tortures himself in his sober moments with remorse and the thought that he was
intended for better things, but who, waking from his meditations, goes on in the
same old way. It may be the child undergoing punishment, who is to be released
from bondage as soon as he will promise to be good, but who cannot bring
himself to say the necessary words. It not only may be, but is, man or woman
anywhere who has ideals which are known to be worthy and noble, but which
fail to take hold. It is anyone who is following a course of action which he
knows is beneath him.
No one can doubt that the moral tragedies, the failures and the shipwrecks in life
come far more from the breaking of the bonds which should bind right ideals to
action than from a failure to perceive the truth. Men differ far more in their
deeds than in their standards of action.
The remedy for this diseased type of will is much easier to prescribe than to
apply. It is simply to refuse to attend to the contrary thoughts which are blocking
action, and to cultivate and encourage those which lead to action of the right
kind. It is seeking to vitalize our good impulses and render them effective by
acting on them whenever opportunity offers. Nothing can be accomplished by
moodily dwelling on the disgrace of harboring the obstructing ideas. Thus
brooding over them only encourages them. What we need is to get entirely away
from the line of thought in which we have met our obstruction, and approach the
matter from a different direction. The child who is in a fit of sulks does not so
much need a lecture on the disagreeable habit he is forming as to have his
thoughts led into lines not connected with the grievance which is causing him
the trouble. The stubborn child does not need to have his will "broken," but
rather to have it strengthened. He may be compelled to do what he does not want
to do; but if this is accomplished through physical force instead of by leading to
thoughts connected with the performance of the act, it may be doubted whether
the will has in any degree been strengthened. Indeed it may rather be depended
upon that the will has been weakened; for an opportunity for self-control,
through which alone the will develops, has been lost. The ultimate remedy for
rebellion often lies in greater freedom at the proper time. This does not mean
that the child should not obey rightful authority promptly and explicitly, but that
just as little external authority as possible should intervene to take from the child
the opportunity for self-compulsion.
The Normal Will.—The golden mean between these two abnormal types of will
may be called the normal or balanced will. Here there is a proper ratio between
impulsion and inhibition. Ideas are not acted upon the instant they enter the mind