What All The World's A-Seeking: The Vital Law of True Life, True Greatness Power and HappinessTrine, Ralph Waldo
Religion
What All The World's A-Seeking: The Vital Law of True Life, True Greatness Power and Happiness
Trine, Ralph Waldo
Character; Christian life; Conduct of life
"And the voice that was calmer than silence said,
'Lo, it is I, be not afraid!
In many climes, without avail,
Thou hast spent thy life for the Holy Grail;
Behold, it is here,--this cup which thou
Didst fill at the streamlet for me but now;
This crust is my body broken for thee,
This water His blood that died on the tree;
The Holy Supper is kept, indeed,
In whatso we share with another's need;
Not what we give, but what we _share_,--
For the gift without the giver is bare;
Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,--
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.'"
The fear is sometimes entertained, and the question is sometimes asked,
May not adherence to this principle of helpfulness and service become
mere sentimentalism? or still more, may it not be the means of lessening
another's sense of self-dependence, and thus may it not at times do more
harm than good? In reply let it be said: If the love which impels it be
a selfish love, or a weak sentimental ism, or an effort at show, or
devoid of good common sense, yes, many times. But if it be a strong,
genuine, unselfish love, then no, never. For, if my love for my
fellow-man be the true love, I can never do anything that will be to his
or any one's else detriment,--nothing that will not redound to his
highest ultimate welfare. Should he, for example come and ask of me a
particular favor, and were it clear to me that granting it would not be
for his highest good ultimately, then love at once resolves itself into
duty, and compels me to forbear. A true, genuine, unselfish love for
one's fellow-man will never prompt, and much less permit, anything that
will not result in his highest ultimate good. Adherence, therefore, to
this great principle in its truest sense, instead of being a weak
sentimentalism, is, we shall find, of all practical things the _most
intensely practical_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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