THE WILL AND THE WAY 



drawal of the bodily inertia that is often one of its worst 

 opponents. 



A disciplined mind can reside only in a disciplined 

 body. And discipline is difficult. The body tends to 

 seek the line of least resistance. This is seldom the line 

 of progress, but rather of degeneration, of recurrence to a 

 primitive type or condition. Body and mind must be 

 trained to seek the right lines of action, and only when 

 these right lines have become in any individual case 

 the lines of least resistance the easiest action now co- 

 inciding with the best has culture been attained. 



Most people, as I have said before, go a lifetime 

 without ever learning properly how to arise in the morn- 

 ing, though they practise rising every morning of their 

 lives. Habits of sleeping should be such that when 

 the organism has had required rest it cannot without 

 effort recline longer. Arising in the morning should be 

 the easiest and most spontaneous of habits. One 

 should find himself spontaneously standing by the bed- 

 side, almost coincidently with the return of conscious- 

 ness. Emanuel Kant arose at precisely the same 

 minute each day for thirty years. But most people 

 either drowse away the best hours of their lives in bed, 

 or else drag themselves out with ever recurring difficulty. 

 And their day but repeats the experience of the morn- 

 ing. 



We should be driven automatically to our work at a 

 given hour, instead of taking it up grudgingly and in- 

 termittently. And this should apply to mental work 

 as well as physical. Most successful artists and authors 

 even, learn this lesson finally, and, instead of waiting 



