man's instinct, in spite of all custom,
good or bad.
98. Bias leading to error.--It is a deplorable thing to see all men
deliberating on means alone, and not on the end. Each thinks how he will
acquit himself in his condition; but as for the choice of condition, or of
country, chance gives them to us.
It is a pitiable thing to see so many Turks, heretics, and infidels follow
the way of their fathers for the sole reason that each has been imbued with
the prejudice that it is the best. And that fixes for each man his condition
of locksmith, soldier, etc.
Hence savages care nothing for Providence.
99. There is an universal and essential difference between the actions of
the will and all other actions.
The will is one of the chief factors in belief, not that it creates belief,
but because things are true or false according to the aspect in which we
look at them. The will, which prefers one aspect to another, turns away the
mind from considering the qualities of all that it does not like to see; and
thus the mind, moving in accord with the will, stops to consider the aspect
which it likes and so judges by what it sees.
100. Self-love. The nature of self-love and of this human Ego is to love
self only and consider self only. But what will man do? He cannot prevent
this object that he loves from being full of faults and wants. He wants to
be great, and he sees himself small. He wants to be happy, and he sees
himself miserable. He wants to be perfect, and he sees himself full of
imperfections. He wants to be the o