124 FSYCHOLOOY. 



nations Avlieu Europeans come among tliem is due to their 

 despair of ever succeeding as tbe new-comers do in the 

 larger tasks of life. Old ways are broken and neAv ones 

 not formed. 



The question of ' tapering-off,' in abandoning such 

 habits as drink and opium-iudulgence, comes in here, and 

 is a question about Avliich experts differ within certain 

 limits, and in regard to what may be best for an individual 

 case. In the main, however, all exj^ert opinion would 

 agree that abrupt acquisition of the new habit is the best 

 way, 'f tlere he a real possibility of carrying it out. We 

 must be careful not to give the will so stift' a task as to in- 

 sure its defeat at the very outset ; bivt,^ provided one can 

 stand it, a sharp period of suffering, and then a free time, 

 is the best thing to aim at, whether in giving iip a habit 

 like that of opium, or in simjjly changing one's hours of 

 rising orjof w^ork. It is surprising how soon a desire will 

 die of inanition if it be never fed. 



'' One must first learn, unmoved, looking neither to the right nor 

 left, to walk firmly on the straight and narrow path, before one oan 

 begin 'to make one's self over again.' He who every day makes a 

 fresh resolve is like one who, arriving at the edge of the ditch he is to 

 leap, forever stops and returns for a fresh run. Without unbroken 

 advance there is no such thing as accumulation of the ethical forces 

 possible, and to make this possible, and to exercise us and habituate us 

 in it, is the sovereign blessing of regular work.'''' * 



A third maxim may be added to the preceding pair : 

 Seize the very first possible opportunity to act on every resolu- 

 tion you make, and on every emotioned prompting you may 

 experie7ice in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain. It 

 is n,dt in the moment of their forming, but in the moment 

 of their producing motor effects, that resolves and aspira- 

 tions communicate the new * set ' to the br ain. As the 

 author last quoted remarks : 



' ' The actual presence of the practical opportunity alone furnishes the 

 fulcrum upon which the lever can rest, by means of which the moral 

 will may multiply its strength, and raise itself aloft. He who has no 

 solid ground to press against will never get beyond the stage of empty 

 gesture-making. " 



* J. Bahnsen : ' Beitrage zu Charakterologle ' (1867), vol. i. p. 209. 



