Part 14 (2/2)

The social structure is founded upon the fact that e limits on which the economic equilibrium of a people is constructed The social relations which are the basis of the reproduction of the species are founded upon the continuous union of parents in e The family and productive work: these are the two pivots of society; they rest upon the greatest volitive quality: constancy, or persistence

This quality is really the exponent of the uninterrupted concord of the inner personality Without it, a life would be a series of episodes, a chaos; it would be like a body disintegrated into its cells, rather than an organishout the mutations of its own material This fundamental quality, when it embraces the sentiment of the individual and the direction of his ideation, that is to say, his whole personality, is e have called _character_ The man of character is the persistent man, the man who is faithful to his oord, his own convictions, his own affections

Now the sum of these various manifestations of constancy has an exponent of ienerate, even before he gave way to criminal impulse, before he betrayed the inconstancy of his affections, before he broke his word, before he made havoc of all the convictions that ennoble the soul of rated: this was laziness, incapacity to persist in work

Directly an honest and well-behaved ins to suffer from brain-disease, before he shows any violent ins of deliriuer apply hiht that a girl will ood hen she is industrious, and a ood prospects to the girl who is to be his wife, when he is a good workoodness_ is not a matter of ability; it implies steadiness, perseverance For instance, a pseudo-artist of great skill in producing s the will to work, would not be considered a good match Every one knows that he is not only incapable of econoerous character, that he ht become a bad husband, a bad father, a bad citizen On the other hand, the humblest artisan orks”

undoubtedly contains within himself all the elements which make for happiness and security in life This unquestionably was the reat Roman encomium: ”She stayed indoors and spun the wool,” that is to say, she was a woman of character, a worthy companion for the conquerors of the world

Now the little child who manifests perseverance in his work as the first constructive act of his psychical life, and upon this act builds up internal order, equilibriurowth of personality, demonstrates, almost as in a splendid revelation, the true manner in which man renders himself valuable to the community The little child who persists in his exercises, concentrated and absorbed, is obviously elaborating the constant man, the man of character, thethat unique fundamental manifestation: persistence in work Whatever task the child may choose it will be all the same, provided he persists in it For what is valuable is not the work itself, but the work as a means for the construction of the psychic man

He who interrupts the children in their occupations in order to ; he who makes theraphy and the like, thinking it is important to direct their culture, confuses the means with the end and destroys the man for a vanity That which it is necessary to direct is not the culture of man, but the man himself

If persistence be the true foundation of the will, we nevertheless recognize _decision_ as the act of the will _par excellence_ In order to accomplish any conscious act whatever, it is necessary that we should decide Now a _decision_ is always the result of a _choice_ If we have several hats, we o out; it may not in the least ray, but we must choose one of them For such a choice we ray or the brown; but finally one of the motives will prevail and the choice will beout will facilitate our choice; we are alled within us It is the question of a e as to which hat will be suitable for theor the afternoon, for the theater or for sport, saves us from any mental conflict

But this will not be the case if, for instance, we are about to spend a certain su the various objects from which it will be possible to choose? If we have no very definite knowledge of the things, our taskartistic, but we do not know much about art, and we fear to be deceived and so to cut a sorry figure; we know not what is customary and have no idea whether a piece of lace or a silver boould be suitable We then feel the need of sohten us as to all these unknown details, and we go to ask advice It does not, however, follow that we shall take the advice we receive To tell the truth, the advice was to deal with our ignorance; we required an aid to knowledge rather than an incite which we jealously reserve for ourselves, and is a very different e indispensable to a decision The choice which we make after the advice of one or more persons will bear our own io_

The choice which the uests is of the sae of the subject, and good taste, and the decision will be made with pleasure and without any extraneous aid

But who does not know that in every case this enuine effort; so much so that persons of feeble will try to avoid it, as a thing irksome to them If possible, the mistress of the house will leave the decisions to the cook, and to a dressuments necessary to make one of the own prevail over the rest; the dress hesitation, will say at a certain moment: Choose this which suits you so well, and the lady will agree, arment pleases her Our entire life is a continual exercise of decisions When we go out of the house after having locked the door, we have a clear consciousness of this act, a certainty that the house is well protected, and we _decide_ to step out and walk away froer we are in such exercises, the more independent we shall be of others Clarity of ideas, the ive us a sense of liberty The heaviest chain, whichform of slavery, is an incapacity to make our own decisions, and the consequent need to refer to others; the fear ofin the dark, of having to bear the consequences of an error we are not certain to recognize,on a chain Finally, we shall fall into an extreer be able to despatch a letter or buy a pocket-handkerchief without asking advice

But when an actual conflict arises in such a consciousness, and the decision has to be instantaneous, irresolution is the portion of one whose weakness has placed hier will, and then we behold a subjection which has almost imperceptibly become an incubus: the victim has taken the first step towards an abyss where the feeble in will run the risk of perdition Thus theare placed in subjection, without power to exercise their oills, the more easily do they fall a prey to the perils of which the world is full

That which gives strength to resist is not the _moral vision_, it is the _exercise of will-power_; and this exercise is to be found in the routine of life itself The mother of a family, much occupied in her mission of domestic work, and accusto to the daily round, is ain the victory in the event of moral conflict than a childless wo atmosphere of domestic idleness, and has accustomed herself to accept her husband's will as her own Yet both of these woht have the saht make herself conversant with business and carry on the undertaking ed by her husband; but the second in like circue, and would run every risk of disaster To ensure moral salvation, it is primarily necessary to _depend_ on oneself, because in the th is not to be acquired instantaneously He who knows that he will have to fight, prepares hith and skill; he does not sit still with folded hands, because he knows that he will then either be lost or he will have to depend, like the shadow of a body, on sohout his life, which in practise is ile moment served to conquer us,

says Francesca, in Dante's _Inferno_

Temptation, if it is not to conquer, ainst another bo walls of an iinning at that distant day when the foundations were first laid

Persistent work, clarity of ideas, the habit of sifting conflicting motives in the consciousness, even in the minutest actions of life, decisions taken every radual master over one's actions, the power of self-direction increasing by degrees in the sum of successively repeated acts, these are the stout little stones on which the strong structure of personality is built up This may then be inhabited bythe embattled towers and moats of a medieval fortress that is in a perpetual state of defense, always under ar the ”lady,” the ”_chatelaine_” If to ”build up the house” which morality will inhabit, some mastery of the body is also necessary, such as abstinence from alcohol, which is the chief exa to weaken, and movement in the open air, which facilitatesus from the poisons which we ourselves manufacture and which weaken us, how much more essentialmeans of psychical recuperation?

Our little children are constructing their oills when, by a process of self-education, they put in ment, and in this wise make their intellectual acquisitions with order and clarity; this is a kind of ”knowledge” capable of preparing children to form their own decisions, and one which estions of others; they can then _decide_ in every act of their daily life; they decide to take or not to take; they decide to acco with movement; they decide to check every motor impulse when they desire silence The _constant work_ which builds up their personality is all set in motion by _decisions_; and this takes the place of the primitive state of _chaos_, in which, on the other hand, _actions_ were the outcoradually within theether with the darkness of the primitive mental confusion

Such a develop order and clarity to mature in the mind, we should seek to encumber it with chaotic ideas, or with stores of lessons learnt by heart, and then prevent children fro for the that ”a child ought not to have a will of his own,” and in teaching him that ”there is no such plant as 'I will'” Indeed, they prevent the infantine will fro Under such conditions children are conscious of a pohich inhibits all their actions; they beco without the help and consent of the person on whom they depend entirely ”What color are these cherries?” a lady once asked a child, who knew quite well that they were red But the tiht or wrong to answer, murmured: ”I will ask my teacher”

The volitive mechanism which prepares for decision is one of the most important mechanisms of the will; it is valuable in itself, and should be established and strengthened in itself Pathology illustrates it for us apart from the other factor of the will, and thus places it before our eyes as a pillar of the great vault which supports the human personality The so-called ”enerative forms of psychopathy, and soe the sufferer on irresistibly to the commission of immoral or harenuine, which is confined to the i a decision, and which produces a serious state of distress, though it induces no moral lapses, and may even arise from a moral scruple In a hospital for nervous disorders I once encountered a characteristic case of the ”mania of doubt” which had a o round to houses collecting refuse; he was seized with s lest some useful object should have accidentally fallen into the rubbish-baskets, and that he would be suspected of appropriating it Hereupon the unhappy o off with his load, cliain at all the doors, asking whether soht not perhaps have chanced to be in the baskets Going away after assurances to the contrary, he would return and knock again, and so on In vain he applied to the doctor for so his will We told hi of any value in the baskets, that he ht be quite easy on this point, and carry on his business without any preoccupations Then a gleam of hope shone in his eyes ”Iaway In a ain ”Then I may really be easy?” In vain we reassured him ”Yes, indeed, quite easy” His wife led him away, but from the e saw the le with her, and coitation Once more he appeared at the door to ask: ”I may be quite easy then?”

But how often noreroing out; he locks the door and shakes it; but when he has gone a few steps he is assailed by doubt: did he fasten the door? He knows that he did, he perfectly re shaken it, but an irresistible io back to see if the door is really fastened There are children who, before getting into bed at night, always look under it to see if there are any animals there--cats, for instance; they see there are none, and quite understand there are none Nevertheless, after a while they get out again ”to see if there is anything” These germs are carried about enclosed like tubercular bacilli in soanism is weak But the mischief is hidden and causes no uneasiness, just as the pallor of the face e

If we consider that the will must manifest itself in actions which the body must carry out effectively, we shall understand that a formative exercise is necessary to develop it by means of its mechanisms

There is a perfect parallel between the formation of the will and the coordination of ical structure, the striated muscles It is evident that exercise is necessary to establish precision in our movements We know that we cannot learn to dance without preliminary exercises, that we cannot play the piano without practising the movements of the hand; but prior to this, the fundamental coordination of movements, that is to say, ambulation and prehension, must have already been established froradual preparations are necessary to develop the will

In the purely physiological functions of the muscular apparatus, our voluntary muscles do not all act in the same manner, but rather in two opposite senses; some, for instance, serve to thrust the arm out from the body, others to draw it near; sohten the knee; they are, that is to say, ”antagonistic” in their action Every moveonistic muscles, in which now one, now the other prevails in a kind of collaboration by which the greatest diversity of raceful, elegant It is thus we are enabled to establish not only a noble attitude of the body, but a delightfulabout this intionistic forces, all that is necessary is exercise in movement True, we can _educate_ movement; but this only after the natural coordination has already taken place; then we can ”provoke” special ames, dances, etc, which movements must, however, be repeatedly executed by the performer himself in order to produce in him the possibility of new corace and agility, but also in those of strength, it is necessary that the performer himself should act repeatedly The will certainly comes into play here: the perfor, or to the arts of self-defense, to compete in matches, etc but in order to _will_ this it is necessary that he should have practised continually, thusready the apparatus on which the volitive act will finally depend, and to which it will issue its commands Movement is always voluntary, both when the first movements established by ”ned to produce fresh combinations of movements (skill) follow each other--as, in short, when the will acts like a coanized, disciplined, and highly skilled army Voluntary action, in respect of its ”powers,”