Speaker 1: Energy. Energy is the working power in all achievement. Inert
Coal converts it into fire, and water transmutes it into steam.
It vivifies and intensifies the commonest talent until it approaches
to genius, and when it touches the mind of the
dullert it turns into a living fire that which before
was sleeping in inertia. Energy is a moral virtue, its
opposing vice being laziness. As a virtue, it can be cultivated,
and the lazy man can become energetic by forcibly arousing
himself to exertion. Compared with the energetic man, the lazy
man is half alive. Even while the latter is talking
about the difficulty of doing a thing, the former is
doing it. The active man has done a considerable amount
of work before the lazy man has roused himself from sleep.
While the lazy man is waiting for an opportunity, the
active man has gone out and met and utilized half
a dozen opportunities. He does things while the other is
rubbing his eyes. Energy is one of the primary forces.
Without it, nothing can be accomplished. It is the basic
element in all forms of action. The entire universe is
a manifestation of tireless though inscrutable energy. Energy is indeed life,
and without it there would be no universe, no life.
When a man has ceased to act, when the body
lies inert and all the functions have ceased to act,
then we say he is dead. And in so far
as a man fails to act, he is so far dead.
Man physically and mentally is framed for action and not
for swinish ease. Every muscle of the body, being a
lover for exertion, is a rebuke to the lazy man.
Every bone and nerve is fashion for resistance. Every function
in faculty is there for a legitimate use. All things
have their end in action, All things are perfected in use.
This being so, there is no prosperity for the lazy man,
no happiness, no refuge, and no rest for him. There
is not even the ease which he covets, for he
at last becomes a homeless, outcast, a troubled, harried, despised man.
So that the proverb wisely puts it, the lazy man
does the hardest work, in that, avoiding the systematic labor
of skill, he brings upon himself the hardest lot yet.
Energy misapplied is better than no energy at all. This
is powerfully put by Saint John in the words I
would have you either hot or cold. If you are lukewarm,
I will spew you out of my mouth. The extremes
of heat and cold here symbolize the transforming agency of
energy in its good and bad aspects. The lukewarm stage
is colorless, lifeless, useless. It can scarcely be said to
have either virtue or vice, and is merely barren, empty, fruitless.
The man who applies his abounding energy to bad ends
has at the very power with which he strives to
acquire his selfish ends, will bring upon him such difficulties, pains,
and sorrows that will compel him to learn by experience,
and so at last to refashion his base of action.
At the right moment, he will turn round and cut
new and proper channels for the outflow of his power,
and he will then be just as strong and good
as he was formerly in evil. The truth is beautifully
crystallized in the old proverb, the greater the sinner, the
greater the saint. Energy is power, and without it there
will be no accomplishment. There will not even be virtue.
For virtue does not consist of not doing evil, but
also primarily of doing good. There are those who try,
yet fail through insufficient energy. Their efforts are too feeble
to produce positive results. Such are not vicious, and because
they never do any deliberate harm, are usually spoken of
as good men that fail. But to lack the initiative
to do harm is not to be good. It is
only to be weak and powerless. He who is truly
a good man, having the power to do evil, yet
chooses to direct his energies in ways that are good
without a considerable degree of energy. Therefore there will be
no moral power. What good there is will be latent
in sleeping. There will be no going forth of good,
just as there can be no mechanical motion without the
motive power. Energy is the informing power in all doing,
in every department of life, whether it be along material
or spiritual lines. The call to action, which comes not
only from the soldier, but from the lips or pen
of every teacher in every grade of thought, is a
call to men to rouse their sleeping energy and to
do vigorously the task in hand. Even the men of
contemplation and meditation never cease to rouse their disciples to
exertion in meditative thought. Energy is alike needed in all
spheres of life. And not only are the rules of
the soldier, the engineer, and the merchant rules of action,
but nearly all precepts of the saviors, sages, and saints
are recepts of doing. The advice of one of the
great teachers to his disciples, keep wide awake tersely expresses
the necessity for tireless energy if one's purpose is to
be accomplished, and is equally good advice to the salesman
as to the saint. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,
and liberty is the reaching of one's fixed end. It
was the same teacher that said, if anything is to
be done, let a man do it at once, let
him attack it vigorously. The wisdom of this advice is
seen when it is remembered that action is creative, that
increase and development follow upon legitimate use. To get more energy,
we must use to the full that which we already possess.
Only to him that is given only to him that
puts his hand vigorously to some task does power and
freedom come. But energy to be productive must not only
be directed towards good ends. It must be carefully controlled
and conserved. The conservation of energy is a modern term
expressive of that principle in nature by which no energy
is wasted or lost, and the man whose energies are
to be fruitful in results must work intelligently upon this principle.
Noise and hurry are so much energy running to waste,
more haste, less speed. The maximum of noise usually accompanies
the minimum of accomplishment. With much talk, there is little
doing working steam is not heard. It is the escaping
steam which makes a great noise. It is the concentrated
powder which drives the bullet to its mark. In so
far as a man intensifies his energies by conserving them
and trading them upon the accomplishment of his purpose, just
so far does he gain quietness and silence in repose
and calmness. It is a great delusion that noise means power.
There is no great baby than the blustering boaster. He
is but an infant mentally, and having no strength to
do anything and no work to show, he tries to
make up for it by loudly proclaiming what he has
done or could do. Still waters run deep, and the
great universal forces are inaudible. Where calmness is there is
the greatest power. Calmness is the sure indication of a strong,
well trained, patiently disciplined mind. The calm man knows his business,
be sure of it. His words are few, but they
tell His schemes are well planned, and they work true.
Like a well balanced machine. He sees a long way
ahead and make straight for his object. The enemy difficulty
he converts into a friend and makes profitable use of him,
for he has studied well how to agree with his
adversary while he is in the way with him. Like
a wise general, he has anticipated all emergencies. Indeed, he
is the man who is prepared beforehand in his meditations,
in the counsels of his judgment. He has conferred with causes,
and has caught the bent of all contingencies. He has
never taken by surprise, is never in a hurry, is
safe in the keeping of his own steadfastness, and is
sure of his ground. You may think you have got him,
only to find the next moment that you have tripped
in your haste and that he has got you, or
rather that you want in calmness, have hurried yourself into
the dilemma which you have prepared for him. Your impulse
cannot do battle with his deliberation, but is foiled by
the first attack. Your uncurbed energy cannot turn aside the
wisely directed steam of his concentrated power. He is armed
at all points by a mental jiu jitsu acquired through
self discipline. He meets opposition in such a way that
it destroys itself Upbraid him with angry words, and the
reproof hidden in his gentle reply searches to the very
heart of your folly, and the fire of your anger
sinks into the ashes of remorse. Approach him with a
vulgar familiarity, and his look at once will fill you
with shame and brings you back to your senses. As
he is prepared for all events, so is he ready
for all men, though no men are ready for him.
All weaknesses are betrayed in his presence, and he commands
by an inherent force which calmness has rendered habitual and unconscious. Calmness,
as distinguished from the dead placidity of languor, is the
acme of concentrated energy. There is a focus mentality behind it.
In agitation and excitement, the mentality is dispersed, It is
irresponsible and is without force or weight. The fussy, peevish,
irritable man has no influence. He repels and not attracts.
He wonders why his easygoing neighbor succeeds and is sought after,
while he, who is always hurrying, worrying, and troubling the miscalls,
is striving false and is avoided. His neighbour, being a
calmer man, is not more easy going, but more deliberate,
gets through more work, does it more skillfully, and is
more self possessed and manly. This is the reason of
his success and influence. His energy is controlled and used,
while the other man's energy is dispersed and abused. Energy, then,
is the first pillar in the temple of prosperity, and
without it, as the first and most essential equipment, there
can be no prosperity. No energy means no capacity, There
is no manly self respect and independence. Amongst the unemployed,
there will be found many who are unemployable through sheer
lack of this first essential work of energy. The man
that stands many hours a day at a street corner
with his hands in his pockets and a pipe in
his mouth waiting for someone to treat him to a
glass of beer. Is little likely to find employment or
to exc accept it should it come to him. Physically
flabby and mentally inert he is every day becoming moresome,
is making himself more unfit to work and therefore unfit
to live. The energetic man may pass through temporary periods
of unemployment and suffering, but it is impossible for him
to become one of the permanently unemployed. He will either
find work or make it, for inertia is painful to him,
and work is a delight, and he who delights in
work will not long remain unemployed. The lazy man does
not wish to be employed. He is in his element
while doing nothing. His chief study is how to avoid exertion,
to vegetate, and semi torpor is his idea of happiness.
He is unfit and unemployable. Even the extreme socialist, who
places all unemployment at the door of the rich, would
discharge a lazy, neglectful, an unprofitable servant, and so add
one more to the arm of the unemployed. For laziness
is one of the lowest vices, repulsive to all active,
right minded men, But Energy is a composite power. It
does not stand alone. Involved in it our qualities which
go into the making of vigorous character and the production
of prosperity. Mainly, these qualities are contained in the four
following characteristics one promptitude, two vigilance, three industry four earnestness.
The pillar of energy is therefore a concrete mass composed
of these four tenacious elements. They are thorough, enduring, and
are calculated to withstand the wildest weather of adversity. They
are all make for life, power, capacity, and progress. Promptitude
is valuable possession. It begets reliability. People who are alert, prompt,
and punctual are relied upon. They can be trusted to
do their duty and to do it vigorously and well.
Masters who are prompt are a tonic to their employees
and a whip to those who are inclined to shirk.
They are a means of wholesome discipline to those who
would not otherwise discipline themselves. Thus, while aiding their own
usefulness and success, they contribute to the usefulness and success
of others. The perfunctory worker, who is ever procrastinating and
is always behind time, becomes a nuisance if not to
himself to others, and his services come to be regarded
as of little economic value. Deliberation and dispatch handmaids of
promptitude are valuable aids in the achievement of prosperity in
ordinary business channels. Alacrity is a saving power, and promptness
spells profit. It is doubtful whether a confirmed procrastinator ever
succeeded in business. I have not yet met one such,
though I have known many who have failed. Vigilance is
the guard of all the faculties and powers of the mind.
It is the detective that prevents the entrance of any
violent and destructive element. It is the close companion and
protector of all success, liberty, and wisdom. Without this watchful
attitude of mind, a man is a fool, and there
is no prosperity for a fool. The fool allows his
mind to be ransacked and robbed of its gravity, serenity,
and judgment by mean thoughts and violent passions as they
come along to molest him. He is ever on his guard,
but leaves open the doors of him his mind to
every nefarious intruder. He is so weak and unsteady as
to be swept off his balance by every gust of
impulse that overtakes him. He is an example to others
of what they should not be. He is always a failure,
for the fool is an offense to all men, and
there is no society that can receive him with respect.
As wisdom is the acme of strength, so folly is
the other extreme of weakness. The lack of vigilance is
shown in thoughtlessness and in general looseness in the common
details of life. Thoughtlessness is built another name for folly.
It lies at the root of a great deal of
failure and misery. No one who aims that any kind
of usefulness and prosperity, for usefulness in the body politic
and prosperity to one's self cannot be served, can afford
to be asleep with regard to his actions and the
affe effect of those actions on others and reactively on himself.
He must, at the outset of his career, wake up
to a sense of his personal responsibility. He must know
that wherever he is in the home, the counting house,
the pulpit, the store, in the school room, or behind
the counter, in company or alone, at work or at play,
his conduct will materially affect his career, for good or bad.
For there is a subtle influence in behavior which leaves
its impression on every man, woman, and child that it touches,
and that impress is the determining factor in the attitude
of persons toward one another. It is for that reason
that the cultivation of good manners plays such an important
part in all coherent society. If you carry about with
you a disturbing or disagreeable mental defect, it needs not
to be named and known to work its poison upon
your affairs. Its corrosive influence will eat into all of
your efforts and disfigure your happiness and prosperity, as powerful
acid eats into and disfigures the finest steel. On the
other hand, if you carry about in assuring and harmonious
mental excellence, those about you will understand it and be
influenced by it. They will be drawn towards you in
good will, often without knowing why, and that good quality
will be the most powerful sport in all your affairs,
bringing you friends and opportunities, and greatly aiding in the
success of all your enterprises. It will even right your
minor incapacities, covering a multitude of faults. Thus we receive
at the hands of the world according to the measure
of our giving, for bad bad, for good, good, for
defective conduct, indifferent influence, and imperfect success. For superior conduct,
lasting power, and consummate achievement. We act in the world responds.
When the foolish man fails, he blames others and sees
no error in himself. But the wise man watches and
corrects himself, and so is assured of success. The man
whose mind is vigilant and alert has thereby a valuable
equipment in the achievement of his aims. And if he
be fully alive and wide awake on all occasions, to
all opportunities and against all marring defects of character, what event,
what circumstance, what enemy shall overtake him and find him unprepared?
What shall prevent him from achieving the legitimate end at
which he aims. Industry brings cheerfulness and place. Vigorously industrious
people are the happiest members of the community. They are
not always the richest, if by riches is meant a
superfluity of money, but they are always the most light
hearted and joyful, and the most satisfied with what they
do have, and therefore are richer, if by richer we
mean more abundantly blessed. Active people have no time for
moping and brooding, or for dwelling selfishly upon their ailments
and troubles. Things most used are kept the brightest, and
people most employed best retain their brightness and buoyancy of spirit.
Things unused tarnish quickest, and the time killer is attacked
with anui and morbid fancies. To talk of having to
kill time is almost like a confession of imbecility, for who,
in the short life at his disposal, and in a
world so flooded with resources of notne with sound heads
and good hearts, can fill up every moment of every
day usefully and happily. And if they refer to time
at all, it is to the effect that it is
all too short to enable them to do what they
would like to do. Industry too promoted health and well being.
The active man goes to bed tired every night. His
rest is sound and sweet, and he wakes up early
in the morning, fresh and strong for another day's delightful toil.
His appetite and digestion are good. He has an excellent
sauce and recreation, and a good tonic in toil. What
companionship can such a man have with moping and melancholy.
Such morbid spirits hang round those who do little and
dine excessively. People who make themselves useful to the community
receive back from the community their full share of health, happiness,
and prosperity. They brighten the daily task and keep the
world moving. They are the gold of the nation and
the salt of the earth. Earnestness, said a great teacher,
is the path of immortality. They who are in earnest
do not die. They who are not in earnest are
as if dead already. Earnestness is the dedication of the
entire mind to its task. We live only in what
we do. Earnest people are dissatisfied with anything short of
the highest excellence in whatever they do, and they always
reach that excellence. There are so many that are careless
and half hearted, so satisfied with a poor performance, that
the earnest one shine apart, as it were, in their excellence.
There are always plenty of vacancies in the ranks of
usefulness and service. For earnest people there never was, and
never will be a deeply earnest man or woman who
did not feel successfully some suitable sphere. Such people are scrupulous, conscientious,
and painstaking, and cannot rest in ease until the very
best is done. And the whole world is always on
the lookout to reward the best. It stands, ready to
pay the full price, whether in fame, money, friends, influence, happiness, scope,
or life, for that which is of surpassing excellence, whether
it be in things material, intellectual, or spiritual. Whatever you are,
whether shop keeper or saintly teacher, you can safely give
the very best to the world without any doubt or misgiving.
If the indelible impress of your earnestness be on your
goods in the one case, or on your words in
the other, your business will flourish, or your precepts will live.
Earnest people make rapid progress, both in their work and
their character. It is thus that they live and do
not die. For stagnation only is death, and where there
is incessant progress and ever ascending excellence, stagnation and health
are swallowed up in activity in life. Thus is the
making and masonry of the first pillar, explained he who
builds it well and sets it firm and straight. Will
have a powerful and enduring support in the business of
his life.