The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1914-06-26
8. To every action there Is always
a nnnal and contrary reaction


q a body once set in motion will mo
3 forever in q straight line with t
& same velocity unless acted upon
3 some other force which compels
= change. This property is known
. INERTIA. Inertia Is not force, but
) the result of absorbing force.
Z The hardest thing we have to owe
) come in ourselves is mental inerti
An idea once formed will persist unit
stronger one overwhelms 1t an
alters it. This Is the foundation {
habit and the reason the past has 8
strong hold on us always. The pas
Is the line of least resistance an
leaning on it is highly characteristic
! of one with slothful intellect, the ira
j dit!on worshiper, the dawd]ing con
tative.
I We are naturally conservative be
cause it requires an initial effort to up
root old notions and habits; 1t is pain
full and we resent 1t. We want to b.
let alone.
If because Of some indiscretion VIC
had pain yesterday for which by
recommendation Of authority we took
something out Of bottle, it is easier
to repeat the act again today than 1t
Is to determine the cause or to ignore
the temporary penalty Of pain and re-
solve to sin no more. To repeat an
act is usually to follow the line Of
least resistance. 1t requires less
thought and less effort with each
repetition until finally an automatic
cycle OF reaction Is established and a
habit is born.
With the track once laid, a word
spoken, the fash of a sign before the
eye, the most remotely associated idea,
each serves as signal for a train OF
thought bringing into action automatic.
ally complicated line of co-ordinating
nerve centers. and the act is again per-
formed practically involuntarily, often
anconsciously.
{ This is why the drunkard is In a
perilous condition ii he contents him.
'elf merely with saying or swearing
hat he will avoid strong drink.
Thought precedes action and therefore
I thought be not clearly focused on
ome wholesome dominant idea It
must inevitably revert to the estab-
lshed line.
10 rescue one permanently from
abit We must have an equivalent In
ONE mental occupation sufficiently at.
'active to submerge the old impress
Ions. else ones vitality will be squan.
cred in the struggle. Inability to re-
st drink or drugs or bad habits in
eneral is because OF inertia.
II one is weak 1t 10 difficult to gen.
ate sufficient power to overcome the
formulated force of the little act fire..
lently repeated. and one becomes
ave to habit.
kbits may be good or bad; both
kha natural and Inevitable result
---J- For tue fatsref muat grow
vof aAd mheriG the present, 3ust as
I present grew out of and inherited
9 past. Intelligence gives thorough
aiming, good habits, good health and
ppiness. Ignorance or Indifference
yes bad training, vicious habits, dis
Sc and crime. Bad habits can be
rely and safely broken, not by sub
tuition, nor by cures, nor by miracles,
t only by a frank and courageous
'ognition of the true conditions and
sane development out of them.
The fundamental necessity for the
'rection Of bad habits is intellectual .
egrity-a rare quality. The mos q
[icult and unpleasant duty we have >,
perform, but one absolutely neces- >,
y if we would have good health and y.
able to use the greatest power -
hin the reach of man, thought, is to =
square and truthful with ourselves, !"
see ourselves as we are. n
'housht Is the one and only domain v
erein man can reign supreme, for y
lie we may not determine what we al
II think, We can govern what we 81
II think about, and we have the fl
7er to analyze, to measure, weigh, m
&c and accept or reject any thought
any subject. Thought is a canni. al
because thought lives upon thought th
unless constantly given fresh and fiji
stantial food 1t must starve and az
ONE inert.
ut to think is to change; nothing &c
prevent that, and we have noted en-
we are constitutionaIIy opposed w
change. Hence most Of US solve
matter by refusing to think; we gil
drop into line and do the conven. he
al lockstep and go where we're mi
n" 1t Is simple and pleasant to alb
N the easy chair Of the old order
let the universe wag along; one I'll
els much more smoothly ii the
contains only the ideas others
} developed. vel