Year: 1876

of attempting to arrive at this exact


measure of our own value? And is


the object to be obtained of sufficient


importance to make it worth while


to commence the attempt.in the face


of all the difficulties which have


been pointed out? A very brief sur


vey of the advantages of this habit


may serve to show the inquirer that


the end to be gained will reward him


for the effort that has TO be made in


the pursuit.. Let it be remembered,


then, that this accurate kind of self
estimation is TO be sought as sub
stitute for the one-sided judgment


which, as we have seen, natural dis
position almost invariably prompts


us to form. 1t is not a choice be-
tween having no opinion and having
a correct one; it is an alternative


between an unexamined and preiu-
diced opinion and aearefully formed
/ onesisNaw, no thoughtful person
canshesitate in admitting that this ex-.
change is vastly to the benefit of the
person. who makes it. Many indo-
lent natures might no doubt prefer
the sweets of an illusqry good opin-
ion of their own character, and think.
it cruel in any body to attempts to dis
turb their infatuation by enforcing
any such course of self examination.
/ But reasonable people will at once
recognize that such a deliyerance
from self-deception is an immense
boon. For, in the first place, all
error is weakness, and an erroneous
opinion respecting our own merits or
powers renders us liable to innumer-
able evils and disappointments. Even
the ridicule which is certain to he
directed to man 5 overweening esti-
mate of himself is something worth
escaping, and this is. the smallest
evil which results from the illusion.
A person who thinks very much
more highly Of his intellectual pow
ers or his'social importance than his
neighbOrsa and friends, viii, of course,
fall into all kinds of misealculation
respecting his future. A just esti-
mate of ourselves puts us on level,
so to speak, with others, and pre-
went us from dnping ourselves by
sapposing that they willmak more
of US than they really intend to
make. A calm and just opinion of
ones own capabilities and attrac-
tions is indeed one Of the most inn
portant conditions of intimate and
beneficial social union, Other ad
vantages, of no less Importance if of
a less tangible kind, to be derived
from this practice may be round in
the large increase Of moral power
which it brings to the adopter of it.
For it seems clear that a person who
has sought to train himselfin accu-
rate Judgment in relation to an object
which presents the greatest tempta-
tions to superficial and one-sided APP
probation, will be vastly stronger
when called on to pass judgment on
less perplexing objects. The habit
of judging ones self impartially is
plainly the best guarantee for the
careful and conscientious estimation
of others. Bya patient cultivation
of this art of selfaappreeiation there
will be developed a power of self-re-
straint and degrees sof sobriety and
conscientious fidelity in forming
Judgment which cannot ta1 to dis
play themselves in all the utterances
of daily life. And 5 this increased
conseientiousness. in Judging is not
the only moral gain which this hab-
it will bring to its cultivator. A
faithful consideration of our own
moral claims in the light of our in
ner life is not only likely to make
us careful when called on to judge
others, but will also supply US with
material for forming the Judgment.
For other mems conduct, has, after
all, to be Interpreted by our own
feelings and experience, and unless
we have accustomed ourselves to re-
feet very carefully on the springs Of
our own conduct, we shall often miss
the real clue to the actions. The
more we have tried to detect and
weigh in the moral balance the in
gradients of our own character, the
better fitted we shall be to under
stand and to do justice to the com
plexity of a human action when it
happens to be anOther's. Finally,
it may be remarked that the practice
ofestimating ones self carefully and
accurately win serve toarender one
much tolerant in Judging of others.
There is natural bias to condemn
Others, just as there is natural bias
to aprOYe ourselves, and the cultixa-
tion of severe self,restraint in esti-
mating ourselves will tend to coun-
teract the first bias nolless than the
second. For to have gained a just
and adequate insight into our own
characters, with their defects as we'll
as their merits, is to have ourselves
on lower pedestal in relation to
others, and so to have raised others
proportionately. Not only so, but
the clear recognition of personal in
completeness which a rigid self-valu-
alton necessitates, will temper ones
feeling toward another's fault, by
suggesting the possibility of our
own lapse into it.. In this way the
most conscientious Judge of his own
character will become the most ready
recognizer of the naturalness of
moral error. Another's demerit will
appear understandable, human, and
so, less shocking, to such a one, be-
cause it can be brought into conceiv-
able relation to his own motives and
impulses. There is, however, one
characteristic dangerin this habit of
judicial self-serntiny which needs to
be pointed cut. We refer to the
possibility of conscientious per-
forInanee Of this task developing a
certain unhealthy degree of anxiety
with respect to ones self. All re-
Election on self, if carried very far
is apt to pass into morbid self-con-
seriousness, and the moral investiga-
,tion of ones own conduct and char
,acter has often1led, as the history of


religious asceticism abundantiy
! shows, to the most miserable form OF
II