chance and half not chance.

Does it not seem as though the older and more confirmed the habit,
the more unquestioning the act of volition, till, in the case of the
oldest habits, the practice of succeeding existences has so
formulated the procedure, that, on being once committed to such and
such a line beyond a certain point, the subsequent course is so clear
as to be open to no further doubt, to admit of no alternative, till
the very power of questioning is gone, and even the consciousness of
volition? And this too upon matters which, in earlier stages of a
man's existence, admitted of passionate argument and anxious
deliberation whether to resolve them thus or thus, with heroic hazard
and experiment, which on the losing side proved to be vice, and on
the winning virtue. For there was passionate argument once what
shape a man's teeth should be, nor can the colour of his hair be
considered as ever yet settled, or likely to be settled for a very
long time.

It is one against legion when a creature tries to differ from his own
past selves. He must yield or die if he wants to differ widely, so
as to lack natural instincts, such as hunger or thirst, or not to
gratify them. It is more righteous in a man that he should "eat
strange food," and that his cheek should "so much as lank not," than
that he should starve if the strange food be at his command. His
past selves are living in him at this moment with the accumulated
life of centuries. "Do this, this, this, which we too have done, and
found our profit in it," cry the souls of his forefathers within him.
Faint are the far ones, coming and going as the sound of bells wafted
on to a high mountain; loud and clear are the near ones, urgent as an
alarm of fire. "Withhold," cry some. "Go on boldly," cry others.