HUMAN FREEDOM 



sire a multitude of things, to work for 

 these and to enjoy their attainment. Sloth, 

 whether due to hookworm or any other 

 cause, is an impassable barrier to this free- 

 dom. But all experience shows that a 

 healthy and vigorous mind does have the 

 power to whip sluggish and jaded muscles 

 Into fresh effort, and that the quickening 

 of some interest or curiosity or hope or 

 fear may be an adequate excitation to 

 transform apathy into a frenzy of intense 

 mental and physical effort. A stump 

 speaker In a fervid political campaign may 

 mount the platform of his tenth speech 

 for the day in a daze of fatigue, but at 

 the end of five minutes he may be firing 

 his audience with his best oratorical per- 

 formance and answering the hecklers with 

 keenest repartee, only to collapse as soon 

 as off the stage. 



We cannot create these mental energies 

 out of nothing, for they are functions of 

 bodily organs,^ but we do have the power 

 by Intelligent choices so to direct our con- 

 duct that we place ourselves in receptive 

 attitudes toward the sources of mental 

 strength just as we can decide whether 



1 On the mechanisms of these vital reserves see 

 chapter xvii of my book, Brains of Rats and Men. 



[65] 



