1
00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:07,679
Sound methods from the five foregoing right
principles, when they are truly apprehended and

2
00:00:07,799 --> 00:00:14,320
practiced, will issue sound methods.
Right principles are manifested in harmonious action,

3
00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:19,960
and method is to life what law
is to the universe. Everywhere in the

4
00:00:20,039 --> 00:00:25,160
universe there is the harmonious adjustment of
parts, and it is this symmetry and

5
00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:31,879
harmony that reveals a cosmos as distinguished
from chaos. So in human life,

6
00:00:32,359 --> 00:00:37,399
the difference between a true life and
a false life, between one purposeful and

7
00:00:37,439 --> 00:00:43,640
effective and one purposeless and weak,
is one of method. The false life

8
00:00:43,679 --> 00:00:49,000
is an incoherent jumble of thoughts,
passions, and actions. The true life

9
00:00:49,039 --> 00:00:53,920
is an orderly adjustment of all its
parts. It is all the difference between

10
00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:58,479
a mass of lumber and a smoothly
working, efficient machine. A piece of

11
00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:03,519
machinery and perfect work order is not
only useful, but an admirable and attractive

12
00:01:03,599 --> 00:01:07,760
thing. But when its parts are
all out of gear and refuse to be

13
00:01:07,799 --> 00:01:12,959
readjusted, its usefulness and attractiveness are
gone, and it is thrown on the

14
00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:19,439
scrap heap. Likewise, a life
perfectly adjusted in all its parts so as

15
00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:25,760
to achieve the highest point of efficiency
is not only a powerful life, but

16
00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:32,799
an excellent and beautiful thing, whereas
a life confused, inconsistent, discordant is

17
00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:38,359
a deplorable exhibition of wasted energy.
If a life is to be truly lived,

18
00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,840
method must enter into and regulate every
detail of it, as it enters

19
00:01:42,879 --> 00:01:48,480
and regulates every detail of the wondrous
universe of which we form a part.

20
00:01:49,519 --> 00:01:53,680
One of the most distinguishing differences between
a wise man and a foolish man is

21
00:01:53,719 --> 00:01:59,439
that the wise man pays careful attention
to the smallest things, while the foolish

22
00:01:59,519 --> 00:02:06,079
man over them or neglects them altogether. Wisdom consists in maintaining things on their

23
00:02:06,159 --> 00:02:10,319
right relations, in keeping all things, the smallest as well as the greatest,

24
00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:16,199
in their proper places and times.
To violate order is to produce confusion

25
00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:23,520
and discord, and Unhappiness is but
another name for discord. The good business

26
00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:28,719
man knows that system is three parts
of success, and that disorder means failure.

27
00:02:29,639 --> 00:02:34,560
The wise man knows that disciplined,
methodical living is three parts of happiness,

28
00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,719
and that looseness means misery. What
is a fool but one who thinks

29
00:02:38,759 --> 00:02:45,360
carelessly, acts rashly, and lives
loosely. What is a wise man but

30
00:02:45,439 --> 00:02:51,719
one who thinks carefully, acts calmly, and lives consistently. The true method

31
00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,680
does not end with the orderly arrangement
of the material things and external relations of

32
00:02:55,719 --> 00:03:00,599
life. This is but its beginning. It enters into the adjustment of the

33
00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:07,159
mind, the discipline of the passions, the elimination and choice of words and

34
00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:12,879
speech, the logical arrangement of the
thoughts, and the selection of right actions.

35
00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,479
To achieve a life rendered sound,
successful, and sweet by the pursuance

36
00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:23,080
of sound methods, one must begin
not by neglect of the little everyday things,

37
00:03:23,479 --> 00:03:29,599
but by assiduous attention to them.
Thus the hour of rising is important

38
00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:36,080
and its regularly significant, as are
also the timing of retiring to rest and

39
00:03:36,120 --> 00:03:42,240
the number of hours given to sleep. Between the regularity and irregularity of meals

40
00:03:42,879 --> 00:03:46,960
and the care and carelessness in which
they are eaten is all the difference between

41
00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:53,000
good and bad digestion with all that
this applies, and an irritable or comfortable

42
00:03:53,039 --> 00:03:59,759
frame of mind with its train of
good or bad consequences. For attaching to

43
00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:04,439
these, these meal times and meal
ways are matters of both physiological and psychological

44
00:04:04,479 --> 00:04:11,680
significance, the due division of hours
for business and for play, not confusing

45
00:04:11,719 --> 00:04:16,040
the two. The orderly fitting in
of all the details of one's business times,

46
00:04:16,079 --> 00:04:21,040
for solitude, for silent thought and
for effective action, for eating and

47
00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:27,199
for abstinence. All these things must
have their lawful place in the life of

48
00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:31,120
whom whose daily round is to proceed
with the minimum degree of friction, who

49
00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:35,000
is to get the most usefulness,
influence, and joy out of life.

50
00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:41,680
But all this is but the beginning
of that comprehensive method which embraces the whole

51
00:04:41,720 --> 00:04:46,040
life and being. When this smooth
order in logical consistency is extended to the

52
00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:51,600
words and actions, to the thoughts
and desires, then wisdom emerges from folly,

53
00:04:53,079 --> 00:04:57,600
and out of weakness comes power sublime. When a man so orders his

54
00:04:57,759 --> 00:05:01,519
mind as to produce a beautiful,
working harmony between all its parts, then

55
00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:08,920
he reaches the highest wisdom, the
highest efficiency, the highest happiness. But

56
00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,800
this is the end, and he
who would reach the end must begin at

57
00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:17,720
the beginning. He must systematize and
render logical and smooth the smallest details of

58
00:05:17,759 --> 00:05:24,959
his life, proceeding step by step
toward the finished accomplishment. But each step

59
00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:30,079
will yield its own particular measure of
strength and gladness. To sum it up,

60
00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:36,040
method produces that smoothness which goes with
strength and efficiency. Discipline is method

61
00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:41,519
applied to the mind. It produces
that calmness, which goes with power and

62
00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:47,720
happiness. Method is working by rule. Discipline is living by rule. But

63
00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:53,759
working and living are not separate.
They are but two aspects of character of

64
00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:59,480
life. Therefore, be orderly in
work, be accurate in speech, be

65
00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:06,360
logical and thought. Between these and
slovenliness inaccuracy and confusion is the difference between

66
00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:13,680
success and failure, music and discord, happiness and misery. The adoption of

67
00:06:13,759 --> 00:06:18,759
sound methods of working, acting,
thinking, in a word of living is

68
00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:25,040
the surest and safest foundation for sound
health, sound success, sound peace of

69
00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:30,000
mind. The foundation of unsound methods
will be found to be unstable and to

70
00:06:30,079 --> 00:06:35,160
yield fear and unrest even when it
appears to succeed, and when its time

71
00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:39,279
of failure comes, it is grievous. Indeed,