Part 5

What is worth possessing
Is worth waiting for, and what
Is worth waiting for, is worth possessing.
There is no value to that which has been
Lightly acquired.
It does not represent labor, or even patience,
Hope or love.
Love exists upon love
And willingly carries labor upon its shoulders.


We who would succeed and be happy,
Must first understand discipline,
And live under its rule.


By trying to deceive and fool others,
You are but fooling yourself,
Depriving yourself of the very thing
You are trying to attain.
When you forget how to laugh or play,
It is a sign of danger,
And that the safe cache in the wilderness is being despoiled
Which you must depend upon for sustenance and life
On your way back to complete your life's cycle.
So don't be foolish and deceived,
By gazing into the mirror of your friend's opinion.
Look straight at real life.
Truth is so simple
That children play with it every day
While old men seek it in vain.


No matter how wise your teacher may be,
Remember you use the same tools he does to draw your conclusions.
Your ink of reason may not be so indelible
But if you believe yourself a little more,
Your logic will be self-evident enough not to cheat you, or lead you astray.
God, through Nature, has seen to that when
He gave you your mental equipment.


Nature is firmly rooted.
Man can change and travel, tuning himself in to his own.
Why do you laugh at things humorous, mostly when tuned in with association, as in a theater?
Seek that which is a feast to your vision
Not too much, or you lose perspective.
Not too little, or it does not appease your appetite.


Anyone without exercise soon dies of idleness, as a crippled wolf in the wilderness.
Give your ears exercise by hearing good music
And see what mental shape you are in to appreciate it.
See if you can hear the call of your soul and heart
A few words of praise and love,
A command, an inspiration, or your execution.
Give your eyes a little exercise, to see if they recognize landmarks,
Or whether you are lost, and if not,
To see the right from the wrong,
A coming storm, or a friend from a foe.
Give your taste exercise to see if you are eating right food, pure air, and fragrance.
See if you can sense the soul of the earth and its flowers by their aroma.
Do these things, and you soon will be active,
Eliminating or absorbing, to give out the fruits
That only such a masterpiece as your body can achieve.
To the betterment of everything that has life,
To prove your own activity, which alone can be life.


Truth is so simple
That children play with it every day
While old men seek it in vain.


Why desecrate this hour of day by fear of disaster;
When that day and hour has already been set?
For even death requires but a moment:
But see how many hours of torture you have made it
And still are yet to die.


Have you ever analyzed what you really wanted,
And then acquired it, only to find
That you did not need it,
Could not afford it
And could do without it without sacrifices,
Save when possessing it, in keeping it?
How many wants are there to want
But never to possess?
Once in your keeping, you are more unhappy
Than when still wanting them.


What is it to be happy and contented? Is it to look forward to something? To labor to put away for a rainy day that never comes? To hoard until there is enough for a cloud to drown your children?


Much is hidden from those who will not seek.
I often test my friends.
If a grain of truth dropped,
Fails to grow,
I do not repeat the experiment.
It is useless to try to grow certain plants out of season.


We stumble
And knock down the domino ahead of us.
Which knocks down the next ahead,
And that the next,
And so on, till out of sight.
And we soon forget the blunder made,
Until we are awakened
By a blow from behind,
Which knocks us down,
And discloses the fact
That the dominoes of life
Are arranged in circles.
If we hit one ahead,
We must expect,
Sooner or later,
The blow from behind.


If you think that you have discovered
New Truths,
Do not be in haste
To disclose them.
They will not vanish.
They will grow.
Keep the roots,
And give away the fruit only.


He who prays
Is benefitted more by praying
Than in having his prayer answered.


What picture shall we set in the frame of the mind today?
It is for each one to choose.
Shall it be the picture of yesterday's mistake unfinished,
Or just a new background of tomorrow's masterpiece?
Each mortal has a garden,
An individual responsibility.
You have no right to work in your neighbor's garden,
And so neglect your own.
Neither have you a right to expect
Your neighbor to work in yours,
And influence him to neglect his own.
For all gardens of love hold love, hold loveliness,
Whatever we sow, will grow.


Never seek an inspiration,
Or think of one,
Unless you intend to write it,
Or record it in action of some form.
If you disregard an inspiration
When it is given you,
Then will it disregard you
When you seek it.


If you look at a man and like him
He must be good if you are good.
Your best judgement is your highest standard
Of your individual education.


The future is for you to will and shape.
The present is concrete.
Past, it is gone forever.


Your strength in the chain of life is but the strength of its weakest link. So test each link before you weld yourself to others, or your reserve strength will be superfluous while the weaker feels safe.


The motion of the mind is thought.
And anything whatsoever that gives rise to thought is life-giving.
We all must admit that "as we think, so we are."
We make ourselves what we are by how we think.
If we are not what we want to be, it is our own fault in wrong thinking...
A beautiful green meadow covers the unsightly earth of dead resolutions.
Each blade of grass is a monument to the masses.
Each flower reaching into the air is a monument to the genius, the martyr, the man or the woman who dares carry out the aspiration of their souls.


Be happy in the thought that all your possibilities and blessings thus far have not unfolded themselves. You still have before you a realization beyond your present comprehension. It is impossible for you to draw a picture which you have not seen unless you make it a composite, using that which is already in memory.

But it requires new actual experiences, and new emotions and new designs which you require from environments, to make you realize greater sensations and joys.


Many times we forget to remember,
But when the waters have been troubled
Let us remember to forget.


Man seldom breaks through the walls
Of his Infancy.
But when he does, he becomes a
Philosopher.
And he sees not the inside of the egg
In which he was born.
But the limitless space
And Eternity.


You know we often think ourselves misunderstood, when we ourselves who misunderstand others.
It is best that we live on the borderline of pain and sorrow that we may the better realize our duty and our mission.
And that may be constantly awake to danger.
We must ever avoid too much pain, or we shall become callous and heedless of the warning when the limitations of one of Nature's laws has been reached.
Indeed, that is what pain is, such a warning.


Measure your success
Not by the competitors you have beaten,
But by the new friends that have come to make your acquaintance.


It is not always the sins we have committed that call us to account at our maturity; but the virtues we have neglected that demand an uneasy conscience.


Labor, discipline and self-control still the fire of impulse, so the hand of virtue may lead on to fill the void created by environments contrary to the growth of enlightenment.


The big "sins" we need not fear.
We see them and guard against them.
It is the little germs,
The little seeds and first thoughts
That are unseen
But scattered everywhere
That deserve our greatest attention.


You can only prove friendship by deeds and sacrifices
Not charity and gifts,
But understanding and loyalty.


Learn the meaning of the word,"Appreciation,"
And half of your faults, sins and disappointments
Will have vanished.


Do you think it an honor
To have brought up a child
As much as a child
To have given a parent
An opportunity to have brought up a child
By the discipline of Personal Responsibility?
So that after all, the score is even,
As fatherhood and childhood.


If you wish to avoid sorrow, then eat and drink of life's joys moderately. Reserve the surplus for the time when you will be hungry and thirsty. Your greatest blessing, misused, can become your greatest curse.


Time your efforts to Success by the clock of Nature. If you wish to live but for a day of splendor, then time yourself by seconds. But if you wish to bloom eternally, then count your efforts by centuries.


Great men forget great things done,
But will weep because they failed to accomplish
What a child is capable of doing.

 

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