NewThoughtLibrary.com / DivineLibrary.org

conditions of action seems to us impossible. Indeed only the breaking in of an earthquake-power is able to alter and redirect the channels in which the activities of the soul are flowing.

If, however, we look at long periods, we see that there is a supreme control of the will over character. Single changes that in the outset are alien to the general movement prepare the way for others. New thoughts give rise to new feelings, and these slowly displace the old; the activity induced in fresh pursuits establishes and strengthens the will, and sets gradually at work varied reflex forces, giving different external and internal 'conditions, new feelings, motives and rewards of effort. At length, the mind accepts spontaneously the changed form of life, and a complete transformation is achieved. There is a momentum in mind which prevents its movements from becoming wayward and fitful, and yet there is present a force which can slowly and certainly bend them in any direction it chooses.

"There are a thousand microscopic motives," says Mallock, "too small for us to be actively conscious of, which according to how they settle on us, will really decide the question."' * This is true only when we leave ourselves to the drift of life. Nothing is provided for, circumstances accumulate, push toward one issue, and make every other issue increasingly difficult. A firm and comprehensive purpose anticipates such results, evading them before they are reached. If to such a purpose we add active, broad and candid judgment, pouring into the mind new light, new incentives, and the suggestions of new methods, we have the conditions of a character ripening in strength and in self-guidance. The key of the movement lies in apt and growing knowledge, bringing to the mind fresh terms of activity, and putting a sober will constantly at the helm.

* Is Life Worth Living, p. 259.