IN THE REALM OF MIND. 3II 



There is nothing of which it is so difficult to 

 persuade ourselves as of this. In the apprehen- 

 sion of Consciousness the sense of Will is so 

 strong within us, that it blinds us to the insuper- 

 able conditions which limit both what we will 

 and what we do. That our Wills, of whose free- 

 dom we are conscious, should often be determined 

 by influences of which we have no conscious- 

 ness at all; that our opinions should as often be 

 the result of causes and not of reasons ; that our 

 actions should follow a course marked out by con- 

 ditions which we fail to recognise as having any 

 determining effect upon them — these are conclu- 

 sions against which we are apt to rebel — as de- 

 priving us of a part of our free and intelligent 

 agency. Hence the indignation with which men 

 resent being told that they have been impelled by 

 motives other than the motives which are avowed, 

 and other than the motives which are consciously 

 entertained. Yet the fact of their being so im- 

 pelled is often perfectly plain to those around them. 

 The reply, however, is always ready : " You seem 

 to know my motives, and the causes of my con- 

 duct better than I know them myself," — as if 



