If character were a sort of merely inward
possession, unconnected with conduct, we should not Jeel thus toward
it. Merely to FEEL virtuous is pleasant, but it is not important. Imputed
goodness must be judged by the kind of conduct it yields, and that
conduct in turn by its consequences. "By their fruits ye shall know
them." But this inward disposition, though important chiefly for its
effects, is more important therefore than we are apt to realize. "As
a man thinketh in his heart, so he is." The scientific study of
psychology has emphasized the fact, which is open to everyday
observation, that even secret thoughts and moods influence
inevitably a man's outward acts. What we do depends upon
what we have been thinking and imagining and feeling. The
Great Teacher was right when he bade men refrain not merely
from murder, but from angry thoughts; not merely from adultery,
but from lustful glances; not merely from perjury, but from the
desire to deceive. Epictetus puts it, "What we ought not to do
we should not even think of doing." And Marcus Aurelius writes,
"We should accustom ourselves to think upon othing that we
should hesitate to reveal to others if they asked to know it."
This is sound advice. Without attempting to settle the problem
of determinism or indeterminism, which falls properly within the
sphere of natural rather than of moral philosophy, it is evident
that our conduct is largely the result of that set of potentialities
which we call character, that our happiness is in great degree
shaped by our inward mental states.
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