellect have been evolved from Will in order to enable it to manifest and act. Consequently, that the Ego is volitional in its inner nature, and Reason and Intellect are used by it in order that its will may manifest itself. This school offers as proof of the idea, the fact that Will precedes Intellect in the scale of Life and is found in full force in Life from its beginning\u2014that while Intellect and Reason decrease and become weaker as we descend the scale of Life, Will maintains its strength and importance, and is therefore the basic and fundamental reality. This school holds that the purpose of Intellect and Reason in Life is simply to fill its place in that phase of Will which we have called Decisive-Will,\u2014 that is to enable the Will to discriminate between its different desires, objects of desire, etc. We shall not pursue the argument further\u2014we simply desire to acquaint you with the existence of this philosophic idea.<\/p>\n Leaving the philosophers to wrangle and decide to their own satisfaction their conflicting views regarding the respective supremacy of Intellect or Will\u2014a conflict in which we have no occasion to participate, at this place at any rate\u2014we are nevertheless forced to admit that Will occupies a place very near indeed to the Throne of Being within the Ego. We find persons of very limited intellect exercising a great degree of desire and will\u2014that is Desire-Will and the Action-Will in response thereto. We find this in infants and very young children, as well\u2014they know what they want, and they want it when they want it. And they strive in every way to exert the phase of Action-Will in the direction of getting that which they want. The only thing that is absent is that discriminating, weighing, balancing, something that we have called Decisive-Will which is an attribute of Intellect. Not that the unreasoning child or adult does not “choose\u201d in some sense of the term\u2014not that there is an entire absence of Decisive-Will\u2014not at all. On the contrary, in such cases there is but little hesitation between the choice of motives, desires or objects\u2014the choice is almost automatic in nature\u2014almost a “reflex.\u201d This is because the choice and its objects happen to be simple. It is only the reasoning mind which is able to perceive the complexity of choice which does not exist for the unreasoning mind. With the latter it is a matter of instinct\u2014the Will wants what it wants most of two or more things, and proceeds to do or get that which is in accordance therewith. The Intellect weighs the consequences, and indirect benefits or harm, and accordingly bases its action upon these things, with the result that it inhibits action upon the desire or wish. But in any and all of these cases, it may be seen that Will is present and in operation, even though Intellect be absent or almost so. Will lies very close indeed to the centre of Self\u2014it does not need any particular philosophical theory to prove this to us.<\/p>\n In fact, a little close self-analysis shows us that in each of us\u2014in us who are considering this question as writer and readers\u2014Will is so closely bound up with the Ego that it is most difficult (some say impossible) for us to divorce the two, or to distinguish between them. Let us see whether this be true. Let us enter into a little self-analysis, or mental exploration.<\/p>\n In the first place, we find that we can divorce the “I\u201d from the feeling of Desire, or the stage of Desire-Will. That is, we are able to make a distinction between the feeling and the “I.\u201d We may see, realize and say that “I feel; I desire; I want,\u201d etc. We will find that this desire or feeling is something happening to us, but is not exactly the Self. In fact, we can repress the feeling or cause it to appear, by the use of the will upon the Imagination. So, if we take the trouble we are able to distinguish between the feeling and the Feeler\u2014the two may be divorced. Then, proceeding to the Decisive-Will stage, when the Reason is used, we can likewise distinguish between the “I\u201d and the thought or idea\u2014 between the thought and the thinker. We realize that by an act of will we may turn our attention this way and that way; may use our intellect in this direction and that; may summon up ideas, thoughts, reasons, etc. The distinction and divorce is possible in this second phase, as in the first. But when we come to the third phase, we experience a new difficulty. We find that we cannot employ the Action-Will in any way whatsoever without involving the “I.\u201d We cannot act and stand apart\u2014we\u2014the “I\u201d of us\u2014must be there in the act. This is true whether it be the act of final action of decision upon the things of the Decisive-Will or reason, or upon the doing of something in response to desire or choice. The “I\u201d is the something involved in the act. See if this is not so with you. The action may be involuntary\u2014along unconscious lines, if you will\u2014but it is you who are involved in it, nevertheless.<\/p>\n And, so we may see that the Will in its final phase is something very close indeed to the Ego. Desire or objects of desire from without; Desire or objects of feeling from within; Reason and Intellect operating as Decisive-Will\u2014all these may and do influence the Acting-Will, but they are not the same as itself. When Desire or Reason, or both, incite the Will into action, we are conscious of something “letting go\u201d\u2014some spring of the Self being released\u2014and Action results. This is the final act of Willing and of Will, and it defies explanation, definition and analysis. It is an ultimate thing, it would seem. At times we are conscious of not being willing to release this spring of Action-Will\u2014not being willing to let go of this part of ourselves. And this in spite of the strongest “want to\u201d of Desire, accompanied by the “ought to,\u201d or “you may\u201d of the Reason. Why don’t we “let go\u201d and “do\u201d in these cases? Ah, friends, there is no other answer than this: Because we do not WILL to! And that answer is something above definitions and above analysis. It is akin to a woman’s “because!\u201d This final Will\u2014this Ultimate Will is a something bound up very close with the inmost nature of our Self\u2014the Ego. And what the Ego is, psychology fails to tell us\u2014it belong to a field of thought beyond psychology. Psychology merely assumes an Ego, without feeling called upon to tell what the Ego is in reality. And as it is not able to tell what the Ego is, it cannot tell “just what\u201d is this Ultimate Will. The Real Ego, and the Ultimate Will\u2014these are things beyond psychology, although only the most advanced psychologists will admit this fact.<\/p>\n The New Psychology is much concerned with this Ultimate Will\u2014this thing that lets go or won’t let go. Without attempting to explain it, beyond postulating it as one of the highest qualities of the Ego, it endeavors to lead us to use and employ it. And it teaches us that it may be taught to let go along subconscious lines, and do great work for us in that immense field of mentation. There are many of the older school of psychologists who “pooh-pooh\u201d at this idea of the Ultimate Will\u2014but it is a fact nevertheless, as the experience of individuals prove satisfactorily to themselves.<\/p>\n Part II. – The Power of Will.<\/strong><\/p>\n Chapter VI. – Will Power.<\/strong><\/p>\n We are sure that the reader, as well as the writer of this book, will now be glad to descend from the cold, rarified atmosphere of the high altitudes of philosophical speculation and psychological explanation, into the less elevated regions of the practical every day use of the Will\u2014from the regions in which the practical is seen only from afar, into those in which we are brought face to face with it. The writer, at any rate, welcomes the transition from the region of words to the region of acts. Theoretical mountain climbing is useful and develops the mental muscles, but after all we are generally glad to return once more to the terra firma of every-day practice.<\/p>\n These philosophical speculations regarding the Will, with the accompanying psychological analysis, always remind us of the old story of the man who in middle age was made acquainted with the distinctions existing between poetry and prose. “Isn’t it wonderful!\u201d he exclaimed, “just to think, here I have been writing and speaking prose all my life and never knew it. Surely education is a great thing.\u201d Here we have been using Will all of our lives, and witnessing its manifestation in others, and only when we are made acquainted with the theories and discussion of the philosophers and the explanations of the psychologists, do we realize what we have been doing, and how it all happened.<\/p>\n As Fothergill once wrote: “What the Will is is a matter upon which the metaphysicians have not been able to make up their minds, after all the attention bestowed upon the subject; and when they have come to some conclusion, either of agreement or fixity of disagreement, the result will have no practical value. ‘She has a will, she has!’ will say the mother or nurse of some child then; as they have done, and do now, and will do after the learned word-weighers have arrived at their decision. Will is one of the ‘little men who stand behind us,’ mind, soul, spirit, will, intangible somethings, revealed to us,\u2014how?…We never hesitate to use the words, nor is there any difficulty about their being comprehended by others. When each word falls upon the ear, it has neither an unknown nor doubtful sound. A man may possess a ‘sound mind;’ be a ‘good soul,’ in both senses; be a ‘loving spirit;’ and yet not be remarkable for ‘Will Power.’ Like Dr. Brooke in ‘Middlemarch,’ he may be poured into any mould, and yet keep shape in none. A man may be possessed of much ability, and yet be a practical failure, because he is irresolute, or lacking in Will Power. On the other hand, a man may have but moderate abilities, and yet attain great success because he possesses a ‘firm will.’ George Eliot has brought out this contrast of character in bold outline, in the difference between Tom Tulliver and his sister Maggie, in the ‘Mill on the Floss.’ Tom is certainly narrow, as destitute of imagination as ever a Dodson could be, but he is inflexible. Maggie has warm sympathies, an active imagination, intellectual capacity; but she lacks Will. It may be impossible to define this Will; but we understand what we mean by it when we speak of its presence or its absence.\u201d<\/p>\n The majority of us will agree with the above authority in his assertion that although Will Power may be most difficult to explain or define, yet it undoubtedly exists in different degrees of manifestation, and is readily recognized and its effects understood. It is a strange and curious fact that this popular understanding and usage of the terms Will and Will Power are not recognized by the dictionary makers, who adhere to the academic usages and definitions. One may search the dictionary in vain for a definition or explanation of this popular conception and use of the term Will. One is compelled to search under other headings for the definition for which he seeks,\u2014the definition of a “thing\u201d which he knows to be actually existent and common in the experience of the race.<\/p>\n Not only is this popular conception of Will employed in current use in conversation, but many writers have used it, and others use it today, frequently and without apology. While many use the term itself, others content themselves with describing the characteristics of Will in this sense, without mentioning the word. For instance, the well-known and frequently-used passage of Buxton: “The longer I live the more certain I am that the great difference between men, between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy\u2014invincible determination\u2014a purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. That quality will do anything in this world; and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities, will make a two-legged creature a man without it.\u201d What is this but our old and popular friend, Will Power? Ik Marvel both describes the manifestation and uses the term, when he says: “Resolve is what makes a man manifest; not puny resolve, nor crude determination, nor errant purpose\u2014but that strong and indefatigable Will which treads down difficulties and danger, as a boy treads down the heaving frost lands of winter; which kindles his eye and brain with a proud pulse-beat toward the unattainable. Will makes men giants.\u201d Where is the dictionary definition for this writer’s use of the term “Will?\u201d\u2014and yet who fails to understand his meaning?<\/p>\n Disraeli, who not only wrote of Will but also manifested it fully, once said: “I have brought myself by long meditation to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a Will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.\u201d Simpson said: “A passionate Desire and an unwearied Will can perform impossibilities, or what may seem to be such to the cold and feeble.\u201d Foster says: “It is wonderful how even the casualties of life seem to bow to a spirit that will not bow to them; and yield to subserve a design which they may, in their first apparent tendency, threaten to frustrate. When a firm, decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to see how the space clears around a man and leaves him room and freedom.\u201d Foster here uses the word “spirit\u201d in the same sense as others use the word “Will.\u201d Substitute Will for spirit, and re-read the sentence, and you will see the point.<\/p>\n Chapter VII. – The Resolute Will.<\/strong><\/p>\n This quality was one possessed and appreciated by Napoleon, one of whose favorite sayings was: “The truest wisdom is a resolute determination.\u201d It was a marked characteristic of this man, and it showed forth in many of his utterances. He fixed his mind and attention upon the desired goal, and then went straight to his mark. When told that the Alps were unsurmountable obstacles to the passage of his armies, he replied, “There shall be no Alps,\u201d\u2014and he proceeded to make good his words. “Impossible,\u201d said he, “is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools.\u201d As a well-known writer has said: “He who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scales the barriers to it, and secures its achievement. To think we are able, is almost to be so\u2014to determine upon attainment, is frequently attainment itself. Thus, earnest resolution has often seemed to have about it almost a savor of omnipotence. Suwarrow was a notable instance of this quality of will. His power of resolute determination and achievement thereby was remarkable. “He who fails, only half wills,\u201d was one of his maxims. A French writer once wrote these words to a young man in whom he was interested: “You are now at an age at which a decision must be formed by you; a little later and you may have to groan within the tomb which you yourself have dug, without the power of rolling away the stone. That which the easiest becomes a habit in us, is the Will. Learn then to will strongly and decisively; thus fix your floating life, and leave it no longer to be carried hither and thither, like a withered leaf, by every wind that blows.\u201d<\/p>\n The Resolute Will is well expressed in the scriptural injunction: “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might.\u201d As a writer says: “Man owes his growth chiefly to that active striving of the Will, that encounter with difficulty which we call effort; and it is astonishing to find how often results apparently impracticable are thus made possible. An intense application itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often but the precursors of the things which we are capable of performing. On the contrary, the timid and hesitating find everything impossible, chiefly because it seems so\u00a0 It is Will\u2014 force of purpose\u2014that enables a man to do or be whatever he sets his mind upon being or doing.\u201d<\/p>\n The life of Bernard Palissy gives us a remarkable instance of the Resolute Will. He was a poor boy\u2014too poor to obtain an education. Said he in after years: “I had no other books than heaven and earth, which are open to all.\u201d He managed to pick up a knowledge of glass painting; then drawing; then elementary reading and writing. He was miserably poor, and found it hard to provide for his family of a wife and three children from the meagre pay of a glass painter. He became interested in the subject of enameling earthenware. He acquainted himself with what was known on the subject, by much work and inquiry. He saw a beautiful Italian vase, which set him to work endeavoring to discover a plan of reproducing it. He experimented and invented new methods, hampered as he was by poverty and lack of materials with which to work. Support his family he must, and he could experiment only in his spare time. He wasted more than prudence would dictate, in building ovens and buying earthenware with which to experiment. His family often went in rags, owing to his mania for experimentation. But every experiment was a failure. This went on for years. Then one day he met with a partial success, which only whetted his appetite. Let the balance of the story be told in the words of an English biographer:<\/p>\n “In order that he might complete the invention, which he now believed to be at hand, he resolved to build for himself a glass-furnace near his dwelling, where he might carry on his operations in secret. He proceeded to build the furnace with his own hands, carrying the bricks from the brick-fields upon his back. He was bricklayer, laborer and all. From seven to eight more months passed. At last the furnace was built and ready for use. Palissy had in the meantime fashioned a number of vessels of clay in readiness for laying on of the enamel. After being subjected to a preliminary process of baking, they were covered with the enamel compound, and again placed in the furnace for the grand, crucial experiment. Although his means were nearly exhausted, Palissy had been for some time accumulating a great store of fuel for the final effort, and he thought it was enough.<\/p>\n “At last the fire was lit, and the operation proceeded. All day he sat by the furnace, feeding it with fuel. He sat there watching and feeding all through the long night. But the enamel did not melt. The sun rose upon his labors. His wife brought him a portion of the scanty morning meal\u2014for he would not stir from the furnace, into which he continued from time to time to heave more fuel. The second day passed, and still the enamel did not melt. The sun set, and another night passed. The pale, haggard, unshorn, baffled yet not beaten Palissy sat by his furnace eagerly looking for the melting of the enamel. A third day and night passed\u2014a fourth, a fifth, and even a sixth\u2014yes, for six long days and nights did the unconquerable Palissy watch and toil, fighting against hope; and still the enamel would not melt.<\/p>\n “It then occurred to him that there might be some defect in the materials for the enamel\u2014perhaps something wanting in the flux; so he set to work to pound and compound fresh materials for a new experiment. Thus two or three more weeks passed. But how to buy more pots?\u2014for those which he had made with his own hands for the purpose of the first experiment were by long baking irretrievably spoiled for the purpose of a second. His money was now all spent; but he could borrow. His character was still good, though his wife and neighbors thought him foolishly wasting his means in futile experiments. Nevertheless he succeeded. He borrowed sufficient from a friend to enable him to buy more fuel and more pots, and he was again ready for a further experiment. The pots were covered with the new compound, placed in the furnace, and the fire was again lit. It was the last and most desperate experiment of the whole.<\/p>\n “The fire blazed up; the heat became intense; but still the enamel did not melt. The fuel began to run short! How to keep up the fire? There were the garden palings; these would burn. They must be sacrificed rather than that the great experiment should fail. The garden palings were pulled up and cast into the furnace. They were burnt in vain! The enamel had not yet melted. Ten minutes more heat might do it. Fuel must be had at whatever cost. There remained the household furniture and shelving. A crashing noise was heard in the house, and amid the screams of his wife and children, who feared that Palissy’s reason was giving way, the tables were seized, broken up, and heaved into the furnace. The enamel had not melted yet! There remained the shelving. Another noise of the wrenching of timber was heard Within the house, and the shelves were torn down and hurled after the furniture into the fire. Wife and children then rushed from the house, and went frantically through the town, calling out that poor Palissy had gone mad, and was breaking up the very furniture for firewood.<\/p>\n “For an entire month his shirt had not been off his back, and he was utterly worn out\u2014wasted with toil, anxiety, watching and want of food. He was in debt and seemed on the verge of ruin. But he had at length mastered the secret; for the last great burst of heat had melted the enamel. The common brown household jars, when taken out of the furnace after it had become cool, were found covered with a white glaze! For this he could endure reproach, contumely and scorn, and wait patiently for the opportunity of putting his discovery into practice as better days came around.\u201d<\/p>\n But this ended but one period of struggle\u2014another was before him. Having discovered the enamel, he must now perfect plans to make the ware. He had no money. On one occasion he had to take clothes from his back to pay a helping potter. His new furnaces cracked, and years were spent in perfecting new ones. His family and friends continued their reproaches. He grew thin and haggard\u2014his calves shrunk so that his garters would no longer hold up his stockings, but would slip down around his ankles. Often he was compelled to relinquish his labors, in order to provide bread for his family. Though it had cost him ten years’ time to discover the enamel, it cost him eight years more to perfect plans for making his new ware. In after years he told the tale in these words: “Nevertheless hope continued to inspire me, and I held on manfully; sometimes when visitors called, I entertained them pleasantly, while I was really sad at heart. Worst of all the sufferings I had to endure were the mockeries and persecutions of those of my own household, who were so unreasonable as to expect me to execute work without the means of doing so. For years my furnaces were without any covering or protection, and while attending them I have been for nights at the mercy of the wind and rain, without help or consolation, save it might be the wailing of cats on the one side and the howling of dogs on the other. Sometimes the tempest would beat so furiously against the furnaces that I was compelled to leave them and seek shelter within doors. Drenched by rain, and in no better plight than if I had been dragged through mire, I have gone to lie down at midnight or at daybreak, stumbling into the house without a light and reeling from one side to another as if I had been drunken, but really weary with watching and filled with sorrow at the loss of my labor after such long toiling. But alas! my house proved no refuge; for drenched and besmeared as I was, I found in my chamber a second persecution worse than the first, which makes me even now marvel that I was not utterly consumed by my many sorrows.\u201d<\/p>\n But this man\u2014this embodied Resolute Will\u2014finally won success and wealth. Specimens of his ware now command fabulous prices, and are regarded as akin to gems. He became Royal Potter of France, and was lodged in the Tuilleries. Fate could not dominate a Will like his\u2014his was the Will which makes its own Fate. When you wish a symbol of the Resolute Will, think of Bernard Palissy.<\/p>\n The poet sings:<\/p>\n “The star of the unconquered Will John Stuart Mill said: “A Character is a completely fashioned Will.\u201d Sherman said: “It is impossible to look into the conditions under which the battle of life is being fought, without perceiving how much really depends upon the extent to which the Will Power is cultivated, strengthened and made operative in right directions.\u201d Another writer has said: “He who is silent is forgotten; he who does not advance falls back; he who stops is overwhelmed, distanced, crushed; he who ceases to become greater, becomes smaller; he who leaves off gives up; the stationary is the beginning of the end\u2014it precedes death; to live is to achieve, to Will without ceasing.\u201d<\/p>\n Munger has written: “A strong defiant purpose is many-handed and lays hold of whatever is near that can serve it; it has a magnetic power that draws to itself whatever is The Resolute Will kindred.\u201d What is this strong, defiant purpose, but that which we call Will? And what is this next admonition but a call to Will.\u201d Let it be your first study to teach the world that you are not wood and straw; that there is some iron in you.\u201d<\/p>\n Marden says: “Energy of Will, self-originating force, is the soul of every great character. Where it is, there is life; where it is not, there is faintness, helplessness and despondency….The achievements of Will Power are almost beyond computation. Scarcely anything seems impossible to the man who can will strongly enough and long enough. One talent with a Will behind it will accomplish more than ten without it, as a thimbleful of powder in a rifle, the bore of whose barrel will give it direction, will do greater execution than a carload burned in the open air.\u201d Tennyson wrote: “O well for him whose Will is strong!\u201d Emerson said: “We go forth austere, dedicated, believing in the iron links of Destiny, and will not turn on our heels to save our lives. A book, a bust, or only the sound of a name shoots a spark through the nerves, and we suddenly believe in Will. We cannot hear of personal vigor of any kind, great power of performance, without fresh resolution.\u201d Fothergill says: “Will Power is one of the greatest natural endowments\u2014as it is one of the finest outcomes of self-culture. The man who succeeds in climbing step by step, finds his Will Power expanding with his energies, with the demands upon him; if not, his limit is sooner or later reached. Whether a leader in parliament, a general, or an employer of labor, the will must dominate colleagues and subordinates alike, else supremacy is forbidden. There is a Will to rule, when opposition or conflict has to be met. Strength of Will is gameness\u2014the power to ‘stay.’ Englishmen have always prided themselves on their game qualities; whether the tenacity of their bull-dogs, the endurance of their race-horses, the unflinching courage of their game-fowls, or their own indomitable purpose. ‘When there is a Will there is a way.’ The way may be long hidden from sight, hard to find, thorny to travel, beset with quagmires or boulders, long and wearisome, seemingly endless; but on it the traveler goes with unshaken resolution\u2014to success at last. The Will may not endow a man with talents or capacities; but it does one very important matter, it enables him to make the best, the very best of his powers.\u201d<\/p>\n So much for the “Will\u201d which is not defined in the dictionaries, nor mentioned in the text-books. It exists in spite of the dictionary and text-book makers. It may be urged that this Will is but Determination, Persistence, Courage, Doggedness, etc. But, indeed, may we not rejoin with the question: Pray what are those qualities but the manifestations of Will? Take Will away from them, and there is nothing left. Will is the essence of all the Positive Qualities.<\/p>\n Chapter VIII. – The Persistent Will.<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the characteristics of the Positive Will is its quality of persistence\u2014that quality which manifests in steadfastness, firmness, and constancy in carrying out and pursuing the design, business, or course commenced or undertaken; perseverance in the face of obstacles and discouragements; steadfastness and determination in the face of opposition or hindrance. Stability; decision; perseverance; fixedness of purpose; tenacity;\u2014these are the terms applied to the Persistent Will. Persistency combines the qualities of continuity and firmness\u2014steadfastness and “stick-to-it-iveness.\u201d The Will presses up close to the task\u2014holds itself there firmly\u2014 and stays there until victory is won.<\/p>\n Success in many cases depends upon the capacity for holding on. Many a man has fought a brave fight, but lacking Persistency has relinquished his efforts just before the turn of the tide, and has fallen back, defeated not by his rivals, not by circumstances, but by himself. The persistent individual has for his motto: “When you feel that you must let go\u2014then hang on the harder, for victory is near.\u201d As Harriet Beecher Stowe once said: “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you until it seems you cannot hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.\u201d An old proverb says: “Success is endurance for one moment more.\u201d George Kennan says: “In this world, the human spirit, with its dominating force, the Will, may be and ought to be superior to all bodily sensations and all accidents of environment. We should not only feel but we should teach, by our conversation and our literature, that in the struggle of life, it is a noble thing and a heroic thing to die fighting.\u201d But he might have added that death does not necessarily accompany such fighting\u2014by one of the strange paradoxes of Life, he who is willing to die fighting in a worthy cause, often wins Life instead. The willingness to die rather than to surrender, often brings living success. Fate is feminine; maintain a “Never take No! for an answer\u201d attitude toward her, and her frowns turn to smiles; she gives in to get rid of your importunities. As D’Alembert once wrote: “Go on, sir, go on. The difficulties you meet with will resolve themselves as you advance. Proceed; and light will dawn, and shine with increasing clearness on your path.\u201d<\/p>\n History is filled with examples of men who persisted, and won victory from apparent defeat. Persistent application is one of the prominent characteristics of all successful men. Carlyle possessed it. He had finished his great work on “The French Revolution\u201d after many years of hard labor and careful research. Just before the time to take it to the printers, he left the manuscript on a table. It fell to the floor and a servant girl threw it into the fire as waste-paper. This man did not give up in discouragement\u2014instead he recommenced his task, and rewrote the work, which now stands as a monument to his genius\u2014and his persistency. Audubon, the great naturalist, had a similar experience. After having spent several years in the forest, carefully drawing and coloring about two hundred plates picturing rare birds, the mice destroyed his work in a night. He writes regarding it: “A poignant flame pierced my brain like an arrow of fire, and for several weeks I was prostrated with fever. At length physical and moral strength awoke within me. Again I took my gun, my game-bag, my portfolio and my pencils, and plunged once more into the depths of the forest.\u201d The result of his Persistent Will was that he was enabled to produce his great work, “Audubon’s Birds\u201d copies of which now bring thousands of dollars. Napoleon at one time, while in Paris awaiting an army appointment, was so overcome by despair and poverty, that he walked to the river intending to drown himself as a failure. However his Will manifested a reserve store of Persistency, and he walked away filled with a new desire\u2014a desire to Live and Conquer, rather than die a failure. A few days later his appointment was granted him\u2014the world knows the rest of the story.<\/p>\n Nearly all great authors, artists and musicians have won success only through the power of the Persistent Will. The account of the privations and struggles of some of the world’s greatest geniuses is one continuous tale of Persistent Will pitted against apparent failure. As Henry Ward Beecher once said: “It is defeat that turns bone to flint, and gristle to muscle, and makes men invincible, and formed those heroic natures that are now in ascendancy in the world. Do not then, be afraid of defeat. You are never so near to victory as when defeated in a good cause.\u201d As Dr. Cuyler says: “It is astonishing how many men lack the power of ‘holding on’ until they reach the goal. They can make a sudden dash, but they lack grit. They are easily discouraged. They get on as long as everything moves smoothly, but when there is friction they lose heart. They depend upon stronger personalities for their spirit and strength. They lack independence or originality. They only dare to do what others do. They do not step boldly from, the crowd and act fearlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n Disraeli, afterward Lord Beaconsfield and Prime Minister of England, had to manifest the Persistent Will from the beginning. He was a Jew, and had to fight against the prejudice against his people, as well as the usual opposition to a young newcomer. His first speech in Parliament was a failure; he was hooted and hissed, and compelled to take his seat. Turning and facing his opponents, he cried bitterly and defiantly: “You may silence me now, and refuse to listen to me. But the time will come when I will make you hear me, and listen well to what I have to say to you.\u201d And he did, for he afterward ruled the very men who had hissed him\u2014he bent them to his Will.<\/p>\n Balzac, struggling with poverty, wrote forty novels before he attracted success. His friends remonstrated with him, telling him that in literature a man must be either a beggar or a king. “Very well,\u201d said he, “I will be a king.\u201d Today he stands at the head of the list of French writers. Zola, his fellow-countryman, also fought a hard fight with poverty and public indifference. He lived in a garret, and often lacked sufficient food to maintain health and strength. He says of this period of his life: “Often I went hungry for so long, that it seemed as if I must die. I scarcely tasted meat from one month’s end to another, and for two days I lived on three apples. Fire, even on the coldest nights, was an undreamed-of luxury; and I was the happiest man in Paris when I could get a candle, by the light of which I might study at night.\u201d<\/p>\n Emerson once was compelled to forego the reading of the second volume of a desired book, because the five cents necessary to take it from the circulating library, was not forthcoming. But he lived to be “Emerson!\u201d Experiences like these, and he had many of them, fixed upon his mind the value of persistency, and years afterward he wrote: “I know no such unquestionable badge and ensign of a sovereign mind as that of tenacity of purpose, which, through all changes of companions or parties or fortunes, changes never, bates no jot of heart or hope, but wearies out opposition and arrives at its port.\u201d<\/p>\n John Hunter the famous anatomist, could not read or write until after he attained the age of manhood\u2014in spite of this handicap, he persisted, educated himself, and struggled to his place in his profession, in middle-age. Stephenson, the engineer, taught himself to read and write after he had attained manhood. Drew was an ignorant youth, and was compelled to educate himself, but as he said: “It appeared to be a thorny path, but I determined, nevertheless, to enter, and accordingly began to tread it.\u201d “Genius is Patience,\u201d said Sir Humphrey Davis. “What I am I have made myself by Persistency.\u201d Many a successful man has attained the coveted prize only when middle-age has been attained, or even after. The weaklings drop out of the race\u2014the persistent ones stay in till the finish. Many a successful man is a “winter apple.\u201d John Hunter said: “Is there one whom difficulties dishearten, who bend to the storm? He will do little. Is there one who will conquer? That kind of man never fails.\u201d<\/p>\n Fothergill tells the following story of a successful man: “The story of Richard Arkwright, the cotton spinner, is a most instructive one. He never went to school, and was apprenticed to a barber and wig-maker. Wig-making went out of fashion, and shaving alone was a poor affair. But Arkwright, while he shaved, toiled away at the idea of a spinning machine until he was in great poverty. Nevertheless he held on to his idea, and turned his mind to clock-making. At last he got the invention patented, and after unending toil he perfected it, only to find the mob rise against him as the inventor of a labor-saving machine. Then the manufacturers turned against him, and would not buy his machines, after that using his invention but refusing to pay the patent-right. Nevertheless, Arkwright persevered, and beat every combination against him. At fifty years he studied the English grammar in order to speak more correctly; became high sheriff for Derbyshire, and was knighted before he died. Nothing could stop him; but the difficulties he had to surmount would have been too great, too numerous, for a man of less resolute will.\u201d<\/p>\n “It’s dogged as does it\u201d as the Yorkshire man said. It is this determinant, persistent, relentless, steadfast holding on and sticking-to-it that wins the day in many a hard fought battle. It was said of a famous general that he was “a fool who never knew he was licked,\u201d and who consequently held on until he wore out the enemy and won the final victory. It is the final victory that counts. A thousand failures are forgiven and forgotten to him who wins the final decisive struggle. Read the lives of the “Men and Women who have Made Good,\u201d and see how they have held on against overwhelming odds, and in face of repeated apparent defeats. Run over the list: Cyrus Field, Thomas A. Edison; Richard Burton; S. F. B. Morse; Frances Willard, and the rest. In every instance you will find the marked manifestation of the Persistent Will. Persistency is one of the essential qualities of the Positive Will. Without Persistency, one may possess all the virtues and all the talents\u2014but still will be and must be a failure\u2014a mere “flash in the pan\u201d of Life.<\/p>\n Chapter IX. – Will vs. Circumstance.<\/strong><\/p>\n Many people go through life believing that they are victims of Circumstance\u2014that they are but puppets moved here and there by the operation of forces outside of themselves. This is but a one-sided view of the operation of the laws of Life. While it is true that circumstances do play an important part in the complicated activities of Life, yet it must never be forgotten that each individual has that within himself which enables him to counteract and neutralize that which we call Circumstance, to a greater or lesser degree. Life is not merely the effect of outside causes operating to determine our activities. Instead it may be thought of as the inward Something ever pressing forward for expression, and modifying, as well as being modified by the outside circumstance. There is always this two-fold operation in the activities of Life. While it is fanatical to hold that Circumstance plays no part at all in our lives, it is just as fanatical to hold that we are absolutely ruled by Circumstance.<\/p>\n This Something Within which modifies, neutralizes and transmutes Circumstances in accordance with our desires and aims, is the Positive Will. Men of the Positive Will do not fold their hands and bow their heads in submission to the every effect and manifestation of Circumstance. On the contrary they endeavor to counteract its effects, and even to turn them to account. The Negative Will throws up its hands in defeat, when Circumstance opposes it and blocks its way. The Positive Will, after finding that it cannot move the obstacle of Circumstance from its path, then endeavors to go around, over, or under the obstruction\u2014and usually succeeds. Positive Will does not manifest in the beating of one’s head against the stone-wall of Circumstance, but instead it manifests its pliability in adjusting itself to the new conditions, and in overcoming them by a change of detail, while adhering to the one general plan of campaign.<\/p>\n Napoleon was once confronted by an apparently insurmountable obstacle in the shape of a swollen river on the other side of which rested the Austrian army. It was impossible to cross the raging stream in the face of the enemy’s fire and an ordinary commander would have given up the attempt. But to postpone the attack would mean to give the enemy time to gain strength by reinforcements, which would have been fatal to Napoleon’s plans. So the Corsican followed the idea of the Steel Will, instead of the Iron Will. Iron breaks when it meets sufficient resistance\u2014while steel bends for the moment, only to spring back into its original shape after the pressure is removed. And so Napoleon showed that his character was as fine steel as that of the Damascus blade.<\/p>\n At nightfall both armies rested, the campfires of each burning on the two sides of the river. The Austrians knew that Napoleon would never attempt to cross the stream during the night, but to make sure they posted guards, and had their guns well trained in the river bank. All night long the Austrians slept and the guards saw no movement in Napoleon’s camp\u2014his camp fires burned brightly, and his army was also apparently asleep.<\/p>\n But about the break of dawn the Austrians heard the boom of cannon on both sides of them, and in their rear\u2014their bugles sounded the alarm,\u2014but too late, for they were overwhelmed by the rush of the French army. They were sent in a panic of retreat down the river pursued by the victorious Frenchmen. Napoleon had silently marched his men all night, up his side of the river until he reached a good fording-place; then he crossed over to the Austrians’ side, and marched down toward them. Notwithstanding the all-night forced march of many miles, the French knew that they had the Austrians at a disadvantage, and inspired by the genius of their leader they became irresistible. This is the difference between the Cast-Iron Will which breaks before it will bend; and the Damascus Steel Will, which bends in order to conquer.<\/p>\n The old saying, “What can’t be cured, must be endured\u201d is all very well as far as it goes\u2014but it doesn’t go far enough. Far better is the revised edition of the saying which runs as follows: “What can’t be cured must be turned to advantage.\u201d It is this use of the Positive Will in the direction of “getting around\u201d difficult circumstances that marks the genius in any line of human work. This was the true inner meaning of Napoleon’s celebrated, though much misunderstood saying: “Circumstances! I make circumstances!\u201d Make them indeed he did\u2014but out of the materials before him\u2014the materials of the opposing circumstances. He used the enemy’s material with which to fashion his own Circumstances. He lived on the enemy’s rations. He took the enemy’s material before him, and shaped it to his own ends.<\/p>\n “There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, Each well-born soul must win what it deserves, Many obstacles may be overcome by battering them down\u2014 but he who understands only this mode of attack is but half-armed. One conception of will would glorify the militant billy-goat who butts down what he can, but beats out his brains when he comes to the stone-wall. There are other animals who show far more Will than does the goat, by recognizing the futility of the “butting-down\u201d when applied to stone-walls, but who get on the other side of the walk by burrowing under; jumping over; going around it; or else searching until a hole or weak place is found, through which they force their way. And, friends, every stone-wall has its apertures or weak places, if we have the will to search for them instead of lying down in despair, or else beating out our brains against the stones. Do not think for a moment that this is weakness, or surrender of Will\u2014it is the use of Damascus Steel quality of Will. Fothergill says: ‘The line of least resistance.’ What is that? asks the youthful reader. It is often the line of conduct, my young friend! All action takes the line of least resistance; even to the action of dynamite upon rock, where the cleavage will take the line of least resistance. This does not necessarily involve degraded action by any means. The line of least resistance may go upwards among higher motives, as well as downwards amidst lower motives.\u201d<\/p>\n It would be but repeating an oft-told tale were I to attempt to run over the list of the men who have made Circumstances by converting the obstacles into helpful things\u2014by transmuting the difficulty into aids. The men of the Steel Will are full of “bounce\u201d\u2014you can’t “throw them down\u201d and make them stay down. The harder they are “thrown down\u201d the higher they rise on the rebound. They are like the rubber-ball, which rises in proportion to the force of the throw down. Or like the steel spring they fly back in proportion to the strength used in brushing them out of the way. The Steel Will masters circumstances. A Steel Will opposed to an Iron Will is like the case of a skilled fencer armed with a fine blade, opposed to a lout with a bludgeon. The Steel wins the day.<\/p>\n Read the lives of the successful people of the world, and you will find that from first to last theirs was a struggle against Circumstance. Sometimes they broke down the opposing obstruction, but when they met with an obstacle too big and too strong to be brushed out of the way, then they got around it, or over it, or through its weak points in some way. The old problem of “What will be the result if an irresistible force comes in contact with an immovable body?\u201d may be answered by the statement that the force gets under, over, or around the immovable body, instead of resting for Eternity confronting it and waiting until the paradox of the two absolutes be adjusted. This is the line of the least resistance for the Force,\u2014and it would save valuable time.<\/p>\n “The line of least resistance\u201d does not mean doing the easiest thing in sight\u2014but, rather doing the best thing in the easiest manner. Do not let the idea of “following line of the least resistance\u201d cause you to give up your desires and ambitions, and hunt the easiest thing in sight in its place. That is not “the least resistance\u201d\u2014that is “laying down\u201d and “quitting.\u201d Instead, look around for the weak places in the stone-wall, and then work your way through, or get around, over, or under it. That is the “line of the least resistance.\u201d Fighting, and battering down stone-walls is glorious and all that\u2014but getting on the other side of the wall is the aim of your endeavors\u2014your final goal\u2014and whatever accomplishes this end in the quickest and most expeditious manner is “the line of least resistance.\u201d In the words of the old song of several generations ago, it should be a case of “get there Eli!\u201d and, if Eli is wise, he will keep the “get there\u201d before his mind, first, last and all the time, and leave to the child-minds of the race the glory of the shouting, hurrahing and flag-waving. As the story of the firm’s letter to the traveling salesman runs, it is a case of “We don’t want to know how you are doing it; or what you are saying or what a good impression you are making; or how you are cutting in on your rival’s choice territory\u2014what we want is Orders!\u201d That is what the world wants of you\u2014that is what you must want of yourself Orders! The “Orders\u201d are on the other side of that stone-wall of Circumstance\u2014what are you going to do about it? Will you be a get-around-under-over-or-through Fox\u2014or the one-idea, butt-your-brains-out Goat?<\/p>\n Chapter X.- Will in Personality<\/strong><\/p>\n One of the most startling, and at the same time most puzzling, manifestations of the Will is that which may be called the Will in Personality. We are most familiar with the manifestation, and yet the underlying principle escapes the explanation of the psychologist. The New Psychology with its ideas regarding the Subconscious Mind is the only branch of psychology which even attempts to offer a partial explanation of this most interesting manifestation. Fothergill says regarding it: “The conflict of Will, the power to command others, has been spoken of frequently. Yet, what is this Will-Power which influences others? What is it that makes us accept, and adopt too, the advice of one person, while precisely the same advice from another has been rejected? It is the weight or force of Will which insensibly influences us; the force of Will behind the advice. That is what it is! The person who thus forces his or her advice upon us has no more power to enforce it than others; but all the same we do as requested.<\/p>\n We accept from one what we reject from another. One person says of something contemplated, ‘Oh, but you must not,’ yet we do it all the same, though that person may be in a position to make us regret the rejection of that counsel. Another person says, ‘Oh, but you musn’t,’ and we desist, though we may, if so disposed, set this latter person’s opinion at defiance with impunity. It is not the fear of consequences, nor of giving offense, which determines the adoption of the latter person’s advice, while it has been rejected when given by the first. It depends upon the character or Will-Power of the individual advising whether we accept the advice, or reject it. This character often depends little if at all in some cases, upon the intellect, or even on the moral qualities, the goodness or badness, of the individual. It is itself an imponderable something; yet it carries weight with it. This Will is seen in the nursery, where one child is master, nobody exactly knows how. It is not particularly combative, nor is it stubborn in conflict; it may be even more than ordinarily obedient to those in authority over it; but it is master of its peers, and lords it over its brothers and sisters. It possesses its character in fact. It holds its place by the possession of that Will-Power which brings men to the front in emergencies. There may be abler men, cleverer men; but it is the one possessed of Will who rises to the surface at these times\u2014the one who can by some subtle power make other men obey him.\u201d<\/p>\n Even among the animals this quality has been noticed by those who have made a study of them. A writer in a magazine, in an article entitled “The Taming of Animals,\u201d expresses the idea in these words: “Put two male baboons in the same cage, and they will open their mouths, show all their teeth, and ‘blow’ at each other. But one of them, even though he may possess the uglier dentition, will blow with a difference, with an inward shakiness that marks him for the under dog at once. No test of battle is needed at all. It is the same with the big cats. Put two, or four, or a dozen lions in together, and they also probably without a single contest, will soon discover which one of them possesses the mettle of the master. Thereafter he takes the choice of the meat; if he chooses, the rest shall not even begin to eat until he has finished; he goes first to the fresh pan of water. In short he is the ‘king of the cage,’ Now, then, when a tamer goes into a den with a big cat that has taken a notion to act ‘funny,’ his attitude is almost exactly like that of the ‘king beast’ above mentioned would be toward a subject rash and ill-advised enough to challenge his kingship.\u201d<\/p>\n The conflict of the Will, silent and subtle, but active and vigorous, goes on between persons who meet and whose interests clash. When two such persons meet there is manifested that silent Will struggle between them, from which one emerges a victor, and the other defeated for the moment. Coleridge has pictured this condition in his verse:<\/p>\n “He holds him with his glittering eye, Fothergill says of this Will of Personality: “The Will-struggle goes on universally. In the young aristocrat, who gets his tailor to make another advance in defiance of his conviction that he will never get his money back. It goes on between lawyer and client; betwixt doctor and patient; between banker and borrower; betwixt buyer and seller. It is not tact which enables the person behind the counter to induce customers to buy what they did not intend to buy, and which when bought gives them no satisfaction, though it is linked therewith for the effort to be successful. Whenever two persons meet in business, or in any other relation in life up to love-making, there is this Will-Fight going on, commonly enough without any consciousness of the struggle. There is a dim consciousness of the result, but none of the processes. It often takes years of the intimacy of married life to find out with whom of the pair the mastery really lies. Often the far stronger character, to all appearance, has to yield; it is this Will element which underlies the statement, ‘The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.’ In ‘Middlemarch’ we find in Lydgate a grand aggregation of qualities, yet shallow, hard, selfish Rosamond masters him thoroughly in the end. He was not deficient in Will-Power, possessed more than an average share of character; but in the fight he went down at last under the onslaught of the intense stubborn will of his narrow-minded spouse.<\/p>\n Their will-contest was the collision of a large, warm nature, like a capable human hand, with a hard, narrow, selfish nature, like a steel button; the hand only bruised itself while the button remained unaffected.\u201d Oliver Wendell Holmes gives the following description of an instance of the Will-struggle between two men: “The Koh-i-noor’s face turned so white with rage that his blue-black mustache and beard looked fearful seen against it. He grinned with wrath, and caught at a tumbler, as if he would have thrown its contents at the speaker. The young Marylander fixed his clear, steady eye upon him, and laid his hand on his arm, carelessly almost, but the Jewel felt that he could not move it. It was no use. The youth was his master, and in that deadly Indian hug in which men wrestle with their eyes, over in five seconds, but which breaks one of their two backs, and is good for three score years and ten, one trial enough\u2014settles the whole matter- just as when two feathered songsters of the barnyard game and dunghill, come together. After a jump or two at each other, and a few sharp kicks, there is an end of it; and it is ‘After you, monsieur,’ with the beaten party in all the social relations for all the rest of his days.\u201d<\/p>\n It is a well-known fact among horsemen, that certain horses possess a subtle quality called “class\u201d which is recognized as existent, but which defies definition or explanation. Its power may be imagined when it is realized that when two horses of equal speed contest with each other, the thoroughbred horse will always intimidate and discourage his opponent so that he will drop to the rear. It is not a matter of brute strength or show of violence that accomplishes this result, for the classy horse may be very gentle\u2014it is a subtle manifestation of Will, which the other horse recognizes as superior to his own, and he gives up the struggle.<\/p>\n This Will-Power of Personality does not always manifest itself in a show of force, and a challenge to combat. On the contrary it often bides its time, and maintains a quiet demeanor until the time comes to strike. As Fothergill says: “This Will-Power is seen in the man who abides his time, who knows how to wait\u2014 which involves the ‘when’ and the ‘why.’ Circumstances may stand in his way, and he must wait; but the Will is neither bent, broken, nor snapped by that fact, and is all along as assertive as ever\u2014even when apparently in abeyance. Yet it is not mere perseverance\u2014it is something more….It is a great mistake to suppose that this Will is disposed to air itself on all occasions; far from it. It often has a tendency to conceal itself, and is not rarely found under an exterior of much pleasantness. There are men, and women too, who present an appearance of such politeness that they seem to have no will of their own; they apparently exist merely to do what is agreeable to others; but just wait till the time comes, and then the latent Will-Power is revealed, and we find under this velvet glove the iron hand\u2014 and no mistake about it. It is the secret of the diplomatist. Tallyrand possessed it to a remarkable degree, and was a cool, bold, successful diplomat; Cavour also possessed this power and used it wisely. The blusterer and bragger are devoid of it.. The blusterer is not possessed of much Will-Power, and it is simply amusing as well as psychologically interesting, to see a blusterer in authority disposing of a matter finally, as he vainly imagines, when really the matter is but being opened up, not settled at all. But the blusterer likes to cherish the idea that the battle is over, the matter disposed of, and he is victorious. Indeed, he feels rather injured when he discovers the actual state of affairs, and is inclined to think that he has been misled by others when he has only deceived himself….Real power disdains the protection of formality. The consciousness of strength is sufficient in itself. The owner of Will-Force is not afraid to let another come close to him, in his confidence in his capacity to hold his own. Feebleness builds around it its fence of formality.\u201d<\/p>\n The roots of this Will in Personality must be imbedded deep down in the Subconscious regions of our mental being, for in the majority of cases it is manifested unconsciously. “We are greater than we know,\u201d and in the deep recesses of our being are concealed latent powers of whose existence we do not dream. Men, under pressure, have developed this Will-Power of Personality. It is open to any and all of us, if we but demand its appearance into consciousness and activity. It is worth the effort and trial and patient development.<\/p>\n Chapter XI.- Will and Health.<\/strong><\/p>\n The influence of disease is well recognized by the best authorities. In the volume of this series, entitled “Suggestion and Auto-Suggestion\u201d we have called your attention to the powerful effect of the mind over physical states, and to the fact that mental states manifest in physical conditions. But the part played by the Will in Suggestion is not generally recognized. It is the element of Will which exerts the positive effect in the application of the mind upon the body. Not necessarily Will in the phase of conscious, determined direction and concentration, but more often Will aroused subconsciously. Will is the active operative force underlying the manifestations of suggestion and all forms of mental healing. The Will is called into action by faith, suggestion or imagination, just as it is called into effect by desire. Will, in this general sense, is the active, operative dynamic quality of the mind.<\/p>\n We shall not attempt to recount the many instances of the effect of the mind upon physical conditions\u2014we have stated them in our previous work, to which we must refer you. But here at this place, we wish to call your attention to the effect of the use of the Will, in its ordinary and popular sense of resolute determination, in counteracting disease. Dr. Fothergill gives us the case of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. He states it as follows: “‘You must have a blister on, or you will die,’ said her physician to the redoubtable Sarah, first Duchess of Marlborough, when suffering from pleurisy. ‘I will not have a blister on, and I will not die,’ said the redoubtable Sarah. And she did neither. The woman who mastered John Churchill and Anne Stuart was not going to succumb to a pleurisy. And in disease the influence of the Will is as potent as elsewhere. It cannot rescue a person from the clutch of a mortal malady; but if the disease is compatible with recovery, the Will makes the difference often betwixt life and death. When Douglas Jerrold was once at Death’s door, and the physician told him he must die, his answer was: ‘What, and leave a family of helpless children?<\/p>\n I won’t die.’ And die he did not, at that time at least. A strong motive to live positively keeps some people alive, as it did with Douglas Jerrold. The Will stands in some curious relations to health, or rather disturbances of health….Whether persistent attention directed to any one part and long maintained ever ends in actual disease of the said part, may not be affirmed. It is a matter to which systematic attention has not yet been paid. On the contrary, many cures can only be explained by the mental impression the material agent employed has made, and through the mind the body is reached. ‘Conceit can kill, and conceit can cure,’ is an old North Country saying as to the effect of faith in remedies in some morbid conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n All practicing physicians have met with numerous cases in which the Will was the prime element in the recovery of patients, from severe illnesses, and likewise, cases in which letting go and giving up undoubtedly caused the patient to take a turn for the worse. If a very sick person gives up and becomes reconciled to the fact that death is inevitable, the end usually comes rapidly. On the contrary the dogged refusal to surrender has kept many a patient alive for a long time, and has often carried them over the crisis. We have known of sick people who fought their way back to life and health, simply because they felt that they had to perform some life work.<\/p>\n We know of the case of an old lady who lived to the age of eighty-five years, simply because she felt that her duty required her to minister to the wants of an unmarried son\u2014the last born of a large brood\u2014who was never very vigorous. The good lady fought her way through many a spell of sickness, simply because she “had James to attend to.\u201d Finally James died at the age of fifty years, and the old lady mourned him greatly, saying “I always knew that I would lose him\u2014he never was a strong child.\u201d From that time she relaxed her Will-to-Live, having nothing left to hold her to life, and shortly after she went to sleep one night and death came to her in her slumber, and she “went to meet James,\u201d an idea that had taken possession of her mind. You may call this Love instead of Will, if you like\u2014but to our idea it was Will called into effect by Love.<\/p>\n We have a personal knowledge of another case in which the Will was inspired to vigorous action by love\u2014and jealousy. A lady who had a little two weeks’ old infant in its cradle near her bedside, was very close to death from the complications sometimes occurring in childbirth. She had about given up hope and was gradually growing weaker. About this time the nurse very foolishly admitted to the bed-room a neighborhood gossip and “Job’s Comforter.\u201d The visitor condoled with the dying woman, telling her how sorry all her friends were for her, and how the neighborhood was talking about the plans of “Widow Perkins,\u201d whom they said would probably be called in to care for the infant so soon to be motherless. “And, then you know,\u201d continued the good gossiper, “they say that she always did have an eye on your husband before you married him. And you know how men are\u2014it’s just dreadful to think of her getting him after all, and being a stepmother for your dear little baby.\u201d The sick woman raised herself up in bed by a supreme effort, and with staring eyes and gasping breath she cried out “She shan’t have my husband and dear little baby\u2014she shan’t, she shan’t!\u201d and then sank back exhausted and panting. The physician was hurriedly called in, and his practiced eye saw at once that some remarkable change had occurred. “She will get well now, if she is left alone, and kept quiet.\u201d And chasing the visitor from the room he placed in the sick woman’s arms the little baby which she pressed closely to her breast. She recovered, and lived to have grandchildren as well as children. The Widow Perkins quarry escaped her. Another victory for Will.<\/p>\n Fothergill says: “Where there is a strong motive to live, no matter whether selfish or unselfish a successful struggle is often the result. Aaron Burr, when a young man, laid aside a wasting disease like a garment, in order to join Arnold on his raid against Quebec, and a very arduous undertaking it was. The question of Will in relation to the progress of disease is constantly met with in medical practice. Give a woman of ardent temperament sufficient motive to live, and nothing but mortal disease can kill her. The same may be said of the hardy folks of the north. Joe, in ‘Joe and the Jolly Gist’ (geologist) said of his father ‘Fadder deed! He’s none o’t deing mak’. We’s hev to worry fadder when his tim’s come; he’ll never dee of his sel’ so lang as there’s to hound yan on till.’<\/p>\n Dr. William C. Prime, in his book entitled “Among the Northern Hills,\u201d makes one of his characters, an old lawyer, tell a story of an experience in his practice. He had been summoned in a hurry to see an old woman who had managed her farm for forty years since her husband’s death. She had two sons, and a stepson, John, who was not an admirable person. After a long drive on a stormy night, he found the old lady apparently just alive, and was told by the physician in charge that he must hurry if he wished to have her make and sign her will, for she was very weak and sinking rapidly. He tells the rest of the story as follows: “I had brought paper and pen and ink with me. I found a stand and a candle, placed them at the head of the bed, and after saying a few words to the woman, told her that I was ready to prepare the will if she would go on and tell me what she wanted me to do. I wrote the introductory phrase rapidly, and leaning over her said, ‘Now go on, Mrs. Norton.’ Her voice was quite faint, and she seemed to speak with an effort. She said: ‘First\u201d of all I want to give the farm to my sons, Harry and James. Just put that down.’ ‘But,’ said I, ‘you can’t do that, Mrs. Norton. The farm isn’t yours to give away.’ ‘The farm isn’t mine?’ she said in a voice decidedly stronger than before. ‘No, the farm isn’t yours. You have only a life interest in it.’ ‘This farm that I’ve run for goin’ on forty-three years next spring, isn’t mine to do what I please with it! Why not, judge? I’d like to know what you mean!\u201d Why, Mrs. Norton, your husband gave you a life estate in all his property, and on your death the farm goes to his son John, and your children get the village houses. I have explained this to you very often before.’ ‘And when I die, John Norton is to have this house and farm whether I will or not?’ ‘Just so, it will be his.’ ‘Then I ain’t going to die!\u2019 said the old woman, in a clear and decidedly ringing and healthy voice. And so saying, she threw her feet over the front of the bed, sat up, gathered a blanket and coverlet about her, straightened her gaunt form, walked across the room, and sat down in the great chair before the fire. The doctor and I went home. That was fifteen years ago. The old lady is alive to-day. And she accomplished her intent. She beat John after all. He died four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n The best authorities in the medical profession agree in stating that two persons may be exposed to the same contagion, or infection\u2014one will contract the disease, the other will escape it. Post-mortem examinations show that the lungs of nearly every person examined bear the scars of tuberculosis, contracted at some time during the person’s life, but usually fought off by the resistant powers of the system. There is a certain resistant power in persons varying in degree which enables them to fight off disease. What this resistant power is the authorities do not know positively. Is it not possible that in this resistant power of the organism, we have our old friend the Will masquerading in a new guise? Surely it seems reasonable to so believe, when we consider cases like those related in this chapter. Is not the resistant power the Will operating along subconscious lines, in response to the general mental attitude and Will positivity of the individual? It surely is a “positive\u201d degree of something. From what we know of the Will, are we not justified in assuming that it, the Will, is that something?<\/p>\n Chapter XII. – The Subconscious Will.<\/strong><\/p>\n To the old-time orthodox psychologist, the mention of “unconscious\u201d Will was a particularly annoying heresy, and one which merited and received severe condemnation. Will was regarded as so essentially a conscious mental operation, that the term “unconscious\u201d as applied to it was regarded as contradictory and meaningless. But the advance in the science of psychology has uncovered many unsuspected regions of the mind, and many unsuspected qualities residing therein, and so to-day the term “unconscious Will\u201d is understood and accepted as designating a well-established phase of mental activity. In fact, many leading psychologists now claim, that the greater part of the activities of Will among living creatures are performed in the subconscious regions of the mind. Among the lower forms of life, there is little consciousness, but very much Will activity; and even in the higher animals and in man we find the various reflex and habitual movements occasioned by Will along unconscious, or rather subconscious lines. The importance attached to the Subconsciousness by the New Psychology, has led to an extensive investigation of the Will activities of this interesting area of the mind.<\/p>\n The important activities of the mind which are grouped under the head of Auto-Suggestion, and which we have described in another volume of this series, have for their active principle this subconscious Will. That is to say, the Auto-Suggestion impressed upon one’s mind arouses the subconscious Will, which then holds the mind to its allotted tasks just as the conscious Will so holds it ordinarily. So far is this true that not only may the subconscious Will be aroused to exert a pressure to bear in the direction of character-building, establishing or neutralizing of habits, etc., but by practice the knack may be acquired whereby the intellectual processes may be urged to work along subconscious lines, to later present the field of consciousness with the finished product. The mind may be charged to work out certain perplexing problems, while its owner is engaged in other mental work, or during sleep. In fact, many of us do this without realizing it. We evince a strong desire to know or solve certain things, and then lay the matter aside, only to find that, later on, the answer will flash into our minds unannounced. Or, else, when we return to a consideration of the task, we find that the matter has been threshed out and rearranged in our minds along subconscious lines. In all of these subconscious activities, the subconscious Will plays the same important part that is performed by the conscious Will in the corresponding conscious mental activities.<\/p>\n Any mention of the subconscious Will would be incomplete without a reference to and quotations from the work of Charles Godfrey Leland who devoted much thought to this subject, which he had embodied in his well-known work entitled “Have You a Strong Will,\u201d which has been republished in America under the title of “The Mystic Will.\u201d Mr. Leland conducted a line of experiments tending to establish the fact that the Will could be set to work along subconscious lines by auto-suggestions given to oneself just before going to sleep. He seemed to be of the opinion that the ante-sleep auto-suggestion was an important feature of the process, but later investigators have established the fact that the same effect can be obtained by auto-suggestions given to oneself during any waking hour, provided that one quiets his mind from disturbing influences and assumes a state of mental quietude. More than this, some advanced experimenters have succeeded in obtaining very good results without even inducing this state of mental quietude\u2014they have so trained their subconscious Will that it will act upon the orders, “do this or attend to that\u201d given in moments of business rush and activity. We think that it will be advisable to quote from Mr. Leland at this point, in order to acquaint you with his fundamental conceptions.<\/p>\n He introduces the subject by saying that: “During the past few years the most serious part of the author’s study and reflection has been devoted to the subjects discussed in this book. These briefly stated are as follows: Firstly, that all mental or cerebral faculties can by direct scientific treatment be influenced to what would have once been regarded as miraculous action, and which is even yet very little known or considered. Secondly, in development of this theory, and as confirmed by much practical and personal experience, that the Will can by very easy processes of training, or by the aid of auto-suggestion, be strengthened to any extent, and states of mind soon induced, which can be made by practice habitual. Thus a man can by a very simple experiment\u2014which I clearly described and which has been tested and verified beyond all denial\u2014cause himself to remain during the following day in a perfectly calm or cheerful state of mind; and this condition may, by means of repetition and practice, be raised or varied to other states or conditions of a far more active or intelligent description….The man who can develop his Will has it in his power not only to control his moral nature to any extent, but also to call into action or realize very extraordinary states of mind\u2014that is, faculties, talents, or abilities which he has never suspected to be within his reach. It is a stupendous thought; yet one so great that from the beginning of time to the present day no sage or poet has ever grasped it to its full extent, and yet it is a very literal truth, that there lie hidden within us all, as in a sealed-up spiritual casket, or like the bottled-up djinn in the Arab tale, innumerable Powers or Intelligences, some capable of bestowing peace or calm, others of giving happiness, or inspiring creative genius, energy and perseverance. All that man has ever attributed to an Invisible World without, lies, in fact, within him, and the magic key which will confer the faculty of sight and the power to conquer is the Will.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Leland devotes much space in his book to establishing the virtues of auto-suggestion, which it is scarcely necessary to repeat at this late day when all even slightly acquainted with the teachings of the New Psychology recognize and realize the wonderful possibilities in, and the wonderful effects that may be obtained by that form of calling into activity the subconscious Will. One point, however, which Mr. Leland makes, is especially worthy of quotation here, although we have spoken of it elsewhere. It is one of those things which will bear much repetition, for it is highly important. Mr. Leland says: “For as I hope to clearly prove it, it is an easy matter to create strong Will, or strengthen that which we have, to a marvelous extent, yet he who would do this must first give his Attention firmly and fixedly to his intent or want, for which purpose it is absolutely necessary that he shall first know his own mind regarding what he means to do, and therefore meditate upon it, not dreamily, or vaguely, but earnestly. And this done, he must assure himself that he takes a real interest in the subject, since if such be the case I may declare that his success is well-nigh certain.\u201d<\/p>\n We shall not enter into a discussion of Mr. Leland’s method of giving the auto-suggestion which arouses the subconscious Will for any good method of auto-suggestion will accomplish the same result. It may be described briefly in his own words as: “Not to will or resolve too vehemently, but simply and very gently, yet assiduously, to impress the idea on the mind so as to\u00a0fall asleep while thinking of it as a thing to be….Resolve before going to sleep that if there is anything for you to do which requires Will or Resolution\u2014be it to undertake repulsive or hard work or duty, to face a disagreeable person, to fast, or make a speech\u2014to say ‘No’ to anything; in short, to keep up to the mark or make any kind of effort that you Will do it\u2014as calmly and unthinkingly as may be. Do not desire to do it sternly or forcibly, or in spite of obstacles\u2014but simply and coolly make up your mind to do it\u2014and it will much more likely be done. And it is absolutely true\u2014crede experto\u2014that if persevered in, this willing yourself to will by easy impulse unto impulse given, will lead to marvelous and most satisfactory results.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Leland is particularly happy in his choice of illustrations with which he explains the action of this activity of the subconscious Will, aroused by auto-suggestion. We think that every person should impress upon his memory the following illustration, for it will serve him in good stead in his practice of the use of the Will. Mr. Leland says: “I have not assumed a high philosophical or metaphysical position in this work; my efforts have been confined to indicating how by a very simple and well-nigh mechanical process, perfectly intelligible to every human being with an intellect, one may induce certain states of mind and thereby create a Will. But I quite agree with Mr. Fletcher that Forethought is strong thought, and the point from which all projects must proceed. As I understand it, it is a kind of impulse or projection of Will into the coming work.<\/p>\n I may here illustrate this with a curious fact in physics. If the reader wished to ring a door bell so as to produce as much sound as possible, he would probably pull it as far back as he could and then let it go. But if he would, in letting it go, simply give it a tap with his forefinger, he would actually redouble the noise. Or, to shoot an arrow as far as possible, it is not enough to merely draw the bow to its utmost span or tension. If just as it goes, you will give the bow a quick push, though the effort be trifling, the arrow will fly almost as far again as it would have done without it. Or, as is well known, in wielding a very sharp saber, we make the draw-cut, that is if we add to the blow or chop, as with an axe, a certain slight pull and simultaneously we can cut through a silk handkerchief or a sheep. Forethought is the tap on the bell, the push on the bow, the draw on the saber. It is the deliberate yet rapid action of the mind when before falling to sleep or dismissing thought we bid the mind subsequently to respond. It is more than merely thinking we are to do it; it is the bidding or ordering self to fulfill a task before willing it….To make it of avail, one must…first write, as it were, or plan a preface, synopsis or epitome of his proposed work, to start it and combine it with a resolve or decree that it must be done, the latter being the tap on the bell knob.<\/p>\n Now the habit of composing the plan as perfectly, yet as succinctly as possible…combined with the energetic impulse to send it off, will ere long give the operator a conception of what I mean by Forethought, which by description I cannot. And when grown familiar and really mastered, its possessor will find that his power to think and act promptly in all the emergencies of life has greatly increased..There is a curious and very illustrative instance of Forethought in the sense in which I am endeavoring to explain it, given in the novel, the ‘Scalp Hunters’ by Mayne Reid: ‘His aim with the rifle is infallible, and it would seem as if the ball obeyed his Will. There must be a kind of directing principle in his mind, independent of strength of nerve and sight. He and one other are the only men in whom I have observed this singular power.’ This simply means the exercise in a second, as it were, of ‘the tap on the bell knob,’ or the projection of the will into the proposed shot, and which may be applied to any act Gymnasts, leapers and the like are all familiar with it. It springs from resolute confidence and self-impulse enforced; but it also creates them, and the growth is very great and rapid when the idea is much kept before the mind. In this latter lies most of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n In the following part of this book, the part devoted to Will-Development, we shall combine methods of arousing the subconscious Will with the more familiar methods. To develop the Will, every phase of its activity should be considered and every efficacious method employed. The New Psychology is essentially pragmatic\u2014it concerns itself more with the “how to do\u201d side of the question, than that of “what is the theory regarding it?\u201d<\/p>\n Part III. – The Development of Will.<\/strong><\/p>\n Chapter XIII. – Will Development.<\/strong><\/p>\n We hear much of the development of the Will, and we realize the importance of the process which is designated by the term. But we do not stop to consider that the Will, in its essential nature, is a form of mental energy which is already developed and which needs but the proper mental attitude on our part to bring it into manifestation. It is like the universal store of electricity which pervades all space, and which needs but the proper mechanism to apply it. We talk of generating electricity, but not a single particle of electricity is ever manufactured\u2014the generation of electricity is simply the gathering together in one place of a portion of the store of the universally diffused electricity. Thus is it with Will. Will is closely connected with the innate power of the Ego, and, in all probability, is a something which is diffused universally, each Ego acting as a centre of Will. At any rate, the experience of the race has shown that each and every individual contains a sufficient supply of latent and dormant will which if aroused will accomplish all that is necessary for him to accomplish. And it is this training and cultivation of the use of the Will, that we mean when we speak of Will-Development. We do not need to develop the Will\u2014but we do need to develop our mental machinery that we may use the Will to the best advantage.<\/p>\n That the development of the Will is a task worthy of the best individuals of the race is acknowledged by the highest authorities. In fact, the best advice of the race has been based upon this fundamental idea. As Emerson said: “The education of the Will is the object of our existence.\u201d John Stuart Mill said: “A character is a completely fashioned Will.\u201d The best writers on the subject of psychology strongly urge upon all the importance of the cultivation of the Will. As one writer says: “Not infrequently a strong volitional power originally exists, but lies dormant for want of being called into exercise, and here it is that judicious training can work its greatest wonders.\u201d And again: “It is of the utmost importance that attention should be directed to the improvement and strengthening of the Will; for without this there can be neither independence nor firmness, nor individuality of character. Without it we cannot give truth its proper force, nor morals their proper direction, nor save ourselves from being machines in the hands of worthless men. The education of the Will is really of far greater importance in shaping the destiny of the individual, than that of the intellect. Theory and doctrine, and inculcation of laws and propositions will never of themselves lead to the uniform habit of right action. It is by doing that we learn to do; by overcoming, that we learn to overcome; by obeying reason and conscience, that we learn to obey; and every right action which we cause to spring out of pure principles\u2014whether by authority, precept or example\u2014 will have a greater weight in the formation of character than all the theory in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Emerson says: “The exercise of the Will, or the lesson of power, is taught in every event. From the child’s possession of his several senses up to the hour when he saith, ‘Thy will be done!’ he is learning the secret, that he can reduce under his Will, not only particular events, but great classes, nay the whole series of events, and so conform all facts to his character.\u201d William Wirt says: “The man who is perpetually hesitating which of two things he will do first, will do neither. The man who resolves, but suffers his resolution to be changed by the first counter-suggestion of a friend\u2014who fluctuates from opinion to opinion, from plan to plan, and veers like a weather-cock to every point of the compass, with every breath of caprice that blows\u2014can never accomplish anything real or useful. It is only the man who carries into his pursuits that great quality which Lucan ascribes to Caesar, nescia virtus state loco;\u2014who first consults wisely, then resolves firmly, and then executes his purpose with inflexible perseverance, undismayed by those petty difficulties which daunt a weaker spirit\u2014that man can advance to eminence in any line.\u201d Emerson said: “There can be no driving force, except through the conversion of the man into his Will, making him the Will, and the Will him.\u201d And again: “The lightning which explodes and fashions planets, maker of planets and suns is in him. On one side, elemental order, sandstone and granite, rock-ledges, peat-bog, forest, sea and shore; and, on the other part, thought, the spirit which composes and decomposes nature,\u2014here they are, side by side, god and devil, mind and matter, king and conspirator, belt and spasm, riding peacefully together in the eye and brain of man.\u201d Halleck says: “Persons of character always have well-cultivated Wills. Life’s duties are certain to involve doing disagreeable things, and this takes Will-Power. An unstable man can never be a person of character. Stability is founded upon Will. Stability demands the following of a definite, and often difficult, consistent line of conduct, the swerving neither to the right nor to the left.<\/p>\n The man who is honest or punctual or diligent by fits and starts will never occupy a high place among his fellow men, for they will soon see that he lacks character. The tremendous competition in life is felt less by men of character, for there are scarcely enough of these to fill positions that demand such men. Every avenue of life is thronged with these uncertain creatures, whose conduct and actions are a mere reflection of their surroundings. Such persons waste time in drinking, card-playing, or some other form of dissipation. It was announced during the late financial depression, that a certain man had failed. ‘No, that is impossible,’ said the president of a large corporation; ‘his character and will-power are worth a million dollars, and I shall gladly employ him if he will come to me.’ Again, character demands that any desirable line of ideas should be kept before the mind until they dominate it. A person can have individuality only along some given line, which implies long continued study and much mental concentration. The self is a bundle of such mental states as persist, and recur again and again. Where there is no capacity for continuous, and continually recurring, mental states, there can be no individuality, no persistent self, no fixed character. Rattle-brained persons, gossips, and other fickle creatures cannot be properly said to have any individual self. Nor will anyone acquire individuality by now studying a little mathematics, or astronomy, or geology, now skimming over a few selections of English or French literature, now beginning the study of German or drawing, but stopping the moment it becomes hard, the moment it begins to build up real individuality.<\/p>\n It is the function of a well-trained will to adhere to a given line of conduct or ideas, until they have become an integral part of the self. Only those ideas which are so absorbed become valuable elements of the character. We are coins, the metal of which has been dug from the mines of our inborn intellectual and moral faculties by Will-Power. If we properly work these mines, we may find metal enough in us to justify a stamp of very high value. On the other hand, though there is much unmined metal beneath the surface, we often form a character marked with a penny stamp. It may be true that circumstances stamp us to a certain extent, but it is also true that the way in which we use them stamps us indelibly.\u201d Let us now proceed to a consideration of the methods whereby one may develop the mechanism of the mind so as to allow the current of the Will to flow freely through it, as the electric current flows along the wires overhead, and is taken up and applied through the trolley-pole and then the electrical mechanism of the car\u2014always under the control of the man who drives the car. Men are giants in embryo. By the application of the proper methods they may awaken the dormant energies and latent forces, and thus make of themselves what they Will.<\/p>\n Chapter XIV. – Phases of Will Development.<\/strong><\/p>\n In considering the subject of the Development of the Will, particularly in the phase of the selection of appropriate methods for the purpose of strengthening and exercising the Will-Power, we must first analyze the various stages or phases of the actual operation of the Will. By understanding the various processes concerned and operative in every complete act of the Will, we may select and intelligently apply the appropriate methods instead of attempting unnaturally to force the Will processes by some psychological hot-house process.<\/p>\n We find that there are five successive steps or stages manifested in every complete and completed act of Will. These steps are as follows:<\/p>\n In any scientific plan or general method of Will-Development, all of these various stages or phases of the manifestation of the Will must be considered and taken into account in the detailed methods to be applied. If any one of these stages is ignored, the entire general plan will be weakened, for “a chain is no stronger than its weakest link;\u201d and if the method be defective or lacking in strength in any of the stages mentioned, it follows that the entire method must lack strength and perfection. The average student of Will-Development is apt to be impatient when he is asked to develop and perfect himself in all the various stages of the Will. He seeks to begin with Volition and Action, and chafes at the preliminary stages. But we assure him that these first steps are necessary\u2014and so far as volition is concerned he will have full opportunity to manifest it in mastering these preliminary stages. For in the mastery of the first steps of Will-Development, there is called for a manifestation of a strong Will in holding the mind down to its task, and in enforcing the application of firm control over the rebellious faculties. It is true, although apparently paradoxical, that in acquiring Will Power one must use Will Power. To him who hath shall be given. By Will, Will is developed.<\/p>\n The first stage of Will\u2014that of perception\u2014is a most important one, and upon its strength and general range depend much of the later activity of the Will. The world of action depends upon the perception of the outside world of the senses. Before one acts he must desire; and before he can desire, he must be aware of the things to desire; and before he may so become aware, he must use perception. The men of action and manifestation of volition are men who know what they want, because they have used their perceptive faculties to good effect. They know the outside world, because they have perceived it. Therefore all methods of Will-Development must begin with a consideration of the development of the perception. The subject of Memory is closely connected with this phase of perception, for as we have seen, the attention is frequently aroused by the memory of previous impressions from the outside world. But we shall not enter into the subject of memory in this volume, for we have considered it in detail in another volume of this series which is devoted exclusively to the subject\u2014Memory.<\/p>\n The second stage of Will activity\u2014the emotive phase\u2014is a very important one, and one which requires much thought on the part of the student of Will-Development. The emotions and feelings must be trained and ruled\u2014developed or restrained, as the case may be\u2014in order that the motive power of this part of the mind may be applied to the best effect.<\/p>\n
\nChapter I What is the Will?
\nChapter II Desire-Will.
\nChapter Ill Decisive-Will.
\nChapter IV. Action-Will.
\nChapter V. The Ultimate Will.<\/p>\n
\nChapter Vl Will Power.
\nChapter Vll The Resolute Will.
\nChapter Vl 11 The Persistent Will.
\nChapter IX Will vs. Circumstance.
\nChapter X Will in Personality.
\nChapter Xl Will and Health.
\nChapter Xll The Subconscious Will.<\/p>\n
\nChapter XIII Will Development.
\nChapter XIV. Phases of Will Development.
\nChapter XV. How to Develop Perception.
\nChapter XVI How to Control the Emotions.
\nChapter XVII How to Develop the Imagination.
\nChapter XVIII How to Develop Decision.
\nChapter XIX How to Develop Volition.
\nChapter XX The Marks of the Negative Will.<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\nWhat is called Resolution, or Determination is a prominent characteristic of the Positive Will. This quality is clearly expressed in the word, “Resolute,\u201d which means: “Having a fixed, unalterable purpose; determined; firm; constant; absolute direction to a certain end.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nHe rises in my breast,
\nSerene and resolute and still,
\nAnd calm and self-possessed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nCan circumvent, or hinder, or control
\nThe firm resolve of a determined soul.
\nGifts count for nothing. Will alone is great;
\nAll things give way before it soon or late.
\nWhat obstacle can stay the mighty force
\nOf the sea-seeking river in its course,
\nOr cause the ascending orb of day to wait?<\/p>\n
\nLet the fools prate of luck.
\nThe fortunate Is he whose earnest purpose never swerves,
\nWhose slightest action, or inaction
\nServes the one great aim.
\nWhy, even Death itself
\nStands still and waits an hour sometimes
\nFor such a Will.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe marriage guest stood still,
\nAnd listens like a three-year child;
\nThe mariner hath his Will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n