Excerpt from The Why of the Will, the Unity of the Universe<br><br>The views presented in the following pages have been held by the writer for many years. They constitute the result of long and earnest thought, in a sincere and reverent search for truth. Distinct and vivid is the recollection of the origin of the fundamental thought.<br><br>Nearly forty years ago, one warm summer day, while resting in serene and meditative ease, thinking thoughts and weaving fancies with the fresh creativeness of youth, suddenly there came the mental picture, the clear and definite conception, of the necessarily determined nature of human thoughts and human actions. Fur ther thought, and some acquaintance with the literature of the subject, has confirmed, as well as elaborated, the original conception. In questions, such as that of the freedom of the will, so-called, the quiet, unbiased thought of a well trained and fairly intelligent mind, is of more value than is extensive reading.<br><br>That a question so old, so absolutely funda mental, and as is believed, essentially so clear, should continue to be a subject of conflicting views, may well appear strange. In the opinion of the writer, the reasons for this unsettled state are to be found in two general facts: the first, a mistaken interpretation of self-consciousness.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.