MOTIVATIONAL AND INSPIRATIONAL MOVIES / ARTICLES
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Twins - A Parable
Once upon a time, twin boys were conceived.
Weeks passed and the twins developed. As their awareness grew, they laughed for joy: "Isn't it great that we were conceived? Isn't it great to be alive? "
Together the twins explored their worlds. When they found their mother's cord that gave them life, they sang for joy! "How great our mother's love is, that she shares her own life with us!"
As weeks stretched into months, the twins noticed how much each was changing.
"What does it mean?" one asked.
"It means our stay in this world is drawing to an end." said the other.
"But I don't want to go," said one. "I want to stay here always."
"We have no choice," said the other. "But maybe there is life after birth."
"But how can there be?" responded one. "We will shed our life cord and how can life be pos sible without it? Besides, we have seen evidence that others were here before us, and none of them has returned to tell us there is life after birth. No, this is the end. Maybe there is no mother after all."
"But there has to be," protested the other. "How else did we get here? How do we remain alive?"
"Have you ever seen our mother?" said one.
"Maybe she only lives in our minds. Maybe we made her up because the idea made us feel good."
So the last days in the womb were filled with deep questioning and fear.
Finally, the moment of birth arrived. When the twins had passed from their world, they opened their eyes and cried for joy - for what they saw exceeded their fondest dreams.
That is birth ... and that is death.
Unknown author -
Hello Everyone
Hope all of you are in good spirit. I've been very busy lately with my work. Thought I share these wonderful links below with you and mind you eventhough these movies are about advertisements..somehow another you can be motivated, inspired and also having some insight from it. Take a look at them.
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/02011.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/03010.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/11071.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/06037.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/01043.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/08101.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/18037.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/19044.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/20003.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/22018.htm
http://www.epica-awards.org/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/25170.htm
Hope you have enjoyed it. I'm going home now.
Goodnight everyone...wherever you are...God Bless.
With Love,
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg -
Hello Everyone,
Hmmm...I don't want to say it but I think you see it for yourself especially when you are going through a rough time in your life now. Take a look at it.
http://www.TheThriveMovie.com
Thanks.
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg -
Originally posted by zulkifli mahmood:
Hi All!
Thought i share this funny story and since it is about a cat, I feel it is appropriate to be insert within this message that I had posted previously.
Thanks.
Joe
[b]I NEED DIRECTION
A man hated his wife's cat and he decided to get rid of it.
He drove 20 blocks away from home and dropped the cat there. The cat was already walking up the driveway when he approached his home.
The next day, he decided to drop the cat 40 blocks away but the same thing happened.
He kept increasing the number of blocks but the cat kept coming home before him.
At last he decided to drive a few miles away, turn right, then left, past the bridge, then right again and another right and so on until he reached what he thought was a perfect spot and dropped the cat there.
Hour later.... The man calls his wife at home and asked her, "Jen is the cat there?"
"Yes, why do you ask?" answered the wife.
Frustrated the man said," Put that damn cat on the phone, I am lost and I need directions!!! [/b]
I just like to add a link to this previous post of mine. If you wish more information about saving and protecting the animals in Singapore, you can visit the S.P.C.A. website appended below:-
http://www.spca.org.sg/
I have also insert an article for your reading.
Thank you.
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg
The Pastor's Cat
by Dwight Nelson
This story is guaranteed to leave a bright spot in your day. Whoever said the Creator doesn't have a sense of humor? Dwight Nelson recently told a true story about the pastor of his church.
He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and drove away so that the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten. He did! All the while, checking his progress in the car frequently, then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten.
But as he moved a little further forward, the rope broke. The tree went "boing!" and the kitten instantly sailed through the air-out of sight.
The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they'd seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten. So he prayed, "Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping," and went on about his business.
A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Now this woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, "Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?"
She replied, "You won't believe this," and told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, "Well if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it." (Can you see where this is heading?)
She told the pastor, "I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won't believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her"
Never underestimate the Power of God and His unique sense of humor! -
Hello All...and Good Morning!
Here are some of the Quotations that may be of good use for you.
Thanks.
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg
Quotes on LEADERSHIP
"To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ... When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves!'"
— Lao-tsu
"If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall in the ditch."
— Jesus Christ
"Control is not leadership; management is not leadership; leadership is leadership. If you seek to lead, invest at least 50% of your time in leading yourself—your own purpose, ethics, principles, motivation, conduct. Invest at least 20% leading those with authority over you and 15% leading your peers."
— Dee Hock
Founder and CEO Emeritus, Visa
"All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership."
— John Kenneth Galbraith
"The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been."
— Henry Kissinger
"No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings."
— Peter Drucker
"The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already."
— John Buchan
"You do not lead by hitting people over the head — that's assault, not leadership."
— Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Never give an order that can't be obeyed."
— General Douglas MacArthur
"Leadership must be based on goodwill. Goodwill does not mean posturing and, least of all, pandering to the mob. It means obvious and wholehearted commitment to helping followers. We are tired of leaders we fear, tired of leaders we love, and of tired of leaders who let us take liberties with them. What we need for leaders are men of the heart who are so helpful that they, in effect, do away with the need of their jobs. But leaders like that are never out of a job, never out of followers. Strange as it sounds, great leaders gain authority by giving it away."
— Admiral James B. Stockdale
"Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand."
— General Colin Powell
"The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers. ... Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership."
— Gary Wills
Certain Trumpets: The Call of Leaders
"A leader is one who influences a specific group of people to move in a God-given direction."
— J. Robert Clinton
"All Leadership is influence."
— John C. Maxwell
Injoy, Inc.
"Now there are five matters to which a general must pay strict heed. The first of these is administration; the second, preparedness; the third, determination; the fourth, prudence; and the fifth, economy."
— Wu Ch'i (430-381 BC)
"You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too."
— Sam Rayburn
"Your position never gives you the right to command. It only imposes on you the duty of so living your life that others may receive your orders without being humiliated."
— Dag Hammarskjöld
"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction and the will to carry on."
— Walter Lippmann
"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. But of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, 'We did these ourselves.'"
— Lao-Tse
"People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads, and the boss drives."
— Theodore Roosevelt
"Leadership cannot really be taught. It can only be learned."
— Harold Geneen
"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant."
— Max DePree
"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
— Theodore Roosevelt
"Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall."
— Stephen R. Covey
"The leader must know, must know that he knows, and must be able to make it abundantly clear to those around him that he knows."
— Clarence Randall
"As a leader, you're probably not doing a good job unless your employees can do a good impression of you when you're not around."
— Patrick Lencioni
"Look over your shoulder now and then to be sure someone's following you."
— Henry Gilmer
"Leadership is the ability to establish standards and manage a creative climate where people are self-motivated toward the mastery of long term constructive goals, in a participatory environment of mutual respect, compatible with personal values."
— Mike Vance
"Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others."
— Jack Welch
"I think that the best training a top manager can be engaged in is management by example. I want to make sure there is no discrepancy between what we say and what we do. If you preach accountability and then promote somebody with bad results, it doesn't work. I personally believe the best training is management by example. Don't believe what I say. Believe what I do."
— Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan -
Hi! All.
Well, I'm in the cybercafe in Skudai right now...done all the housework and laundry...thought I drop by for awhile and do some posting in this thread.
Hmmm...have a movie link here. Take a look ok.
http://www.whatamotherisworth.com/
Hindsights.....you know what a mother is worth right.
Goodnight and God Bless you wherever you are.
With Love,
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg -
Oh! I almost forgot...I wanted to share with you this sms text that I have received from a lovely woman....she is a trainer in one of the MNC organisation in Singapore...well...her name is Rose...like I told you...she is a lovely woman.
The sms text is appended below...
" A true friend is not like the rain that pours and goes. It's more like air, sometimes quiet but it's always there."
I agree.
Thanks Rose.
Have a nice weekend everyone.
With Love,
Joe -
Hi! Everyone,
This sms is from Marife in the Philippines.
"A Big jar full of water gets emptied by just a small hole, even a Little anger and pride will Drain all the nobility of a good heart. Stay humble...."
I agree.
Thanks Marife.
Take care all and stay humble.
With Love,
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg -
Hello Everyone,
Thought I share an sms text that I had received from my good friend Mr Ang, a laboratory technician, at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
"Good day, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, goodnight. Greetings for the whole day for a good friend who still sms me. Cheers my friend."
Hmmm...this guy was cheerful for most of time when I sent human organ or tissue samples at the laboratory.
Thanks.
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg -
Originally posted by zulkifli mahmood:
Did you send any SARS infected tissue sample?
Hello Everyone,
Thought I share an sms text that I had received from my good friend Mr Ang, a laboratory technician, at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
[b]"Good day, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, goodnight. Greetings for the whole day for a good friend who still sms me. Cheers my friend."
Hmmm...this guy was cheerful for most of time when I sent human organ or tissue samples at the laboratory.
Thanks.
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg [/b] -
good collection, keep it up.
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Hi! All.
Sometimes words make you think and wonder....then out of nowhere...you make a decision or make a conclusion or make a quote that makes you see and then the other people see it too. That is like right now. Take a look at the text appended below.
With Love,
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg
Inspiration
"Inspiration could be called
inhaling the memory of an act never experienced."
-- Ned Rorem
"Inspiration is an awakening, a quickening of all man's faculties,
and it is manifested in all high artistic achievements."
-- Giacomo Puccini
"Method is much, technique is much, but inspiration is even more."
-- Benjamin Cardozo
"I shut my eyes in order to see."
-- Paul Gauguin
"I decided that it was not wisdom
that enabled [poets] to write their poetry,
but a kind of instinct or inspiration,
such as you find in seers and prophets
who deliver all their sublime messages
without knowing in the least what they mean."
-- Socrates
"Ninety per cent of inspiration is perspiration."
-- Unknown
"Inspiration comes of working every day."
-- Charles Baudelaire
"Just as appetite comes by eating, so work brings inspiration,
if inspiration is not discernible at the beginning."
-- Igor Stravinsky
"As fire kindled by fire,
so is the poet's mind kindled
by contact with a brother poet."
-- John Keble
"We need to feel the cheer and inspiration of meeting each other,
we need to gain the courage and fresh life
that comes from the mingling of congenial souls,
of those working for the same ends."
-- Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
"I long to speak out the intense inspiration
that comes to me from the lives of strong women."
-- Ruth Benedict
"The half hour between waking and rising
has all my life proved propitious to any task
which was exercising my invention...
It was always when I first opened my eyes that
the desired ideas thronged upon me."
-- Walter Scott
"When inspiration does not come,
I go for a walk, go to the movie, talk to a friend, let go...
The muse is bound to return again, especially if I turn my back!"
-- Judy Collins
"If you can't find your inspiration by walking around the block one time,
go around two blocks -- but never three."
-- Robert Motherwell
"Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness,
or perhaps of subconsciousness – I wouldn't know.
But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness."
-- Aaron Copland
"I could never tell where inspiration begins and impulse leaves off.
I suppose the answer is in the outcome.
If your hunch proves a good one, you were inspired;
if it proves bad, you are guilty of yielding to thoughtless impulse."
-- Beryl Markham
"I learned...that inspiration does not come like a bolt,
nor is it kinetic, energetic striving,
but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time,
though we must regularly and every day
give it a little chance to start flowing,
prime it with a little solitude and idleness."
-- Brenda Ueland
"We must be steady enough in ourselves,
to be open and to let the winds of life
blow through us, to be our breath, our inspirationÂ…"
-- Mary Caroline Richards
"There is the falsely mystical view of art
that assumes a kind of supernatural inspiration,
a possession by universal forces
unrelated to questions of power and privilege
or the artist's relation to bread and blood."
-- Adrienne Rich
"Who knows where inspiration comes from.
Perhaps it arises from desperation.
Perhaps it comes from the flukes of the universe,
the kindness of the muses."
-- Amy Tan
"Our moments of inspiration are not lost
though we have no particular poem to show for them;
for those experiences have left an indelible impression,
and we are ever and anon reminded of them."
-- Henry David Thoreau
"When I'm inspired, I get excited
because I can't wait to see
what I'll come up with next."
-- Dolly Parton -
Hello Herzog,Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:Did you send any SARS infected tissue sample?
No I didn't but I do send HIV and other disease tissue samples. During the SARS period, was not in the health industry. I was only in the health industry in 2004 to 2005.
Thanks for responding and asking.
Take care.
Joe -
Hello Knock_Knock,......(Whose there!),Originally posted by Knock_Knock:good collection, keep it up.
Thanks for your kind words and encouragement.
Cheers!
Joe -
Hmmm....I think this movie appended below would make you realize special qualities about ourselves and oneself too. Take a look at it.
http://www.scottstratten.com/realize/realize.html
Joe -
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Just like to say something here.
When you are unsure what you are looking for in your life, come to this thread and read what are written here. When you have nothing to motivate or inspire yourself, come to this thread and read what you can so as you read and see....you will definitely see..you will be motivated and inspired to have something done without delay and maybe even set good goals for yourself and for others too. You will feel differently and see things differently.
Take my word for it.
With Love,
Joe -
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Here are the sms from Marife from the Philippines.
"Oftentimes, we need to pray not because we need to change the situation but primarily because we need God to change our attitude about the situation.."
"Let us cherish the moment when we were empty but happy, tired but inspired, down but smiling, feeling lost but living for a cause. LIFE IS A GIFT!"
Thanks Marife.
Joe -
Hmm..this is my last entry for today. I think I like to share with you about a book that was written more than a century ago. It is a very good book and I think most of you would not regret after reading it.
Thanks and God Bless Mankind.
With Love,
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg
PREFACE
TWENTY-FOUR years since, I wrote 'Self-Help.' It was published three years later, in 1859. The writing of that book was occasioned by an apparently slight circumstance. I had delivered a few lectures at Leeds to some young men, in a place that had been used as a temporary cholera hospital. I endeavoured to point out to them that their happiness and well-being in after life depended very much upon themselves - upon their diligent self-culture, self-discipline, and self-control; and, above all, upon the honest and upright performance of individual duty, which constitutes the glory of manly character.
The results were more satisfactory than I could have expected. I found that many of these young men, as they grew up into manhood, were chosen to fill positions of trust, responsibility, and usefulness; and some of them were pleased to attribute some measure of their honest success in life to their endeavours to work up to the spirit of the lessons which they had received from their instructor.
I was thus led to prepare the memoranda for a book on the same subject; for books reach much faster than spoken words. I prepared the work in my leisure evening moments, after the hours of business were over. I entitled the book 'Self-Help,' being able to find no better word to suit the purpose; though mutual help, as well as self-help, was prominently set forward.
When the book was prepared, I offered the manuscript to a London publisher, but it was declined with thanks. The Crimean War was then raging, and books were almost unsaleable. It was not until after the 'Life of George Stephenson' had been published, that I issued 'Self-Help' through the kindness of Mr. Murray.
It was received most favourably. I owe my greatest thanks to the reviewers. I hope their reviews have been just. With very few exceptions, they have praised my efforts perhaps more than they deserved. And yet I knew nothing of them, nor they of me.
'Self-Help' was translated and published in nearly every European language; as well as into some of the languages or dialects of India and Japan. In America, the book has been more widely published and read than in Great Britain. But the English author can never know the fate of his book in America. Piracy of English books is protected by American law; and the honest publisher of New York is overwhelmed by the dishonest publisher of Chicago. I cannot understand why the American Legislature should be less honest than the governments of France, Germany, and Italy. In all these countries international copyright is freely granted.
Thirteen years after the appearance of 'Self-Help,' during which I had been engaged with other works, I wrote and published 'Character.' I there endeavoured to fill up the picture of the noble nd magnanimous man and woman, and cited numerous examples taken from the lives of the best men and women who ever lived. It seemed to me that this was the best manner of impressing the minds of young people, by giving them invigorating examples of nobility of character. "Some people exclaim," said Isaac Disraeli, "give me no anecdotes of an author, but give me his works; yet I have often found that the anecdotes are more interesting than the works." This is the example which I have always pursued. "It is not," said Plutarch, "in the most distinguished exploits that men's virtues or vices may be best discovered, but frequently an action of small note, a short saying, or a jest, that distinguishes a person's real character more than the greatest battles or the most important actions."
Five years later, 'Thrift' appeared. In that book I assumed the dignity of labour, and urged men to economize in order to secure their independence: to provide for their families, with a view to the future; to live a clean, sober, and manly life; to avoid the horrible curse of drink, which keeps so many men and women poor; and to raise them up to an elevation of virtue, morality, and religion. I believe that the book has done much good. Since its publication many institutions have formed for the establishment of National Thrift; and I know, form many correspondents, that thriving Penny Banks have been established where they did not exist before.
Five years after the publication of 'Thrift,' I now give 'Duty' - the last book of the series. I hope it will be as useful as its predecessors. I have, at all events, done my best, according to the faculty that still remains in me. The reader will find, in the following pages, numerous examples given of the best and bravest men and women in the career of well-doing.
Great deeds are great legacies, which work with wondrous usury. By what men have done, we learn what men can do. A great career, though baulked of its end, is still a landmark of human energy. He who approaches the highest point of the supreme quality of Duty, is entitled to rank with the most distinguished of his race.
"The primal duties shine aloft like stars,
And charities that soothe, and heal, and bless,
Are scattered at the feet of men like flowers."
LONDON, November 1880.
DUTY
by Samuel Smiles
Chapter 1
Duty - Conscience
Man does not live for himself alone. He lives for the good of others as well as of himself. Every one has his duties to perform - the richest as well as the poorest. To some life is pleasure, to others suffering. But the best do not live for self-enjoyment, or even for fame. Their strongest motive power is hopeful, useful work in every good cause.
Hierocles says that each one of us is a centre, circumscribed by many concentric circles. From ourselves, the first circle extends - comprising parents, wife, and children. The next concentring circle comprise relations; then fellow citizens; and lastly, the whole human race.
To do our duty in this world towards God and towards man, consistently and steadily, requires the cultivation of all the faculties which God has given us. And He has given us everything. It is the higher Will that instructs and guides our will. It is the knowledge of good and evil, the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, that makes us responsible to man here, and to God hereafter.
The sphere of Duty is infinite. It exists in every station of life. We have it not in our choice to be rich or poor, to be happy or unhappy; but it becomes us to do the duty that everywhere surrounds us. Obedience to duty, at all costs and risks, is the very essence of the highest civilized life. Great deeds must be worked for, hoped for, died for, now as in the past.
We often connect the idea of Duty with the soldier's trust. We remember the pagan sentinel at Pompeii, who died at his post, during the burial of the city by the ashes of Vesuvius, some eighteen hundred years ago. This was the true soldier. While others fled, he stood to his post. It was his Duty. He had been set to guard the place, and he never flinched. He was suffocated by the sulphureous vapour of the falling ashes. His body was resolved to dust, and his memory survives. His helmet, lance, and breast plate are still to be seen at the Museo Borbonico at Naples.
This soldier was obedient and disciplined. He did waht he was appointed to do. Obedience, to the parent, to the master, to the officer, is what every one who would do right should be taught to learn. Childhood should begin with obedience. Yet age does not absolve us. We must be obedient even to the end. Duty, in its purest form, is so constraining that one never thinks, in performing it, of one's self at all. It is there. It has to be done without any thought of self-sacrifice.
To come to a much later date than that of the Roman soldier at Pompeii - When the Birkenhead went down off the coast of Africa, with her brave soldiers on board firing a few de joie as they sank beneath the waves, the Duke of Wellington, after the news arrived in England, was entertained at the Banquet of the Royal Academy. Macaulay says, "I remarked (and Mr. Lawrence, the American Minister, remarked the same thing) that in his eulogy of the poor fellows who were lost, the Duke never spoke of their courage, but always of their discipline and subordination. He repeated it several times over. The courage, I suppose, he treated as a matter of cour."
Duty is self-devoted. It is not merely fearlessness. The gladiator who fought the lion with the courage of a lion, was urged on by the ardour of the spectators, and never forgot himself and his prizes. Pizzarro was full of hardihood. But he was actuated by his love of gold in the midst of his terrible hardships.
"Do you wish to be great?" asks St. Augustine. "Then begin by being little. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation. Modest humility is beauty's crown."
The best kind of duty is done in secret, and without sight of men. There it does its work devotedly and nobly. It does not follow the routine of worldly-wise morality. It does not advertise itself. It adopts a larger creed and a loftier code; which to be subject to and to obey, is to consider every human life, and every human action, in the lightof an eternal obligation to the race. Our evil or our careless actions incur debts every day, that humanity, sooner or later, must discharge.
But how to learn to do one's duty? Can there be any difficulty here? First, there is the pervading, abiding sense of duty to God. Then follow others: - Duty to one's family; duty to our neighbours; duty of masters to servants; and of servants to masters; duty to our fellow creatures; duty to the State, which has also its duty to perform to the citizen.
Many of these duties are performed privately. Our public life may be well known, but in private there is that which no one sees - the inner life of the soul and spirit. We have it in our choice to be worthy or worthless. No one can kill our soul, which can perish only by its own suicide. If we can only make ourselves and each other a little better, holier, and nobler, we have perhaps done the most that we could.
Here is the manner in which an American legislator stood to his post:-
An eclipse of the sun happened in New England about a century ago. The heavens became very dark, and it seemed to many that the Day of Judgment was at hand. The Legislature of Connecticut happened then to be in session, and on the darkness coming on, a member moved the adjournment of the House, on which an old Puritan legislator, Davenport of Stamford, rose up and said that if the last day had come, he desired to be found in his place and doing his duty: for which reasons he moved that candles should be brought, so that the House might proceed with its business. Waiting at the post of Duty was the maxim of the wise man, and he carried his motion.
There was a man of delicate constitution, who devoted a great deal of his time to philanthropic work. He visited the sick, he sat by them in their miserable homes, he nursed them and helped them in all ways. He was expostulated with by his friends for neglecting his business, and threatened with the illness he was sure to contract by visiting the fevered and the dying. He replied to his friends with firmness and simplicity, "I look after my business for the sake of my wife and my children, but I hold that a man's duty to society requires him to have a care for those who are not of his own household."
These were the words of a willing servant to duty. It is not the man who gives his money that is the true benefactor of his kind, but the man who gives himself. The man who gives his money is advertised; the man who gives his time, strength, and soul, is beloved. The one may be remembered, while the other may be forgotten, though the good influence he has sown will never die.
But what is the foundation of Duty? Jules Simon has written a valuable work, 'Le Devoir,' in which he makes duty depend upon liberty. Men must be free in order to perform their public duties, as well as to build up their individual character. They are free to think; they must also be free to act. At the same time liberty may be used to do evil rather than to do good. The tyranny of a multitude is worse than the tyranny of an individual. Thoreau, the American, says that modern freedom is only the exchange of the slavery of feudality for the slavery of opinion.
Freedom, enjoyed by all men alike, is a late idea in history*. In remote ages, men who were so-called "free" possessed the right of being served by slaves. There was slavery in the state, and also in the family. It existed in republics as well as in monarchies. The elder Cato, the greatest economist of Republican Rome, enforced the expediency of getting rid of old slaves to avoid the burden of their maintenance. The sick and infirm slaves were carried to the island of AEsculapius, in the Tiber, where they were suffered to die of disease or of hunger. In Imperial Rome, the Populus Romanus was dependent upon charity. In England also, when slavery was abolished, and when the poor were no longer fed by the charity of the monasteries, a poor law was established, which was only a compensation for the loss of liberty.
( * The feeling that labour is not an honourable occupation is but a survival of the old pagan and feudal times, when the plough was left to the slaves, and only the villeins hoed the corn. The Roman definition of gentility was gentem habent soli cujus parentes nemini servierunt - "those only are genteel whose ancestors have never served." The idea prevalent in the North American Republic, according to which slave blood, in even the extremest branch, contaminates, is decidedly of Roman origin. "Dear German peasants," says Heine, "go to America: there you will find neither princes nor nobles; all men are equals, with the exception, in truth, of a few millions who have a black or a brown skin, and are treated like dogs. He who has the least trace of negro descent, and betrays his origin no longer in colour, but in the form of his features, is forced to suffer the greatest humiliations....Doubtless many a noble heart may there in silence lament the universal self-seeking and unrighteousness. Would he, however, strive against it, a martydom awaits him which surpasses all European conception." )
There is a stronger word than Liberty, and that is Conscience. From the beginning of civilization the power of this word has been acknowledged. Menander, the Greek poet, who lived three hundred years before Christ, duly recognized it. "In our own breast," he said, "we have a god - our conscience." Again he says, "Tis not to live, to live for self alone. Whenever you do what is holy, be of good cheer, knowing that God himself takes part with rightful courage. The rich heart is the great thing that man wants."
Conscience is that peculiar faculty of the soul which may be called the religious instinct. It first reveals itself when we become aware of the strife between a higher and a lower nature within us - of spirit warring against flesh - of good striving for the mastery over evil. Look where you will, in the church or without the church, the same struggle is always going on - war for life or death; men and women wrung with pain because they love the good and cannot yet attain it.
It is out of this experience that Religion is born - the higher law leading us up to One whom the law of conscience represents. "It is an introspection," says Canon Mozley, "on which all religion has been built. Man going into himself and seeing the struggle within him, and thence getting self-knowledge, and thence the knowledge of God." Under this influence man knows and feels what is right and wrong. He has the choice between good and evil. And because he is free to choose, he is responsible
Whatever men may theoretically believe, none practically feel that their actions are necessary and inevitable. There is no constraint upon our volition. We know that we are not compelled, as by a spell, to obey any particular motive. "We feel," says John Stuart Mill, "that if we wished to prove that we have the power of resisting the motive, we could do so; and it would be humiliating to our pride, and paralysing to our desire of excellence, if we thought otherwise."
Our actions are controllable, else why do men all over the world enact laws? They are enacted in order to be obeyed, because it is the universal belief, as it is the universal fact, that men obey them or not, very much as they determine. We feel, each one of us, that our habits and temptations are not our masters, but we of them. Even in yielding to tham we know that we could resist, and that, were we desirous of throwing themoff altogether, there could not be required for that purpose a stronger desire or will than we know ourselves to be capable of feeling.
To enjoy spiritual freedom of the highest kind, the mind must have been awakened by knowledge. As the mind has become enlightened, and conscience shows its power, the responsibility of man increases. He submits himself to the influence of the Supreme Will, and acts in conformity with it - not by constraint, but cheerfully; and the law which holds him is that of Love. In the act of belief, implying knowledge and confidence, his humanity unfolds. He feels that by his own free act, his faith in and his working in conformity to the purpose of a Divine Will, he is achieving good, and scuring the highest good.
"Man without religion," says Archdeacon Hare, "is the creature of circumstances; but religion is above all circumstances, and will lift him up above them." And Thomas Lynch, in his 'Theophilus Trinal,' says, "Till fixed, we are not free. The acorn must be earthed ere the oak will develop. The man of faith is the man who has taken root - taken root in God; our works prove our heart - our heart in God." In the New Testament we find, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." And Cowper:
"He is the freeman whom the truth makes free
And all are slaves beside."
Where there is no such acknowledgment of Divine law, men act in obedience to sense, to passion, to selfishness. In indulging any vicious propensity, they know they are doing wrong. Their conscience condemns them. The law of nature cries out against them. They know that their act has been wilful and sinful. But their power to resist in the future has become weakened. Their will has lost power; and next time the temptation offers, the resistance will be less. Then the habit is formed. The curse of every evil deed is that, propagating still, it brings forth evil.
But conscience is not dead. We cannot dig a grave for it, and tell it to lie there. We may trample it under foot, but it still lives. Every sin or crime has, at the moment of its perpetration, its own avenging angel. We cannot blind our eyes to it, or stop our ears to it. "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all." There comes a day of judgment, even in this world, when it stands up confronting us, and warning us to return to the life of well-doing.
Conscience is permanent and universal. It is the very essence of individual character. It gives a man self-control - the power of resisting temptations and defying them. Every man is bound to develop his individuality, to endeavour to find the right way of life, and to walk in it. He has the will to do so: he has the power to be himself and not the echo of somebody else, nor the reflection of lower conditions, nor the spirit of current conventions. True manhood comes from self-control - from subjection of the lower powers to the higher conditions of our being.
The only comprehensive and sustained exercise of self-control is to be attained through the ascendency of conscience - in the sense of duty performed. It is conscience alone which sets a man on his feet, frees him from the dominions of his own passions and propensities. It places him in relation to the best interests of his kind. The truest source of enjoyment is found in the paths of duty alone. Enjoyment will come as the unbidden sweetener of labour, and crown every right work.
At its fullest growth, conscience bids men do whatever makes them happy in the highest sense, and forbear whatever makes them unhappy. "There are few if any among civilized people," says Herbert Spencer, "who do not agree that human well-being is in accordance with Divine Will. The doctrine is taught by all our religious teachers; it is assumed by every writer on morality: we may therefore safely consider it an admitted truth."
Without conscience, a man can have no higher principle of action than pleasure. He does what he likes best, whether it be sensuality or even sensuous intellectual enjoyment. We are not sent into the world to follow our own bent - to indulge merely in self-satisfaction. The whole constitution of nature works against this idea of life. The mind ought never to be held in subjection to the lower parts of our nature. There can be no self-sacrifice, no self-denial,no self-control - except what may be necessary to avoid the consequences of human law.
A race so constituted, with intellect and passions such as man possesses, and without the paramount influence of conscience to govern their deeds, would soon be consigned to utter anarchy and terminate in mutual destruction. We partly see the results already, in the mad riot in human life which has recently prevailed among the Nihilists in Germany and Russia, and the fire and destruction of the Communists' war in Paris. Such a principle prevailing throughout society, can lead to nothing else than utter demoralization - individual, social, and national.
The only method left is to recall men to their sense of duty. The task of our fathers has been to conquer right; be it the task of this generation to teach and propagate duty. Give justice also - justice, which is the splendour of virtue; and benevolence, its companion. There is a sentence in the Evangelists which comes back to us without ceasing, and which ought to be written on every page of a book of morality: "Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you." "In life," says Wilhelm von Humboldt, "it is worthy of special remark, that when we are not too anxious about happiness and unhappiness, but devote ourselves to the strict and unsparing performance of duty, then happiness comes of itself, - nay, even springs from the midst of a life of troubles and anxieties and privations."
"What is your duty?" asks Goethe. "The carrying out of the affairs of the day that lies before you." But this is too narrow a view of duty. "What again," he asks, "is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves." Plutarch said to the Emperor Trajan, "Let your government commence in your own breast, and lay the foundation of itin the command of your own passions." Here come in the words, self-control, duty, and conscience. "There will come a time," said Bishop Hooker, "when three words, uttered with charity and meekness, shall receive a far more blessed reward than three thousand volumes written with the disdainful sharpness of wit."
It is well for the soul to look on actions done for love, not for selfish objects, but for duty, mercy, and loving-kindness. There are many things done for love, which are a thousand times better than those done for money. The former inspire the spirit of heroism and self-devotion. The latter die with the giving. Duty that is bought is worth little. "I consider," said Dr. Arnold, "beyond all wealth, honour, or even health,is the attachment due to noble souls; because to become one with the good, generous, and true, is to be in a manner, good, generous, and true yourself."
Every man has a service to do, to himself as an individual, and to those who are near him. In fact, life is of little value unless it be consecrated by duty. "Show those qualities altogether in thy power - sincerity, gravity, endurance of labour, aversion to pleasure, contentment with thy portion and with few things, benevolence, frankness, and magnanimity."
The greatest intellectual power may exist without a particle of magnanimity. The latter comes from the highest power in man's mind - conscience, and from the highest faculty, reason, and capacity for faith - that by which man is capable of apprehending more than the senses supply. It is this which makes man a reasonable creature - more than a mere animal. Mr. Darwin has truly said "that the motives of conscience, as connected with repentance and the feelings of duty, are the most important differences which separate man from the animal."
We are invited to believe in the all-powerful potency of matter. We are to believe only in what we can see with our eyes, and touch with our hands. We are to believe in nothing that we do not understand. But how very little do we absolutely know and understand! We see only the surfaces of things, "as in a glass darkly." How can matter help us to understand the mysteries of life? We know absolutely nothing about the causes of volition, sensation and mental action. We know that they exist, but we cannot understand them.
When a young man declared to Dr. Parr that he would believe nothing he did not understand, "Then, sir," said the doctor, "your creed would be the shortest of any man whom I ever knew." But Sydney Smith siad a better thing than this. At the dinner at Holland House, a foreigner announced himself as a materialist. Presently Sydney Smith observed, "A very good soufflet this! To which the materialist rejoined, "Oui, monsieur; il est ravissant!" "By the way, " replied Smith, with his usual knock-down application, "may I ask, sir, whether you happen to believe in a cook?"
We must believe a thousand things that we do not understand. Matter and its combinations are as great a mystery as Life is. Look at those numberless far-off worlds majestically wheeling in their appointed orbits; or at this earth on which we live, performing its diurnal motion on its own axis, during its annual circle round the sun. What do we understand about the causes of such motions? What can we ever know about them, beyond the fact that such things are? "The circuit of the sun in the heavens," says Pascal, "vast as it is, is itself only a delicate point when compared with the vaster circuit that is accomplished by the stars. Beyond the range of sight, this universe is but a spot in the ample bosom of nature. We can only imagine of atoms as compared with the reality, which is an infinite sphere, of which the centre is everywhere, the circumference nowhere. What is man in the midst of this infinite? But there is another prospect not less astounding; it is the Infinite beneath him. Let him look to the smallest of the things which come under his notice - a mite. It has limbs, veins, blood circulating in them, globules in that blood, humours, and serum. Within the enclosure of this atom, I will show you not merely the visible universe, but the very immensity of nature. Whoever gives his mind to thoughts such as this, will be terrified at himself - trembling where nature has placed him - suspended, as it were, between infinity and nothingness. The Author of those wonders comprehends them; none but He can do so."
Confucius taught his disciples to believe that Conduct is three-fourths of life. "Ponder righteousness, and practise virtue. Knowledge, magnanimity, and energy, are universally binding. Gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness, constitute perfect virtue." These words come to us as the far-off echo of the great teacher of ten thousand ages, as his disciples called him - the holy and prescient sage Confucius.
But all these virtues come from the innate monitor Conscience. From this first principle all rules of behaviour are drawn. It bids us do what we call right, and forbids us doing what we call wrong. At its fullest growth it bids us do what makes others happy, and forbids us doing what makes others unhappy. The great lesson to belearnt is, that man must strengthen himself to perform his duty and do what is right, seeking his happiness and inward peace in objects that cannot be taken away from him. Conscience is the conflict by which we get the mastery over our own failings. It is a silent working of the inner man, by which he proves his peculiar power of the will and spirit of God.
(Socrates)
We have also something to learn from the noble old Greeks as to the virtue of Duty. Socrates is considered by some as the founder of Greek philosophy. It was his belief that he was specially charged by the Deity to awaken moral consciousness in men. He was born at Athens 468 years before Christ. He received the best education which an Athenian could obtain. He first learnt sculpture, in which he acquired some reputation. He then served his country as a soldier, according to the duty of all Athenian citizens. The oath which he took, in common with all other youths, was as follows: "I will not disgrace the sacred arms entrusted to me by my country; nor will I desert the place committed to me to defend."
He displayed much fortitude and valour in all the expeditions in which he was engaged. In one of the engagements which took place before Potidaea, Alcibiades fell wounded in the midst of the enemy. Socrates rushed forward to rescue him, and carried him back, together with his arms. For this gallant performance he was awarded the civic crown as the prize of valour - the Victoria Cross of those days. His second campaign was no less honourable. At the disastrous battle of Delium he saved the life of Xenophon, whom he carried from the field on his shoulder, fighting his way as he went. He served in another campaign, after which he devoted himself for a time to the civil service of his country.
He was as brave as a senator as he had been as a soldier. He possessed that high moral courage which can brave not only death but adverse opinion. He could defy a tyrant, as well as tyrannical mob. When the admirals were tried after the battle of Arginusae, for not having rescued the bodies of the slain, Socrates stood alonein defending them. The mob were furious. He was dismissed from the Council, and the admirals were condemned.
Socrates then devoted himself to teaching. He stood in the market-places, entered the workshops, and visited the schools, in order to teach the people his ideas respecting the scope and value of human speculation and action. He appeared during a time of utter scepticism. He endeavoured to withdraw men from their metaphysical speculation about nature, which had led them into the inextricable confusion of doubt. "Is life worth living?" was a matter of as much speculation in those days as it is in ours. Socrates bade them look inwards. While men were propitiating the gods, he insisted upon moral conduct as alone guiding man to happiness here and hereafter.
Socrates went about teaching. Wise men and pupils followed him. Aristippus offered him a large sum of money, but the offer was at once declined. Socrates did not teach for money, but to propagate wisdom. He declared that the highest reward he could enjoy was to see mankind benefiting by his labours.
He did not expound from books; he merely argued. "Books,' he said, "cannot be interrogated, cannot answer, therefore they cannot teach. We can only learn from them what we knew before." He endeavoured to reduce things to their first elements, and to arrive at certainty as the only standard of truth. He believed in the unity of virtue, and averred that it was teachable as a matter of science. He was of opinion that the only valuable philosophy is that which teaches us our moral duties and religious hopes. He hated injustice and folly of all kinds, and never lost an occasion of exposing them. He expressed his contempt for the capacity for government assumed by all men. He held that only the wise were fit to govern, and that they were the few.
In his seventy-second year he was brought before the judges. The accusers stated their charge as follows: "Socrates is an evil-doer, and corrupter of the youth; he does not receive the gods whom the state receives, but introduces new divinities." He was tried on these grounds, and condemned to die. He was taken to his prison, and for thirty days he conversed with his friends on his favourite topics. Crito provided for him the means of escaping from prison, but he would not avail himself of the opportunity. He conversed about the immortality of the soul,* about courage, and virtue, nd temperance, about absolute beauty and absolute good, and about his wife and children.
He consoled his weeping friends, and gently upbraided them for their complaints about the injustice of his sentence. He was about to die. Why should they complain? He was far advanced in years. Had they waited a short time, the thing would have happened in the course of nature. No man ever welcomed death as a new birth to a higher state of being with greater faith. The time at length came when the gaoler presented him with the cup of hemlock. He drank it with courage, and died in complete calmness. "Such was the end," said Phaedo, "of our friend, whom I may truly call the wisest and justest and best of all the men whom I have ever known."
( * "If death," he said, "had only been the end of all, the wicked would have had a good bargain in dying, for they would have been happily quit, not only of their bodies, but of their own evil, together with their souls. But now, inasmuch as the soul is manifestly immortal, there is no release or salvation from evil, except the attainment of the highest virtues and wisdom," - Jowett's "Dialogues of Plato," i. 488 )
(Plato)
Socrates wrote no books. Nearly all that we know of him is derived from his illustrious disciples, Plato and Xenophon, who have embalmed the memory of his actions, lessons, wrongs, and death. Plato lived with him for ten years, and afterwards expounded his views in the famous 'Dailogues'; but in these dialogues it is difficult to know which is Plato and which is Socrates. After they had been separated by death, Plato, in his fortieth year, travelled into Sicily. He there became acquaintdwith Dionysius I., the Tyrant of Syracuse. Owing to a difference of opinion about politics, for Plato was bold and free in his expressions about liberty, the tyrant threatened his life. Dion, his brother, interceded for him, and his life was saved; but he was ordered to be sold as a slave. He was bought by a friend, and immediately set at liberty.
Plato returned to Athens, and began to teach. Like his master, he taught without money and without price. It is not necessary to foloow his history. Suffice it to say, that he devoted himself to the inculcation of truth, morality, and duty. He divided the four cardinal virtues into (1) Prudence and wisdom; (2) Courage, constancy, and fortitude; (3) Temperance, discretion,and self-control; and (4) Justice and righteousness. He assumed this division of virtue as the basis of his moral philosophy. "let men of all ranks," he said, "whether they are successful or unsuccessful, whether they triumph or not - let them do their duty, and rest satisfied." What a lesson for future ages lies in these words!
Plato devoted the end of his days to the calm retirement of his Academy. The composition of the 'Dialogues,' which have been the admiration of posterity, was the cheering solace of his life, and especially of his declining years. He has been called the Divine Plato. His soul panted for truth. This alone, he said, should be man's great object. Like his master, he connected with Supreme Intelligence the attributes of goodness, justic, and wisdom, and the idea of direct interposition in human affairs. He disliked poetry as much as Carlyle. The only poetry he ever praises is moral poetry, which is in truth verified philosophy. Let it be remarked that he lived about foru hundred years before Christ. Coleridge speaks of him as the genuine prophet of the Christian Era; and Count de Maistre was accustomed to say of him, "Let us never leave a great question without having consulted Plato."
The New Testament gives a glorigied ideal of a possible human life; but hard are his labours who endeavours to keep that ideal uppermost in his mind. We feel that there is something else that we would like to do, much better than the thing that is incumbent upon us. But the Duty is there, and it must be done, without dreaming or idling. How much of the philosophy of moral health and happiness is involved in the injunction, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might." He that does his best, whatever his lot may be, is on the sure road of advancement.
It is related of one, who in the depths of his despair cried, "It is of no use to be good, for you cannot be good, and if you were, it would do you no good." It is hopeless, truthless, and faithless, thus to speak of the goodness of word and work. Each one ofus can do a little good in our own sphere of life. If we can do it, we are bound to do it. We haveno more right to render ourselves useless than to destroy ourselves.
We have to be faithful in small things as well as in great. We are required to make as good a use of our one talent as of the many talents that have been conferred upon us. We can follow the dictates of our conscience, and walk, though alone, in the paths of duty. We can be honest, truthful, diligent, were it only out of respect for one's self. We have to be faithful even to the end. Who is not struck with the answer of the slave, who, when asked by an intending purchaser, "Wilt thou be faithful if I buy thee?" "Yes," said the slave, "whether you buy me or not."
In the description of a sermon preached to the working classes by Dr. Macleod, in the Barony Church of Glasgow, it is said that he made a grand stand for Character. From the highest to the lowest that was the grand aim to be made. He said that "the most valuable thing that Prince Albert had left was character. He knew perfectly well that many very poor people thought it was impossible for them to have a Character. It was not true; he would not hear of it. There was not a man or woman before him, however poor they might be, but had it in their power, by the grace of God, to leave behind them the grandest thing on earth, Character; and their children might rise up after them and than God that their mother was a pious woman, or their father a pious man."
Character is made up of small duties faithfully performed - of self-denials, of self-sacrifices, of kindly acts of love and duty. The backbone of character is laid at home, and whether the constitutional tendencies to be good or bad, home influences will as a rule fan them into activity. "he that is faithful in little is faithful in much; and he that is unfaithful in little is unfaithful also in much." Kindness begets kindness, and truth and trust will bear a rich harvest of truth and trust. There are many little trivial acts of kindness which teach us more about a man's character than many vague phrases. These are easy to acquire, and their effects will last much longer than this very temporary life.
For no good thing is ever lost. Nothing dies, not even life, which gives up one form only to resume another. No good action, no good example, dies. It lives for ever in our race. While the frame moulders and disappears, the deed leaves an indelible stamp, and moulds the very thought and will of future generations. Time is not the measure of a noble work: the coming age will share our joy. A single virtuous action has elevated a whole village, a whole city, a whole nation. "The present moment," says Goethe, "is a powerful diety." Man's best products are his happy and sanctifying thoughts, which, when once formed and put in practice, extend their fertilizing influence for thousands of years, and from generation to generation. It is from small seeds dropped into the ground that the finest productions grow; and it is from the inborn dictates of Conscience and the inspired principle of Duty that the finest growths of Character have arisen. Thus sings Wordsworth of Duty:-
"Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace;
Nor know we anything so fair
As is the smile upon thy face;
Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,
And fragrance in thy footing treads;
Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong,
And the most ancient heavens, through Thee, are
fresh and strong." -
There's this movie bout some black american diver who lost a leg and didn't give up... Made the rank of master diver, first black to acheive it...
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Hello,Originally posted by wonderamazement:There's this movie bout some black american diver who lost a leg and didn't give up... Made the rank of master diver, first black to acheive it...
Thanks for the response.
Yes, I know what movie you talking about but I couldn't recalled this movie title and frankly I don't remember this actor's name either but I do recognised this black guy if I happen to see him on the screen. What I know he acted in movies like Instinct, acted as the Psychiatrist, and in Pearl Harbour he acted as a cook in Arizona Battleship and during the Japanese Pearl Harbour air attacked scene he managed to gun down a Zero down. He was commended for his courage. Well, being a Black man during that era serving in the U.S. Army or Navy wasn't easy. You either become a cook or a bat boy or serving the officers during dinner. They were not trained to handle weapons. However, later during the closing of WW2, the U.S. Army recruited many Black men and formed a battalion of Black U.S. infantry soldiers. They fought the Nazi in Europe. This also reminded me of a history of the American Civil War. The North Union Army recruited free Black men and escaped Slaves to fight the Confiderate Army in the South. And most of them were really proud of being accepted as men and not slaves.
Well, all these stories are true stories and I love to read books and watch movies that narated true stories because you can learn something from there and in fact you do get motivated and inspired when you come across such stories.
Thanks again for the movie highlight.
Joe -
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Hello Everyone,
Good Morning.
Today Saturday, I'm working but next week Saturday I'll have my alternate Saturday off. Probably next week I'll be visiting some hospitals in Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam to introduce to them about ER Ambulance Medical Evacuation Service.
Hope you all are happy today because it is Saturday, a day to look forward for some R & R, Entertainment and spending quality time with your family and loved ones.
I have a link appended below for you to take a look at it.
http://www.eightprinciples.com/
Have a good weekend everyone.
God Bless.
With Love,
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg -
Hello Everyone,
I have received this forwarded email from Marife in the Philippines. Thought I share it with you.
Thanks Marife.
With Love,
Joe
How do you know you're not INLOVE???
Love is the most powerful influence on earth but it
doesn't guarantee that everything will be perfect
and easy. It brings immense challenges, causes much
heartache and makes us do things beyond our natural
capabilities. Someone once said that love is one of
the simplest concepts; yet it may be one of the most
difficult undertakings."
FOR THOSE WHO ALREADY HAVE THEIR PARTNERS:
1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-8
"Love is patient."
1. You are not in love if you always complain about
your partners' personality; the way he/she dresses
up; if you can't endure his/her company when you go
out with your friends.
"Love is kind."
2. You are not in love if you always hurt the one
you're with; if you've become so insensitive and
inconsiderate about his/her feelings; if you've
become uncompassionate and beginning to care less of
him/her.
"Love is not jealous or boastful or arrogant or
rude."
3. You are not in love if you are jealous of your
partner's accomplishments; if you always spite
him/her for his/her advantages over you; or if you
are greedy enough not to share his/her time with
anyone.
4. You are not in love if you're always bragging
about how you're treating him/her - how you always
pay for the date's expenses, how you've always try
to solve the problems of your relationship or how
much you've given up for the sake of your "love" for
him/her.
5. You are not in love if you are always too proud
to admit that your partner is right and you are
wrong; if you don't want to accept your own faults
and always blame it to him/her; if you don't want to
accept help or advice from him/her; and if you
always think superior over your partner (remember a
relationship is a partnership).
6. You are not in love if you don't respect your
partner's decisions or suggestions, if you always
embarrass him or her in front of your relatives or
friends, if you tell people about his/her mistakes
(Remember that discretion is a big factor inbeing in
love.)
"It does not insist on its own way; it is not
irritable or resentful."
7. You are not in love if you always want your
partner to do the things you want.
8. You are not in love if you always get mad when
your partner seems to know more than you do or when
he/she is usually right about something, and if you
always disagree with him or her over little things.
9. You are not in love if you always feel offended
when people praise your partner; if you're piqued by
his/her behavior; and if you are not happy being
with him or her.
"It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in
the truth."
10. You are not in love if you always insist "wicked
ways to your partner (better get married first); if
you always stop him/her from spending time with
his/her family or friends; and if you lie to your
partner and if you try to hide something from
him/her.
11. You are not in love if you try to change your
partner - you have to love him/her the way he/she
is.
"It bears all things, believes all things, hope all
things, and endures all things."
12. You are not in love if you cannot put up with
your partner's shortcomings.
13. You are not in love if you don't trust your
partner.
14. You are not in love if you don't have any faith
in your partner.
15. You are not in love if you cannot suffer with
him or her in times of trials or troubles, if you
cannot commit yourself to him/her in good or times.
16. You are not in love if you don't share your
thoughts, your feelings or your dreams with your
partner.
"Love never ends."
17. You are not in love if you think your love for
your partner is starting to fade away.
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE "PROSPECTIVE" PARTNERS:
1. You are not in love if you only like that
person's looks his/her station in life his/her peers
and for his/her achievements.
2. You are not in love if you only like that person
because you have lots of things in common (although
it may start from there - it is still not a basis to
fall in love).
3. You are not in love if you only hope for some
romance to ease loneliness or so as not to be left
out by your peers.
4. You are not in love if you only want to show that
person to impress your friends.
5. You are not in love if you try to steal that
person from someone else that you even make up
stories to do so. Remember, love is not distractive.
6. You are not in love if you only want a person you
can easily control.
7. You are not in love if you suddenly feel
something for that person who just announced he/she
is going to get married - especially if it's your
best friend. It might just be a bout of selfishness
or possessiveness.
8. You are not in love if you only like that person
for what he/she can give you or for security
reasons.
9. You are not in love if you ask yourself "Do I
love him/her?" - you're already doubtful of your
feelings.
Note: You can't just rely on your own to know the
real thing. Remember, GOD IS LOVE. Through Him we
find love. Use your mind and heart and ask for God's
guidance. Then you will know how you really feel.
YOU'LL JUST KNOW!
"Much of our learning is intellectual. We absorb
facts and experiences. What we learn through
emotions and feelings is no less important. These
two modes of understanding are based in the mind and
heart. But enlightened discernment comes from
neither thought nor feelings alone. Only when we
turn our understanding to God can we understand
things that are spiritual."
Thanks and have a nice day!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Best Regards,
Marife -
Ok...this is the continuation of the book title 'DUTY'. Take your time reading it.
Thanks.
With Love,
Joe
http://www.er.com.sg
DUTY
by Samuel Smiles
Chapter Two
Duty In Action
He who has well considered his duty will at once carry his convictions into action. Our acts are the only things that are in our power. They are not only form the sum of our habits, but of our character.
At the same time, the course of duty is not always the easy course. It has many oppositions and difficulties to surmount. We may have the sagacity to see, but not the strength of purpose to do. To the irresolute there is many a lion in the way. He thinks and moralizes and dreams, but does nothing. "There is little to see," said a hard worker, "and little to do: it is only to do it."
There must not only be a conquest over likings and dislikings; but, what is harder to obtain, a triumph over adverse repute. The man whose first question, after a right course of action has presented itself, is "What will people say?" is not the man to do anything at all. But if he asks, "Is it my duty?" he can then proceed in his moral panoply, and be ready to incur men's censure, and even to brave their ridicule. "let us have faith in fine actions," says M. de la Cretelle, "and let us reserve doubt and incredulity for bad. It is even better to be deceived than to distrust."
Duty is first learned at home. The child comes into the world helpless and dependent on others for its health, nurture, and moral and physical development. The child at length imbibes ideas; under proper influences he learns to obey, to control himself, to be kind to others, to be dutiful and happy. He has a will of his own; but whether it be well or ill directed depends very much upon parental influences.
The habit of willing is called purpose; and, from what has been said, the importance of forming a right purpose early in life will be obvious. "Character," says Novalis, "is a completely fashioned will"; and the will, when once fashioned, may be steady and constant for life. When the true man, bent on good, holds by his purpose, he places but small value on the rewards or praises of the world; his own approving conscience, and the "well-done" which awaits him, is his best reward.
Will, considered without regard to direction, is simply constancy, firmness, perseverance. But it will be obvious, that unless the direction of the character be right, the strong will may be merely a power for mischief. In great tyrants it is a demon; with power to wield, it knows no bounds nor restraint. It holds millions subject to it; inflames their passions, excites them to military fury, and is never satisfied but in conquering, destroying, and tyrannizing. The boundless Will produces and Alexander or a Napoleon. Alexandra cried because there were no more kingdoms to conquer; and Buonaparte, after overrunning Europe, spent this force amidst the snows of Russia. "Conquest has made me," he said, "and conquest must maintain me." But he was a man of no moral principle, and Europe cast him aside when his work of destruction was done.
The strong Will, allied to right motives, is as full of blessings as the other is of mischief. The man thus influenced moves and inflames the minds and consciences of others. He bends them to his views of duty, carries them with him in his endeavours to secure worthy objects, and directs opinion to the suppression of wrong and the establishment of right. The man of strong will stamps power upon his actions. His energetic perseverance becomes habitual, society in which he lives, and even to the nation in which he is born. He is a joy to the timid, and a perpetual reproach to the sluggard. He sets the former on their feet by giving them hope. He may even inspire the latter to good deeds by the influence of his example. Tennyson hits the mark in the following words:-
"O living Will, that shalt endure
When all that seems shall suffer shock,
Rise in the spiritual rock,
Flow through our deeds and make them pure
That we may lift from out of dust,
A voice as unto him that hears,
A cry above the conquered years,
To one that with us works, and trust,
With faith that comes of self-control,
The truths that never can be proved,
Until we close with all we loved,
And all we flow from, soul in soul."
Besides the men of strong bad wills and strong good wills, there is a far larger number who have very weak wills, or no wills at all. They are characterless. They have no strong will for vice, yet they have none for virtue. They are the passive recipients of impressions, which, however, take no hold of them. They seem to go neither forward nor backward. As the wind blows, so their vane turns round; and when the wind blows from another quarter, it turns around again. Any instrument can write on such spirits; and will can govern theirs. They cherish no truth strongly, and do not know what earnestness is. Such persons constitute the mass of society everywhere - the careless, the passive, the submissive, the feeble, and the indifferent.
It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that attention should be directed to the improvement and strengthening of the Will; for without this there can be neither independence, nor firmness, nor individuality of character. Without it we cannot give truth its proper force, nor morals their proper direction, nor save ourselves from being machines in the hands of worthless and designing men. Intellectual cultivation will not give decision of character. Philosophers discuss; decisive men act. "Not to resolve," says Bacon, "is to resolve" - that is, to do nothing.
"The right time," says Locke, "to educate the Will aright is in youth. There is a certain season when our minds may be enlarged, when a vast stock of useful truths may be acquired; when our passions will readily submit to the government of reason; when right principles may be so fixed in us as to influence every important action in our future lives. But the season for this extends neither to the whole nor to any considerable length of our continuance upon earth. It is limited to but a few years of our term; and if throughout these we neglect it, error or ignorance is, according the ordinary course of things, entailed upon us. Out Will becomes our law; and our lusts gain a strength which we afterwards vainly oppose."
The first Lord Shaftesbury, in a conversation with Locke, broached a theory of character and conduct which threw a light upon his own. He said that wisdom lay in the heart and not in the head, and that it was not the want of knowledge but the perverseness of will that filled men's actions with folly and their lives with disorder. Mere knowledge does not give vigour to character. A man may reason too much. He may weigh the thousand probabilities on either side, and come to no action, no decision. Knowledge is this a check upon action. The Will must act in the light of the spirit and the understanding, and the soul then springs into full life and action.
Men cannot be raised in masses, as the mountains were in the early geological states of the world. They must be dealt with as units; for it is only by the elevation of individuals that the elevation of the masses can be effectually secured. Teachers and preachers may influence them from without, but the main action comes from within. Individual men must exert themselves and help themselves, otherwise they never can be effectually helped by others. "As habits belonging to the body," says Dr. Butler, "are produced by external acts, so habits of the mind are produced by the exertion of inward practical purposes - by carrying them into action or acting upon them - the principles of obedience, of veracity, justice, and charity."
There is little or no connexion between school teaching and morality. Mere cultivation of the intellect has hardly any influence upon conduct. Creeds posted upon the memory will not eradicate vicious propensities. The intellect is merely an instrument, which is moved and worked by forces behind it - by emotions, by self-restraint, by self-control, by imagination, by enthusiasm, by everything that give force and energy to the character. The most of these principles are implanted at home, and not at school. Where the home is miserable, worthless, and unprincipled - a place rather to be avoided than entered - then school is the only place for learning obedience and discipline. At the same time, home is the true soil where virtue grows. The events of the household are more near and affecting to us than those of the school and the academy. It is in the study of the home that the true character and hopes of the times are to be consulted.
To train up their households is the business of the old; to obey their parents and to grow in wisdom is the business of the young. Education is a work of authority and respect. Christianity, according to Guizot, is the greatest school of respect that the world has ever seen. Religious instruction alone imparts the spirit of self-sacrifice, great virtues and lofty thoughts. It penetrates to the conscience, and makes life bearable without a murmur against the mystery of human conditions.
"The great end of training," says a great writer, "is liberty; and the sooner you can get a child to be a law unto himself, the sooner you will make a man of him." "I will respect human liberty," said Monseigneur Dupanloup, "in the smallest child even more scrupulously than in a grown man; for the latter can defend it against me, while the child cannot. Never will I insult so far as to regard him as material to be cast into a mould, to emerge with the stamp given by my will."
Paternal authority and family independence is a sacred domain; and, if momentarily obscured in troublous times, Christian sentiment protests and resists until it regains its authority. But liberty is not all that should be struggled for; obedience, self-restraint, and self-government are the conditions to be chiefly aimed at. The latter is the principal end of education. It is not imparted by teaching, but by example. The first instruction for youth, says Bonald, consists in habits, not in reasonings, in examples rather than in direct lessons. Example preaches better than precept, and that too because it is so much more difficult. At the same time, the best influences grow slowly and in a gradual correspondence with human needs.
To act rightly, then, is the safety-valve of our moral nature. Goodwill is not enough; it does not always produce good deeds. Persevering action does most. What is done with diligence and toil imparts to the spectator a silent force, of which we cannot say how far it may reach. The Rev. Canon Liddon, in his lecture to young men at St. Paul's Cathedral, made an eloquent allusion to Work as the true end of life. "The life of man," he said, "is made up of action and endurance, and life is fruitful in the ratio in which it is laid out in noble action or in patient perseverance. But the physical workers are not the only true workers. The lives of thought do not lie outside this division, for true thought is undemonstrative action.... To pass life in indolence, in a state of moral coma, is degrading, for life is only ennobled by work."
Noble work is the true educator. Idleness is a thorough demoralizer of body, soul, and conscience. Nine-tenths of the vices and miseries of the world proceed from idleness. Without work, there can be no active progress in human welfare. No more insufferable misery can be conceived than that which must follow incommunicable privileges. Imagine an idle man condemned to perpetual youth, while all around him decay and die. How sincerely would he call upon death for deliverance! "The weakest living creature," says Carlyle, "by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something; whereas the strongest, by dispersing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything.
Have we difficulties to contend with? Then work through them. No exorcism charms like labour. Idleness of mind and body resembles rust. It wears more than work. "I would rather work out than rust out," said a noble worker. Schiller said that he found the greatest happiness in life to consist in the performance of some mechanical duty. He was also of opinion that "the sense of beauty never furthered the performance of a single duty." The highest order of being is that which loses sight in resolution, and feeling in work.
The greatest of difficulties often lie where we are not looking for them. When painful events occur, they are, perhaps, sent only to try and prove us. If we stand firm in our hour of trial, the firmness gives serenity to the mind, which always feels satisfaction in acting conformably to duty. "The battles of the wilderness," said Norman Macleod, "are the sore battles of everday life. Their giants are our giants, their sorrows our sorrows, their defeats and victories ours also. As they had honours defeats, and victories, so have we."
The school of difficulty is the best school of moral discipline. When difficulties have to be encountered, they must be met with courage and cheerfulness. Did not Aristotle say that happiness is not so much in our objects as in our energies? Grappling with difficulties is the surest way of overcoming them. The determination to realize an object is the moral cultivation that we can and will accomplish it. Our wits are sharpened by our necessity, and the individual man stands forth to meet and overcome the difficulties which stand in his way.
The memoirs of men who have thrown their opportunities away, would constitute a painful but a memorable volume for the world's instruction. "No strong man, in good health," says Ebenezer Elliott, "can be neglected, if he be true to himself. For the benefit of the young, I wish we had a correct account of the number of persons who fail of success, in a thousand who resolutely strive to do well. I do not think it exceeds one per cent." Men grudge success, but it is only the last term of what looked like a series of failures. They failed at first, then again and again, but at last their difficulties vanished, and success was achieved.
The desire to possess, without being burdened with the trouble of acquiring, is a great sign of weakness and laziness. Everything that is worth enjoying or possessing can only be got by the pleasure of working. This is the great secret of practical strength. "One may very distinctly prefer industry to indolence, the healthful exercise of all one's faculties to allowing them to rest unused in drowsy torpor. In the long run we shall probably find that the exercise of the faculties has of itself been the source of a more genuine happiness than has followed the actual attainment of what the exercise was directed to procure."
It has been said of a great judge that he never threw a legitimate opportunity away, but that he never condescended to avail himself of one that was unlawful. What he had to do, at any period of his career, was done with his whole heart and soul. If failure should result from his labours, self-reproach could not affect him, for he had tried to do his best.
We must work, trusting that some of the good seed we throw into the ground will take root and spring up into deeds of well-doing. What man begins for himself, God finishes for others. Indeed we can finish nothing. Others begin where we leave off, and carry on our work to a stage nearer perfection. We have to bequeath to those who come after us a noble design, worthy of imitation. Well done, well doing, and well to do, are inseparable conditions that reach through all the ages of eternity.
Very few people can realize the idea that they are of no use in the world. The fact of their existence implies the necessity for their existence. The world is before them. They have their choice of good and evil - of usefulness and idleness. What have they done with their time and means? Have they shown the world that their existence has been of any use whatever? Have they made any one the better because of their life? Has their career been a mere matter of idleness and selfishness, of laziness and indifference? Have they been seeking pleasure? Pleasure flies before idleness. Happiness is out of the reach of laziness. Pleasure and happiness are the fruits of work and labour, never of carelessness and indifference.
An unfortunate young man, who felt that his life was of no use whatever in this world, determined publicly to put an end to it. The event occurred at Capron, Illinois, United States. The man had cultivated his intellect, but nothing more. He had no idea of duty, virtue, or religion. Being a materialist, he feared no hereafter. He advertised that he would giva a lecture, and then shoot himself through the head. The admission to the lecture and the sensational conclusion was a dollar a head. The amount realized was to be appropriated partly to his funeral expenses, and the rest was to be invested in purchasing the works of three London materialists, which were to be placed in the town library. The hall was crowded. A considerable sum of money was realized. After he had concluded his lecture he drew his Derringer and shot his brains out according to his promise. What a conclusion of earthly life - rushing red-handed into the presence of his God! The event occurred in August 1868.
Perhaps this horrible deed was the result of vanity, or perhaps to make a sensation. His name would be in the papers. Everybody would be shouting about his courage. But it was cowardice, far more than courage. It must have been disappointed vanity. Sheridan once said, "They talk of avarice, lust, ambition, as great passions. It is a mistake; they are little passions. Vanity is the great commanding passion of all. This excites the most heroic deeds, and impels to the most dreadful crimes. Save me from this passion, and I can defy the others. They are mere urchins, but this is a giant."
A resolute will is needed not only for the performance of difficult duties, but in order to go promptly, energetically, and with self-possession, through the thousand difficult things which come in almost everybody's way. Thus courage is as necessary as integrity in the performance of duty. The force may seem small which is needed to carry one cheerfully through any of these things singly, but to encounter one by one the crowding aggregate, and never to be taken by surprise, or thrown out of temper, is one of the last attainments of the human spirit.
Every generation has to bear its own burden, to weather its peculiar perils, to pass through its manifold trials. We are daily exposed to temptations, whether it be of idleness, self-indulgence, or vice. The feeling of duty and the power of courage must resist these things at whatever sacrifice of worldly interest. When virtue has thus become a daily habit, we become possessed of an individual character prepared for fulfilling, in a great measure, the ends for which we were created.
How much is lost to the world for want of a little courage! We have the willingness to do, but we fail to do it. The state of the world is such, and so much depends on action, that everything seems to say loudly to every man, "Do something; do it, do it." The poor country parson, fighting against evil in his parish, against wrong-doing, injustice, and iniquiity, has nobler ideas of duty than Alexander the Great ever had. Some men are mere apologies for workers, even when they pretend to be up and at it. They stand shivering on the brink, and have not the courage to plunge in. Every day sends to the grave a number of obscure men, who, if they had had the courage to begin, would, in all probability, have gone great lengths in the career of well-doing.
Professor Wilson, of Edinburgh, in teaching his students, always puts foremost the sense of duty; moreover, of duty in action. His lectures deeply influenced the characters of those who listened to him. He sent them forth to fight the battle of life valiantly; like the old Danish hero, - "to dare nobly, to will strongly, and never to falter in the path of duty." Such was his creed.*
(* When he was canvassing the members of the Town Council of Edinburgh for their votes, one of them said to him - "I wad like to gie ye ma vote, Mr. Wulson; but I'm feared. They say ye dunna expect to be saved by grace." "I don't know much about that Bailie; but if I am not saved by grace, I am sure that my works won't save me." "That'll do, that'll do; I'se gie you my vote." )
There is a great deal of trimming in the world, for the most part arising from the want of courage. When Luther said to Erasmus, "You desire to walk upon eggs without crushing them, and among glasses without breaking them," the timorous, hesitating Eramus replied, "I will not be unfaithful to the cause of Christ, at least so far as the age will permit me." Luther was of a very different character: "I will go to Worms though devils were combined against me as thick as the tiles upon the house-tops." Or like St. Pau: "I am ready, not only to be bound, but to die at Jerusalem."
Sir Alexander Burnes said, "One trait of my character is thorough seriousness. I am indifferent about nothing that I undertake. In fact, if I undertake to do a thing, I cannot be indifferent." This makes all the difference between a strong man and a weak man. The brave men are often killed, the talkers are left behind, the cowards run away. Deeds show what we are, words only what we should be. Every moment of a working life may be a decisive victory.
The Pessimists say that work, or the necessity for work, is the enemy of man. On the other hand, M. Caro says: "An irresistible instinct carries man towards action, and through action towards some unforeseen pleasure, or expected happiness, or imposed duty. This irresistible instinct is nothing less than the instinct of life itself: it explains and sums it up. In the very moment in which it develops the sentiment of being within us, it measures the true worth of being.... There are the pure joys, which lie in a long sustained effort in the face of obstables towards a triumphant end; of an energy first mistress of itself and then of life, without in subduing the bad wills of men, or in triumphing over the difficulties of science, or the resistances of art - of Work, in short, the true friend and consoler of man, which raises him above all his weaknesses, purifies and ennobled him, saves him from vulgar temptation, and helps him to bear his burden through days of sadness, and before which even the deepest griefs give way for a time. In reality, when it has overcome the first weariness and distaste, it may inspire. Work itself, apart from all results, is one of the most lively pleasures. To treat it, with the Pessimists, as an enemy, is to misconceive the very idea of pleasure. For the workman to see his work growing under his hand or in his thought, to identify himself with it, as Aristotle said (Ethic iv.7), - whether it be the labourer with his harvest, or the architect with his house, or the sculptor with his statue, - whether it be a poem or a book, it matters not.
"The joy of creation more than returns all the pains of labour; and, as the conscious labour against external obstacles is the first joy of awakening life, so the completed work is the most intense of pleasures, bringing to full birth in us the sense of personality, and consecrating our triumph, if only partial and mementary, over nature, Such is the true character of effor or will in action."*
(* 'Le Pessimisme au XIX. Siecle.' Par E. Caro. Paris, 1877.)
A man is a miracle of genius because he has been a miracle of labour. Strength can conquer circumstances. The principle of action is too powerful for any circumstances to resist. It clears the way, and elevates itself above every object, above fortune and misfortune, good and evil. The joys that come to us in this world are but to strengthen us for some greater labour that is to succeed. man's wisdom appears in his actions; for every man is the son of his own work. Richter says that "good deeds ring clear through heaven like a bell."
Active and sympathetic contact with man in the transactions of daily life is a better preparation for healthy robust action than any amount of meditation and seclusion. What Swedenborg said about vowing poverty and retiring from the world in order to live more to heaven, seems reasonable and true. "The life that leads to heaven," he said, "is not a life of retirement from the world, but of action in the world. A life of charity, which consists in acting sincerely and justly in every enjoyment and work, in obedience to the Divine law, is not difficult; but a life of piety alone is difficult, and it leads away from heaven as much as it is commonly believed to lead to it."
With many people, religion is merely a matter of words. So far as words go, we do what we think right. But the words rarely lead to action, thought, and conduct, or to purity, goodness, and honesty. There is too much playing at religion, and too little of enthusiatic hard work. There is a great deal of reading about religion; but true religion, embodied in human character and action, is more instructive than a thousand doctrinal volumes. If a man possesses not a living and strong will that leads the way to good, he will either become a plaything of sensual desires, or pass a life of shameless indolence.
And yet we have plenty of intellect, but no faith; plenty of knowledge, but no wisdom; plenty of "culture," but no lovingkindness. A nation may possess refinement, and possess nothing else. Knowledge and wisdom, so far from being one, have often no connection with each other. It may be doubted whether erudition tends to promote wisdom or goodness. Fenelon says it is better to be a good living book than to love good books. A multifarious reading may please, but does not feed the mind. St. Anselm said that "God often works more by the life of the illiterate, seeking the things which are God's, than by the ability of the learned seeking the things that are their own."
Here is the portrait which a great French writer has drawn of his contmeporaries: "What do you perceive on all sides but a profound indifference as to creeds and duties, with an ardour of pleasure and for gold, which can procure everything you desire? Everything can be bought - conscience, honour, religion, opinions, dignities, power, consideration, respect itself; vast shipwrecks of all truths and of all virtues! All philosophical theories, all the doctrines of impiety, have dissolved themselves and disappeared in the devouring system of indifference, the actual tomb of the understanding, into which it goes down alone, naked, equally stript of truth and error; an empty sepulchre, where one cannot find even bones."
We are, however, to be redeemed by "Culture." Thuis is a word* of German origin. Many worship "culture." It is their only religion. It is intellectual cynicism and scepticism, with a varnish of refinement. The persons who profess to live in an atmosphere of exquisite superiority, like that represented by Moliere in 'Les Precieuses Ridicules.' Nil admirari is their motto. They sneer at the old-fashioned virtues of industry and self-denial, energy and self-help. Theirs is a mere creed of chilling negations, in which there is nothing to admire, nothing to hope for. They are sceptics in everything - doing no work themselves, but denying the works of others. They are their own little gods.
(* Another curious word has come up of late - that of Philistine. Leslie Stephen says that it is a term of abuse given by prigs to the rest of their species. Schopenhauer gives another definition. "A Philistine," he says, "has no spiritual wants, and it follows that he can have no spiritual pleasures, for the saying is true, 'Il n'est de vrais plaisirs, qu'avec de vrais besoins,' no longing for science or insight for its own sake. No enjoyment of art can animate his drear existence. His pleasures are sensual. The end of his life is to add to the number of his physical comforts." )
Goethe was the inventor of geist or culture. But the poems of Goethe bring forth no deeds like those of Schiller. The works of Goethe are childless. He was a man who traded in the loves of women - women whom he had attached to him by his powers of fascination. "When he had no woman in his head," says his biographer, "he was like a dissecting surgeon without a subject. He said of Balzac, that each of his best novels seemed dug out of a suffering woman's heart. Balzac might have returned the compliment. In reference to his early fondness for natural history, Goethe says: 'I remember that when a child I pulled flowers to peices to see how the petals were inserted into the calyx, or even plucked birds to observe how the feathers were inserted in the wings.' Bettina remarked to Lord Houghton that he treated women in much the same fashion. All his loves, high and low, were subjected to this kind of vivisection. His powers of fascination were extraordinary; and if, for the purposes of art, he wanted a display of strong emotion, he deepened the passion without scruple or compunction - like the painter engaged on a picture of Christ on the Cross, who, to produce the required expression of physical agony in the model, thrust a spear into his side. The capacity for minute observations, under such circumstances, implies comparative coldness; and we can fancy Goethe, like the hero in 'L'Homme Blase,' marking, with finger on pulse, when the required degree of excitement had been reached, and taking good care to stop short of fever heat.... Goethe tells us frankly that he turned everything in the way of adventure or love-affair to account; and that he regarded all that befell him with his female acquaintance from the aesthetic point of view, and found that the most instructive palliative for a mishap or a disappointment was to write about it."*
(* Goethe,' by A. Hayward, Q.C. )
Oh the vain pride of mere intellectual ability! How worthless, how contemptible, when contrasted with the riches of the heart. What is the understanding of the hard dry capacity of the brain and body? A mere dead skeleton of opinions, a few dry bones tied up together, if there be not a soul to add moisture and life, substance and reality, truth and joy. Every one will remember the modest saying of Newton - perhaps the greatest man who ever lived - the discoverer of the method of Fluxions, the theory of universal gravitation, and the decomposition fo light, - that he felt himself but as a child playing by the sea-shore, while the immense ocean of truth lay all unexplored before him! Have we any philosophers who will make such a confession now?
"There are truths," said the Count de Maistre, "which man can only attain by the spirit of his heart. A good man is often astonished to find persons of great ability resist proofs which appear clear to him. These persons are deficient in a certain faculty; that is the true meaning. When the cleverest man does not possess a sense of religion, we cannot only not conquer him, but we have not even the means of making him understand us." Again, Sir Humphry Davy said, "Reason is often a dead weight in life, destroying feeling, and substituting for principle only calculation and caution."
But the widest field of duty lies outside the line of literature and books. Men are social beings more than intellectual creatures. The best part of human cultivation is derived from social contact; hence courtesy, self-respect, mutual toleration, and self-sacrifice for the good of others. Experience of men is wider than literature. Life is a book which lasts one's lifetime, but it requires wisdom to understand its difficult pages.
"In our days," says Lady Verney, "there is an indissoluble connection between the ideas of cultivation and reading and writing. It is now only the ignorant and stupid who cannot do both. But fifty years ago, books, except in the highest education, were the exception, and very clever men and women thought out their own thoughts, with very little assistance from anything beyond the Testament. Even among the upper classes reading was not very common among women. ' My grandmother could hardly spell when she wrote, and she read nothing but her livre d'heures,' said a Frenchman who was well able to judge, ' but she was far more worthy and wise than women are now.' "
In the old times, boys had duty placed before them as an incentive. To fail was to disgrace one's self, and to succeed was merely to do one's duty. "As for the dream," said Hugh Miller, "that there is to be some extraordinary elevation of the general platform of the human race achieved by means of education, it is simply the hallucination of the age - the world's present alchemical expedient for converting farthings into guineas, sheerly by dint of scouring."
After all, the best school of discipline is home. Family life is God's own method of training the young. And homes are very much as women make them. "The hope of France," said the Bishop of Orleans, "as in her mothers." It is the same with England. But alas! we are distracted by the outcries of women who protest against their womanhood, and wildly strain to throw off their most lovable characteristics. They want power - political power - and yet the world is entirely what their home influence has made it. They believed in the potentiality of votes, and desire to be "enfranchised." But do they really believe that the world would be better than it is if they had the privilege of giving a vote once in three or five years for a parliamentary representative? St. Paul gave the palm to the women who were stayers and workers at home, for he recognized that home is the crystal of society, and that domestic love and duty are the best security for all that is most dear to us on earth.
A recent writer, after describing the qualities which ought to characterize a woman's nature, says, "One might almost fear, seeing how the women of to-da are lightly stirred up to run after some new fashion or faith or of works, that heaven is not so near to them as it was to their mothers and grandmothers; that religion is a feeble power with them; that their hearts are empty of all secure trust and high faith in the beneficence of God's ordinations." The writer is herself a woman.
Before the recent Franco-Prussian War, Baron Stoffel was deputed to report upon the state of opinion and morals in Prussia, as compared with France. In the course of his remarks, he says, "Discipline in the army depends on the discipline of society and private families. The young men in Prussia are trained to general obedience, to respect authority, and above all, to do their Duty. But how can this discipline exist in the French army, when it does not exist in French families? Moreover, look beyond the family circle, at Iycees, schools, colleges, etc. - is anything done to develop among the children respect for their parents, regard for duty, obedience to authority and the law, and above all, belief in God? Nothing, or next to nothing! The consequence is, that every year we introduce into the army a contingent of young men who, for the most part, are entirely devoid of religious principles and sound morality, and who, from their childhood, have been used to obey no one, to discuss everything, and to respect nothing. And yet there are people who pretend that all at once we can, as soon as they get into the army, inure to discipline these undisciplined and unprincipled youths. These people do not suspect that discipline in the army is nothing but discipline in private life - that is, sense of duty, obedience to appointed superiors, respect for the principles of authority and established institutions....Artificial discipline once established may last a little time under the pressure of circumstances; but be sure that it will vanish into thin air the moment it is put to the real test." It need scarcely be said that in these words Baron Stoffel proved a true prophet.
What spectacle can be sadder than to see men, and even women, passing their lives in theorizing and gossiping over the great principles which their forefathers really believed; and by believing which, they secured for their generation the gifts of faith, of goodness, and of well-doing? There are two thoughts, which, if once admitted to the mind, change our whole course of life - the belief that this world is but the vestibule of an endless state of being, and the thought of Him in whom man lives here, or shall live hereafter. We each have the choice of following good or following evil. Who shall say which shall prove the mightier? It depends upon ourselves - on our awakened conscience and enlightened will. Troubles and sorrows may have to be encountered in performing our various duties. But these have to be done, and done cheerfully, because it is the will of God. Good actions give strength to ourselves, and inspire good actions in others. They prove treasures guarded for the doer's need. Let us therefore strengthen our mind, and brace up our soul, and prepare our heart for the future. The race is for Life.