Happiness as Found in Forethought Minus FearthoughtFletcher, Horace
Philosophy
Happiness as Found in Forethought Minus Fearthought
Fletcher, Horace
Fear; Happiness
It is even looked upon now as a curiosity--a relic of antiquity--to
hear the old fears given expression from the pulpit, but root
eradication of them is not yet insisted upon as the first and most
important teaching, as it should be. It is a common thing now, also,
to hear altruistic teaching and optimistic preaching from the pulpits
of all denominations, and to hear from the teachers and preachers the
assurance that "it is easier than not and more profitable in every way
to be unselfish and not to tolerate evil," the new good suggestion of
which, is the inspiring assertion that, "_it is easier than not_."
It would be a rare thing now to find a religious teacher of
intelligence who would not agree with the assertion that, when a
person is angry, he cannot be, at the moment, a Christian, for being
angry is as unchristian as profanity. The same condemnation applies to
worry, which is especially commanded against, and which, in the light
of the observed promises of God as expressed by the preponderance of
the prevalence of good, is not less than blasphemous in its exhibition
of lack of confidence in, and appreciation of, the Giver of All Good.
A most helpful thought in connection with the easy subjugation of the
_animalesque_ expressions of fearthought is, that they are not inherent
things, and that they are imported whenever suffered. The tendency to
import is inherent, and the _tendency_ to entertain evil is the shadow
of past error in the race which is called race-habit-of-thought, and it
is that which has to be replaced by right-habit-of-thought before one
is entirely free, but tendency is easily overcome when its parents are
discredited and made not-respectable thereby.
The spiritual awakening of the present era that is reclaiming
Christianity from the supernatural, or unnatural, and applying it to
everyday affairs, may be called practical or business Christianity.
A business man who has an occupation wherein it is possible for him
to be altruistic, after reading the theory that is the contention of
_Menticulture_, wrote a commentary in which he said: "On these precepts
not only 'hang all of the law and the prophets,' but, also, common
business sense and _all of the profits_."
As an illustration of the difference between eradication (or
filtration) and repression (or gradual dilution or reform) I will cite
a common example: Suppose a vessel to be filled with muddy water which
we wish to make clear, so that it will perfectly reflect the ether
above, which we call the sky; the easy and effective method is first
to pass the water through a filter and thereafter to protect it from
contamination. On the contrary, the difficult, expensive, endless and,
therefore ineffective method is to pour unlimited clear water into the
vessel, in order to gradually replace the muddy water with the excess
of pure water.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account