some
particular object. Now the judgment determines which of these three
positions we shall take up, the consciously active, the consciously
receptive, or the consciously neutral; and then the function of the will is
simply to maintain the position we have determined upon; and if we maintain
any given mental attitude we may reckon with all certainty on the law of
attraction drawing us to those correspondences which exteriorly symbolize
the attitude in question. This is very different from the semi-animal
screwing-up of the nervous forces which, with some people, stands for
will-power. It implies no strain on the nervous system and is consequently
not followed by any sense of exhaustion. The will-power, when transferred
from the region of the lower mentality to the spiritual plane, becomes
simply a calm and peaceful determination to retain a certain mental
attitude in spite of all temptations to the contrary, knowing that by doing
so the desired result will certainly appear.

The training of the will and its transference from the lower to the higher
plane of our nature are among the first objects of Mental Science. The man
is summed up in his will. Whatever he does by his own will is his own act;
whatever he does without the consent of his will is not his own act but
that of the power by which his will was coerced; but we must recognize
that, on the mental plane, no other individuality can obtain control over
our will unless we first allow it to do so; and it is for this reason that
all legitimate use of Mental Science is towards the strengthening of the
will, whether in ourselves or others, and bringing it under the control of
an enlightened reason. When the will realizes its power to deal with first
cause it is no longer necessary for the operator to state to himself _in
extenso_ all the philosophy of its action every time he wishes to use it,
but, knowing that the trained will is a tremendous spiritual force acting
on the plane of first cause, he simply expresses his desire with the
intention of operating on that plane, and knows that the desire thus
expressed will in due time externalize itself as concrete fact. He now sees
that the point which really demands his earnest attention is not whether he
possesses the power of externalizing any results he chooses, but of
learning to choose wisely what results to produce. For let us not suppose
that even the highest powers will take us out of the law of cause and
effect. We