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Speaker 1: Light on good manners and refinement more upward, working out

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the beast and let the ape and tiger die. All

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culture is getting away from the beast. Evolution is a

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refining process, and the unwritten laws of society are inherent

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in the evolutionary law. Education is intellectual culture. The scholar

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is engaged in purifying and perfecting his intellect. The spiritual

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devotee is engaged in purifying and perfecting his heart. When

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a man aspires to nobler heights of achievement and sets

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about the realization of his ideal, he commences to refine

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his nature. And the more pure man makes himself within,

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the more refined, gracious, and gentle will be his outward demeanor.

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Good manners have an ethical basis and cannot be divorced

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from religion. To be ill mannered is to be imperfect,

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for what are ill manners? But the outward expression of

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inward defects what a man does that he is. If

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he acts rudely, he is a rude man. If he

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acts foolishly, he is a foolish man. If he acts gently,

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he is a gentleman. It is a mistake to suppose

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that a man can have a gentle and refined mind

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behind a rough and brutal exterior, though such a man

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may possess some strong animal virtues, as the outer is

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an expression of the inner. One of the steps in

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the noble eightfold path to perfection, as expounded by Buddha,

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is right conduct or good behavior. It should be plain

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to all that the man who has not yet learned

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how to conduct himself toward others in a kindly, gracious,

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and unselfish spirit has not entered the pathway of the

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holy life. If a man refines his heart, he will

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refine his behavior. If he refines his behavior, it will

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help to refine his heart. To be coarse, brutish, and

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snappish may be natural to the beast. But the man

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who aspires to be an even or endurable member of society,

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not to mention the higher manhood, will at once purge

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away any such beastial traits that may possess him. All

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these things which aid in man's refinement, such as music, painting, poetry, manners,

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are servants and messengers of progress. Man degrades himself when

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he imitates the brute. Let us not mistake in barbarism

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for simplicity or vulgarity for honesty, unselfishness, kindliness, and consideration

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for others will always be manifested outwardly as gentleness, graciousness,

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and refinement. To affect these graces by stimulating them may

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seem to succeed, but it does not. Affection and hypocrisy

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are soon divulged. Every man's eye sooner or later pierces

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through their flimsiness, and ultimately none but the actors of

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them are deceived. As Emerson says, what is done for

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effect is seen to be done for effect, and what

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is done for love is felt to be done for love.

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Children who are well bred are taught always to consider

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the happiness of others before their own, to offer others

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the most comfortable seat, the choicest fruit, the best tidbit,

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and so on, and also to do everything, even the

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most trivial acts, in the right way. And these two things,

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unselfishness and right action, are at the basis not only

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of good manners, but of all ethics, religion, and true living.

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They represent power and skill. The selfish man is weak

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and unskillful in his actions. Unselfishness is the right way

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of thinking, are the right way of acting, as Emerson

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again says there is always a way of doing everything,

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if it be to boil an egg. Manners are the

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happy way of doing things right. It is a frequent

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error among men to imagine that the higher life is

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an ideal, something quite above and apart from the common

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details of life, and that to neglect these, or to

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perform them in a slovenly manner, is an indication that

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the mind is preoccupied on higher things, whereas it is

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an indication that the mind is becoming inexact, dreamy and

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weak instead of exact, wide, awake and strong. No matter

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how apparently trivial the thing is which has to be done,

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there is a right way of doing it, And to

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do it in the right way saves friction, time and trouble,

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conserves power, and develops grace, skill and happiness. The artisan

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has a variety of tools with which to ply his

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particular crime, and is taught and also finds by experience

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that each tool must be applied to its special use,

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and never under any circumstances must one tool be made

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to do the service for another. By using every tool

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in its proper place and the right way, the maximum

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of dexterity and power is attained. Should a boy learning

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a trade refuse instruction and persist in using the tools

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in his own way, making one tool do service for another,

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he would never become anything better than a clumsy bungler,

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and would be a failure in his trade. It is

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the same throughout the whole life. If a man opens

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himself to receive instruction and studies how to do everything

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rightly and lawfully, he becomes a strong, skillful, and wise

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master of himself, his thoughts and actions. But if he

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persists in following his momentary impulses and doing everything as

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he feels prompted, not exercising thoughtfulness and rejecting instruction, such

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a man will attain to nothing better than a slovenly

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and bungling life. Confucius paid the strictest attention to dress,

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eating deportment, passing speech, to all the so called trivialities

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of life, as well as to the momentous affairs of state,

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and the lofty moral principles which he expounded. He taught

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his disciples that it is a sign of a vulgar

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and foolish mind to regard anything as trivial that is

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necessary to be done, that the wise man pays attention

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to all his duties, and does everything wisely, thoughtfully, and rightly.

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It is not an arbitrary edict of society that the

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man who persists in eating with his knife be rejected,

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for a knife is given to cut with, and a

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fork to eat with, and to put things to wrong,

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and slovenly uses even in the passing details of life.

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Life does not make for progress, but is retrogressive and

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makes for confusion. It is not a despotic condition in

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the law of things that so long as a man

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persists in thinking and acting unkindly toward others, he shall

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be shut out from heaven. He shall remain in the

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outer pain and unrest, For selfishness is disruption and disorder.

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The universe is sustained by exactness. It rests on order.

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It demands right doing. And the searcher of wisdom will

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watch all his ways. He will think purely, speak gently,

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and act graciously, refining his entire nature both in the

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letter and the spirit.