It has as its result an imitation of that order which is brought about by what I have called the associative dispositions, only it consciously aims at this result.

And it is a process controlled by a feeling, namely, the intellectual sentiment of consistency, which is not a mode of emotional excitement enthralling the will, but a calm motive, guiding the activities of attention.

It thus bears somewhat the same relation to the emotional selection already spoken of, as dramatic creation bears to lyrical composition.
This process of striving to seize some connecting link, or thread of order, is illustrated whenever, in waking life, we are suddenly brought face to face with an unfamiliar scene.

When taken into a factory, we strive to arrange the bewildering chaos of visual impressions under some scheme, by help of which we are said to understand the scene.

So, if on entering a room we are plunged in _medias res_ of a lively conversation, we strive to find a clue to the discussion.