the _reason of our ends_. Here, then, we meet with a somewhat
different type of reflection upon life, the reflection that underlies
the adoption of a life purpose. It is obvious that most ends are
selected for the sake of other ends, and so are virtually means. Thus
one may struggle for years to secure a college education. This definite
end has been adopted for the sake of a somewhat more indefinite end of
self-advancement, and from it there issues a whole series of minor ends,
which form a hierarchy of steps ascending to the highest goal of
aspiration. Now upon the face of things we live very unsystematic lives,
and yet were we to examine ourselves in this fashion, we should all find
our lives to be marvels of organization. Their growth, as we have seen,
began before we were conscious of it; and we are commonly so absorbed
in some particular flower or fruit that we forget the roots, and the
design of the whole. But a little reflection reveals a remarkable
unitary adjustment of parts. The unity is due to the dominance of a
group of central purposes. Judged from the stand-point of experience, it
seems bitter irony to say that everyone gets from life just what he
wishes. But a candid searching of our own hearts will incline us to
admit that, after all, the way we go and the length we go is determined
pretty much by the kind and the intensity of our secret longing. That
for which in the time of choice we are willing to sacrifice all else, is
the formula that defines the law of each individual life. All this is
not intended to mean that we have each named a clear and definite ideal
which is our chosen goal. On the contrary, such a conception may be
almost meaningless to some of us. In general the higher the ideal the
vaguer and less vivid is its presentation to our consciousness. But,
named or unnamed, sharp or blurred, vivid or half-forgotten, there may
be found in the heart of every man that which of all things he wants to
be, that which of all deeds he wants to do. If he has had the normal
youth of dreaming, he has seen it, and warmed to the picture of his
imagination; if he has been somewhat more thoughtful than the ordinary,
his reason has defined it, and adopted it for his vocation; if neither,
it has been present as an undertone throughout the rendering of his more
inevitable life. He will recognize it when it is named as the desire to
do the will of God, or to have as good a time as possible, or to make
other people a