These Limitations the Conditions of Freedom.—Yet there is nothing in this
thought to discourage us. For these very limitations have in them our hope of a
larger freedom. Man's heredity, coming to him through ages of conflict with the
forces of nature, with his brother man, and with himself, has deeply instilled in
him the spirit of independence and self-control. It has trained him to deliberate,
to choose, to achieve. It has developed in him the power to will. Likewise man's
environment, in which he must live and work, furnishes the problems which his
life work is to solve, and out of whose solution will receives its only true
development.
It is through the action and interaction of these two factors, then, that man is to
work out his destiny. What he is, coupled with what he may do, leads him to
what he may become. Every man possesses in some degree a spark of divinity, a
sovereign individuality, a power of independent initiative. This is all he needs to
make him free—free to do his best in whatever walk of life he finds himself. If
he will but do this, the doing of it will lead him into a constantly growing
freedom, and he can voice the cry of every earnest heart:
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul!
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
7. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION
- Give illustrations from your own experience of the various types of action
mentioned in this discussion. From your own experience of the last hour, what
examples of impulsive action can you give? Would it have been better in some
cases had you stopped to deliberate? - Are you easily influenced by prejudice or personal preference in making
decisions? What recent decisions have been thus affected? Can you classify the
various ones of your decisions which you can recall under the four types
mentioned in the text? Under which class does the largest number fall? Have you
a tendency to drift with the crowd? Are you independent in deciding upon and
following out a line of action? What is the value of advice? Ought advice to do