Read Ebook: Menticulture; or the A-B-C of True Living by Fletcher Horace

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"As a result of organization on the basis of Emancipation, and when it has become an accepted fact that anger and worry are only bad habits of the mind, no clergyman can show them and retain the respect of his congregation; no King's Daughter can entertain them and be worthy of her badge; no member of the Christian Endeavor Society can harbor within himself the arch enemies of Christianity which the Master commanded his disciples to cast out, and be loyal to his cause; and no individual in the pursuit of duty, or even of selfish pleasure, can afford to carry such weighty handicaps and hope to win the race."

PLYMOUTH CHURCH CLUB AND ARMOUR INSTITUTE

A good example of a church club is that which forms a part of Plymouth Church in Chicago. Plymouth Club was founded by Dr. Scudder and is warmly encouraged by Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, the present pastor of the church. Dr. Gunsaulus is also president of Armour Institute, where manual training is taught side by side with letters and the sciences to men and women alike. In these two eminently practical organizations most of the conditions favorable to growth are already furnished. Add to these Emancipation as the motto of the club, and as the requisite mental accomplishment for admission to the school, and the conditions will be perfected to the highest degree.

The word Emancipation has a very formidable sound because it is associated with a great war; but its attainment through germ eradication is a simple and easy accomplishment.

The presidents of great mental and manual training institutions know that the depressing and dwarfing phantoms of the mind are merely bad habits--weeds that can be rooted out--and that anger and worry are the roots.

They have provided commodious buildings, learned professors, the most perfect chemical and mechanical appliances, and thousands of books, to aid mental and manual culture; and yet, they fail to apply the first principle of all their sciences to the preparation of the pupil. In horticulture they do not tolerate worms or weeds; in chemistry they first examine into the purity of the ingredients; and in mechanics the greatest care is taken to avoid friction. Anger and worry are conditions of extreme mental friction, which, during their presence, stop the progressive action of the mental machine.

It would impose no impossibility, neither would it entail any hardship, to require of students that they should subscribe to the following:

Under the suggestion of the possibility of Emancipation from undesirable mental enemies, emanating from so respected a source as the faculty of a chosen college, the student would acquire the prerequisite condition of "faith"; while the absorbing work of college life, surrounded by fellows working in sympathy with him, would strengthen the faith into a belief; and the immediate recompense of harmony would be evidence of its value as a rule of life.

From the school the student would carry the rule back into the family, and into all walks in life; and with the aid of present means of communication the influence would spread the world over, disarm the prodigious preparations for struggle that are being made, and distribute the palm branch to take the place of the sword.

Will not the great educators whom the world respects so highly, and in whom it has so much faith, try the experiment? The promised fruit is worth the trial.

DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDY

It is also believed, and is perhaps true, that the social ulcers have been so irritated by ostentatious rivalry, and the commercial ulcers are so distended with the pus of ruinous competition and corruption, that they must soon come to a head, and that convalescence and cure may be possibilities of the future.

While these symptoms of disease are visible to all, and are tolerated as necessary evils, they fortunately do not cover the whole body politic; but yet, they seriously disfigure its face, and grievously affect the healthy action of its heart.

In the political world, many agents are actively at work to effect cure of the evils which flaunt unblushing in the face of the public. The Committee of Seventy in New York, The Civic Federation in Chicago, and the National Municipal Reform League of the United States, are all doing good temporary work, but they do not reach the root causes of the evils they aim to correct; and it is doubtful if the reforms they accomplish will be any more permanent than were those of their equally zealous predecessors.

In the moral and religious world, much the same futile methods of cure through repression are in use that obtained during the Dark Middle Ages.

In the individual, phantoms of the imagination, whose presence impose stagnation and disease, are created and clothed with the authority of masters, under the belief that they are the curses which bind fallen men to earth; and this in contradiction of every assurance and promise of Christ; in opposition to all intelligent methods of culture used in connection with animals and plants; and contrary to common sense.

These are strong statements, but they are indisputable; and if they are true, what then, is the remedy?

And outside of these devotees, there is the great mass of men, the so-called Skeptics, who claim to adhere to logic, and scientific sense, for their light on spiritual, as well as on material subjects. To these, Emancipation will be a haven of repose for their spiritual yearnings; and, unimpeded growth, under Divinely natural conditions, "will do the rest" for them all.

PRESCRIPTION

One grain of the assurance of Christ that man is made in the image of God.

One grain of respect for the responsibility of the care and culture of the Divine Essence with which we have been entrusted.

One grain of the command of Christ "Be ye perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect."

One grain of the example of Buddha that man can grow to perfection through the elimination of anger and worry and their brood of dependent passions.

One grain of the wisdom of Aristotle which declared that the passions are habits of the mind, and can be gotten rid of as physical habits are gotten rid of.

One grain of the assurance of Omar Khayyam that Heaven and Hell are within ourselves.

One grain of the assurance of Christ that "the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

One grain of common sense applied to an analysis of mental handicaps and the discovery of their limitations.

One grain of the to-day experience of the author that anger and worry are the roots of all the passions which depress, and can be eliminated.

DIRECTIONS

Take: and then let

The ever-full, never-full bounty of love, Sing a song, tell a tale, strike a chord, from above, Soften strife out of life, find a pleasure in giving, Sound the key-note on earth, of the Art of True Living.

SCRAPS OF EVIDENCE

Early in life I was fortunate enough to acquire the belief that, what seemed to be the consensus of opinion of the learned in any art or science, ought to be true; and, accepting their dictum, I have tried to grow up to an appreciation of their intelligence or taste in the subjects of their study, without combatting it with my own callow impressions. In this way I have enjoyed an early appreciation of the classics in music and in art, much in advance of the ordinary experience derived from personal contact. In this spirit of investigation I have collected some scraps of evidence which all prove my theory. No one has denied the possibility of Emancipation, but every one has found a pleasure at once in the ray of hope it suggests.

Since my attention has been directed to the possible total emancipation from the depressing passions, I have taken occasion to interview every man who seemed to enjoy unclouded happiness, as to the secret of his happiness. In almost every instance I have learned that the emancipated condition has dated, not from infancy and inheritance, but from some incident in later life that exposed the passions to ridicule, or showed them to be a cause of danger; such as death as the result of worry, or crime as the result of anger; some object lesson which proved the danger of permitting the passions to absorb one. I enquired of

A PHYSICIAN

A MANUFACTURER

The president of one of the largest manufacturing corporations in the country, having properties in a dozen states, related to me the following story:

"The incident made such an impression on me, that I resolved never to show anger again before my employes; and I have kept my resolve. It has led to my renouncing the habit altogether, and for many years anger has ceased to be a component part of my nature. I am sorry that I did not discharge worry at the same time, as results have proved that it has had no real cause to exist; and it has, as you say, stolen much precious time and energy out of my life."

A MADMAN

MR. DANA

Mr. Charles A. Dana once sent a member of the staff of the New York Sun to learn, if possible, what was the probable cause of the death of some men of high standing in the financial world who were reported to have hastened their death by overwork. Mr. Dana did not believe that hard work could kill. The result of the inquiry in each instance was to the effect that these men were the victims of worry, which was as unnecessary, as it was unprofitable and fatal.

One of the most prolific, observing, and interesting writers of stories and descriptive articles for the magazines, a war correspondent and one time journalist, has endorsed and practiced the theory presented in this paper, and has done me the honor to write approvingly as follows:

"I have succeeded in entirely ridding myself of the cancers, and am amazed at the ease with which it was done. You are certainly an apostle of sweetness and light, and I shall never be able to thank you enough for letting me into your noble secret."

He notes especially an improved digestion, and feels younger each day as he progresses in the new life.

A GENERAL MANAGER

The Southern General Manager of one of the largest British Insurance Companies is a tried convert, and finds health and happiness which had never been attained while under the thraldom of worry, which was his only former affliction.

The author of a novel which has just come before the public, and which is one of the purest and most ingenious stories ever published, is an ardent convert to the belief that she is superior to the depressing passions, and her naturally religious temperament finds great solace in it.

A LAWYER

A leading lawyer of New Orleans, of very old family, religious by nature, but not sectarian, found comfort in the idea of the possible elimination of the passions, and the unrestricted growth of the God-given faculties, in substance as follows:

A SOUTHRON

I was traveling with a friend from the South who is one of the best fellows that I know. He is kind, considerate, chivalrous, and all that characterizes a Southern gentleman; but he has a false idea of dignity in some respects, and precipitates controversy sometimes without cause, and when he himself is to blame in the matter. We were discussing the theory of Emancipation, and he agreed with me on almost all of the points at issue, in fact to such an extent that I felt that he absorbed the idea fully, when he said: "Yes, it is true, and I believe in it, and I think I have practiced it somewhat; but I can't stand impertinence from niggers; they rub up against me all the time, and annoy me terribly, especially these Pullman porters." "Yes," said I in reply, "you have attained pretty good self-control and have reason to be proud of it; you are pretty nearly a perfect man; the only thing you are not superior to is a nigger." The rebuke impressed him as a truism that had never occurred to him in that light before.

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