Living the Radiant Life: A Personal NarrativeJames, George Wharton
Religion
Living the Radiant Life: A Personal Narrative
James, George Wharton
Conduct of life
There are three things I wish to radiate as to my own will. We speak of
men being self-willed, strong-willed, weak-willed, and the like, but at
the outset I wish to radiate my desire to be "Divine-willed." By this I
mean I wish to recognize the world-wide--nay, the
universe-wide--difference between the great, all-powerful, all-wise,
all-beneficent, all-harmonious _will_ of the Great Creator, and the
oftentimes foolish, weak, wavering, irresponsible, ignorant, mistaken
will of the human being. Every real man and woman wishes his, her, life
to be a useful life, a life that accomplishes something, and that
something must be "worth while." It is essential, however, if one would
accomplish this that he start right. Now, here is the crucial
question--How can you know that you are right? The answer to this
question is what I would put into every young man's and young woman's
heart--into every boy's and girl's heart--so that, at the start, he,
she, may be sure a right start is being made. _The only sure way is to
drop your own will and become "Divine-willed."_ This by no means
signifies that you become a nobody, a cipher, an insignificant ant in
the world. It is just the reverse. It is allying yourself with the
right, the only right, the perfect right, the unchangeable right.
Suppose the case that a man starts out in life with the determination to
be self-willed about the multiplication table. He insists upon his
freedom, his individuality, his self-will, and refuses to be tied to any
table made by any one else, be that one God, angel, or man. Who cannot
see that such a man is a fool? It is impossible to reject, to "buck
against" the multiplication table. Every man, sooner or later, has to
swallow it, accept it wholly, completely, unreservedly, live by it,
swear by it, die by it, and more than that he has to do it gladly,
willingly, or it can never be a real part of himself. If he is all the
time protesting against it, and declaring that it ought to be changed or
abolished, or not quite so dogmatic in its assertions, he will all the
time be worried, distressed, irritated, because it pays no attention to
his wishes. Two times two make four, no matter who kicks, or is
irritated, or wishes it to be changed, and so with every other statement
of the whole table.
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account