In all this variety of influences that decide those generic volitions which are the foundation of moral character, it must be remembered that in every case the mind has the power to choose that which the judgment decides to be the greatest good on the whole for itself and for the commonwealth.
How one Mind causes Volitions in another Mind.
In this connection, it is important to secure exact ideas of what is meant when one mind is spoken of as the cause of the volitions of another mind.
Of course, in this relation, no mind can be the producing cause of volition in any mind but itself. It must be, then, either as occasional or as deciding causes that we can influence other minds.
The only mode by which we can regulate the volitions of other minds is by the employment of motives to stimulate desire, or by changing the constitutional susceptibilities.
In the first case, men have power to so combine circumstances of temptation as to affect the most excitable and powerful sensibilities, or they can remove those objects and influences that sustain moral principle, or by a long course of training they can form habits and induce principles. The combinations of motive influences that one mind can bring to bear on another, as temptations to right or wrong action, are almost infinite.
The other mode is by changing the constitutional susceptibilities. This can sometimes be effected to a certain degree by education and the formation of habits. It can be still more directly effected through the physical organization. For example, a child may be trained to use coffee, tea, alcohol, or tobacco, till the nervous system is shattered, and then a placid temper becomes excitable, a generous nature grows sour and selfish, an active nature becomes indolent, and multitudes of other disastrous changes are the result.
These are the only two modes in which one mind is ever regarded as the cause of right or wrong volition in other minds.
On a Ruling Purpose.
The most important of all the voluntary phenomena is the fact that, while there can be a multitude of these quiet and hidden generic purposes in the mind, it is also possible to form one which shall be the dominant or controlling one, to which all the other volitions, both generic and specific, shall become subordinate. In common parlance, this would be called the ruling passion. It may also be called the ruling purpose or controlling principle. This consists in the permanent choice of some one mode of securing happiness as the chief end or grand object of life.