EVOLUTION THE MASTER-KEY 



psychological title, I am discussing mere physi- 

 ology? 



Nor can one consider the human will without in- 

 vasion of or alliance with the theological camp. 

 Are we free? Is our consciousness of freedom an 

 illusion or not? And when we talk of free-will 

 do we all mean exactly the same thing? If not, 

 we are unlikely to make much headway with this 

 question or with others much less abstruse. You 

 may mean by the assertion of free-will that human 

 volition is uncaused or self-caused, or is, indeed, a 

 little First Cause, which may defy, an it please, the 

 great First Cause which some regard as omnipotent. 

 You mean that the will can give place to the less 

 cogent of two warring motives. What did Tenny- 

 son mean when he spoke of " power on thine own 

 act and on the world "? Many mean by free-will 

 not to assert that each human will is a little First 

 Cause, but simply that man can, if he will, fol- 

 low the dictates of his higher as against those of 

 his lower nature, when there is that war in one's 

 members which St. Paul described. Others mean 

 merely to assert that man is a rational animal ; yet 

 it is beyond question that no rational process or 

 concept can be in itself a motive language is 

 right : motive is always emotion. 



Nor is this by any means all. The human will is 

 not a merely academic topic; but, like those dis- 

 cussed in the first academy, bears vitally upon 

 practice. I shall shortly avow myself, for instance, 

 a determinist, along with perhaps the greatest of 

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