The habit of indulging in movements dictated only by instinct, in suppressing all the phases of judgment leaves infinitely more latitude to caprice, which exists at the expense of solid judgment.

Perception, being related to that which interests our passions, by getting in direct contact with the action which should simply be derived from a deduction, inspired by common sense, multiplies the unreflected manifestations and produces waste of the forces, which should be concentrated on a central point, after having passed through all the phases of which we have spoken.

In addition, the permanency of resolutions is unknown to impulsive people.

Their tendency, by leading them on toward instantaneous solutions, allows them to ignore the benefits of consistency.

“They are like unto a peasant,” said the old Nippon, “who owned a field in the country of Tokio.  Scarcely had he begun to sow a part of the field when, under the influence of an unhappy impulse, he plowed up the earth again in order to sow the ground with a new seed.

“If he heard any one speak of any special new method of cultivation, he only tried it for a short while, and then abandoned it, to try another way.

“He tried to cultivate rice; then, before the time for harvesting it, he became enthusiastic for the cultivation of chrysanthemums, which he abandoned very soon in order to plant trees, whose slow development incited him to change his nursery into a field of wheat.

“He died in misery, a victim of his having scorned the power of consistency and common sense.”

Now Yoritomo, after having put us on our guard against impulses, shows us the way to conquer these causes of disorder.

“To control unguarded movements, which place us on a level with inferior beings.  That is,” said he “in making us dependent on one instinct alone.  This is,” said he, “to take the first step toward the will to think, which is one of the forms of common sense.

“In order to reach this point, the first resolution to make is to escape from the tyranny of the body, which tends to replace the intellectual element in impulsive people.

“When I was still under the instruction of my preceptor, Lang-Ho, I saw him cure a man who was affected with what he called ’The Malady of the First Impulse.’

“Whether it concerned good actions or reprehensible ones, this man always acted without the least reflection.

“To launch a new enterprise, which the most elementary common sense condemned, he gave the greater part of his fortune in a moment of enthusiasm.

“He allowed himself to commit acts of violence which taught him severe lessons.

“Finally, vexed beyond measure, dissatisfied with himself and others, he so brutally maltreated a high dignitary in a moment of violent anger that the latter sent for him that he might punish him.  Learning of this, the man, crazy with rage, rushed out of his house in order to kill the prince with his own hand.