140 Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path
characterological disposition. The way in which concepts
and mental pictures work upon someone’s characterolog-
ical disposition gives that person’s life a specific moral or
ethical stamp.
Our characterological disposition is shaped by the
more-or-less lasting content of our subjective life—in
other words by the content of our mental pictures and
feelings. Whether or not a mental picture currently aris-
ing within me stimulates my willing depends on how it
relates itself to the rest of my mental pictures, as well as
to my idiosyncracies of feeling. My store of mental pic-
tures is determined, in turn, by the sum of concepts that
have come into contact with percepts in the course of my
individual life, that is, by the concepts that have become
mental pictures. These, again, depend on my greater or
lesser capacity for intuition and on the range of my obser-
vations—that is, on the subjective and objective factors
of my experiences, on my inner character, and on my life-
setting. My feeling life is especially important in deter-
mining my characterological disposition. Whether or not
I make a particular mental picture or concept a motive for
action depends upon whether it gives me joy or pain.
These are the elements to be considered in an act of
will. The immediate mental picture or concept becomes
a motive and determines the goal or purpose of my will-
ing; my characterological disposition determines wheth-
er or not I will direct my activity toward that goal. The
mental picture of taking a walk during the next half hour
determines the goal of my activity. This mental picture,
however, is elevated into a motive of willing only if it
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