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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
person. It is it also which makes the expression of the glance unchangeable. In the heart is the man, not in the head. It is true that, in consequence of our relation to the external world, we are accustomed to regard as our real self the subject of knowledge, the knowing I, which varies in the evening, vanishes in sleep, and in the morning shines brighter with renewed strength. This is, however, the mere function of the brain, and not our own self. Our true self, the kernel of our nature, is what is behind that, and really knows nothing but willing and not willing, being content and not content, with all the modifications of this, which are called feelings, emotions and passions. This is that which produces the other, does not sleep with it when it sleeps, and in the same way when it sinks in death remains uninjured. Everything, on the contrary, that belongs to knowledge is exposed to oblivion; even actions of moral significance can sometimes, after years, be only imperfectly recalled, and we no longer know accurately and in detail how we acted on a critical occasion. But the character itself, to which the actions only testify, cannot be forgotten by us; it is now still quite the same as then." *
Character, indeed, has little in common with intellect, but depends on will; for the former is the faculty of judgment and the latter of action. It is in willing that character discloses its qualities, not in deliberation; hence it is possible for a highly intellectual man to possess a bad heart, and for a man of excellent character to have a dull head.
Character, then, is preserved in will itself, and is the sum-total of all the different activities of life manifested in the form of feelings, emotions, passions and disposition; it is the product of education. We may thus say that desires are modified by experiences of pleasure and pain, and, in their turn, determine the future attitude and tendencies of the soul. But will can be considered unconscious only when regarded as force, not when
* The World as Will and Idea, Vol. II, pp. 456, 457 and 460.
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