Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-03-04
" IOGAN" PHILOSOPHY.
BY LCE +. VERNON.

" y recipe for Perfect Happiness
either day in Il magazine which IS. or
which rrIt,'>>..> ia be-. devoted 10 IT,"
serious things Of life. 1t was an al
ltl'iug headline Il provocative head
line Y Recipe for perfect Hap
ipncSS ! confess that smiled in
crcdulou>ly. Along and somewhat
mixed experience OF our common hu-
man nature WAS made me sceptlcal
enough To doubt such headline - to
doubt. indeed, whether perfect hap
piur>S is possible. For tn very
word happiness is SO elusive. you
see. Smith, for example, would dcS-
cribc and quite rightly describe as
happiness. what his neXt-doOr neigh
b1r. brown would mathematics as
the qu.ntcSscnce of misery. And
Smith himself would b. conscious of
happiness in the morning, while in
the same circumstances he would be
morbid and mopy and quite emf
nently ripe for the gallows in the
evening Happiness is merely an alb
stract notion 1t is something 50
subtle and evasive tina: one cannot
hope to pin it down to precise detini-
ton. You are happy to day COM
pared with yesterday, when you were
miserable You are grumpy to-day
compared with yesterday, when you
had hitched your chariot to Il star.
and all was right in the world.
I | i.,l l,,l Slt,
ihave said. 1t struck me as Il silly
head line, and had it not been that it
appeared in serious magazine,
should have passed it over us being
merely the introduction to dramatic
tribute to somebody's purple pills or
somebody else's new system of quite
impossible physical culture. But
that is the worst of serious maya
zines. You lave to take them SER
iously, whether you wish to or not.
SO read on and gathered from my
reading that there actually is a re
cipc for perfect happiness, and also
that it is so confoundedly simple and
so alluringly cheap that, if world
worn folk like you and | are not
happy, it is altogether our own fault,
and the Vegas cannot be held in any
way responsible.
The which being so, we will con-
slider this infallible recipe and see
what we make of it. 1t is from
India, to begin with, and it is at
present forming the basis of a series
of very serious addresses that are
being delivered in London, England,
by swarthy Indian fellow subject
clad in gorgeous and picturesque,
according to the magazine, raiment.
Also, it is causing profound SEN
sation, which adds to its interests
and makes it all the more necessary
that you and | should know some
thing about it, 1t is called Yogaism,
and Yogaism, | learn, is something
| which, if not actually older than the
hills is, at any rate, considerably
older than most of the religions with
which you and | are, more or less,
familiar. And its chief recommended
tion to this neurastheni age is that
it enables you to feel exactly as you
want to feel, at exactly the right
moment.
A wise person once casually re-
marked that most of the discomfort
of life is due to emotions one doeSc't
want. Well, the Yoga creed teaches
you to suppress the emotions you do
not want, and to encourage those
emotions which are desirable. 1t is
a science of happiness, according to
the swarthy aud gorgeously clothed
expert aforementioned, and it is
based upon the simple theory that,
just as the mind can influence the
body, SO can the body influence the
mind. That sounds somewhat con-
fusing, it may be. But consider its
practical application, and you will be
enabled to grasp its full beauties
quite easily.
You are angry, let us say. You
feel an almost irresistible impulse to
launch out into lurid language. You
see red, and are vaguely conscious of
Il thirst for battle, murder and sud
den death. What does the Yoga
science say? Merely that you should
smile and look pleased. Your mind
will respond, and your face acquite
consent. You will not merely look
pleased, you will feel pleased, you
will actually be pleased. So, when
you are sad and disposed to shed
salt and damp tears upon the bosom
of the first sympathetic person who
is receptive and has nothing else to
do, well, you Immediately try to
laugh and endeavOr to tell yourself
funny story. At once you mind
takes the cue. You do laugh, You
do tell yourself that funny story.
The world laughs back at you. You
even laugh at the notion of the damp
and saline moisture which seemed
imminent q moment ago, similarly
you are afraid. Instantly, you square
your shoulders and throw out your
chest, and generally copy the at,i-
tude of the blameless hero in the
melodl anna when he is accused by the
william in the frock coat of having
hypothetical the pearl necklace of
the weeping heroine's wealthy and
cOrpuleut aunt. Your mind ObeyS
the suggestion. Fear vanishes A
comforting glow of don t-care-a-
cussedness pervades your being.
You not only want to be brave, you.
are brave.
Such, at any rate. seems to be the
experience of the Vegas, and seeing
that they have been at it since the
dim far off days COnfucius was grow:
ing a pig-tail. we are clearly bound
to assume that they ought to know.
Wherefore, it seems to me that we
should take his recipe to our business
and bosoms and carefully consider
whether or not we can adapt it. or
some of it, to the everyday needs of