Short Studies in Ethics: An Elementary Text-Book for Schools — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Short Studies in Ethics: An Elementary Text-Book for Schools
John Stuart Mill · en
The relation of Exercise to morality is very close. If a young man fills
up his spare time with Exercise, he runs no risk of going to the bad
morally. After a day's work, and active Exercise to end it, he needs a
great deal of sleep; and his sleep is sound and refreshing. The
sleeplessness that arises from loafing causes an immense amount of
mischief to the moral nature--impure thoughts, or half-waking dreams,
with, perhaps, degrading habits growing out of them. When the body is in
a good state of health, man's faith in God, and in truth, purity, and
honour, is bright and steadfast. When his body is run down, through
neglect, everything looks gloomy.
An important part of Exercise is the work of keeping the body clean. It
is just as necessary to keep the outside of the body clean and sweet as
the inside; and as the inside is being continuously cleansed by pure
blood, the outside should be cleansed regularly with water. The decayed
matter in the body, carried off by the blood, escapes chiefly in one
way--that is, through the pores of the skin, and if these pores are
allowed to get choked by neglect the dead matter remains in the system
and pollutes it, and the body soon gets out of order. It is a duty to
take sufficient exercise every day to incite perspiration, and then a
cold plunge or sponge bath, or, at least, a vigorous rub-down. If we
could only get into the habit of doing that, we might snap our fingers
at most kinds of disease.
These things depend largely upon daily Exercise: Bodily Strength, Mental
Activity, Energy, the Moral Life.
No. XV.
HABIT
+By Habit is meant accustoming ourselves to do certain things regularly.
Habit is a tendency of the mind and body resulting from frequent
repetition of the same acts.+
An old man who had very deformed fingers said: "For over fifty years I
used to drive a stage, and these bent fingers show the effect of holding
the reins for so many years." Carlyle said: "Habit is the deepest law of
human nature. It is our supreme strength, and also, in certain
circumstances, our miserablest weakness." In the life of the young,
especially, the two greatest laws are Habit and Imitation. There is
nothing a boy's parents fear so much as that he will imitate bad things
in the characters of others, and so learn bad habits. When a boy has
learnt a great many bad habits, it is almost impossible to get rid of
their effects, even though he should change his habits. They leave marks
upon the character, just as smallpox does upon the face.