A Fleece of Gold; Five Lessons from the Fable of Jason and the Golden Fleece — John Shaqi
A Fleece of Gold; Five Lessons from the Fable of Jason and the Golden FleeceGiven, Charles Stewart
Philosophy
A Fleece of Gold; Five Lessons from the Fable of Jason and the Golden Fleece
Given, Charles Stewart
Conduct of life; Jason -- (Mythological character); Success
Moreover, the law of your growth is contingent upon the exercise of these
faculties. The brain is the judicial function and the hand the executive.
Together these two powers qualify you for the master-workman. If you allow
them to exist in the passive sense, you become an apathetic segment in
the midst of a great world pulsing with life around you. You merely add
one to the population, instead of counting for a potential and energizing
influence. If you lift the weight of a clock the smallest fraction of an
inch, the mechanism will cease to operate. And the relaxation of your will
from the great obligation of life will cause your powers to atrophy and
improperly to perform their work. With Browning, "Man was made to grow,
not stop."
Activity and not atrophy is the law of life. Action is the expression of
that vital force called energy, and energy moves the world. The keynote of
the natural world is action: the earth revolves, the river moves in its
course, the tempest rages, the mountain acts from volcanic phenomena,
vegetation grows, etc. In every tiny seed lies concealed this mysterious
force--only a spark of life which, encouraged by nature, springs into a
waving harvest.
This very quality is synonymous with the reality of life. The human mind
ostensibly has an aversion to lifelessness. We turn instinctively from
the dead and withered branch to the blossoming flower; from the stagnant
pool to the dashing cataract, and every healthy mind finds delight in
such terms as vim, vigor, energy, and activity, which are the chief
natural characteristics of the human hand. Demosthenes on being asked
what is the first element in oratory, replied, "Action:" when asked to
state the second element, he replied "Action," and when questioned as to
the third, he made the same reply. Action, first, last, and all the time,
is the great principle of life and progress. Without it the most perfect
engine, gigantic in proportions and costly in equipment, is a dead
thing, valueless as the formless mass of ore it once was. But that
marvelous product of man's hand and brain, plus steam, becomes a
veritable giant of power.
Now this same law applies in relation to our bodies in general. Action is
an essential as seen in the beating heart, the throbbing pulse, the
coursing blood, and various other functions. In fact, the body is the
engine that runs the machinery of our lives. Generating energy and storing
it up, it gives impetus to all that we achieve. With all its mysteries,
beauty, and strength, this human organism is worthless, a burden to
society unless vitalized with that majestic force that makes man
industrious.
In the words of a great man, "Nature fits all her children with something
to do." The first man on earth was a gardener. Milton hears Adam
conversing with Eve thus:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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