The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-11-11
SELF DISCIPLINE L.
Its Importance As An Aid To Sue
cess In Life.

True discipline is what we all need
to bring out the best that is in us.
Only thus can anyone experience the
meaning and the blessing of freedom
for without it, though no hand may
direct him and no voice command him
his own breast will be a scene of an
archy and tyranny and he its power
less victim. Perhaps no other power
is more important in the pursuit o
the various avocations of life. III
enable a man to submit patiently to
whatever preparation is necessary, to
overcome natural repugnances which
would hinder his career, to triumph
over the love of ease, or the craving
for pleasure, which would destroy
his hopes OF success. Many a mar
with brilliant talents and fine
prospects has been wrecked upon
these unseen rocks. he has
trusted to his abilities, and they
have betrayed him, simply because
they were not we'll disciplined. The
dry details Of his work weary him, its
drudgery he cannot bear, it's enforced
regularity he despises. Presently, to
his surprise, he is distanced in the
race by those of inferior powers, but
who, by perseverance, and self-denial,
have used them to a better purpose.
Often the authority of the mind is re-
uuired to make us leave off what is
engrossing us, to the exclusion of
other duties and interests.
Much of the overwork that is so
frequently p~rostrating men of bust
ness and professional life comes from
the lack Of self-discipline. They
know and will admit that they are
doing too much; that they need
rest and relaxation; that they are
not giving what they owe to
their families or to society; but they
plead that they cannot help it, which
simply means that they have not
that power of command over them
selves which would enable them to do
what they know to be right. A self
poised mar has the same control over
the various faculties that the prac-
ticed musician has v the keys0f
the instrument, while the undiscip-
lined man strikes at random, never
knowing whether harmony or discord
may ensue. Not only in the labor OF
our lives do we need to preserve this
authority over self. In our hours OF
recreation, in our association with our
fellow men, in the thousand details OF
life, it's constant presence is necessary.
1t distinguishes the strong and noble
character from the weak and waver-
ing one. 1t enables us to choose be-
tween the different motives which are
constantly presenting themselves, and
to stem the tide, instead of drifting
helplessly down with the current.
Everyone has an ideal OF life, higher
than his actual life reaches. We
should all like to be better, nobler,
more just and generous and disinter
ested than we are. Through self-dis-
cipline alone can we climb this ladder
and approach this ideal. 1t is by no
chance metaphor that we speak of as
cending to the higher life, or sinking
to the low. The one implies deter
mination, power, effort; the other
merely the absence OF all these, the
letting go of the moral reins, the abdi-
cation of authority over self. For one
man who resolves deliberately and
knowingly to tread the down
ward path, there are thousands
who merely sink into it from mental
and moral inertia. If we lose control
of our muscles, we fall to the earth; If
we lose control of our mental facul-
ties, we fall into idiocy; if we lose con-
troll of our moral powers, we fall into
evil. Weakness is the real slavery;
strength the real freedoms And this
strength is the ever-growing result of
self discipline. Each one may gain it
and hold it for himself; for, like every
other power, it grows by exercise, and
no one who seeks it in all earnestness
will seek in vain.-Phi30delphiG Led
0eI.