Page:The Conception of God (1897).djvu/224

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The popular conception of Will, derived from our inner experience, contains, amongst others, three groups of elements that I here wish merely to mention at the outset. The relation of these elements is a matter about which our ordinary consciousness is not very clear, and people differ a great deal as to what element they regard as essential to the conception of the will. These elements are respectively: Desire, Choice, and Efficacious Effort.

Desire is a name for feelings that can arise in our minds with very various degrees of vigour and clearness. I can desire without knowing what it is that I desire. I can have contradictory desires. I can desire without the least hope of being able to satisfy my desire. I can desire unreasonably. I can desire capriciously. On the other hand, unless I first desire, I shall never get any of the more complex and rational processes of the will. Desire is related to developed will in rational agents as sense-data are related to perceptions.

Choice is a name for a much more rational and derivative mental process. Plainly, we must learn to choose, and that, too, very slowly. When I choose, I must have desires. I must, however, already know something about what I call the worth, the rational relations, the significance, of these desires. Only through experience do I get the data for such know-