Against the necessary
distortions of such a method the reader must be on his guard.
II
In the total process of self-direction there are evidently two main
divisions,--a mental purpose must be formed, and then this purpose
must be sent forth into the outer world. It is there accepted by those
agencies of a physical sort which wait to do our bidding. The
formation of the mental purpose I will, for the sake of brevity, call
the intention, and to the sending of it forth I will give the name
volition. That these terms are not always confined within these limits
is plain. But I shall not force their meaning unduly by employing them
so, and I need a pair of terms to mark the great contrasted sides of
self-direction. The intention (A) shall designate the subjective side.
But those objective adjustments which fit it to emerge and seek in an
outer world its full expression I shall call the volition (B).
For the present, then, regarding entirely the former, let us see how
an intention arises,--how self-consciousness sets to work in stirring
up activity. To gain clearness I shall distinguish three subordinate
stages, designating them by special names and numerals.
III
At the start we are guided by an end or ideal of what we would bring
about. To a being destitute of self-consciousness only a single sort
of action is at any moment possible.
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