CHAPTER VIII 



VOLITION 



IF we examine the processes by which we form 

 resolutions, or " make up our minds," we shall 

 find that it is only in a small proportion of cases 

 that we can claim to have acted spontaneously, 

 or by the exercise of free will. Our conclusions 

 are generally suggested to us by habit, by im- 

 pulses which we do not control, or by the people 

 around us. Thus, when I awake in the morning, 

 I am sensible of a struggle between a desire to 

 remain in bed and a desire to get up. I make up 

 my mind to get up, and do so. But in reality my 

 mind was made up for me by habit : I rise because 

 it is the usual hour for rising. I prove that this 

 is so by rising about the same hour every morning 

 a consistency of behaviour which could never 

 be expected did I exercise every morning an 

 unfettered spontaneity. On the other hand, at 

 times I appear to act entirely of my own accord, 

 and untrammelled by habit. I may suddenly 

 determine to rise an hour earlier than usual on 

 Midsummer Day, to take a stroll before breakfast. 

 We may then class our resolutions as of two 

 kinds suggested (or imitative) and original. I 

 may invest money in oil shares because I am 

 infected with the excitement of a " boom " in 

 oil : in this case my decision has been suggested 

 to me. Or I may invest after carefully examining 

 market reports, and comparing the prospects of 



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