Speaker 1: First steps in the higher life, Seeing that the path
of virtue is the path of knowledge, and that before
the all embracing principles of truth can be comprehended, perfection
in the more lowly steps must be acquired. How then,
shall a disciple of truth begin? How shall one who
aspires to the writing of his mind and the purification
of his heart, that heart which is the fountain and
repository of all the issues of life, learn the lessons
of virtue? How does he thus build himself up in
the strength of knowledge, destroying ignorance and the ills of life?
What are the lessons the first steps? How are they learned?
How are they practiced? How are they mastered and understood?
The first lessons consist in overcoming those wrong mental conditions
which are most easily eradicated, and which are the common
barriers to spiritual progress, as well as in practicing the
simple domestic and social virtues. The reader will be better
aided if I group and classify the first ten steps
in three lessons as follows. Vices of the body to
be overcome and eradicated. First lesson discipline of the body
first step idleness laziness or indolence. Second step self indulgence
or gluttony. Second lesson discipline of speech, third step slander,
fourth step gossip and idle conversation. Fifth step abusive and
unkind speech. Sixth step frivolity or irreverent speech. Seventh step critical,
captious or fault finding speech. Third lesson discipline of tendencies.
Eighth step unselfish performance of duty. Ninth step unswerving rectitude
or moral integrity. Tenth step unlimited forgiveness. The two vices
of the body and the five of the tongue are
so called because they are manifested in the body and tongue. Also,
by so definitely classifying them, the mind of the reader
will be better helped. But it must be clearly understood
that these vices arise primarily in the mind and are
wrong conditions of the heart worked out in the body
and the tongue. The existence of such chaotic conditions is
an indication that the mind is altogether unenlightened as to
the real meaning and purpose of life, and their eradication
is the beginning of a virtuous, steadfast, and enlighten life.
But how shall these vices be overcome and eradicated by
first and at once checking and controlling their outward manifestations,
and by suppressing the wrong act, this will stimulate the
mind to watchfulness and reflection, until by repeated practice it
will come to perceive and understand the dark, wrong, and
erroneous conditions of mind out of which such acts spring.
It will then abandon them entirely. It will be seen
that the first step in the discipline of the mind
is the overcoming of indolence or laziness. This is the
easiest step, and until it is perfectly accomplished, the other
steps cannot be taken. The clinging to indolence constitutes a
complete barrier to the path of truth. Indolence consists in
giving the body more ease and sleep than it requires,
in procrastinating, and in shirking neglecting those things which should
receive immediate attention. This condition of laziness must be overcome
by rousing up the body at an early hour, giving
it just the amount of sleep it requires for complete recuperation,
and by doing promptly and vigorously every task, every duty,
no matter how small, as it comes along. On no
account should food or drink be taken in bed, and
to lie in bed after one has awakened. Indulging in
ease and reverie is a habit fatal to promptness and
resolution of character and of purity of mind. Nor should
one attempt to do his thinking at such a time. Strong,
pure and true thinking is impossible under such circumstances. A
man should go to bed to sleep, not to think.
He should get up to think and work, not to sleep.
The next step is the overcoming of self indulgence or gluttony.
The gluttonous he who eats for animal gratification only without
considering the true end and object of eating. He eats
more than his body requires, and is greedy after sweet
things and rich dishes. Such undisciplined desire can only be
overcome by reducing the quantity of food eaten and the
number of meals per day, and by resorting to a
simple and uninvolved diet. Regular hours should be set apart
for meals, and eating at other times should be rigidly avoided.
Supper should be abolished, as they are altogether unnecessary and
promote heavy sleep and cloudiness of mind. The pursuit of
such a method of discipline will rapidly bring the once
ungoverned appetite under control, and as the sensual sin of
self indulgence is taken out of the mind, the right
selection of foods will be instinctively and infallibly a adapted
to the purified mental condition. It should be well borne
in the mind that a change of heart is the
needful thing, and that any change of diet which does
not promote this end is futile. When one eats for enjoyment,
he is gluttonous. The heart must be purified of sensual
craving and glustatory lust. When the body is well controlled
and firmly guided, When that which is to be done
is done vigorously, when no task or duty is delayed,
when early rising has become a delight, When frugality, simplicity, temperance,
and abstinence are firmly established. When one is contented with
the food which is put before him, no matter how
scanty and plain, and the craving for gustatory pleasure is
at an end, then the first two steps in the
higher life are accomplished. Then is the first great lesson
in truthfuls earned thus is established in the heart, the
foundation of a poised, self governed, virtuous life. The next
lesson is the lesson of virtuous speech, in which there
are five orderly steps. The first of these is overcoming
the habit of slanderous speech. Slander consists of inventing or
repeating unkind and evil reports about others, in exposing and
magnifying the faults of others or of absent friends, and
in introducing unworthy insinuations. The elements of thoughtlessness, cruelty, insincerity,
and untruthfulness enter into every slanderous act. He who aims
at the living of the right life will commence to
check the cruel word of slander before it has gone
forth from his lips. He will then check and eliminate
the insincere thought which gave rise to it. He will
watch which that he does not vilify or defame anyone.
He will refrain from disparaging, defaming, and condemning the absent
friend whose face he has so recently smiled into or kissed,
or whose hand he has shaken. He will not say
of another that which he dare not say to his face. Thus,
coming at last to think sacredly of the character and
reputation of others, he will destroy those wrong conditions of
mind which gave rise to slander. The next step is
the overcoming of gossip and idle conversation. Idle speech consists
in talking about the private affairs of others, in talking
merely to pass away the time, and engaging an aimless
and irrelevant conversation. Such an ungoverned condition of speech is
the outcome of an irregulated mind. The man of virtue
will bridle his tongue and thus learn how rightly to
govern the mind. He will not let his tongue run
idly and foolishly, but will make his speech strong and pure,
and will either talk with a purpose or remain silent.
Abusive and unkind speech is the next vice to be overcome.
The man who abuses and accuses others has himself wandered
far from the right way to hurl hard words and
names of others is to sink deeply into folly. When
a man is inclined to abuse, curse, and condemn others,
let him restrain his tongue and look within himself. The
virtuous man refrains from all abusive language and quarreling. He
employs only words that are useful, necessary, pure and true.
The sixth step is the overcoming of levity, or a
revelant speech, light and frivolous talking, the repeating of crude jokes,
the telling of Bulger's stories having no other purpose than
to raise an empty laugh, offensive familiarity, and the employment
of contemptuous and disrespectful words when speaking to or of others,
and particularly of one's elders and those who rank as
one's teachers, guardians, or superiors. All of this will be
put away by the lover of virtue and truth upon
the altar of irreverence. Absent friends and companions are immolated
for the passing excitement of a momentary laugh, and all
the sanctity of life is sacrificed to the zest for ridicule.
When the respect towards others and the giving of reverence
where reverence is due are abandoned. Virtue is abandoned when
modesty significance in dignity are eliminated from speech and behavior.
Truth is lost yea, even its entrance gate is hidden
away and forgotten. Irreverence is degrading even in the young.
But when it accompanies gray hairs and appears in the
demeanor of the preacher, this is indeed a piteous spectacle.
And when this can be imitated and followed after, then
are the blind leading the blind? Then have elders, preachers
and people lost their way? The virtuous will be of
earnest and reverent speech. He will think and speak of
the absence as he thinks and speaks of the dead,
tenderly and sacredly. He will put away all thoughtlessness, and
watch that he does not sacrifice his dignity to gratify
a passing impulse of frivolity and superficiality. His humor will
be pure and innocent, his voice will be subdued and musical,
and his soul will be filled with grace and sweetness
as he succeeds in conducting himself as becomes a man
of truth. The last step in the second lesson is
the overcoming of criticism or fault finding speech. This vice
of the tongue consists in magnifying and harping on small
or apparent faults, in foolish quibbling and hair splitting, and
in pursuing vain arguments based upon groundless suppositions, beliefs, and opinions.
Life is short and real, and sins, sorrow, and pain
are not remedied by carping and contention. The man who
is ever on the watch to catch at the words
of others in order to contradict and dispute them, has
yet to reach the higher way of holiness, the truer
life of self surrender. The man who is ever on
the alert to check his own words in order to
soften and purify them, will find the higher way in
the truer life. He will conserve his energies, maintain composure
of mind, and preserve within himself the spirit of truth.
When the tongue is well controlled and wisely subdued, when
selfish impulses and unworthy thoughts no longer rush to the
tongue demanding utterance. When the speech has become harmless, pure, gentle, gracious,
and purposeful, and no word is uttered but in sincerity
and honesty, then are the five steps to virtuous speech accomplished.
Then is the second great lesson in truth learned and mastered.
And now some will ask, but why all this discipline
of the body and restraint of the tongue. Surely the
higher life can be realized and known without such strenuous labor,
such incessant effort and watchfulness. No, it cannot. In the spiritual,
as the material nothing is done without labor and the
higher cannot be known until the law is fulfilled. Can
a man make a table before he has learned to
handle a tool and drive a nail? And can a
man fashion his mind in accordance with truth before he
has overcome the slavery of his body. As the intricate
subtleties of language cannot be understood and wielded before the
alphabet and the simplest words are mastered, neither can the
deep subtleties of the mind be understood and purified before
the abc of right conduct is perfectly acquired. As for
the labor involved, does not the youth joyfully and patiently
submit himself to seven years apprenticeship in order to master
a craft? And does he not day by day carefully
and faithfully carry out every detail of his master's instructions,
looking forward to a time when perfected through obedience and practice,
he shall himself become a master. Where is the man
who sincere aims at excellence in music, painting, literature, or
any trade, business, or profession, who is not willing to
give his whole life to the acquirement of that particular perfection.
Shall labor then be considered where the very highest excellence
is concerned the excellence of truth. He who says, the
path which you have pointed out is too difficult. I
must have truth without labor, salvation without effort. That man
will not find his way out of the confusions and
sufferings of selfhood. He will not find the calm, well
fortified mind, and wisely ordered life. His love is for
ease and enjoyment, and not for truth. He who, deep
in his heart adores truth and aspires to know it,
will consider no labor too great to be undertaken, but
will adopt it joyfully and pursue it patiently. By perseverance
in practice, he will come to the knowledge of truth.
The necessity for this preliminary discipline of the body and
tongue will be more clearly perceived when it is fully
understood that all these wrong outward conditions are merely the
expressions of the wrong conditions of the heart. An indolent
body means an indolent mind, An ill regulated tongue reveals
an ill regulated mind, and the process of remedying the
manifested condition is really a method of rectifying the inward state. Moreover,
the overcoming of these conditions is only a small part
of what is really involved in the process. The ceasing
from evil leads to and is inseparably connected with the
practice of good. While a man is overcoming laziness and
self indulgence, he is really cultivating and developing the virtues
of abstinence, temperance, punctuality, and self denial. He is acquiring
the strength, energy, and resolve which are indispensable to the
successful accomplishment of the higher tasks. While he is overcoming
the vices of speech, he is developing the virtues of truthfulness, sincerity, reverence, kindliness,
and self control, and is gaining that mental steadiness and
fixedness of purpose, without which the more remote subtleties of
the mind cannot be regulated, and the higher stages of
conduct and enlightenment cannot be reached. Also, as he has
to do right, his knowledge deepens and his insight is intensified.
Just as a child's heart is glad when a school
task is mastered, so with each victory achieved, the man
of virtue experiences a bliss which the seeker, after pleasure
and excitement, can never know. And now we come to
the third lesson in the higher life, which consists of
practicing and mastering in one's daily life. Three great fundamental virtues.
One unselfish performance of duty, two unswerving rectitude, moral integrity,
three unlimited forgiveness. Having prepared the mind by overcoming the
more surface and chaotic conditions mentioned in the first two lessons,
the striver, after virtue and truth, is now ready to
enter upon greater and more difficult tasks and to control
and purify the deeper motives of the heart. Without the
right performance of duty, the higher virtues cannot be known,
and truth cannot be apprehended. Duty is generally regarded as
an irksome labour, a compulsory something which must be toiled
through or in some way avoided. This way of regarding
duty proceeds from a selfish condition of mind and a
wrong understanding of life. All duty should be regarded as
sacred and its faithful and unselfish performance one of the
leading rules of conduct. All personal and selfish considerations should
be extracted and cast away from the doing of one's duty,
and when this is done, duty ceases to be irksome
and becomes joyful. Duty is only irksome to him who
craves some selfish enjoyment or benefit for himself. Let the
man who is chafing under the irksomeness of his duty,
look to himself, and he will find that his wearisomeness
proceeds not from the duty itself, but from his selfish
desire to escape it. He who neglects duty, be a
great or small, or of a public or private nature,
neglects virtue. When duty becomes a thing of love, and
when every particular duty is done accurately, faithfully, and as passionately,
there is much subtle selfishness removed from the heart, and
a great step is taken toward the heights of truth.
The virtuous man concentrates his mind on the perfect doing
of his own duty, and does not interfere with the
duty of another. The ninth step is the practice of
unswerving rectitude, or moral integrity. This virtue must be firmly
established in the mind, and so enter into every detail
of a man's life. All dishonesty, deception, trickery, and misrepresentation
must be forever put away, and the heart purged of
every vestige of insincerity and deception. The least digression from
the path of rectitude or righteousness is a deviation from virtue.
There must be no extravagance and exaggeration of speech, but
the simple truth should be stated. Engaging in deception, no
matter matter how apparently insignificant, for boastful pride or with
the hope of personal advantage, is a state of delusion
which one should make efforts to dispel. It is demanded
of the man of virtue that he shall not only
practice the most rigid honesty in thought, word, indeed, but
that he shall be exact in his statements, omitting and
adding nothing to the actual truth. In thus shaping his
mind to the principle of rectitude or moral integrity, he
will gradually come to deal with people and things in
a just and impartial spirit, considering equity before himself, and
viewing all things with freedom from personal bias, passion, and prejudice.
When the virtue of rectitude is fully practiced and comprehended,
so that all temptation to untruthfulness and insincerity has ceased,
then is the heart made purer and nobler than is.
Character strengthened and knowledge enlarged, and life takes on a
new meaning and a new power. Thus is the ninth
step accomplished. The tenth step is the practice of unlimited forgiveness.
This consists in overcoming the sense of injury which springs
from vanity, selfishness, and pride, and in exercising disinterested charity
and large heartedness towards all spite, retaliation, and revenge are
so utterly ignoble, so base, so small and foolish as
to be altogether unworthy of being noticed or harbored. No
one who fosters such conditions in his heart can lift
himself above folly and suffering and guide his life aright.
Only by casting them away and ceasing to be moved
by them can a man's eyes be open to the
true way of life. Only by developing a forgiving and
charitable spirit can he hope to approach and perceive the
strength and beauty of a well ordered life. In the
heart of the strongly virtuous man, no feeling of personal
injury can arise. He has put away all retaliation and
has no enemies. If other men should regard themselves as
his enemies, he will regard them kindly, understanding their ignorance
and making full allowance for it. When this state of
heart is arrived at, then the tense step in the
discipline of one's self seeking inclinations is accomplished, then the
third great lesson in virtue knowledge is learned and mastered.
Having thus laid down the first ten steps and three
lessons in right doing and right knowing, I leave those
of my readers who are prepared for them to learn
and master them in their everyday life. There is, of
course a still higher discipline of the body, a more
far reaching discipline of the tongue, and greater and more
all embracing virtues to acquire and understand before the highest
state of bliss and knowledge can be grasped. But it
is not my purpose to deal with them. Here. I
have expounded only the first and easiest lessons on the
higher path, and by the time these are thoroughly mastered,
the reader will have become so purified, strengthened, and enlightened
that he will not be left in the dark as
to his future progress. Those of my readers who have
completed these three lessons will already have perceived beyond and
above the high altitudes of truth and the narrow, imprecipitous
track which leads to them, and will choose whether they
shall proceed. The straight path which I have laid down
can be pursued by all with greater profit to themselves
and to the world. And even those who do not
aspire to the attainment of truth will develop greater intellectual
and moral strength, finer judgment, and deeper peace of mind
by perfecting themselves in this path. Nor will their material
prosperity suffer by this change of heart. Nay, it will
be rendered truer, purer, and more enduring. For if there
is one who is capable of succeeding and fitted to achieve,
it is the man who has abandoned the petty weaknesses
and every day vices of his kind, who is strong
enough to rule his body and mind, and who pursues
with fixed resolve the path of unswerving integrity and sterling virtue.