The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1914-06-19

w hCt NCoiy IL I'D va J SS'
pleasant to relax and sink into thai
delightfully."- dreamy state; but here
lies the danger, for it Is In that state
one so readily become interpretive
and by imperceptible stages drifts
into self-sympathy and self-pity and
quickly becomes self-consclous ana
self-centered.
A self-centered mind Is like root
bound plant: unless the roots are
shaken out and freed so they may con-
tinuously reach out into new soil that
plant will surely sicken and die. Smash
the pot and the roots will shoot out
into new soil and the plant will grow
and thrive. Just so the self-centered
mind must break out Of Its shell OF
self and forget itself in working, fight
ing, striving for something worth
while.
The lowest forms of life merely
sprawl and feed. A baby sprawls and
feeds too; but with the first dawn OF
intelligence begins a struggle and a
fight to definite end-the attainment
of knowledge through experience-a
fight that never ceases, and that never
fails to react in personal development
either. SO long as that wonderfully efit-
cient driving power, interest, Is main
tanned. The trouble with most of US
larger children is that we are not
really interested In anything. We re-
lax and demand to be amused; we
sprawl Intellectually and feed on
sensuous excitement; such ideas as
current events incite are vague, dif-
fuse, thin and weak-they do not grip
us. That is why comparatively few OF
us ever think in the true sense OF the
term, and that is why like little chill
dren we must again learn to use our
powers If we would be we'll.
The dominating instinct in man Is
fear and this Is why self-contempla-
ton is dangerous. There are many
store rooms In the basement Of mans
consciousness, commonly known as
the sub-conscious mind, and in these
dark and forgotten corners many
strange things are stored, only wait
ssng thzaopp ors0nzxs sxasng saaaay
may come forth to puzzle and con-
found US.
There Is nothing mysterious or ter
rible about the subconscious phenom-
ena IL, with a full knowledge of the
laws of the universe, Of which we are
a part, we frankly consider ourselves
a link in the chain Of life extending
from an incomprehensibly remote past
to an equally incomprehensible and re
mote future.
We deem it not at all strange, mere
ly because we happen to be familiar
with the fact, that there are handed
down to US strong memories out of the
remote past in the form of striking re
semblances to a grandparent, or tt
great-grandparent, or to one ever
still more remote. All inherited traits
are but cell memories; then why
strange or mysterious that there should
be handed down to US In the same way
and from the same source out OF tina
misty past, dim memories, vague ant
nebular. but none the less memories
of past long left behind In the ad
vancing consciousness of the race?
In these latent impressions will b
found the key to the very pitiful trutl
that the dominant impression In thu
mind of man is that of fear, and tina
this is undoubtedly the source of thos'
so-called causeless terrors of earl,
childhood coming at a period befor
terror should be known, and in late
years coming to US so furtively In tn
| night and in all weakened condition
due to illne..j, to sudden surprise, o
to relaxation from any cause, a fea
impossible to overcome by any reason
ing because 1t was burned into GU
sympathetic nervous systems back i
the past when devils lurked benin
every leaf and man was in constan
terror of the unknown.
With the dawn of a more intelligen
comprehension Of the universe Their
has come an appreciation that nature
movements are 80 vast and contain s
many complex and never to be under
stood forces that balance and countel
balance each other, that ones cont
dence in ones self is always In invers
; proportion to ones knowledge Of th
laws involved. Hence, the most inte
ligent physician uses the least med
cine because he realizes more keenl
than any one else the completely {
the phenomena with which he has
deal and the extent to which concl,
sions are likely to be vitiated by III
known factors in the problem. An
today, throughout the world, the issu
is being reverently but boldly me
The remedy for our ills? To invest
gate; to think; to become personal
ties; to lay aside all fads and fancie
all prejudice, all superstition and tn
dition, and take such steps for the r
I moval Of the known cause as are foun
? to be necessary in the light of Ii
I truth derived from modem methot
: of scientific investigation-all Il
while remembering that the on