Section

This section serves as a kind of introduction to what follows: every human being forms intentions, acts, perceives, and moves by his own will. Indeed, every living being is likewise endowed with knowledge and acts by its own will. Will means volition and choice. Any voluntary, freely chosen action necessarily has an intended object—the thing sought. That object can be attained only through causes and means that bring it about. If it is attained through the servant’s own action, ability and strength are necessary; if through something external, another agent is necessary; and if through both his own action and something external, means such as tools and the like are necessary. Thus, every living being necessarily has a will, and everyone who wills something necessarily needs help to attain it. The servant is therefore naturally constituted to seek and desire something, and to seek help from something and rely upon it to attain what he desires. This is an inescapable necessity for every human being, which each finds within himself.

Yet both the object of desire and the source of help fall into two categories. Something may be desired for the sake of something else, or it may be desired for its own sake.

As for the source of help, it may be sought in its own right, or it may be subordinate to the source of help and serve as its instrument. Among the objects of desire is that which constitutes the ultimate end sought: it is what the seeker humbles himself before and loves, and it is the deity toward which he directs himself. Other things are desired for the sake of something else, so that the actual object of desire is that other thing; these are therefore indirect objects of desire.

Among the sources of help is that which constitutes the ultimate source upon which the servant relies, in which he places his trust, and from which he draws support. He recognizes no source beyond it from which to seek help. Other sources are subordinate to another, as the limbs are to the heart, property to its owner, and tools to the craftsman.