Exhortation, Disciples of truth, lovers of virtue, seekers of wisdom, You
also, who are sorrow stricken, knowing the emptiness of the self life,
and who aspire to the life that is supremely beautiful and serenely joyful, Take
now yourselves in hand, Enter the door of discipline and know the better life.
Put away self delusion, behold yourself as you are, and see the
path of virtue as it is. There is no lazy way to truth.
He who would stand upon the mountain's summit must strenuously climb, and must rest
only to gather strength. But if the climbing is less glorious than the cloudless
summit, it is still glorious. Discipline in itself is beautiful, and the
end result of discipline is sweet. Rise early in meaday, Begin each day
with a conquered body and a mind fortified against error and weakness. Temptation will
never be overcome by unprepared fighting. The mind must be armed and arrayed in
the silent hour. It must be trained to perceive, to know, to
understand. Sin and temptation disappear when right understanding is developed. Right understanding is
reached through unabated discipline, truth cannot be reached, but through discipline. Patience
will increase by effort in practice, and patience will make discipline beautiful. Discipline
is irksome to the impatient man and the lover of self, so he avoids
it and continues to live loosely and confusedly. Discipline is not irksome to the
lover of truth, and he will find the infinite patience which can wait,
work and overcome. Just as the joy of the gardener who sees his or
her flowers develop day by day, so is the joy of the man of
discipline, who sees the divine flowers of purity, wisdom, compassion, and
love grow within his heart. The loose liver cannot escape sorrow and pain.
The undisciplined mind falls weak and helpless before the fierce onslaught of passion. Array
your mind, then, lover of truth, be watchful, thoughtful, and
resolute. Your salvation is at hand. Your readiness and effort are all that
are needed. If you fail ten times, do not be disheartened. If
you should fail a hundred times, rise up and pursue your way. If
you should fail a thousand times, do not despair. When the path is
entered success is sure if the path is not utterly abandoned. First strife and
then victory, First labor and then rest, First weakness and then strength.
In the beginning the lower life and the glare and confusion of battle, and
at the end the life beautiful, the silence and the peace, all common
things each day's events, that with the hour begin an end. Our pleasures
and our discontents are rounds by which we may ascend. We have not wings,
we cannot soar, but we have feet to scale and climb. Longfellow,