The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1916-03-21


is so sensitive to pain The more VIC yield to it
the more we suffer. 1t is not unlike pressing
closer and closer to the scorching fire. The truth
u.s. OF course, that multitudes have suffered as bit
tery and more, that muttudes have shared this
very experience, many OF them much more worthy
OF exemption than VIC
That troubles come, singly, but in bat
talions, is often true that it seems as if it
must be the expression of a law Is it not prob
able the explanation may be found in study OF
the mind under trouble?
Take the case OF the man who reacts vigor-
ously from trouble, becoming thereby not weaker,
but stronger. Is his trouble sure to bring other
troubles in its train and to make him victim
OF circumstance: BY no means. The strength
IN that reaction is not merely defensive; it is
creative By being greater figure himself, the
man is in a more favorablv relation to the forces
outside. Instead OF antagonizing they arc far
more likely to conciliatc him now
1t is pitiful to sec how the moment when
circumstance goes against us. tend to weaken
ourselves for the sacrifice 1t is as it. even while
we resented plight we deliberately tried to
make it worse Again and again We 60 over it
IN our minds in that futile endeavor called
worry We make ourselves the victims OF two
kinds OF circumstances, the real and the mag
mary. And of the two, the imaginary is likely
to be by far the By thinking intently of it.,
we prepare the way for its approach We almost
spread open arms to give it welcome
Horace Fletcher, in his small volume "Ment-
culture" tells how he escaped being the victim of
circumstance associated with anger and worry.
friend told him about the effect OF the Buddhist
training on the Japanese in acquiring sclf-control
From the instant I realized these cancer spots
OF anger and worry removable they left
me. With the discovery of their weakness they
were exercised. From that time life has had an
entirely changed aspect" And yet the life outside
remained the same, and others who had not
achieved Fletchcr's illuminaton circumstance
could still drive to worry and anger. Consider.
for example, what Fletcher says about his expert
ence traveller: II have had occasion to travel
more than ten thousand miles by rail since thai.
morning. The same Pullman porter, conductor,
Eotcl waiter, peddlcr, book agent, cabman, and
others who were formerly source OF ANNOYANCE
and irritation have been met, but | am not CON-
scous of single incivility. All at once the
whole world has turned good to me. I have be-
come, as it were, sensitive only to the RAYS of
good"
Perhaps the secret OF the matter is to be found
in the celebrated words OF Charles Kingsley's: "Ii
you wish to be miserable, you must think about,
yourself about what you want, what YOU like,
what respect people ought to pay you; and then
to you nothing will be pure. on will spoil every.
thing you touch. You will make sin and misery
for yourself out OF everything which God sends
you. Y OH will be wrctched as you choose :"
In other words, by putting cxactons petty and
egotistical, life make circumstance our
enemy. By following the wiser way the way of
the Oriental philosopher and OF all the great
teachers, VIC discover that even adverse circum-
stance be friend. 1t is not so much what
happens to that counts it is what we let it
do to our consciousness and what we make our
consciousness do to it.
Dwelling on painful circumstance is coming to
be regarded as so unwholesomc that 10 avoid
the practice is sign Of good manners The
people who have the habit frankly regarded
has way Of feeding itself There arc those who
become erslavcd to distressing aspect of life;
! all other aspects it obscures, including even the
beauty OF the world Their particular trouble they
make as large as the universe. In very true
sense they develop it into monstrous kind OF
| egotsm
! Half consciously we all feel the importance of
| freeing ourselves from the slavery of circum-
stance. We in our judgments of those
who are controlled and bothered by petty wor-
res and vexations. But in the larger trials we
often give credit to ourselves and to others for
distressfu reactions Those who take the troubles
hard and yet bravely praise. And yet if there
were less courage and more philosophy the result,
would be far better. Indeed much Of the cour.
age that wins applause in the world is an OK
preston Of egotism mingled with PRIDE the asscr.
ton of personal power; The impersonal attitude
unassertive, quiet, would bring relief much more