SIGNIFICANCE OF INVOLUTION 145 



ideas, and images arise. All such associations have 

 their genesis in an emotional state. If the resulting 

 attention arises entirely from an emotion it is said to 

 be spontaneous or involuntary and is quite out of the 

 individual's control; on the other hand, it is volun- 

 tary and hence controllable to the degree that it is 

 a matter of training and will. The mind possessed 

 of the power only of involuntary attention is a slave 

 to external conditions an object officially strong 

 to attract, a disagreeable element in work or study, 

 and its loyalty is shifted! That individual alone is 

 master of his life who is able to exercise will in the 

 directing of his attention and of his love. 



The attitude of voluntary attention is of its very 

 nature a laborious one ; it has to suppress useless ele- 

 ments, expel intrusive ones, and exert a sustained ef- 

 fort in holding to a definite line of thought. Its 

 work of direction is to choose the appropriate states 

 and maintain them within consciousness. This work 

 it can accomplish only through inhibition, which 

 means a going-against its natural impulses. Hence 

 for the majority of persons it is an impossible task 

 to control the attention, a contingent achievement 

 for all. What wonder, then, that so many fail to 

 realise love ! 



Fortune-telling in all matters, and particularly 

 those of the heart, were best done in the psycholog- 

 ical laboratory. " Would you know, fair maid, if 

 your love be true? Have him tested as to what sort 



