THE WILL AND VOLUNTARY ATTENTION.--In voluntary attention there is a conflict either between the will and interest or between the will and the mental inertia or laziness, which has to be overcome before we can think with any degree of concentration. Interest says, "Follow this line, which is easy and attractive, or which requires but little effort--follow the line of least resistance." Will says, "Quit that line of dalliance and ease, and take this harder way which I direct--cease the line of least resistance and take the one of greatest resistance." When day dreams and "castles in Spain" attempt to lure you from your lessons, refuse to follow; shut out these vagabond thoughts and stick to your task. When intellectual inertia deadens your thought and clogs your mental stream, throw it off and court forceful effort. If wrong or impure thoughts seek entrance to your mind, close and lock your mental doors to them. If thoughts of desire try to drive out thoughts of duty, be heroic and insist that thoughts of duty shall have right of way. In short, see that _you_ are the master of your thinking, and do not let it always be directed without your consent by influences outside of yourself. It is just at this point that the strong will wins victory and the weak will breaks down. Between the ability to control one's thoughts and the inability to control them lies all the difference between right actions and wrong actions; between withstanding temptation and yielding to it; between an inefficient purposeless life and a life of purpose and endeavor; between success and failure. For we act in accordance with those things which our thought rests upon. Suppose two lines of thought represented by _A_ and _B_, respectively, lie before you; that _A_ leads to a course of action difficult or unpleasant, but necessary to success or duty, and that _B_ leads to a course of action easy or pleasant, but fatal to success or duty. Which course will you follow--the rugged path of duty or the easier one of pleasure? The answer depends almost wholly, if not entirely, on your power of attention. If your will is strong enough to pull your thoughts away from the fatal but attractive _B_ and hold them resolutely on the less attractive _A_, then _A_ will dictate your course of action, and you will respond to the call for endeavor, self-denial, and duty; but if your thoughts break away from the domination of your will and allow the beckoning of your interests alone, then _B_ will dictate your course of action, and you will follow the leading of ease and pleasure. _For our actions are finally and irrevocably dictated by the things we think about._