UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



affair than the air, yet it cannot transcend its own 

 limitations. You and I are free to act according to 

 our natures, modified by our training and by the 

 times in which we live. This modification is not 

 voluntary, at least only in part. Our times, our 

 environment, our proclivities, shape us insensibly 

 and involuntarily. How, then, is the will free? 



A scientific analysis shows that it is not free 

 when looked at objectively, but free when looked 

 at subjectively. We do not ordinarily feel the bonds 

 of our own natures. In the moral order we are 

 free; we are unconscious of restraint or control. 

 In our own thought we seem to do what we like, 

 though what we like has been determined by forces 

 or conditions far older than we are. What we like 

 and dislike are inherent in our own natures, and 

 with our own natures our mental and spiritual 

 constitutions we have had little to do. With our 

 physical natures likewise we have had little to do, 

 and how closely our mental and spiritual make-ups 

 are dependent upon the physical, we are coming 

 more and more to realize. 



We like a fine day because we thrive best on a 

 fine day, but all fine days would grow monotonous, 

 and we should sigh for cloud and storm. We like 

 kindness, gentleness, good nature, a cheerful spirit, 

 because these things are conducive to our well-being. 

 We prefer truth to falsehood, because our nature 

 demands it. 



152 



