The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1914-07-24


destruction. Man himself. OF course.
as part OF the universe. is subject
to all these laws. and therefore. as
might be expected. the elements for |
our own self-destruction are TO be |
found in the very instincts and facul
ties that raise us superior to the bruce.
Wrongfully used memory, Imagination
and the allied faculties would, il per
sisted In, surely annihilate our civiii
zation.
The history of the past 10000 years
as indelibiy written in the substance
of the earth itself proves civilization
to be an intermittent and rerurrent
phenomena. Nations rise. blo,m and
decay because with the accumulation
of material wealth the press. re of ne
cessity decreases and the Individual
citizen ceasing to strive,' relaxes and
becomes soft or prematurSly senile-
even neurasthenic. II you please.
When weary it is very essy and very
pleasant to relax and sink into that
lies the danger, for it Is in that state
one so readily become retrospective
and by imperceptible stages drifts
into self-sympathy and Nelf-pity and
quickly becomes aelf-cohscious and
self-centered.
self-centered mind - 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 experienced
fight that never ceases, and that never
fails to react In personal development
either. 80 long as that wonderfully eff
cient driving power, interest, Is main
tanned. The trouble with most of US
larger children is that we are not
lax and demand to be amused; we
sprawl intellectually and feed on
sensuous excitement; such ideas as
current events incite are vague, diff.
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 well.
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
ing for the opportunity when they
may come forth to puzzle and con.
found us.
rible about the subconscious phenom
ena IT, with a full knowledge of the
laws of the universe, of which we are
part, we frankly consider ourselves
link In the chain Of life extending
from an incomprehensibly remote past
to an equally incomprehensible and re
mote future.
a nj nj CT
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 tc
a great-grandparent, or to one even
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 that
misty past, dim memories, vague and
nebular but none the less memories
of past long left Behind in the ad
vancing consciousness Of the race?
In these latent impressions will be
| found the key to the very pitiful truth
| that the dominant impression In the
mind of man is that of fear, and that
this is undoubtedly the source of those
so-called causeless terrors of early
childhood coming at a period before
terror should be known, and in later
years coming to us so furtively in the
night and in all weakened conditions
due to illness, to sudden surprise, OF
to relaxation from any cause, fear
| impossible to overcome by any reason.
ing Secause it WAS burned into our
sympathetic nervous systems back in
the past when devils lurked behind
every leaf and man was in constant
terror of the unknown.
With the dawn Of more intelligent
comprehension of the universe there
has come an appreciation that nature