Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-01-20

h.MrIGCIlY Oh mot GIT.

2 I i Irit mono AMONG III" practical
4 manifestations Of our life that
4 there is nced of making & clear
\ Ing: the domain Of our ideas is In
.ho same case. Anarchy reigns In hui
nam thought We walk In the woods
without compass or sun. lost among
II" brnmblcs and br,ers of infinite de-
tail.
When onc4 man has recognized the
fact that be has an aim. and that this
aim is TO be Il man. he organizes his
thought accordingly. Every mode Of
thinking or Judging which does not
make him better and stronger he re-
jects as dangerous
And first Of all he fees the too com
mon contrariPty Of amusing himself
with his thought. Thought is tool,
with It's own proper function; 1t isn't n
toy. Let US take an example. Here Is
the studio of a painter. The implements
are all in place; everything indicates
that this assemblage Of means Is ar
ranged with view to an end. Throw
the room open to apes. They will climb
on the benches, swing from the cords,
rig themselves In draperies, Golf them
selves with slippers, Juggle with brush
es, nibble the colors and pierce the can
vases to see what Is behind the paint
i don't question their enjoyment Ger
tainly they must find this kind Of ex
ercise extremely interesting. But an
atelier is not made to let monkeys
loose in. No more is thought ground
for acrObatic evolutions. A man worthy
Of the name thinks as he Is, as his
tnstes are: he goes about it with his
whole heart, and not with that f1tful
and sterile curiosity which, under pre-
text Of observing and noting every
thing. runs the risk of never experience
ing n deep and true emotion or accom-
plishing a right deed
Another habit In urgent need Of cor
rection. ordinary attendant on cOnven-
tiOnal life, is the mania for examining
and analysing oneself at every turn.
do not invite men to neglect intro
spectton and the examination Of con-
science. The endeavor to understand
ones own mental attitudes and motives
Of conduct is an essential element Of
good living. But quite other is this ex
trame vigilance. this incessant obser-
vAtion q ongs life and thoughts, this
dissecting Of oneself, like a piece Of
mechanism. It is waste Of time and
goes wide Of the mark. The man who,
to prepare himself the better for walk
ing. should begin by making a rigid
anatomical examination Of his means
Of locomotion would risk dislocating
something before he had taken a step.
You have what you need to walk with,
then forward! Take care not to fall,
and use your forces with discretion.
Potterers and scruple mongers are soon
reduced to inaction. It needs but q
glimmer of common sense to perceive
that man is not made to pass his life
In q self centered trance.
And common sense-do you not find
what is designated by this name be-
coming as rare as the common sense
customs Of other days? Common sense
has become an old story. We must
have something new. and we create
q Fictitious existence. a refinement Of
living. that the vulgar crowd has not
the wherewithal to procure. It is so
agreeable to be distinguished! Instead
Of conducting ourselves like rational
beings and using the means most OBJ
viously at our command we arrive. by
dint Of absolute genius, at the most
astonishing singularities. Better of
the track than on the main line! All
the bodily defects and deformities that
orthopedy treats give but feeble idea
Of the humps. the tortuosittes, the dis
locations we have inflicted upon our,
selves in order to depart from simple
common sense. and at our own ex-
pense we learn that one does not de-
form himself with IMMUNITY. Novelty,
after all, is ephsmeral. Nothing en-
dures but the eternal commonplace,
and If one departs from that It IL %
run the most perilous risks. Happy
he who Is able to reclaim himself, who
finds the way back to simplicity.
Good plain sense is not, as Is often
imagined, the innate possession Of the
FIRST chance conner, a mean and paltry
equipment that has cost nothing to
any one. would compare it to those
old folk songs, unfathered, but death
less, which seem to have fisen out Of
the very heart Of the people. Good
sense is fund slowly and painfully
accumulated by the labor Of centuries.
1t is jewel Of the first water, whose
value he alone understands who has
lost 1t or who observes the lives of
others who have lost it. For nv part
I think no price too great to pay for
gaining 1t and keeping it for the pos
session Of eyes that see and a judg-
ment that discerns. One takes good
care of his sword that it be not bent
or rusted; with greater reason should
he give heed to his thought
But let this be we'll understood: An
appeal to common sense is not an ap-
peal to thought that grovels, to narrow
positivism which denies everything It
cannot see or touch; for to wish that
man should be absorbed in material
sensations, to the exclusion Of the high
realities of the inner life, is also q want
Of good sense Here we touch upon a
tender point. round which the greatest
battles Of humanity are waging. In
truth, we are striving to attain con.
ception Of life. searching it out amid
countless obscurities and griefs. and
everything that touches upon spiritual
realities becomes day by day more
painful. In the midst Of the grave
perplexities and transient disorders
that accompany great crises of thought
1t seems more difficult than ever to es
cape with any simple principles. Yet
necessity itself comes to our aid, as II
has done for the men Of all times. The
programme Of life Is terribly simple
after oil, and in the fact that existence
so imperiously forces herself upon us
she gives us notice that she precedes
any idea of her which we may make
for ourselves and that no one can put
of living pending an attempt to under
stand life. Our PHILOSOPHERS, our ex.
plantations, our beliefs, are everywhere
confronted by facts, and these facts
prodigious. irrefutable, call US to order
when we would deduce life from Oul
reasOningS and would wait to act until
we have ended philosophizing. 1t is