Self-Control, Its Kingship and Majesty — John Shaqi
Self-Control, Its Kingship and MajestyJordan, William George
Philosophy
Self-Control, Its Kingship and Majesty
Jordan, William George
Conduct of life; Self-control
Upon this life-plan, this foundation, man may erect any superstructure
of religion or philosophy that he conscientiously can erect; he should
add to his equipment for living every shred of strength and inspiration,
moral, mental, or spiritual that is in his power to secure.
This simple working faith is opposed to no creed, is a substitute for
none; it is but a primary belief, a citadel, a refuge where the
individual can retire for strength when the battle of life grows hard.
A mere theory of life, that remains but a theory, is about as useful to
a man as a gilt-edged menu is to a starving sailor on a raft in
mid-ocean. It is irritating but not stimulating. No rule for higher
living will help a man in the slightest, until he reach out and
appropriate it for himself, until he make it practical in his daily
life, until that seed of theory in his mind blossom into a thousand
flowers of thought and word and act.
If a man honestly seek to live his best at all times, that determination
is visible in every moment of his living, and no trifle in his life can
be too insignificant to reflect his principle of living. The sun
illuminates and beautifies a fallen leaf by the roadside as impartially
as a towering mountain peak in the Alps. Every drop of water in the
ocean is an epitome of the chemistry of the whole ocean; every drop is
subject to precisely the same laws as dominate the united infinity of
billions of drops that make that miracle of Nature, men call the Sea. No
matter how humble the calling of the individual, how uninteresting and
dull the round of his duties, he should do his best. He should dignify
what he is doing by the mind he puts into it, he should vitalize what
little he has of power or energy or ability or opportunity, in order to
prepare himself to be equal to higher privileges when they come. This
will never lead man to that weak content that is satisfied with whatever
falls to his lot. It will rather fill his mind with that divine
discontent that cheerfully accepts the best—merely as a temporary
substitute for something better.
The man who is seeking ever to do his best is the man who is keen,
active, wide-awake, and aggressive. He is ever watchful of himself in
trifles; his standard is not “What will the world say?” but “Is it
worthy of me?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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