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Right beginnings, all common things,
each day's events that with the hour begin

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and end. Our pleasures and our
discontents are rounds by which we may ascend.

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We have not wings, we cannot
soar, but we have feet to

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scale and climb. Longfellow for common
life, its wants and ways, would

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I set forth in beauteous hues browning. Life is full of beginnings. They

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are presented every day and every hour
to every person. Most beginnings are small

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and appear trivial and insignificant, but
in reality they are the most important things

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in life. See how in the
material world everything proceeds from small beginnings.

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The mightiest river is at first a
rivulet over which the grasshopper could leap.

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The great flood commences with a few
drops of the sturdy oak, which has

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endured the storms of a thousand winters, was once an acorn, And the

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smoldering match carelessly dropped may be the
means of devastating a whole town by fire.

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Consider also how in the spiritual world
the greatest things proceed from smallest beginnings.

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A light fancy may be the inception
of a wonderful invention, or an

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immortal work of art. A spoken
sentence may turn the tide of history.

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A pure thought entertained may lead to
the exercise of a worldwide regenerative power,

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and a momentary animal impulse may lead
to the darkest crime. Have you yet

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discovered the vast importance of beginnings?
Do you really know what is involved in

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a beginning? Do you know the
number of beginnings you are continuously making and

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realize their full import? If not, come with me for a short time

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and thoughtfully explore this much ignored by
way of blessedness, For blessed it is

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when wisely resorted to, and much
strength and comfort it holds for the understanding

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mind. A beginning is a cause, and as such it must be followed

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by an effect or a train of
effects, and the effect will always be

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the same nature as the cause.
The nature of an initial impulse will always

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determine the body of its results.
A beginning also presupposes an ending, a

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consummation, achievement, or goal.
A gate leads to a path, and

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the path leads to some particular destination. So a beginning leads to results,

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and results lead to a completion.
There are right beginnings and wrong beginnings,

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which are followed by effects of like
nature, you can, by careful thought

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at avoid wrong beginnings and make right
beginnings, and so escape evil results and

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enjoy good results. There are beginnings
over which you have no control and authority.

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These are without in the universe,
in the world of nature around you,

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and in other people who have the
same liberty as yourself. Do not

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concern yourself with these beginnings, but
direct your energies and attention to those beginnings

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over which you have complete control and
authority, and which bring about the complicated

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web of results which compose your life. These beginnings are to be found in

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the realm of your thoughts and actions, in your mental attitude, under the

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variety of circumstances through which you pass
in your conduct day by day, In

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short, in your life as you
make it, which is your world of

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good or ill, in aiming at
the life of blessedness. One of the

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simplest beginnings to be considered and rightly
made is that which we all make every

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day, namely, the beginning of
each day's life. How do you begin

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each day? At what hour do
you rise? How do you commence your

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duties? In what frame of mind
do you enter upon the sacred life of

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a new day. What answer can
you give your heart to these important questions?

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You will find that much happiness or
unhappiness follows upon the right or wrong

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beginning of the day, and that
when every day is wisely begun, happy

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and harmonious sequences will mark its course, and life in its totality will not

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fall short of the idle blessedness.
It is a right and strong beginning to

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the day to rise at an early
hour, even if your worldly duty does

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not demand it. It is wise
to make of it a duty and begin

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the day strongly by shaking off indolence. How are you to develop strength of

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will and mind and body if you
begin every day by yielding to weakness.

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Self indulgence is always followed by unhappiness. People who lie abed till a late

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hour are never bright and cheerful and
fresh, but are the prey of irritabilities,

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depressions, debilities, nervous disorders,
abnormal fancies, and all unhappy moods.

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This is the heavy price which they
pay for their daily indolence. Yet

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so blinding is the pandering to self
that the drunkard who takes his daily dram

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and the belief that it is bracing
up the nerves which it is all the

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time shattering. So the lie abed
is convinced that long hours of ease are

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necessary for him as a possible remedy
for those very moods and weaknesses and disorders

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of which his indolence is the cause. Men and women are totally unaware of

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the great losses which they entail by
this common indolence, loss of strength of

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both mind and body, loss of
prosperity, loss of knowledge, and loss

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of happiness. Begin the day,
then, by rising early, if you

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have no object in doing so,
never mind, get up and go out

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for a gentle walk among the beauties
of nature, and you will experience a

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buoyancy, a freshness, and a
delight, not to say, a peace

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of mind, which will amply reward
you for your effort. One good effort

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is followed by another. And when
a man begins the day by rising early,

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even though with no other purpose in
view, he will find that the

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silent early hour is conducive to clearness
of mind and calmness of thought, and

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that his early morning walk is enabling
him to become a consecutive thinker, and

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so to see life in its problems
as well as himself and his affairs in

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a clearer light, and so in
time he will rise early with the express

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purpose of preparing and harmonizing his mind
to meet any and every difficulty with wisdom

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and calm strength. There is indeed
a spiritual influence in the early morning hour,

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a divine silence, an inexpressible repose. And he who purposeful and strong

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throws off the mantle of ease and
climbs the hills to greet the morning sun

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will thereby climb no inconsiderable distance up
the hills of blessedness and truth. The

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right beginning of the day will be
followed by cheerfulness at the morning meal,

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permeating the household with a sunny influence, and the tasks and duties of the

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day will be undertaken in a strong
and confident spirit, and the whole day

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will be well lived. Then there
is a sense in which every day must

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be regarded as the beginning of new
life, in which one can think,

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act and live newly and in a
wiser and better spirit. Every day is

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a fresh beginning. Every morn is
the world made new. You who are

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weary of sorrow and sinning, here
is a beautiful hope for you, a

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hope for me, and a hope
for you. Do not dwell upon the

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sins and mistakes of yesterday so exclusively
as to have no energy and mind left

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for living rightly today, And do
not think that the sins of yesterday can

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prevent you from living purely today.
Begin to day aright, and, aided

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by the accumulated experiences of all your
past days, live it better than any

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of your previous days. But you
cannot possibly live it better unless you begin

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it better. The character of the
whole day depends upon the way it begins.

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Another beginning, which is of great
importance, is the beginning of any

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particular and responsible undertaking. How does
a man begin the building of a house?

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First secures a plan of the proposed
edifice, and then proceeds to build

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according to the plan, scrupulously following
it in every detail, beginning with the

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foundation. Should he neglect the beginning, namely the obtaining of a mathematical plan,

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his labor would be wasted, and
his building, should it reach completion

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without tumbling to pieces, would be
insecure and worthless. The same law holds

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good in any important work. The
right beginning and first essential is a definite

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mental plan on which to build nature
will have no slipshod work, no slovenliness,

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and she annihilates confusion, or rather
confusion is in itself annihilation. Order,

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purpose eternally and universally prevail. And
he who, in his operations ignores

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these mathematical elements at once deprives himself
of sustainability, complete and success. Life

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without a plan, as useless as
the moment it began, serves merely as

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a soil for discontent to thrive in
an encumbrance ear hath spent. Let a

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man start in business without having in
his mind a perfectly formed plan to systematically

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pursue, and he will be incoherent
in his efforts and will fail in his

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business operations. The laws which must
be observed in the building of a house

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also operate in the building up of
a business. A definite plan is followed

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by coherent effort, and coherent effort
is followed by well knit and orderly results

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to wit, completeness, perfection,
success, happiness. But not only mechanical

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and commercial enterprise, All undertakings of
whatsoever nature come under this law. The

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author's book, the artist's picture,
the orator's speech, the reformer's work,

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the inventor's machine, the general's campaign
are all carefully planned in the mind before

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the attempt to actualize them is commenced, and in accordance with the unity,

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solidarity, and perfection of the original
mental plan, will be the actual and

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ultimate success of the undertaking. Successful
men, influential men, good men are

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those who, amongst other things,
have learned the value and utilize the power

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which lies in those obscure beginnings which
the foolish man passes by as insignificant.

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But the most important beginning of all, that upon which affliction or blessedness inevitably

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depends, yet is most neglected and
least understood, is the inception of a

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thought in the hidden but casual region
of the mind. Your whole life is

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a series of effects of their cause
and thought. In your own thought.

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All conduct is made and melded by
thought. All deeds, good or bad,

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are thoughts made visible. A seed
put into the ground is the beginning

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of a plant or tree. The
seed germinates, the plant or tree comes

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forth into the light and evolves.
A thought put into the mind is the

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beginning of a line of conduct.
The thought first sends down its roots into

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the mind and then push us forth
into the light in the forms of action

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or conduct, which evolve into character
and destiny. Hateful, angry, envious,

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and impure thoughts are wrong beginnings which
lead to painful results. Loving,

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gentle kind, unselfish, and pure
thoughts are right beginnings, which lead to

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blissful results. This is so simple, so plain, so absolutely true,

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and yet how neglected, how evaded, and how little understood. The gardener

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who most carefully studies how, when
and where to put his seeds obtains the

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best results and gains the greater horticulture
knowledge. The best crops gladden the soul

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of him who makes the best beginning. The man who patiently studies how to

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put into his mind the seeds of
strong, wholesome, and charitable thoughts will

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obtain the best results in life,
and will gain greater knowledge of truth.

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The greatest blessedness comes to him who
infuses into his mind the purest and noblest

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thoughts. None but right acts can
follow right thoughts. None but a right

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life can follow right acts, And
by living a right life, all blessedness

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is achieved. He who considers the
nature and import of his thoughts, who

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strives daily to eliminate bad thoughts and
supplant them with good comes. At last,

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to see that thoughts are the beginnings
of results which affect every fiber of

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his being, which potently influence every
event and circumstance of his life. And

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when he thus sees, he thinks
only right thoughts, chooses to make only

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those mental beginnings which lead to peace
and blessedness. Wrong thoughts are painful in

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their inception, painful in their growth, and painful in their fruitage. Right

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thoughts are blissful in their inception,
blissful in their growth, and blissful in

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their footage. Many are the right
beginnings which a man must discover and adopt

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on his way to wisdom. But
that which is first and last, most

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important and all embracing, which is
the source and fountain of all abiding happiness,

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is the right beginning of the mental
operations. This implies the steady development

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of self control, will, power, steadfastness, strength, purity, gentleness,

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insight, and comprehension. It leads
to the perfecting of life. For

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he who thinks perfectly has abolished all
unhappiness. Every moment of his life is

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peaceful, His years are rounded with
bliss he has attained to the complete and perfect blessedness