| Show V 9 1 VC 9 for the deseret news DIFFERENT conditions CONDITION S OF THE MIND BY ALEX alexander ANDEn annen OTT philosophy consists not cot in alry airy schem b ani antti t ie le the role and conduct of all kocl social l lie ile life ilfe Is her great province THOMSON nothing promotes so much the formation of logical and systematic habits of mind nothing so effectually assists the memory as the keeping lug constantly in view the chain of relations ions 1013 by which impressions and ideas are arising out oi ot each other I 1 look at each thought either uttered or r read ead as a whole and endeavor to understand not merely the truth or fallacy contained contained in it but also the place which it occupies in the desh design g n of the speaker or writer the operations of a well regulated and well stored mind present generally a connected train of thou thought bt not mere detached ideas and i i sentences hence every remark should be carefully examined not by itself but in its connections because the bearing of each intends to prove some point or to illustrate some position by bestowing a close attention upon every thing you yon hear write or read by a strict observation of the regular manner in which the several steps of an argument or the several applications of a principle succeed one another you yeu thus classify and arrange in in your own mind ideas and not merely fix them more firmly but you are logical habits of inand m ind which will be of lasting and incalculable value because every impression I 1 received or made will be embodied as a proper idea and find its legitimate place aa as a connecting in limb in the intellectual chain of sequences that is to fayhe who studiously attends to the remarkable 0 operations orations erat ions lons of the inner man will find that a 9 harmonious armonious combination of the mental and moral departments is based on a salutary exchange and digestion of correct ideas and that this woud wonderful erful result is seem beem ingle n iv originating in the voluntary exercise of his is thinking thin kinF and reasoning faculties I 1 it f a desire rises in the human heart the tile agent has the power to act either upon the fir first st im impulse pulse or upon a very partial narrow coli coll contracted or even entirely incorrect view of the considerations and motives by which he ought douht to be influenced and he ig is at at liberty to delay acting or bestow a minute and critical attention on the facts or principles which bear on ills his volition the first great step is now taken in the nice reFu regulation lation of those desires which have arisen within the mind as the result of some external or I 1 internal causes and this regulation forms an important link in the remarkable chain of sequences which belong to the direction of the wi will the power or liberty to do either the one or the other viz to do either wrong or ri right 0 ht makes a man a free but at the basle same ti time me a responsible nIble agent in this inte interesting process the first mental condition is a certain c movement of one of the desires or affections which operation of the mind is generally termed inclination the second state refers the inclination to the motives which prompt the action and the principles of or integrity if these harmonize with the inclination then the willing of the deed and its performance for mance are the result with the perfect sanction of every moral f feeling eel ing should the inclination be disapproved by this monitor of the mind it is by a strict moral disciplinarian instantly given up aa as being in in direct opposition to the healthy conditions of the illner inner man and thus the moral equilibrium is preset preserved ved it happens however frequently that this mental and moral dis motions ine is neglected when their desires and affections no matter how illegitimate are a allowed to en engross enross I 1 ross robs the mind and absorb its attention so fully that the agent is no longer master over himself cannot trace any inclination to its moral causes and motives and weigh nicely the consequences of a careless indulgence of a desire or af affection in the scale of strict morality the result is then this the agent acts rashly and unwisely without consideration of the difficulties an and d dangers ili in which lie he plunges himself another very interesting state of mind is this a perga pennon may inay attend to the motives and causes of a desire affections and inclinations so as to prevent their being acted upon while this inclination is still detill fixed in the mi rid and the agent regrets having been obliged to deny himself the object of gis wis his illegal appetite it Is evident here that althou although h the actual deed deed has not been performed the harmony of the moral feelings is destroyed and the mental state of a strict purity if 0 f heart has ceased to exist for this constitutes an entire subjection of the desires and affections to the voice cf of conscience and the principles of moral rectitude another condition or t the he in mind ind form forms 3 a remarkable riar kable kabie feature of the human character the equilibrium of the moral feelings maybe may be disturbed without being followed by the deed this is the case when an inclination is cherished contrary to the voice of convictions while the carrying out of the desire or ii inclination is being prevented by some inferior motives such as rep reputation or interest F for or instance a person may be with the spirit of perfect atheism nominally a latter day saint quite in opposition to his conviction and merely from selfish motives his apostasy apo stacy may thus be prevented for fora a time and the community even be benefited by his talents as far as his bis selfishness will permit but in relation to the individual himself the moral harmony harmon is destroyed and he must appear as a hypocrite in the eyes of the almighty ini h ty who regards not the out outward Nvard appearance but looks into the heart thus it may often appear that strong inducements to vice are re res resisted isted bisted from very inferior motives but this of course is not to overcome temptations it is only to balance one selfish feeling against another on examining thus the moral constitution of man we find that a strict and proper attention of the mind is necessary to preserve purity I 1 of heart else a person is liable to get in the above last state where no power of the mind seems to be able to restore it to its former healthy condition the ile necessity of the attention of mind was already realized by the illustrious plato the founder of the athenian academy and aristotle the founder of the the latter states in ir chean ethics that a man who was ivas doing dogg wrong contrary to his own moral convictions cou con could not be reclaimed by any argument |
