[Book One: Byways of
Blessedness]
Right Beginnings
"All common things, each
day's events, That with the hour begin and end; Our pleasures and our
discontents Are rounds by which we may ascend." * * * * * * * *
* "We have not wings, we cannot soar; But we have feet to scale
and climb."
--- Longfellow.
"For
common life, its wants And ways, would I set forth in beauteous
hues."
--- Browning.
Life
is full of beginnings. They are presented every day and every hour to
every person. Most beginnings are small, and appear trivial and
insignificant, but in reality they are the most important things in
life.
See how in the material world
everything proceeds from small beginnings. The mightiest river is at
first a rivulet over which the grasshopper could leap; the great
flood commences with a few drops of rain; the sturdy oak, which has
endured the storms of a thousand winters, was once an acorn; and the
smouldering match, carelessly dropped, may be the means of
devastating a whole town by fire.
Consider, also, how in the
spiritual world the greatest things proceed from smallest beginnings.
A light fancy may be the inception of a wonderful invention or an
immortal work of art; a spoken sentence may turn the tide of history;
a pure thought entertained may lead to the exercise of a worldwide
regenerative power; and a momentary animal impulse may lead to the
darkest crime.
Have you yet discovered the
vast importance of beginnings? Do you really know what is involved in
a beginning? Do you know the number of beginnings you are
continuously making, and realise their full import? If not, come with
me for a short time, and thoughtfully explore this much ignored byway
of blessedness, for blessed it is when wisely resorted to, and much
strength and comfort it holds for the understanding mind.
A beginning is a cause, and as
such it must be followed by an effect, or a train of effects, and the
effect will always be of the same nature as the cause. The nature of
an initial impulse will always determine the body of its results. A
beginning also presupposes an ending, a consummation, achievement, or
goal. A gate leads to a path, and the path leads to some particular
destination; so a beginning leads to results, and results lead to a
completion.
There are right beginnings and
wrong beginnings, which are followed by effects of a like nature. You
can, by careful thought, avoid wrong beginnings and make right
beginnings, and so escape evil results and enjoy good results.
There are beginnings over which
you have no control and authority- these are without, in the
universe, in the world of nature around you, and in other people who
have the same liberty as yourself.
Do not concern yourself with
these beginnings, but direct your energies and attention to those
beginnings over which you have complete control and authority, and
which bring about the complicated web of results which compose your
life. These beginnings are to be found in the realm of your own
thoughts and actions; in your mental attitude under the variety of
circumstances through which you pass; in your conduct day by day - in
short, in your life as you make it, which is your world of good or
ill.
In aiming at the life of
Blessedness one of the simplest beginnings to be considered and
rightly made is that which we all make everyday - namely, the
beginning of each day's life.
How do you begin each day? At
what hour do you rise? How do you commence your duties? In what frame
of mind do you enter upon the sacred life of a new day? What answer
can you give your heart to these important questions? You will find
that much happiness or unhappiness follows upon the right or wrong
beginning of the day, and that, when every day is wisely begun, happy
and harmonious sequences will mark its course, and life in its
totality will not fall far short of the ideal blessedness.
It is a right and strong
beginning to the day to rise at an early hour. Even if your worldly
duty does not demand it, it is wise to make of it a duty, and begin
the day strongly by shaking off indolence. How are you to develop
strength of will and mind and body if you begin every day by yielding
to weakness? Self-indulgence is always followed by unhappiness.
People who lie in bed till a late hour are never bright and cheerful
and fresh, but are the prey of irritabilities, depressions,
debilities, nervous disorders, abnormal fancies, and all unhappy
moods. This is the heavy price which they have to pay for their daily
indulgence. Yet, so blinding is the pandering to self that, like the
drunkard who takes his daily dram in the belief that it is bracing up
the nerves which it is all the time shattering, so the lie-a-bed is
convinced that long hours of ease are necessary for him as a possible
remedy for those very moods and weaknesses and disorders of which his
indulgence is the cause. Men and women are totally unaware of the
great losses which they entail by this common indulgence: loss of
strength both of mind and body, loss of prosperity, loss of
knowledge, and loss of happiness.
Begin the day, then, by rising
early. If you have no object in doing so, never mind; get up, and go
out for a gentle walk among the beauties of nature, and you will
experience a buoyancy, a freshness, and a delight, not to say a peace
of mind, which will amply reward you for your effort. One good effort
is followed by another; and when a man begins the day by rising
early, even though with no other purpose in view, he will find that
the silent early hour is conducive to clearness of mind and calmness
of thought, and that his early morning walk is enabling him to become
a consecutive thinker, and so to see life and its problems, as well
as himself and his affairs, in a clearer light; and so in time he
will rise early with the express purpose of preparing and harmonising
his mind to meet any and every difficulty with wisdom and calm
strength.
There is, indeed, a spiritual
influence in the early morning hour, a divine silence and an
inexpressible repose, and he who, purposeful and strong, throws off
the mantle of ease and climbs the hills to greet the morning sun will
thereby climb no inconsiderable distance up the hills of blessedness
and truth.
The right beginning of the day
will be followed by cheerfulness at the morning meal, permeating the
house-hold with a sunny influence; and the tasks and duties of the
day will be undertaken in a strong and confident spirit, and the
whole day will be well lived.
Then there is a sense in which
every day may be regarded as the beginning of a new life, in which
one can think, act, and live newly, and in a wiser and better spirit.
"Every day is
a fresh beginning; Every morn is the world made new, Ye who are weary
of sorrow and sinning, Here is a beautiful hope for you, A hope for
me and a hope for you."
Do not dwell upon the sins and
mistakes of yesterday so exclusively as to have no energy and mind
left for living rightly today, and do not think that the sins of
yesterday can prevent you from living purely today. Begin today
aright, and, aided by the accumulated experiences of all your past
days, live it better than any of your previous days; but you cannot
possibly live it better unless you begin it better. The character of
the whole day depends upon the way it is begun.
Another beginning which is of
great importance is the beginning of any particular and responsible
undertaking. How does a man begin the building of a house? He first
secures a plan of the proposed edifice and then proceeds to build
according to the plan, scrupulously following it in every detail,
beginning with the foundation. Should he neglect the beginning -
namely, the obtaining of a mathematical plan - his labour would be
wasted, and his building, should it reach completion without tumbling
to pieces, would be insecure and worthless. The same law holds good
in any important work: the right beginning and first essential is a
definite mental plan on which to build. Nature will have no
slipshod work, no slovenliness, and she annihilates confusion, or
rather, confusion is in itself annihilation. Order, definiteness,
purpose eternally and universally prevail, and he who in his
operations ignores these mathematical elements at once deprives
himself of substantiality, completeness, success.
"Life without
a plan, As useless as the moment it began, Serves merely as a soil
for discontent To thrive in, an encumbrance ere half spent."
Let a man start in business
without having in his mind a perfectly formed plan to systematically
pursue and he will be incoherent in his efforts and will fail in his
business operations. The laws which must be observed in the building
of a house also operate in the building up of a business. A definite
plan is followed by coherent effort; and coherent effort is followed
by well-knit and orderly results - to wit, completeness, perfection,
success, happiness.
But not only mechanical and
commercial enterprise - all undertakings, of whatsoever nature, come
under this law. The author's book, the artist's picture, the orator's
speech, the reformer's work, the inventor's machine, the general's
campaign, are all carefully planned in the mind before the attempt to
actualise them is commenced; and in accordance with the unity,
solidarity, and perfection of the original mental plan will be the
actual and ultimate success of the undertaking.
Successful men, influential
men, good men are those who, amongst other things, have learned the
value and utilised the power which lies hidden in those obscure
beginnings which the foolish man passes by as "insignificant."
But the most important
beginning of all - that upon which affliction or blessedness
inevitably depends, yet is most neglected and least understood - is
the inception of thought in the hidden, but causal region of the
mind. Your whole life is a series of effects having their cause in
thought - in your own thought. All conduct is made and moulded by
thought; all deeds, good or bad, are thoughts made visible. A seed
put into the ground is the beginning of a plant or tree; the seed
germinates, the plant or tree comes forth into the light and evolves.
A thought put into the mind is the beginning of a line of conduct:
the thought first sends down its roots into the mind, and then pushes
forth into the light in the forms of actions or conduct, which evolve
into character and destiny.
Hateful, angry, envious,
covetous, and impure thoughts are wrong beginnings, which lead to
painful results. Loving, gentle, kind, unselfish and pure thoughts
are right beginnings, which lead to blissful results. This is so
simple, so plain, so absolutely true! and yet how neglected, how
evaded, and how little understood!
The gardener who most carefully
studies how, when, and where to put in his seeds obtains the best
results and gains the greater horticultural knowledge. The best crops
gladden the soul of him who makes the best beginning. The man who
most patiently studies how to put into his mind the seeds of strong,
wholesome, and charitable thoughts, will obtain the best results in
life, and will gain greater knowledge of truth. The greatest
blessedness comes to him, who infuses into his mind the purest and
noblest thoughts.
None but right acts can follow
right thoughts; none but a right life can follow right acts - and by
living a right life all blessedness is achieved.
He who considers the nature and
import of his thoughts, who strives daily to eliminate bad thoughts
and supplant them with good, comes at last to see that thoughts are
the beginnings of results which affect every fibre of his being,
which potently influence every event and circumstance of his life.
And when he thus sees, he thinks only right thoughts, chooses to make
only those mental beginnings which lead to peace and blessedness.
Wrong thoughts are painful in
their inception, painful in their growth, and painful in their
fruitage. Right thoughts are blissful in their inception, blissful in
their growth, and blissful in their fruitage.
Many are the right beginnings
which a man must discover and adopt on his way to wisdom; but that
which is first and last, most important and all embracing, which is
the source and fountain of all abiding happiness, is the right
beginning of the mental operations - this implies the steady
development of self-control, will-power, steadfastness, strength,
purity, gentleness, insight, and comprehension. It leads to the
perfecting of life, for he who thinks perfectly has abolished all
unhappiness, his every moment is peaceful, his years are rounded with
bliss - he has attained to the complete and perfect blessedness.
