Desire to throw work aside and go for a tramp on this gorgeous day.

Emotion, restrained by stronger emotion of interest in work at hand, and
_intellect_, which tells me that this is a work hour--and _will_, which
orders me to pay attention to duties at hand.

So all the phenomena of mental life are included in feelings, thoughts,
and volitions which accompany every minute of my waking life, and
probably invade secretly every second of my sleeping life.

The conditions of mental life--what are they?

1. In man and the higher animals the central nervous system, which,
anatomy teaches us, consists of the brain and spinal cord. (In the
lowest forms of animal life, a diffused nervous system located
throughout the protoplasm.)

2. An external world.

3. A peripheral nervous system connecting the central nervous system
with the outside world.

4. The sympathetic nervous system, provided to assure automatic workings
of the vital functions of the body. These organs of the mind will be
discussed in a later chapter.

CHAPTER II

CONSCIOUSNESS

We took a glimpse at random into the mental life of an adult
consciousness, and found it very complicated, constantly changing. We
found it packed with shifting material, which, on the surface, seemed to
bear very little relation. We found reason, feeling, and will all
interacting. We found nothing to indicate that a consciousness as simple
as mere _awareness_ might exist. We believe there might be such in the
newborn babe, perhaps even in the baby a month old; but can we prove it?
Let us look within again and see if there are not times of mere, bare
consciousness in our own experience that give us the proof we need.

I have slept deeply all night. It is my usual waking time. Something
from within or from without forces an impression upon my mind, and I
stir, and slowly open my eyes. As yet I have really not seen anything.
With my eyes open my mind still sleeps--but in a few seconds comes a
possessing sense of well-being. Obeying some stimulus, not recognized by
the senses as yet, I begin to stretch and yawn, then close my eyes and
settle down into my pillows as for another nap. I am not aware that I
am I, that I am awake, that I have yawned and stretched. I have a
pleasant, half-dreamy feeling, but could not give it a name. For those
few seconds this is all my world--a pleasant drowsiness, a being
possessed by comfort. My consciousness is mere awareness--a pleasant