The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-08-22
ATTAINING HAPPINESS.

Ebert Hubbard, author and journalist, in
the last number of the Cosmopolitan, makes "Dec-
laration in which he holds to be sef-evident what
he terms certain truths. First THAT was
made to be happy" This is unquestionable as
every soul desires happiness. What the experience
of al linen of all ages indorse is selfevident truth
But the attainment of that happiness, which Mr.
Hubbard calls also self-evident truth, is not SC
clear to ordinary mortals.
"That happiness" he writes, KS attainable only
through useful effort; that useful effort means the
proper exercise of all our faculties"
The desires of the soul are infinite, and no mat
ter how useful the efforts made in the exercise of the
faculties the cravings of the soul for unlimited
good cannot be attained No natural or created
good give complete and lasting happiness to the
SOUL because there is always present intuition
that it was made for an infinite good. At every
step in life, God who is infinite, presents himself
to the soul its final end and the completion of its
happiness.
useful effort, which means the proper exercise
of all faculties" give the soul only limited
created good, but that is not sufficient to satisfy
the longngs of the SOUL according to the experience
of all The philosophers and sages of the past and
present confirm this sef-evdent truth Poets in be-
wailing the miseries of the human race have made
this unattainable happiness the burden of their
song.
The desire for happiness is not merely want,
but affection of the will, or a reaching after the
object desired by the soul. This object must be
good appear so to the soul; otherwise the will
acting under the light of intelligence, would not
desire it. This faculty of the soul cannot viii what
it knows to be evil yet in its exercise it may choose
a lesser to greater good because it is free to
choose Other wills, equally enlightened, may
choose to act differently. Can Mr. Hubbard de-
eide who has made chat useful effort by the proper
exercise of all his faculties" Of two contradic-
tories, both could not have made 'the proper exer-
else of the same faculty" Yet it is quite possible
that the measure of happiness may be equal. Then
it would follow that the improper exercise of the
will would be as conducive to happiness, that is,
such happiness as Mr. Hubbard contends for. as the
proper exercise.
Will "the proper exercise of the faculties" pre-
vent sickness from entering a happy home stop
earthquakes do away with all the ills and woes to
which humanity is subject? If not that natural
happiness for which the author contends is not at
tainabe, for these catastrophies disturb the most
tranquil souls and they will to "useful effort"
man who exercises his faculties properly" as sure
as they will to the who fails to exercise them
What is self-evident truth to Mr.. Hubbard is
a self-evident falacy to every right-thinking man
who has had experience of life. No matter how
carefully one exercises his faculties, he cannot
stop the lightning bolt which kills his child, nor
prevent the railroad accident which destroys the
lives of his friends, thereby causing pain and sor-
row, and an aching heart As an author and jour
nast, Mr., Hubbard is entitled to praise, but as a
logcian and philosopher his postulates are simply
false axioms.