Book 4 (Part II)

47 of great price, which when a man hath found he straightway selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that pearl. With many people custom and habit —of which ethics is but the social expression —are the things most difificult to give up: and it is a useful practice to break any habit just to get into the way of being free from that form of slavery. Hence we have prac- tices for breaking up sleep, for putting our bodies into strained and un- natural positions, for doing difficult exercises of breathing — all these, apart from any special merit they may have in themselves for any par- ticular purpose, have the main merit that the man forces himself to do them despite any conditions that may exist. Having conquered internal resistance one may conquer external resistance more easily. In a steamboat the engine must first overcome its own inertia before it can attack the resistance of the water. When the will has thus ceased to be intermittent, it becomes neces- sary to consider its size. Gravitation gives an acceleration of thirty-two feet per second on this planet, on the moon very much less. And a Will, however single and however constant, may still be of no particular use, because the circumstances which oppose it may be altogether too strong, or because it is for some reason unable to get into touch with them. It is useless to wish for the moon. If one does so, one must consider by what means that Will may be made effective.