UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



than we are, and which works over us and through 

 us. In another sense we are absolutely free, because 

 that nature is vital within us and is the pith and 

 marrow of our own wills. We cannot separate our- 

 selves from the world of forces that surround us, and 

 set up on our own account as independent centres of 

 energy, but what we call our wills give us power in 

 a measure to direct and modify the very nature of 

 which we form a part. 



Nature works us cunningly as a machine is worked 

 by external forces, and yet we know it not. How 

 sure we are, for instance, that we draw the air into 

 our lungs when we breathe, as literally as we put 

 the food into our mouths ! The universal mechanical 

 principle involved, in other words, the involuntary 

 nature of our breathing, we never suspect. Can we 

 not breathe fast or slow, deeply or superficially, 

 practice abdominal breathing or chest breathing, or 

 even inhibit breathing for a minute or more? How 

 free the act seems to be, and yet the chest is a 

 bellows over which our wills have but slight control. 

 Our freedom in breathing, as in many other acts, is 

 freedom inside of a stern necessity. We are free 

 inside of the iron circle of fate; or, to use a still 

 better image, we are free to move inside the ship, or 

 on the train that is carrying us along. We are free 

 to obey our natures, our spontaneous promptings, 

 but all these things are rings of fate around us. 

 They bear us along, but we can move a little in 



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