{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_45040/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_45040","id":"gutenberg_45040","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45040","summary":null,"tags":["Anger","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Conduct of life","Worry"],"text":"Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected\nwithout note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have\nbeen retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with\nunderscores: _italics_.\n\n\n\nEMANCIPATION\n\n\n\nMENTICULTURE OR THE A-B-C OF TRUE LIVING\n\n\nBY\n\nHORACE FLETCHER\n\n\nCHICAGO\nA. C. McCLURG & COMPANY\n1895\n\nCOPYRIGHT, 1895\nBY HORACE FLETCHER\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nTHEORY                                                      13\n\nA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE                                       25\n\nA DISCUSSION                                                47\n\nPLYMOUTH CHURCH CLUB AND ARMOUR INSTITUTE                   59\n\nDIAGNOSIS AND REMEDY                                        65\n\nA PRESCRIPTION                                              73\n\nSCRAPS OF EVIDENCE                                          77\n\nFIRST PRINCIPLES OVERLOOKED                                113\n\nSLAVES OR FREEMEN--WHICH?                                  123\n\nORGANIZATION                                               139\n\nHOPE                                                       145\n\n\n\n\n_This little paper; being a Kindergarten presentation of a theory\nof menticulture through the elimination of the germs of the evil\npassions; proven to be of practical benefit by a personal experience\nin every-day life; was read before a gathering of Mental Scientists at\nNew Orleans. At the request of a number of my friends I have had it\nput into printed form for them._\n\n_I have added the substance of a discussion which followed the\nreading of the paper, a diagnosis, a prescription, some scraps of\nevidence from influential sources which have come to me, some\nsuggestions relative to the tendency to far-away search for happiness,\nand a ray of hope that it can be found near at hand, through\nEmancipation._\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nMedical science had struggled for centuries with the repression and\namelioration of physical disease before it discovered the possibility\nof prevention by killing the germ.\n\nMental science pursued the same course of attempted repression in this\ncountry until quite recently it was found that mental afflictions have\ngerms also, and it naturally follows that any who are interested in\nthe subject should try to discover, not only the germs themselves, but\nmethods of getting rid of them.\n\nThe discovery that I have made is not new, as Christ, Buddha,\nAristotle, Omar Khayyam and many others, have all suggested that the\nelimination of the evil passions is entirely possible; but my special\nanalysis of them, and the easy method of defeat that I have found\npossible to myself, have excited such interest, that I have been\ninduced to publish them, without attempting to follow the subject\nbeyond the elementary stage.\n\nThe theory that I have built up is based on a proper estimation of the\nlimitations of mental weaknesses, a discovery that they have roots,\nand also that they can be \"pulled out by the roots\" and disposed of\njust like any other weeds; only that the task, being mental and not\nphysical, can be more easily performed.\n\nLiterary grace has been sacrificed in the belief that redundant\nreference to the germs will be effective in bringing them into\ncontempt.\n\n\n\n\nEMANCIPATION\n\n\n\n\nTHEORY\n\n\n[Sidenote: Anger and Worry are Germs]\n\nAll of the evil passions are traceable to one of two roots.\n\nANGER is the root of all the aggressive passions.\n\nWORRY is the root of all the cowardly passions.\n\nEnvy, spite, revenge, impatience, annoyance, selfishness, prejudice,\nunrest, and the like are all phases of anger.\n\nJealousy, fear, the belittling of self, the blues, and all the\nintrospective forms of depression are the children of worry.\n\nAnger and worry are the most unprofitable conditions known to man.\nWhile they are in possession of the mind, both mental and physical\ngrowth are suspended.\n\n[Sidenote: Anger and Worry are Thieves]\n\nAnger and worry are thieves that steal precious time and energy from\nlife.\n\nAnger is a highway robber and worry is a sneak thief.\n\nAnger and worry are the most potent forms of self-abuse, for the reason\nthat in many cases anger is the result of misunderstanding, and in most\ncases worry's prophecies never come true; or, if they do, the\nfulfilment is generally caused by the worry itself.\n\nAnger and worry do not stimulate to any good end.\n\nAnger and worry not only dwarf and depress, but sometimes kill.\n\nAnger and worry are bad habits of the mind and not necessary\ningredients.\n\nAnger and worry are no more necessary than other passions civilized man\nhas learned to control, and it is only needful to realize that they are\nunnecessary in order to make it impossible to feel, much less to show\nthem.\n\nAnger and worry cannot be eliminated through process of repression any\nmore than a weed can be killed by cutting down the stalk, or a cancer\ncan be cured from the surface, or the drinking habit can be gotten rid\nof by \"tapering off.\" Germ eradication is not only the _easiest_, but\nthe _only sure cure_ for all physical diseases and mental handicaps.\n\nThe dispossession of anger and worry does not cause indifference or\nencourage indolence.\n\nThe natural tendency of the emancipated mind is towards growth, both\nintellectual and spiritual, just as the tendency of plant life is\ntowards vigorous growth and perfect blossoming, if it is kept free from\nthe gnawings of cankerous worms.\n\n[Sidenote: Anger and Worry are Parasites]\n\nAnger and worry are as much parasites as are the cankerous worms that\nattack plants. The intelligent horticulturist knows that the worms are\nparasites, picks them off his plant, and throws them away too far to\nreturn. The intelligent menticulturist of the future will treat anger\nand worry in the same intelligent manner.\n\nIt is not necessary to engage in battle the small army of lesser\npassions if you concentrate your efforts against anger and worry, for\nthey are all children of these parents. Oppose them with a bold front;\nmake one heroic stand against them and they and all of their children\nwill fly. Disown them once and the ability to re-adopt them will have\ndisappeared with them.\n\n[Sidenote: Worry Causes Dissipation]\n\nAnger and worry, especially worry, are the cause of most of the\ndrunkenness and other dissipations which are the curses of the age.\nExcuse for them or temptation to them is found in the desire to smother\nthe depression which they themselves cause.\n\nAnger and worry are creations of the mind, and can be dispelled by the\nsame power that gave them birth.\n\n[Sidenote: Anger and Worry are Phantoms]\n\nAnger and worry are caused by phantoms that we create within ourselves\nand whose only strength is that with which we endow them.\n\nAnger and worry are like echoes; they do not exist until we call for\nthem, and the louder we call, the louder is their response. We can\nnever drown them; yet, if let alone, they drown themselves.\n\nFear is possibly the truer name for the cowardly root-passion than\nworry; but as they are synonymous, and as anger and worry are more\nfrequently used together, and worry has a less formidable sound, I have\nchosen to present it for attack under that title.\n\nWhile the evil passions align themselves into two classes, as the\noffshoots of Anger and Worry; they are, in fact, all growths from one\nroot. Worry (or fear) is the male principle, as it were, without which,\nall the others wither and die. For instance; if we do not worry, we do\nnot fear; and if we do not fear aggression, or insult, or slight, we do\nnot become angry. We quarrel most frequently with what _we fear_ is\nthought or intended by our adversary, and least frequently with what he\nactually does or thinks. On the other hand our adversary endows us with\nintentions which he himself creates, and each puts his own fuel on the\nfire, to increase the heat of the controversy.\n\nIn Emancipation there is no fear, (or worry) and consequently no fuel\nfor discord.\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation Disarms]\n\nEmancipation is a disarmament which disarms others, but adds strength\nto itself.\n\nTo the Emancipated every moment is a delight, or a moment of calm,\nduring which he is susceptible only to good impressions, and the best\ninterpretation of everything, no matter what the external conditions.\nEven in cases of sickness, the tendency of the emancipated mind is so\ninclined to gratitude for the limitations of the calamity, that it has\nlittle if any room left for regret. Its thankful appreciation of a half\nloaf of blessings, leaves no place for disappointment that it is not a\nwhole one, and it certainly has no desire to question the wisdom of the\nprocess of evolution to which it is related.\n\nTo question or to regret the inevitable seems to the emancipated mind\nthe greatest folly imaginable. It certainly is as foolish as barking at\nthe moon.\n\n[Sidenote: \"Sweet Sorrow\"]\n\n\"Sweet sorrow\" must not be classed with the depressing passions. It is\nthe tenderest expression of love. If tears of love or of sympathy\nspring to the eyes, do not repress them; do not be ashamed of them;\nthey are like dew from Heaven and promote the growth of the soul.\n\nNeither must friendly rivalry, nor ambition to excel, be classed as\naggressions; as they are phases of growth.\n\n[Sidenote: Blesses or Curses]\n\nThe disposition of the Emancipated is to switch the current of the\nDivine Spark (which is the energy of man) on to wires that connect with\nmotors belted to good acts, and good thoughts, and worthy appreciation,\nand to cut out the circuits of worry and anger and their branch lines\nentirely, leaving them to rust and decay through disuse. It is a matter\nof voluntary selection. The same effort of thought can be made to bless\nor to curse; can stimulate to good or stimulate to bad; can propel or\nretard; can aid or obstruct; can nourish or kill.\n\n[Sidenote: Perfection is Divinity]\n\nNature uses the same atoms to perform many services of widely differing\npurpose. Where she is inanimate the blind and dumb law of the \"survival\nof the fittest\" rules supreme. In her lowest forms of life this law\nbegins to be modified by selection, and protection from without. In the\nhigher forms of animal life memory, and selection, and division of\nlabor, and provision, and gratitude, show a degree of development that\nis beautiful indeed; but it is left to man to perfect this development\nwithin himself. To him is given the power, through cultivation, to\npromote, without limit, growth towards Perfection, which is the\nevidence of Divinity in him.\n\n    Soft mist, down-falling, from its cloud domain,\n    Bathes all the thirsty land with gentle rain;\n    Again, to Heaven ascends, by sunbeams wooed,\n    Then plunges back to earth in torrent mood.\n\n    As gentle rain it swells the softening seed;\n    In torrent force, it wrecks with demon greed;\n    Now, like the radiance of a loving heart;\n    Now, like the scorching of a lightning dart.\n\n    The self-same atom, hidden in a tear.\n    May shine with love, or note a potent fear;\n    When bound to others form the flintiest stone;\n    Or, floating freely, bear the subtlest tone.\n\n    Thoughts are like atoms, fashioned by the will;\n    Each has a mission, charged with good or ill;\n    Sometimes to bless; anon to desolate;\n    Love's messenger; or harbinger of hate.\n\n    In Nature's hands, one atom plays two parts,\n    As may be needed in her several arts;\n    In man alone, should love forever shine;\n    Displacing hate; proclaiming man Divine.\n\nLove, and Appreciation, and Gratitude,--the ever-present and\never-faithful handmaids of Emancipation,--are the natural and only\nconditions favorable to growth; they are the less assertive but\nstronger attributes which are always waiting to occupy the places left\nvacant by anger and worry, and to fill the \"void which Nature abhors.\"\nBorn of them is that other Divine attribute called Help or Charity, and\ntogether they stimulate to good action and good thought, and lift into\nlife that plant of the soul, the Divine Responsibility of each member\nof the human family.\n\nAnger and worry are the rankest forms of Egotism.\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation not Phariseeism]\n\nEmancipation is the reverse of Phariseeism. Phariseeism is\nself-sufficiency; while Emancipation shows its desire for growth,\nthrough the preparation of its mental and spiritual entity for\nunimpaired growth, by clearing it of the weeds of egotism.\n\n\n\n\nA PERSONAL EXPERIENCE\n\n\n[Sidenote: Ernest Francisco Fenollosa]\n\nIt was my privilege one evening to be with Prof. Fenollosa in his\nJapanesque apartment in Boston. Almost every article in view was the\nproduct of some Japanese artist who had been the friend of Prof.\nFenollosa in Japan. The odor of incense added perceptibly to the\ncalming influence of the environment.\n\n[Sidenote: We had met in Japan]\n\nMany years ago we had met in far-off Japan amid similar surroundings,\nand had discussed theories of true living that had been a source of\ngreat pleasure to me, and whose influence had been with me to many\ncountries and climes, helping me to enjoy more fully than I otherwise\ncould, the beauties of nature, and of art, and of life.\n\nWe were exchanging the experiences of the intervening years, and I\nbecame acutely interested in his account of the wonderful degree of\nculture and self-control attained by some of his Japanese friends\nthrough the practice of the Buddhist discipline.\n\nIt was all so interesting and beautiful, that under the spell of the\nrecital and the surroundings, I longed to taste some of the sweets of\nthe calm he pictured, and begged him to tell me the process of the\ndiscipline, so that perchance I might follow it and reap some of the\nbenefits.\n\nThe philosopher saw that I was serious in my desire, and his face lit\nup with approval as he said, \"It is not easy to communicate at a\nsitting what took me years of study to learn, but I can at least put\nyou in the way of a start. I can tell you where to begin to grow. _You\nmust first get rid of anger and worry._\" \"But,\" said I, \"is that\npossible?\" \"Yes,\" replied he, \"it is possible to the Japanese, and\nought to be possible to us.\"\n\nI was startled at the suggestion of the possibility of the entire\nrepression of anger and worry. I knew that their repression was\ncounselled by Christianity and Buddhism, and presumably by all codes of\nreligion and ethics; but I had never considered getting rid of them as\na human possibility, except under conditions of health and wealth and\nease, to which few, if any, ever attain.\n\n[Sidenote: Get rid of Anger and Worry]\n\nOn my walk back to the Parker House, a distance of fully two miles, I\ncould not think of anything else but the words, \"_get rid_,\" \"_get\nrid_;\" and the idea must have continued to possess me during my\nsleeping hours, for the first consciousness in the morning brought back\nthe same thought, with the revelation of a discovery, which framed\nitself into the reasoning, \"If it is possible to get rid of anger and\nworry, why is it necessary to have them at all?\" I felt the strength of\nthe argument and at once accepted the reasoning. The baby had\ndiscovered that it could walk. It would scorn to creep any longer.\n\n[Sidenote: Anger and Worry Instantly Removed]\n\nFrom the instant I realized that these cancer spots of worry and anger\nwere removable, they left me. With the discovery of their weakness they\nwere exorcised. From that time life has had an entirely changed aspect.\n\nAlthough from that moment the possibility and desirability of freedom\nfrom the depressing passions has been a reality to me, it took me some\nmonths to feel absolute security in my new position; but, as the usual\noccasions for worry and anger have presented themselves over and over\nagain, and I have been unable to feel them in the slightest degree, I\nno longer dread or guard against them, and I am amazed at my increased\nenergy and vigor of mind;--at my strength to meet situations of all\nkinds, and at my disposition to love and appreciate everything.\n\n[Sidenote: Wonderful Photographic Films]\n\n[Sidenote: Sensitive only to Good]\n\nI have had occasion to travel more than ten thousand miles by rail\nsince that morning; North, South, East and West, with the varying\ncomforts and discomforts, as they used to be. The same Pullman porter,\nconductor, hotel waiter, peddler, book-agent, cabman, and others, who\nwere formerly a source of annoyance and irritation have been met, but I\nam not conscious of a single incivility. All at once the whole world\nhas turned good to me. I am sure the change is not so much in the world\nas in me. I have become, as it were, sensitive only to the rays of\ngood, as some photographic films of recent invention are sensitive only\nto certain single colored rays of light.\n\nIf we are wise we never leave school. When the academy and the college\nhave put us through their curriculum, we have still before us the\nexample of Nature, and the walks of Science, and Art, and Brotherhood,\nin which to search for suggestions to be applied in menticulture. May\nwe not learn a lesson from the newly discovered film?\n\nShould not the chemical condition of selection be more difficult than a\nsimilar voluntary mental accomplishment? In comparison with a similar\nprocess in physics the more pliable material of the mind ought to be\nfashioned with greater ease.\n\n[Sidenote: A Fortunate Disappointment]\n\nI could recount many experiences which prove a brand new condition of\nmind, but one more will be sufficient. Without the slightest feeling of\nannoyance or impatience I have seen a train that I had planned to take\nwith a good deal of interested and pleasurable anticipation, move out\nof a station without me, because my baggage did not arrive. The porter\nfrom the hotel came running and panting into the station just as the\ntrain pulled out of sight. When he saw me he looked as if he feared a\nscolding, and began to tell of being blocked in a crowded street and\nunable to get out. When he had finished, I said to him, \"It doesn't\nmatter at all, you couldn't help it, so we will try it again to-morrow.\nHere is your fee, I am sorry you had all this trouble in earning it.\"\nThe look of surprise that came over his face was so filled with\npleasure that I was repaid on the spot for the delay in my departure.\nNext day he would not accept a cent for the service, and he and I are\nfriends for life. The sequence of this incident has no bearing on its\nvalue, but it has a significance. Had I taken the train I missed, I\nwould have been caught in a wreck in which two persons were killed and\nseveral wounded, while my stay over in Cleveland proved to be both\npleasant and profitable.\n\nDuring the first weeks of my experience I was on guard only against\nworry and anger; but, in the meantime, having noticed the absence of\nthe other depressing and dwarfing passions, I began to trace a\nrelationship, until I was convinced that they are all growths from the\ntwo roots I have specified.\n\nI have felt the freedom now for so long a time that I am sure of my\nrelations toward it; and I could no more harbor any of the depressing\nand thieving influences that once I nursed as a heritage of humanity\nthan a fop would voluntarily wallow in a filthy gutter: and the\nstrength of the position is reinforced by the experience of others.\n\n[Sidenote: The Religions]\n\nThere is no doubt in my mind that pure Christianity, and pure Buddhism,\nand the Mental Sciences, and all Religions, fundamentally teach what\nhas been a discovery to me; but none of them have presented it in the\nlight of a simple and easy process of absolute elimination. All of the\nreligions seemed to me to hinge principally on some other life, with\nthe usual features of punishment and reward, and with incidental\nsatisfaction or fear in this life. But as life reveals itself to me in\nmy present condition of mind, this world, these fellow men, the blush\nof Spring, the blossom of Summer, the flame of Autumn, the sparkle of\nWinter, and the violet-softened refulgence of every waking moment yield\na never failing succession of delights.\n\n[Sidenote: Fear Eliminated]\n\nAt one time I wondered if elimination of the passions would not lead to\nindifference and sloth. In my experience the contrary is the result. I\nfeel such an increased desire to do something useful that it seems as\nif I were a boy again and the energy for play had returned. I could\nfight as readily as, (and better) than ever, if there were occasion for\nit. It does not make one a coward. It can't, since fear is one of the\nthings eliminated.\n\n[Sidenote: Surprise Modified]\n\nThat fear is gotten rid of with worry is proven in many ways. I notice\nthe absence of timidity in the presence of any audience I am called on\nto face, whereas I had never before conquered a tendency to partial\nparalysis on such occasions. Timidity resulting from a shock has been\ncured also. When I was a boy I was standing under a tree which was\nstruck by lightning and received a shock, from the effects of which I\nnever knew exemption until I had dissolved partnership with worry.\nSince then lightning, and thunder, and storm clouds, with wind-swept\ntorrents of rain have been encountered under conditions which formerly\nwould have caused great depression and discomfort, without experiencing\na trace of either. Surprise is also greatly modified, and one is less\nliable to become startled by unexpected sights or noises. Temperaments\nmay differ, but Emancipation strengthens all.\n\nIt has been suggested to me, in argument, that in Nature there is\nsunshine and shadow, and that every height must have a corresponding\ndepression, and that immunity from the black or shadowy passions is an\nunnatural condition. This is not true. In the process of growth and\nevolution, conditions that once were natural, are changed to other\nconditions equally natural. Weeds are pulled up by the roots to clear\nthe fields for the growing grain. Why should not mental weeds be pulled\nup by the roots also, and the mind cleared for growth?\n\nMy experience teaches me that the natural evolution of the emancipated\nmind is dominant calm, varied by seasons of exaltation, but never of\ndepression. It is a healthful succession of energy and rest, all\nblessed with loving appreciation, which finds expression in\never-present gratitude.\n\n[Sidenote: I thanked the clock]\n\nOne morning recently I heard myself audibly thank the clock for\nstriking the time for me, and each awakening is as if on a much desired\nholiday, no matter what the conditions of the weather or the comforts\nof life at hand.\n\nContentment and happiness and gratitude and Heaven are generally\naccepted as synonymous terms; but Emancipation embraces them all, and\nin it only can they all be found.\n\n[Sidenote: Heaven Here]\n\nAs far as I am individually concerned I am not bothering myself at\npresent as to what the result of this emancipated condition may be. I\nhave no doubt that the perfect health aimed at by Christian Science may\nbe one of the possibilities, for I note a marked improvement in the way\nmy stomach does its duty in assimilating the food I give it to handle,\nand I am sure it works better to the sound of a song than under the\nfriction of a frown. Neither am I wasting any of this precious time\nformulating an idea of a future existence or a future Heaven. The\nHeaven that I have found within myself is as attractive as any that has\nbeen promised or that I can imagine; and I am willing to let the growth\nlead where it will, as long as anger and worry and their brood have no\npart in misguiding it; but I feel the value of Mental Emancipation to\nbe so great that I long to spread the news of the discovery of an easy\nand immediate means of attaining it.\n\n[Sidenote: Practical Benefits]\n\n[Sidenote: Everything to Woman]\n\nThe practical benefit of the emancipated mind to the individual, and of\nthe emancipated individual to the community, can not be over-estimated.\nIn every walk in life Emancipation is invaluable to the worker, and the\nmost potent aid to success. The emancipated peanut vender will have\nmore customers than his worm-eaten neighbor. The emancipated merchant\nwill find that trade will pass the door of his calamity-howling rival\nand come to him. The emancipated writer will find writing an easy and\npleasant task as compared with that of his moody confrere, and that if\nhe has occasion to dip his pen in vinegar he can wield it better under\nthe influence of judicial calm than he can between the gulps of\nrebellious indigestion. To woman Emancipation means everything. Any\nother condition to her is like an ill fitting garment, and every lapse\nfrom it is like adding a blotch to her complexion which succeeding\nsmiles can never entirely efface. Each expression of a shadowy passion\nleaves a scar. The Emancipation of woman would mean the Emancipation of\nthe race. The adoption of the germ cure will be woman's means to that\nend, and Emancipation will be her Heaven and man's Heaven at the same\ntime.\n\nThe influence of emancipated individuals in a community could be made\nso great that if there were only one in ten, and they should organize\nin clubs for the purpose, they would attract or rule the rest for good,\nand something better than the social Utopia pictured by Edward Bellamy\nin \"Looking Backward\" would follow as a natural sequence, and save us\nfrom the threatened battle between capital and labor, which otherwise\nseems inevitable. The horrors of such a conflict cannot be imagined;\nand, unless the germ cure is sought to avert it, it is sure to come.\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation Cures All Ills]\n\nThe germ cure of the evil passions in the individual, followed by the\ngerm cure of social clumsiness in the body politic, form the only hope\nof Emancipation from the evils which beset the social structure. For\nthese there is no real necessity. There is already such a surplus of\nmechanical energy, such a surplus of creature comforts, and such a\nsurplus of luxuries on our planet, that a moderately sensible\ndistribution of them, would render every inhabitant comfortable and\nhappy. Among the Emancipated the desire to make a generous distribution\nof these surplus stores would be as natural as is the habit of\nrecognizing \"the rule of the road\" among us all to-day. So also, the\nvast amount of surplus energy born of Emancipation would find a natural\noutlet in the arts.\n\nIn suggesting the possibility of a Social Paradise or Community Heaven,\nit is presupposed that education along the lines of both intellectual\nand manual training will have become universal, and that every one\nshall render service to his fellows according to his strength; also\nthat idleness, when one should work, and deception in trade, will have\ncome to be classed as crimes, and not as evidences of \"shrewdness.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Thirty years of Travel]\n\nIt has been my good fortune to travel to and fro over the earth's\nsurface for thirty years, years of experience passed among the people\nof many different nations. I have made quick comparisons of the habits\nand customs of them all; and I have observed how easily some do things\nthat others perform clumsily. The standard measure of my comparison has\nalways been Japan. I could not help observing there less crime, better\nappreciation of art and nature, more physical dexterity and skill,\nfewer notes out of harmony, and more general happiness, gentleness, and\nconsideration for fellows and animals; less (almost no) religious or\nsectional prejudice; a universal patriotism and respect for authority\n(as good children are respectful of the authority of beloved parents);\na love of life, but no fear of death; and many other qualities that\nhave commanded the respect of the world under the bright light of\nrecent events.\n\n[Sidenote: Brave Little Japan]\n\n[Sidenote: World's Congress of Religions]\n\nBrave, gentle, artistic, lovable little Japan, which, thirty odd years\nago, was nursing in quiet seclusion a beautiful flower of artistic\ncivilization, has been rudely but providentially forced into the\ncommunity of nations to teach the rest of the world a great lesson in\nthe art of true living. By the exercise of judicious but resistless\ncourage she has laid the Oriental Colossus who attacked her at her\nfeet; and if the bulldog and buzzard nations of the West, do not unite\ntheir forces to obstruct her inclination, she will lift her fallen foe\nfrom a condition of slavery to barbarous aliens to a condition of\ntranquillity and happiness. She will do this through the introduction\nof reforms in government and administration which she has gathered from\nthe best experience of all the world. What a missionary Japan is! A\nmissionary of the art of true living. A missionary of harmony. The\ncontact of Japan with the other nations made the World's Congress of\nReligions possible; and what this means to the advancement of man on\nthe road to harmony and happiness, was recently stated by Prof. Max\nMuller, when he prophesied that this event would come to be appreciated\nas the greatest civilizing influence of the Nineteenth century.\n\n[Sidenote: Extremes Brought Together]\n\nMay the example of Japan set the boors of the world to thinking, cause\nthem to take their fore feet out of the trough, look up to the sun and\nthe light of dawning civilization, accept the simple teachings of\nChrist and Buddha and common sense, and start a Heaven here on earth.\nSteam and electricity have brought the extremes of our earth together;\nthe telescope has let us into the secrets of the neighboring worlds,\nand logic and common sense may find in the possibility of\n_Emancipation_ a means of bringing Heaven to us in this life.\n\n\n\n\nA DISCUSSION\n\nWHICH FOLLOWED THE READING OF THE FOREGOING PAPER\n\n\n\"_Can anger and worry be entirely eliminated from the human mind?_\"\n\n\"Yes; they are simply bad habits of the mind, parasites, unnatural, and\ntherefore uncivilized conditions, nursed by false ideas of pride or\nnecessity; and their elimination is a purely mental process within the\ncontrol of every intelligent person who has sufficient self-respect to\nrecognize within himself the reflection of the Divine Image.\"\n\n\"_In what does the germ cure of mental ills differ from the Christian\nmethod of repression through answer to prayer?_\"\n\n[Sidenote: Christ Advocated Germ Cure]\n\n\"Christ clearly advocated the germ cure. He did not say 'Try to do unto\nothers as you would have others do unto you,' but '_Do_ unto others,'\netc. '_Be_ ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.' In all of\nhis teachings _do_ and _be_ were the commands. Most of the creeds,\nhowever, endow man with a weakness which is self-condemning. The\nprayers are offered perfunctorily, and sometimes without belief in\ntheir efficacy, while the passions are nursed privately in full belief\nthat they are essential attributes of fallen man.\"\n\n\"_May not the elimination of anger and worry take away some of the\nstimulation to effort that is necessary to human progress?_\"\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation not Weakness]\n\n\"Assuredly not. The absence of anger and worry is an evidence of\nstrength and not of weakness. So-called righteous anger is a weakness\nin the presence of judicial calm. Without anger and worry one is\nstronger to ward off a blow, administer a correction, or protect a\nprinciple. The emancipated mind is as eager for effort as a child is\nfor play. Freed from anger and worry one can shovel more dirt, plough\nmore furrows, perform every duty better, and with less fatigue, than if\nunder their influence.\"\n\n\"_Are there examples in every-day life, among every-day people, that\nprove the possibility of superiority over anger and worry?_\"\n\n[Sidenote: The Strongest Evidence]\n\n\"Yes. Habitually profane men do not swear in the presence of ladies.\nVicious men are gentle when among those whom they respect. The passions\nare subservient to the will under conditions that reverence or fashion\nprescribe. _If they are subservient under any conditions they can be\ncontrolled under all conditions._ Nothing for instance, could make you\nangry while we are talking on this subject, because you would feel\nashamed to show slavery to a condemned and unmanly weakness.\"\n\n\"_If it is possible to get rid of the depressing passions, and they are\nso unprofitable, why has not mankind become emancipated long before\nthis?_\"\n\n[Sidenote: Why not Always Known]\n\n\"This question can best be answered by asking others. Why were a\npersonal devil and witches and filmy ghosts considered possibilities as\nlate as the beginning of this century? Why was human slavery believed\nto be a divine institution by the majority of the world's inhabitants\nas late as fifty years ago? Why are the divine right of kings, and the\nassumption that the sovereign can do no wrong, possibilities of the\npresent? Why is it possible that a Supreme Court of the United States\ncan be divided on questions of political significance, and the points\nof difference of opinion be in harmony with the previous political\naffiliations of the justices? Politics represent the selfish in human\ncontact as at present managed, while justice is supposed to be\nspotlessly unselfish; yet the former unblushingly invades the sanctuary\nof the latter, because selfishness is held to be a necessity.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation not Selfish]\n\n\"_Is not the condition of Emancipation selfish? Is it not selfish not\nto worry for one's friend, even if self-worry is eliminated?_\"\n\n\"Emphatically, no! Emancipation puts one in a condition to be\nunselfish. Suppose his friend need aid or sympathy; will worry furnish\neither? With the extirpation of the depressing passions comes the\nstrength, and the ability, and the _desire_, to give to others, the aid\nand sympathy they may be in need of. Actual, or even metaphorical,\nwringing of hands, is not the sort of sympathy that soothes. It is like\nthe \"blind leading the blind,\" or rather, the weak trying to assist the\nweak. Better try to help with the strength born of Emancipation than\nwith the weakness of the enervating passions.\"\n\n\"_I can easily understand how anger can be classed as a sin, because it\nis aggressive and affects something outside of us; as a sin, I can see\nhow it ought to be cast out; but as worry deals only with one's self, I\ndo not believe it can be called a sin; then why is it necessary to\neliminate it, especially as it may be an incentive to action, to\nprevent the causes of the worry?_\"\n\n\"This whole question has been answered before in the presentation of\nthe theory, but as it has not carried the force of impression that I\nintended, I will take it up piecemeal, and try to be more clear.\n\n[Sidenote: One's First Duty]\n\n\"In the first place, one's first duty is to one's self in the matter of\ncultivation and care; this, not on account of egotism or selfishness,\nbut in order to fit him to be strong and useful and a good member of\nhis circle. As a parent, he should make himself the most perfect\nprogenitor and example possible; as a member of Society he should aim\nto be the most able and useful; and as the custodian of the Divine\nEssence within him, he should not harbor or encourage weeds of the\nsoul, whether visible to others, or within the secret corners of his\nown heart.\n\n\"As to worry ever being an incentive to wise or good action, I will\nrepeat a section of the theory. 'Worry's prophesies are seldom\nrealized, and if they are, the realization is generally caused by the\nworry itself.'\"\n\n\"_How can emancipation be secured for the community?_\"\n\n[Sidenote: Woman's Opportunity]\n\n\"Through the influence of the emancipated individual; chiefly through\nthe influence of the emancipated woman. In the crossing of sabers she\ncannot assist; but in a war against the enemies of the mind, when love\nis the weapon, she can and will occupy a place in the front rank. She\ncan make anger and worry unfashionable, as she already has made\nprofanity and obscenity unfashionable.\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation Clubs]\n\n\"To accomplish this, let clubs be formed in each community and in each\nchurch, and let each church become a club-house as well. Introduce\nhealthful amusements such as make other clubs attractive, and place in\nlarge letters over the portal and the altar\n\n    GROWTH\n    EMANCIPATION\n    HELP.\n\n\"You will have then constantly before you the _only_ cure for mental\ncancers, and the essence of all religions expressed in three words; you\nwill have touched the button of the Divine camera within you whose film\nis sensitive only to the rays of good. Love and growth will do the\nrest. The teachers of morality and religion will do abler work under\nthe realization that not only the 'old Adam,' but the Divine Essence as\nwell, have seats in each human soul, and that, when the good is\nappealed to in terms of confidence and understanding, evil will be cast\nout _instantly_, without a lifetime of controversy, and without waiting\nfor eternity, or even for the death-bed to unloose the fetters.\n\n[Sidenote: Christian Societies]\n\n\"As a result of organization on the basis of Emancipation, and when it\nhas become an accepted fact that anger and worry are only bad habits of\nthe mind, no clergyman can show them and retain the respect of his\ncongregation; no King's Daughter can entertain them and be worthy of\nher badge; no member of the Christian Endeavor Society can harbor\nwithin himself the arch enemies of Christianity which the Master\ncommanded his disciples to cast out, and be loyal to his cause; and no\nindividual in the pursuit of duty, or even of selfish pleasure, can\nafford to carry such weighty handicaps and hope to win the race.\"\n\n\n\n\nPLYMOUTH CHURCH CLUB AND ARMOUR INSTITUTE\n\n\n[Sidenote: Frank W. Gunsaulus]\n\nA good example of a church club is that which forms a part of Plymouth\nChurch in Chicago. Plymouth Club was founded by Dr. Scudder and is\nwarmly encouraged by Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, the present pastor of the\nchurch. Dr. Gunsaulus is also president of Armour Institute, where\nmanual training is taught side by side with letters and the sciences to\nmen and women alike. In these two eminently practical organizations\nmost of the conditions favorable to growth are already furnished. Add\nto these Emancipation as the motto of the club, and as the requisite\nmental accomplishment for admission to the school, and the conditions\nwill be perfected to the highest degree.\n\nThe word Emancipation has a very formidable sound because it is\nassociated with a great war; but its attainment through germ\neradication is a simple and easy accomplishment.\n\n[Sidenote: College Presidents Responsible]\n\nThe presidents of great mental and manual training institutions know\nthat the depressing and dwarfing phantoms of the mind are merely bad\nhabits--weeds that can be rooted out--and that anger and worry are the\nroots.\n\nThey have provided commodious buildings, learned professors, the most\nperfect chemical and mechanical appliances, and thousands of books, to\naid mental and manual culture; and yet, they fail to apply the first\nprinciple of all their sciences to the preparation of the pupil. In\nhorticulture they do not tolerate worms or weeds; in chemistry they\nfirst examine into the purity of the ingredients; and in mechanics the\ngreatest care is taken to avoid friction. Anger and worry are\nconditions of extreme mental friction, which, during their presence,\nstop the progressive action of the mental machine.\n\nIt would impose no impossibility, neither would it entail any hardship,\nto require of students that they should subscribe to the following:\n\n_Science teaches, and experience corroborates the fact, that the\ndepressing or evil passions are bad habits of the mind, and not\nnecessary ingredients._\n\n_Anger and worry are the roots of the evil passions and can be pulled\nout._\n\n_In order to promote the best possible growth it is required that\nEmancipation should be the rule of life of the student._\n\n[Sidenote: A Rule of Life]\n\nUnder the suggestion of the possibility of Emancipation from\nundesirable mental enemies, emanating from so respected a source as the\nfaculty of a chosen college, the student would acquire the prerequisite\ncondition of \"faith\"; while the absorbing work of college life,\nsurrounded by fellows working in sympathy with him, would strengthen\nthe faith into a belief; and the immediate recompense of harmony would\nbe evidence of its value as a rule of life.\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation will Spread]\n\nFrom the school the student would carry the rule back into the family,\nand into all walks in life; and with the aid of present means of\ncommunication the influence would spread the world over, disarm the\nprodigious preparations for struggle that are being made, and\ndistribute the palm branch to take the place of the sword.\n\nWill not the great educators whom the world respects so highly, and in\nwhom it has so much faith, try the experiment? The promised fruit is\nworth the trial.\n\n\n\n\nDIAGNOSIS AND REMEDY\n\n\n[Sidenote: Degeneration]\n\nIt is believed by many, that Society and Politics, at the present time,\nare badly diseased. Mr. Max Nordau's diagnosis of them, which he\nentitled _Degeneration_, has met with general approval. Legislative\n(especially municipal) corruption, and the degradation of some of the\ncourts, are open evidence of the fact. Statesmanship and Politics have\nbeen divorced, and are already strangers to each other. The marriage of\nMight and Right, has been sanctioned by popular consent. Power is no\nlonger used as a lever with which to uplift the weak, but has been\ntransformed into a social crushing machine. Caste, ostentation,\ndissipation, and insincerity, are the established idols that lure the\npresent generation towards greedy ambition.\n\n[Sidenote: Ready to Break]\n\nIt is also believed, and is perhaps true, that the social ulcers have\nbeen so irritated by ostentatious rivalry, and the commercial ulcers\nare so distended with the pus of ruinous competition and corruption,\nthat they must soon come to a head, and that convalescence and cure may\nbe possibilities of the future.\n\nWhile these symptoms of disease are visible to all, and are tolerated\nas necessary evils, they fortunately do not cover the whole body\npolitic; but yet, they seriously disfigure its face, and grievously\naffect the healthy action of its heart.\n\nIn the political world, many agents are actively at work to effect cure\nof the evils which flaunt unblushing in the face of the public. The\nCommittee of Seventy in New York, The Civic Federation in Chicago, and\nthe National Municipal Reform League of the United States, are all\ndoing good temporary work, but they do not reach the root causes of the\nevils they aim to correct; and it is doubtful if the reforms they\naccomplish will be any more permanent than were those of their equally\nzealous predecessors.\n\n[Sidenote: Slow Repression Futile]\n\nIn the moral and religious world, much the same futile methods of cure\nthrough repression are in use that obtained during the Dark Middle\nAges.\n\nIn the individual, phantoms of the imagination, whose presence impose\nstagnation and disease, are created and clothed with the authority of\nmasters, under the belief that they are the curses which bind fallen\nmen to earth; and this in contradiction of every assurance and promise\nof Christ; in opposition to all intelligent methods of culture used in\nconnection with animals and plants; and contrary to common sense.\n\nThese are strong statements, but they are indisputable; and if they are\ntrue, what then, is the remedy?\n\nAs previously stated, _the only cure is the germ cure; and, beginning\nwith the individual._\n\n[Sidenote: Task not Difficult]\n\nThe task is not a difficult one. Appreciation of the limitations of the\npower of the depressing passions, and one's strength to extirpate them,\nand to be superior to them, are the only necessary prerequisites to\nvictory. There is no tedious discipline, as in the various methods of\nrepression in vogue; and dividends are immediately and continuously\ncollectable on the fair face of the investment. No rule of conduct is\nnecessary; for, out of Emancipation, only _good_ conduct, to fit\nenvironing circumstances, can be expected; and yet, every Christian,\nevery Jew, every Buddhist, every Mohammetan, every Free Mason, and\nevery Odd Fellow, can accept Emancipation as a rule of life, without\nrenouncing his other faiths and affiliations, because it is the\nfundamental principle of them all, expressed in terms of present\nknowledge, and unclouded by the shadows of ignorance and superstition,\nwhich gave the name of Dark Ages to a period of our history.\n\n[Sidenote: Skeptics Interested]\n\nAnd outside of these devotees, there is the great mass of men, the\nso-called Skeptics, who claim to adhere to logic, and scientific sense,\nfor their light on spiritual, as well as on material subjects. To\nthese, Emancipation will be a haven of repose for their spiritual\nyearnings; and, unimpeded growth, under Divinely natural conditions,\n\"will do the rest\" for them all.\n\n\n\n\nPRESCRIPTION\n\n\n[Sidenote: A Simple Remedy]\n\nOne grain of the assurance of Christ that man is made in the image of\nGod.\n\nOne grain of respect for the responsibility of the care and culture of\nthe Divine Essence with which we have been entrusted.\n\nOne grain of the command of Christ (implying a possibility) \"Be ye\nperfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect.\"\n\nOne grain of the example of Buddha that man can grow to perfection\nthrough the elimination of anger and worry and their brood of dependent\npassions.\n\nOne grain of the wisdom of Aristotle which declared that the passions\nare habits of the mind, and can be gotten rid of as physical habits are\ngotten rid of.\n\nOne grain of the assurance of Omar Khayyam that Heaven and Hell are\nwithin ourselves.\n\nOne grain of the assurance of Christ that \"the Kingdom of Heaven is at\nhand.\"\n\nOne grain of common sense applied to an analysis of mental handicaps\nand the discovery of their limitations.\n\nOne grain of the to-day experience of the author that anger and worry\nare the roots of all the passions which depress, and can be eliminated.\n\n\nDIRECTIONS\n\n[Sidenote: The Ever-full Never-full]\n\nTake: and then let\n\n    The ever-full, never-full bounty of love,\n    Sing a song, tell a tale, strike a chord, from above,\n    Soften strife out of life, find a pleasure in giving,\n    Sound the key-note on earth, of the Art of True Living.\n\n\n\n\nSCRAPS OF EVIDENCE\n\n\n[Sidenote: Evidence Sought]\n\nEarly in life I was fortunate enough to acquire the belief that, what\nseemed to be the consensus of opinion of the learned in any art or\nscience, ought to be true; and, accepting their dictum, I have tried to\ngrow up to an appreciation of their intelligence or taste in the\nsubjects of their study, without combatting it with my own callow\nimpressions. In this way I have enjoyed an early appreciation of the\nclassics in music and in art, much in advance of the ordinary\nexperience derived from personal contact. In this spirit of\ninvestigation I have collected some scraps of evidence which all prove\nmy theory. No one has denied the possibility of Emancipation, but every\none has found a pleasure at once in the ray of hope it suggests.\n\nSince my attention has been directed to the possible total emancipation\nfrom the depressing passions, I have taken occasion to interview every\nman who seemed to enjoy unclouded happiness, as to the secret of his\nhappiness. In almost every instance I have learned that the emancipated\ncondition has dated, not from infancy and inheritance, but from some\nincident in later life that exposed the passions to ridicule, or showed\nthem to be a cause of danger; such as death as the result of worry, or\ncrime as the result of anger; some object lesson which proved the\ndanger of permitting the passions to absorb one. I enquired of\n\n\nA PHYSICIAN\n\n[Sidenote: A Physician]\n\n[Sidenote: Possessed of Devils]\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation Assures Success]\n\nwho has recently been selected by vote of the members of his profession\nto a position of honor among them, and who is conspicuous for his\nenjoyment of such healthful recreation as only much younger men usually\nenjoy, whether he did not consider anger and worry habits of the mind,\nand not as necessary ingredients. \"Certainly,\" said he, \"and I know it\nto be true by the best possible evidence, the evidence of experience.\"\nAfter some further questioning I was able to get from him the following\nstory: \"When I was a boy I had an ungovernable temper which brought\nfrom my neighbors the prediction that I would come to some bad end. At\nschool I was known as one of the four or five 'roosters.' There was\nscarcely a day that a ring was not formed, and some of us 'roosters'\ndid not engage in a fight. I followed my studies pretty closely,\nhowever, in pursuance of a natural inclination to be 'on top,' but\nwithout any laudable ambition in connection with them, and finally\ngraduated in medicine and began practice. I suffered great annoyance\nfrom horses and servants, and quarreled with them constantly, and got\nmad at my patients if they showed any unreasonable tendencies; until\none day it came to me as a sudden revelation, that, what most hindered\nthem from getting well, was the very thing that possessed me the\ngreater part of the time, and made me disagreeable to myself and\nothers; and I resolved to master myself as I had tried to master\nothers. From that time I date my success in life, and certainly my\nhappiness. I will not allow anything to worry me. If a driver or other\nservant does not please me, I do not quarrel with him, but pay him off,\nand let him go with the best of feeling. I have a collector who is very\nfaithful, and very candid at the same time. When he fails to collect an\naccount that is due, I sometimes ask him the reason, and he repeats to\nme what my patient has said. One day I questioned him about an account\nthat had been long overdue, against a patient whom I met cordially\nevery day at the club, but who was evidently 'short' at the time and\nsuffered annoyance from collectors. 'What did he say?'said I. 'He said,\nsir, \"Tell the doctor to go to hell,\" replied the honest collector.\nMost men would have taken offense at the message, and prosecuted his\npatient for the debt, or 'cut' him, or expressed anger in some way; but\nI simply didn't go where he had ordered, and never referred to the\nmatter with him. We are the best of friends now, and he is one of my\nwarmest advocates.\"\n\n\nA MANUFACTURER\n\nThe president of one of the largest manufacturing corporations in the\ncountry, having properties in a dozen states, related to me the\nfollowing story:\n\n[Sidenote: Unreasonable Railway Magnate]\n\n[Sidenote: Too Proud to Apologize]\n\n\"Some years ago I journeyed south with a railroad magnate who stood\nvery high at the time in the railway world. We came to a river crossed\nby his road. The bridge had been washed away, and, while it was\nrebuilding, trains were ferried to the further shores. Owing to some\naccident there was no boat on hand to transport the official's car\nacross the stream. He became so angry that he flew into a wild passion,\nand cursed and discharged the subordinates in charge of the division\nwithout inquiry as to the cause of the delay. He learned afterward that\nthe accident to the boat was unavoidable, and that none of the employes\nwhom he had insulted so grossly and discharged so unfairly were\nresponsible for it; but he was too _proud_ to apologize.\n\n[Sidenote: Did not Dare to be Angry]\n\n\"The incident made such an impression on me, that I resolved never to\nshow anger again before my employes; and I have kept my resolve. It has\nled to my renouncing the habit altogether, and for many years anger has\nceased to be a component part of my nature. I am sorry that I did not\ndischarge worry at the same time, as results have proved that it has\nhad no real cause to exist; and it has, as you say, stolen much\nprecious time and energy out of my life.\"\n\n\nA MADMAN\n\nAnother example of the possible control of the passions, and a most\nimportant one, is told by another friend. One of the chums of his youth\nhad fits of anger during which he was possessed with an insatiable\ndesire to kill the object of his wrath, if it happened to be a living\nbeing, or to break it if it were inanimate. During his seasons of calm\nhe deplored his weakness, and resolved not to permit it to take\npossession of him. He stopped being angry because he was afraid of the\nconsequences. He _did not dare to be angry_. As a result he has lived a\nlife filled with charity and consideration for others, which has been a\nblessing to himself and those about him.\n\n\nMR. DANA\n\n[Sidenote: Hard Work Never Kills]\n\nMr. Charles A. Dana once sent a member of the staff of the New York Sun\nto learn, if possible, what was the probable cause of the death of some\nmen of high standing in the financial world who were reported to have\nhastened their death by overwork. Mr. Dana did not believe that hard\nwork could kill. The result of the inquiry in each instance was to the\neffect that these men were the victims of worry, which was as\nunnecessary, as it was unprofitable and fatal.\n\n\nAN AUTHOR\n\nOne of the most prolific, observing, and interesting writers of stories\nand descriptive articles for the magazines, a war correspondent and one\ntime journalist, has endorsed and practiced the theory presented in\nthis paper, and has done me the honor to write approvingly as follows:\n\n\"I have succeeded in entirely ridding myself of the cancers, and am\namazed at the ease with which it was done. You are certainly an apostle\nof sweetness and light, and I shall never be able to thank you enough\nfor letting me into your noble secret.\"\n\n[Sidenote: An Author Feels Younger]\n\nHe notes especially an improved digestion, and feels younger each day\nas he progresses in the new life.\n\n\nA GENERAL MANAGER\n\nThe Southern General Manager of one of the largest British Insurance\nCompanies is a tried convert, and finds health and happiness which had\nnever been attained while under the thraldom of worry, which was his\nonly former affliction.\n\n\nAN AUTHORESS\n\nThe author of a novel which has just come before the public, and which\nis one of the purest and most ingenious stories ever published, is an\nardent convert to the belief that she is superior to the depressing\npassions, and her naturally religious temperament finds great solace in\nit.\n\n\nA LAWYER\n\nA leading lawyer of New Orleans, of very old family, religious by\nnature, but not sectarian, found comfort in the idea of the possible\nelimination of the passions, and the unrestricted growth of the\nGod-given faculties, in substance as follows:\n\n[Sidenote: Germ Cure Logical to All]\n\n[Sidenote: \"Get Thee Behind me Satan\"]\n\n\"The germ theory of cure must appeal to _all_ persons in a greater or\nless degree, especially to such as find it difficult to believe in a\npersonal Deity who receives directly and directly answers prayer as a\nspecial dispensation. They can find logic in the cultivation of the\nDivine Spark which has been breathed in to them, and feel that in its\ngrowth toward perfection the Laws of Nature are being assisted and not\nviolated; while to such as find faith in a personal God and comfort and\nhelp in prayer, the ability to be superior to sinful thoughts will give\nstimulation to their faith, and be a fulfilment of the Example, which\ntaught: _'Get thee behind me, Satan'!_\"\n\n\nA SOUTHRON\n\n[Sidenote: \"Superior to Niggers\"]\n\nI was traveling with a friend from the South who is one of the best\nfellows that I know. He is kind, considerate, chivalrous, and all that\ncharacterizes a Southern gentleman; but he has a false idea of dignity\nin some respects, and precipitates controversy sometimes without cause,\nand when he himself is to blame in the matter. We were discussing the\ntheory of Emancipation, and he agreed with me on almost all of the\npoints at issue, in fact to such an extent that I felt that he absorbed\nthe idea fully, when he said: \"Yes, it is true, and I believe in it,\nand I think I have practiced it somewhat; but I can't stand\nimpertinence from niggers; they rub up against me all the time, and\nannoy me terribly, especially these Pullman porters.\" \"Yes,\" said I in\nreply, \"you have attained pretty good self-control and have reason to\nbe proud of it; you are pretty nearly a perfect man; the only thing you\nare not superior to is a nigger.\" The rebuke impressed him as a truism\nthat had never occurred to him in that light before.\n\nThe truth of the matter is, and I have had both experiences to prove it\nto my own satisfaction, antagonism invites antagonism. A fostered\ndislike or an anticipated friction sends out a shaft in advance which\nrebounds and rebounds with quickening vibrations. If one is looking for\nimpertinence from any source he will be pretty sure to find it; but if\nhe carries a mind and heart free from prejudice, which is the condition\nof Emancipation, the shaft will not be unloosed, and the disturbing\nvibrations will not occur. I do not believe that Pullman porters were\never discourteous to Phillips Brooks, or Edward Everett Hale, or\nProfessor Swing or men of their caliber of mind; or if they were, I do\nnot believe that the impertinence made any impression on them except to\nexcite pity.\n\n\nFEAR DISPELLED\n\n[Sidenote: Fear Dispelled]\n\nThe most remarkable evidence in support of my theory that fear is\ndispelled with worry, and which corroborates my own experience, comes\nfrom an old friend who once had a shock from a stroke of lightning, and\nwho, on account of it, has for years suffered wretchedly from a\ndepression akin to involuntary fear whenever the weather has indicated\nan approaching storm. He has accepted the possibility of Emancipation\nand enjoyed deliverance from the passions, but strangely enough has\nalso now immunity from any uncomfortable feeling during electric\nstorms.\n\n\nTIMIDITY DISAPPEARS\n\nAnother convert states that he has lost all timidity, in the presence\nof an audience, which formerly he could not overcome.\n\n\nTHOMSON J. HUDSON\n\n[Sidenote: Psychic Evidence]\n\nMr. Thomson J. Hudson, in his _Law of Psychic Phenomena_, has\nmarshalled a great array of authentic evidence, gathered from the\nresearches of many Psychological Societies, which all prove the power\nof the mind over itself and over the body, and its amenability to\nsuggestion, under the receptive condition of faith. One can not read\nthis able work without becoming convinced that Emancipation is entirely\npossible. Any one who wishes to learn something of the power stored\nwithin him, will do well to read the _Law of Psychic Phenomena_.\n\nThe success of the Keeley Cure in conquering the habits of drinking,\nopium, and tobacco, is proof of the efficacy of germ treatment where\nthe germs are sensual, or mental. If bichloride of gold can cure such\ndread passions of the appetite, may not bichloride of _common sense_\ncure the bad habits of the mind that cause them?\n\n\nA MASTER WORKMAN\n\n[Sidenote: Source of All Wealth]\n\nAnd now, comes a scrap of evidence that is valuable because it is\nfurnished by a man whose experience is wide among the people who make\nthe wealth which we all enjoy; to whom we are directly indebted for the\ncomforts and luxuries of life; and whose endorsement of an idea or\nreform is necessary to make it become a feature of our system or\ngovernment. He went west many years ago from New York, a mechanic by\ntrade, and found employment in the shops of one of the great railroads.\nIn time he was advanced to the position of foreman. In private life he\nis now a Baron Bountiful in the service of everybody within his reach.\nAs Masterworkman of Labor Organizations, he has urged the just cause of\nhis confreres with the success that follows earnest conviction. In the\nintimate confidence of his employers, he has presented their side of a\ncontroversy to the men without any of the misrepresentation of a\ndemagogue.\n\n[Sidenote: Brings Sunniest Comfort]\n\nHe is the President of a sound Building and Loan Association, without\nsalary, not to make money for himself, but for the purpose of helping\nhis men to build and own homes; and those who have felt his assistance\nin that direction, and owe him debts of gratitude for various\nbenefactions, are numbered by the hundreds. Whenever there is sickness,\nhe brings solid help and the sunniest of comfort; and when there is\ndeath, he knows just how best to serve the afflicted family with those\ndelicate attentions which relieve them from repulsively material\ndetails, his presence always bringing comfort even under circumstances\nin which people want most to be alone. His sympathy is universal, and\nreflects itself into the hearts of all with whom he comes in contact.\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation Appreciated]\n\nTo such a man, one would naturally think the depressing passions were\nstrangers, and that he must have been born without them; but he assures\nme that he was a slave to them for many years, and that he was\nfrightened out of harboring them by a physician, and that whatever good\nhe has accomplished in his humble sphere (as he calls it) he attributes\nto the partial Emancipation which his doctor's warning led him to\nenforce upon himself. The story that follows was elicited on hearing an\noutline of the theory of possible Emancipation as presented in these\npages.\n\n[Sidenote: \"The Old Gentleman Needs it\"]\n\n\"Stop right there: don't go any farther till I have talked with you\nabout that part of it. It is as true as gospel, but I never knew what\nit was. I have had an experience which makes me know that it is true,\nbut I didn't know the reason for it. When the doctors told me that I\nmust quit worrying and take it easy, or medicine would do me no good,\nand I would die, why didn't they tell me that anger and worry were not\nnecessary, and that it was they that I was suffering from? I would have\nunderstood it better, and I wouldn't have had so much trouble about\nfearing I would have them back some time in spite of myself. Why didn't\nthe preachers tell me this when I was a boy, and let me begin to live\nthen, instead of waiting till I got to be an old man or pretty near to\nit? You can bet that my boys will know this thing right away, and live\nit too, and I want my men to know it. It is the only thing they need to\ncomplete their happiness. The old gentleman needs it, and Mr.----, and\nMr---- (mentioning a number of well known men who are their own worst\nenemies, who harm no one but themselves, but whose abuse of self,\nthrough worry, is as merciless as the tortures of the Inquisition); and\nwhat a blessing it would be for the women! See here, I want a hundred\nof those books as soon as they are published, and I know where they\nwill do a heap of good. They will be better than the medicine of all\nthe doctors, and do a lot of good besides. I'm going to commit what you\nhave told me to memory, so as to tell people about it if I haven't got\na book by me. You see that I know all about this, for I have had an\nexperience. When I was a youngster, I was naturally ambitious, and\npretty smart with the tools, and 'took' with my employers, and finally\ngot to be superintendent. Then I got to be more ambitious, especially\nafter I was married and the children came. I wanted them to have a good\neducation and be fitted to be gentlemen, which I knew their mother's,\nand I might remark incidentally, my own blood entitled them to be. I\nwas pretty sensitive, and was always standing up for my rights. I was\ntoo apt to worry. I had not heard what you have told me and thought\nworry necessary. If I had not worried I would not have got angry.\n\n[Sidenote: \"Got to be Superintendent\"]\n\n[Sidenote: It Became a Habit]\n\n[Sidenote: \"Frightened out of my Wits\"]\n\n[Sidenote: Anger and Worry Caused Sickness]\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation Makes Good Neighbors]\n\n[Sidenote: \"Looking Backward\" from Emancipation]\n\n\"When I got to be superintendent I thought that one of the things that\nI had to do was to be sure and maintain my dignity, and show it by\noccasionally making believe mad at something. At first I did not feel\nit half as much as I showed it; but I thought it was part of the\nbusiness of a boss to get mad, until finally it got to be a habit, and\ngrew on me till I was in a state of anger most of the time. I also\nthought that I had to worry about things, or I would not show the\nproper respect for my responsibilities. It was the way I had of letting\nmyself feel that I was carrying a terrible burden and earning my\nsalary. The trouble was that, while it was partly play-acting at first,\nit came to be habit, and worked on my health in the end. The doctors\ndosed me with all sorts of medicine. I was a regular pigeon, and gave\nup many a hard-earned dollar to them for no good at all. One day Dr.\nL----, to whom I went as a last resort, for I was beginning to have\ndizzy spells and twitching in the face that was serious, asked me a lot\nof questions about myself and my habits and duties. I told him frankly,\nand when I had done so he said: 'There is no use giving you any\nmedicine, you have got to quit worrying and take it easy; that is the\nonly trouble with you. If you keep on with your worry I will have to\ngive your family a certificate of death; so, if you don't want me to do\nthat, you just quit your worrying and take life easy. Whatever you do,\ndon't get into fits of anger, for that is more wearing to a man in your\ncondition than anything else.' Well, to 'fess up and tell you the\ntruth, I got frightened out of my wits. I hadn't got near enough to\neighty (my limit) to think about dying, and I didn't want to do it\nright then, especially as I hadn't got Mary and the boys well enough\nfixed to leave. The other doctors had made a monkey of me, and took my\nmoney, and told me that I would be all right in a few days; but this\nhonest German told me the truth and set me to thinking. I didn't say a\nword to anyone, but made up my mind I would take his advice. At first I\nthought that I was shirking some of the duties of a superintendent,\nwhen I quit getting mad and worrying; but I squared it with myself by\nsaying to myself, 'Better be a tame donkey for the company than a dead\none.' Well, I didn't know it at the time; that is, I didn't know the\ncause of it, but from that time I have just had luck under my wing all\nthe time. I have pleased my employers, and I have pleased the men, and\nthings have been coming my way in great shape, and they are still\na-coming. Why, I see it all as plain as the nose on your face. Those\nlittle devils that keep a man back, and keep him from being happy, have\nno business there by rights; and all you have got to know is that they\nare poachers, and all you have got to do is to tell them to 'git.' And\njust see how it would work if everybody knew this as I see it. If you\nknew that your neighbor knew that Emancipation was possible, you would\nknow at the same time that he was no fool, and that, knowing it, he had\nbecome Emancipated, of course, and there would be a trustful sympathy\nestablished at once, and you would pull together and never apart after\nthat. If his fence accidentally encroached an inch on your land, you\nwould be glad of it; or, if your fence had been set on his side of the\nlegal line, he would not object; and so it would go on between you, and\nyou would be happy and good neighbors to each other. Why, I would\nrather my men would have that secret and day's wages, than a million of\ndollars without it; and my boys, if I don't leave them a cent, I will\nleave them full of this secret, and won't worry about their future\nhappiness. I was much interested in that book you gave me several years\nago called 'Looking Backward.' What the author said about co-operation,\nand all that, was all right and very beautiful; but I didn't take much\nstock in it because I had such a poor opinion of human nature, that I\ndidn't think people could quit grabbing and get down to brass tacks in\na co-operative way. But if you can spread the idea of Mental\nEmancipation as you have told it to me (and I don't see what can help\nits spreading like wildfire as soon as it gets out), the social\nparadise pictured in 'Looking Backward' will come as a matter of\ncourse; and I see it a-coming. If you take off a brake I can see how a\ncar can run down a hill, but with the brake on I couldn't see how you\ncould push it down.\n\n[Sidenote: Free-Masonry of Emancipation]\n\n\"The more I think of this thing the bigger it gets, and it is a sure\nwinner. Now suppose my family, and the B. family on the corner, and the\nN. family next door had found out the secret, anybody that couldn't\ngrasp it couldn't live in the street, he would feel so uncomfortable.\nIn fact, if there were such an one, we could put him down for a crazy\nman or an idiot, and treat him with the same consideration we treat\nsuch weak people.\n\n[Sidenote: Lawyer's Brains Prostituted]\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation Prevents Robbery]\n\n\"Or suppose the men over in the shops were the joint possessors of the\nsecret; why, the first thing you would know they would all be at work\non some co-operative plan for themselves. Not that any of us have\nanything against the employers we work for, for there are no better in\nthe land; but it is the blamed stupidity of the system that makes men\nwork hard for small wages to feed the flames of ruinous rivalry. Look\nat the brains locked up in the pates of lawyers which have nothing\nbetter to do than to mix things up so that they will get the job of\nunmixing them. Think what would happen if all that education and all\nthat ingenuity were turned towards invention! Most of the tangles they\nare employed to unravel should never have existed, and would not have\nexisted in a community where the secret of Emancipation had been told.\nIn all of the clumsiness of competition, and the expense of pullback\nmethods, labor, the source of all we have, pays the whole freight in\none way or another; and the reason it does so is because of the little\nparasite devils that are sawing wood and hatching eggs in the minds of\neach individual worker and producer. With these little devils at work\nin him he is suspicious, selfish, jealous, and what not else, because\nhe thinks his neighbor and fellow workman are similarly possessed, and\nhe must be so too to get along. Under this condition cohesion is\nimpossible, and schemers prey upon the separateness of the producing\ncommunity to rob it of as much of the product of its labor as possible.\nSuppose that the secret of possible Emancipation should become general\n(and for the life of me I cannot see how it can fail to do so), there\nwould be confidence, trustfulness, cohesion, ambition to be useful, and\nthe energy of the healthy child for play-work would return to the\nrejuvenated man, and he would play work under those conditions and not\nfeel that it was a mark of servitude and necessity, and the land would\nsing with the sound of willing industry.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Emancipation Breeds Eloquence]\n\nMy friend had become eloquent under the inspiration of the possible\nestablishment of a Heaven on earth to which he could invite his\nfriends. Do not think that this is not a true report of a conversation\nin real life. My friend is a real character; is well read and educated\nby observation and experience, and could succeed in almost any position\nin life except in such as did not give \"value received\" for the service\nrendered. He is one of those \"Noblemen by Nature\" to whom the world\nowes so much, but pays so little; but he is happy in doing good, and\nthe field he works in is one of the richest for that harvest, and the\ncompensation he prizes most highly, is the happiness he is able to give\nothers. He had the secret of True Living forced on him, in spite of the\nexample of the world, without knowing the true cause or value of his\ngood fortune; but his happiness was increased many fold when he learned\nthat it was his birthright; was a possession of which no one could rob\nhim; and would remain his as long as he lived. And as he has faith in\nthe Eternal Evolution of everything, he feels that, freed from the\ndepressing passions, there will be no end to his growth; that, at the\nso-called middle age of human tenure, he is but in the beginning of\nlife; or, if not that, that each day is a wealth of joy unto itself in\nspite of any external conditions; for he has found that \"the kingdom of\nHeaven is at hand\" and that a branch of it has been established in his\nown heart.\n\n[Sidenote: Heaven is at Hand]\n\n[Sidenote: Key-stones and Cornerstones]\n\n[Sidenote: Cripple can be greater than a king]\n\nAll men are not constituted alike. In the economy of Nature it is her\npurpose that no two things are made alike. In a million years a million\nmen could not count the spears of grass in the fields, or the hairs of\nthe heads of men; yet no patient investigator has been able to find any\ntwo of them that did not differ from every other one when put under the\nlens of the microscope. One thousand millions of humans inhabit this\nearth. Each has essentially the same form, the same two eyes, the same\nmouth, the same ears and hands and arms; and yet even in the case of\ntwins, where the nearest approach to similarity comes, the mother never\ncan mistake the one for the other. If you are unlike others, it is\nbecause nature chose to cast you in a different mould to serve some\nwise purpose; and with that form, comes the God-given essence of the\nDivine, whose presence and growth are evidenced by an innate yearning\nfor spirituality. Much spirituality lifts a man above his less\nspiritual fellows and makes of him a cornerstone, or a keystone, or\nsome other important segment of the social structure; and lack of it\ncondemns him to be a bit of rubble, or an atom of filling. The\ncornerstones and the keystones help and support each other in the\nstately arch, while the rubble and the atoms fall apart and become\ndirt, when allowed to find their level. Which shall we choose to\nbecome: the keystone of the arch, or some of the dirt of the earth\nbeneath it? Which shall we choose: happiness, health, growth,\nusefulness, rest, and a fitting relationship to the Divine, or the\nreverse? Each is what God made him plus what he can attain by growth.\nThrough eradication of the cankerous passions; through the extirpation\nof the mental weeds; the dwarf may grow to be greater than the king;\nand all can freely and fully enjoy life and growth, when they have\nlearned the A-B-C of True Living. The grammar, and the rhetoric, and\nthe poetry, and perhaps a higher intelligence than we know of now may\nfollow, and are sure to follow; but they will be but brighter phases of\nhappiness already attained.\n\n\nA CHURCHWOMAN\n\n[Sidenote: A Devout Churchwoman]\n\nIn searching for corroborative evidence of the possibility of\nEmancipation, I was fortunate in meeting a lady whose acquaintance with\nthe several religions and metaphysics is exceptional; and whose clear\nintelligence regarding the value of menticulture, makes her a rare\ncritic in questions of this kind. From her I received the most valued\nencouragement. She is a devout church-woman, but has studied along the\nseveral lines of psychology in search of additional light and strength.\nShe had read my simple presentation of the theory of germ cure, and\nfound in it a ray of hope, the effect of which she described as\nfollows: \"The sensation that was produced in me by the suggestion, I\ncannot describe. It was as if a great flood of light had burst upon me,\nand I saw the possibility of an immediate realization of my spiritual\nideal; and I have prayed to God constantly, that it may not leave me.\nThere have been unusual occasions for worry and annoyance since then. I\nhave just moved to a new city; into a new house; and my husband and I\nare beginning life anew in an untried field. All of my past\nassociations are broken up, and new sympathies among strangers are to\nbe formed. My husband's health has been poor, and mine has been\nwretched, so that we have been compelled to seek climates more\nfavorable, at the expense of financial considerations; yet, the cloud\nthat hung over our prospects has been miraculously dispelled, and my\ndays and nights are soothed with a calm contentment and happiness which\nI have never known before. My religion seems more precious to me than\never. It seems as if one _simple little ingredient_ that it lacked has\nbeen found; and that now it is perfect. I have always been possessed of\na desire to accomplish one act in life which should be conspicuous for\nits usefulness to some one; and if I can ever succeed in giving to one\nperson the light and comfort that this revelation has given to me, I\nshall feel that my ambition has been attained.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Simple Little Ingredient]\n\nHer discovery of a _simple little ingredient_, in the theory of germ\ncure, led to a new appreciation of the idea of simplicity in connection\nwith it, which has been amplified in the succeeding chapter.\n\n\n\n\nFIRST PRINCIPLES OVERLOOKED\n\n\n[Sidenote: Simplicity and Harmony are Ultimate]\n\nSimplicity and harmony are the ultimate conditions to be attained in\nall things. In literature, and in music, and in oratory, and in\npainting, and in mechanics, and in life, simplicity is at once the\ngreatest charm, and the best evidence of merit. In mechanics, a _simple\nlittle device_ usually perfects the great labor-saving machine. In\nchemistry, a _simple little ingredient_ may give culminating power to a\nworld-building or a world-destroying compound. In oratory, a _simple\nand impassioned appeal_ is most potent to move the multitude to action;\nand in menticulture, the _simple and direct application of the germ\ncure_, may be able to effect a millennium in social evolution within a\ngeneration. Stranger things have happened! Because it has not happened,\nis no reason why it should not happen. In fact, there are logical\nreasons why the habit of repression should have smothered any idea of\ngerm cure, till Science placed an analogy in physics before our eyes;\nespecially because the false hypothesis of original (or natural) sin,\nhas been persistently advanced as a law of our being.\n\n[Sidenote: Germ Cure not Understood]\n\nChrist taught the germ cure, and hinted at no other as an alternative.\nIn the sermon on the mount; in his talks by the Sea of Galilee; and in\nhis rebuke of the devil in the desert, there was no note of indecision\nsuggested. _Do_ and _be_ and _get_ were unmistakable commands. But\nthese commands were given in a gentle manner, to half-doubting\ndisciples, and faintly echoed by them to an incredulous world, that had\nnot learned the power of mind over matter, or over itself; and hence\nthe world waited for Science to prove even greater possibilities,\nbefore giving heed to the _simple_ commands of the Great Teacher in the\nmanner he commanded.\n\n[Sidenote: Order of Responsibility]\n\nOne of the great weaknesses of the age in which we live is the ignoring\nof first principles, and a reaching out for the remote or unattainable.\nIn the matter of home responsibilities, and in menticulture, this is\nmost apparent. The order of responsibility is--the mind,--the body--the\nmind of the child--the body or health of the child--and so on in the\nsequence of relationship in the family, in the community, in the\nnation, and in the world; not with selfish discrimination against the\nmore remote, but with zealous care of the nearer relationships. This\norder, however, is rarely observed. We weed the garden, but do not weed\nthe mind. We pass laws to punish any who strike, or rob, or corrupt a\ncitizen, but there is no law to protect the abused or neglected\nchildren of drunken or incompetent parents, except in extreme cases.\nBreeders of fine animals take the greatest pains to guard all the\nconditions surrounding their stock, and at the same time encourage\nfamily alliance with consumptive plutocrats.\n\n[Sidenote: _Laissez Faire_ Superseded]\n\nThe antiquated and primitive doctrine of _laissez faire_, has been\nreplaced by those of Division of Labor, and of Protection, in the cases\nof the strong who have demanded them, or who have purchased them\nthrough legislative cupidity; but still obtains in the cases of the\nweak and non-assertive.\n\n[Sidenote: Strength Protected Weakness Unprotected]\n\nThe truant subjects of great nations, scattered in foreign lands, are\nhedged about with protection equal to an imperial guard; and thousands\nof men and millions of money are sacrificed to revenge an insult to, or\nprotect the property of a claimant citizen at the Antipodes; while\nhundreds and thousands of the producers at home are starving and dying,\nbecause of the maladministration of the first principles of economies,\nand the _laissez faire license_ given to selfish and unscrupulous\ncompetition.\n\nArrogant commerce, and the already-powerful, have no end of protection;\nbut the mind, the health, the child, and the producer, are left to the\ntender mercy of chance, or are hampered by crushing conditions of abuse\nand neglect contrary to every law of growth; and thus it must be; until\nwe adopt the germ cure, as a principle of menticulture, and\nEmancipation, as the first evidence of intelligence and respectability.\n\n[Sidenote: Wasting Precious Time]\n\nIn self-administration, the far-away habit is quite as prevalent as in\nthe administration of Society. Men and women slave and save, to furnish\nmeans for sending missionaries to India, to release the Indian mind of\nimagined evils, while they crawl about servile to anger or worry, or\nboth anger and worry. They set their ideal of happiness at an\nindefinite height, always out of reach. They hide their Heaven behind\nthe curtain of death, and refuse to look for it within the precincts of\ntheir own heart. They waste precious time in speculating as to the form\nand attributes of the Cause of all things, its residence and\ndisposition, while they smother under the pall of inappreciation, the\nbest evidence of its existence, and the most potent workings of its\npower, within themselves. And all this because they work from the wrong\nend, and are dull to the efficacy of growth from the basis of\nEmancipation.\n\nTheir method of life is like the unraveling of a snarled skein from the\nmiddle. They fumble futilely at the snarl, and accomplish little, if\nanything, when they ought first to release the end within themselves,\nand follow the cord from that beginning, along the line of growth and\norganization, to the condition of unrestricted freedom, and\nusefulness,--the condition of Emancipated Brotherhood.\n\n[Sidenote: Nations Founded About an Idea]\n\nReligions are founded, fraternal societies are formed, armies are\nmarshalled, and nations are grown about a sympathetic idea, to which\nthe majority subscribe. The aim is always the same: growth, protection,\nharmony, happiness, Heaven. But the growth is slow, the protection is\nonly partial, the harmony is incomplete, perfect happiness is\nimpossible, and Heaven is indefinite and remote; because their\norganization tolerates selfishness as a necessary \"mark of Cain,\"\ninstead of being built on the foundation of Emancipation.\n\nAll true calculation must recognize a unit of value; in menticulture\nthe only true unit is Emancipation.\n\nIn harmony, instruments cannot be tuned from several standards; there\nmust be one key-note; and harmony in menticulture can only come from\nthe key-note--Emancipation.\n\n\n\n\nSLAVES OR FREEMEN--WHICH?\n\n\nWithin the memory of many now living, Society was dominated by the\nbelief that human body-slavery was a Divine institution.\n\nThirty-five years ago a great war was waged against the institution in\nthis country, at the expense of hundreds of thousands of lives, and\nthousands of millions of dollars worth of property.\n\nThat war resulted not only in killing the institution itself, but also\nin the extirpation of the idea of its Divine origin.\n\n[Sidenote: Body-Slavery Overcome]\n\nIt is no longer a question of debate in any part of the civilized word,\nbut an established international understanding, that slavery is not\nonly unjust to the enslaved, but an evil, the effects of which are\nshared by the master.\n\n[Sidenote: Mercenary Fashion a Cruel Master]\n\nNegro slavery in America was, however, a mild and beneficent\ninstitution, as compared to the voluntary servitude to Mercenary\nFashion, which enthrals so many at the present time. Mercenary Fashion\nplaces burdens on rich and poor alike, and costs Society more lives and\nproperty yearly, than all that was wasted during the war of the\nRebellion.\n\nMost of the masters of the negro were kindly and considerate, and not a\nfew of the negro uncles and aunties now living, regret the \"good old\ntimes when marster and missus did all the plannin' and pervidin', and\nall we uns had to do was work, and sing and dance.\"\n\n[Sidenote: Ostentation Panders to Fashion]\n\nOn the other hand, Mercenary Fashion has headquarters in Paris, in\nLondon, in Vienna, and in Berlin; and sets its traps all over the\nworld, baited with styles of such absurd taste and uselessness that\ninterest in them can only be brief. It is part of its deliberate\npolicy, not to suggest any form or style that has merit sufficient to\nmake it desirable a second season. It avoids any approach to the simple\nand beautiful and comfortable drapery used by the ancient Greeks,\nbecause of fear that its trade will be ruined by the stability of the\nwares. Ostentation is the ever-ready victim to take the poisonous bait;\nand then, there is a mad rush of the mimicking slaves, to assume the\nfetters which bind them to constant toil. Dishonor, infamy, and shame,\nare braved by men and women alike, in following the allurements of\nMercenary Fashion.\n\nFear (of criticism) and Envy are the two phases of the root passions,\nthat are the most powerful and active agents in securing victims for\nMercenary Fashion; but, if Emancipation were the established rule of\nlife, these agents would not exist; Ostentation would not be followed;\nand Taste, and Usefulness, and Permanence, would be the leaders\ninstead; and a state of co\u00f6peration which might properly be named Good\nFashion, or God Fashion, would succeed the tyrant of the present; and\nFashion, under such conditions, would be a blessing instead of a curse\nas at present.\n\n[Sidenote: Bicycle Brings Freedom]\n\nMercenary Fashion has met with a formidable adversary in the bicycle.\nThe absurd costumes inflicted by it on a servile world, seem as\nridiculous when mounted on a bicycle, as if they were placed on the\nDavid of Michael Angelo, or on the Venus de Milo. Bicycle costumes for\nwomen may not displace all others; but, with the freedom of movement\nenjoyed on the wheel, in a costume suitable to the unhampered action of\na biped; with the constant restraint of position rendered necessary by\nthe wearing of skirts removed, woman may soon become free to move and\nact as Nature designed that she should move and act, and enjoyment of\nthis new freedom will greatly modify her slavery to Mercenary Fashion.\n\nFashion (or mimicry) is good, if properly led.\n\n[Sidenote: Make Freedom Fashionable]\n\nIf it were fashionable to believe that anger and worry were unnecessary\nweeds of the mind, were blemishes that could be removed from the\ndisposition, were habits that were unbecoming to civilized man, and\nwere handicaps to energy and happiness that could be put aside at will,\nthe world could follow _that_ fashion to a state of Emancipation, with\nall the enthusiasm it could muster, and benefit itself by being\nfashionable.\n\nAnd, should a just appreciation of the power within us become\n_fashionable_, the tendency to mimicry; which is now the connecting\nlink of resemblance between us and the monkey from which we have\nevolved, would become an element of strength, instead of an element of\nweakness.\n\nWe, as individuals, support the fashions, but we do not suggest them.\nWe support waste and discomfort, for the benefit of mercenary and\ndesigning fashion-makers, with the product of never-ending toil,\nbecause we ape Ostentation, cringe before Fear, and encourage Envy as\nan attribute of Pride.\n\n[Sidenote: Plows with a Stick]\n\n[Sidenote: Druggists Convention]\n\nWe are slaves indeed! not only in the matter of clothes, but in the\nmatter of the distribution of the necessities and luxuries of life and\ncomfort. We do some things more cleverly than the rest of the world,\nbut in others we excel in clumsiness and inconsistency. In Mexico (our\nnearest neighbor), a sharpened stick is still used for plowing; but,\nthat is not nearly as crude, of its kind, as some of the business\nmethods that we support in this country are of their kind; and in\nmatters of utmost importance, too. For instance: in the city of\nMontgomery, Alabama, there is a square, or rather a diamond, around\nwhich, and within a block of which, there are eight or nine drug\nstores. This may not be an unusual bunching of druggists, but, as\nMontgomery is a meeting point of several terminal railroads, and trains\nfrom all directions are usually detained there one or two hours, I have\nhad abundant opportunity to study this constellation of red and green\nlights, that blink and stare at all who visit the park they look on.\nThey all seem to be full fledged, and fully equipped drug stores, and\nnot devoted to specialties, as one would suppose as a reason for there\nbeing so many of them.\n\n[Sidenote: Montgomery, Alabama]\n\nAs it is, there are eight stores, eight stocks of goods, eight sets of\nclerks, eight insurance policies, eight computations of interest, eight\ngas or electric light bills, and probably eight many-other items of\nexpense chargeable to the profits on the sales, and supported by the\npublic, when one establishment would serve all the people of Montgomery\nbetter than the eight do now. If these stores were scattered about the\ncity, the matter of convenience could be urged for their existence. To\nsupport such prodigality, profits ranging from one hundred to one\nthousand _per cent._ have to be charged, and the public evidently pays\nthem, for their existence from year to year is evidence of support from\nsome one. Suppose the Corporation of the City of Montgomery were to\nvote an appropriation of fifty thousand (or perhaps only twenty\nthousand) dollars, for the purpose of establishing a first-class\ndispensary of medicines, etc., and should put it in charge of a\ncompetent chemist, who would know what medicines were good, and what\ncompounds were not good? The patronage of the citizens would support\nsuch an establishment on a ten _per cent._ basis of profit, and pay ten\n_per cent._ interest on the investment without doubt, and the citizens\nwould not be at the mercy of chance or imposition, in a matter of prime\nimportance to health, as they are liable to be, under any but the most\nperfect system of selecting and dispensing drugs and patent medicines.\n\n[Sidenote: Slavery to Waste]\n\nThis is a single instance among thousands, of the unintelligent\napplication of the doctrine of _laissez faire_ to matters of vital\nsocial interest; and is given here to illustrate a form of slavery to\ninconvenience and waste, that would be cleared away like mist before\nthe sun, as the result of evolution, from the standpoint of\nEmancipation.\n\nIt required a million guns, and the assistance of several million men,\nwith all the waste and blood which war carries with it, to free the\nnegro; and the advance of humanity the world over, was a fruit, worth\nthe cost of the war; but slavery of the individual to the parasite\npassions, will not enlist the rescue of arms, although it entails\ngreater hardship than was ever suffered by the average negro slave.\nEach individual must gain for himself this freedom; no one else can aid\nhim except through suggestion and moral help. It is his birthright\nhowever, and awaits his call.\n\n[Sidenote: The Martyr]\n\nThe face of the martyr glowed with radiant happiness, when he exclaimed\nto his jailers from the confines of his chains, \"You have bound my\nbody, but you cannot bind my soul! Kill my body if you like! it will\nonly give greater freedom to my soul.\" But the so-called free citizen\nof to-day; who smothers himself under the blanket of worry; or, who\nspits angry injustice at a self-created-phantom-cause for resentment,\nis a weak and pitiable wretch, as compared with the bonded martyr or\nnegro of long ago.\n\n[Sidenote: Axiom of the Circus]\n\nEmancipation, or, a perfectly _de-angered_ and _de-worryized_ mind, can\nonly be secured through _conviction_ of its possibility, and not simply\nthrough an intellectual admission of its possibility. Faith is the\npre-requisite of every successful accomplishment in life. An axiom of\nthe circus ring warns an acrobat, or a gymnast, never to attempt a\nfeat, unless he has perfect confidence in his ability to perform it\nsuccessfully. Knowledge and the appreciation of the power of the mind\nover phantoms of its own creation, and confidence to expel them, is as\nnecessary in menticulture as is the confidence of the gymnast in\nperforming wonderful feats of menti-physical skill. The condition\nrequired for growth to Emancipation, is that of perfect faith and\nconfidence, born of knowledge of the power God has given us to \"cast\nout evil,\" and in that condition, Emancipation, when attained, can be\nanchored safely, protected from any of the battling and surging\nelements of discord from without.\n\n[Sidenote: Psychic Researches]\n\nThe researches of many scientific societies along the lines of Psychic\nPhenomena, endorsed by every utterance of Christ, reveal the fact that\nfaith is a pre-requisite to subjection, or control, of the mind. The\nbest subjects in scientific hypnotism are the strongest minded (who\nbelieve through knowledge), and the weakest minded (who believe through\ncredulity); while the creatures of vacillating impulses, are hopeless\ndolts in the hands of the hypnotist, and will be those who will have to\nacquire Mental Emancipation because it is fashionable, and not because\nit is sensible.\n\nThe condition of Emancipation is one of faith in the beginning; but, as\nsoon as it is attained, there is no desire to replant mental weeds, and\nno struggle to repress them, for there are no roots or seeds from which\nto grow them.\n\nFaith must precede, but examples of Emancipation are sure to develop in\nevery community, and soon the atmosphere will be pregnant with the\npossibility of it. Then it will be easy to _follow the fashion_ and\ndismiss anger and worry; and, after a little, shame will attach to the\npossession of them. Growth and happiness will result from the\nelimination of the germs of strife; natural co\u00f6peration will follow\nnatural growth; and we will catch up with Mr. Bellamy's prophecy, long\nbefore the time specified in \"Looking Backward,\" by the simple\nunraveling of a silken skein of endless possibilities from the free end\nwithin ourselves.\n\n[Sidenote: Tottering House of Can't]\n\nFear that individuality will be lost in co\u00f6peration, is one of the\nhot-shot missiles of mendacity, that is being fired at Co\u00f6peration from\nthe citadel of the condemned passions, by the slaves of the tottering\nhouse of _Can't_, but will fall, harmless, before the armour of\nEmancipation.\n\nDoes it lessen the individuality of the gardener to weed his soil? Does\nit weaken the individuality of a patient to cut out the root of his\ncancer? Does it militate against the power of a cause, to rid it of its\nfaults? Will the runner run less swiftly, or the jumper jump less far,\nif they remove the handicap?\n\n\n\n\nORGANIZATION\n\n\nWhile Emancipation in the individual is worth more than all the wealth\nof the world to him without it, organization about the idea is\ndesirable for the purpose of aiding others; and, (through co\u00f6peration\nand the most perfect economics) lightening the burden of compulsory\nlabor, in order that there shall be more time to devote to recreation\nand recreative labor.\n\n[Sidenote: Organization Desirable]\n\nOrganization on the basis of Emancipation is sure to be the next great\nmovement of reform and growth, in the light of whose strength, the puny\nefforts of the past will seem like the light of a tallow dip beside an\nelectric cluster.\n\n[Sidenote: Adds Everything Takes Nothing]\n\nThis will come; not because I have discovered it for myself and am\npublishing an account of the discovery to my friends, but because the\nworld has learned something of the powers at its command; has learned\nthe possibility of germ cure in physics; has learned the efficacy of\nmental therapeutics in matters of both mind and body; and is ripe for\nit. When I tell my friends my experience and deductions, they are\nprepared at once to accept them with credence. And so it will be with\nthem and their friends, for logic and self interest are merits to\ncommend it to all intelligent persons; and, in the immediate future, it\nis not unreasonable to hope that Emancipation, as a basic condition\nfavorable to growth and Brotherhood, may not be an uncommon\naccomplishment and requirement. I believe that it is one of the first\nsteps urged in Christian Science and rendered possible by the belief,\nas it is in the Buddhist Discipline and Christian formula, and in the\ncircle of my acquaintance there are already many believers in the\npossibility of Emancipation, who are enjoying its benefits; who find\nthat it is _the one little ingredient_ necessary to perfect their\nestablished beliefs, and strengthen their present affiliations; and to\nwhom it adds everything and from whom takes nothing.\n\n[Sidenote: No End to Growth]\n\nAll the members of religious sects; all the members of fraternal\nsocieties, as well as many of the disconnected seekers after\nintellectual and spiritual growth, should be eager to enroll themselves\nunder the banner of Emancipation; and if this should happen, the wished\nfor Utopia of the most fertile imagination, would not be as remote as\nit has seemed to be in the past.\n\n\n\n\nHOPE\n\n\nWhen one has attained the condition of Emancipation, let him be sure\nthat it is only the elementary stage of growth, the happy childhood of\ntrue life (no matter what the physical age of the body), and that there\nis a possibility of development to a point of unselfishness, whence one\ncan view one's own individuality from without, and direct its action\nfrom an impersonal standpoint. Then each of us can _will_ himself to\nact as he would like to have a beloved friend or relative act in any\ngiven situation.\n\nI believe that this is true, and entirely possible to the emancipated\nmind; but, as I have aimed to present only a personal discovery and\nexperience, I will leave a deeper consideration of the subject to the\ntest of a longer acquaintance with the new-found life.\n\n\n    PRINTED BY R. R. DONNELLEY\n    AND SONS COMPANY, AT THE\n    LAKESIDE PRESS, CHICAGO, ILL\n\n    MDCCCXCV","title":"Menticulture; or, the A-B-C of True Living","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":16908}