Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-08-06
FREEDOM or THOUGHT.
The Fsr- Reaching and Immenss Power
Of Our Mosf Secret Thoqgtsts.

Ihe ber-hencbtUg and Immenee Power
Of Our Most secret Thoughts
Though tyranny finds many ways 10
enslave man. 1t can have no direct
power over his thoughts. His actions
may be restrained, his speech may be
fettered. his body may be chained. his
lie itself may be taken away, but his
thoughts no one can interfere with. !
They remain his own. and. except with
his will. no one can ever guess what
they are. But does this absence Of d. /
rect power insure true freedom OF |
thought? 1t may at first sight seem to |
do so, hut deeper insight into the I
nature OF thought will show that it is |
itself subject to many influences and
conditions. Associations, circum-
3tances. education. climate. race, occu-
patton. hopes, fears. emotions all
exert an indirect but powerful pres
sure upon thought; SO powerful that il
in one sense it is always free. in an
other sense it is always controlled. II
no one else can claim authority over
our thought, neither may we exercise
an absolute and immediate dominion
over it. Is freedom of thought, then,
a mere name-a sound without mean
ing? Not SO. Real freedom of any
kind involves not only the absence of
artificial restraint, but the presence
of influences favorable to growth
and development The infant left
without care is not free; it
has no choice but to perish The
body can be enslaved Dy govt or par
alysis as surely az by prisons and
chains; both prevent the healthful
exercise which is its life. Even indo-
lence and self-indulgence may prove
equal tyrants. 1t is only where q
wholesome and active life secures for
the body that varied motion and other
salutary conditions needful to its best
development that we can say the free
dom of the body is secured. So the
freedom which thought needs is not
merely the absence of any personal
compulsory force, but the presence of
| favorable Influences, which shall enable
| it to grow in strength and to perform
| its functions in the most perfect man
ner. Our thoughts should be the
| guides of our whole lives; their
| province is to discover truth and to
reject error. to sift the just from the
unjust, the pure from the impure. the
better from the worse and so to apply
! them as to improve character and life.
How important, then, it becomes that
we should foster those conditions and
influences that will enable thought to
perform, without hindrance, SO essen
sure that bears upon thought to pre-
! vent its freedom and restrain its
growth is that OF fancied personal in
terest. We say fancied. because the
real interest OF the individual is bound
up in the healthful advancement of his
thought. But it is not uncommon for
people to imagine that their happiness
lies in An opposite direction. They
fear the censure of their party. or the
frown of fashionable circle, or the
loss OF favor or patronage. if they fol-
low out some train of thought to its
logical conclusions. Or they see that
if they accept its issues it will require oil
them certain sacrifices, which they are
not prepared to make. Thus they stife
or abandon thoughts that seem danger
Gus, and remain on what they sup
pose to be safe ground. forgetting tina,
there is no mental safety where free
dom OF thought is banished. Then
there are also prejudices and antip-
athies. and even sympathies, to guard
against. 1t is impossible fully to esti
mate how much our thinking is gov,
erned by our feeling. We love one per
son and refuse TO see any defect il
him. We dislike another, and his de
virtues. So with the parties we espouss
and those we oppose. Our tendency
is to esteem the ideas and doings o
the one as all right and those of tn,
other as all wrong. In general it ma,
be said that the desire to establish a
true some particular conclusion. o.
some special set of ideas. is stronge
element in the investigation than tn,
desire to find out what really is true
Now the desires and the emotions an,
valuable parts of our nature and deserv,
:, full recognition, but when they tyran
nize over the thoughts and proven
, their free action they exceed their do
main and ought to be controlled.
should he habit of the mind to paus
, frequently and inquire why We thini
thus and SO; for the motives to though
are as numerous and as varied as tn
, motives to action, aud form as good
test of its character. Perhaps few
duties are more difficult than this, We
few are more essential to the cause G
= justice and truth. Could We correctl
a estimate the immense power of on
most secret thoughts. their intiuene
upon speech and action. upon cnarac
Ter and life. upon self and others, W
should esteem it one Of our most sacre
obligations to keep them pure an
clean, free from the domination of SUP
posed self-interest or desire, passion G
. emotion, strong to discover truth an
9 right. wherever they lie. aud to accef
/ their conclusion wherever they ma
# lead. philadelphia Ledger.
Il Never Hesitate to Do Right.
i tla most vi.t,,o,,c those n