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Augustine

"Confessions And Enchiridion"

The mind commands the
hand to be moved and there is such readiness that the command is
scarcely distinguished from the obedience in act. Yet the mind is
mind, and the hand is body. The mind commands the mind to will,
and yet though it be itself it does not obey itself. Whence this
strange anomaly and why should it be? I repeat: The will commands
itself to will, and could not give the command unless it wills;
yet what is commanded is not done. But actually the will does not
will entirely; therefore it does not command entirely. For as far
as it wills, it commands. And as far as it does not will, the
thing commanded is not done. For the will commands that there be
an act of will -- not another, but itself. But it does not
command entirely. Therefore, what is commanded does not happen;
for if the will were whole and entire, it would not even command
it to be, because it would already be. It is, therefore, no
strange anomaly partly to will and partly to be unwilling. This
is actually an infirmity of mind, which cannot wholly rise, while
pressed down by habit, even though it is supported by the truth.
And so there are two wills, because one of them is not whole, and
what is present in this one is lacking in the other.


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