whole being.
This is not a new idea. Freud pointed out many years ago that it was true of sex; I have only pointed out that, if so, it is equally true of sexual confidence and sexual lack of confidence. And I have gone one step further and suggested that it is equally true for every other sort of confidence and lack of confidence as well. They are all functions of our whole beings.
This is not to suggest that every action everyone performs is whole-hearted. This is not the point at all. Obviously such a suggestion would be absurd; and it would be almost as absurd to suggest that most people's actions were whole-hearted. The point is that even half-hearted actions are an expression of the whole being at that particular moment, because at that particular moment the person is choosing to be half-hearted. The point is that for any particular action the whole being is involved whether in a whole-hearted or a half-hearted way. This is what is meant by saying that any particular confidence or lack of confidence is a function of the whole being.
Now if the various confidences and lack of confidences a person has are a function of the whole being, then it begins to be intelligible why beliefs (things we really believe) only stay with us if we put them into practice, and gradually slip away from us if we do not. Our muscles only remain in good physical condition if we use them. If we do not use them, they quickly lose their tone; and more than that, if we start using other sets of muscles, these other muscles appear almost to cannibalise the first lot, so as to ensure that the body has no surplus flesh on it. It seems to be very similar in the world of ideas. The only ideas that we are really confident about are those we are using and dealing with in practice every day.
There is a chasm of difference between these beliefs, and intellectual beliefs to which the mind assents, but which never have to stand up to the rough…