Part 21 (1/2)

3 STRONG AND WEAK WILLS

Many persons will adination or power of perception is not good, but feill confess to a ill Strength of will is everywhere lauded as a mark of worth and character How can we tell whether our will is strong or weak?

NOT A WILL, BUT WILLS--First of all we need to remember that, just as we do not have a memory, but a system of memories, so we do not possess a will, but many different wills By this I mean that the will must be called upon and tested at every point of contact in experience before we have fully th Our will may have served us reasonably well so far, but we reat number of hard tests because our experience and teet to take into account both the negative and the positive functions of the will Many there are who think of the will chiefly in its negative use, as a kind of a check or barrier to save us _fros That this is an important function cannot be denied But the positive is the higher function There are many men and woood They are good enough, but not good for much They lack the power of effort and self-coh standards and stern endeavor necessary to save them from inferiority or mediocrity It is alreatest test of their will poill be in the positive instead of the negative direction

OBJECTIVE TESTS A FALSE MEASURE OF WILL POWER--The actual a a decision cannot be measured by objective results The fact that you follow the pathway of duty, while I falter and finally drift into the byways of pleasure, is not certain evidence that you have put forth the greater power of will In the first place, the allurements which led me astray may have had no charms for you

Further the pathway of duty when the two paths opened before you, that your well-trained feet unerringly led you into the narroithout a struggle Of course you are on safer ground than I, and on ground that we should all seek to attain But, nevertheless, I, although I fell when I should have stood,a power of resistance of which you, under similar temptation, would have been incapable The only point froed is that of the soul which is engaged in the struggle

4 VOLITIONAL TYPES

Several fairly well-marked volitional types may be discovered It is, of course, to be understood that these types all grade by insensible degrees into each other, and that extreme types are the exception rather than the rule

THE IMPULSIVE TYPE--The _ianishly unstable equilibriuht current serves to set off the motor centers Action follows before there is ti it in mental ter one has opportunity to enter the ely or wholly ideo-htly or not at all deliberate_ It is this type of hich results in the hasty word or deed, or the rash act committed on the impulse of the moment and repented of at leisure; which compels the frequent, ”I didn't think, or I would not have done it!” The impulsive person may undoubtedly have credited up to him many kind words and noble deeds In addition, he usually carries with hioes far to atone for his faults The fact remains, however, that he is too little the ely by external circumstances or inward caprice He lacks balance

Impulsive action is not to be confused with quick decision and rapid action Many of the world's greatest and safest leaders have been noted for quickness of decision and for rapidity of action in carrying out their decisions Itdecisions in fields well known to them They were specialists in this line of deliberation The ainst certain lines of action had often been dwelt upon All possible contingencies had been ied many times over, and a valuation placed upon the different decisions The various concepts had long been associated with certain definite lines of action Deliberation under such conditions can be carried on with lightning rapidity, eachchecked off as worth so much the instant it presents itself, and action can follow iovern the decision This is not iest to us that we should think much and carefully over matters in which we are required to make quick decisions

Of course the remedy for the over-impulsive type is to cultivate deliberative action When the iive the other side of the question an opportunity to be heard Check the est action until you have reviewed the field to see whether there are contrary reasons to be taken into account For ”Think twice” before you act

THE OBSTRUCTED WILL--The opposite of the impulsive type of will is the _obstructed_ or _balky_ will In this type there is too es which should result in action are checkh as s h what he should do, but he cannot get started He ”cannot get the consent of his will” It hts of co failure in recitation or examination, but who yet cannot force himself to the exertion necessary safely to meet the ordeal It may be the dissolute man who tortures hiht that he was intended for better things, but aking frooes on in the sa punishe as soon as he will pro himself to say the necessary words It not only may be, but is, man or woman anywhere who has ideals which are known to be worthy and noble, but which fail to take hold It is anyone who is following a course of action which he knows is beneath hiedies, the failures and the shi+pwrecks in life co of the bonds which should bind right ideals to action than from a failure to perceive the truth Men differ far more in their deeds than in their standards of action

The remedy for this diseased type of will is much easier to prescribe than to apply It is sihts which are blocking action, and to cultivate and encourage those which lead to action of the right kind It is seeking to vitalize our good i on the can be acco the obstructing ideas Thus brooding over theet entirely away froht in which we have met our obstruction, and approach the matter from a different direction The child who is in a fit of sulks does not soas to have his thoughts led into lines not connected with the grievance which is causing him the trouble The stubborn child does not need to have his will ”broken,” but rather to have it strengthened He may be compelled to do what he does not want to do; but if this is accohts connected with the performance of the act, it thened Indeed it may rather be depended upon that the will has been weakened; for an opportunity for self-control, through which alone the will develops, has been lost The ultireater freedom at the proper tihtful authority promptly and explicitly, but that just as little external authority as possible should intervene to take from the child the opportunity for _self_-coolden mean between these two abnormal types of will may be called the _normal_ or _balanced_ will Here there is a proper ratio between impulsion and inhibition Ideas are not acted upon the instant they enter thetime for a survey of the field of motives, neither is action ”sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought” to such an extent that it becomes impossible The evidence is all considered and each hed But this once done, decision follows No dilatory and obstructive tactics are allowed The fleeting ih to persuade to action, neither is action unduly delayed after the decision is made

5 TRAINING THE WILL

The will is to be trained as we train the other powers of the h the exercise of its normal function The function of the will is to direct or control in the actual affairs of life Many well- the will as if we could separate it fro, and in so to its general strength This view is all wrong There is, as we have seen, no such thing as _general_ power of will Will is always required in specific acts and eencies, and it is precisely upon such matters that it must be exercised if it is to be cultivated

WILL TO BE TRAINED IN COMMON ROUND OF DUTIES--What is needed in developing the will is a deep h purpose to do it up to the limit of our powers Without this, any artificial exercises, no matter how carefully they are devised or how heroically they are carried out, cannot but fail to fit us for the real tests of life; with it, artificial exercises are superfluous

It matters not so much what our vocation as how it is performed The most comhest for us into right lines of action, and of holding us to our best in the accomplishment of some dominant purpose

There is no one set form of exercise which alone will serve to train the will The student pushi+ng steadily toward his goal in spite of poverty and grinding labor; the teacher who, though unappreciated and poorly paid, yet perforhness; the man who stands firm in the face of temptation; the person whom heredity or circueously fights his battle; the countless men and women everywhere whose names are not known to fa the heat and the toil with brave, unflinching hearts--these are the ones who are developing a th of hich will stand in the day of stress Better a thousand ti as this in the thick of life's real conflicts than any volitional calisthenics or priggish self-denials entered into solely for the training of the will!

SCHOOL WORK AND WILL TRAINING--The work of the school offers as good an opportunity for training powers of will as ofOn the side of inhibition there is always the necessity for self-restraint and control so that the rights of others ed upon

Temptations to unfairness or insincerity in lessons and examinations are always to be met The social relations of the school necessitate the development of personal poise and independence

On the positive side the opportunities for the exercise of will power are always at hand in the school Every lesson gives the pupil a chance to ainst the resistance of the task High standards are to be built up, ideals reat probleanize both control and instruction that the largest possible opportunity is given to pupils for the exercise of their oers of will in all school relations

6 FREEDOM OF THE WILL, OR THE EXTENT OF ITS CONTROL

We have seen in this discussion that will is a h our thoughts, of our actions Will may be looked upon, then, as the culent within us Beginning with the direction of the sioverns the current of our life in the pursuit of some distant ideal