{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_46777/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_46777","id":"gutenberg_46777","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46777","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Psychiatry/Psychology","Fear","Happiness"],"text":"Transcriber's Note:\n\n    Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.\n    For more transcriber's notes, please go to the end of this text.\n\n\n\n\nHAPPINESS\n\n\n\n\n    HORACE FLETCHER'S WORKS\n\n\n    THE A. B.-Z. OF OUR OWN NUTRITION.\n        Thirteenth thousand. 462 pp.\n\n    THE NEW MENTICULTURE; OR, THE A-B-C OF\n        TRUE LIVING. Forty-Eighth thousand.\n        310 pp.\n\n    THE NEW GLUTTON OR EPICURE; OR,\n        ECONOMIC NUTRITION. Fifteenth\n        thousand. 344 pp.\n\n    HAPPINESS AS FOUND IN FORETHOUGHT MINUS\n        FEARTHOUGHT. Fourteenth thousand.\n        251 pp.\n\n    THAT LAST WAIF; OR, SOCIAL QUARANTINE.\n        Sixth thousand. 270 pp.\n\n\n\n\nHAPPINESS\n\nAS FOUND IN\n\nForethought minus Fearthought\n\n\nBY\n\nHORACE FLETCHER\n\n_Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science_\n\n\n    FOURTEENTH THOUSAND\n\n\n    NEW YORK\n    FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY\n    PUBLISHERS\n\n\n\n\n    COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY\n    HORACE FLETCHER\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n  INTRODUCTION,                                             7\n\n  HYPOTHESIS,                                              29\n\n  THEORY,                                                  38\n\n  PREFATORY DEFINITIONS,                                   43\n\n  THE VALUE OF SIMILE,                                     63\n\n  ANALYSIS OF FEAR,                                        69\n\n  BALEFUL EFFECTS OF FEAR,                                 78\n\n  HOW TO ELIMINATE FEAR,                                   89\n\n  HOW TO CURE SPECIAL FORMS OF FEAR,                      100\n\n  THE NOW-FIELD,                                          109\n\n  PERTINENT PAGES,                                        117\n\n  STOP IMPORTING, OR, ERADICATION VERSUS REPRESSION,      145\n\n  THE IMPOTENCE OF PAIN,                                  153\n\n  UNHAPPY UNLESS MISERABLE,                               160\n\n  THOU SHALT NOT STRIKE A WOMAN,                          169\n\n  THE POINT-OF-VIEW,                                      177\n\n  DON'T BE A SEWER,                                       187\n\n  CALL SUSPICION A LIAR,                                  190\n\n  I CAN'T _Not_ DO IT,                                    192\n\n  A MILLION TO ONE ON THE UNEXPECTED,                     198\n\n  LOVE CANNOT BE QUALIFIED,                               203\n\n  LAST SOMETIMES FIRST,                                   211\n\n  A BEGINNING AND NOT AN END,                             217\n\n  APPENDIX A--DR. WM. H. HOLCOMB,                         223\n\n  APPENDIX B--GEORGE KENNAN,                              242\n\n  EXPLANATION OF THE A. B. C. SERIES,                     253\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nTO\n\nSIXTH THOUSAND\n\n\n\"Happiness\" was written in answer to many questions elicited by the\npublication of \"Menticulture.\"\n\nThe \"Introduction\" is not material to the subject except to show the\nsources of the suggestions relative to profitable living contained in\nthe two books.\n\nThe vital truths underlying the philosophy of life can be intelligently\nstated in a few hundred words, both as regards the proper cultivation\nof the body, or physical equipment, and as regards the cultivation\nof the mind, so that they may do the best work of which they are\ncapable. False example and false teaching, however, have so impressed\nhabits of weakness on the body and the mind that the chief aim of\ncurative suggestion should be to disabuse. That is, to cause people to\ndiscard bad habits of thinking and doing in order that normal, healthy\ntendencies of action and of thought may take their place.\n\nThe difficulty of the task undertaken by any student and advocate of\nreform is not the intelligent statement of the simple truth, but the\ndiscovery and refutation of a complication of errors which have assumed\nthe reality of truth. Simile and illustration, some logic and much\nridicule, are among the weapons that have been effective in combating\nold habits of wrong thinking, but it is impossible to say which\nargument will fit a particular case.\n\nEach of the illustrations used in this book has been the means of\ncuring some one person of some phase of fearthought, and together they\nhave released many from that dread enemy of health and happiness called\n\"Fear.\"\n\nThe normal condition of Nature is healthy growth--evolution or\nprogression--and Man's chief function in assisting her is first the\nremoval of weeds, or other deterrents to the natural process, and\nafterwards the maintaining of quarantine against their return.\n\n_True Happiness is the Evidence and Fruit of Conscious Usefulness._\n\nThe wider the opportunity for usefulness the greater and keener the\nhappiness resulting therefrom. Consciousness of _being_ one's best and\n_doing_ one's best, however, regardless of scope, is the only way to\nunalloyed happiness, and to the accomplishment of the highest ideals.\nThere can be no more miserable, sorry and harrowing condition than\nthat called \"Indifference.\"\n\nThe separating of fearthought from forethought is not alone valuable\nbecause of the personal comfort of being fearless, but it is especially\nuseful in that the energy made possible by the divorce is available in\nassisting others to be strong and helpful to themselves and to each\nother.\n\nIf attention is once directed to the pulling of weeds, to the removal\nof deterrents, to the eradication of the germs of disorder, the pursuit\nwill become most fascinating, owing to the quick and happy response of\nNature in her willingness to \"Do the rest.\"\n\nOne of the marvels revealed by study of the question of the possibility\nof a Perfect Social Quarantine, having for its aim a protection that\nwill not permit any child _to escape care_, is the comparatively small\nareas of the propagating centers in which are bred the germs of social\ndisorder.\n\nThis subject is treated in a book, now in press, called \"That Last\nWaif; or, Social Quarantine.\"\n\nThe same insignificance of origin applies to individual, moral and\nphysical deterrents to happiness which afflict otherwise healthy men\nand women. The _tap-roots_ of all unhappiness are not formidable in the\nlight of present knowledge.\n\nWhoever is less than keenly happy is the victim of errors or illusions\nwhose germs are easy to kill when found. It is the especial object\nof this book to help those who are suffering unhappiness to find the\ntap-roots of their troubles.\n\n          Auditorium Annex,\n    Chicago, September 5th, 1898.\n\n\n\n\n    HAPPINESS\n    AS FOUND IN\n    FORE MINUS FEAR\n    THOUGHT.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nHow to be happy is the one desire common to all humanity.\n\nHow to be happier is a better statement, for there is no one so\nmiserable but has some degree of happiness at times--enjoys some\nmoments when he forgets to be unhappy, and looks with appreciation,\neven if with only dull and bleared appreciation, upon the things that\nare always beautiful and joyful and free.\n\nIn highly civilized life there is everything to encourage, and there\nshould be nothing to prevent, happiness.\n\nThe normal condition of man in civilized life is that of happiness.\n\nSo great, and so greatly increasing, has been the acceleration of\nprogress, that the possibility of unrestrained and unfettered\nhappiness has come to us in advance of our being prepared to accept the\nfreedom of it, owing, mainly, no doubt, to the weight of traditions\nunder the habit of which we are prone to struggle long after the\nconditions that gave birth to the traditions have ceased to exist.\n\nThe experience of the world has revealed, and is constantly revealing,\nsimple expedients applicable to every possible combination of\nevils--except the evil of perverse ignorance--the use of which will\ninsure the success of honest and reasonable aims, no matter how\nunfavorable the equipment and environment have been or are at the\npresent time.\n\nIn a singularly adventurous career I have passed through many of the\nconditions in which discomfort, fear and unhappiness breed, including\nthe direst straits to which life can be exposed, and have also been\npossessed, at different times, of the means to comfort and happiness\nthat broad opportunity, keen appreciation and affluence are supposed to\nfurnish.\n\nI have shared the occupations and sympathies of persons of many\ndifferent nationalities and of every degree of opportunity and\nintelligence; in torrid, temperate and frigid climes; in the Americas,\nin Africa, in Europe, in Asia, and in the far-off islands of distant\nseas; on shipboard and on the farm; in the mine and in the factory; in\nthe camp and on the commons; in the arts of war and in the pursuits of\npeace; in the country cross-roads school-house and in the university;\nin service and in command--in all of which change it was possible only\nto serve apprenticeships, however, for in such variety of occupation\nno great accomplishment could develop, except the accomplishment of\nvariety itself; but, at the same time, it was not possible for any\nof the occupations to become stale to criticism, and the ability to\nanalyze, in the light of comparison, is the natural result and the\nimpelling motive in these essays.\n\nI have pushed ways through tangled chaparral, led by hopes of\ndiscovering precious metals; and have chopped out roads in the jungle,\nallured by the excitement of the chase and the spirit of adventure. I\nhave observed nature in the vastness of her wild domains; in the calm\nand in the terror of the mighty deep; in the harmonious quiet of rural\ncultivation, and in the supreme picturesqueness of rugged mountain\nlandscapes, studded about, here and there, with golden-roofed temples\nand cloistered parks. I have not only seen nature with appreciative\neye when she has displayed her million moods and when she has taken on\nmyriad aspects, but I have tried to interpret her in terms of line and\ncolor in famous studios in Europe, under the advice of world-honored\nmasters of the art.\n\nThe numerous occupations engaged in were, in many cases, used as\nnecessary means to desired ends. While I have enjoyed making _le grand\ntour_ as a \"globe trotter,\" I have also had to \"work my way\" at times,\nand in \"working my way\" have had to undertake occupations leading\nthat \"way.\" So successful have I been in finding means or excuses for\ntravel, that among my intimates the saying is current that if I \"took\nit into my head\" to want to go to either of the poles, I would engage\nin a business that would make it _necessary_ for me to go there, thus\nconserving my respect for duty and my desire for travel at the same\ntime.\n\nI once sought and secured a place on the staff of one of the great\nAmerican daily journals in order to gain access to famous studios in\nEurope and America, and to become acquainted with the personality of\ngreat artists who had become inaccessible to anyone except plutocratic\nbuyers of works of art, intimate friends and critics. This was while\nI was studying art with a view to learning some of the secrets of its\ninspiration in practice, and thus journalism served a useful purpose,\nas well as satisfied a burning curiosity. In this connection I will\nsay that I have since been able, directly and indirectly, to create\nappreciation that has led to the purchase of works of art in which very\nlarge sums of money have been involved, so that I cannot be charged\nwith imposture upon a profession which I respect to the point of\nreverence for its mission in holding a \"true mirror up to nature\" and\nin teaching us to appreciate the subtle beauties that nature shows in\nall of her aspects, but which become commonplace to the many without\nthe assistance of art.\n\nThe Japanese have a proverb which declares that \"once seeing is better\nthan an hundred times telling about,\" and this good proverb has\nbeen the guiding star of my roamings, and has suggested practical\nparticipation in some of my occupations. My first attempt to see the\nantipodes was not successful. It did not have the necessary parental\nsanction, and I was _brought back_ before I had measured very much\nlongitude and latitude; but the determination shown in the attempt\nindicated so strong a tendency that it led to promise of assistance and\npermission to travel as a reward for certain accomplishments in study\nthat were considered to be impossible, as judged by former efforts, but\nwhich became surprisingly easy to the boy who saw a way to the other\nside of the world in the task.\n\nI spent my sixteenth birthday on the Island of Java, and saw Japan and\nChina at the most interesting periods of their recent history--Japan,\nin Feudal Times, before any of the changes that have made her the last\nand greatest wonder of the world; and China, at the close of the\nTaiping rebellion, wherein more than thirty millions of persons lost\ntheir lives, and about which there hovered a lawlessness the like of\nwhich the world has not witnessed elsewhere.\n\nChance and restless change have thrown me into companionship with\nthe most elemental of human beings; and have also led me to the\nacquaintance, and into the affections of the wisest and loveliest of\nmen and women--the rarest blossoms of our generation. Opportunity has\nfound me available for the command of a crew of Cantonese pirates, on\na Chinese lorcha, at a time when piracy was a common occupation in the\nChina Sea; and for the mismanagement of a French Grand Opera Company,\nwhen no one else was foolish enough to undertake it.\n\nThe foregoing are but glimpses of the opportunities for observation\nout of which I draw my deductions relative to profitable living.\nFour complete trips around the world--two of them before the time\nof ocean steamship lines and continental railroads; thirty-six trips\nacross the American Continent by various rail, water and stage routes;\nsixteen voyages across the Pacific Ocean, and many across the Atlantic;\nintermittent periods of residence in many different countries of\nEurope, in China, in India, in Japan and in different localities in the\nAmericas; as well as visits to parts remote from the lines of travel,\nsuch as South Africa, Yucatan and the mountain regions of Mexico\nand Central America, that are the type of all of the South American\ncountries; and all of which residences and visits have been chosen\nat times of greatest interest in each locality; in response to the\ninvitation of the Spirit-of-Adventure by which I have been led--these,\ntogether with no less than thirty-eight distinct occupations, embrace\nthe sum of my opportunities.\n\nFortune has always been kind to me when I have trusted her; when my\naims and ambitions were worthy, and when I have been sufficiently\nappreciative and grateful for the things I already possessed to merit\nand invite continued favors; but, she has always passed me by whenever\nI have doubted her goodness or questioned her intentions. And so\nconsistent has been the course of Fortune, as viewed in the retrospect,\nthat I can assert, with all the assurance of firm belief, that \"Unto\nhim who hath (appreciation and gratitude) shall be given; but unto him\nwho hath not (appreciation and gratitude) shall be taken away even that\nwhich he hath.\"\n\nUntil I began to collect my remembrances into groups, form them into\nclasses for review and deduct from them suggestions for profitable\nliving, I had thought that my chronic restlessness was aimless as\nmeasured by the common estimate of usefulness; but the sympathy\naroused by the publication of my little volume--first, privately\nprinted,--_Menticulture, or the A-B-C of True Living_--revealed the\npossibility of utilizing my varied experiences and observations to\ngood advantage in calling attention to uses-of-energy, points-of-view,\nhabits-of-thought and habits-of-action, that made for happiness in some\npersons in some parts of the world, while they were entirely unknown to\nothers as well fitted to enjoy them.\n\nI was led to serious study of the causes and effects of happiness and\nunhappiness by observations of the pitiable neglect of the science\nof menticulture, (which is the science of fundamental means), and\nthe science of happiness (which is the science of ultimate desirable\nends), in materially civilized communities, and by persons who have\nmastered, and are already possessed of, the physical means to comfort\nand happiness. This neglect is not surprising when we reflect that all\navailable time and all available thought have been excitedly employed\nin developing material, physical _means_, to the exclusion of the\nthought of cultivating the end; to the harnessing and training of the\nforces of Nature, to the exclusion of planning for their best uses; but\nit will be surprising if, however, in the near future, the ends are\nnot scientifically cultivated, now that the fundamental as well as the\nphysical means are understood, and the leisure to apply them is secured.\n\nMore than forty years of observation, and upwards of three years of\nstudy, analysis and arrangement with a fixed purpose, have enabled\nme to suggest changes of attitude towards the problems of life that\nhave not failed to bring more or less strength and happiness to\nall who have adopted them, as attested by thousands of written and\nverbal communications and by report. This is literally true, and the\nstatement of it is warranted by the merit of the results, removed from\nany personality in connection with it.\n\nThe underlying cause of all weakness and unhappiness in Man, heredity\nand environment to the contrary notwithstanding, has always been, and\nis still, _weak habit-of-thought_. This is proven by the observed\ninstances in which _strong habit-of-thought_ has invariably made its\nmasters superior to heredity, and to environment, and to illness,\nand to weakness of all kinds, and has redeemed them from non-success\nand misery, to the enjoyment of success, honor and happiness. It has\nalso been proven that none are so ill-favored as to be exempt from\nregeneration by the influence of optimistic thinking, and none so\nplain, nor even so ugly, as judged by the world's standards of beauty,\nbut that the radiance of pure thought will make them more beautiful\nthan their brothers of nobler mien and more symmetrical physique, but\nwhose thoughts are poisoned by fear and by selfishness.\n\nHappiness is not dependent upon wealth, and wealth does not necessarily\nbring happiness, but both are dependent upon _good-habit-of-thought_;\nfor _good-habit-of-thought_ develops _appreciation_, which is\nthe measure of all wealth, and _appreciation_ leads to the\n_habit-of-feeling_ and the _habit-of-action_ which produce happiness.\n\nNotwithstanding the words of Jesus of Nazareth, by which one-half of\nthe world's inhabitants are supposed to be governed; notwithstanding\nthe admonitions of the other great teachers to whom the other half\nof humanity turn for counsel; notwithstanding the lessons taught\nby all of nature's processes of growth, especially the teachings\nof later evolution; fear--fear of death, fear of disaster, fear of\nnon-attainment, fear of non-preferment, and fear of the things that\nnever happen as feared, and the anger and the worry growing out\nof these fears--have been looked upon as afflictions necessary to\nhumanity, repressible only during life, and eradicable only at the\nchange called death.\n\nEarly theology wrestled with conditions wherein it was thought\nnecessary to use the whip of fear as well as the attraction of love to\nincline men to religion. Modern theology teaches the religion of love\nalone, but it has not yet sufficiently denounced the former teaching\nof fears, perhaps in the interest of consistency or because of filial\nrespect, inasmuch as its parents once put the label of _truth_ upon\nthe religion of fear. Science also has taught, and still continues to\nteach, the potency of the _crowding-out_ stimulant in growth, without\nproclaiming a line where attraction became the stronger motive in\ncivilization--an intangible line already far astern in the wake of\npresent progress.\n\nFear has had its uses in the evolutionary process, and seems to\nconstitute the whole of forethought, as instinct seems to constitute\nthe whole of intelligence in most animals, but that it should remain\nany part of the mental equipment of human civilized life is an\nabsurdity. There are, undoubtedly, human beings that are still so\nnearly animal that fear alone will restrain them from wrong-doing,\nor stimulate them (or, rather, _push_ them) to peaceful and useful\nliving, but none such will read this book, and neither you nor I should\nbe burdened by their limitations or necessities. We have passed the\npoint where we need to be _pushed_; or, if we have not, we are ashamed\nto confess it, thereby acknowledging that it is unnecessary; and are\nwithin the atmosphere of appreciation and attraction where fear and\nits expressions have no proper place, and where the toleration of\nfear beclouds not only our own clear vision, but also the vision of\nthose who are still below us in the scale of intelligence, to whom,\nas beacon-lighters on the heights above them, we owe the influence of\nright example.\n\nI have made especial study of the reports of the Society for Psychical\nResearch, the book entitled \"Fear,\" by Prof. Angelo Mosso, of Turin,\nItaly, and the contributions to the _American Journal of Psychology_\nby President G. Stanley Hall, of Clarke University, Worcester,\nMassachusetts; Dr. Colin A. Scott, Professor of Psychology and Child\nStudy at Cook County Normal School, Chicago, Illinois; and others who\nare devoting particular attention to the causes and effects of fears in\nchildren; together with the after-effect of early fears upon persons\nwhen they are fully grown. The claim of these students is that the\nconsideration of the future that constitutes _forethought_ is a mixture\nof hope, faith and fear, the sum of which is the stimulant to action\nand progress, hope and faith being the civilized or divine motives,\nand fear being the animal motive. My own experience and observations\ncorroborate this contention, but I find that the fear element of\nforethought is _not_ stimulating to the more civilized persons, to\nwhom duty and attraction are the natural motives of stimulation, but\nis weakening and deterrent. As soon as it becomes unnecessary, fear\nbecomes a positive deterrent, and should be entirely removed, as dead\nflesh is removed from living tissue. I have also demonstrated, beyond\nthe possibility of doubt, that _the fear element can be eliminated_ out\nof forethought _as soon as it becomes evident that it is unnecessary,\nseparable and eliminable_, and that _energy_ and _desire_ for\nprogress and growth _are beautifully stimulated as the result of its\nelimination_.\n\nTo assist in the analysis of fear, and in the denunciation of\nits expressions, I have coined the word \"_fearthought_\" to stand\nfor the unprofitable element of forethought, and have defined\nthat variously-interpreted word \"worry\" as _fearthought, in\ncontradistinction to forethought_. I have also defined \"fearthought\" as\nthe _self-imposed_ or _self-permitted_ suggestion of _inferiority_, in\norder to place it where it really belongs, in the category of harmful,\nunnecessary, and, therefore, not-respectable things.\n\nDarwin and Spencer and other biologists have asserted that if primitive\nman had not been urged by fear of discomfort he would have sat upon\na stone, naked, near the roots or the herbs that served to appease\nhis hunger--if it also happened to be near to a spring where he could\nquench his thirst--until he died; and that fear has been the impelling\nmotive in the progress of the race. This was undoubtedly true up to a\ncertain point, but, like many of the laws of _ye olden tyme_, is not\napplicable to the present nor to us.\n\nThere is now sufficient protection vouchsafed by forethought, and\nsufficient attraction furnished by affection and duty, to lead the van\nin the pursuit of progress, and to set an example that will be its own\ntorch-bearer in guiding the trend of thought and of action.\n\nWhen the motto, \"Fearlessness,\" becomes embroidered upon the banners of\nall of our religious and other fraternal organizations; when \"Freedom\nfrom Fear\" becomes the slogan of Reform, and when Appreciation, Love\nand Altruism are admitted to the councils of men, then, and only then,\nwill famine end, selfishness fade, strikes become unnecessary, misery\ndepart, and Happiness become enthroned as the ruler of a joyously\nindustrious and universally prosperous people.\n\nIncrease is prodigal, and accumulation is already prodigious, so that\nit is no longer a question of physical means, but a question of wise\ndistribution and adjustment, to accomplish all that society requires\nto insure it unremitting happiness.\n\nChurches there are, clubs there are, lodges there are, guilds there\nare, and many other fraternal organizations whose aims are practically\nthe same, but whose members are attracted together into separate\ngroups by sympathies of traditions, race, occupations or general\ntrend-of-thought. It would be a useless iconoclasm to separate from\nthese or to attempt to dismember them. They are all good organizations,\nwherein they conserve the principles of brotherhood and promote\npractical altruism; and are only imperfect wherein they tolerate\nslavery to the fears, slavery to wealth, slavery to the harmful\nconventions, and slavery to the antagonisms, intolerances and other\nevil passions that prevent economic co-operation, harmony and happiness.\n\nThe contention of this book is that, with means already secured, there\nis a way to individual happiness, _even under existing conditions_;\nand also, that the present acceleration of progress, and certain\nalready accomplished tests of possible industrial and economic reform,\ncoupled with an optimism that has for its motto, \"All _can be_, and,\ntherefore, _shall be_ well,\" not only promise, but assure, to mankind,\nin a not remote future, equal opportunities for securing happiness by\nmeans altogether honest and altruistic.\n\nTo _all_ who will follow me through this volume, I promise to show\nways and signs that will assist the weak to become strong, the poor to\nbecome rich in appreciation of their opportunities, and the rich to\nbetter enjoy their good fortune without impoverishing others to do so.\nMy special desire is to enlist general aid in eradicating deterrents to\ngrowth, and in the acceleration of progress.\n\n\n\n\nHYPOTHESIS.\n\n\nThe object of Life is Growth.\n\nHarmony is the condition favorable and necessary to growth.\n\nHarmony is the normal condition of Nature, as proven by the unfailing\nand immediate response of growth to its influence.\n\nHarmonic conditions are created by the removal of deterrents to growth.\n\nMind is the first essential in the growth of Man. A healthy mind\ninsures a healthy body, and a rational cultivation of the mind cannot\nfail to result in the attainment of the highest ideals.\n\nAll of the processes of Nature are consistent, and Man and Mind are no\nexception to the rule regulating the growth of other things, except\nthat their functions as chief assistants in evolution are unique, and,\ntherefore, involve greater responsibility.\n\nUnselfishness is necessary to the harmonic condition in Man, and\nservice to fellow-man is essential to his growth.\n\nHappiness is the evidence and fruit of Growth.\n\nThere can be no real happiness except in Growth.\n\nActs are thoughts materialized; or--thoughts realized.\n\nForethought is an essential aid to Growth.\n\nFearthought is the cause of all deterrents to growth in Man.\n\nForethought minus Fearthought is the ideal Mind Equipment.\n\nFearthought serves no useful purpose; neither is it a necessary\ninfliction of intelligent, civilized manhood or womanhood.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCulture is necessary to the best growth.\n\nMind-culture, or _menticulture_, is the most important of all\nthe divisions of culture; for, out of Mind thoughts spring, and\naccomplishments grow; but it has been the last to receive the same\nscientific and reasonable attention that the other cultures have\nreceived, and had not even been given a distinctive name until\n_Menticulture_ was published.\n\nIn Agriculture and in Horticulture, plants that seem to have no\nprofitable nor agreeable use, but are deterrent to the growth of useful\nplants, are denominated \"weeds,\" and are not allowed to retain root\nin the same soil; animals and other living and moving things that\nare not serviceable, and can not be domesticated, are exterminated\nfrom civilized environment; the air that Man breathes is cleared of\npoisonous malaria by draining the swamps in which the bad air forms;\nand friction is minimized in machines, in order that the energy applied\nto them may meet with least resistance, and suffer the least waste.\nBut no such care is commonly given to the mind.\n\nFearthought is the element of friction, as expressed in anger; it is\nthe predatory element, as expressed in waste of energy--the result of\nworry; and it is also the weed element, as shown by the uselessness of\nit in any form. It is, however, permitted to encumber, muddy and prey\nupon divinely ordained forethought, as weeds encumber good soil, as\nmud clouds pure water, and as savage and venomous things prey upon the\ncomfort and life of animals useful to Man, and even upon Man himself.\n\nMan's place in the process of evolution is that of assistant only. Man\nselects, arranges, brings together, separates, waters, fertilizes,\nwaits upon and otherwise cultivates Nature; but he has not been able to\nadd one cell to growth; neither has he succeeded in drawing an atom of\ncolor from the sunlight and in infusing it into the sap of any growing\nthing.\n\nBy Man's attention in removing the deterrents, the skimpy little wild\nflower that grows upon the hillsides of China, that I gathered when\nI was a boy--of less importance than the common field daisy--has\nbecome the royal chrysanthemum of the Flower Shows; by Man's care in\nthe breeding, feeding and training of the primitive horse described\nby Professor Marsh, the almost-human Kentucky thoroughbred--the\n\"Black Beauty\" of our pride--has been evolved; and the clumsy effort\nof the first inventor of steam applied to machinery has become the\nwonderful quadruple-expansion engine of the present, by the harmonizing\nadjustment of parts, and the reduction of friction to the point of\nnoiseless efficiency, through the genius of invention.\n\nMind is the great machine behind all other machines and out of which\nall accomplishment comes. Fearthought and what grows out of it, under\nthe class names of anger and worry, are like rust and sand in the\njournals, and wear out the bearings of the machine. They are also like\nthe impurities in water that cause foaming in a boiler and prevent the\naccumulation of energy. They are productive of nothing but wear and\nwaste, _wear and waste_, as long as they are permitted to encumber the\nsplendid man-machine and its source of power.\n\nThe creative--the growing part--of Nature never fails to do her part\nif the deterrents to growth are removed. What she does for the growth\nof plants and of animals, and for the creation of power from the use\nof her forces called steam and electricity, she will also do for the\ngrowth and development of the mind of man. If fearthought and its\nvarious expressions are eradicated; or, more correctly speaking,\nare not sought and nursed, as they always are, nothing can prevent\nGrowth and Service and Happiness from occupying their own; and if the\ncarbonic-acid-gas of passion is kept out of the mental atmosphere, a\nvitalized, altruistic and spiritualized energy will take its place.\n_Good comes to whatever is prepared for it._\n\nIt is an easy matter to separate fearthought from forethought if it is\nknown that they are separable; not by suppression, nor by process of\ngradual repression; because, as long as a spark of fearthought remains,\nany excitement or draft of surprise may revive the flame to destructive\nproportions; but by absolute eradication,--determination not to suffer,\nnor permit, nor tolerate.\n\nThe method of eradication is, by the way, the method that is easier\nthan not, as soon as conviction of the possibility of it is nursed into\na belief.\n\n_Effective methods are always easy methods._\n\nRepression acknowledges, and therefore strengthens, the evil to be\nrepressed, is never-ending and altogether ineffectual.\n\nEradication is the simple method of ceasing to import or admit evil\ncounsel or report, and is the only effective method in menticulture.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWhile the future is the field in which growth must take place, the now\nor, rather, the immediate-next-future, is the _only_ time for action.\nAre you possessed of fearthought, or anger, or worry, or suspicion,\nor jealousy, or envy, or malice, or indifference at this moment? No!\nYou cannot be, for two distinct thoughts cannot occupy the mind at\nthe same time, and your thought is occupied with the subject matter\nof this hypothesis. The next time you have any of these poisons you\nwill have to import them afresh in response to the invitation of so\nmean a liar as Suspicion, or at the command of so silly a coward as\nFear. Habit-of-thought-of-evil--_the devil_--will return to you for the\nusual easy conquest, but newly-acquired knowledge of his impotency to\nharm can aid Determination to resist him until Habit-of-Thought is no\nlonger Bad-Habit-of-Thought and will, therefore, no longer assist in\nthe materialization of the spook. And then, and _only_ then, will you\nbe free--free to grow, eager to serve, and altogether happy.\n\nAll time--all eternity--is made up of a succession of _nows_. If\nyou are free in the present _now_, you may more easily be free from\ntemptation in the succeeding _nows_ until emancipation shall be\ncomplete and the very atmosphere of your freedom shall exorcise all\nevil before it can come near enough to attract your consciousness.\n\nYou are free this moment; you can be free in the succeeding moments;\n_you can be free forever_! IT IS EASIER THAN NOT!\n\n\n\n\nTHEORY.\n\n\nThe perfect man is the harmonious man.\n\nPerfection in man is attained when he is _doing his best_.\n\nSymmetry of face or of form, quality of voice, or strength of mind\nor muscle at birth are the responsibility of the Creator and of\nprogenitors.\n\nThe birth of the body of man is accomplished when it attains\nconsciousness of its physical requirements.\n\nThe birth of the soul of man is accomplished when he attains\nconsciousness of what is good, of what his functions and duties are\nrelative to his own best growth, and also relative to his uses and\nduties as a member of society.\n\nMan is not fully born until his mind is conscious of his body and\nconscious of his soul, and knows the functions and duties of each\nrelative to the best growth.\n\nUntil man is fully born, as described above, the responsibility of his\nperfection or imperfection rests with his teachers and their teachings.\n\nEverything that man is conscious of is his teacher.\n\nYou are the teacher of every person who sees or is otherwise conscious\nof you or of your example.\n\nIt is unmanly, and especially unchristian, not to seek the greatest\npossible enlightenment relative to the functions and duties in growth,\nnot only for your own sake, but as an example for others; and, being\nenlightened, not to do all possible to assist growth.\n\nWhoever reads and assents to the above, takes upon himself the\nresponsibility of his future growth, and will be respectable or\nnot-respectable insofar as he seeks enlightenment and assists growth,\nor neglects to seek enlightenment and thereby retards growth.\n\nHappiness, the evidence, fruit and reward of growth, rests in\nself-respect first, and, incidentally, in the measure of respect held\nby others.\n\nNo one is respectable who is not _doing his best_.\n\nWhen a man finds fault with the material with which he has been\nfurnished--with his form, with his face, with his mind, with his\nmuscle, with his equipment of wealth, or other means or tools of\ngrowth, at the time of his being fully born, he puts blame upon, and\nthereby blasphemes, his Creator, as well as discredits his progenitors.\n\nWhoever reads, and assents to, the foregoing is fully born, in that he\nhas learned and now _knows what is best_. The question then is: \"What\nwill he do with it?\"\n\nIn highly-civilized life it is _not-respectable not to be fully born_.\n\nThe fully-born is _not doing his best_, and is therefore\n_not-respectable when he suffers himself to retain or cultivate the\nhabit-of-fearthought_.\n\nThe fully-born is _not doing his best_, and therefore is\n_not-respectable, when he entertains and nurses worry_.\n\nThe fully-born is _doing his worst when he allows himself to be angry_.\n\nThe fully-born is unmanly, especially unchristian and altogether\nnot-respectable when he is not doing his best, and is always a subject\nfor pity, and frequently a subject for contempt, when he is doing his\nworst.\n\nThe fully-born-and-entirely-respectable individual knows that\nfearthought is an unprofitable element of forethought, knows that it\ncan be eliminated from the habit-of-feeling by persistent, intelligent\nhabit-of-thought, and, knowing this, prepares the field of his mind for\nunhampered growth by eradicating all of the expressions of fearthought,\nas well as all other deterrents to growth.\n\nThe fully-born-and-entirely-respectable individual is the one to\nwhom come health, strength, memory, inspiration, love, preferment,\naltruistic impulses, and the appreciation necessary to find the\ngreatest enjoyment in them all.\n\nThe fully-born-and-entirely-respectable individual needs not symmetry\nof form nor beauty of face nor accumulation of wealth to make him\nhappy, for the light from within will give grace to his form, reflect\nbeauty from his face, and attract all of the things that constitute\nwealth.\n\nThe fully-born-and-entirely-respectable condition is the condition\nthat is easier than not, pleasanter than any, and in which only true\nhappiness dwells.\n\nOut of the fully-born-and-entirely-respectable habit-of-being\nand habit-of-thinking, nursed within our professedly-altruistic\norganizations, will the impulse spring which will so shape conditions\nthat unhappiness can no longer exist, except as the result of\nperversity.\n\n\n\n\nPREFATORY DEFINITIONS.\n\n\nMuch misunderstanding arises from the various interpretations of the\nmeaning of terms. So different are the interpretations given to some\nwords, that a large part of the dictionaries is taken up with synonyms\nwhose varied applications are nearly as wide apart as the limits of the\ngreatest misunderstanding.\n\nMany of these different applications of words are the result of\ncorruptions of the original meaning, but they are none the less\nmisleading, and furnish an excuse for agreeing on specific definitions.\n\nAs an example of corrupt uses given to words that should be held to\nconvey only a sacred meaning, take the word \"love,\" as promiscuously\napplied, for instance. It should be removed from all selfishness,\nand attach only to such holy application as that implied by the\nexpression, \"God is Love.\" In its application to individuals, as in\nmother-love, child-love, love between husband and wife, or between\nbrothers, it should only have spiritual significance, unalloyed by any\nsuggestion of liking, approval, desire, or lust; and should even extend\nits mantle to spread alike over all created things.\n\nLove had already been so corrupted in its uses in the time\nof Comte, that he was impelled to coin a new word to express\nunselfishness between brother-men, and hence gave the word\n\"altruism\"--(other-self)--to the world.\n\n\"Altruism,\" also, in its turn, has suffered by contact with the\nselfish habit-of-thought of the present time, until it does not longer\nexpress the highest quality of love--the spiritual--but rather the\nsocio-commercial quality that seeks and expects reward of praise or\nmaterial emolument.\n\nAlthough it is some time since \"altruism\" was first used--and it is\na word of most important meaning to sociology--there are few who can\ndefine it.\n\nProbably the material rush of the time has allowed little opportunity\nfor acquaintance with it. It is rarely seen in the magazines, and\nalmost never in the daily papers. This is probably the reason why\nthe author was able to find only three, out of thirty persons asked,\nwho could define \"altruism.\" These thirty were met haphazard, and\nrepresented a fair average of city intelligence. It follows, by\ninference, that there is not as much altruism as there should be in\nexistence among us, for, if there were, the word chosen by Comte to\nexpress it would be more widely used and known.\n\nIn presenting a set of definitions, there is no intention of calling\ninto question the intelligence of any reader. The idea was suggested\nby the wide difference of understanding of the meaning of the word\n\"worry.\" This difference of understanding became apparent in the\ndiscussion of _Menticulture_.[1]\n\nIt was found that many persons defined \"worry\" as \"any consideration of\nthe future,\" whereas only apprehensive consideration of the future was\nintended to be meant by its use in _Menticulture_.\n\nReference to the origin of the word revealed that it was first used to\nexpress the \"barking of a small dog,\" probably in contradistinction to\nthe biting of a large dog. It was first \"worrit,\" and became \"worry,\"\nas now, later on. \"Picking\" and \"nagging\" were its synonyms in slang\nuntil they were taken into the language as sober expressions.\n\nIn the attempt to separate \"worry\" from \"forethought,\" the word\n\"fearthought\" was coined, and hence our present title, and also the\ndefinitions hereunder, whose object is to render misunderstanding as\nnearly impossible as possible.\n\nOnly a few of the words relative to our treatise are defined--only such\nas have been found to cause discussion in consideration of the subject.\n\n\nGOD.\n\nNo definition of the Christian conception of God can be adequate.\nGod is the source of all, in all, and around all. \"The Absolute,\"\n\"Father,\" \"Creator,\" \"Jehovah,\" \"Source\" and other terms are used for\neuphony and to express separate God-qualities. Whoever attempts to\ndefine God, shows pitiful limitations thereby. We may _feel_ God, but\nwe cannot _define_ God. _Appreciation_ of God is the measure of man's\npossibilities of growth and the key to power and happiness.\n\n\nAPPRECIATION.\n\nEven in its material application, \"appreciation\" is a word of greatest\nimportance, and should mean _the highest form of intelligence_. It\nis commonly used to express only a simple knowledge of value, but it\nshould have a larger significance, by conveying the idea of fullest\ncultivation and enjoyment as well as knowledge.\n\nWealth, for instance, can be measured only by appreciation. The\nchild in appreciating a toy is richer than a drowning man with a\nthousand dollars in gold in his pocket. We will therefore understand\nappreciation to mean _knowledge and full cultivation and enjoyment_.\n\n\"Appreciation\" might justly be given first place in the language, as,\nin its spiritual application, it implies the knowledge of God that\ngives birth to Love.\n\nOur definition, \"knowledge--or understanding--cultivation and full\nenjoyment,\" conveys the largest and highest meaning of \"appreciation,\"\nbut the realization of it is not complete until every God-expression is\nincluded, even to the smallest wonder of the universe.\n\nNeglect of the cultivation of appreciation of _everything_--of the\ncommonest things in our surroundings--is loss of opportunity to\nconserve the greatest aid to progress and growth; because, appreciation\nof lesser things insures a better appreciation of the most important\nthings.\n\nCultivation of appreciation is cultivation of the germ of all good\nand the opening wide of the spiritual flood-gates. Even the complete,\nyet simple, dignity of the Lord's Prayer can be epitomized within the\nprayer, _Father, teach Thou us Appreciation_.\n\n\nLOVE.\n\nIn its pure form, as Christ meant it, Love makes no distinction between\ncreatures nor between things; its merit is in the act--or thought--and\nnot in the object loved.\n\nThe divine quality in man, growing out of appreciation, finds first\nexpression in love; not the passive principle, the opposite of hate,\nbut the growing, active principle, which is constantly flowing forth\nfrom the spiritually blessed to bathe with warmth of unselfishness the\njust and the unjust alike. Love begets altruism.\n\nAs \"perfect love casteth out fear,\" so does the eradication of fear\ninsure the wooing of perfect love.\n\n\nALTRUISM.\n\nNext in the scale of importance is Comte's word \"altruism,\" which was\ncoined to suggest the Christ-like attitude of unselfish service between\nfellow-men. It is, however, as before stated, now commonly understood\nto be the social or business application of the principle of love which\nneeds and expects to be reciprocal. Men were asked to become altruists\nwhen they were asked to \"do unto others as you would that others should\ndo unto you.\" Growth towards divinity is the fruit of perfect altruism.\nPerfect Love begets Perfect Altruism. Christ is the Perfect Altruist.\n\n\nSPONTANEOUS ALTRUISM.\n\nAny degree of altruism is good and is sure to lead to higher degrees,\nbut the perfect type is best kept in view by the use of the qualified\nform expressed by the adjective \"spontaneous\"--meaning voluntary,\nwithout reward, except as found in the act itself. This qualification\nis almost necessary to prevent the lowering of the value of the term,\nas \"perfect\" was required to express Christ-Love, in contra-distinction\nto worldly love.\n\n\nOPTIMISM.\n\nOptimism is _forethought_. Christianity, pure and undefiled, is perfect\noptimism. Christ is the Perfect Optimist.[2]\n\n\nFORETHOUGHT.\n\n\"Forethought\" is _the logical, trustful, hopeful, Christian, and\ntherefore stimulating, consideration of the future_.\n\nForethought cannot be contrasted as the opposite of fearthought for the\nsame reason that a tree cannot be contrasted as the opposite of its\nshadow; one being the growing, fruit-bearing substance; and the other\nbeing the unsubstantial, unillumined simulation of the living reality.\n\n\nENVIRONMENT.\n\n_Surroundings which impress themselves upon the mind and assist to\ninfluence and form character and opinions._\n\n\nSPIRITUAL CEREBRATION.\n\nSometimes called unconscious cerebration; _intelligence not derived\nfrom experience_; principally obtained during undisturbed sleep,\nand, seemingly, supernaturally clear to consciousness on awakening\nin natural manner; Spiritual Cerebration is man's best partner, if\nconfidently listened to, heeded and followed.\n\n\nNATURAL SELECTION.\n\n_Unconscious physical attraction_; assisting sustenance, protection,\ndevelopment and reproduction; attribute of all life.\n\n\nDIVINE SELECTION.\n\n_Attribute only of Man; distinguishing Man from the rest of Creation;\nexercised in modifying the brute law of the \"survival of the fittest,\nor strongest,\" by cultivating harmonic conditions favoring growth and\nproducing happiness; God's Higher Law of Harmony executed through Man._\n\n\nHAPPINESS.\n\n_The evidence and fruit and reward of growth as involved in Altruism._\n\n\nNATURE.\n\nAs commonly used, \"nature\" means creation apart from man. The accepted\ndefinition is \"creation,\" and as such includes man and all created\nthings, and also the processes of creation--generation, degeneration\nand regeneration--as involved in growth. The common use of the word\n\"nature\" is a convenient one, and hence let us make use of it as\nmeaning _creation other than man_.\n\n\nEGOCIATION.\n\nEgociation is, _Appreciation of self as a creation of God and as an\ninstrument of Altruism_--to be cultivated to its greatest possibilities\nin order that it may render _Altruistic service in the execution of the\nHigher Law of Harmony_.\n\nThere are two distinct kinds of _ego_--self: The _ego_ that is\nphysically and intellectually born only, and whose tendencies are\negotistically selfish, and therefore, _animalesque_: And the _ego_ that\nenjoys Appreciation, realizes God, loves spontaneously, understands the\nHigher Law of Harmony and serves with enthusiasm in the execution of\nthe Law by the exercise of Divine Selection, and thereby attains True\nHappiness.\n\nThe mental equipment of the unthinking is dulled by a confusion of\nthese two _egos_, and hence they cultivate egotism, believing it to\nbe _Egociation_; as they cultivate _fearthought_, believing it to\nbe forethought; and as they tolerate license, believing it to be an\nattribute of liberty.\n\nThe desirability of separating the lower, or animal, self from the\nHigher Self, warrants the coining of a term, sufficiently new to\nattract attention and sufficiently allied to well-known words to\nexplain itself. With this object in view I have empirically selected\na combination of _ego_ and _appreciation_, and in so doing, have\ncoined the euphonious term _Egociation_ as an antithesis of \"egotism,\"\nespecially useful in inculcating a general understanding of the Higher\nLaw of Harmony and in securing recognition of the place of the Higher\nSelf within the Law.\n\nIn the cultivation of Egociation, man recognizes and asserts an\n_individuality_, or _responsibility_, as a part of the whole, the\nresult of appreciation, opposed to _personality_ or _separateness_,\nwhich is an attribute of egotism.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWords that carry good suggestion with them are less liable to do harm\nby being variously understood than those that convey bad suggestion.\nThese latter should be defined in such a manner as to clearly suggest\ntheir badness; in fact, war should be waged upon them by every possible\nmeans.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nEGOTISM.\n\n\"Egotism\" is _separation from God_. The fruit of egotism is selfishness.\n\n\nSELFISHNESS.\n\nIn the list of the deterrents, selfishness holds bottom place.\nSelf-forethought, self-carefulness, self-culture, and self-respect, are\nin no way related to selfishness, but are provision of strength towards\nuseful purposes. Selfishness is the mark of animal origin. We will\ntherefore define it as _relic of animalism remaining in man_.\n\nSelfishness is the opposite of altruism. While a suggestion of\naltruism is found in some animals, especially in dogs, it is not an\nanimal characteristic. Selfishness is the predominant animal trait and\ntherefore excuses the otherwise unkindly comparison.\n\n\nFEAR.\n\nFear is also a relic of animalism, and a child of selfishness--a\ndeformed child of an ill-formed parent. It is not a physical condition,\nbut simply an expression of fearthought. We will therefore define\n\"fear\" as _an expression of fearthought_.\n\n\nFEARTHOUGHT.\n\n\"Fearthought\" is _the self-imposed or self-permitted suggestion of\ninferiority_. It is both a _cause_ and an _effect_ of selfishness. It\nis the \"tap-root of evil.\"\n\n\"Fearthought\" was coined by the author in order, if possible by\nsuggestion, to separate from divinely ordained forethought any element\nof apprehension or weakness that might be masquerading under the name\nof forethought in the minds of the unthinking.\n\n\nWORRY.\n\n\"Worry\" is _fearthought in contradistinction to forethought_.\n\n\nANGER.\n\n\"Anger\" is _the brutal and self-inflicting expression of\ndisapproval_--brutal, because it is ungodly, unchristian and\nunaltruistic; _self-inflicting_, because the ill-effect of it reacts\nupon the person enangered.\n\nThere can be no \"righteous anger.\" Disapproval there must be, because\nman has been endowed with the faculty of _Divine Selection_, and\nthereby shows a divinity denied to all other living things whose\npreferences are called in Science \"natural selection.\" Disapproval in\nthe interest of harmony--_Divine Selection_--and disapproval in the\ncreation of discord--anger--are, the one holy, and the other unholy,\nuses of the faculty of selection.\n\nThere may be, then, _righteous disapproval_, but there never can be\n\"righteous anger.\"\n\n\nENVY.\n\n\"Envy\" is _anger of non-possession_.\n\n\"Envy\" is sometimes wrongly used to express appreciation, as, \"I envy\nyou your good fortune,\" but we will give it the one meaning of \"anger\nof non-possession.\"\n\n\nJEALOUSY.\n\n\"Jealousy\" is \"the homage that inferiority pays to merit\";[3] or,\n_recognition or confession of inferiority_; or, _fearthought_.\n\n\nTAP-ROOT.\n\n\"Tap-root\" is \"the chief root.\" It is the main support of the tree, of\nnearly the size of the trunk, and without which the tree must fall and\ndie. The tap-root strikes deep into the soil, while the surface-roots\nreach out along the surface. For example; egotism is the tree of evil,\neither selfishness or fearthought is the tap-root, and anger and\nworry in all their phases are the surface roots of the tree. The tree\nis known by its fruits, which are, separation, paralysis, disease,\nunhappiness and death.\n\n\nTROUBLE.\n\nTrouble does not really exist. Fearthought of trouble is as near as\none ever gets to the condition, for the reason that whatever has come\nhas already ceased to exist, except in the memory. The reason for so\nfine a distinction is made clear under the caption of \"The Impotence\nof Pain,\" and is emphasized in order to place merited responsibility\non fearthought. What is called \"trouble,\" however, can be defined as\n_unwelcome conditions_, but, if analyzed, the chief elements of the\n\"conditions\" will be found to be _fearthought of still more unwelcome\nconditions_. The tap-root, then, of trouble is fearthought.\n\n\nPESSIMISM.\n\nPessimism is _fearthought_. Pessimism is the devil.\n\n\nNERVOUSNESS.\n\nNervousness is generally an _effect_ and not a _cause_. It is the\nimmediate or reflex result of fearthought.\n\n\nTEMPERAMENT.\n\nLike \"nervousness,\" so-called, \"temperament\"--habit-of-feeling--is\ngenerally an effect and not a cause; and is frequently used as an\nexcuse for self-indulged weaknesses.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] _Menticulture_ is the title of a book by the present author, whose\nmission is to declare a theory of the possible and very profitable\neradication of the germs of all evil, and consequent unhappiness,\nwhich are commonly assembled under the class names of \"anger\" and\n\"worry\",--\"anger\" representing the aggressive, and \"worry\" representing\nthe cowardly passions.\n\n[2] Note: The motto of Optimism is, as elsewhere stated, \"_All can be_,\nand therefore _shall be_, well.\"\n\n[3] NOTE--I take this apt definition of \"jealousy\" from that excellent\nperiodical--the organ of the League of American Wheelmen--\"The Bulletin\nand Good Roads.\" Many good suggestions in menticulture accompany the\nexcellent suggestions relative to good roads in this paper. Good\nthoughts are good roads to good action.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VALUE OF SIMILE.\n\n\nChrist taught almost entirely by parable.\n\nApropos of the value of simile is an experiment about which I have\nrecently heard.\n\nAn experimenter wished to measure in some way the strength of certain\nvibrations and their effect upon vibratory things. A large steel comb,\nsuch as is used in music-boxes to produce sounds, was constructed. Each\ntooth was made as nearly as possible just like every other tooth. They\nnot only seemed to measure alike, but when set in motion the vibrations\nseemed to be alike to the sense of hearing.\n\nThere was also constructed a huge tuning-fork, large enough to be\nstruck with a bar of iron, and whose vibrations, when it was struck,\ncame forth in big undulating waves like the pealing of a temple bell.\n\nThe object of the experiment was to observe, through the effect of\npowerful vibrations on the teeth of the resonant comb, a possible\ndifference, too slight to be measured by calipers or by striking the\nteeth separately. The sound-waves, coming alike to all, would affect\nall alike unless there should be a difference in the receptivity of\nthe teeth owing to differing density of metal, size, or some other\ncondition not measurable by other means. By listening attentively near\nto the comb, the effect of the vibrations on the separate teeth could\nbe heard.\n\nThe tuning-fork was placed about forty feet away from the steel comb,\nand was struck a heavy blow with the iron bar. Only three of the twelve\nteeth vibrated in response. The others were not in sympathy. _They did\nnot hear the sound._\n\nI did not see the experiment, but it will serve to illustrate the\nvalue of simile.\n\nAll knowledge is measured by comparison. The most effective teaching\nis done through parable or simile. A so-called magnetic orator or\nwriter reaches his hearers or readers by aid of apt simile. In this\nthe orator has the advantage. If one simile does not convey the\npoint he wishes to make, he tries another and yet another until he\nhas detected sympathetic signs of approval in the majority of his\naudience. If there are present a hundred listeners, it may require\nten stories or ten similes to reach the entire hundred, as there may\nbe ten kinds of interest or sympathy present to be reached. Farmers\nand gardeners may not be familiar with the terms that describe the\nexperience of the mariner; mechanics may not understand the language\nof the counting room or of the various exchanges; and men may not\nappreciate the special accomplishments, sympathies, weaknesses or\nfoibles of women. Each individual is a separate tooth or string in the\ninstrument called society. Heredity and environment have tempered and\nshaped each individual differently from his fellows. Truth is always\nthe same, but the vibrations that carry it must be regulated to suit\nthe conditions and understandings of each person, or group of persons,\nto be harmonized by it.\n\nIn an attack upon offensive and evil things, offensive similes are\nbest employed. It is an application of the principle that a thief can\nbest catch a thief. The object of this little book is to wage war upon\nfearthought and its brood of evil children. This is the excuse for\nwriting under such offensive captions as \"Don't Be a Sewer,\" and \"Thou\nShalt Not Strike a Woman,\" and also such ungrammatical caption as \"I\nCan't _Not_ Do It.\"\n\nIt is the opinion of the author that we are in the habit of taking\nevil too seriously. Evil is usually ridiculous, and while it thrives\nunder the stimulation of serious consideration, it cannot stand\nridicule. Shrewd politicians know this, and hence depend more upon\nthe political cartoon to kill the political enemy, than upon all the\nreading matter possible to be printed.\n\nWhat the terms \"God,\" \"Appreciation,\" \"Mother,\" \"Love,\" \"Altruism,\"\n\"Egociation,\" \"Forethought,\" \"Happiness,\" etc., stand for, should\nbe reverenced and glorified; while the devil, egotism, selfishness,\nfearthought, anger and worry, and all of their various expressions,\nshould be ridiculed out of respectability.\n\nThere is no intent to make vulgar excuses for the method of\npresentation of the simple and aged truths which are the subject of the\npresent book. For the same reason that I have asked my readers to agree\nwith me as to the meaning of terms in connection with the discussion,\nI ask them to allow me to state my reasons for the method of the\npresentation, if it should seem unusual and, perhaps, undignified.\n\n\n\n\nANALYSIS OF FEAR.\n\n\nProfessor Angelo Mosso, the eminent physiologist of Turin, Italy, who\nhas experimented with the condition and results of fear to a greater\nextent than any one else that I know of, has published a volume\nentitled \"Fear.\"[4]\n\nProfessor Mosso writes of much regarding fear that we can all\ncorroborate from personal experience as to the uncomfortableness of\nthe emotion, and also informs us of much that is instructive as to the\nbaleful effects of the mischief it produces upon the tissues of the\nbody. He states that, unconsciously or consciously, the effect of fear\nis found to be disarrangement, which allows or causes inflammation,\nfever and other unhealthy conditions that are favorable to the nesting\nof the microbes of special diseases, such as are sometimes found in the\nair or in the water that we take in, and which are ever waiting for a\nchance to nest and breed.\n\nAn eminent English physician has also communicated to a leading\nEnglish magazine a belief that fear directly attacks the individual\nmolecules of the body and causes a disarrangement, a relaxing, a\nletting-go condition of the molecules in their relation to adjoining\nmolecules, and that the relaxed condition is that in which disease\noriginates. He states that there are means of communication within the\nbody that are as direct and distinct as are the wires that convey the\nelectric fluid from point to point, and that they connect the brain or\nnervous centers with each pair of molecules. By these means the sense\nof fear travels, weak or strong, in response to every pulse of its\nactivity.\n\nWithin our visible experience, we know how completely the emotion of\nfear, or any of its various expressions can upset the stomach, suspend\nthe appetite and even cause instant death. So evident are the bad\neffects of fear, that it is necessary only to refer to them before\nsuggesting a remedy; but there are some powerful illustrations that\nare interesting, and which will be found under the caption of \"Baleful\nEffects of Fear.\"\n\nIn this connection, what we are most interested in is, how to rid\nourselves of the habit of fear. Fear is not a physical thing. It is the\nresult of fearthought, and, being fearthought, has no more substance\nthan other thought.\n\nIn animals it is an attribute of instinct, and is a wise provision of\nprotection. In the human young, it is not so. In the helplessness of\nhuman foetal existence and infancy, we find a perfectly clean, but\nwonderfully impressionable, thought-matrix, into which are to be\nimpressed the suggestions whose sum constitutes the intelligence in men\nwhich takes the place of instinct in animals.\n\nFear is no constituent part of the composition of this thought-matrix.\nSusceptibility to fearthought, as it is susceptible to any and all\nsuggestions, is the nearest approach to inherent infliction of fear\nthat the unfolding soul is burdened with. If the race-habit-of-thought\nwere indelibly pock-marked by fear, and stamped its roughness on the\nthought-matrix of all mankind, there would be no one free from it; but,\nas many are born into, and live, a life of great strength and courage,\nfree from any taint of fearthought, this assumption is disproved,\nand is as absurd as would be the assumption that man must always do\nwhatever, and only what, his ancestors did.\n\nAll of the fear-impressions received are the result of either pre-natal\nor post-natal suggestion. It is within the power of parents and nurses\nto keep the delicate susceptibility of their charges free from the\ncurse of fearthought; or to cause or allow it to be scared and bruised\nby the claws of the demon.\n\nPresident G. Stanley Hall, of Clarke University, Editor in Chief of the\n_American Journal of Psychology_, and Dr. Colin A. Scott, Professor of\nPsychology and Child Study at the Cook County Normal School, Chicago,\nIll., U. S. A., have rendered greatest service to humanity by searching\nout and analyzing fears in children, exposing the absurdity of them,\nshowing the sources from which foolish fears are derived, and thereby\ndragging from ambush the worst enemy of mankind, whose strength is\ndeveloped by means of secret toleration, but can easily be overcome if\nuncovered.\n\nThe method of securing information was by means of the _questionaire_,\nthe answers to which, although unsigned and unidentifiable, and\nsavoring of exaggeration or romance, furnish splendid texts in a\ncrusade against the toleration of the habit-of-fear in a civilized\ncommunity. One can scarcely imagine, before reading the answers to the\nfear _questionaire_, the unreasonable and absurd fears that warp the\nlives and ruin the health of many of the people among whom we move,\nand by whom, in some measure, we and our children are unconsciously\ninfluenced.\n\nIf it were the community-habit-of-thought that fear was an unnecessary\nthing and an evil thing, and not respectable and not Christian, many\nof these fears would not exist, owing to the proneness of all persons\nto imitation and their acceptance of community-of-habit-thought as law\nand gospel. Fear is a very insidious thing. It will enter the smallest\nopening, and ferment, and increase, and permeate whatever it attacks,\nif it be permitted foothold in the least degree.\n\nWe have too little time in life personally to investigate all of the\ncauses of things that are pertinent to our living and working, or\nto learn the reason for their leading to observed results. We are\nindebted to Professor Mosso, Dr. Hall, Dr. Scott and other painstaking\nscientists, for observing the habits of our enemies, and for giving\nthe results of their observations in such agreeable forms as are the\nintimate and frank analyses of fear given in Professor Mosso's book\nand other treatises on the subject; but what we are most interested\nin is, how to kill or how to escape fearthought within ourselves and,\nultimately, how to protect our children against the evil.\n\nTo digress somewhat, and as an excuse for using the terms of parable\nand homely experience instead of the terms of science: It is said that\nthe use of alum for the settling of impurities out of water was an old\nhousewife's remedy for a very long time before any scientist studied\nthe chemical change that effected the result.\n\nThe old housewives knew by experience, as well as did the doctors, that\nalum _would_ \"settle\" water, but it was left to the latter to say _why_\nit did so. We are, therefore, mainly indebted to a chance discovery,\nand to the preservation of the formula by housewives, for our ability\nto purify water by means of alum.\n\nIn the same manner we have discovered, perhaps by accident, that\ncertain suggestions will purify our minds, by eliminating special fears\nby which we have been dominated. We also have learned by experiment\nthat all fear is eliminable by use of sufficiently powerful suggestion\nmade to fit the particular fear experimented against. I _know that the\ndeterrent passions can be eradicated_; and, _easier than not_. Others\n_know_ this also, and are living lives of beautiful strength, freedom\nand happiness, who once were slaves to fearthought; and many such\nthere already are, and their number is increasing very rapidly under\nthe influence of the observation of unfailing, profitable results in\nconsequence.\n\nIf we _know_ that anything _can be done_, it is not vitally essential\nthat we should know _why_ it is possible.\n\nExperience, in conveying the suggestion, has taught that there is\n_some_ way to reach, and to dispel, any special fear.\n\nScience will some time, undoubtedly, be able to tell us just how to\ntreat each form of fear in a scientific manner, but in the meantime we\n_know_ that it is possible to cure all of the separate forms of fear\nby rooting out the basic fear--the fear of death--and by conveying the\nall-powerful suggestion that all fear is needless and unprofitable.\n\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[4] Messrs. E. Lough and F. Kiesow, pupils of Professor Mosso,\ntranslated the fifth Italian edition of \"Fear\" into English, and\nLongmans, Green and Company published it in 1896.\n\n\n\n\nBALEFUL EFFECTS OF FEAR.\n\n\nIn the last chapter I stated that the bad effects of fear were so well\nknown to every one that it was not necessary to dwell upon them, but\nsecond thought suggests stating a few special cases that have been told\nme by physician friends who are interested in the lay experiments I am\nmaking.\n\nIn the Southern States of the United States of America, where the\nblack race comes into closest touch with Caucasian civilization under\nconditions of free expression, is probably the best place to study fear\nand its opposite, chivalrous courage.\n\nDr. William E. Parker, of the Charity Hospital of New Orleans, was once\ncalled to attend a big negro who had been brought in by the ambulance,\nand whom the students in charge of the ambulance had frightened nearly\nto death by telling that he was badly wounded in the stomach, and would\nprobably die.\n\nThe negro was big and burly and black, and yet, livid with fear.\nBoth pulse and temperature indicated serious trouble within, and the\nconvulsive tremors that shook him from time to time revealed a state\nof collapse that might end in death at any time. There was no outward\nflow of blood, but the probable inward flow seemed more dangerous in\nconsequence.\n\nThe account of the case, as related by the students, told of a shooting\naffray, in which the negro had been hit in the abdomen, as evidenced by\na bullet-hole in his clothing.\n\nDr. Parker began an examination by ordering the clothing of the patient\nremoved, and during which a bullet, much flattened, fell upon the\nfloor. This bullet had done no serious injury, of course, but there\nmight have been two shots and two bullets, one of which had penetrated\nthe body, and hence the bullet that fell upon the floor caused no\nspecial attention, till search had been made in vain for a hole in the\nskin. Complete examination revealed the fact that the negro had been\nhit, but that the bullet had struck a button, causing a bruised place\nbehind the button, but had lodged in the clothing, in harmless inertia.\n\nAs the doctor held up the bullet, and told the patient of the slight\nextent of his injury and the wonder of his escape, good, warm blood\nreturned to the livid countenance, the pulse and the temperature\nassumed their normal condition, a grateful sparkle lit up the almost\nglassy eyeballs, and the broadest possible grin spread over the face of\nthe erstwhile dying man.\n\nThe negro got down from the operating-table, arranged his clothing,\nand, after apologizing for the trouble he had caused, and after\nthanking the doctor and the students for their attentions, went out\ninto the street as well as ever. He had been, half an hour before, at\ndeath's door.\n\nDr. Henry A. Veazie, one of the student-heroes of the yellow-fever\nepidemic of 1878, who had splendid opportunity to witness the effects\nof fear during an epidemic, asserts that fear is a certain cause of\nattack of yellow fever.\n\nI will say, parenthetically, in the way of right information relative\nto the South, that there has been no epidemic since 1878--twenty years;\nthat it has been proven that yellow fever does not originate in any\npart of the United States, and that it is very effectively barred out\nat quarantine, or, if accidentally admitted, that it is easily killed\nby present means of treatment, and that an epidemic is no longer\nmentioned as a possibility--only as quite a remote memory--in New\nOrleans, or elsewhere in the South.\n\nDoctor Veazie's story is corroborated by an able brochure on \"The\nInfluence of Fear in Disease,\" by the much-beloved, the late Dr.\nWilliam H. Holcomb, of New Orleans; and, so helpful are the suggestions\ncontained in it, that I have secured the privilege from the Purdy\nPublishing Company, of Chicago, of reprinting largely from it, and have\nadded the matter copied as \"Appendix A,\" to this volume.[5]\n\nDoctor Veazie also called my attention to the unusual fatality\nattending what are called \"frog-accidents.\" Train-handlers and yardmen\nemployed on railroads are very liable to these \"frog-accidents.\" The\nfrog is that part of a switch where the rails come together, forming\na \"V.\" In running about recklessly, as a train-man generally does, he\nsometimes catches the sole of a boot in the \"V,\" and wedges it in so\ntightly that the foot cannot be withdrawn. If a locomotive, or a car,\nhappen to be coming towards him, and cannot be stopped in time, cutting\noff of the foot or the leg by the wheels upon the rails is a certain\nresult.\n\nIf it were done instantly, and without a foreknowledge of the owner\nof the leg or foot, the chances of recovery would be almost assured,\nbecause of the present skill of surgery and the efficacy of known\nantiseptics; but with the few moments of foreknowledge of the impending\naccident, the poison of fearthought has time to so unnerve the system,\nrelax the tissues, and itself disease the body by shock, that the\nwounding usually results in death.\n\nThere is probably no situation in which a person can be placed where\nthe conditions are more horrible than to be wedged between the rails,\nand to see an eighty-ton locomotive rolling on to him with irresistible\nweight. Being condemned to be hanged cannot be as fearful, for the\nreason that the condemned has been led gradually to contemplate the\npossibility of death by this means, and has come to expect it with a\ncertain amount of complacency. The terror of the \"frog-accident\" comes\nwith the suddenness of its possibility and the helplessness of the\nsituation. It is like an ice-water bath thrown on a sweating person.\nIt is the icy hand of death come to clutch at the throat of warmest\nhope and fondest affections. As such, it must be fearful; but, to the\nperson habituated to _fear_ fear, through knowing the deadly effect\nof it, the emotion can be prepared for, greatly modified and possibly\ncounteracted, by a prearrangement with the emotional self--that which\nHudson calls the \"subjective mind.\"\n\nTo be effective in case of surprise, the preparation must come from the\nhabit-of-feeling, \"_I must not be afraid; I must not be afraid._\" No\nmatter what the surprise, the emotional self must instantly assert,\nthrough habit, \"_I must not be afraid_.\"\n\nI have not had experience with \"frog-accidents\" to test the efficacy of\nmy theory of schooled suggestion, but I have been subject to surprises\nthat have been quite as fearful. As it happened, the incident I speak\nof was not perilous, but it had all the appearance of being so to\nme, when I was awakened from sleep, in a hotel in New York City, by\nsuffocation, to find my room full of smoke that poured in through the\ntransom and through the cracks of the door which was my only means of\nescape.\n\nMy room was on the fifth floor of the hotel, and the house had the\nreputation of being a \"fire-trap.\"\n\nAs soon as my reasoning-self had time to take in the situation, the\nprobability of being burned to death seemed almost certain; but before\nthat happened--that is, before the reasoning-self had analyzed the\nsituation--the habit-of-thought self had asserted many times, and\nconstantly, \"You _must not be afraid! you must not be afraid_\"; and,\nas a result, I was _not afraid_; and the calm of the moment allowed me\nto measure chances and arrange expedients, as if there were no danger\nimminent.\n\nIt was a case of much smoke and little fire, but there were those in\nthe hotel who were made very ill by the fright of it.\n\nIf I had always been free from the emotion of fear, and had not been a\nsorry victim to it in some special forms, \"natural temperament\" could\nbe urged as a cause of the calm I enjoyed during the incident related\nabove; but such is not the case. I have been subjected to shocks of\nvarious kinds, incident to an adventurous life, that have been powerful\nimpressions for evil upon my emotional self, and it is personal\nexperience of cure and relief that I am giving in support of my theory.\n\nThe experience of Mr. George Kennan, the Siberian traveler, and\nbrilliant writer and lecturer, relative to fear and its cure, is\nsingularly like my own, and was related to me in an exchange of\npersonal confidences, last year.\n\nThe _Atlantic Monthly_ for May, 1897, contains an excellent account\nof Mr. Kennan's case, and I am permitted by the publishers, Messrs.\nHoughton, Mifflin & Company, to reprint it; which I have done under\nAppendix \"B.\"\n\nFear is rarely general as related to different causes for fearthought.\nI have been told of a case of specific fear that is interesting because\nof its unreasonableness. It was the case of a filibuster who had been\non several raids where death was the almost certain penalty for being\ncaught, and where the chances of being caught were almost certain.\nOn the frontier our subject was known as a dare-devil, not afraid\nof anything, and yet he was always in mortal terror of a dark room.\nIn infancy he had been scared into obedience by tales of goblins in\nthe dark, and he had never rid himself of their influence. Anything\non earth he could see held no terror for him, but he could not see\nthe phantoms he created in the dark, and was therefore a slave to\nfear of them. It is probable that the bravado of his active life was\npartly caused by the desire to \"average up\" on courage, and, if so,\nthe baleful effects of fear in this case were very far-reaching and\ndestructive to the peace of society.\n\nGeneral experience teaches that whenever you find a bully, you find a\nyellow streak of cowardice somewhere in his composition; and, more than\nprobable, bravado is assumed by him, in order to \"square\" himself with\nhis own self-respect.\n\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[5] Two other brochures by Dr. Holcomb are published by the Purdy\nCompany. They are \"Condensed Thoughts about Christian Science\" and \"The\nPower of Thought in the Production and Cure of Disease.\"\n\n\n\n\nHOW TO ELIMINATE FEAR.\n\n\nIt has been observed that the rooting out of any particular phase\nof fearthought, weakens the strength of all of the other phases.\nFor instance, suppression of _anger_ and _worry_ tends to suppress\nall suspicion, and even fear itself, while special attack upon the\nfearthought called envy will perceptibly diminish the tendency to\njealousy and avarice. There seems to be such close relationship between\nall of the forms of fearthought, that whatever affects one, affects all.\n\nFear of death undoubtedly underlies all fearthought. Fear of poverty,\nfear of accident, fear of sickness, all reach further than these\ncalamities, to the possibility of death resulting from them. In\nthis way we can trace all expressions of fear, either directly or\nindirectly, through the different forms of selfness, to fearthought of\ndeath.\n\nIn _Menticulture_ I suggested the elimination of _anger_ and _worry_\nas the roots of all the evil passions. On page 17, however, I gave\n\"fear\" as the tap-root of the evil emotions, including anger and worry,\nand stated my reason for attacking the surface roots best known and\nassociated together, rather than the tap-root itself. It was because\nI believed at the time _Menticulture_ was written, with people in\ngeneral, that fear was a constituent weakness of all consciousness, and\nonly expressions of it were eliminable.\n\nI find in my later experience in practice, however, and in conveying\nthe suggestion to others, that fear itself is possible to be rooted out\nby the force of counter-suggestion of one sort or another, and that\nthere is no mental habit or impression that cannot be counteracted by\nsome other more powerful habit or impression, and that it is best to\nattack the bottom cause of all weaknesses at once, and thereby wage\nwarfare upon their innermost citadel.\n\nAs fearthought is the parent of all the evil emotions, so is fear of\ndeath the first of all the causes of fearthought.\n\nIt is not a difficult matter to eliminate the fear of death. It is\nfirst necessary to do away with any dread of a lifeless human body.\nThere are few who feel dread of the flesh of animals as they see it\nhanging in the stalls of the butchers. There is no more reason to have\na feeling of fear in connection with the sight of dead human flesh\nthan there is to feel uncomfortable in the presence of the flesh of a\nlifeless lamb or a lifeless chicken.\n\nThere have lived people who were as accustomed to seeing human flesh\nexposed in butchers' shops as we are accustomed to see the flesh of\nanimals so exposed, and there is an engraving of a cannibal meat-stall\nin Huxley's \"Man's Place in Nature,\" copied from an old book of travel\nto the coast of Africa, which Mr. Huxley offers authoritatively.\n\nThe subject may seem to be a grewsome one to many readers, and\nreference to the customs of cannibals may shock their supersensitive\nhabits of thought, but the object is sufficient justification. Such\nmay, however, soothe their injured feelings by remembering that our\nmeat-selling and meat-eating customs seem as inhuman to many Buddhists\nas do the customs of cannibals to us.\n\nIf we value essentials impartially, soul and mind count above\neverything, and tissue which they once animated counts for nothing\nwhen they have left it, no matter what have been the associations,\nespecially if dread of the dead tissue inspires emotions that are\ndetrimental to the welfare of soul or mind.\n\nMy object in suggesting a systematic reversal of our feeling towards\nlifeless human flesh is because it is a basic cause of fear. Remove\nthis dread, and half of the terror of death is removed with it.\n\nIn this connection, the suggestion should be urged, that separation--as\nin death--is unessential as compared with the privilege of having\nknown a beloved one, and that appreciation and gratitude should always\noutweigh regret in relation to an inevitable change.\n\nAll of the observed processes of nature teach that every normal change\nis for the better, and the change called death is as normal as the\nchange called birth. The full term of human life is but a pin-point\nin the great span of evolution. How unreasonable it is to protest the\nmeasurement of the breadth of a pin-point with Him who doeth all things\nwell!\n\nLife is like the ticking of a clock; each passing of the pendulum may\nbe a day or a year; when the clock strikes, one period only is ended,\nbut a new period is also begun. Why mourn at the striking of the clock!\nA new and happier hour has begun. Why mourn the passing on of a beloved\none! For to Christian, or to Buddhist, as well as to all sentient\nbeings, a new and a better life has then begun.\n\nThe attitude towards the separation called death should be such as\nto induce the thought, and even the expression, \"Pass on, beloved;\nenter into the better state which all of the processes of nature teach\nare the result of every change; it will soon be my time to follow;\nmy happiness at your preferment attend you; my love is blessed with\nthat happiness; and what you have been to me remains, and will remain\nforever. Amen.\"\n\nSorrow was dignified by Christ. He has been wrongfully called \"The Man\nof Sorrow.\" His sorrow was for the evils which men suffered, and never\nwas caused by any of the beneficent decrees of the Father. Protest\nagainst the decrees of the Father is blasphemy. Some forms of sorrow\nare blasphemy.\n\nSorrow and optimism do not go together. Christ was (and is) the Supreme\nOptimist, and taught nothing but optimism. Tears do not always express\nsorrow. Wherein tears express selfishness, especially in the form of\nanger, they are bad. Wherein tears are free from selfishness, they may\ndo no great harm. In such case, what may seem to be sorrow may be an\nexpression of loving sympathy, and, as such, may be good.\n\nWithout careful analysis of the quality of the emotion, love may be\nthought to be righteous cause for fearthought. This is a vicious\nthought. Nothing is righteous that is harmful, and fearthought is\nharmful. Love, without any element of fearthought in it, is infinitely\nbetter than love that is tinctured with fearthought. Forethought is\nthe necessary accompaniment of perfect love, but fearthought is its\nenemy.\n\nSeparation can be made to gladden love through self-sacrifice.\nSeparation--as in death--can be made to gladden love by supreme\nself-sacrifice to the beloved one who is preferred by death, and\nthereby made to disarm that underlying fear of all fears--the fear of\ndeath.\n\nIf, however, the fear of lifeless human flesh is eliminated, the fear\nof death itself will be found to be greatly modified. From this point\nthe elimination of special pet fears, whether of the individual or of\nthe community sort, will become an easy matter, as the greater is but\nthe sum of the lesser.\n\nIn looking for means with which to attack so great an enemy as fear,\neither in one's self or in another, any weapon is a good weapon that\nis found to be effective. Logic is more respectable, but such is\nthe foolishness of many forms of fear that ridicule is more often\neffective. Appeal to honor, self-respect, love, logic, ridicule, and to\n_fear itself_, may be had in so worthy a cause as the vanquishing of\nthe arch-enemy of growth and happiness.\n\nOld soldiers sometimes admit that their courage in battle has been the\nresult of their fear of seeming to be cowards. When the far-reaching\nand poisonous effect of the evil of fearthought is properly understood,\nand the possibility of its elimination generally believed in, people\nwill be _afraid_ to be afraid--afraid of ridicule and criticism, as\nwell as afraid of evil and unhealthful effects. The cure will have been\nhomoeopathic, in that like has been employed to cure (or kill) like.\n\nLogic is the most rational weapon, but ridicule is sharper. Logic may\nnot cure a robust woman of the woman-habit-of-thought that a mouse is\na fearsome thing, but reference to the fact that it is ridiculous for\na five-foot woman to be afraid of a two-inch mouse may effect the\nresult, especially when it is known that the mouse is more afraid of\nthe woman, according to his capacity for fear, than it is possible for\nthe woman to be afraid of the mouse.\n\nAcquaintance is another effective cure. It may not be necessary that\nall afflicted ones should serve an apprenticeship at undertaking in\norder to be cured of fear of a lifeless human body, but if the fear\nof a corpse cannot be eradicated by other means, it is worth while to\ndo that or _anything else_, no matter how uncanny or disagreeable, in\norder to accomplish the object. So necessary is the eradication of the\ngerm principle of fear to the cultivation of growth and happiness, that\nif it is found that fear of the lifeless human body cannot be cured\notherwise, even a real apprenticeship in a hospital dissecting-room\nwould be a profitable expedient as a last resort. To seek the\nacquaintance of fearsome insects and animals, through close observation\nand study of their habits, is better than to suffer harm from a\nneedless prejudice against them.\n\nCure of the fear of one dreaded insect or reptile is sure to modify\nthe fear of all other things dreaded, so that the difficult part of\nthe cure is acquiring the belief that it is possible, and making the\nresolve to attempt it.\n\nIf parents realized the full importance of the eradication of\nfearthought from the minds of their children, they would stop\nimmediately all other occupation, and rest not nor be content until the\ngerm of fearthought in their children had been located and killed; and\nthose skilled in such search and cure would become the physicians most\nin demand.\n\n\n\n\nHOW TO CURE SPECIAL FORMS OF FEAR.\n\n\nExciting interest in the intrinsic beauties and usefulness of things\nthought to be disagreeable or dreadful, is an excellent way of curing\nfear of them.\n\nI once had an opportunity of experimenting with this method of curing\nparticular fears by testing it on a mother and children whose _b\u00eate\nnoir_ was a thunderstorm.\n\nI had seen them at the World's Columbian Exposition, wrapt in the\nenjoyment of the great displays of fireworks that were operated on the\nlake front of the Exposition grounds each evening. I also happened to\nbe provided with statistics, showing that the chance of being struck by\nlightning was only one in a great many thousand, and that if one were\nto seek to be struck, he would have to wait about ten thousand years\nfor his average turn. I recalled the greater real beauty of the natural\nfireworks of the summer season, and their comparative harmlessness.\nThis was the logic of it, and modified somewhat the attitude of the\nchildren, as well as the fear of the mother, relative to lightning and\nthunder; but the real cure came through appreciative suggestion and\nacquaintance.\n\nOn the approach of a storm wherein lightning might be expected, and\neven before it was visible, the mother had been in the habit of\nassuming a frightened expression, of gathering the children together,\nof cowering in a corner, and sometimes in a closet, in fear and\ntrembling, until the storm had passed. From infancy the children had\nbeen in the habit of associating something fearful with the idea of\nlightning and thunder, and had never had a chance to observe their\nbeauties.\n\nI started in to correct the bad impressions, and to teach the\nattractiveness of storm phenomena, by calling out, on the approach\nof a storm, somewhat in this wise: \"Oh! children, do you remember the\nbeautiful fireworks at the Exposition? Come here quick! let's watch; we\nare going to have something ten times more beautiful, and, oh! such big\nbooms and bangs. Watch now! ah! that wasn't much, but keep a-watching\nand we'll have some beauties. Crash! bang! blizzard! My! but wasn't\nthat a beauty? Watch sharp, now, or you'll miss the best one,--what!\nafraid? Why, Alice, afraid of a beautiful thing like that! Nonsense!\nCome here, dear, and sit in my lap and watch out sharp, and then you\n_can't_ be afraid. There! that's a little lady. Splendid! I reckon you\nknow how to enjoy something beautiful, as well as any one. Boom, boom,\nboom! Did you ever hear anything so grand? Great big drums up yonder.\nI wonder what sort of a Fourth of July they are having? Wouldn't\nWorld's-Fair fireworks seem tame beside this? And think of it!--they\ndon't cost a cent, and they are clearing the atmosphere so that the sun\nwill shine brighter to-morrow than it ever did. It will shine for us,\nand for the plants, and for the butterflies. My! but aren't we lucky\nto have good eyes and good ears when such things are going on! and\ndon't we pity the poor little blind and deaf children! Does lightning\nsometimes strike people and kill them? Why, yes, once in a great,\ngreat long while; but when it does, they say it is the pleasantest\nsensation possible. Don't you mind when you have pleasant shivers, what\na delightful feeling it is? Well, they say being struck by lightning\nis like that--only more so. I have never had the experience of being\nkilled by lightning, of course, but when my turn to enter the next\nlife comes, I hope it will be that way; but the chances of being that\nlucky are very slim. Somebody, some great schoolmaster that knows\nalmost everything, has calculated that if a man wanted to be struck by\nlightning he would probably have to wait about ten thousand years. That\nis too long. Life is delightful as it is; but if I had to wait even a\nthousand years or even an hundred years more for my promotion that way,\nI think I would rather choose a more common and less agreeable way\";\nand so on, governed by the interest and the effect upon the children.\nI impressed on them the real beauty of the storm, and taught them\nappreciation, to take the place of fear.\n\nIt is needless to say that that family no longer dreads the storm\ncloud. The suggestion reversed their way of looking at storms, and they\nthen found great beauty in them and ceased to fear them.\n\nAnother experience: I once had the privilege of spending some time in\nclose relations of friendship to a family composed of a widowed mother\nand several children, sons, daughter, nephews and nieces. A sister of\nthe mother, who was pronounced to be an incurable invalid, had come\nfrom her Northern home to seek relief in the climate of the Southland.\nIt is impossible to imagine more tender care of an invalid. Each member\nof the family vied with the others in offering gentle attentions, so\nthat the waning life was filled with happiness that made invalidism\nalmost a pleasure, as being the cause of so much loving consideration.\n\nOne morning the life-light flickered for a little and then went out.\nThe usual funeral preparations which are the custom were attended to,\nand the remains were sent away to the far-distant home, and the family\nburial-lot.\n\nWhile the remains were awaiting the appointed time of removal, the\nchildren of the family, of all ages and both sexes, passed in and out\nof the death-chamber, by day or by night, as if there had been no\ndeath, and there was not a semblance of dread, nor fearthought nor\nmourning. It was such a beautiful expression of loving consideration,\nunmarred by dread or fearthought, that one might well choose such a\ntime and such a place and such environment on the occasion of one's\npassing on to the better life.\n\nIf it be possible to be a spirit, conscious of material environment,\nand in such guise to attend one's own funeral, which would be the\nenvironment of choice? Egotism, disembodied, would undoubtedly choose\na scene of violent mourning, long drawn out, and painful to as many\nas possible. Loving Unselfishness would as certainly choose a funeral\nscene such as I witnessed in the house of my friends. Which would you\nchoose? And if, as is most reasonable to suppose from observing the\nsequences of nature's processes that show that the seed of a flower\nhas a more nearly perfect flower enfolded within itself, spirits also\nbecome purer by each unfolding through the release called death, and\nbeing made pure and unegotistic by the change, they must prefer, if\nthey have the privilege, to have their old home remains viewed with\nloving and fearless consideration, rather than with fearsome dread and\nostentatious emotion.\n\nThen let us abjure fear in connection with death, and also in\nconnection with the mortal remains of the beloved.\n\nIf the conventional premises relative to death be correct, the common\nattitude towards it is useless; and if the hypothetical premises be\ncorrect, as it is better to suppose, even if we cannot assert it, the\ncommon attitude is worse than useless, for it is both harmful and\nunjust. If we cultivate fear and mourning in connection with death,\nwe are unjust to the dead, we are unjust to the living, we are unjust\nto ourselves; and, above all, cruel to the tender and impressionable\nemotions of children, to whom we are constantly leaving legacies of\ncowardice and ignorant egotism, or legacies of pure suggestion, love\nand appreciation.\n\nMuch might be written about the subject of this chapter, and many\nillustrations could be given wherein illogical fears have been, or can\nbe, ridiculed away, but inasmuch as some of the following chapters\nare mainly devoted to this purpose, it is not necessary to more than\nsuggest a line of argument under the present caption.\n\n\n\n\nTHE NOW-FIELD.\n\n\nLet us work together for a season in the Now-Field.\n\nWe cannot work in any other field, but we can and do waste much\nvaluable time in trying to work in the past or in the future, and in so\ndoing neglect the precious now.\n\nFor recreation we may pleasantly, and perhaps profitably, speculate as\nto what there may be in the way of atoms finer than star-dust, and as\nto the possible degree of invisibleness of the ultimate ether. We may\nalso exercise and strengthen our imagination by trying to give form to\nthe Source of it all. Tiring of guessing in these directions, we may\nvary our recreation by attempts to peep under or through the veil which\nNature so persistently holds between the present conscious life and\nthe one we hope for beyond the veil. It can do no harm to think form\ninto a forgotten past and into an uncertain future, if, in so doing,\nthe vital and superprecious now be well guarded against the things we\nknow to be deterrent to the best growth of the life-plant.\n\nIn considering the duty of the now, let us, for convenience of\ncomparison, liken life to an agricultural season of one year's\nduration. We find, in ourselves, that the seed from which we have\nunfolded has already been sown, and the life-plant pretty well\ngrown before we attain consciousness of duty and begin to think\nindependently. If we are lucky, we have been taught early what the\nreal object of life is, our duties in it, and the true values to be\ncultivated in connection with it.\n\nWe have very sensibly learned to get in out of the wet when it rains,\nand many other useful aids to comfort as well as to protection, but the\nmost vital assistants of growth have been neglected, and many positive\ndeterrents to growth have been cultivated by those who have been our\nteachers, and hence it behooves us to look to our habits of thought and\nof action in order to get rid of those which are detrimental to our\ngrowth.\n\nOf first importance is the care of the Now-Field.\n\nWe have already suggested, and it cannot be too often repeated, that\nthe condition favorable and necessary to growth is that of harmony--an\nharmonious present is the living heir and parent of all harmonies--that\ngrowth is the evident object of life, and that when anything ceases to\ngrow it begins to die--there is no growth except in the present, and no\ncultivable field other than the Now-Field--that harmony, through one's\nability to always furnish the concordant note, one's self, is within\nthe power of each, regardless of environment or physical conditions,\nif _only_ present conditions and environment are considered, and that\ngrowth is the certain result of harmony; that our function relative\nto growth is only to keep deterrent influences out of the present;\nthat, if we do this, Nature never fails to develop better results from\nthe unfolding of each succession. We have learned that all of the\ndeterrents we have been able to discover and classify are phases of\nfearthought; that fearthought is no creation of the present, but is\nsought in the future and nourished on the life-blood of the present--an\nexcrescent and altogether parasitic abnormality, unnecessary to the\nthing it feeds on.\n\nWe have discovered, in our search for deterrents, that, if encountered\nin the now, they are easily routed. We have also discovered that the\nlongest life is but a succession of nows. If so, how easy becomes the\nproblem: Work diligently in the Now-Field.\n\nIn arguing against the potency of anger and worry and other\nexpressions of fearthought, where the contention has been persisted in\nthat they were necessary evils, and amenable only to suppression, not\nto elimination, I have invariably won my point when suddenly asking the\nquestion, \"Are you angry or worried at this moment?\" by the admission\nof my opponent, \"No; not at this moment, because my mind is occupied\nwith something which has no element of worry or anger in it.\" The\nreplies vary, of course, but are to the same effect. I immediately\nreturn with the question: \"Is not all time but a succession of nows,\nand, if so, cannot all of the nows, as well as this one, be exempt from\napprehension and irritation, by continuing to think of pleasanter and\nmore hopeful and helpful things?\"\n\nEach succeeding now is easier of control than the preceding one from\nwhich it learns the habit-of-control, and, if the immanent now is\nguarded, all the nows that follow will take care of themselves.\n\nAs we have observed, we need not think of the growing if we are only\ndiligent in keeping fearthought out of our minds. Nature will do\nabundant growing for us, and if we do not seek fearthought beyond the\nnow, we will have nothing to keep out. _It is easier than not!_\n\nDoes it not seem _very_ easy when one thinks reasonably about it? If\nwe confine our efforts to the Now-Field, we leave our enemy out in the\ncold by the comfortable process of non-invitation. Therefore, let us\nwork together for a season in the Now-Field.\n\n\n\n\nPERTINENT PAGES.\n\n\n\n\nPERTINENT PAGES.\n\n\nFEARTHOUGHT.\n\nFear is fear_thought_ only.\n\nFear is caused by the _self-imposed_ or _self-permitted_ suggestion of\n_inferiority_.\n\nFear is not a physical thing, but it causes physical derangement.\n\nFearthought is _self-imposed_, and is therefore unnecessary.\n\nFearthought, being evil and unnecessary, is therefore _not-respectable_.\n\nFearthought is a habit which is altogether irrational and illogical.\n\nFearthought is a parasite which, in civilized man, is entirely abnormal.\n\n_Fearthought can be eliminated from the mind._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFearthought is the tap-root of all evil and trouble.\n\n_Anger_ and _worry_ are expressions of fearthought.\n\nAll forms of worry are directly caused by fearthought.\n\nAnger is directly or indirectly caused by fearthought.\n\nAll of the evil passions which group themselves under the class-names\nof anger and worry are therefore the result of fearthought.\n\nFearthought is the result of egotism. Egotism is the reverse, or,\nrather, perverse, of Egociation. It is caused by self-separation from\nCo-operative-Strength, from Universal-Good--from God.\n\nSelfishness is the fruit and the evidence of egotism.\n\nFearthought is the first expression of selfishness.\n\n_Fearthought is_, therefore, _the tap-root of evil and consequent\nunhappiness_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nForethought invites success.\n\nFearthought invites failure.\n\nThe future is the vital part of life--the dead past furnishing only\nfood for reminiscence and experience.\n\nConsideration of the future must partake of either forethought or\nfearthought--it cannot partake of both at the same time.\n\nFearthought is in no way related to forethought except as the shadow is\nrelated to the tree behind which it hides from the light--the light of\nright-thinking.\n\nForethought stimulates, aids, fosters, encourages, and insures success\nof honest aims--its child is growth.\n\nFearthought relaxes, hampers, strangles, and thereby retards growth, to\nthe end of dwarfing, if not killing, it--its children are paralysis,\ndisease, unhappiness and death.\n\nForethought is a producer.\n\n_Fearthought is a robber._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nForethought is constructive.\n\nFearthought is destructive.\n\nForethought suggests the building of houses for shelter wherein there\ncan be no fearthought about storms.\n\nFearthought fusses and worries over the possibility of not getting the\nshelter ready in time to protect against inclement weather, and thereby\nwastes the available energy, and delays the completion of the shelter.\n\nForethought calmly proceeds to perform a useful task without\nfearthought of the extent of it. It does all that it can do--it can do\nno more.\n\nFearthought wrings its hands, and wastes its time in saying, \"How can I\never do it?\"\n\nThere is no difficulty in determining between forethought and\nfearthought.\n\nWhatever thought is constructive, is forethought.\n\n_Whatever thought is destructive or wasteful is fearthought._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFearthought is the devil.\n\nFearthought is the arch-enemy of man, whose influence can be traced in\nevery form of calamity and unhappiness.\n\nFearthought is the cause of indecision, suspicion, apprehension,\njealousy, envy, indifference, self-degradation and all other forms of\nweakness which separate the afflicted from the tide of success and\nhappiness, and which condemn them to the whirling and restless eddy of\nisolation and non-progression.\n\nFearthought is blasphemy, because it gives the lie to the fixed\npromises of God, as evidenced by experience.\n\nFearthought is like carbonic-acid gas pumped into one's atmosphere.\nIt causes mental, moral and spiritual asphyxiation, and sometimes\ndeath--death to energy, death to tissue and death to all growth.\n\n_Fearthought is a liar, and the father of lies._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nQuarantine against Fearthought first.\n\nFearthought is more contagious than any other disease.\n\nFearthought is the chief distributer and promoter of other contagious\ndiseases.\n\nFearthought can be guarded against by anti-toxic means, just as\nsmallpox and diphtheria can be guarded against.\n\nThe serum to be used against fearthought is intelligent, persistent\nright suggestion.\n\nFearthought can also be quarantined against, the same as other\ncontagious diseases.\n\nSociety can quarantine against fearthought by refusing to tolerate it\nas a necessity of civilized life--by classing it as not-respectable,\nand by refusing to feed it with sympathy.\n\nQuarantine against fearthought in the individual is an easy matter to\nany one who will learn that it is only evil and never good.\n\n_Fearthought should be kept \"without the gates.\"_\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nForethought for others is the most intelligent altruism.\n\nForethought is the natural condition, but can exist only in the absence\nof fearthought.\n\nForethought growing out of disagreeable or disastrous experience is a\nuseful and worthy fruit; but fearthought taken from the same experience\nadds to the evil.\n\nIf a child be guarded against fearthought, he will enjoy immunity\nfrom it during life--a life twice or thrice prolonged in consequence.\nParents should note the responsibility.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe consensus of the experience of parents, of physicians, of\nbiologists, and of everyone who has observed child-life, is that the\npremises and deductions here given are correct, but as yet there has\nbeen no systematic effort made to eliminate fearthought out of the\natmosphere of children, as there has been to eliminate weeds, malaria,\ncontagious diseases, and other evils. Society should unite for defense\nagainst, and the extermination of, _childhood's worst enemy_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFearthought is the most pregnant cause of disaster and death.\n\nWhoever teaches fearthought to a child, by either legend or example,\nmay be a murderer by so doing.\n\nWhoever permits or nurses fearthought within himself, sows the seed of\nsuicide.\n\nWhoever robs a child of the freedom of mind with which nature prefers\nto endow it, whether it be through pre-natal suggestion or through\nsuggestion given after birth, is more a thief than one who robs it of\nits patrimony of goods or lands.\n\nWhoever teaches or permits a child to suffer fearthought may never know\nthe end of the disturbance caused thereby. Lying, stealing, avarice,\nsuicide and murder may lie within the wake of its influence.\n\nIf parents have wronged their children unwittingly, they may\nyet correct the infliction by right example and by right\ncounter-suggestions, lovingly, patiently, persistently and religiously\ngiven until the evil has been eradicated.\n\n_Fearthought is the seed of Suicide._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFreedom is a Birthright.\n\nCivilized Society insures Freedom.\n\nThe author has had much experience within the past few years which\nteaches that fearthought itself, and tendency to fearthought, are bad\nhabits of the mind, that can be entirely counteracted if so desired,\nand if the desire be accompanied by reasonable assistance on the part\nof the afflicted ones.\n\nFearthought is the last relic of animal suspicion to be located,\nanalyzed and dispelled. When it is entirely killed; then, and only\nthen, will man become free--free to grow, free to appreciate his divine\ninheritance and free to enjoy it as ordained. As in agriculture and in\nhorticulture, so in menticulture, and its contingent, physiculture,\nwill it be found that deterrents to perfect growth can be eradicated,\nand that if attention to the germ-eradication of the deterrents is\nintelligent and persistent, God will surely develop perfect growth and\nthe perfect fruit of happiness.\n\n_Freedom is easier than not._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFearthought is the result of ignorance or perversity.\n\nFearthought which is perverse is criminal.\n\nFearing for others is criminal, because it not only depresses and\nweakens them, but because it robs them of some part of the strength\nthat encouragement and hopeful thought would give them.\n\nParents who do not wish to poison the natural energy of their children\nby depression and weakness, should learn the effect of telepathic\ninfluence for good or for evil, and thereby know that all of the\nexpressions of fearthought are rank poisons.\n\nParents hold the key to character.\n\nWhenever parents allow or teach their children to have fearthought,\nthey foster in them the temptation to lie and steal.\n\n_Crime lurks in fearthought._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIgnorance is _not_ bliss.\n\nIgnorance can no longer be accepted as an excuse for the toleration of\nfear.\n\nThought precedes every emotion and every act of life. It must have no\nelement of fear in it, if it is to lead up and on.\n\n_Habit-of-thought_ asserts itself on all occasions. _Habit-of-feeling_\nis the truer description, for the reason that it is the emotional self\nand not the thought-self that first responds to surprise.\n\nHabit-of-thought or habit-of-feeling can be trained to respond to\nsurprise with \"I _must not be_ afraid,\" as easily as it is permitted to\nrespond with the cowardly dictum, \"I _am_ afraid.\"\n\nIf one have the habit-of-fearthought in any form or degree, surprise\nmay cause it to inspire rash action which may end in disaster. More\nlives are lost through jumping _into_ danger under the impulse of\nfearthought, than are ever saved by it. Calm forethought is the better\nfriend in a case of peril than quaking fearthought.\n\n_I must not be afraid!_\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFearthought is a dissembler.\n\nFearthought is a very dangerous enemy, because it habitually\nmasquerades in the garb of forethought.\n\nMany earnest persons who desire to cultivate only the best thought,\nbelieve that fearthought is forethought, and invite and nurse it as\nsuch.\n\nThe lexicographers even, have failed to separate fearthought from\nforethought, and hence it does not appear in the dictionaries under its\nspecific descriptive appellation.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet fear be disguised no longer. It is a child of ignorant or perverse\nimagination. It is fear_thought_ only. It is always irrational and\nillogical. It has no element of good nor of protection in it. Separated\nfrom forethought, fearthought causes only paralysis and death, and\nneither energizes nor saves life. It is the devil. It is the result\nof false premises or impressions, but can be counteracted by logical\npremises and right impressions.\n\n_Fearthought is a masquerader._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe timid are the most impressionable, and can be cured of fearthought\nby intelligent, persistent, counter-suggestion.\n\nImpressibility is as powerful an aid to good or right suggestion as it\nis to bad or false suggestion. Differently used, an element of weakness\nbecomes an element of strength. In a matter of mind-accomplishment no\none need say \"I can't,\" for mind is what it most earnestly wishes to be.\n\nLimiting weaknesses there are, at present, but these are generally\nfound in asylums. A crusade against fearthought would, within one\ngeneration, make asylums unnecessary.\n\nAverage intelligence can be cleared of fearthought. A crusade against\nfearthought would immeasurably raise the average of intelligence.\n\nLet no one deprecate himself or his fellows as to his or their\npossibilities. The timid may become courageous; the weak may become\nstrong; the sick may become well, and the unhappy may become happy, by\nthe reversal of the attitude of their energy toward life's problems.\n\n_Courage is a birthright._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFearlessness of death insures the strongest love of life.\n\nNo one can know what it is to appreciate life at its best until he has\nceased to have any suspicion of dread of death.\n\nNo one can realize the keenest enjoyment of life until he has grown\nto _feel_--_appreciate_--that this life is an important stage of an\nevolutionary process, in which the dawning of spiritual possibilities\nopens up the realm of divine existence to him, and introduces to his\nconsciousness that _appreciation of God which gives birth to love,\ngrowth and happiness_.\n\nWhen fearthought is entirely eradicated from the mind by the\nelimination of the basic fear--the fear of death--man begins to _feel_\nthe responsibility of growing his best, of ripening in natural manner,\nand of dropping into the lap of Mother Earth only when he has instilled\ninto himself the richest and sweetest juices of an appreciative and\naltruistic life.\n\n_Fear not Death if you would know and love life._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMother-thought is the strongest of all thought.\n\nVoluntary motherhood is the bravest of all acts common in life.\n\nWhoever teaches a child to be fearless, builds greater than she can\never know, for fearlessness in one inspires courage in many; and as\ncourage inspires strength and causes action, there is no end to what\nmay grow out of the fearless influence of the frailest and physically\nweakest of women, and any young mother, in the quiet and seclusion of a\nmodest home, can set in motion vibrations of strength and fearlessness\nthat may result in the building of a great city or the invention of\nsome world-emancipating tool of progress.\n\nAll great accomplishments can be traced back to mother-influence.\nMother-muscle may be wanting, but mother-thought rules the world.\n\nMother-thought is always brave-thought in _one_ emergency, and\ntherefore _can be strong in all_ emergencies.\n\nMother-thought rules the world.\n\n_Mother-thought blesses life._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAll water is pure water.\n\nIt is impurities within water that muddy it.\n\nAll men are innately good.\n\nIt is the presence of false impressions, the result of false\nsuggestions, that makes men selfish and bad.\n\nThere is no impurity in water that cannot be removed by some means\nwithin the reach of chemistry, and there is likewise no bad suggestion\nimpressed on a sane human mind that cannot be counteracted by some\nright and good suggestion.\n\nIn your judgment of men, judge the sum of their opportunities and\nthe quality of their environing atmosphere, and not the individuals\nthemselves. It will aid you to a more just appreciation of the possible\ngoodness of your neighbors, and greatly help to conserve your own\nhappiness, through the diffusion of the warm blood of charitable\nimpulse.\n\n_Mould conditions aright, and men will grow good to fit them._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe perfect man is the harmonious man.\n\nThe perfection of anything is dependent upon the perfection of all its\nparts.\n\nGood society is made up of good individuals; individuals are measured\nby their qualities of mind and character; and mind and character are\npure and good according as their constituent elements are pure and good.\n\nFearthought is a weak element of mind and its influence on character is\nblighting.\n\nIn chemistry and in mechanics we analyse and test with greatest care\nthe material we use, to learn its value as related to our purpose. If\nit have any element of weakness we discard it.\n\nMeasure, and weigh well, thought about the future; if it partake of\nfearthought, expel it from the mind, for it is evil; if it be filled\nwith strength, and hope, and confidence, nurse it tenderly, for it is\ngood.\n\n_Harmony is strength._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nForethought is strong thought.\n\nFearthought is weak thought.\n\nNervousness is frequently discreditable, and, therefore,\nnot-respectable.\n\nNervousness is the \"scapegoat\" for much cowardice, ignorance and\nperversion, sometimes of prenatal, but generally of post-natal, origin.\nIt is not as respectable as scrofula, for the reason that scrofula may\nhave been inherited or contracted by the accident or evil doing of\nanother, and can be corrected only by process of regeneration; while\nnervousness is an expression or reflection of fearthought which can be\ncorrected by one's own right-thinking.\n\nWhoever is not nervous when he is asleep _need not be_ nervous when he\nis awake.\n\nEminent physicians have recently authorized the above assertions\nrelative to nervousness. If it is evil and unnecessary, it is,\ntherefore, not-respectable.\n\n_When nervous, seek within the habit-of-thought for a cause._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAttraction rules the universe.\n\nThe rivalry between attraction and counter-attraction is friendly.\n\nEvolution is the result of being attracted to increase and to growth,\nand not the result of being _pushed_ to growth.\n\nAll plant life inclines towards the light and the sun.\n\nPlant life that is strong enough to withstand the storms, turns its\nback in protest to the wind.\n\nPessimists snarlingly assert that attraction is the _pushing of desire_\nfor change, but pessimists are diseased themselves, and therefore call\nthings by wrong names, and give the wrong construction to everything.\n\nAppreciation and resultant Love are caused by attraction, and not by\nfear.\n\nWhatever is attracted forward or upward, will remain in advance or\nabove.\n\nForethought is eagerly receptive and seeks progress through attraction.\n\nFearthought _pushes_ to action by its own cowardice, and accomplishes\nnothing useful.\n\n_Altruism is a powerful magnet; good men are \"as true as steel.\"_\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nConsideration is practical altruism.\n\nConsideration for others is evidenced by desiring to do for them what\nis most desired by them, or, what is best for them. It _assumes_ no\nsuperiority.\n\nConsideration is \"catching,\" and the easiest way to accomplish one's\nown desires, in connection with others, is to suggest consideration by\nconsideration.\n\nNo one ever \"lost a trick, or missed a meal,\" by being considerate; and\nsimple, unaffected consideration has often been the means of adding\ngreat possessions to its own richness.\n\n\"After you,\" will unravel a crowd quicker than any pushing to be first.\n\nFearthought, and the selfishness growing out of it, are the origin of\nall lack of consideration for others; and contact with others, and the\nevery-day amenities of life furnish constant opportunity for attacking\none of the strongest expressions of the disease of fearthought by\npractice of altruistic consideration.\n\n_The first requisite of gentility is consideration._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHappy Day!\n\n\"Good morrow,\" \"good day,\" \"good morning,\" and \"good evening,\" were\noriginally intended to have the same significance as our opening\nsalutation, but now they have generally become stale and mean no more\nthan \"how are y--\" \"how d'y\" and other perfunctory greetings that are\nridiculous when rendered with an inflection that resembles a grunt.\n\nElsewhere it is related how \"happy day\" is used in some families to\ngreet the morning.\n\nWhat humanity is suffering from is a restriction of affections, and an\neffusion of fears.\n\nPeople are afraid of being frank and therefore cultivate the sulks,\nsuffer and become ill from the repression.\n\nIf you cannot greet the morning and likewise every living thing and\nevery inanimate thing that there is with \"Happy Day,\" you had better\ntake medicine for the trouble, for you are really ill.\n\n_Happy Day!_\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nForethought is Optimism.\n\nAll good men are optimists.\n\nThe contrastive definitions of \"optimism,\" and \"pessimism\" and\n\"content,\" as given by Rev. Dr. Newel Dwight Hillis in an address\non optimism, which the author had the pleasure of hearing, are in\nthemselves an epitome of good suggestion relative to the profitable\nattitude toward the past, the present and the future.\n\nSaid Dr. Hillis, \"The pessimist cries, 'all is ill, and nothing can be\nwell'; the idle dreamer assumes that 'all is well,' but the optimist\ndeclares that 'all has not been ill, and all has not been well--all is\nnot ill, and all is not well--but all _can be_ and therefore _shall be_\nwell.'\"\n\nAppreciation of ever-present blessings--the sun, the birds, the perfume\nof the flowers, the mist, the constant changes in the aspect of nature,\nthe love of friends, the hurdles that are met and cleared at a bound,\nand even the obstructions that Providence places in the _wrong road_,\nmake them all seem to chant in chorus,--\"No matter what has been; no\nmatter what is; all _can be_ and _shall be_ well.\"\n\n_Optimism is life._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFearthought inspires Pessimism.\n\nPessimism is a false prophet.\n\nIt would certainly seem to be in the interest of freedom if the\nutterances of evil foreboding and pessimistic prophesy were frowned\nupon, if pessimists were avoided as lepers are avoided, and if their\neffect on growth and development were to measure the merit or demerit\nof thoughts or teachings, as well as of actions.\n\nSociety's duty toward the individual is wisely to prevent him from\ndoing harm, either to himself or to others. All experience teaches that\npessimism is generally lying prophesy. To prohibit false prophesy,\nthat can only injure both the maker and the hearer of it, would seem,\nthen, to be not only the right, but the duty, of society. To prohibit\nbad suggestion as well as bad action, when action is known to be but\nmaterialized or realized suggestion, would seem to be a duty of society.\n\n_Pessimism is poison._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\"Perfect Love Casteth out Fear.\"\n\nBut:\n\nPerfect Love cannot exist until Fear is _first cast out_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nForethought is essential to cultivation and happiness.\n\nBut:\n\n_Fearthought in forethought_ prevents cultivation and kills happiness.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFear is Habit-of-Fearthought only, and is self-imposed, or imported.\n\nIt is, therefore:\n\nUnnecessary.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFearthought, being unnecessary, is a weak, or a cowardly,\nself-infliction.\n\nIt is, therefore:\n\nNot-Respectable.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nFearthought, the arch-enemy of mankind, can be eliminated from the\nHabit-of-Thought--can be entirely eradicated.\n\nBut:\n\nNOT BY REPRESSION.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMan, equipped with _divine selection_, is the only cultivator in\nNature. Nature does all growing herself, and assigns all cultivating to\nMan.\n\nBut:\n\nHe cultivates only through removing deterrents to growth.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMan's value, as assistant in evolution, consists in his ability to\ncreate harmonic conditions favorable to growth through the exercise of\n_divine selection_.\n\nBut:\n\nHe secures perfect harmony only by first harmonizing himself.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHappiness is \"the aim and the end of existence.\"\n\nBut:\n\nHappiness can rest only in Harmony, Appreciation, Love and Altruism.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHappiness is \"The Greatest Thing in the World.\"\n\nBut:--_If sought aright_,\n\nIT IS EASIER THAN NOT!\n\n\n\n\nSUGGESTIONS IN MENTICULTURE.\n\n\n\n\nSTOP IMPORTING; OR ERADICATION VERSUS REPRESSION.\n\n\nThe attitude of Man towards his weaknesses is commonly that of\nrepression. He assumes that fearthought, and fear, and anger, and\nworry, and all of the evil passions are inherent things that may be\nrepressed but not eradicated; modified but not eliminated; kept under\npartial control but not gotten rid of; and cut down below the surface,\nso as not to be exposed to the world, but not rooted out entirely.\n\nBy some persons it is even thought to be an accomplishment of great\nmerit to acknowledge strong roots of carnal weakness and to then\nsucceed in hiding any outward expression of them. In others, equally\nwell-meaning, the aggressive and consumptive passions are nursed\nand exhibited as evidences of unusual sensitiveness and virility\nappertaining to fineness, goodness and greatness. It is not long\nsince it was the custom of clergymen in some denominations to assume\nunworthiness for themselves in order to glorify the redeeming power\nof the Saviour, notwithstanding all of Christ's teachings inculcated\nthat true forgiveness consisted in the simple process of _ceasing\nto have_--ceasing to admit, or import. When, in former times,\npriesthood was degraded to a business--an occupation for a living, or\nfor convenience or power--it was natural that the difficulty of the\nservice rendered the laity by the priests should be exaggerated so as\nto command the highest respect, the greatest power and the largest\ncompensation. Sin was made to seem powerful and ever-present in order\nthat the service rendered in keeping it in check might seem important\nand everlasting. Under such circumstances, and especially when the one\ngreat unpardonable sin against the church was that of doubting the\nteachings of these teachers, how almost impossible must it have been\nfor the laity to rise superior to evil, when those whose profession it\nwas to combat it, found it so potent an enemy, and who, thereby, filled\nthe atmosphere of thought with dense clouds of evil suggestion.\n\nIt is fortunate for the present generation that such shadows of\nsuggestion do not hopelessly oppress it. There are many churches\nnow where appreciation, and love, and purity, and the delights of\nunselfishness are offered as the attractions towards religion, and\nwhere the teachers in them stand for examples of pure thinking, pure\nliving, and spontaneous altruism, practiced as a result of natural\nimpulses that are both agreeable and profitable, and not to save from\nhell or to fit for a remote heaven. But the shadow of the old method,\nthat so long hid the Christ-method of true thinking and living, still\nhas an influence in giving strength to evil to afflict the weaker\nsons of our civilization. This shadow, however, cannot long remain.\nThe light of the present awakening is too strong--too electric and too\npenetrating--to permit it to remain.\n\nIt is even looked upon now as a curiosity--a relic of antiquity--to\nhear the old fears given expression from the pulpit, but root\neradication of them is not yet insisted upon as the first and most\nimportant teaching, as it should be. It is a common thing now, also,\nto hear altruistic teaching and optimistic preaching from the pulpits\nof all denominations, and to hear from the teachers and preachers the\nassurance that \"it is easier than not and more profitable in every way\nto be unselfish and not to tolerate evil,\" the new good suggestion of\nwhich, is the inspiring assertion that, \"_it is easier than not_.\"\n\nIt would be a rare thing now to find a religious teacher of\nintelligence who would not agree with the assertion that, when a\nperson is angry, he cannot be, at the moment, a Christian, for being\nangry is as unchristian as profanity. The same condemnation applies to\nworry, which is especially commanded against, and which, in the light\nof the observed promises of God as expressed by the preponderance of\nthe prevalence of good, is not less than blasphemous in its exhibition\nof lack of confidence in, and appreciation of, the Giver of All Good.\n\nA most helpful thought in connection with the easy subjugation of the\n_animalesque_ expressions of fearthought is, that they are not inherent\nthings, and that they are imported whenever suffered. The tendency to\nimport is inherent, and the _tendency_ to entertain evil is the shadow\nof past error in the race which is called race-habit-of-thought, and it\nis that which has to be replaced by right-habit-of-thought before one\nis entirely free, but tendency is easily overcome when its parents are\ndiscredited and made not-respectable thereby.\n\nThe spiritual awakening of the present era that is reclaiming\nChristianity from the supernatural, or unnatural, and applying it to\neveryday affairs, may be called practical or business Christianity.\nA business man who has an occupation wherein it is possible for him\nto be altruistic, after reading the theory that is the contention of\n_Menticulture_, wrote a commentary in which he said: \"On these precepts\nnot only 'hang all of the law and the prophets,' but, also, common\nbusiness sense and _all of the profits_.\"\n\nAs an illustration of the difference between eradication (or\nfiltration) and repression (or gradual dilution or reform) I will cite\na common example: Suppose a vessel to be filled with muddy water which\nwe wish to make clear, so that it will perfectly reflect the ether\nabove, which we call the sky; the easy and effective method is first\nto pass the water through a filter and thereafter to protect it from\ncontamination. On the contrary, the difficult, expensive, endless and,\ntherefore ineffective method is to pour unlimited clear water into the\nvessel, in order to gradually replace the muddy water with the excess\nof pure water.\n\nWhile it is true that \"perfect love casteth out fear,\" it also is\ntrue that there can be no perfect love until there is first perfect\nfreedom from fear, so that the right way to approach the problem of\ncreating the harmonious condition in the human mind wherein growth\nripens in happiness, is to take the mind when it is returned to us at\nthe moment of awaking from sleep, when it has been purified by contact\nwith Spiritual Cerebration, and protect it from that time forth through\neach day, by refusing _to import_ suspicion, anger or worry into it, a\nprocess that is _easier than not_, and pleasanter and more profitable\nthan any.\n\nEach day, the tendency to import, which is the only part of the process\nof eradication that is in any way real, will become less strong,\nand, with even the weakest attempts to discourage it; but if you are\nsufficiently in earnest to say, \"Begone, you tempter,\" and thereby slam\nthe door in his face, you will accomplish freedom at once.\n\nThe self-infliction of fearthought is a shoveling-in process--all\nthat you have to do to become free from it is to stop shoveling. It\nis easier to stop importing fearthought, and anger, and worry, and\nsuspicion, than it is to import them; therefore,\n\n_Stop importing!_\n\n\n\n\nTHE IMPOTENCE OF PAIN.\n\n\nDuring the Japanese-Chinese war, two Japanese students were arrested\nin Shanghai on the charge of espionage, and were taken to Ningpo and\ntortured to death.\n\nThe method of torture was the most cruel known, and included a slow\ncrushing of the most sensitive parts of their anatomy.\n\nThe young patriots displayed such heroism under the torture that the\nincident gave rise to considerable discussion as to the relative\nsensitiveness of the Mongolian and the Caucasian races to pain. The\nconsensus of the opinion that I saw expressed, which was, by the way,\nCaucasian opinion only, was that the Oriental was less sensitive, and\ntherefore was not entitled to as much credit for withstanding pain as\nthe self-adjudged, more-sensitive Westerner.\n\nThe truth of the matter is, that there is a limit to actual\npain within the power of any one to endure, if the element of\nfearthought-of-more-pain is eliminated, so that the absorbing\nheroism of the patriot--almost courting torture for the honor of his\ncause--puts the element of fearthought out of the case, and leaves only\nthe actual sensation to be suffered. Pain is undoubtedly intended as a\nwarning of disordered conditions, and not as a punishment, and, having\nperformed its mission, is relieved by a kind paralysis before the shock\nis too severe for human endurance.\n\nThis is the beneficent provision of the natural law, but when it comes\nto the exercise of unnatural fearthought, there is no limit to the\ntorture a victim may impose upon himself, and, on a basis of a very\nlittle real pain, build up most terrible suffering.\n\nThe author has tested the truth of this assertion personally.\n\nBeing condemned to submit to a dental operation of unusual severity,\nthe opportunity to experiment was gladly availed of, even at the\nexpense of comfort.\n\nOne special aggravation of the operation was the prying open of the\nmouth, in order to build up from the root one of the teeth located\nfarthest back in the mouth. The mouth was not large enough to suit\nthe facile convenience of the dentist, and hence he made use of\nall the skill and power he possessed to enlarge the cavity, and\nhaving stretched it to the utmost, firm wedges held it open, without\npossibility of protest, for three hours on a stretch; and on these\ninstruments and conditions of torture I had ample opportunity to\nexperiment; so sufficient--for all practical purposes--that I do not\nfeel it necessary to repeat the experiment, even in the interest of\nscientific investigation.\n\nThe experiment proved, however, my contention, that even the greatest\npossible pain is of itself not very severe, and that it requires but a\nslight diversion to make one forget it, for the time being, entirely. I\nwas able, at any moment of the combined irritation, to concentrate my\nmind upon some subject or object, and to lose the sense of pain out of\nmy consciousness altogether--and at will.\n\nMajor General O. O. Howard, U. S. A. (retired) has recently\ncorroborated, to the author, out of his own experience, the possibility\nof forgetting pain through slight diversion. He lost an arm during\nthe Civil War, and in the process of recovery some of the nerve-ends\nwere not properly cicatrized, so that ever since the wound healed the\nGeneral has not been free from the sensation of pain, whenever his mind\nhas reverted to it, and yet he is able at any time to forget it by\nchange of thought.\n\nIn like manner, fear-of-trouble is the major part of all the so-called\ntrouble that is experienced. As intimated in the \"definitions,\"\nunder the caption of \"Trouble,\" there are few real conditions that\nare very uncomfortable, if apprehension of still more uncomfortable\nconditions is not imported to exaggerate the existing discomfort. Fear\nof freezing to death or of drowning may be made very terrible, for\ninstance, whereas the end in freezing and in drowning is known to be\nso comfortable, and even blissful, that those who are on the point of\npassing out of life by those means dislike to be called back to life\nagain.\n\nThe heroism of mothers in the event of child-birth is too well known to\ncall for reference, but there is the greatest difference in the ease\nor in the discomfort of the condition attending the process, which\nis largely influenced by the feeling of welcome or the attitude of\naversion with which the new-comer is greeted by the mother.\n\nThe point-of-view has much to do with the sting of pain. Whoever has\nsuffered that severest of all spankings, the water spanking incident to\na clumsy dive, or a wrongly-calculated somersault into the water from\na wharf, or from a natatorium springboard, will remember that the pain\nof it is not half so hard to bear as the form of parental correction\ncalled by the same name, that in itself is not nearly so severe.\n\nSensitiveness to pain is largely due to the fear of pain, and a\nreversal of the accustomed attitude towards fear will have an immediate\neffect upon the severity of pain by mitigating much of its sting.\nChristian scientists, mental scientists, spiritual scientists, faith\ncurists, and all others who practice mental therapeutics in physical\ndiseases, escape much suffering in this way, and the happy result of\nthis attitude towards pain serves to strengthen their faith.\n\nWhatever the cause of the relief, it is good, for it teaches, in a most\npractical way, the potency of thought in overcoming, or, dismissing,\nreal pain as well as all imaginary evil, and also the possibility\nof eliminating fearthought from the mental equipment, by showing\nhow impotent to harm are the realities that inspire it, when it is\nprevented from exaggerating them.\n\n\n\n\nUNHAPPY UNLESS MISERABLE.\n\n\nThere are some persons, in fact, a great many persons, who are not\nhappy unless they have real or fancied cause for complaint. Martyrdom\nis the recreation of such people and they are liable to be more greedy\nfor recreation than those whose recreation is of a joyous sort.\n\nIt is certainly a misplaced kindness to impose unwelcome attentions on\nany one. In the category of nuisances unwelcome attentions are perhaps\nthe most disagreeable, and to cram joy down the maw of one who has no\ntaste for it, is as rude, and even vulgar, as insisting that he shall\neat something that is nauseating to him.\n\nIt is true that persons who gloat over misery; who love to mope about\nin grave-yards; and are forever telling grewsome tales for the\nsupposed delectation of their victims, are not as agreeable to others\nas they seem to be to themselves, and their presence at festivals and\nother ostensibly joyous occasions may be looked on as discordant, and,\nas such, out of place.\n\nIn these times of license, which are sometime mistaken for times of\nunusual liberty, it is not for anyone to define what is altogether\nbad, nor to confine good, nor good taste, within too narrow limits;\nneither is it generous to prescribe anything that shall be universally\neaten or worn; and, above all liberties, the liberty to wear a smile\nor a frown should prevail; but it is within the province of organized\nsociety to put its stamp of approval or disapproval on the time and\nplace for appropriate use of them. Certain costumes are suitable in\ncertain places and not suitable in others. For example, the bathing\nsuit and the night-robe have uses that are appropriate for their\nspecial purposes, but they would not be tolerated on the street by the\npolice, and it would be no greater curtailment of liberty to order that\nfrowns shall be worn only in dark places and not be permitted to cloud\nthe sunlight, than that undue levity should be tabooed on occasions\nconsidered to be serious. If such prescription were to be imposed, it\nwould be necessary, of course, to furnish dark places at appropriate,\nor, rather, convenient intervals, for the use of the miserably\ninclined, in the same way that spittoons are provided for the use of\nthose who must expectorate sputum.\n\nLiberty is so precious a thing that it must be protected as the holiest\nof our possessions, and even if it lap over into the debatable ground\nsometimes called license, it should yet be protected, and therefore\nthe permission to wear frowns in appropriate places and to enjoy being\nmiserable in the privacy of one's own chamber should be respected;\non the street, or anywhere in public, however, they should not be\ntolerated, for they are harmful generally, and particularly injurious\nto children.\n\nAs individuals, those of us who accept God's promises as truths, who\nprefer to live in the sunlight rather than in a cave, who glorify\nAppreciation as the first and best suggestion in the language, who\nbelieve that growth is the object of life, that its fallow field is\nharmony, and that its fruit is happiness, and also those of us who, by\ncomparison of conditions have learned to believe that our pessimistic\nfriends can be happier than they are, and can become better companions\nand citizens by a change of attitude towards life, although we may\nnot pass laws of restriction against the frown-habit or against the\nmisery-habit, can use the gentle method of counter-suggestion to good\neffect, and even go so far as to laugh at and otherwise ridicule the\nmisery-habit, if by thus doing we may possibly correct that which logic\nhas failed to cure.\n\nFrom long observation it has become evident that the misery-habit feeds\non sympathy. Children, who are the best examples of honest expression\nthat we have, whereby to see ourselves in an unartificial light, will\nnot continue a mad or a surly crying spell if they are sure it is not\nproducing a sympathetic effect. If they think they are not heard they\nwill at once cease crying. In the same way, grown persons who practice\nthe misery-habit in public take a rest when they are unobserved.\nThey try to hide it, but they are frequently caught in the act of\nunbuttoning their pouts, and thereby allowing their faces a rest, as\nsoon as they have thought themselves out of sight. We must believe,\nif this observation be correct, that the object of pessimism, or, the\nmisery-habit, is generally to secure, by dishonest means, selfish\nattentions that are not earned, and for which no value is given. There\nare cases no doubt where the misery-habit has been acquired by contact\nwith respected ones who have been the cause of perverse suggestions too\nstrong to be resisted, and for such there can only be pity, and in the\ncure of whom gentle and loving suggestion should be used, but to the\nperverse and the chronic practicers of the misery-habit, no toleration\nis good, for it is on that, and unmerited sympathy, that they live and\nthrive. On such, all of the misery possible to be scraped up from the\ndiscords of life should be dumped, and they should be condemned to herd\ntogether, and if it were possible, they should be isolated, as lepers\nare isolated, from healthy society.\n\nSometimes the victim of the misery-habit practices the habit only\nwithin the family. This is especially severe on the family, and is\nmuch more difficult to treat. The family is at once the seat of the\ngreatest liberty, and the home and breeding-ground of the greatest\ntyranny. The family is supposed to be under the holy protection of the\ndivine principle of love, but if that principle is not a possession\nof the family, there is no protection whatever from most inhuman\npractices, but instead a license to the cultivation of most discordant\npassions. It is in the family that mollygrubs are grown and tolerated.\nIt is in the family that one cannot get rid of them by running away,\nfor the family, like the poor, you have with you always. And who would\nhave it otherwise? The whole tendency of civilization is to appreciate\nthe family more and more, and to cultivate respect for the family model\nas the basis of good government. But it is the very security of the\nnatural, and therefore indissoluble, bonds that gives the selfishly\ninclined opportunity to practice the misery-habit without fear of being\nthrown out, left behind, cremated or otherwise gotten rid of, as dead\nand disagreeable matter is usually treated, in civilized communities.\n\nThe symptoms of the misery-habit, or martyr-habit, are easy to\ndetect, for while they may be cultivated and laboriously practiced\nin private, they are intended to be seen, and are displayed at times\nwhen they are calculated to be most conspicuous. The victim of the\nmartyr-habit is usually an industrious person. He, or possibly she,\nwill perform any amount of necessary, and even unnecessary, manual\nlabor, in order to exhibit martyr-like fatigue; is always hanging\nbehind in order to be slighted; condemns attentions honestly intended\nas perfunctory politeness; interprets praise as being patronage;\nfinds any part of a chicken served him at the family table the worst\npiece, and at the same time assures the carver that he has been unduly\npartial or over-generous--but, with a tone of voice or an expression\nof countenance that belies the utterance. A common phrase of the\nafflicted martyrite is, \"Don't mind me,\" and hysterics is the favorite\namusement, while pain and trouble are the chief stock in trade. And is\nthere a remedy? Yes.\n\nIf Christianity were to be measured by the optimism of the Master,\nif the gauge of optimism prescribed by the Master were to be used\nto measure professing Christians for the name; if cause and effect\nwere to be placed in their true relation to each other, and the\nills we cultivate were to be classed as self-imposed causes and not\neffects; and if the unnecessary and unprofitable were to be ranked\nas not-respectable; the misery-habit or martyr-habit would cease\nto be fashionable, mollygrubs would disappear, and the principal\nbreeding-ground of pessimism--the family--would be purified, as\nbecoming to its holy office.\n\n\n\n\nTHOU SHALT NOT STRIKE A WOMAN.\n\n\nIf a queer sort of human being, dressed in a costume we had never\nseen before, and hailing from some island we had never heard of, were\nto land on our shores and ask our protection and the privilege of\nteaching the religion of his people; if he were to learn our language\nsufficiently to convey his ideas to us; if he were to have printed the\nformulas of his religion, and, among them, his deity's commandments\nto men; if the first of these commandments were to read, \"Thou shalt\nnot strike a woman,\" what would we say to such a commandment? and\nwhat would we think of a people who found it necessary to have such a\nformula?\n\nOur question would naturally be, \"Do the people of your country _ever_\nstrike women?\"\n\nIn our particular state of chivalric civilization, striking women\nis one of the things so entirely out of the question that we do not\nconsider it even a possibility, except in cases of insanity or of\ndrunkenness, where the brute of the moment is not responsible for his\naction.\n\nThe very fact of its being an impossible, and therefore unmentionable,\ncrime is the strongest suggestion against it.\n\nIf \"Thou shalt not strike a woman\" were listed in the category of\ncommandments, and were constantly repeated as something hard to resist,\nand hence commanded against, I believe the crime would become common in\ncircles where it is not thought of as possible now.\n\nThe best thing to do with a condemned thing is to cover it up, seal\nit up, and relegate it to the custody of the awful, unwritten law of\nunanimous disapproval.\n\nIt is said that when the Jesuit fathers went to Japan at the end of\nthe sixteenth century they were warmly welcomed, and not only were\npermitted but invited to teach their religion.\n\nOne of the first things they did was to have the ten commandments of\nthe old Mosaic law printed in Japanese, in the form of what we call a\ntract, and distributed among the people.\n\nReading was then, as now, a common accomplishment with the Japanese,\nand they were interested in the tract. They did not quite understand\nits purport, however, and one of their number was delegated to ask for\nan explanation.\n\nJapan is the land, above all others, where poetry and flowers and\nidealism and art and other refinements are cherished and appreciated.\nPoetry, in Japan, is sometimes so idealistic that it is somewhat vague\nto any but the poet. It is the custom, therefore, to consider that\nanything not quite comprehensible must be poetry; and not understanding\nthe tract of the fathers, the Japanese naturally thought it to be a\nspecimen of Portuguese poetry.\n\nApproaching one of the fathers, the spokesman of the people bowed with\naccustomed politeness and said: \"I trust you will pardon the wretched\nignorance and dullness of my humble self, but the great interest of my\ncompanions, as well of myself, in your poem, impels us to ask you to\ninterpret to us the great depth of its beauteous crystalline sweetness,\nin order that we may enjoy it as it is worthy of being enjoyed.\"\n\nThe father was shocked to hear his sacred commandments classed as\nworldly poetry, and, drawing himself up to the full impressiveness of\nholy indignation, replied, \"That is not poetry; that is what our God\ncommands that we _must not_ do.\"\n\n\"Sayo de go zarimasu, gomen na sai,\" answered the spokesman in the\npolite idiom of his country; \"but--_do the people of your country ever\ndo these things?_\"\n\nWhether the Japanese are, or were three hundred years ago, as exempt\nfrom evil as the enquiry about the ten commandments would imply,\nmatters not. The rebuke was well merited and taught a great, good\nlesson. We are the sum of our impressions, and the suggestions we\nreceive from experience are the source of our impressions. Some\nsuggestions are so respected that they make deep impressions, notably\nthe suggestions given us by our parents at our most impressionable age;\nbut all suggestions have some weight, and to such purpose that a thing\nwe know to be untrue becomes a reality to us by constant repetition,\nas attested by the common expression, \"He has told that story so many\ntimes that he has come to believe it himself.\"\n\nThere is scarcely any difference of opinion about the justice of the\nten commandments; but the constant repetition of \"_you must not_\" is\nlike shaking a red rag before a wild bull, to many self-assertive\nchildren; whereas, if the things to be commanded against were\nunderstood to be _impossible_, and therefore _unmentionable_, the\ncommandments would come to fit crimes that had become as much out of\ndate to us now as is the crime of striking women.\n\nWe have constant evidence of the fact that beliefs, or, rather,\nhabits-of-belief, follow persistent assertion, and that character is\nlargely molded by existing formulas as well as other influences of our\nenvironment.\n\nWithout desire to criticise the formulas of any creeds, except in the\nway of counter-suggestion, I would ask, \"What would be the probable\neffect of teaching the constant repetition of the eleventh commandment\nin place of the older ten?--'A new commandment I give unto you, that\nyou love one another.'\" It is impossible to love and to hate at the\nsame time. It is impossible to obey the eleventh commandment and\ndisobey any of the ten at the same time. Is it not better practice of\nsuggestion, in order to form habit-of-thought, to repeat the eleventh\ncommandment eleven times, than to repeat each of the ten once and the\neleventh only once?\n\nIt is true that the easy way to attain good is to _cease to have evil_,\nbut, it is a poor way to cease to have evil to nurse it in the memory\nas a thing _difficult not to have_.\n\nIf there is to be repetition of anything, it is better that it should\nbe of such suggestions as \"Appreciation\" and \"Love.\"\n\nThe mind is as amenable to the force of habit as are any of the\nphysical members of the body. The soul is much more amenable to\nsuggestion than either, for it is much more impressionable. If you\nwere teaching a child to play the piano, would you have him run all\nthe scales, or, rather, combinations of notes that do not form scales,\nthat are to be avoided in music, in order to teach him the habit of\n_not_ playing them? Would it be good teaching to have him habituate his\nfingers to the sequence of false scales as well as to the sequence of\ntrue scales? May not the constant repetition of the commandments that\nrefer to lewd practices suggest thoughts about lewdness that never\nwould come to young minds by other means, and therefore taint pure\nthought, in brutal fashion, by vile suggestion?\n\n\n\n\nTHE POINT-OF-VIEW.\n\n\nSuppose two men of equal physical strength were to start in a\nthousand-mile bicycle race. Suppose one of the men were to greet\nthe passing of each mile-post in this wise: \"Only nine hundred and\nninety-nine miles more; only nine hundred and ninety miles more,\" or\nwhatever the distance covered might be at the time. Suppose the other\nwere to greet the same mile-posts otherwise, as \"only one mile;\" or,\n\"hang it, only ten miles.\" Which racer would win?\n\nIn effect, one of the men would be going down hill and the other would\nbe going up hill, and just that difference of approach would win the\nrace for the person who was rolling down from one thousand miles to one\nmile, from the person who was struggling along the upward course from\none mile to a thousand miles.\n\nSuppose two men were to each feel a pain in the joint of his big toe.\nSuppose one of the attacked ones were to greet the pain as follows:\n\"Well! I suppose that means the gout, and I am to be afflicted for the\nbalance of my life with that horrible disease. What have I done to\ndeserve such a fate? I suppose some of my ancestors are responsible\nfor this, but I will have to suffer for it all the same.\" Suppose the\nother victim were to greet the same symptom in himself differently,\nas follows: \"Hello, old fellow, what does all this mean?--too much\nrich food, too much rich wine, too much of everything that is good to\nthe taste and bad for the stomach. Well, I might have expected it.\nAm ever so much obliged to you, Mr. Pain, for having warned me so\npromptly; I'll take the hint and correct the error before the trouble\ngets seated. Keep me well posted, Mr. Pain. If the disorder does not\ndisappear, please keep on prodding me so that I will know if I am\ndoing the right thing or the wrong thing towards it.\" Which of these\nmen would recover more quickly, and which of them would suffer more\ndiscomfort?\n\nThere are always different points-of-view and different attitudes\ntowards every problem of life. The different points-of-view are always\nin competition, and, other conditions being equal, winning or losing is\na question of attitude. The attitude that is directed by appreciation,\ngratitude, hope, trust, or any of the attributes of Forethought, will\nalways win, as against the attitude that is handicapped by any shade of\nFearthought.\n\nLife may be filled with disappointments or with successes merely by the\nchoice of point-of-view, the pessimistic point-of-view leading from\ndisappointment to disappointment, and the optimistic point of view\nleading to a succession of successes. As a man thinks, so does he act,\nand so does the world help him to act.\n\nEvolution never places obstacles in the _right_ road. A seeming\nobstacle may be but a hurdle, the clearing of which may win a prize in\nthe life race. Some one has said that the supreme obstacle in life is\nsurmounted by aid of the progressively difficult smaller obstacles that\nare overcome with increasing ease, and which, if their beneficent uses\nare known, become only hurdles instead of obstructions.\n\n\"Set 'em up again; they are all down but nine,\" said, in the spirit of\nhopeful determination, has won games for many contestants.\n\nIt is the point-of-view that determines whether an obstacle is a hurdle\nor an obstruction, or whether the obstruction, if it be such, is in\nthe _wrong_ road or not. If a traveler on life's road starts with an\noptimistic point-of-view he will enjoy obstacles as hurdles, or he\nwill greet obstructions with pleasure, as being Providentially placed\nin the _wrong_ road. In any case he will be happy about it, and his\nhappiness will be the best possible stimulant in aiding him to clear\nhurdles or to seek new paths to pleasant places.\n\nThe optimistic and pessimistic points-of-view are the means by which\nthe concordant and discordant notes in life are sounded. The merit or\ndemerit of things lies less within the things themselves, as far as the\nobserver is concerned, than in his ability to accept them complacently,\nif inevitable, and to mould or to shape them to profitable and\nagreeable uses, rather than to suffer them as unprofitable and\ndisagreeable. For example, it is profitable to look upon all persons\nand upon all experiences as teachers, but to reserve the superiority\nof choosing to be guided by them or warned by them according as the\nquality of the teaching is good or bad.\n\nThere are proverbs in all languages that teach the preference of\nthe optimistic point-of-view, but they will avail little as long\nas fearthought is tolerated as a necessary and respectable thing.\nExperience endorses the proverbs and discredits the necessity and\nrespectability of fearthought.\n\nThe Japanese have a proverb, born of the optimistic point-of-view, that\nis very useful to them, inasmuch as the light wood-construction of\ntheir houses invites frequent fires and sweeping losses in consequence.\nAfter a fire it is fashionable in Japan for sufferers to greet each\nother in sympathy with the truism, always accompanied by a smile, \"Not\nmuch trouble to move,\" and then they all pitch in to assist as much as\npossible to rehabilitate each other through kind attentions that really\nmake the fires but hot-bed nurseries of altruistic sympathy, in which\nthere is more joy than in the greatest accumulation of possessions.\n\nAfter the war--the recent sectional dispute, whose theater of\ndestruction was in the Southern States of America--many of the\nfamilies of the ante-bellum slave aristocracy were mainly reduced in\npossessions, and deprived of some of the means of ostentation, and in\nrare instances, of the necessary means of comfort; but they had been\ndefeated in their Cause, and many of them settled into a state of\ndepression that was more cruel to them than all the reverses of the\nwar. Nature continued to be as kind, the seasons smiled on the crops\nwith unvarying regularity, and the physical scars of war were soon\nhealed and overgrown, but the disappointed ones heeded not the return\nof material prosperity. They focused their point-of-view upon the past,\nand refused to see the smiles and the warmth of the present and the\npromise of the future.\n\nProperty aristocracy always creates a false pride, in which the\npoint-of-view is distorted.\n\nIt will undoubtedly be the same with the name-proud Greeks as it\nwas with the property-proud Southrons, and bespeaks little for the\nrespectability of a pride that afflicts its victims more seriously than\nthe destruction of property.\n\nIt is a meritorious pride that rises superior to defeat, and after\nsaying \"Thy Will Be Done\" adds, \"Teach Thou Me Appreciation,\" and\nbegins the pursuit of peace anew with the point of view directed by\noptimism and not by pessimism.\n\nI have seen whole families, suffering from self-imposed humiliation\nand depression, leap into new life, new growth, and new happiness at\na change of the point-of-view. The Southerners are, above all other\nAmericans, chivalrous and loyally American in their natures. They are\nalso generally religious, and cling to the teachings of their parents.\nIn focusing their point-of-view upon the past, and, nursing the\nsting of defeat, they have thought that they were conserving filial\nregard, chivalry and religion, and they have held to the distorted\npoint-of-view with loyal purpose. A change of the point-of-view,\nrising superior to disappointment, more nearly satisfied filial\npride, while Christian optimism and gratitude more nearly became\nthe profession of religion than the fault-finding dictated by the\nantiquated point-of-view. Finding fault with the happenings of the past\nis as much blasphemy as any other disapproval of the Almighty, and yet\nblasphemy is regarded as the wickedest of sins in religious estimation;\nand, at the same time, loading up with a burden of depression and\nself-humiliation is the most unprofitable form of self-abuse known to\neconomics.\n\nIt is better to have an intelligent and optimistic command of the\npoint-of-view and hold title to nothing, than to have possessions\nvalued at millions, and not count this as the richest possession of\nthem all. If anything seem to be wrong with you, first examine the\npoint-of-view. If you do this conscientiously, you will probably find\nthe fault therein and seek a remedy by _changing the point-of-view_.\n\n\n\n\nDON'T BE A SEWER.\n\n\nA sewer is a channel for the conveyance of disagreeable matter.\n\nAny person who receives and carries mean report or suspicion of his\nneighbor is therefore a human sewer.\n\nA good sewer is a good thing. It receives disagreeable matter and\ncarries it along, hidden from sight and away from the other senses, to\nsome remote place, and discharges it there.\n\nA leaky sewer is an abomination.\n\nHuman sewers usually leak. They take delight in letting out the\ndisagreeable matter they are carrying, at every street corner, in every\nparlor, and in the midst of the multitude, wherever they may chance to\nbe. The characteristic of the human sewer is that it is a leaky sewer.\nBy its leaks it is known.\n\nHuman sewers themselves generally create much of their sewage.\n\nI once had a friend, an otherwise good fellow, who had acquired the\nhabit of collecting and distributing social sewage. He was not amenable\nto logical suggestion against the habit. He held the idea that a spade\nshould be called a spade, and that if disagreeable things existed,\nhonesty required that they should be discussed. One day, when my friend\nwas carrying an unusually heavy load of sewage, and was distributing it\nfreely, this thought came into my mind, and I gave it utterance. \"You\nremind me of a sewer,\" said I.\n\nThere might have been a serious impairment of our friendship as the\nresult of my utterance, for my friend is full of so-called \"spirit,\"\nhad I not immediately followed my offensive remark by an apology, and a\nbrotherly explanation somewhat in the vein as above.\n\nThe good effect of the comparison on my friend is my excuse for\nintroducing it here. What logic and persuasion had not been able to\naccomplish, offensive comparison accomplished.\n\nMy friend is too self-respecting to allow himself to be in any way\nrelated to a leaky sewer, and has reformed beautifully. A short time\nsince, in speaking of the incident, he acknowledged its effectiveness\nby saying, \"Every time I think of anything mean I fancy I can smell\nit.\"\n\n\n\n\nCALL SUSPICION A LIAR.\n\n\nIt is an excellent rule to follow to call Suspicion a liar five times\nbefore basing judgment upon its testimony.\n\nIf you will take the trouble to investigate the average accuracy of\nyour suspicions, you will note that they are wrong in so many cases\nthat they are not a safe guide, and are generally unjust accusers.\n\nWhile the person who harbors the suspicion is the worst sufferer in the\nend, when the accusations have been proved to be groundless, there is\nalways a possibility of injustice, that, falling on servants or others\nholding inferior positions, is exceedingly cruel.\n\nHow often, in the household or in the hotel apartment, is a carelessly\nmislaid ring the cause of great unhappiness to both mistress and maid,\nbecause of the ready mischief of Fearthought and its attendant imp,\nSuspicion.\n\nIt is an axiom of the detective service, that untrained suspicion\ngenerally takes the wrong scent, and that it usually saves time to look\nin some other direction for the culprit, than in that pointed out by\nthe accuser.\n\nThe elimination of the seeds of Fearthought from the mind, the\npossibility of which is the contention of my theory, will carry with\nit suspicion, and relieve one of endless chance of doing and suffering\ninjustice, but if emancipation should, unfortunately, not have been\naccomplished, it is an excellent rule to follow, to meet Suspicion with\nsuspicion, and call it \"liar\"! five times, before making accusation on\nits testimony.\n\n\n\n\nI CAN'T _NOT_ DO IT.\n\n\nA person more frequently lies when he says \"I can't\" than when he says\n\"I can.\" There are, to be sure, more things that one cannot do than\nthere are that he can do, because the ability of the strongest and most\nskillful is comparatively limited; but the person who is in the habit\nof saying \"I can't\" usually says it about the wrong thing or at the\nwrong time.\n\nWhenever a person says that he cannot do a thing that God has made it\npossible for him to do, and which he knows to be possible, he is not\nonly a liar, but also a blasphemer.\n\nIf one is asked to climb a tree or lift a very heavy weight, there may\nbe reason for saying \"I can't,\" because of lack of ability, strength or\npractice. For the same reason, difficult \"runs\" on a piano, perilous\nfeats of balancing or turning in gymnastics, and even a great many\nsimple things that are easy to the accustomed, may be impossible to the\nunaccustomed without certain practice, and with reference to them it is\nreasonable to say, \"I can't.\"\n\nIf, however, one is asked _not_ to climb a tree, or _not_ to lift a\nweight, or _not_ to perform a \"run\" on a piano, there is no excuse\nfor saying, \"I cannot _not_ do it,\" for it is as illogical as it is\nungrammatical, and as false as any other lie.\n\nApplied to mental accomplishment, it is even more illogical and false,\nbecause thought is more pliable than muscle.\n\nNot being evil is simply _not being evil_, and whoever says, \"I cannot\n_not_ be bad,\" is a liar. When he is asleep he proves the lie.\n\nThere are habits-of-desire which seem attractive to perverted taste,\nthat may need a strong counter-suggestion to correct, but there is\nno habit-of-desire but what can easily be corrected by the right\ncounter-suggestion. For instance, drinking whisky habitually is\nrecognized to be a bad habit of perverted desire, but one habitual\ndrunkard I know of abjured whisky for life on account of having\ndiscovered a dead fly in his glass.\n\nSometimes it requires a mania to cure a mania. Dr. H. Holbrook Curtis,\nthe eminent throat-specialist of New York, who has in his care, during\ngrand opera season, millions of dollars' worth of voices, and who makes\nspecial study of the mental condition of his patients, once said to\nme, \"The only cure that I know of for dipsomania is religio-mania.\"\nThis same assertion is frequently made in quite a different way,\nbut to the same effect. Dr. Curtis did not mean by religio-mania\nreligious _appreciation_; neither did he mean by dipsomania, temperate\nuse of stimulants. He referred to the intemperate emotion and the\nmorbid taste. The practice of drinking unduly because of the social\ntemptation of it may be cured by logical suggestion, but a mania may\nbe amenable only to a mania. There is, however, no bad habit but that\ncan be corrected by _some_ means, and as there is some remedy for\nevery separate phase of evil, it should be considered not respectable\nto say, \"I cannot _not_ do\"; and, as measure of respectability is the\nhighest social desideratum in the present age, the best weapon to be\nused against the toleration of evil in one's self or in others is a\ngeneral protest against it on the score of its being unnecessary and\nnot-respectable.\n\nIn my experiments I have used all sorts of means of suggestion with\nwhich to reach perverse habits of evil thought. As stated elsewhere,\noffensive comparisons and ridicule are more frequently effective\nthan reason or logic, and, as such, are often necessary, in the same\nway that offensive medicines are sometimes effective in removing\nindigestible matter from the stomach,--for example, ipecac.\n\nI had a friend who was in the habit of saying \"I can't\" to almost\neverything. The habit-of-opposition was so strong that it was the\nfirst to assert itself on every occasion. The attitude of opposition\nwas strengthened by the perverse idea that brutal frankness is an\nexpression of honesty, and hence reference to his honesty or dishonesty\nwas a tender point of etiquette with my friend. To touch this tender\nspot, and administer the strong suggestion--medicine--necessary in the\ncase, I hit upon this expedient:\n\nWhenever my friend said \"I can't\" to a proposition which it did not\nfit, I immediately ejaculated \"Liar!\" At first there was some danger\nattending my experiment, but I took the precaution to be out of reach,\nand the fact that my intention was good assured me ultimate pardon.\n\nAt first my offensive criticism was frequently necessary, but it became\nless and less so, till at last the cure is so complete that the once\nfavorite expression, \"I can't,\" is as disagreeable to my friend, as\nmust have been the dead fly in the glass of the drunkard previously\nmentioned, that was the means of curing him of a deeply rooted habit.\n\n\n\n\nA MILLION TO ONE ON THE UNEXPECTED.\n\n\nOne evening, at a meeting of the \"Ganglionics,\" in the city of New\nOrleans, I asked the president of the club, Dr. William Benjamin Smith,\nthe question, \"Why is it that the unexpected generally happens?\" His\nreply, which induced the caption to this chapter, was, \"Because the\nexpected is only one thing, while the unexpected may be a million\nthings.\"\n\nThis is really, as well as figuratively, true, and, being true, what\nidiots are we to waste our time and paralyze our energies, by thinking\nfearthought into the future, on a million-to-one chance of its hitting\nthe mark.\n\nThere is one bull's-eye that we are sure to hit if we aim at it\nconstantly and long enough. Death is the one universal bull's-eye that\nfigures in every life. At the same time that we are sure of hitting it,\nwe know by the experience of others that we do not realize death when\nit actually comes, for Nature kindly administers an an\u00e6sthetic just\nbefore death, and sometimes long before. Then why should we fear even\ndeath?\n\nPersons who have been at the open door of the unexplored state called\ndeath say that a delightful feeling of rest comes over the emigrant,\nand that entry into the next state is like being in a beautiful dream.\n\nIf this be so, there is also nothing disagreeable in death--only in the\nfearthought about it--and hence the one only bull's-eye we have been\nsure of hitting--the cause of fear of death--does not exist, except in\nour hopes or our fears.\n\nMany persons who are in the habit of apprehending cause for fearthought\nabout the future, and who spend much of their time in worry, would not\nlike to be put down in the category of false prophets, and yet their\napprehension must be false in the ratio of chances of a million to one.\n\nThought about chance, as related to forethought, and from the\npoint-of-view of the speculator or gambler, suggests the absurdity of\nwasting any good coin--calm and happiness--by \"laying it on\"--betting\non--fear. The chances against having \"coppered\" the right fear are\nnot only _not even_, but are ten to one against--an hundred to one\nagainst--or more--never less. Even if you should win by correctly\nguessing a fear, you would get back again none of the happiness that\nyou had sacrificed--would not even get your \"stake\" back.\n\nAs a matter of actual experience, the following incident is a good\nexample: A young man employed in a publishing house, where the\nproprietor was afflicted with the fuss-and-fret-habit, contracted the\ndisease, and unconsciously became a victim to its toils. Robust good\nhealth began to give way to languor that induced dyspepsia and other\ncontingent disorders, until suicide stared the young man in the face\nand haunted his dreams.\n\nOne day some one whispered a suspicion in the young employee's ear\nthat was directed at worry and anger as the causes of his ill-health\nand unhappiness and the thought led his systematic habits-of-business\nto suggest \"keeping tab\" on at least one of the suspects, to see if\nit were the liar and thief, as charged. Each day, when worry made its\npredictions, record of them was carefully kept, and at the end of the\nmonth the reports were checked up by results. _Only three per cent. of\nthe predictions were even remotely realized!_\n\nThe old proprietor of the business, through whom the contagious\npoison started, is dead, and the happy young menticulturist owns the\nbusiness, which has become very successful by influence of the sunny\noptimism of its new owner, which attracts trade unconsciously to it.\n\n\n\n\nLOVE CANNOT BE QUALIFIED.\n\n\nThe merit of loving is in the act, and should not--cannot--be qualified\nby the merit or demerit of the object under consideration.\n\nThere may be more effort required, perhaps, in loving something that\nseems to us unlovely, but no more virtue in so doing, as loving, like\nvirtue, is its own reward.\n\nGod-love does not discriminate. It is, therefore, ungodly to\ndiscriminate. In the performance of the Man-Nature partnership-function\nof \"divine selection\" in the harmonizing of things that are\nantagonistic to each other and to Man--selecting for survival those\nthings that are not deterrent to the harmonious growth and happiness\nof Man--if selection is to be made, it should be done in the spirit of\ncalm justice, and not in the spirit of hate, for, as love blesses the\nlover, so does hate react upon the hater.\n\nWe cannot afford _not to love_.\n\nThere are animals and insects that seem to us to be undesirable and\nprejudicial to the harmony we are seeking to secure, that may serve\nmost excellent purposes in relation to existing conditions. They are\nfrequently a warning against unfavorable conditions, in the same way\nthat pain is a warning against diseased conditions in the body. In the\nsame way, crime is a warning against social or political conditions\nwhich invite or compel crime, and remedy should be sought in change of\nthe conditions in preference to the punishment of the crime. I believe\nthat a change of our point-of-view--our attitude towards causes and\neffects--would find punishment generally unnecessary, and, as such,\nbrutal.\n\nThere is, then, a double reason why we should hate nothing. In the\nfirst place, it is probable that we are hating the wrong thing, and\nthereby are unjust, and we are certainly doing injury to ourselves by\nnursing the feeling of hatred.\n\nDisapproval--calm disapproval--is a better judge in the exercise of\n\"divine selection\" than angry antagonism. Pity, as well as love, is a\ndivine attribute, but hate is an attribute of the devil. Pity suggests\nchange of conditions producing inharmonious results. Hate suggests\npunishment of the victim of the inharmony.\n\nIn its relation to personal comfort, the practice of not permitting\nhate, nor annoyance, nor irritation, nor repulsion to possess one's\nfeelings, will bring greatest good results. Take the mosquito pest, for\ninstance: One who begins to feel irritation at the sound made by the\nwings of the insect, is already creating within himself a condition\nfavorable to inflammation from the effects of the bite. Many who\nsuffer by mosquitos admit that the buzz is worse, to them, than the\nbite, which is proof of a purely mental and unnecessary affliction.\n\nThere was a time in my boyhood when mosquitos poisoned and annoyed me\nbeyond endurance. Each bite represented a great itching welt, and the\nbuzzing was full of terror in consequence, or, more likely, in the\nlight of present knowledge, the buzzing inspired fearthought or dread,\nand the bite was very poisonous in consequence. At present, mosquito\nbites are not poisonous to me, and mosquito sounds are no longer\ndisagreeable. I do not remember when the deliverance came. Possibly the\ncure came through intimate acquaintance. I have lived in localities\nwhere the mosquito thrives all the year round, and in such numbers\nthat he tires his victims into a state of non-resistance, and in the\ncalm of non-resistance, physical and mental irritations cease. This\nis sometimes called acclimatization, but it proves the contention,\nwhichever way it is interpreted.\n\nIn the practice of my freedom from what was once a great affliction,\nI sometimes brave a swarm of mosquitos by sleeping in their presence\nwithout drawing the bar. If the mosquitos light on me freely, I find\ncomfort in the evidence of my popularity, and in the fact that I am\nprobably being of service to something, or somebody, by possibly\ndiverting attentions that would not be appreciated in like manner by\nthem. In the morning, when I look in the glass and note the little\nred spots that the bites have left, but of which I am not otherwise\nconscious, I consider them as a record of my hospitality, and am proud\nof them, as the German corps student is proud of the scars on his face,\nthat are a record of equally foolish bravery or exposure, taken out of\nhis university course at Heidelberg or elsewhere. My braving of the\nmosquitos would certainly be classed as foolish, except as a test\nof superiority, but the pin-point red spots soon disappear and do no\npermanent harm.\n\nMosquitos are said to breed in malarial conditions, and for the purpose\nof absorbing the malaria. Flies do not exist except in conditions of\nferment, and are of greatest service in carrying it away. Roaches\nare splendid scavengers, and are a result, and not a cause, of\nunclean conditions. Our warfare should be waged against unclean and\ninharmonious conditions, and not against the purifiers and harmonizers\nof the conditions.\n\nIt is not a difficult matter to rid one's self of repulsions if the\npoint-of-view is changed. I presume that the most generally detested\ncreature that is not altogether deadly in its venom is the bedbug.\nThe bedbug is more of a tradition than a fact, and many of those who\nshudder at mention of him have never seen one of his kind. I am sure\nthat none of his enemies have much if, any, acquaintance with him, as\nto the color of his eyes, his habits of thrift, his amiability in his\nfamily and other qualities that serve to make a creature attractive and\nrespectable within his sphere.\n\nThe truth about this much despised creature is that he is useful as\na warning against unclean conditions, and his odor and his bite are\nhis notes of warning. Instead of filling one's self with a feeling\nof repulsion or anger or any other emotion that affects the free\ncirculation of the blood, and relaxes and disorders the tissues of the\nbody, at sight or mention of a bedbug, the discovery should elicit\nthe expression, \"Thank you for the information.\" If it should happen\nin one's own house, no hidden crack nor corner should escape an\noverhauling to get rid of the cause of the bedbug's warning; or, if it\nshould happen in a hotel, there should be a change of hotel.\n\nMention is made of mosquitos and roaches and bedbugs in this\nconnection, not for the purpose of degrading the feeling of love by\napplying it to things that are disagreeable, no matter what their\nmission of usefulness, but to put stress upon the fact that one cannot\nafford to hate anything. It is especially useful, in seeking to change\nthe point-of-view, to consider the greatest of causes of repulsion in\norder to more easily reach the lesser causes, for the lesser fade of\nthemselves by the removal of the greater.\n\nIf you can learn not to hate a bedbug, to thank a roach for informing\nyou of unclean conditions and to endure mosquitos, you are pretty sure\nto modify all prejudices by thus doing.\n\n\n\n\nLAST SOMETIMES FIRST.\n\n\nIt is my own habit to read the last chapter of a book first and if the\nsummary of its contentions and deductions, which are sure to be found\nin the closing chapter, interest me, I go carefully through the book\nwith the author to learn how he has reached his conclusions. I find,\nupon enquiry, that many others do the same. This is made necessary\nbecause of the vast number of books that are published and the\nimpossibility of learning by other than the easiest means more than a\nsmall proportion of the ideas that are given out each year. There are\npublished, yearly, in English, twenty to thirty thousand volumes of new\nmatter, or new arrangements or new editions of old matter, so that to\nread carefully only a catalogue of them would be a considerable task\nfor the ordinary reader.\n\nThis being the closing chapter of my book, and being especially\npossessed of my subject and desirous of being understood, I may be\npardoned for offering a brief syllabus of my effort as a benediction.\n\nI have endeavored to show that fearthought is the arch-enemy of\ncivilized man. Through the fears of his progenitors, it is the cause\nof the weaknesses he inherits; and through his own permission, it is\nalso the cause of his personally acquired ill health, ill success,\ndiscontent and unhappiness. Fearthought, however, can be eradicated\nfrom the habit-of-thought of even the most timid persons, who are\ncursed by the hereditary affliction of fear, or by their own weak\nhabit-of-thought, by persistent counter-suggestion, as soon as they are\nconvinced of the possibility of freedom, and have thereby, learned the\nprofitable point-of-view regarding it. I have shown that forethought\nbecomes strong-thought as soon as fearthought, or weak-thought, is\nseparated from it; that the condition of harmony which is created by\nthe eradication of fearthought, is the normal condition in civilized\nnature; that growth is immediate and strong within the harmonic\natmosphere thus created; that happiness is the certain result; and\nthat fearthought and its various expressions are the basic deterrents\nto growth and happiness in man. That God, in the process of Evolution,\nhas developed Man to the point where he executes the Higher Law of\nHarmony through the exercise of Divine Selection in modifying the brute\nlaw of \"the survival of the fittest\" (or, strongest), and thereby\nproves the \"superiority of mind over matter.\" That God has created a\npartnership between Growth and Man, which is properly distinguished\nas the Man-Nature partnership. That the functions of the partners are\nclearly defined by rigid limitations; Nature doing all the growing\nwithout harmonizing or cultivating anything; while Man performs all of\nthe harmonizing or cultivating, but none of the growing. That Man's\nonly method of harmonizing or cultivating is through learning and\nremoving the deterrents to growth. That in watering plants, Man removes\nthe deterrent, drouth. That in building hot-houses, Man removes the\ndeterrent, cold. That in oiling machinery, Man removes the deterrent,\nfriction. That in refusing to be the bondman of fearthought and anger\nand worry, Man escapes the only deterrents within himself, to harmony,\nhealth, growth and happiness. And, that in cultivating Appreciation all\nof the possibilities of Happiness are opened to him.\n\nI have tried to show that one of the great deterrents to growth and\nthe acquisition of happiness is nursed by focussing the point-of-view\non worn-out traditions, instead of on the present accomplishments and\nacceleration of progress in which all of the elements of happiness\nrest. That while happiness is possible to all under present conditions,\nindications point to the possibility, within the assured possession\nof surplus wealth-of-means, that Altruism may soon \"have an inning,\"\nduring which conditions will be so rearranged that dire poverty and\nunhappiness will be impossible to any but the perverse. That normal,\ncivilized human nature is _good_ nature, and that if conditions are\nintelligently arranged most men will eagerly mold themselves into\ngood men to fit the conditions. That the Material Age has become so\nrich that it can now afford leisure to give attention to the Higher\nSelf, and in so doing will soon refuse to permit any one born under\nthe prejudices and the protection of the Nation--the social family--to\nbe ignorant nor idle nor poor; that the era of the three great\nA's--Appreciation, Attraction and Altruism--is upon us, and that it\nwill inaugurate the Age of the Higher Self, wherein Man will realize\nthat he is not simply the highest among animals, but is endowed with\ndivine possibilities, and cannot longer be respectable with only animal\ncharacteristics. That the resetting of the gauge of respectability\nrendered necessary by the Awakening, and the new conditions that\nmust grow out of it, will be above the toleration of anything that\nis unaltruistic, as surely as the gauge of the present is above the\ntoleration of petty thieving and convicted perjury.\n\nThere is not only hope, but there _is assurance_, of harmonic\nconditions in the signs of the times and in the constantly increasing\nacceleration of progress.\n\n\n\n\nA BEGINNING AND NOT AN END.\n\n\nIt is argued that the Stoics and other philosophers of ancient Greece\nattained the perfection of self-control, and successfully suppressed,\nand even eliminated, all of the passions and desires which so commonly\ndominate man, and attained thereby a state of happiness that is quite\nunknown in the present times of ostentation and ambition; but that the\nresult was a state of lethargic indifference, that became more fatal to\ngrowth and progress in the end than any known condition of tumult and\ncompetition in the history of the race.\n\nThis is undoubtedly a just arraignment of the result of the Grecian\nphilosophical teachings but, at the same time, the reason for so\nunhappy a result is not difficult to find.\n\nThe Greeks cultivated self-control and the harmonic conditions growing\nout of it as an end, and not as a preparatory means to growth. They\nprepared a weedless and wormless soil within the mind, but in it\nplanted poppies, breathed of their poisonous perfume, and slept the\nsleep of indifference, which leads to the sleep called death.\n\nSince the time of the Stoics, the world has been told by the God-Man\nJesus of Nazareth, that living means growing, that true happiness\nis gained only through works in the service of something, that the\nnecessary attribute of perfect manhood is spontaneous altruism, and\nthat there is no other road towards growth, refinement, spirituality\nand happiness than along the way made easy by consistent altruism.\n\nDuring the time that has passed since the power and glory of Hellas\nbegan to wane, mankind has had experience with the forces of nature\nand the efficacy of machinery to teach the great universal law of\ncompensation, which is also the law of happiness. This great law\nprescribes that there shall be no balance without support or motion,\nno poise without alertness, no life without growth, and no happiness\nwithout service.\n\nLearning a wise lesson from the law of compensation, man has come\nto appreciate the value of a wormless and weedless soil, but he has\nlearned to plant in it trees that bear altruistic fruit, instead of the\npoppy of sloth and indifference, which is now classed as a poisonous\nweed; he has learned to clean and polish the journals of his engines\nand has invented balance wheels to regulate, and ball bearings to\naccelerate, their power; but not for the purpose of idleness.\n\nThe decadence of Greek manhood was not the result of culture, but\nthe result of the uses to which it was put, and hence we should not\ncondemn culture, nor cultivate friction, as an antidote for decadence,\nbecause Greek civilization did not defend itself against assault\nand decay, but, rather, let us emulate the good they achieved, and\ncultivate the power they attained, and use them as _a beginning and not\nas an end_.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDICES.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX A.\n\nTHE INFLUENCE OF FEAR IN DISEASE.\n\nBY DR. WM. H. HOLCOMB.\n\n\nOur sanitarians are doing a good work in exploring the physical causes\nof disease, and endeavoring to protect the individual and the public\nhealth. But there is a higher and larger sphere of causes which they\nhave seldom penetrated, and of whose existence even many of them seem\nto be ignorant. I allude to the extraordinary influence of affection\nand thought, or of emotion and ideas, in the causation and prevention\nof disease.\n\nThe body is a mirror, in which all the states of the soul are\nreflected. We are familiar with the wonderful effects of the will,\nthe passions, the emotions, of the imagination, sympathy, hope, fear,\nfaith, and confident expectation upon the physical system. We are\naccustomed to regard the phenomena as illustrations of the fact that\nthe soul can, under certain circumstances, act powerfully upon the\nbody, with the tacit assumption, however, as a general rule, that the\nbody executes all the functions by chemical or mechanical law, without\nthe necessary intervention of any mental influences whatever. This is\nthe great illusion of the materialist.\n\nImagination, intellect, will, emotion, faith, hope, expectation,\netc., are only states or modes of the soul's own life, and they are\nin perpetual activity, whether we are conscious of it or not. The\noperations of the soul of which we are not conscious, are almost\ninfinite in comparison with the very small portion of them which comes\nat any moment within the range of our external consciousness. The soul\norganizes its own body in the womb of the mother, holds all its parts\ntogether in due order and functional activity during life, and when he\nquits it at death, its material tenement falls into dissolution.\n\nThe mind of man is constantly at work, silently pervading every tissue\nof his body by its vital influence, repeating itself in every function,\nthrobbing in the heart, breathing in the lungs, reflecting itself in\nthe blood, weaving its own form into every act of nutrition, realizing\nits own life in every sensation, and working its own will in every\nmotion. The power of the mind over the body indeed! There is no power\nin the body, but in the mind, for the body is the mind, translated into\nflesh and blood.\n\nWhen a limb is broken--the bones shattered, the flesh torn, the\nblood-vessels severed, the nerves lacerated, what can the surgeon or\ndoctor do to repair the injury? A little outside mechanical work. He\nligates, he stitches, he plasters, he fixes the parts in apparatus so\nthey will remain motionless in the natural position. He can do no more.\nThe soul which creates the body and keeps it in health, repairs it when\ninjured. By her own occult forces she regulates the movement of the\nblood and development of nerve power, the chemical decomposition and\nre-combination, going on in every tissue, according to ideas and models\nimplanted upon her by the Divine Mind, the Over-Soul of the universe.\n\nThe old writers call this wonderful power the _vis medicatrix naturi_,\nthe curative power of nature. Swedenborg, for whom nature has no powers\nunderived from spiritual sources, teaches that this vital power is\nthe soul itself. His view that the soul itself acts unconsciously to\nour perceptions in the development and conservation of the body is\nadvocated by Morell in his \"Elements of Psychology,\" and is highly\nspoken of by Professor William B. Carpenter.\n\nWhen we have constructed a true psychological pathology, we shall\nunderstand clearly why and how it is that fear can turn the hair gray\nin a single night; that a mother's milk can be poisoned by a moment of\nterror; that the heart may be paralyzed by a sudden joy or sorrow; that\ndyspepsia, paralysis, and many other diseases are produced by mental\nworry and fret and the brain-fag of overwork and anxiety. Yea, we will\nunderstand that away back of all physical causation, the roots of our\ndisease originate in the spiritual conditions of the race, in our false\nreligions, our false philosophies, our false way of thinking, our false\nrelations to God and each other.\n\nThe most extensive of all the morbid mental conditions which reflect\nthemselves so disastrously on the human system, is the state of fear.\nIt has many degrees or gradations, from the state of extreme alarm,\nfright, or terror, down to the slightest shade of apprehension\nof impending evil. But all along the line it is the same thing--a\nparalyzing impression upon the centers of life which can produce,\nthrough the agency of the nervous system, a vast variety of morbid\nsymptoms in every tissue of the body.\n\nWe have very seldom reflected upon the fact that fear runs like a\nbaleful thread through the whole web of our life from beginning to end.\nWe are born into the atmosphere of fear and dread, and the mother who\nbore us had lived in the same atmosphere for weeks and months before\nwe were born. We are surrounded in infancy and childhood by clouds of\nfear and apprehension on the part of our parents, nurses, and friends.\nAs we advance in life we become, instinctively or by experience, afraid\nof almost everything. We are afraid of our parents, afraid of our\nteachers, afraid of our playmates, afraid of ghosts, afraid of rules\nand regulations and punishments, afraid of the doctor, the dentist,\nthe surgeon. Our adult life is a state of chronic anxiety, which is\nfear in a milder form. We are afraid of failure in business, afraid of\ndisappointments and mistakes, afraid of enemies, open or concealed;\nafraid of poverty, afraid of public opinion, afraid of accidents, of\nsickness, of death, and unhappiness after death. Man is like a haunted\nanimal from the cradle to the grave, the victim of real or imaginary\nfears, not only his own, but those reflected upon him from the\nsuperstitions, self-deceptions, sensory illusions, false beliefs and\nconcrete errors of the whole human race, past and present.\n\nIf fear produces disease, acute or chronic, suddenly or gradually,\nthrough the correlations existing between the spirit and the body, how\ncan there be a genuinely and perfectly healthy man or woman in the\nworld? There is none.\n\nThat fear does produce all kinds of disease, has been frequently\nobserved and fully substantiated by the medical profession. Dr. Tuke,\nin his admirable book, \"Influence of the Mind upon the Body,\" cites\nwell authenticated instances of the following diseases as having been\nproduced by fear or fright: Insanity, idiocy, paralysis of various\nmuscles and organs, profuse perspirations, cholerina, jaundice, turning\nof the hair gray in a short time, baldness, sudden decay of the teeth,\nnervous shock followed by fatal an\u00e6mia, uterine troubles, malformation\nof embryo through the mother, and even skin disease--erysipelas,\neczema, and impetigo.\n\nWe observe in this list that fear not only affects the mind and\nthe nervous and muscular tissues, but the molecular chemical\ntransformations of the organic network, even to the skin, the hair, and\nthe teeth. This might be expected of a passion which disturbs the whole\nmind, which is represented or externalized in the whole body.\n\nDr. Tuke reiterates the fact which has been so frequently observed,\nthat epidemics owe a great deal of their rapid extension and violence\nto the panic of fear which exists among the people. When yellow fever,\ncholera, smallpox, diphtheria, and other malignant diseases obtain a\nfooting in a community, hundreds and thousands of people fall victims\nto their own mental conditions, which invite the attack and insure its\nfatality. When the disease was new and strange, as the yellow fever was\nto the interior in its visitation in 1878, when the doctors were not\nfamiliar with it, the nurses not trained to it, the people, having no\nconfidence in its management, lost hope, their fears became excessive,\nand consequent mortality was frightful.\n\nHow does fear operate upon the body to produce sickness? By paralyzing\nthe nerve centres, especially those of the vasomotor nerves, thus\nproducing not only muscular relaxation, but capillary congestions of\nall kinds. This condition of the system invites attack, and there is no\nresilience, or power of resistance. The gates of the citadel have been\nopened from within, and the enemy may enter at any point.\n\nWhat determines the specific nature of the disease which attacks a\nperson thus prostrated by fear? Men are frequently prostrated by fear\nin storms or fire or earthquakes or accidents, and no disease results.\nIt is because they have been not thinking and brooding over any special\nmorbid conditions. But in an epidemic, say of yellow fever, the\nsubjects connected with the disease are strongly pictured on the mind.\nThey are talked of, read about, discussed and written about, until the\nmind is full of images of fever, delirium, black vomit, jaundice,\ndeath, funerals, etc. When such is the case, no microbes or bacteria\nare needed to produce an outburst of yellow fever. The whole mass of\nhorrors already stamped upon the mind is simply reflected and repeated\nin the body.\n\n\"As a man thinketh, so is he,\" said Solomon. Thoughts become things,\napprehensions take form and substance, and lo! the disease. In the\nheight of his happiness and prosperity, Job permitted himself to brood\nin silent fear over the possibility of losses and misfortunes, and he\nhad at last to exclaim, \"The thing which I greatly feared has come upon\nme.\"\n\nSudden and great fears are not frequent. The fears of every day, the\nconstant apprehensions and anxieties of life, which are really fears\nof impending evil, prey upon our vitality and lessen our power of\nresisting, so that any passing disease may be photographed on our minds\nand seen upon our bodies.\n\nFear is itself a contagious disease, and is sometimes reflected from\none to another mind with great rapidity. It needs no speech or sign\nto propagate it, for by psychological laws we are just beginning to\ncomprehend, it passes from one to another, from the healthy to the\nsick, from the doctor or the nurse to the patient, from the mother to\nthe child. Thus malignant influences may be cast around us by even our\nbest friends and would-be helpers, under whose baleful shadow, without\nour even knowing of its existence, we and our children may sicken and\ndie.\n\nThe summer of 1888 was signalized by a moderately severe epidemic of\nyellow fever at Jacksonville, Florida, and a very extensive epidemic of\nfear throughout the Southern states. The latter disease was much more\ncontagious than the former, and much less amenable to treatment. This\nmental malady visited every little town, village, and railway station,\nand kept the people in a chill of trepidation for many weeks. This\ncauseless and senseless terror originated many precipitate and unjust\nmeasures of self-defense. Under its influence public and private rights\nwere disrespected, and the panic greatly intensified. In a few cases\nthe refugee was driven from the door, the hungry left unfed, the sick\nunattended. There was exhibited on a small scale, here and there, that\nsame principle of terror which is manifested in a burning theatre, on\na sinking ship, or in a stampeded army, when brave men suddenly become\ncowards, and wise men fools, and merciful men brutes.\n\nTruly, something ought to be done for the moral treatment of yellow\nfever.\n\nI will relate an anecdote of Dr. Samuel Cartwright, of Natchez,\nMississippi, which furnishes an ideal type for the mental treatment of\nyellow fever.\n\nIt was away back in the thirties, and yellow fever was prevailing\nin New Orleans, and the places above it were in a state of watchful\nfear. A young Northern teacher, trying to return home, started from\nWoodville, Mississippi, and arrived at Natchez about midnight in a high\nfever. Dr. Cartwright was immediately called in. Early in the morning\nhe summoned the officers of the hotel and all the regular boarders into\nthe parlor and made them a little speech. \"This young lady,\" he said,\n\"has yellow fever. It is not contagious. None of you will take it from\nher; and if you will follow my advice you will save this town from\na panic, and a panic is the hotbed of an epidemic. Say nothing about\nthis case. Ignore it absolutely. Let the ladies of the house help nurse\nher, and take flowers and delicacies to her, and act altogether as if\nit were some every-day affair, unattended by danger. It will save her\nlife, and perhaps in the long run many others.\"\n\nIt was agreed to by all but one person--a woman, who proceeded to\nquarantine herself in the most remote room of the establishment. The\nyoung teacher got well, and no one was sick in the house but the\nself-quarantined woman, who took yellow fever from fear, but happily\nrecovered.\n\nBy his great reputation and his strong magnetic power, Dr. Cartwright\ndissipated the fears of those around him, and prevented an epidemic.\nFor this grand appreciation and successful application of a\nprinciple--the power of mind and thought over physical conditions, a\npower just dawning on the perception of the race--he deserves a nobler\nmonument than any we have accorded to heroes and statesmen.\n\nThe sanitarians of the present day would think on the contrary that\nDr. Cartwright was worthy of condemnation and imprisonment. Dr.\nCartwright, however, honestly believed that yellow fever was not a\ncontagious disease. At that time the non-contagionists were numerous,\nlearned, experienced, and respectable. The contagionists, however,\nfinally carried the day in the face of innumerable evidences of\nnon-contagion, which, strangely enough, have now about ceased to exist.\nWhether they transformed a non-contagious into a contagious disease by\nrepeated and violent asseverations, which played upon and hypnotized\nthe professional and public mind, is a subtle point for psychological\ninvestigation, not likely to be made by the present generation of\ndoctors.\n\nCan a non-contagious disease become contagious by mental action?\nThe power of fear to modify the currents of the blood and all the\nsecretions, to whiten the hair, to paralyze the nervous system, and\neven to produce death is well known. Its power to impress organic\nchanges upon the child in the womb through the mother's mind is well\nestablished. When yellow fever is reported about and believed to be\nimminent and contagious, fear, combined with a vivid imagination of\nthe horrors and woes of the pest, can precipitate sickness which will\ntake on the form and color present to the thought, and yellow fever may\nspread rapidly from person to person, all through the medium of the\nmind. \"Everything,\" said a great philosopher, \"was at first a thought.\"\n\nWe see a non-contagious disease in the very process of transformation\ninto a contagious one in the case of pulmonary consumption. It was\nobserved occasionally that one of the married partners who had nursed\nthe other through the disease fell a victim after a while to the same\nmalady. Doctors and people began to suggest contagion. The cases of\none attack following the other were noticed more and more, and were\nreported in the medical journals. It was spoken of, thought of, brooded\nover. The confirmatory cases were all carefully noted; the failures to\ninfect were all ignored, as they always are by people who are looking\nfor contagion. The germ theory has given a great impetus to the idea of\ncontagion. Dr. Loomis actually classifies tuberculosis among miasmatic\ncontagious diseases. Fear will do the rest. In another generation the\noccasional fact will be a common fact, and in still another, a fixed\nfact; and the contagiousness of consumption will be enrolled among the\nconcrete errors of the profession. Such has probably been the genesis\nof all contagious diseases in the remote past.\n\nFear being recognized as a powerful cause of disease, and a direct\nand great obstacle to recovery, a wise sanitation will exert itself\nto prevent or antidote its influences. To eradicate fear is to avert\ndisease, to shorten its duration, diminish its virulence, and promote\nrecovery. How shall we accomplish it? By educating the people up to a\nhigher standard of life. By teaching them a sounder hygiene, a wiser\nphilosophy, a more cheerful theology. By erasing a thousand errors,\ndelusions, and superstitions from their minds, and giving instead the\nlight, the beauty, and the loveliness of truth. There is a mental and\nmoral sanitation ahead of us, which is far more valuable and desirable\nthan all our quarantines, inventions, experimentations, and microscopic\nsearch for physical causes.\n\nI will draw the picture of a sick room in charge of physicians and\nnurse, by whom this enlighted sanitation has been ignored or unheeded.\nIt is a chamber of fear, soon, in all probability, to be the chamber\nof death. The room is darkened, for they are afraid of the light, that\nemblem of God's wisdom which should shine into all rooms, except when\nit is disagreeable to the patient. The ventilation is insufficient, for\ndraughts, you must know, are very dangerous. The friends have doleful\nfaces, moist eyes, sad voices, which reveal danger and doubt, and they\nconverse in subdued whispers, which alarm and annoy the patient. The\nnurse and the doctor sometimes talk of their cases before the sick\nman, tell how very ill they were, how they suffered, how they got well\nmiraculously, or how they died. The sympathetic visitor regales his\nhearers, the patient included, with his or her knowledge of similar\ncases, and their results, the great amount of sickness prevailing, and\nthe success or ill success of this or that doctor.\n\nThey all agree that it is dangerous to change the patient's linen,\ndangerous to sponge the body, dangerous to give him cold water; milk\nis feverish, meat is too strong. A shadow of fear seems to hang over\neverybody. The pulse is counted, the temperature is taken. Nurse or\nnearest friend wants to know aloud the report of the watch and the\nthermometer. The doctor answers aloud, and all look grave. And so\nit goes on day after day, thoughts and images of pain and sickness\nand danger and death being impressed and reflected upon the mind\nof the patient, and the great, sound, glorious spirit within finds\nit impossible to break through this dense atmosphere of material\nsuperstitions, fear, ignorance, and folly, and restore its own body to\nhealth and happiness.\n\nThe true sanitarian will remember in his treatment the tremendous\npower of words and ideas upon the sick. He will never indicate by his\nlanguage, his looks, or his conduct that he thinks the patient is very\nill. He will cleanse his own mind of morbid fears and apprehensions,\nand reflect the stimulating light of hope on all around him. The\nsuppression of anxiety, and even sometimes of sympathy, is necessary.\nHis sickness should not be discussed before the patient, or any other\ncase of sickness alluded to. The doctor's opinion of the case should\nnever be asked, and never given within the patient's hearing. Erase,\nas far as possible, all thoughts of disease, danger, or death. The\nsick-room should not be darkened and made silent. It should be made\ncheerful and natural, as if no sickness existed. It should have fresh\nair, and cool water, and the fragrance of flowers, instead of the odor\nof drugs. Hope, and not fear, should be the presiding genius of the\nplace.\n\nThe mind-curers and the Christian Scientists say that almost all acute\ndiseases can be cured without medicine by the simple dissipation of\nfear from the mind of the patient, of his friends, and of his doctor.\nWhether this be true or not, it is very certain that when an epidemic\nis threatened or prevailing, the people who are constantly talking\nabout and discussing the disease, the newspapers which daily report its\nprogress and fatality, and the doctors and nurses who ventilate their\nexperiences, who predict evil, speak ominously and enjoin all sorts of\nprecautions, are themselves fomenters and carriers of the disease,\ninfectious centers to the whole community.\n\nEducation can do much, but it is useless to expect the total\neradication of fear without the aid and guidance of the religious\nprinciple. Fear is the cry of the wounded selfhood for something he\nhas suffered or lost, or is about to lose. \"Perfect love casteth out\nfear\"--the perfect love of God and the neighbor. He who is in bondage\nto the senses has everything to dread. He alone is free from all\napprehensions whose heart and mind are stayed upon the living God. He\ntruly \"sits under his own vine and fig-tree, with none to make him\nafraid.\"\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX B.\n\nMR. KENNAN'S APPRENTICESHIP IN COURAGE.\n\n\nMr. George Kennan's great work in Russian exploration and in the\ninvestigation of Russian institutions has been due to certain qualities\nof character which impress every one who knows him well. Of these\nqualities, bravery and strength of will are not the least conspicuous.\nIn his conversations with me, he has often spoken of certain things in\nconnection with his own development and training, which are of much\ninterest. Once when I spoke to him of his bravery and coolness under\ndanger, he said:--\n\n\"Many things which have been significant and controlling in what I may\ncall my psychological life are wholly unknown to my friends, and yet\nthey might be made public, if you wish. For instance, as I look back\nto my boyhood, the cause of the only unhappiness that boyhood had for\nme was a secret but a deeply rooted suspicion that I was physically\na coward. This gave me intense suffering. I do not know precisely at\nwhat time I first became conscious of it, but when I peered, one day,\nthrough the window of a surgeon's office to see an amputation I had\nproof of my fear. One of my playmates had caught his hand between two\ncog-wheels in a mill, and his arm had been badly crushed. When he\nwas taken to the surgeon's office, I followed to see what was going\nto be done with him. While I was watching the amputation, with my\nface pressed to the glass of the window, the surgeon accidentally let\nslip from his forceps the end of one of the severed arteries, and\na jet of blood spurted against the inside of the window-pane. The\nresult upon me was a sensation that I had never had before in all my\nlife,--a sensation of nausea, faintness, and overwhelming fear. I was\ntwenty-four hours in recovering from the shock, and from that time I\nbegan to think about the nature of my emotions and the unsuspected\nweakness of my character.\n\n\"I had a nervous, imaginative temperament, and not long after this\nincident I began to be tortured by a vague suspicion that I was\nlacking in what we now call 'nerve,' that I was afraid of things that\ninvolved suffering or peril. I brooded over this suggestion of physical\ncowardice until I became almost convinced of its reality, and at last\nI came to be afraid of things that I had never before thought about.\nIn less than a year I had lost much of my self-respect, and was as\nmiserable as a boy could be. It all seems now very absurd and childish,\nbut at that time, with my boyish visions of travel and exploration, it\nwas a spiritual tragedy. 'Of what use is it to think of exploration and\nwild life in wild countries,' I used to ask myself, 'if the first time\nmy courage or fortitude is put to the test I become faint and sick?'\n\n\"I began at last to experiment upon myself,--to do things that were\ndangerous merely to see whether I dared do them; but the result was\nonly partially reassuring. I could not get into much danger in a sleepy\nlittle village like Norwalk, Ohio, and although I found I could force\nmyself to walk around the six-inch stone coping of a bell-tower five\nstories from the ground (a most perilous and foolhardy exploit), and\ngo and sit alone in a graveyard in the middle of dark, still nights,\nI failed to recover my own respect. My self-reproach continued for\na year or two, during which I was as wretched as a boy can be who\nadmires courage above all things and has a high ideal of intrepid\nmanhood, but who secretly fears that he himself is hopelessly weak and\nnerveless. There was hardly a day that I did not say to myself, 'You'll\nnever be able to do the things that you dream about; you haven't any\nself-reliance or nerve. Even as a little child you were afraid of the\ndark; you shrink now from fights and rows, and you turn faint at the\nmere sight of blood. You're nothing but a coward.'\n\n\"At last, when I was seventeen or eighteen years of age, I went\nto Cincinnati as a telegraph operator. I had become so morbid and\nmiserable by that time that I said one day, 'I'm going to put an end\nto this state of affairs here and now. If I'm afraid of anything, I'll\nconquer my fear of it or die. If I'm a coward I might as well be dead,\nbecause I can never feel any self-respect or have any happiness in\nlife; and I'd rather get killed trying to do something that I'm afraid\nto do than to live in this way.' I was at that time working at night,\nand had to go home from the office between midnight and four o'clock\nA. M. It was during the Civil War, and Cincinnati was a more lawless\ncity than it has ever been since. Street robberies and murders were\nof daily occurrence, and all of the 'night men' in our office carried\nweapons as a matter of course. I bought a revolver, and commenced a\ncourse of experiments upon myself. When I finished my night work at\nthe office, instead of going directly home through well-lighted and\npolice-patrolled streets, I directed my steps to the slums and explored\nthe worst haunts of vice and crime in the city. If there was a dark,\nnarrow, cut-throat alley down by the river that I felt afraid to go\nthrough at that hour of the night, I clenched my teeth, cocked my\nrevolver, and went through it,--sometimes twice in succession. If I\nread in the morning papers that a man had been robbed or murdered on a\ncertain street, I went to that street the next night. I explored the\ndark river-banks, hung around low drinking-dives and the resorts of\nthieves and other criminals, and made it an invariable rule to do at\nall hazards the thing that I thought I might be afraid to do. Of course\nI had all sorts of experiences and adventures. One night I saw a man\nattacked by highwaymen and knocked down with a slung-shot, just across\nthe street. I ran to his assistance, frightened away the robbers, and\npicked him up from the gutter in a state of unconsciousness. Another\nnight, after two o'clock, I saw a man's throat cut, down by the\nriver,--and a ghastly sight it was; but, although somewhat shaken, I\ndid not become faint or sick. Every time I went through a street that\nI believed to be dangerous, or had any startling experience, I felt an\naccession of self-respect.\n\n\"In less than three months I had satisfied myself that while I did feel\nfear, I was not so much daunted by any undertaking but I could do it if\nI willed to do it, and then I began to feel better.\n\n\"Not long after this I went on my first expedition to Siberia, and\nthere, in almost daily struggles with difficulties, dangers, and\nsufferings of all sorts, I finally lost the fear of being afraid which\nhad poisoned the happiness of my boyhood. It has never troubled me, I\nthink, since the fall of 1867, when I was blown out to sea one cold\nand pitch-dark night in a dismasted and sinking sailboat, in a heavy,\noffshore gale, without a swallow of water or a mouthful of food. I\nfaced then for about four hours what seemed to be certain death, but I\nwas steady, calm, and under perfect self-control.\"\n\n    --_Kenyon West._\n\n\n\n\nADVERTISEMENT OF \"MENTICULTURE.\"\n\n\n\"Menticulture\" was first issued in a sufficiently modest way. It\ndescribed a personal experience which has been of inestimable value to\nthe author. The revelation to him of the possibility of the absolute\nelimination of the seeds of unhappiness has changed life from a\nperiod of constant struggle to a period of security and repose, and\nhas insured delightful realities instead of uncertain possibilities.\nOne hundred and fifty copies of the book were privately printed, and\nentitled \"The A B C of True Living.\" It also carried within its pages\nthe title of \"Emancipation.\"\n\nThe suggestion met with such hearty appreciation on the part of\npersonal friends in many various walks of life, that a public edition\nwas proposed, and the name of \"Menticulture,\" a name that had to be\ncoined for the purpose, was chosen for it.\n\nThe aptness of the suggestion has been evidenced by the approval of the\nbrotherhood at large by appreciative notices in many of the leading\nperiodicals of the country, by the receipt of more than a thousand\npersonal letters by the author, many of them attesting to greatest\nbenefits growing out of the new point of view of life suggested by the\nbook, and by very large sales.\n\nOne gentleman--altruist--whose name is W. J. Van Patten, found the\nsuggestion contained in \"Menticulture\" so helpful to himself and\nfriends that he purchased a special edition of two thousand copies of\nthe book for distribution in his home city of Burlington, Vermont,\none to each household, with the idea of accentuating the suggestion\nby widespread inter-discussion. The special Burlington edition has\nan inset page bearing Mr. Van Patten's _raison d'\u00eatre_ for the\ndistribution, which reads as follows:\n\n\nPERSONAL NOTE.\n\nSome time in the early part of the year 1896 a friend sent me a copy of\n\"Menticulture.\" I read it with interest, and became convinced that I\ncould apply its truths to my own life with profit. Experience confirmed\nmy faith in the power of its principles to overcome many of the most\nannoying and damaging ills that are common to humanity.\n\nI procured a number of copies from time to time and gave to friends\nwho I felt would appreciate it. The universal testimony to the good\nwhich the little book did, and the new strength of purpose and will it\ngave to some who were sore beset with the cares and worries of life,\nincreased my interest and my confidence in the truths set forth.\n\nI formed the idea of making an experiment by giving the book a general\ndistribution in our city, to see if it would not promote the general\ngood and happiness of people.\n\nI wrote to the author, Mr. Fletcher, and he entered into the plan very\ncordially, and had this special edition prepared for me. The object\nwhich we hope to gain is to turn the thoughts and purposes of those\nwhom we reach to the old truths taught by Christ, and a determination\nto live above those evils which do so much to make our lives unhappy\nfor ourselves and annoying to those about us.\n\nI would ask, therefore, that you would kindly give the book careful and\nthoughtful reading, and, when you have opportunity, recommend it to\nyour friends.\n\n    W. J. VAN PATTEN.\n\n\nPERSONAL NOTE.\n\nMr. Van Patten is a prominent manufacturer of Vermont, and was recently\nMayor of Burlington for two years. He is also prominent in the\nChristian Endeavorer movement, having been the first president of the\nUnited Society, and being at present one of its trustees, as well as\nthe president of the Congregational Club of western Vermont.\n\n\"Menticulture\" has found favor among physicians, and also with\nlife-insurance companies, obviously because of the live-saving quality\nof the suggestions contained in it.\n\n\n\n\nExplanation of The A. B. C. Life Series\n\nTHE ESSENTIALS AND SEQUENCE IN LIFE\n\n\nIt would seem a considerable departure from the study of menticulture\nas advised in the author's book, \"Menticulture,\" to jump at once to an\ninvestigation of the physiology and psychology of nutrition of the body\nand then over to the department of infant and child care and education\nas pursued in the _cr\u00eache_ and in the kindergarten; but as a matter of\nfact, if study of the causation of human disabilities and misfortunes\nis attempted at all, the quest leads naturally into all the departments\nof human interest, and first into these primary departments.\n\nThe object of this statement is to link up the different publications\nof the writer into a chain of consistent suggestions intended to\nmake life a more simple and agreeable problem than many of us too\nindifferent or otherwise inefficient and bad fellow-citizens make of it.\n\nIt is not an altogether unselfish effort on the part of the author of\nthe A. B. C. Life Series to publish his findings. In the consideration\nof his own mental and physical happiness it is impossible to leave out\nenvironment, and all the units of humanity who inhabit the world are\npart of his and of each other's environment.\n\nIt would be rank presumption for any person, even though gifted with\nthe means to circulate his suggestions as widely as possible, and\narmed with the power to compel the reading of his publications, to\nthink that any suggestions of his could influence any considerable\nnumber of his fellow-citizens of the world, or even of his own\nimmediate neighbourhood, to accept or follow his advice relative to the\nmanagement of their lives and of their communal and national affairs;\nbut while the general and complete good of humanity should be aimed\nat in all publications, one's immediate neighbours and friends come\nfirst, and the wave of influence spreads according to the effectiveness\nof the ideas suggested in doing good; that is, in altering the point\nof view and conduct of people so as to make them a better sympathetic\nenvironment.\n\nFor instance, the children of your neighbours are likely to be the\nplaymates of your own children, and the children of degenerate parents\nin the slum district of your city will possibly be the fellow-citizen\npartners of your own family. Again, when it is known that right or\nwrong nutrition of the body is the most important agent in forming\ncharacter, in establishing predisposition to temperance or intemperance\nof living, including the desire for intoxicating stimulants, it is\nrevealed to one that right nutrition of the community as a whole is an\nimportant factor in his own environment, as is self-care in the case of\nhis own nourishment.\n\nThe moment a student of every-day philosophy starts the study of\nproblems from the A. B. C. beginning of things, and to shape his study\naccording to an A. B. C. sequence, each cause of inharmony is at once\ntraced back to its first expression in himself and then to causes\ninfluenced by his environments.\n\nIf we find that the largest influences for good or bad originate with\nthe right or wrong instruction of children during the home training or\nkindergarten period of their development, and that a dollar expended\nfor education at that time is worth more for good than whole bancs of\ncourts and whole armies of police to correct the effect of bad training\nand bad character later in life, it is quite logical to help promote\nthe spread of the kindergarten or the kindergarten idea to include\nall of the children born into the world, and to furnish mothers and\nkindergarten teachers with knowledge relative to the right nutrition\nof their wards which they can themselves understand and can teach\neffectively to children.\n\nIf we also find that the influence of the kindergarten upon the parents\nof the infants is more potent than any other which can be brought to\nbear upon them, we see clearly that the way to secure the widest\nreform in the most thorough manner is to concentrate attention upon the\nkindergarten phase of education, advocate its extension to include even\nthe last one of the children, beginning with the most needy first, and\nextending the care outward from the centre of worst neglect to finally\nreach the whole.\n\nExperience in child saving so-called, and in child education on the\nkindergarten principle, has taught the cheapest and the most profitable\nway to insure an environment of good neighbours and profit-earning\ncitizens; and investigation into the problem of human alimentation\nshows that a knowledge of the elements of an economic nutrition is the\nfirst essential of a family or school training; and also that this is\nmost impressive when taught during the first ten years of life.\n\nOne cannot completely succeed in the study of menticulture from its A.\nB. C. beginning and in A. B. C. sequence without appreciation of the\ninterrelation of the physical and the mental, the personal and the\nsocial, in attaining a complete mastery of the subject.\n\nThe author of the A. B. C. Life Series has pursued his study of the\nphilosophy of life in experiences which have covered a great variety\nof occupations in many different parts of the world and among peoples\nof many different nations and races. His first book, \"Menticulture,\"\ndealt with purging the mind and habits of sundry weaknesses and\ndeterrents which have possession of people in general in some degree.\nHe recognised the depressing effect of anger and worry and other\nphases of _fearthought_. In the book \"Happiness,\" which followed next\nin order, _fearthought_ was shown to be the unprofitable element of\nforethought. The influence of environment on each individual was\nrevealed as an important factor of happiness, or the reverse, by means\nof an accidental encounter with a neglected waif in the busy streets of\nChicago during a period of intense national excitement incident to the\nwar with Spain, and this led to the publication of \"That Last Waif;\nor, Social Quarantine.\" During the time that this last book was being\nwritten, attention to the importance of right nutrition was invited by\npersonal disabilities, and the experiments described in \"Glutton or\nEpicure; or, Economic Nutrition\" were begun and have continued until\nnow.\n\nIn the study of the latter, but most important factor in profitable\nliving, circumstances have greatly favoured the author, as related in\nhis latest book, \"The A. B.-Z. of Our Own Nutrition.\"\n\nThe almost phenomenal circulation of \"Menticulture\" for a book of its\nkind, and a somewhat smaller interest in the books on nutrition and\nthe appeal for better care of the waifs of society, showed that most\npersons wished, like the author, to find a short cut to happiness by\nmeans of indifference to environment, both internal and external, while\nhabitually sinning against the physiological dietetic requirements of\nNature. In smothering worry and guarding against anger the psychic\nassistance of digestion was stimulated and some better results were\nthereby obtained, but not the best attainable results.\n\nLiving is easy and life may be made constantly happy by beginning\nright; and the right beginning is none other than the careful feeding\nof the body. This done there is an enormous reserve of energy, a\nnaturally optimistic train of thought, a charitable attitude towards\neverybody, and a loving appreciation of everything that God has made.\nMorbidity of temperament will disappear from an organism that is\neconomically and rightly nourished, and death will cease to have any\nterrors for such; and as _fear_ of death is the worst depressant known,\nmany of the _worries_ of existence take their everlasting flight from\nthe atmosphere of the rightly nourished.\n\nThe wide interest now prevalent in the subjects treated in The A. B. C.\nLife Series is evidenced by the scientific, military, and lay activity,\nin connection with the experiments at the Sheffield Scientific School\nof Yale University and elsewhere, as related in the \"A. B.-Z. of Our\nOwn Nutrition\" and in \"The New Glutton or Epicure\" of the series.\n\nThe general application is more fully shown, however, by the\nindorsement of the great Battle Creek Sanitarium, which practically\nstudies all phases of the subject, from health conservation and child\nsaving to general missionary work in social reform.\n\n    HORACE FLETCHER.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\nMissing punctuation has been inserted.\n\nThe oe ligature has been replaced by 'oe'.\n\nSpelling, grammar, and variation in hyphenation and word usage\nhave been retained as in the original publication except as\nfollows:\n\n    p. 198:\n    on a milllion-to-one chance\n    changed to\n    on a million-to-one chance","title":"Happiness as Found in Forethought Minus Fearthought","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":37171}