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

the situation. Do not say that we live
in more trying tirlcs than our ances-
tors for things seen from afar are of
ten seen iInperfectly. 1t Is, moreover,
scarcely gracious to complain of not
having been born In the days Of ones
grandfather.
What we may believe least con:esta-
bic on the subject IL this: From the be-
ginning of the world It has been hard
to see clearly: right thinking has been
difficult everywhere and always. In
the matter the ancients were in no
wise privileged above the moderns, and
It might be added that there is no diff
ference between men when they are
considered from this point Of view.
Master and servant. teacher and learn
er, writer and artisan. discern truth at
the same cost. The light that humanity
acquires in advancing is no doubt of
the greatest use, but 1t also multiplies
the number and extent Of human prob
lens. The difficulty is never removed;
the mind always encounters its Obsta-
Gle The unknown controls US and
hens lis in on all sides. But just as
one need not exhaust spring to
Quench his thirst so we need not know
everything to live. Humanity lives and
always has lived OH certain elemental
provisions.
We will try to point them out. First
of all. humanity lives by confidence. In
so doing 1t but reflects. commensurate
with its conscious thought. that which
Is the hidden source Of all beings. An
1mperturbable faith In the stability Of
the universe and its intelligent order
ing sleeps in everything that exists.
The flowers, the trees, the beasts Of the
field, live in calm strength, in entire Sc
curity. There Is confidence in the fall
ing rain, In dawning day, in the brook
IS seems to say: Il an therefore !
should be. There are good reasons for
this, rest assured"
So, too, mankind HIVES by confidence.
Prom the simple fact that he is, man
has within him the sufficient reason for
his being-a pledge Of assurance. He
reposes in tho power which has wllled
that he should be- 10 safeguard this
confidence. to see that nothing discon-
certs It. to cultivate II, render It more
personal, more evident-toward this
should tend tho first effort of our
thought. All that augments confidence
within us is good, for from confidence
is born the life without haste-tranQuil
energy, calm action, the love Of life
and its fruitful labor. Deep seated con-
fdence Is the mysterious spring that
sets in motion the energy within u.s. It
is our nutriment BY 1t man lives much
more than by the bread he eats. And
so everything that shakes this conf
dence Is evil-poison, not food.
Dangerous Is every system of thought
that attacks the very fact Of life, de-
claring It to be an evil. Life has been
too often wrongly estimated In this
century. What wonder that the tree
witheD when its roots are watered
with corrosives. And there is an ex-
tremely simple reflection that might
be made IN the face Of all this mega
ton. You say life is an evil. Well,
what remedy for It do you ofer2 Can
you combat II, suppress IT. I do not
ask you to suppress your own life, to
commit suicidecof what advantage
would that be to usHbut to suppress
ife, not merely human life, but life
It its deep and hidden origin, all this
upspringing Of existence that pushes
toward the light and, to your mind, II
rushing to misfortune; I ask you to
suppress the will to live that tremblea
through the immensities of space, to
suppress, in short, the source of life
Can you do 1t? No. Then leave us in
peace. Since no one can hold life in
check Ia 1t not better to respect II
and use It than to go about making
other people disguised with It? When
one knows that certain food is danger.
GUS to health he does not eat 1t, and
when a certain fashion of thinking
robs us Of confidence, cheerfulness and
strength we should reject that, certain
not only that it Is q nutriment noxious to
the mind, but also that 1t is false. There
is no truth for man but in thoughts
that are human, and pessimism is IN.
human. Besides, 1t wants as much In
modesty as in logic To permit one
self to count as evil this prodigious
thing that we call life one needs have
seen its very foundation, almost to
have made It. What a strange att.
tude is that of certain great thinkers
of our times! They act as II they had
created the world very long ago, in
their youth, but decidedly 1t was mis-
take, and they had well repented It
Let us nourish ourselves from other
meat, strengthen our souls with cheer
ing thoughts. What is truest for mar
is what best forti6es him.
If mankind lives by confidence, it
lives also by hope-that form Of conf
dence which turns toward the future.
All life is a result and an aspiration;
all that exists supposes an origin and
tends toward an end. Life is progress
sion; progression is aspiration. The
progress Of the future is an inf1nitude
of hope Hope is at the root Of things
and must be reflected in the heart OF
man; no hope, no life. The same pow
err which brought US into being urges
us to go up higher. What is the mean
ing Of this persistent instinct which
pushes US on? The true meaning Is
that something is to result from life,
that out Of 1t is being wrought good
greater than itself, toward which 1t
slowly moves, and that this painful
sower called man needs. like every
sOwer, to count ON the morrow. The
history Of humanity is the history OF
indOmitable hope; otherwise everything
would have been over long ago. To
press forward under his burdens. to
guide himself in the night. to retrieve
his falls and his failures, to escape de-
spair even in death. man has need OF
hoping always, and sometimes against
all hope. Here is the cordial that sus-
tains him. Had we only logic we
should have long ago drawn the con-
clusion, Death has everywhere the last
word. and we should be dead of the
fdea. But We have hope, and that Is
why weHive and believe in life.
Suso. the great monk and mystic,
one Of the simplest and best men that
ever lived, had q touching custom.
Whenever he encountered a woman,