because the Will is focused upon the object. The mind flows
into the mould made by the Will. The above exercises are designed not
only to accustom the mind to the obedience and direction of the Will, but
also tend to accustom the Will to command. We speak of strengthening the
Will, when what we really mean is training the mind to obey, and
accustoming the Will to command. Our Will is strong enough, but we do not
realize it. The Will takes root in the very center of our being--in the
"I," but our imperfectly developed mind does not recognize this tact.
We are like young elephants that do not recognize their own strength, but
allow themselves to be mastered by puny drivers, whom they could brush
aside with a movement. The Will is back of all action--all doing--mental
and physical.
We shall have much to say touching the Will, in these lessons and the
student should give the matter his careful attention. Let him look around
him, and he will see that the great difference between the men who have
stepped forward from the ranks, and those who remain huddled up in the
crowd, consists in Determination and Will. As Buxton has well said:
"The longer I live, the more certain I am that the great difference
between men, the feeble and the powerful; the great and the
insignificant; is Energy and Invincible Determination." And he might have
added that the thing behind that "energy and invincible determination"
was Will.
The writers and thinkers of all ages have recognized the wonderful and
transcendent importance of the Will. Tennyson sings: "O living Will thou
shalt endure when all that seems shall suffer shock." Oliver Wendell
Holmes says: "The seat of the Will seems to vary with the organ through
which it is manifested; to transport itself to different parts of the
brain, as we may wish to recall a picture, a phrase, a melody; to throw
its force on the muscles or the intellectual processes. Like the
general-in-chief, its place is everywhere in the field of action. It is
the least like an instrument of any of our faculties; the farthest
removed from our conceptions of mechanism and matter, as we commonly
define them." Holmes was correct in his idea, but faulty in his details.
The Will does not change its seat, which is always in the center of the
Ego, but the Will forces the mind to all parts, and in all directions,
and it directs the _Prana_ or vital force likewise. The Will is indeed
the general-in-chief, but it does not rush to
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