# Character: A Sequence in Spiritual Psychology

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

---

> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Stanwood Cobb, Character: A Sequence in Spiritual Psychology, Washington: The Avalon Press, 1938, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> CHARACTER
> A SEQUENCE IN SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY
> BOOKS BY
> STANWOOD COBB
> 
> CHARACTER
> PATTERNS IN JADE OF WU MING FU
> SECURITY FOR A FAILING WORLD
> NEW HORIZONS FOR THE CHILD
> DISCOVERING THE GENIUS WITHIN YOU
> THE WISDOM OF W U MING FU
> THE NEW LEAVEN
> SIMLA   A TALE IN VERSE
> THE ESSENTIAL MYSTICISM
> AYESHA OF THE BOSPHORUS
> THE REAL TURK
> 
> PAMPHLET:
> 
> THE MEANING OF LIFE
> CHARACTER
> A Sequence in Spiritual   Psychology
> 
> By STANWOOD COBB
> 
> THE AVALON PRESS
> WASHINGTON
> TABLE OF CONTENTS
> 
> INTRODUCTION
> 
> Chapter     I. A Spiritual Autobiography                9
> 
> PART I—FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER
> 
> Chapter    II. Character is Destiny                    31
> Chapter   III. Scientific Foundations for Character    35
> Chapter   IV. Religious Foundations for Character      45
> 
> PART I I — T H E GOALS OF CHARACTER
> 
> Chapter   V. Self'Development                           63
> Chapter VI. The Law of Duty                             84
> Chapter VII. Altruism                                  103
> Chapter VIII. The Stage of Selflessness                iaa
> 
> CONCLUSION
> 
> Chapter   IX. Progress Onward and Upward Forever....   147
> Digitized by the Internet Archive
> in 2010 with funding from
> Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation
> 
> http://www.archive.org/details/charactersequencOOcobb
> INTRODUCTION
> CHAPTER I
> 
> A Spiritual Autobiography
> £J&IiE present age is so distinctly one of change
> y^J and transition that few individuals who think
> about life and destiny remain satisfied with
> ancestral and traditional dogmas.
> It is an age of change. It is also an age of search,
> and that is its greatest virtue. For out of the grow'
> ing welter of confusion, search may and ultimately
> will find better ways of living, higher and more unh
> versal truths.
> Today—as in the rich Mediterranean culture of
> the Golden Age of Rome—new sources of inspira'
> tion, multitudinous new claimants of world truth
> impinge upon the consciousness of the progressive
> liberal thinker.
> What the modern man, therefore, thinks about
> life and the universe is a composite of inherited forms
> and ideology; of personal observation, thought, and
> conviction regarding the nature of existence; and of
> new inspirational material flowing in from every
> side, wherefrom each individual chooses in accorď
> ance with his temperamental susceptibilities, his
> predelictions, and his experiential past.
> io                  CHARACTER
> 
> My own search for truth has been like that of
> countless others. Born and brought up in an ear'
> nestly religious (though liberal) New England home,
> my thoughts turned early in the direction of spirit'
> ual and metaphysical thinking.
> At the age of seven I read the Bible through, with
> what profit I know not. At the age of twelve I read
> it through again under the following circumstances:
> Sunday School in an orthodox church became an inv
> possible absurdity for me, because my teachers could
> not explain contradictions and incredibilities in the
> Bible. Yet church and Sunday School were the in'
> flexible parental order of the day. So I proposed a
> bargain. I offered to spend the equivalent time
> reading the Bible at home Sunday mornings if I
> could be excused from Sunday School. The bargain
> was parentally accepted and I profited much from
> this second reading of the Bible.
> Later on, in conducting devotions in my school, I
> have read the important dramatic and spiritual sec'
> tions of the Old Testament through many times.
> Instead of tiring of them, with every reading I mar'
> vel the more at their literary perfection and their
> spiritual power.
> At the age of fourteen I accidentally stumbled
> across Hindu mysticism into which I delved with
> A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY             -   n
> 
> great sest; and at fifteen naturally gravitated toward
> Theosophy and Unitarianism. These schools of
> spiritual thought, with the subsequent addition of
> Buddhism and New Thought, remained my spirit'
> ual food through college days.
> Upon my graduation from high school I had pre'
> sented as my salutatory "Beacon Lights of History"
> —which included Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Con'
> fucius, Christ, and Mahomet. The principal of the
> school would not permit me to associate Christ with
> these other founders of religions, so the address was
> given with Christ omitted.
> It had been during this senior year at high school
> that I arrived at a great truth—the fundamental
> validity of all the world religions. It happened in
> this way. One day I came across the fact that
> Christianity was composed of some two hundred
> sects. I knew that many of these claimed not only
> to be truth, but to be the sole vehicle of truth and
> salvation. It was absurd to think, however, that
> one of these two hundred sects had stumbled upon
> the only key to salvation, and the other one hundred
> and ninetynine were in error. On the contrary, I
> opined that all of them had some truth and none of
> them a monopoly on truth. Continuing this train
> of thought I arrived at a similar conclusion regard'
> ing the world's great religions—that all had truth
> and validity and that none had uniqueness.
> i2                  CHARACTER
> 
> This was the spiritual philosophy which I had
> presented in my salutatory. It proved too liberal
> for the kultur of the '90's (1899 to be exact) in even
> as liberal a human environment as Newton, Bos*
> ton's most cultured suburb.
> 
> In my senior year at Dartmouth I met with a similar evidence of traditionalism in high places. To a
> famous visiting preacher, who on the day subsequent
> to his sermon was available for religious conferences
> with the students, I propounded a question which
> had been bothering me. Undoubtedly, I said, varh
> ous other suns throughout the universe had planets,
> and those planets had every likelihood of being in*
> habited by some living species which would have
> developed as far as man has on the planet earth. If
> Christ was the unique Son of God, sent down from
> God to guide us to salvation, what about the peoples
> on those other planets? Did they also have their
> Saviors? But how could they, if Christ was the
> unique One?
> The preacher sidestepped this difficult question
> with the lazy answer: "Well, I wouldn't bother
> about that. There is no reason to think there are
> any other inhabited worlds." Thus he persisted in
> the geocentric Ptolemaic conception of the universe
> A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY                13
> 
> as presented in the Bible, which represents the stars
> as existing only to light the earth by night and the
> sun as kindly traversing a circle around the earth to
> light and heat it by day.
> One other experience in similar vein put an end
> once and for all to my attempts to find satisfactory
> explanation of the universe through the wisdom of
> any theologians. I forget what the problem was
> which I took to Dr. Tucker, President of Dartmouth,
> whom I then esteemed and still do in memory as one
> of the noblest men this country has produced in the
> last generation. Dr. Tucker, who had been a clergy
> man before taking the presidency of Dartmouth, I
> found to my immense disappointment was unable
> satisfactorily to clear away my religious problem. I
> can see now that that was not so much his fault;
> probably no other person could have solved my
> problems then. There are certain things that one
> must thrash out for oneself.
> 
> After graduation from Dartmouth I continued, in
> a period of ill health, to give more serious considera'
> tion than ever before to the problem of Hfe and of
> the universe. During this period I had the privilege
> of reviewing books for the Boston Transcript. The
> books assigned to me were of a serious nature on
> 14                   CHARACTER
> 
> subjects such as philosophy, social sciences, religion,
> New Thought. I found much material in these
> books to meditate over and digest. Their scope was
> broad as human thought itself. A marvelous expe'
> rience for youth, after the formal regime of college
> education, to dip untrammeled into the thought of
> so many minds. The very reading of these books
> was a mental discipline as well as spiritual inspira'
> tion, for they were to be analyzed and criticized as
> well as enjoyed.
> During this same period, while I was teaching
> Latin in the Brockton (Mass.) High School, I had an
> amazjing spiritual adventure. I was out for a walk
> one evening and happened to pass a little chapel on a
> side street, from which light was streaming and the
> sound of congregational singing. I went up to the
> door to look in and see what kind of service it was.
> There was a small group of about twenty in the
> congregation. The young clergyman officiating irm
> mediately came to the door at my approach and so
> cordially urged me to come in and join them that I
> allowed myself to be persuaded. It was, as I found,
> a church of the Disciples of Christ or Campbellites,
> an offshoot from the Baptist denomination strong in
> the Middle West but not widespread in the East.
> This little group of simple working people, with a
> young clergyman who was still a theological student
> supplying their needs, I found to be the most
> A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY               I5
> 
> spiritual and vital Christians I had ever encountered.
> Their religion was real. It not only inspired their
> worship with a deep sense of reverence and nearness
> to God, but inspired—as I found on conversation
> with them later—their whole lives. They called
> each other brother and sister. They were simple
> people. One was a night watchman of the railroad;
> one drove a baker's team; one, a girl, worked in a
> candy factory—and so it went. When these people
> prayed they really talked with God. The power of
> the Holy Spirit shone through them and affected me
> deeply. I had never seen any such expression of
> religion. Undoubtedly the early Christian com'
> munities were of such nature. I should call this a
> true line of descent in the Apostolic Succession.
> Every Thursday night I attended their service,
> feeling more and more drawn into their mystic and
> celestial brotherhood. Finally the time came when
> they urged me to join their church. This would re'
> quire baptism by total immersion, a ritual quite
> antipathetic to my religious philosophy up to date.
> But I thought, why should I let a simple matter
> like this stand in the way of fellowship with this
> wonderful group? Their theology was not narrow,
> only this requirement of total immersion. So I accepted the ritual and joined their brotherhood. As
> one would expect, the baptism itself did not trans'
> late me into a celestial condition of life; but my
> ió                   CHARACTER
> 
> fellowship with these simple and earnest Christians
> was then, and remains in memory still, one of the
> sweetest and loftiest spiritual experiences of my life.
> Several reasons at this time impelled me to study
> for the Christian ministry and I naturally turned
> to the Harvard Divinity School for this purpose.
> What denomination did I select? The young clergy
> man in charge of the church I had joined naturally
> urged me to go into that sect—Disciples of Christ.
> But as I investigated its churches in Greater Boston
> I found nowhere such a spiritual expression as I had
> seen in the little Brockton chapel. On the contrary,
> these larger urban churches were in no way superior
> to churches of the other orthodox denominations.
> So much to my friend's disappointment I selected
> the Unitarian church for which to prepare my
> ministry.
> 
> My two years at Harvard Divinity School were
> extremely fruitful from a spiritual as well as an
> intellectual standpoint. There was then presiding
> over the department of the History of Religions one
> of the greatest scholars of the world, George Foote
> Moore. I took every course in the History of Re'
> ligions and Comparative Religion which the Divinity
> School had to offer. I also profited greatly by a
> course in Mysticism under W. W. Fenn, later Dean
> A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY                17
> 
> of the Divinity School. This course was outstanď
> ing. For in a period when religious mysticism was
> treated in most of the theological schools of the
> country as pathological, Professor Fenn treated the
> subject with the deepest sympathy and consider
> tion. I suspect he was a mystic himself. Under the
> stimulus and inspiration of his course I did an im­
> mense amount of unrequired reading in the mystics
> of all the great religions of the world—Judaism,
> Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, and Mo'
> hammedanism. The Harvard Divinity School had
> at that time one of the finest libraries in the world
> on comparative religion and I found here a wealth of
> material that I had never been able to discover pre'
> viously and saturated myself in the mystic thought
> of those great spiritual souls, the mystics.
> In the course of this reading I arrived at an inter'
> esting discovery, one that might have been expected:
> namely, that the mystics of every religion have the
> same theme and sing the same song—Goďconscious'
> ness, the Divine love and the joy therein derived,
> and the losing of oneself in the greater Whole. So
> transcendent is the similarity of experience and ex'
> pression on the part of these world mystics that one
> could hardly tell, if one did not know beforehand,
> to which religion any particular mystic belonged.
> It is but natural that this should be so. For after
> all, there is but one God and one Universe; and the
> i8                   CHARACTER
> 
> search for Reality and the experience of Reality
> must therefore on the highest plane be one. These
> mystics—so free from trammels of theology, so dedicated to truth in thought and in experience—seemed
> then and still seem to me to be the beautiful flowering of reHgion; "a life hid with Christ in God" as
> Paul expresses it.
> During this period, also, I delved deeply into
> Swedenborg whose voluminous works were available to divinity students at the amazing sum of ten
> cents per volume. I liked then and still like Swedenborg's teachings regarding the other world—that
> individuals sort themselves out there by the natural
> law of gravitation. People are not cast into hell.
> They choose that coterie of souls because their
> natures fit it. As Swedenborg points out, evil souls
> hate the light just as bats do. They would be in
> pain and unhappiness in the midst of a spiritual
> coterie, just as spiritual people would be in pain and
> unhappiness in the midst of a hellish coterie.
> I felt the reasonableness of this explanation, since
> we can readily see the same law working out upon
> this earth. A man of evil thoughts, purpose, and desire nature introduced into a group of highly spiritual people would at first be bored to death by their
> conversation; then become uneasy; and finally acquire such a painful psychology as to wish to burst
> out from their midst and seek the companionship of
> A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY               .19
> 
> fellow-souls in evil. The same thing would be true,
> vice versa, of a spiritual person.
> I liked also Swedenborg's clear-cut statement that
> the only rewards that accrue to us in the future life
> from our good deeds here are where the deeds result
> from absolute sincerity of purpose. If deeds of
> benefaction and philanthropy are for self-interest
> and self-glorification, they do not accrue as advantage to us in the other world. How similar this
> is to the Hindu doctrine of non-regard for the fruits
> of action, and to Christ's teaching that it is what
> flows out from the inner man that is important, not
> the outside appearance.
> 
> After two years at the Harvard Divinity School,
> I renounced my intention of entering the ministry.
> It seemed to me that the Christian Church had in
> general become a mere lecture platform among intelligent college-trained congregations, and among
> simple folk it remained too much intrammeled in
> traditional theology. More and more, it seemed to
> me, the position of the clergyman was anomalous in
> an age when people read and think for themselves.
> In past ages, when congregations were illiterate, they
> needed to have their scriptures read and expounded
> to them. But in these days of universal literacy and
> ao                   CHARACTER
> 
> independence of thought the clergyman is no longer
> the specialist in religion as he was in past times and
> as to this day the doctor is still a specialist in medi'
> cine, the lawyer a specialist in law, and the teacher
> a specialist in whatever subject he is teaching. The
> clergyman unfortunately is not a specialist in any'
> thing, not even in saintliness; for it is quite apparent
> that theological training does not produce saintli'
> ness. And it seemed to me then, and still seems to
> me, a very artificial stiuation into which clergymen
> are forced. If they are exhorting their congrega'
> tions to righteous living, they must perforce be of
> greater saintliness than any in their congregation.
> But this is an abnormal and unnatural thing to ex'
> pect of the clergy. Some are more spiritual than
> any in their congregation, but it just happens so.
> After all, is not the day of the layman's religion here?
> The Quaker church perhaps has the right idea, in
> that no one is designated as the ofEcial clerical head
> or expounder of truth to the others.
> At any rate, I knew that my own character had
> not arrived at a degree of perfection which placed it
> above characters in the congregations I was preach'
> ing to as I supplied in various pulpits of Greater
> Boston. I did not like the assumption of the cleric
> that he is of a different cloth from the laity and must
> be more spiritual than they. If I felt more spiritual
> than my congregation, well and good. But one does
> A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY                 . 21
> 
> not feel spiritual at all hours of the day or on all days
> of the week. Moreover, spirituality is a slow and
> painful growth covering all of one's lifetime. It can'
> not be commanded, like scholarship, on a year's
> notice.
> Hence it was with relief that I renounced the
> Divinity School and headed for Constantinople,
> Turkey, to accept a position in Robert College as
> teacher of English and Latin. My three years—
> 1907 to 1910—in the Orient were among the most
> romantic and fruitful of my life. For youth to be
> placed in the midst of an alien culture and religion is
> a wholesome and fructifying experience. One is
> forced to analyse customs, moralities, characters of
> various races and modes of religious thought; and to
> compare them for efficacy and fruitfulness of living.
> One discovers that much of the vaunted superiority
> of Western civilization is illusionary. One discovers
> a deep and tranquil happiness in the Oriental Hfe of
> which the Occident is in sad need.
> What, after all, are the goals of living? HappL
> ness seems to me certainly one of the major goals.
> Growth and development is another. The Orient
> excels in the art of happiness. The Occident excels
> in the art of growth and development. Somewhere
> between these two worlds of thought and living lies
> the middle way, which it has constantly throughout
> my Hfe been my aim to seek and to express.
> 22                   CHARACTER
> 
> My study of Islam in thought and in practice
> during this period was exceedingly interesting and
> fruitful. I came to esteem highly the mode of living
> which Islam produces in pious Moslems—their un'
> swerving loyalty to their religious faith, their serene
> and tranquil patience, their joy of living in the
> midst even of difficult circumstances.
> When the Turkish Revolution of 1908 put the
> Young Turks in power, the mosque service was
> thrown open to non'Moslem visitors for the first
> time in the history of the world. No Christian
> hitherto had ever been able to witness the Islamic
> mosque service unless in disguise and with great
> difficulty, hence little study had been actually made
> of their ritual. The bare forms were known but an
> actual analysis of the spirit and psychology of their
> service had not been sufficiently known. I found
> upon attending the services in various mosques on
> what is their Sabbath—the Friday of our week—
> that there was evidenced a wholehearted sincerity
> and devotion in worship such as exists nowhere in
> Christendom. The nearest approach to it is in a
> cathedral service among illiterate and simple peoples
> of Italy or of Ireland. But even that does not com'
> pare with the vivid faith and zeal of Islam.
> Emboldened by these visits to mosque services I
> A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY              23
> 
> undertook a dangerous thing, which was to descend
> upon thefloorof St. Sophia during the annual service
> of the Night of Power. I wore a fez, the characteristic accoutrement of the Turk, and so was able to
> pass from group to group after the ritual was finished. The ritual itself I had observed from the
> balcony, to which I had been admitted by diplomatic
> card.
> After a half hour among these pious Moslems, I
> felt apprehensive of being followed and I hastened
> out as quickly as I could. Had I been discovered in
> their midst, even the tolerance of the Young Turk
> regime could not have saved me from being torn to
> pieces by these jealous old-time Turks.
> The results of my study of Islam and of the Turk
> were published in book form in 1914 by the Pilgrim
> Press under the title "The Real Turk"—a book
> which almost lost the liberal-minded manager of
> the Pilgrim Press his job. For it was the first book
> that had appeared in America sympathetic to the
> Turk and to Islam.
> At this time also I made a deep study of Islamic
> mysticism and of the great Sufi poets of Persia—
> Nizami, Jallal u'Din Rumi, Jami and others.
> In 1908 I had the unique privilege of visiting in
> his prison home in Acca the then head of the Bahi'i
> 24                  CHARACTER
> 
> Faith, 'AbduTBahá. I had come across this move'
> ment in America during my study at Harvard
> Divinity School and I eagerly seised the opportunity
> opened to me by an American friend of visiting
> 'AbduTBahá. It was necessary for me to disguise
> myself as a Turk for the purpose of this visit, since
> 'AbduTBahi was at that time in grave danger from
> the Turkish government on account of a suspicion
> that he was fomenting revolt with his American
> pilgrims. This was just before the Turkish revolu'
> tion, the darkest and most dangerous period of
> 'AbduTBaha's life, a period of tyrannic and unjust
> oppression, fortunately terminating in complete
> freedom that very summer.
> It was in February, 1908, that I visited "Abdul'
> Bahá and spent two days as his guest, having the
> privilege of several interviews with him as well as
> his presence and conversation at meal times. Later
> on, in 1910, I spent a week as his guest. At this
> time he was living in Haifa in a residence built for
> him on Mt. Carmel by an American follower, a Mrs.
> Jackson.
> "AbduTBahá seemed to me then, and he seems to
> me still, to be the supreme elucidator of spiritual
> truth. I admired greatly the lucidity and reason'
> ableness of his exposition of the deeper meanings of
> life, of the spirit and of the Cosmos. The teaching
> of his father, the world figure Bahá u iláh, founder
> A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY                . 25
> 
> of this movement, made an immediate and natural
> appeal to me. For my own thought had prepared
> me for the spiritual philosophy of the Bahi'i teach'
> ing: that all the world's religions have validity and
> are the expression of spiritual inspiration, and that
> Religion is indeed one and should be one in practice
> the world over.
> I liked the Bahi'i explanation (to use an Irish bull)
> of the nature of God: that is, that the nature of God
> cannot be explained or understood in finite terms.
> For the finite mind of man cannot in any way com'
> prehend the Infinite, nor can that which is contained
> in the Whole comprehend that Whole. If we r e
> fleet, it becomes immediately apparent that man, the
> creature of the Infinite, can in no way surround and
> comprehend his Creator. God in His Essence, then,
> is unknowable to man. This doctrine, elucidated to
> me by 'Abdu'l'Bahi, is quite consonant with the
> convictions of our modern scientists who do not
> deny a Planner of the Universe but who reject
> anthropomorphic conceptions of Deity.
> Science and Religion must agree, said 'Abdu'l'
> Bahá. There can only be one truth about the Uni'
> verse. Religion, shorn of its superstitions and
> theology, and Science shorn of its bumptious dog'
> matism must and will approach each other in com'
> plete unity of idea and of purpose. 'Abdu'l'Bahi
> goes even so far as to say that if Religion denies the
> 26                   CHARACTER
> 
> plain truths of Science, it is not Religion but super'
> stition.
> I liked 'Abdu'l'Bahi's teaching on eternal life:
> that it is something that must be earned, not some'
> thing into which death initiates us; and that unless
> the spiritual senses are developed in this life, one
> will enter the future life immensely crippled and
> unable to function. This continuity of spiritual
> development and progress was in consonance with
> my whole philosophy of life and my spiritual con'
> victions.
> Highly pregnant with implications for successful
> and noble living upon this planet were 'Abdul'
> Baha's teachings regarding the Holy Spirit, which
> he explained as the great cosmic force through which
> Deity creates and manipulates phenomenal existence.
> The Infinite does not descend to the plane of the
> finite. At no point do these two worlds of being
> contact each other. The Holy Spirit is that function
> and attribute of Deity through which the Infinite
> creates, controls and operates. This great Creative
> Force of the Cosmos is directly available to man,
> through spiritual aspiration, as a vital spiritual and
> creative force in his own life. Amazing was 'Abdu'h
> Baha's assertion that this spiritual force is as regnant
> in man's intellectual maturing and creative develop'
> ment as it is in his spiritual growth and fruition.
> The World Order proclaimed by Baha'u'llah (who
> A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY               .27
> 
> died in 1892) and now expounded by "Abdu i-Babi
> — w i t h its program of world peace and brotherhood;
> of a Parliament of Nations; of abolition of all preju'
> dice, national, racial and religious; of a universal
> auxiliary language and an ultimate world curriculum
> for universal education—all this appealed to me
> then as the most stupendous vision for world im'
> provement I had ever encountered. Today, in the
> midst of world chaos and confusion, its noble and
> colossal outlines stand out still more strikingly from
> the multiplicity of thought and the confusion of
> ideology of a decadent civilisation.
> If in the course of this book I quote widely from
> 'Abdul-Baha's utterances, it is because they bear so
> strikingly upon the problem of character develop'
> ment. These utterances were published subsequent
> to 'AbduTBaha's visit to the United States in
> i 9 i i ' i 2 , during the course of which he gave a ď
> dresses from platform and pulpit all the way from
> the eastern to the western coast of this country. It
> is from these published addresses that I quote in the
> course of my book.
> 
> The moral and spiritual ideas set forth in this
> book will be seen, then, to be the result of wide con'
> tacts with the spiritual thought of the ages. These
> ideas are what appear to me as Truth today. But
> 28                   CHARACTER
> 
> as the nature of Truth is derived fully as much from
> experience as from ratiocination, I do not claim any
> finality in the doctrines here presented. I should
> indeed hope that my philosophy of life ten years
> from now would have wider and more illimitable
> horizons. Nevertheless, I present these ideas today
> for what they are worth to the reader. If they
> stimulate him to thought, they will have fulfilled
> their purpose. If they inspire further search and
> study into the spiritual literature of the ages and
> into the spiritual experience which Life itself offers,
> they will have amply rewarded the effort put into
> their publication.
> PART I
> 
> FOUNDATIONS FOR
> CHARACTER
> CHAPTER II
> 
> Character is Destiny
> 
> C     HARACTER is destiny. For deeds flow from
> character, and our deeds create our destiny.
> As mountain ranges form the backbone of
> continents, so character forms the structure of life.
> It is incorrect to say that there is good character and
> bad character. There is simply character, or the
> lack of it. There is more than goodness in character.
> There is also wisdom and beauty. A life without
> character is a life deformed and crippled.
> Every individual should develop character. Not
> because it is good to be good; but because righteous'
> ness is the only way to continuous success, happi'
> ness and power in a Universe founded upon moral
> law.
> The perfectioning of human behavior is both a
> science and an art. Character development, there'
> fore, may be viewed as a scientific process, exercis'
> ing our utmost intelligence and judgment. It is
> possible to arrive at ideal standards for conduct
> through the use of this scientific judgment, as
> Socrates did.
> But the practice of right conduct is not a science
> so much as it is an art. Here emotion enters in, and
> 32                   CHARACTER
> 
> imagination. Intelligence may chart the way; but
> the will must be persuaded to undertake, and persist
> in, the arduous daily task of selLperfectioning.
> It is in this aspect of character development that
> religion is functional. Why and how religion is es'
> sential to character'building will be shown in detail
> in subsequent chapters.
> 
> There is a timeTactor in the development of
> character which is important. Lack of recognition
> of this pregnant fact may cause confusion.
> In other words, there is a definite progress and
> sequence in the growth of character—a sequence
> which follows natural laws. This growth, like that
> of a seed, begins from within and expands outward.
> As the seed first absorbs and expands, so the life
> of the individual, in its early stages, is. chiefly an
> absorptive and expansive process. Self'expression
> is the keynote of character at this stage.
> But life must bear fruit. And so the law of duty
> lays its inevitable claim upon the expanding life of
> youth, and he becomes, in obedience to it, a man
> fulfilling the obligations imposed upon him by a life
> set in the midst of human society.
> From the law of duty to the rule of love is a step
> higher. Altruism should be the dominant note of
> CHARACTER IS DESTINY                    33
> 
> maturing life. To continue a slave to centripetal
> forces at this stage of life is to fail of correct living.
> The soul of man is in its essence a centrifugal o u ť
> going force. Its ultimate values lie not in acquisb
> tion but in outpouring; not in self-containment but
> in self-escape. What are the goals of life in this, its
> highest stage? A concluding chapter will try to
> make this clear.
> 
> A thousand and one things could be said about
> character. As life is never finished (not even by
> death), so character-building is never finished. Its
> details are as infinite as the details of existence itself.
> In this brief book one can only show a pattern,
> so to speak. If that pattern be clear and convincing,
> the reader can fill in details for himself. Experience,
> after all, is the best teacher. In fact, it is the only
> teacher whose counsel we are apt to heed.
> 
> This book, then, is not so much a book of advice
> and exhortation as it is an attempt to chart out the
> life of righteousness—its ways and its values—in as
> simple an outline as possible. It does not attempt to
> urge the reader to be good (a rather useless process,
> that of moral exhortation!). It only seeks, to the
> 34                  CHARACTER
> 
> best of its ability, to open the reader's eyes to the
> consequences of righteous action and of unrighteous
> action, of character and of the lack of character.
> Perchance some slight influence may thus emanate
> from its pages to help the reader face life and its
> issues scientifically, undeceived by those illusions
> which the desiremature creates—gilding the picture
> of evil with fool's gold.
> CHAPTER III
> 
> Scientific Foundations for
> Character
> £ 7 ° HE l a w s of moral conduct, the habitual ob-
> ^ J y servance of which becomes character, are to a
> certain degree scientifically derivable from the
> nature of the Universe we live in. Just as the
> physical sciences discover and apply the laws of the
> material universe, so social science can discover and
> apply moral and spiritual laws relating to man's
> behavior as between himself and his fellow men and
> between himself and the Universe.
> The rules of human behavior discernible in the
> human relationships fall into the province of sociology and ethics. The rules of behavior as between
> man and the Universe fall within the province of
> religion, which might be defined as man's attempt
> to harmonice himself with the Universe.
> The social sciences are not so successful in the
> discovery of laws within their field and the application of those laws as are the physical sciences. This
> is due to several unsurmountable obstacles: first because human behavior is partly unpredictable; secondly because in the social sciences only a part of
> the scientific process of discovery and verification
> can be employed.
> 36                   CHARACTER
> 
> The physical sciences, creating by the processes
> of induction or deduction their postulates from the
> observation and classification of data, can in many
> cases verify these postulates by experimentation.
> The scientists can even create artificial situations
> for the purpose of verification, thus arriving more
> swiftly at absolute proof. The magic exactness of
> the physical sciences is demonstrated by their power
> of accurate prediction and of successful application
> of the laws they have discovered. Thus applied
> science abundantly demonstrates the marvelous
> power of theoretical science in discovering the
> hidden laws of nature.
> In the social sciences, observation and classifica'
> tion of data can be employed to substantiate the
> processes of induction and deduction. But the
> verification of the postulates thus arrived at has to
> await considerable passage of time. For the social
> sciences can rarely employ laboratory methods for
> creating human situations and conditions. Verifica'
> tion of theories, therefore, is extremely difficult and
> slow. It is for this reason that the social sciences
> are so inferior to the physical sciences in accuracy
> and in agreement as to truths and laws. They have
> to depend for their progress almost wholly upon
> case study, and this takes time. The observance of
> individual behavior and of group behavior requires
> years, even generations, of careful study in order to
> SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATION FOR CHARACTER            37
> 
> arrive at accuracy of judgment. This is because the
> social scientist cannot artificially create laboratory
> conditions for experimentation. We cannot make
> guinea pigs of human beings.
> The Greeks, initiators of the scientific approach
> to the Universe, knew only the methods of observa'
> tion and classification of data as foundational for the
> processes of induction and deduction. It was not
> until the posťRenaissance scientists began to use
> experimentation that the marvelous accuracy of
> modern science and technology became possible.
> The social sciences are young—hardly for one hun'
> dred years have they received the attention of world
> thinkers. Is it not possible, then, that the time may
> come when the social scientists will invent, as have
> the physical scientists, more accurate methods for
> the discovery of truths and laws within their
> particular field?
> 
> The laws of ethics, as a social science, are there'
> fore discoverable by observation from history and
> from the contemporary life around us. Upon the
> data thus collected and observed the ethicist, by the
> processes of induction and deduction, can create
> general postulates; and these postulates can then
> be roughly checked up by further observation.
> The spiritual laws which relate man to the Unh
> 38                   CHARACTER
> 
> verse he lives in are likewise deducible from observa'
> tion and theoriziation. Certainly whatever scientific
> processes are available for this end can be applied to
> the study of the Universe as it relates itself to s u e
> cessful and harmonious living upon this planet. In
> fact, every individual is bound to analyse the Unb
> verse, sooner or later, from such a point of view.
> Even savages try to analyse life to decide whether
> nature is friendly or hostile to them and if so, for
> what reasons. Upon these observations they base
> their primitive religious concepts and their moral
> laws of conduct. Their powers of observation are
> limited, their reasoning crude. Nevertheless they
> succeed in working out definite rules of procedure
> which among some primitive peoples, notably the
> North American Indians, arrive at idealistic and
> noble heights.
> In fact, the most important question man can ask
> of the Universe is just this: are You friendly, neutral,
> or hostile to me as an individual? Upon the answer
> to this question, an answer which man derives in
> part from experience and ratiocination, will depend
> the type of his philosophy of life. The Stoics, for
> instance, elaborated noble spiritual concepts from
> such a study—finding their highest expression in the
> writings of Marcus Aurelius who apostrophizes the
> Universe in such terms as these: "Nothing is too
> early or too late for me, O Universe, which is in due
> time for Thee."
> SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER           39
> 
> The earliest Greek scientific thinkers—Thales,
> Anaximander, Anaximenes—succeeded in marvel'
> ously analyzing the Cosmos with the scanty means
> at their disposal. They noted first the infinite com'
> plexity of phenomenal life. Existence consists of a
> plurality of objects, animate and inanimate—there
> can be no question of that. This must be the starť
> ing point of all thought about the Universe, as it
> became the conclusion even of such great modern
> thinkers as William James and to a degree John
> Dewey.
> But the Greek thinkers went beyond this appear'
> ance of plurality and arrived at the noble concept of
> Unity in Multiplicity. They discovered an infinite
> order ruling over an infinite number of separate
> entities within the Universe. The Universe is
> orderly—that is the supreme concept at which hu'
> man thought may arrive concerning it. If orderly,
> it is then an essential and organic unity. This is the
> point reached by modern scientists such as Edding'
> ton, Jeans and Millikan—namely, that the Universe
> represents a Plan.
> 
> If the Universe is orderly, it follows that definite
> laws are discoverable in accordance with which this
> orderliness is inviolately maintained. These laws,
> as functioning in human life, where consciousness
> operates, may be called moral laws.
> 40                   CHARACTER
> 
> There are certain moral laws, then, which ensue
> from the very nature of man and of the Cosmos
> which man inhabits. The great central laws of the
> Universe are Unity in Multiplicity and Harmony
> in Diversity. From these great cosmic laws as they
> apply to the life of man individually and collectively,
> and to man's relation with the Universe in its total'
> ity, may be derived many minor laws by which hu'
> man behavior, if it is to be wise and successful, must
> be regulated.
> These two cosmic laws of Unity and Harmony
> are the scientific foundations, then, of the moral
> character of man. They are essential to social life
> upon this planet. They are essential to the indi'
> vidual's relation to the Whole. Their due observance
> guarantees harmony, happiness and health; and in
> proportionate degree, success.
> If we could adequately conceive the colossal and
> infinite scope of these laws and their cosmic in'
> violability, we should fear to break them.
> 
> These moral laws may be called scientific in the
> sense that they are derived from the rational study
> of existence itself; they are arrived at by deduction
> based upon observation and classification of data;
> and they can be scientifically checked by further
> SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER          41
> 
> observation. The careful study of history, which
> has up to the present, during a period of some six
> thousand years, collected an enormous amount of
> human data; the study of biography; and the study
> of the contemporaneous life about us—will yield
> an immense amount of data leading to the under'
> standing of these moral laws and furnishing ample
> scope for their verification.
> Thus the moral laws are scientific, just as the
> physical laws are scientific. They are not legalistic,
> not rules created by man. They are simply the pro'
> cedure of the Universe, the methods which the
> Universe employs for successful functioning. Only
> by following these methods of the Universe and
> obeying the laws which the Universe itself lays
> down, can man hope to thrive on the planet which
> he inhabits and which he will eventually learn to
> operate.
> A lifedong study along these lines has convinced
> the author that the moral truths, where really dis'
> coverable, can be stated almost in mathematical
> terms. That is, like the physical laws, they have
> a certainty, an inviolability, and a proportion or
> raticadjustment. We must recognise, of course,
> the difference between the moral laws of the Uni'
> verse, and the ethical custom and usage as actually
> current among races and peoples. The latter varies
> greatly with peoples and epochs. The moral laws
> 42                  CHARACTER
> 
> of the Universe never vary. They are part of the
> substructure of existence.
> 
> Why, then, cannot ethics be a science, and the
> building of character proceed without the need of
> religion? Unfortunately it is not the intellect which
> rules in most individuals, but the emotions and
> desire-nature. Only philosophers control their be'
> havior by their intelligence. Other human beings—
> and this means more than ninety-nine out of a hundred—use their intelligence only to attain the objects of their desires. It is their emotional nature
> which motivates and rules them.
> Religious foundations for character are needed
> for two reasons. First, religion is essential to give
> motivation and spiritual aid for the reinforcement
> of reason as grounds for character development;
> religion can control man's emotional nature, as the
> intellect cannot, for the reason that religion is in
> itself a master emotion and as such has the power to
> regulate and harness man's other emotions to lofty
> ends. Secondly, religion brings to humanity definite
> spiritual concepts not easily derived from the scientific examination of the Universe. The Prophets—
> such as Moses, Buddha, Christ, Mahomet, Baha'u'lláh—reveal us to ourselves from a plane of knowl-
> SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER           43
> 
> edge which we may call inspirational or revelatory.
> Once They give Their majestic message, we realise
> its cosmic truth.
> These Revelators speak from the plane of imme'
> diate or intuitive knowledge. They are able to ex'
> plain to us the occult or hidden spiritual nature of
> man and of the Universe.
> As a modern scientist might go among backward
> peoples and teach them the great physical laws of
> nature and their application, so the Revelators come
> to man upon this planet from a plane of higher
> experience and knowledge and teach humanity moral
> and spiritual laws essential to its spiritual develop'
> ment, and equally applicable to material progress
> in so far as such progress is implicated in man's
> obedience to certain necessary cosmic laws.
> The moral development of humanity would be
> infinitely slow but for the message of the Revelator,
> and man's spiritual progress would stop far short
> of its distant lofty goals but for the higher truths
> which the Revelator brings.
> 
> The science of human behavior and the art of
> right living are more important today by far than
> are any of the physical sciences. Our discoveries in
> physics, chemistry, biology have put us far ahead
> 44                   CHARACTER
> 
> materially and have built up a marvelous technolog'
> ical civilization.
> Meanwhile, man's moral and spiritual progress
> have sadly lagged—resulting in the immense moral
> confusion of humanity today; the breakdown of all
> the sanctions of the past; the rapid social, political,
> and economic deterioration of humanity; and the
> threatening trend of planetary disintegration.
> Humanity could live happily and successfully for
> centuries without making a single further discovery
> in the fields of the physical sciences. But humanity
> will suicidally perish if there does not speedily ensue
> moral and spiritual regeneration.
> We must then for the present concentrate, the
> world over, on those great spiritual laws which
> make for harmony and happiness in human existence.
> Here lies humanity's necessary path for the next few
> generations.
> CHAPTER IV
> 
> Religious Foundations for
> Character
> (7^ HE rules of ethics or code of morals which
> ^ J y individuals are supposed to live up to differ
> from age to age, according to the development
> and exigencies of human society. They are the expression of the racial or group consciousness.
> The best tiger, as William James used to point
> out, is the one that kills the most rabbits. The best
> Indian in the days of savagery was the one who
> could gather the most scalps of his enemies. A
> recent article in Liberty Magazine points out the
> obligation upon the young braves among the headhunters of Borneo of bringing home the heads of
> their enemies to dry upon the rafters before they
> were deemed worthy of a mate.
> To kill a man with premeditated purpose is here
> murder, punishable by legalised death. Yet among
> certain peoples even today who practise the law of
> the vendetta—Arabs and mountain whites of the
> Appalachians—not to so kill, under certain circumstances, would be a gross violation of tribal morals
> and would condemn the individual to obloquy and
> disgrace.
> 46                   CHARACTER
> 
> The heroes of the Old Testament whom we con'
> sider paragons of past virtue and spirituality had
> many wives. But today in this country a man who has
> more than one wife is punishable by imprisonment.
> Honesty in savage tribes is a virtue seldom failing.
> Nothing is ever stolen from one's fellow tribesmen.
> But to successfully take part in expeditions of mili'
> tary and wholesale robbery from neighboring tribes
> is the badge of the highest virtue.
> Thus certain moral codes are established by the
> human environment in response to exigencies of
> climate, geography and kultur, and upheld by power'
> ful social and legal sanctions.
> 
> In striking contrast to the relativity of humanly
> evolved morals are the codes of ethics revealed by
> founders of the world's great religious systems.
> These codes claim absoluteness. And the adherents of such religions acknowledge individually and
> collectively this absoluteness and try to achieve in
> the practice of daily living the norms or ideals thus
> presented to them from the plane of divine truth.
> "Prophecy claims moral and religious absolute'
> ness," says Dean Willard L. Sperry in his book of
> Yale Lectures, "We Prophesy in Part." "All men
> and all societies are judged by a divine standard.
> RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER            47
> 
> There is nothing relative or comparative about it.
> What is conceived as God's perfection is the norm.
> The two major themes of prophecy are these: Man's
> sins as they stand discovered by the righteousness of
> God, and the nature of the ideal society in which
> righteousness will be realised."
> 
> The prophets reveal eternal principles of conduct,
> principles which are cosmic in their extent, laws to
> which all existence must render allegiance. They
> are not laws in a legalistic sense, but laws in the
> natural sense—laws of behavior upon which the
> very structure of order and harmony of the Universe
> depend. These laws represent ethical and cosmic
> necessity. From them there is no possible healthful
> deviation.
> These spiritual laws, these eternal truths never
> vary. They are absolute. Their applications, how'
> ever, may and do vary from age to age. Even the
> successive Revelators themselves change these ap'
> plications, abrogating specific rules of conduct estab'
> lished by their predecessors and establishing new
> rules to fit a new age.
> Thus the law or principle of love was applied at
> first only within the family, then the clan, then the
> tribe and nation.
> 48                  CHARACTER
> 
> The Hebrews, under the stern leadership of
> Moses and his successors, proceeded not only to
> fight but to exterminate surrounding tribes. Christ
> deepened and broadened the application of love to
> life, estabHshing new standards for the expression
> of spiritual love on the part of mankind. Yet up to
> today this spiritual love inculcated by Christ has
> never, even in the ideaHsm of Christendom, over'
> stepped the boundaries of nationalism. Today, the
> law of love for the creation of a new world order,
> so declares BaháVlláh, is to apply in a worlďwide
> scope, ehminating war and estabHshing universal
> peace and brotherhood.
> 
> The Prophets not only set forth to man cosmic
> laws of behavior. They also reveal man to himself—
> his lofty station, his spiritual reality. They teach
> man how to Hve a moral and spiritual life that will
> strengthen and develop the transcendental side of
> his nature and restrain and sublimate his animal
> side.
> "God sent his Prophets into the world to teach
> and enHghten man, to explain to him the mystery of
> the power of the Holy Spirit, to enable him to reflect
> the Hght. . . .
> "Let us listen to a symphony which will confer
> Hfe on man. Then we shall receive a new spirit,
> RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER                            49.
> 
> then we shall become illuminated, . . . unfolding
> the inner potentialities of life. Whenever the sun of
> reality dawns, the lower sphere expresses the virtues
> of the higher world. . . ."*
> Revealed truth flowing into the channels of social
> custom greatly modifies it, establishing new norms
> and ideals toward which society gradually evolves.
> Thus every Revelation has founded a new civili^ation built upon its moral teachings.
> The Revelators are not only revealers of moral
> truth but also perfect Exemplars of the truth they
> teach. Thus they stand out through human history
> as divinely appointed Models or Patterns for human
> behavior.
> 
> From the welter and conflict and relativity of
> shifting tribal and racial morals a certain confusion
> as to conduct is inevitable. This confusion is pronounced and exaggerated when tribal or racial kulturs mingle as in conquest, commercial intercourse,
> intermarriage. Such chaos in ethical codes is one of
> the chief reasons for the moral and social obliquy of
> half'breeds; they have no definite standards or
> sanctions of conduct.
> Thus the Occidental cultural invasions of Asia
> have tended to break down the age-long ethics
> *'Abdu'l-Bahi: "Divine Philosophy." Babi'i Publishing Society, N. Y. G.
> 50                  CHARACTER
> 
> traditionally operative. China has been especially
> disturbed since its revolution of 1911 by this inflow
> of Occidentalism, until Confucianism as a pattern
> of ethics is practically gone.
> Too sudden and too crude an intermingling of
> ethical codes brings unexpectedly peculiar and dis'
> advantageous results. It is said that Christianity,
> when too naively introduced into African villages,
> destroys the honesty and integrity built up by tribal
> customs and taboos without sufficiently establishing
> the new ethics of Christianity, so that the net result
> is a lowering of morality. Thus we see the paradox
> of a religion lofty in its ethical code actually operať
> ing, by confusion of kulturs, to lower the moral code
> of a people it converts. This is of course not due to
> the nature of the Christian religion itself but to the
> unwisdom and crudity of its application.
> In past history one can trace epochs decidedly
> marked by such confusion of morals due to ? niing'
> ling of miscellaneous cults and the weakening of
> ancestral and traditional codes. Thus the morality
> of the Greeks rapidly degenerated under contact
> with the kulturs and religions of Asia Minor. In
> turn the Roman character degenerated as the cults
> of Greece, of Asia Minor, of Mesopotamia and of
> Egypt invaded it, breaking up entirely the old
> Nature'State religion of Rome with its severe
> codes of integrity and simplicity of life.
> It is in an age of irreligion that moral principles
> RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER            51
> 
> become the most weakened and confused. Then
> expediency tends to ta\e the place of righteousness and
> definite standards of conduct disappear.
> Such is the age we are living in today. The au'
> thority of religion is waning the whole world over
> and the moral sanctions of religion are rapidly disap'
> pearing. Within the great world of Christendom
> only a few communicants still guide their conduct
> by any principles of religion. Exceptions to this
> lapse in the efficaciousness of Christian motivation
> are to be found among certain groups—notably the
> Quakers, the Christian Scientists, and the Oxford
> Group. Of these Christian sects it may be said that
> the majority of their adherents still consciously
> make religion a guidepost to fife. With these except
> tions religion in Christendom is more a matter of
> ritual than it is of ethics. Tet outside of Christendom
> the condition is even worse.
> Public thinkers, as well as the clergy, are alarmed
> by this moral chaos in which the selfish and gross
> instincts of human nature easily rise to the top. But
> all their inveighing and moralising and preaching
> will do little good. Just as in the age of the Roman
> emperors the moralising of the philosophers and
> poets availed nothing to stem the moral decline.
> What is needed in such a period of moral decline
> is a spiritual rebirth of humanity. Christianity
> brought such rebirth to Rome. Today we need a
> spiritual rebirth on a planetary scale.
> 52                   CHARACTER
> 
> In a vitally religious age society vigorously enforces the moral sanctions. In an irreligious age the
> question of right and wrong becomes scumbled over
> with self-interest and passion, and a moral confusion
> and chaos ensue. Also society loses its power of
> enforcement, because once standards of revealed
> truth are overthrown there remains no unity of
> ideology or of compulsion. As among the Sophists
> of Greece each man becomes a law unto himself, and
> man's intelligence is too often used to rationalise unrighteous conduct.
> A deeply religious age, on the contrary, furnishes
> powerful sanctions and also powerful motives for
> righteous conduct.
> 
> The laws that religion lays down are not arbitrary.
> They are essential and necessary principles for the
> attainment of social unity, harmony, peace and prosperity—insuring a perfect organisation of society.
> These laws of conduct, as regards the individual,
> correspond with his own inner nature and its development toward the emergence of spiritual man.
> An important motivation for right action is the
> realisation that righteousness is self-advantageous—
> that it is a process of self-development into con-
> RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER             53
> 
> stantly higher and higher states of being. Violation
> of this law of righteousness and spiritual growth is
> realised to be folly as well as sin. For to retrogress
> or fail to progress is in reality the greatest tragedy
> of existence.
> A firm conviction of future existence is the greať
> est motivation for righteousness that a person can
> have. For from such a conviction comes the realisa'
> tion that progress is the law of life, that it does not
> end here, that its scope is infinite, and that failures
> to progress here will produce fatal consequences ia
> the life to come.
> The greatest reward of doing good is to grow
> better. The greatest and most tragic punishment
> for doing wrong is that one is thereby growing
> worse. So simple is this moral law that it can be
> expressed in almost mathematical terms. Yet how
> many people are living in definite accordance with
> it? Probably not even onedialf of one per cent are
> conscious of this law and are guiding their fives
> by it.
> God does not enter in, to judge and punish.      We
> judge and sentence ourselves, and administer the
> punishment! We cannot escape the consequences of
> our actions! In this respect the Universe is sternly
> automatic.
> This majestic law of spiritual cause and effect the
> Theosophists have made the keynote of their ethical
> 54                   CHARACTER
> 
> system. It is a most potent motivation for indb
> vidual growth and development.
> The occultist sees this earth as a stage of existence
> where the imperfections of human nature are to be
> changed toward perfection. Life here is a school in
> character-training.
> It is not meant that earthly existence should be
> too happy. This is not the plane of perfection,
> earth is a crucible for the refining and moulding of
> character, says 'AbduďBahá.
> 
> The troubles of life are in reality lessons in char'
> acter'training. If they are taken advantage of, they
> are more valuable to us than gold or diamonds.
> Events reveal us to ourselves and teach us how to
> overcome those flaws which they disclose in us.
> Thus the events of life force us to grow in character.
> The advantage we take of these events measures the
> degree of our attainment.
> The wise man searches every event, every hap'
> pening in his life, every misfortune for some deep
> lesson of self-improvement.
> If we do not grow in character throughout life
> we are missing the sole purpose of existence on this
> earthly plane!
> The purpose of life is growth through struggle.
> We cannot avoid struggle. But we can meet strug'
> RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER             55
> 
> gle as an opportunity for growth. We can suffer
> obstacles and frustrations to be merely a misfortune
> to us, or we can utilise them as aids to development.
> We must see to it that our trials and sufferings
> become a means for growth. We can forge out of
> our misfortunes a golden coin to pay our way on'
> ward and upward. We can make stepping'Stones of
> our dead selves and rise to higher things.
> As we become progressively purified in character,
> obstacles are more and more easily met through the
> aid of Divine Grace and Guidance.
> 
> Collective humanity, like the individual, learns
> from disaster. The cruel sufferings of the world to'
> day—the universal moral disorder, the economic and
> political uncertainties, the physical deprivations and
> the prevailing psychological and spiritual chaos—
> are in reality a sort of planetary test revealing human
> society to itself in all its weakness and baseness of
> character. Events are proving more than words the
> weakness and inadequacy of its present institutions.
> Thus humanity is collectively being forced to rise
> to new altitudes of social and spiritual character.
> Out of all this chaos and suffering will arise a purged
> and purer humanity. Man's calamity is God's op'
> portunity.
> 56                        CHARACTER
> 
> Because of the world's extraordinary physical and
> psychic interrelation today and the inevitable break'
> ing up of local moralities and customs due to the
> coalescing of national and racial kulturs there is de'
> manded, if we are to have any improvement in the
> present situation of confusion, a new unity of moral
> concept and practice which will be worlďwide.
> "As mind directs in human affairs, it is evident
> that order cannot be obtained unless there is first
> produced a oneness of intellectual and moral per'
> ception."*
> How is this oneness of intellectual and moral per'
> ception to be established?
> H. G. Wells has the happy plan of creating a vast
> international university which shall bring together
> the leaders of thought in every department of
> knowledge, with the aim of forging out world unity
> of concept and practice. To this project he is
> earnestly devoting the last years of his life in his
> lectures and writings. As critics point out, h o w
> ever, there is no possibility of thus unifying world
> concepts through the meeting of various academic
> scientists and philosophers. The tendency of the
> intellect is analytical and dispersive, not synthetic
> * Rev. R. P. Wilson, "Discourses from The Spirit World."   New York,
> Partridge and Brittan, 1855.
> RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER          57
> 
> and unifying. "Tot homines, tot sententiae.'1'' As
> many men, so many opinions. The greater nunv
> ber of scholars that gather together for this
> Wellsian project, the greater the confusion and
> chaos that would result; the fewer scholars, the less
> confusion. And of course if one world thinker
> could be selected, preferably Wells, absolute unity
> of concept could be attained! Yes, unity of concept
> could be attained by one thinker, but who is going
> to put the concept across? Thus we have the in'
> surmountable paradox that the more leaders there
> are undertaking this Wellsian project the more chaos
> will ensue; whereas, the fewer the leaders of thought
> that might engage in such a project the greater
> would be the futility of it.
> No! Human ratiocination and philosophic effort
> can never create this unity of moral perception and
> of moral practice which the world sadly needs today.
> There is only one thing that can create and estab'
> lish unity of moral concept and practice, and that is
> religion. The reason why religion can be effective
> in this domain is because, as we have already shown,
> it claims divine sanctions and thus achieves one
> hundred per cent loyalty amongst its followers.
> Thus as a religion spreads, no matter how small and
> insignificant it may be at its inception, it exerts a
> spearhead thrust upon the disunity and chaos of
> world affairs. And as a religion continues to grow
> 58                             CHARACTER
> 
> it draws more and more of current thought and
> practice into its majestic orbit, until finally chaos
> yields to order and righteousness and harmony again
> prevail.
> The Revelator reveals a body of truth and sets an
> example in his own life. More important still, he
> releases a dynamic power—the power of the Holy
> Spirit—which touches people's hearts and helps
> them to struggle toward perfection.
> It is very difficult to live these divine teachings.
> Yet it is not the word only, but the living it that
> counts. The Revelator charges the world with a
> Power, just as electricity may charge a battery.
> When the spiritual battery of humanity runs down,
> another Revelator appears to revivify it.
> "Mere knowledge is not sufficient for complete
> human attainment. The teachings of the holy books
> need a heavenly power and a divine potency to
> carry them out. A house is not built by mere acquaintance with the plans. . . . The teachings
> of the holy books need a divine potency to complete
> their accomplishments in human hearts. It is evident that the confirmation of the Holy Spirit and
> the impelling influence of a heavenly power are
> needed to accomplish the divine purpose in human
> hearts and conditions.11*
> * 'Abdu'1'Bahá in "Divine Art of Living."
> RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS FOR CHARACTER              59
> 
> Individual improvement is necessary before gen'
> eral social and world improvement can be achieved.
> A government cannot rise much higher than the
> average intellectuality and righteousness of its peo'
> pie. A world civilization based on peace, good will,
> universal love and brotherhood cannot be imposed as
> a mere pattern upon a world population full of
> hatreds, prejudices, greed, sensuality and selfishness.
> A change in human hearts is necessary in order to
> establish the Kingdom of God upon earth.
> 
> A grave responsibility rests upon all those who
> preach a new world order. Unless their own lives
> and characters are distinguished in ethical quality,
> how can they expect the ideal civilization which
> they urge upon others ever to be established? First
> they must purify and ennoble their own hearts and
> then persuade the hearts of others by the purity of
> their character as well as by the zeal of their religious
> devotion.
> "Rather, what is well pleasing is that the cities
> of men's hearts, which are under the dominion of
> the hosts of selfishness and lust, should be subdued
> by the sword of the word of wisdom and exhorta'
> tion. Everyone then who desires victory must first
> subdue the city of his own heart with the sword of
> 6o                        CHARACTER
> 
> spiritual truth and of the word, and must protect it
> from remembering aught beside God. Afterward,
> let him turn his efforts toward the citadel of the
> hearts of others."*
> A double moral responsibility rests upon human
> beings in the day of a Revelator. Not only do they
> owe it to themselves to achieve perfection. But if
> they become adherents of a New Religion, they owe
> it to their Prophet to live the truths He preaches, so
> as to be able by their deeds and lives to persuade
> others to their newfound truth. And as they de'
> velop a new cosmic character superb in its purity
> of motive and its integrity, they will be called upon
> for leadership in world affairs.
> Great souls shall and must arise to reconstruct the
> affairs of the world in the new spirit of understand'
> ing, says "AbduďBahá. The World War, he says,
> has taught humanity the need for personal, social,
> national and international adjustments, if the world
> is to become safe for humanity. We must change
> our standards of living. Our activities must be
> regulated not according to policy, but according to
> principle. This is the aim of the new humanity in
> a world where ambitions are still the expression of
> greed and lust for power to be wielded only for self, f
> * BaháVlláh: Victory Tablet.
> f 'Abdu'1'Bahá: "Unpublished Notes of Marie Watson."
> PART II
> 
> THE GOALS OF
> CHARACTER
> CHAPTER V
> 
> Self'Development
> /T 6 "*HE individual is born into this world helpless
> y^J and harmless. He is incapable of committing
> evil. But he cannot on that account be said
> to have a perfect character. That is attained only
> by wrestling with life itself in a stage of maturity
> where man has the strength and intelligence to
> choose good or evil.
> The first stage in the building of character is
> necessarily one of self'development. The early
> years of every human being, as of the animals, are
> years of expansion, of development, of maturation.
> The infant, the child, the youth develop by ex'
> perimenting with the world around them. Char'
> acter is being formed in these adjustments of the
> individual to society, even from the earliest years;
> but this character development is largely in the
> hands of those who train the infant. It is not until
> adolescence is approached that the child is mature
> enough to analyse himself and deliberately build for
> character.
> Parents and educators have a great responsibility,
> therefore, as regards the kind of character that
> emerges in the 'teens. This character, as condi'
> 64                    CHARACTER
> 
> tioned by home and school, is not easily modified in
> later years. The child with a good home and with
> intelligent parents who carry out conscientiously
> and effectively their responsibilities in the way of
> child-training—such a child, especially if morally
> stimulated by family example as well as by precept,
> has a fortunate advantage over all other children.
> 
> The stage of life from adolescence to physical
> maturity is still one of self-development and selfexpression. During this period of youth the individual has little responsibility to society but much
> responsibility to himself. It is his duty to discover
> and develop all his powers and train them for efficient achievement in later years. Most important
> during this period is the exploration and discovery
> of oneself, the development of practical wisdom and
> the careful choice of a profession.
> One should build for success. There is nothing
> unspiritual in a process of self-development that will
> make for efficient functioning in one's chosen career
> and lead to material success.
> Vocational or professional skills, efficiency in one's
> work, industry, ambition to excel and to rise to the
> top: these qualities are perfectly compatible with
> spiritual law, though they are expressions of the
> SELF'DEVELOPMENT                    65
> 
> material side of man. Since we live in a world of
> matter, we must adapt ourselves to it successfully.
> Such an adaptation is our first spiritual obligation
> toward existence.
> Work, and through work material success, are a
> cosmic and universal obligation. Men can find no
> alibi in their religion for neglect of external responsi'
> bilities and of the factors of success. Education
> itself must fulfill the obligation of preparing youth
> for a successful career. It is the duty of the educator
> to equip youth not only with general knowledge
> but also with vocational or professional skills. Work
> is a cosmic duty to which all men, without excep'
> tion, are obligated. And man's work should be
> efficient and fruitful.
> The first duty that youth faces in the develop'
> ment of character, then, is the duty of self'develop'
> ment. Youth has a sacred obligation to awaken and
> train all his powers to their fullest potentiality.
> This is not selfish, though it may appear egocentric.
> Ambition is a virtue in youth. Later in life it may
> become a fault and a danger.
> 
> There are certain virtues essential to success and
> happiness in life which must be acquired early: in'
> dustry, honesty, self-restraint, control of the physf
> 66                   CHARACTER
> 
> cal desires, harmony with one's social environment,
> the spirit of cooperation, patience, sincerity. It is
> such qualities as these which great men early in their
> 'teens set themselves consciously to achieve. If
> these qualities are gained by the individual, success
> and happiness in proportionate degree are assured
> him.
> Religion, with its definite ethical precepts and its
> strong motivations and sanctions, is a powerful fac'
> tor in the building up of a character which may have
> its practical as well as its spiritual aspects. It saves
> youth from excesses and from self'indulgence. It
> makes for self'restraint, probity, integrity, coopera'
> tion and loyalty. It stimulates moral progress and
> inspires constant effort toward self'improvement.
> The fact that an earnest religious'founded con'
> science is a factor of material success is definitely
> shown in the economic history of the Puritans, the
> Scotch Presbyterians, the Huguenots and the Quak'
> ers—all of whom have been as notable for their ecc
> nomic success as for their moral and religious
> conscience. There may be other factors for the ouť
> standing economic success of these sects, but the
> sober character of solid integrity inspired by religious
> conscience is of all factors by far the most notable
> and effective.
> It may not be dignified of religion to base its ap'
> peal to youth on grounds of practicality. But youth
> SELF-DEVELOPMENT                    67
> 
> should not be unaware that the only completely sound,
> wholesome and effective life is one which travels on the
> highway charted by religion.
> 
> The study of one's own self—the realization of
> one's tendencies toward good and evil and of one's
> potentialities for achievement—is the most fascinating and valuable of all studies. It was the slogan of
> the ancient Greeks: "Know thyself."
> The physical sciences teach us the nature of the
> world around us and how to rule it. "The Occidental," says Edward Carpenter, "knows how to
> rule everything in the world except the square foot
> under his own hat."
> Psychology teaches us our own nature and how
> to rule that. Psychology today is materialistic in
> its tendencies. The psychology of the new age will
> be spiritual in its foundations and this spiritualized
> science of psychology will be profoundly effective
> in aiding youth to acquire a perfect character.
> Spiritual psychology teaches man the dual nature
> of his being: that on the one hand he inherits from
> his physical evolution all the qualities of the animal—aggressiveness, cruelty, greed, envy, cunning,
> temper, self-seeking; on the other hand, man has
> that within him that gives him the capacity of de-
> 68                   CHARACTER
> 
> veloping the spiritual qualities of kindliness, patience,
> honesty, self'sacrifice, universal love, and purity of
> mind and body.
> The tragic limitation of presenťday psychology
> and education is the failure to discover and present
> the spiritual side of man, which is just as potent and
> far more important a side of his nature than his
> animal trend. Every man, every woman has the
> capacity and the power to progress along the path
> of spiritual perfectioning. One of the most impor'
> tant missions of the Founders of religions is to assert
> this duality and call upon man to rise from the lower,
> earthly side of his nature toward the celestial,
> angelic side.
> 
> Paul, two thousand years ago, expounded this
> psychology efficaciously. These two beings in man
> Paul calls the carnal and the spiritual man respec'
> tively; and his preachment consists chiefly in the
> exhortation to avail oneself of the aid of the Christos
> for the all'important task of putting ofF the garment
> of carnality and putting on the garment of spiritu'
> ality.
> "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual,
> but that which is natural; and afterward that which
> is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy;
> the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the
> SELF'DEVELOPMENT                   69
> 
> earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is
> the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
> And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we
> shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this
> I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
> the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit
> incorruption.
> "This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall
> not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth
> against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh;
> and these are contrary the one to the other; so that
> ye cannot do the things that ye would. . . .
> Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
> these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lascivious'
> ness. Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emula'
> tions, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. Envyings,
> murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of
> the which I tell you before, as I have also told you
> in time past, that they which do such things shall
> not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of
> the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentle
> ness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."
> Thus does Paul train his flock, directing them,
> exhorting them, encouraging them in ways of nobler
> living—always the true psychologist, the man of
> insight into human as well as divine truths.
> 
> "In man there are two natures, his spiritual or
> 70                  CHARACTER
> 
> higher nature and his material or lower nature. In
> one he approaches God, in the other he lives for the
> world alone. Signs of both these natures are to be
> found in men. In his material aspect he expresses
> untruth, cruelty and injustice; all these are the outcome of his lower nature. The attributes of his
> divine nature are shown forth in love, mercy, kindness, truth and justice, one and all being expressions
> of his higher nature. Every good habit, every noble
> quality belongs to man's spiritual nature, whereas
> all his imperfections and sinful actions are born of
> his material nature. If a man's divine nature dominates his human nature, we have a saint.
> "If the soul identifies itself with the material
> world it remains dark, for in the natural world there
> is corruption, aggression, struggles for existence,
> greed, darkness, transgression and vice. If the soul
> remains in this station and moves along these paths
> it will be the recipient of this darkness; but if it
> becomes the recipient of the graces of the world of
> mind, its darkness will be transformed into light, its
> tyranny into justice, its ignorance into wisdom, its
> aggression into loving kindness, until it reach the
> apex. Then there will not remain any struggle for
> existence. Man will become free from egotism; he
> will be released from the material world; he will
> become the personification of justice and virtue, for
> a sanctified soul illumines humanity and is an honor
> SELF'DEVELOPMENT                               71
> 
> to mankind, conferring life upon the children of
> men."*
> 
> The physical qualities of man are not in them'
> selves evil. It is the use we put them to that may
> make them harmful. In themselves they are part
> of the biological foundation for existence. In ani'
> mals they are necessary and quite innocent. In man
> they are also necessary—but not innocent unless
> sublimated by the power of the spirit.
> It is those fundamental urges in a human being
> which he shares with the animal world that give
> him energy and power of achievement. This physi'
> cal side of man is as important to his existence on
> this earthly plane as is the spiritual side.
> The first application of intelligence to our self'
> training in character should be the awareness of our
> duality and the effort to transubstantiate our ani'
> malistic qualities into spiritualized correspondences
> on a higher plane.
> Thus one's tendency to anger can be modified
> into a power for controlling other human beings for
> noble ends. George Washington knew how to
> change his fierce and at one time ungovernable
> temper into a powerful factor for governing men.
> The instinct for self-preservation which is ex'
> * 'Abdul-Bahi: "The Reality of Man." Babi' i Publishing Society, N.Y.C.
> 72                  CHARACTER
> 
> pressed in the animal as greed and cruelty can be
> modified in man to an expression of energy and
> efficiency for career'success. In a spiritualised hu'
> manity, such expression of the will'tcexist need not
> be cruelly competitive nor egoistic. On such a
> spiritualised plane of humanity there will not re'
> main any distressing struggle for existence.
> 
> Every individual starts life with a certain heredb
> tary or destined endowment. This is his working
> capital. It is important for him to realise as early as
> possible in life those tendencies toward good and
> evil, toward failure and success with which he
> started existence on this earthly plane. To be
> wisely aware of one's faults and ignoble tendencies
> is to make constant effort toward overcoming them.
> To be aware of one's proficiencies and gifts is essen'
> tial to a wise and successful choice of career.
> One should make a daily practice of self-examina'
> tion, not in any morbid way, but from a spiritual
> standpoint—daily reaffirming one's resolution to
> overcome one's faults and strengthen one's virtues.
> What would I be tomorrow that I am not today?
> Thus we should examine our accounts each night,
> and each morning start forth to increase our treas'
> ures of perfection. The only wealth we intrinsically
> SELF-DEVELOPMENT                  73
> 
> possess is the richness of personality we have gained
> through self-unfoldment. By means of this wealth, all
> things we would gain are directed unto us. This is
> the universal law of growth.
> In the analysis of self or of others, this truth is
> very helpful: that our faults are the shadows of our
> virtues. In other words, faults are but the excess
> of some quality in us which is valuable when exercised under proper restraint.
> We have already spoken of how capacity for
> anger may be a danger or a value to man. So every
> quality in excess becomes a fault and danger to one's
> success and happiness. For instance, thrift may
> become penury and stinginess; efficiency may become overbearing; amiability tends toward irresponsibility.
> In fact, there is not a single virtue but which
> tends toward a vice when in excess. On the other
> hand, there is no fault of temperament which may
> not be modified into a valuable trait.
> 
> The first claim which life makes upon us is the
> claim of perfecting our bodies. The proper care and
> use of the body is in reality a spiritual obligation.
> Christianity emphasized our sacred duty to our
> bodies, that they are temples of the living God. We
> 74                  CHARACTER
> 
> may not abuse them. To do so is a sin, even though
> it brings no harm to other people.
> This responsibility to our bodies as vehicles of
> our mind and of our soul is strongly emphasised by
> every religion. Control of the appetites and passions is the beginning of spiritual development.
> Lack of control of them injures body, mind and soul.
> Even in the simplest things we should practice
> self-restraint and wisdom. Our diet should be
> wholesome and not overdndulgent as to amount.
> We should keep to regular and adequate hours of
> sleep. We should take what recreation is needed,
> avoiding however that which tends to deplete one's
> vitality or which is merely a waste of time.
> Youth owes a sacred duty, then, to his body
> during the important formative period of posť
> adolescence leading into manhood and womanhood.
> Parents should instill in their children this sense of
> responsibility and should train them in wholesome
> methods of eating and of bodily care and send them
> out into life intelligent managers of their own
> physical system.
> There is no demand that spirituality can make
> upon us which would betray the body and its needs.
> Spirit does and can control and guide through mať
> ter, Marie Watson reports 'Abdu'1'Bahá to have
> said; but matter has its own laws upon its own plane
> SELF'DEVELOPMENT                  75
> 
> and will exact its own toil; he who fails to acknowb
> edge and recognize this truth will lead to a wrong
> psychology and the result is difficult to remedy.
> The thing to note here is that this responsibility
> to our bodies is in reahty a spiritual responsibility
> and cannot be abdicated in the name of religion.
> Spiritual enthusiasts can find no alibi in their rein
> gious teachings for neglecting their bodies or for
> thinking that strong souls can be built upon sickly
> constitutions, enfeebled by too much unwise zeal.
> "Balance in all things" was the motto of the ancient
> Greeks, and it is the guiding spirit in the trans'
> cendent teaching of all the Revelators.
> 
> Mens sana in corpore sano—"a sound mind in a
> sound body" was the Roman maxim. Youth is a
> period not only for bodybuilding but also for mental
> development through education. An ignorant per'
> son may have a kindly and noble character, but he
> cannot be said to have attained that lofty station
> which God has designed for human beings. If
> religion is one of the wings upon which humanity
> flies, science is the other. The acquisition of knowb
> edge is therefore a spiritual responsibility.
> This advice should be given to every college stU'
> 76                         CHARACTER
> 
> dent: "Let the corps of professors and the students be
> impressed with the purity and holiness of your lives
> so that they may take you as paragons of worthiness,
> examples of nobility of nature, observers of the
> moral laws, holding in subordination the lower ele'
> ment by the higher spirit, the conquerors of self and
> the masters of wholesome, vital forces in all the
> avenues of life. Strive always to be at the head of
> your classes through hard study and true merit.
> Be always in a prayerful state and appreciate the
> value of everything. Entertain high ideals and stim'
> ulate your intellectual and constructive forces.11*
> There is no end to study. It does not cease upon
> graduation from college. At every age we should
> be expanding our mental horizons and acquiring an
> evergrowing and more solid body of knowledge for
> the better understanding of the world and Universe
> we live in.
> Knowledge is power. It lifts man from the con'
> dition of dumb driven cattle in the fields of life into
> enlightened human beings capable of managing their
> own destiny. As Albert Mansbridge once said to
> me in discussing workers1 adult education: "The
> acquisition of knowledge ennobles man. It raises him
> from an animal to a thinking being. It is one of the
> * Excerpt from a letter by 'Abdu'1-Bahá to Persian students at Beirut
> University, who were under his educational charge.
> SELF-DEVELOPMENT                                77
> 
> greatest gifts of life, and no one should be deprived
> of it."*
> It is the vision and aim of America to afford educational opportunities to all. Theoretically, these
> opportunities are without limit. Practically, distinct limits to institutional education arise from
> economic or other causes. But such limitations can
> afford no alibis to those who sincerely yearn for
> knowledge and for culture. The avenues to these
> great life-values lie open on every hand. Self-education, once literacy is acquired, is a feasible and
> unlimited possibility, and even has certain advantages over standardised institutional education on
> the higher levels.
> The most thoroughly cultured man I have ever
> known was not a college graduate, and I doubt very
> much whether the rich flavor of his culture could
> have developed in the frigid atmosphere of intellectual bureaucracy which reigns in most institutions for higher learning.
> The moral is, no one need remain supine in conditions of ignorance or low culture. Aspiration,
> * Albert Mansbridge, founder of the adult education movement amidst the
> labor class of England, author of "An Adventure in Working Class Educacation," self-risen from the ranks of the illiterate, has a great vision for
> education. The workers' adult education movement in England owes its
> world'preeminence chiefly to his inspired efforts and devotion. He is now
> president of The World Association for Adult Education.
> 78                  CHARACTER
> 
> application and discrimination cannot fail to enrich
> educationally and culturally any individual who
> desires such enrichment. The means of culture are
> abundantly at hand. It is the degree of desire which
> will measure the degree of effort and accomplishment.
> To any who would say: "I never had the opportunity to get an education," I would reply: "You
> never truly wanted one!"
> As the first step in character is self-development,
> so the first proof of capacity for a strong rich char'
> acter is resolution and achievement in world fields
> of knowledge. We have no one but ourselves to
> blame for failure.
> 
> Toward what types of knowledge should we
> aspire? We cannot afford to give our valuable time
> to the acquisition of miscellaneous and desultory
> knowledge. Nor should our primary aim in the
> development of intelligence and acquisition of
> knowledge be simply self-advancement or the glorf
> fication of self, but the ability to contribute to
> human progress.
> The youth of today should therefore master both
> the physical and social sciences. Especially should
> they become proficient in history, sociology, economics, psychology, and political science. They
> must be prepared to assume leadership in world
> SELF-DEVELOPMENT                   79
> 
> affairs and these studies are very important foundations.
> Throughout the process of education as the chief
> factor of self-development, we must beware of selfishness or too great self-centeredness. Youth must
> develop the altruistic and spiritual qualities at the
> same time that they are developing their intellectual powers.
> I like the following ideal of education set forth by
> 'Abdu'l-Baha in a talk to the students of Beirut
> University: "The Universities and colleges of the
> world must hold fast to three cardinal principles.
> "1. Whole-hearted service to the cause of education, the extension of the boundaries of pure science,
> the elimination of the causes of ignorance and social
> evil, a standard universal system of instruction, and
> the diffusion of the lights of knowledge and reality.
> "2. Service to the cause of the students, inspiring
> them with the sublimest ideals of ethical refinement,
> teaching them altruism, inculcating in their lives the
> beauty of holiness, and the excellency of virtues and
> animating them with the excellences and perfections
> of the religion of God.
> "3. Service to the oneness of the world of humanity; so that each student may consciously realize
> that he is a brother to all mankind, irrespective of
> religion or race. The thoughts of universal peace
> must be installed in the hearts of all scholars."
> 8o                  CHARACTER
> 
> In all this great and important process of self'
> development, of character formation, of intellectual
> advancement throughout the period of youth, we
> must learn how to call upon powers greater than
> ourselves if we are to make adequate achievement.
> Man cannot through his own will power and intelli'
> gence create a perfect character for himself. The
> pull of the animal is too strong in us. We cannot,
> as it were, lift ourselves by our own bootstraps.
> The human will is not a completely adequate instru'
> ment for perfecting the self. For the will is divided
> in its allegiance, torn and pulled in two diverse di'
> rections: toward the spiritual plane by the spiritual
> side of our nature, toward mundane goals by the
> natural and desire side of our nature.
> Thus the will is not a completely free and inde'
> pendent instrument for self-perfection. Instead of
> being able to dominate and rule our desire'nature by
> the will and intelligence, we tend to be controlled
> and governed by our emotions and to make use of
> our intelligence as an instrument to gain the objects
> of our desires.
> It is vastly important, then, that we train our
> desire'nature heavenward, so to speak; in other
> words, come more and more earnestly to desire
> spiritual progress and spiritual powers and attain'
> SELF'DEVELOPMENT                  8I
> 
> ments. This desire is greatly strengthened by asph
> ration, prayer and meditation; and by association
> with others who are spiritually minded.
> Prayer is the food of spirit. We can no more
> expect to develop spiritually without it than we
> could expect to develop physically without food.
> Man cannot rise spiritually by his own unaided
> efforts. He needs the power of the Holy Spirit for
> self'perfectioning. This is attained through prayer,
> through turning to God and beseeching aid and
> grace for such a spiritual development.
> 
> There is a mysterious power which is called the
> grace of God. It is something that few understand,
> perhaps none except the Revelator. It is that attri'
> bute of Deity which is available upon earnest request
> and beseechment for help in trouble; and more
> valuably still, for aid in spiritual development. Its
> contribution to our spiritual progress may be com'
> pared to the contribution of sunshine and richness
> of soil to the growth of plants. By attracting the
> grace of God to us through prayer and meditation,
> we can make amazing progress in spiritual growth
> transcending the slow and tedious average.
> It is the grace of God, this special outpouring of
> the Holy Spirit toward man's needs, that causes
> 8a                   CHARACTER
> 
> those miracles of transmutation of human character
> which characterise the highest experiences of relf
> gious history. Through this power released by a
> Revelator we see men and women turn from evil or
> from selfish idle lives to become veritable saints.
> This power is especially potent in the early period
> of a great world religion. It is released in great
> waves upon the planet and becomes available for
> every earnest seeker.
> The noblest fruits of human character have been
> achieved under the stimulus of devotion to religion.
> This relationship of man to God through the channel
> of a Revelator, with the eternal stimulus and in'
> spiration of that perfect and noble Pattern held
> before him, has produced the most glorious and
> noble characters in history.
> We are today, I believe, at the dawn of another
> great religious epoch. We must learn to avail our'
> selves of this tremendous power of the Holy Spirit
> and of the grace of God for attaining the utmost
> possible self-development and character growth.
> We need this aid not only for character but also for
> an intellectual development that shall be universal
> in its scope. We are not fulfilling our function as
> spiritual beings until we shine with a new potency
> in the midst of a materialistic and evil world. J^pt
> until humanity awa\ens to this new plane and stand'
> ard of self'development and self'perfection will an ideal
> social pattern for the world he achieved.
> SELF-DEVELOPMENT                          83
> 
> "When a divine spiritual illumination becomes
> manifest in the world of humanity, when divine
> instruction and guidance appear, then enlightenment
> follows, a spirit is realised within, a new power
> descends and a new life is given. It is like the birth
> from the animal kingdom into the kingdom of man.
> When man acquires these virtues, the oneness of
> the world of humanity will be revealed, the banner
> of international peace will be upraised, equality between all mankind will be realised and the Orient
> and Occident will become one. Then will the justice
> of God become manifest, all humanity will appear
> as the members of one family and every member of
> that family will be consecrated to cooperation and
> mutual assistance. The lights of the love of God will
> shine; eternal happiness will be unveiled; everlasting
> joy and spiritual delight will be attained." *
> Self-development is a lifelong process, not limited
> to youth. We grow eternally throughout this life
> and through future lives toward distant shining
> goals of power and glory of service which by no
> stretch of the imagination could we possibly conceive at this stage of our existence. Self-development, in its highest aspect, is divine development
> and has no end short of Infinity.
> * 'Abdui-Bahá—"The Reality of Man." Baha'i Publishing Committee,
> New York.
> CHAPTER VI
> 
> The Law of Duty
> NFANCY and childhood have no responsibili-
> I    ties. Youth has little responsibility beyond
> that of self-development and self-unfoldment
> through education. This is in itself a serious responsibility and should be so considered and acted
> upon by youth. They owe something to that provision on the part of the adult world which makes
> education possible for them. They owe still more
> to themselves in the way of developing to the
> utmost their intellectual capacity. But apart from
> this duty of intellectual training and the acquisition
> of knowledge and of skills for the future career,
> youth is practically free from responsibilities.
> Thus youth should be and usually is a delightful
> period of growth, expansion, discovery of capacities
> and dawning use of personal powers. In this period
> of life, physical and mental recreation plays a larger
> part than in any other period; and deservedly so, for
> the budding powers of youth should not be strained
> by overwork or overstudy. The physical frame has
> not yet reached its peak of development and hardihood; the nervous system is still less developed than
> the physical and suffers perhaps permanent injuries
> THE LAW OF DUTY                                   85
> 
> from overstrain during the 'teens. The present sys'
> tern of education tends to overstrain young people
> and may cause permanent injury to the nervous
> system. Five hours a day given to intellectual
> work is all that should be required of youth.
> Youth should be a period of joyous self-expression,
> self-exploration and discovery. The youth's contact with the world about him should also be made
> harmonious and joyous. This is a duty which the
> world owes to childhood and youth. A happy
> childhood and youth builds into a wholesome mental
> hygiene in later life. Whereas an overstrained, unhappy childhood and youth builds up complexes
> which make for neurotic qualities in later life. Therefore the adult world is obligated to see that the early
> .years of life on the part of the growing generation
> are made joyous and wholesome.*
> 
> There comes a time in life, however, when responsibilities creep in upon the individual. As
> graduation from college approaches, youth begins
> to feel the weight of the future years upon it. Now
> is the time when life must be faced seriously. It is
> necessary to go forth from the cloistered halls of
> * Progressive Education, by putting this psychological principle into practice, is making an important contribution to the development of wholesome
> childhood and youth.
> 86                  CHARACTER
> 
> learning prepared to earn one's livelihood. Under
> normal economic situations, not to be able to earn a
> living at maturity is a sign of imperfection, weakness,
> irresponsibility.
> The first responsibility which the individual is
> apt to incur, then, is that of earning a livelihood.
> Soon there ensues the choice of a mate and the
> responsibilities of married life. Now the individual
> has to buckle down to real work and duty. Mar'
> riage is a great discipline and training of character.
> It induces the individual cheerfully to accept respon'
> sibilities which he would have been apt to throw
> aside in the more free and untrammeled condition
> of bachelorhood.
> Now that maturity is reached and married life
> engaged in, with children to support and bring up,
> the individual passes through the cycle through
> which his parents have formerly passed—the cycle
> of duty, of work, of responsibility; responsibility to
> the family, responsibility to the neighborhood and
> city, responsibility to one's country, and in the
> coming years responsibility to a World State.
> Those adults who chronically avoid responsibility
> remain to that extent immature and imperfect souls.
> They may make alibis for themselves, and their
> family and friends may accept these alibis. But
> God does not. The order and equilibrium of the
> universe must be maintained. That mysterious
> T H E LAW OF DUTY                 87
> 
> equilibrating Force—the attribute of God called
> Justice—causes pain and suffering to attend as con'
> sequence of every chronic neglect of cosmic law and
> order. Those souls who fail to mature here will
> have to mature in other existences, at an even greater
> price than they should have paid here.
> 
> All religions inculcate the fundamental virtue
> of duty and powerfully motivate the performance of
> duty. When individuals accept and adequately
> perform their responsibilities to family and mart
> and country, society prospers and government has
> equilibrium and security. When, on the contrary,
> religion wanes and with it disappear the sanctions
> of authoritative truth and the compunctions of con'
> science, then duties fail and disorder and insecurity
> spread throughout society.
> The great central law of the universe is responsibility. Everything in the cosmos, animate and inan'
> imate, must obey this law. It is the foundation of
> order and equilibrium and harmony. Man cannot
> escape this law. Here is a form of character deveh
> opment which existence thrusts upon us. Every
> human being has to acquire and practice responsi'
> bility or pay the price in a chaotic and unhappy if
> not eventually tragic existence.
> 88                  CHARACTER
> 
> The Universe is an expression of immutable law
> which applies on every plane of being—physical,
> mental, moral, and spiritual. We cannot fool this
> law. We cannot cajole it. We cannot plead ex'
> ceptions to it or escape its punishment if violated.
> In this respect the Universe is a stern reality—
> impersonal, unforgiving. God as Law is a stern
> judge. It is this attribute of Deity and this under'
> standing of phenomenal existence which gave rise
> to the saying, "The fear of God is the beginning of
> wisdom.'"'
> "Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put
> forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high
> places, by the way in the places of the paths. She
> crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the
> coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call;
> and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple,
> understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an
> understanding heart.
> "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and
> knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is
> better than rubies; and all the things that may be
> desired are not to be compared to it. I, Wisdom,
> dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of
> witty inventions. The fear of the Lord is to hate
> evil: pride, and arrogancy and the evil way, and the
> T H E LAW OF DUTY                  89
> 
> froward mouth, do I hate. Counsel is mine, and
> sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
> By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By
> me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of
> the earth.
> "I love them that love me: and those that seek me
> early shall find me. Riches and honour are with me;
> yea, durable riches and righteousness. M y fruit is
> better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue
> than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteous'
> ness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: That
> I may cause those that love me to inherit substance;
> and I will fill their treasures.
> "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way,
> before his wor\s of old. I was set up from everlasting,
> from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When
> there were no depths, I was brought forth; when
> there were no fountains abounding with water.
> Before the mountains were settled, before the hills
> was I brought forth: while as yet he had not made
> the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the
> dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens,
> I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of
> the depth: when he established the clouds above:
> when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
> when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters
> should not pass his commandment: when he ap'
> pointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by
> 90                        CHARACTER
> 
> him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily
> his delight, rejoicing always before him.
> "Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children:
> for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear
> instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed
> is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my
> gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso
> fmdeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the
> Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his
> own soul: all they that hate me love death.'''' *
> Thus spake the wisest man who ever lived upon
> this planet, Solomon, who chose wisdom from the
> Lord above riches and honor and because of this
> choice was given in addition great riches and great
> honor.
> Solomon apostrophizes Wisdom, almost persons
> fies it, sees it as a principle of occult value. By it
> he means not the wisdom of the market place, but
> the perfect understanding of those immutable laws
> of the cosmos violation of which spells disaster.
> 
> Apparently life is free, elastic, mutable; the universe is at our beck and call as the instrument of our
> self-expression. In reality, our freedom lies between
> very narrow walls. If self-expression becomes self-
> * Proverbs, Chapter 8.
> T H E LAW OF DUTY                91
> 
> ishness and egoism, the universe begins very soon to
> shut down upon us and to imprison us. Like crimi'
> nals against society, we eventually find ourselves
> living within those prison walls which immutable
> law creates for the wrongdoer.
> Christ made this plain in describing the spiritual
> law of cause and effect. "What ye sow, that shall ye
> also reap." There is a certain harvest for every kind
> of sowing.
> When we understand this great law of spiritual
> cause and effect, then right action and morality
> become simply an expression of the higher intelli'
> gence and wisdom. Unrighteous action, on the other
> hand, is a symptom of gross ignorance of the essential
> moral and spiritual structure of the universe. Those
> who conceive that by wrongdoing they are going to
> advantage themselves are simply blind to the essen'
> tial truths of existence and are laying up for them'
> selves black tragedy.
> Wrongdoing does not depend only upon a legal sys*
> tem to bring it to tas\ and punishment. The Unv
> verse is automatic in this respect. Unli\e human
> justice, Divine Justice cannot be evaded.
> It is this moral aspect of existence which Theoso'
> phists describe as karma, a concept upon which their
> whole structure of ethics is built. It is, in fact, the
> teaching of all the Prophets who come to warn
> human beings of the dangers and consequences of
> 92                   CHARACTER
> 
> evil doing and of the beneficent rewards of right
> doing.
> The words of the Prophets are not all milk and
> honey. Many of them sting like scorpions. They
> wish to bring before humanity all the harshness of
> punishment which sin entails, thus warning in
> language so vehement as to stimulate reform.
> The dire aspect of cosmic punishment is apt to
> fade away from the human consciousness in epochs
> of irreligion. The very concept of sin fades away
> in such an age, as it has faded away today.
> That men may be unaware of God as Ruler and
> Judge and blind themselves to the consequences of
> sin does not in any way change, however, the nature
> of the universe nor enable humans to escape the
> individual or collective disaster which unrighteousness entails.
> On the other hand, a knowledge of these laws and
> a full understanding of the beneficence which righteousness brings to life is one of the most powerful
> incentives for moral living and for the perfectioning
> of character. It is, in fact, the most powerful incentive commonly current and available to human
> beings.
> I wish that all people could realise the mathematical severity and simplicity of this Cosmic Moral
> System. It stands inviolate above the self-seeking
> THE LAW OF DUTY                   93
> 
> will of man, crushing that will inevitably into
> submission through agony and abasement.
> The knowledge of this Law is the most important
> step in the growing mental and moral development
> of a human being. It is far more important a law
> to understand than any law of physics, of chemistry,
> of mathematics or of the social sciences; a law so
> simple that even in one's early 'teens one can realize
> it effectively as a guide to conduct.
> The ethical system of Socrates and Plato was
> based upon this principle of Law. Wisdom, under'
> standing, intelligence would, according to Socrates,
> be sufficient to inspire goodness. To practice
> evil is simply to be unintelligent. Therefore, said
> Socrates, teach youth to understand the cosmic laws
> and they will modify their behavior towards goals
> of righteousness.
> Plato developed this idea into one of the most
> glorious intellections which humanity has evolved:
> that Goodness, Truth and Beauty are but three
> aspects of one central Essence; that to live the
> Truth is to express Righteousness and enjoy Beauty.
> 
> One could give many examples of the peculiar
> exactness and detail with which this law of spiritual
> 94                  CHARACTER
> 
> cause and effect operates. "As ye measure out, so
> shall it he measured out to you.' ''
> This does not mean that a generous man will
> necessarily become rich, or a mean man remain poor.
> The ancient Hebrews interpreted the spiritual law
> of cause and effect a little too literally. Worldly
> events do not fit such an interpretation, so the
> author of the Book of Job discovered-—and the thesis
> of his drama is that good men may suffer misfortune
> through no fault of their own. Such misfortunes,
> perhaps, are in the nature of a spiritual test or
> purification.
> Yet it remains mathematically certain that hap'
> hazard, irresponsible, unrestrained lives cannot long
> thrive in a Universe the center and core of which
> is order.
> If the reader will begin to note the lives of those
> about him, and the lives of men and women of the
> past available to us in the form of biographical ma'
> terial, he will find significant dramatic and philc
> sophical values in the moral correlations discoverable
> therein. And these values are not merely theoreť
> ical. They should be a vivid and concrete aid in our
> own character development.
> Many such examples might be given. But I will
> cite only one—the life of Jack London as graphically
> delineated by Irving Stone in "Sailor on Horse'
> THE LAW OF DUTY                                95
> 
> back." * Here is a man of volcanic temperament
> and power irrupting at the age of twenty-five into
> a literary success that for ten years held the world
> at his feet. Wealth, fame, and women flowed to
> him. Like many geniuses he was careless about
> these things, and his life was a chronic disorder.
> In separating from his first wife he lost one of
> the best friends he ever had, and the love of his two
> children. In the later years of his life this result was
> felt by him as a great loneliness.
> In financial afFairs he blundered along with complete lack of self-restraint, so that large as his income
> was he always outran it and was constantly and
> desperately in debt. His grandiose schemes for becoming a patriarchal agriculturalist and ranchman
> met with tragic disappointments at every hand.
> In the last years of his life disaster piled upon
> disaster—each disaster traceable not so much to any
> definite material cause as to the inner spiritual cause
> of his moral disorderliness. His ambitious castle,
> Wolf House, on the day following its completion
> but before occupancy was discovered at midnight
> in flames. Jack was awakened. When he reached
> the spot Wolf House was a roaring inferno. There
> was no water "He could do nothing but stand
> * "Sailor on Horseback," Irving Stone, Houghton Mifflin Co., originally
> published in the Saturday Evening Post. Both the author and the magazine
> deserve great credit for this superb literary production.
> o6                  CHARACTER
> 
> with tears running down his cheeks and watch one
> of his greatest life dreams be destroyed." It was
> never ascertained what caused the conflagration.
> Other disasters overtook him with a Nemesian
> inevitability worthy of the pen of a Euripedes. His
> prize registered pigs all caught pneumonia on newly
> built stone floors and died. His prize shorťhorn
> bull broke its neck in a peculiar and unpreventable
> accident. His herd of Angora goats all died from
> disease. His Shire blue-ribbon stallion was found
> dead in the fields one day. Other expensive agricultural investments proved a complete failure.
> Worse still, his health began to fail, his writings
> deteriorated, his friends proved worthless, he fell a
> prey to dipsomania; and to cap the climax his life
> came to a sudden end at the age of forty from a
> suicidal overdose of morphine and atropine.
> Here was a man of great intellect, superb genius
> and noble impulses. He was not a selfish man. He
> was not even a self-seeking man. He had high ideals
> for the good of humanity to which he unselfishly
> devoted much of his time and energy at the risk of
> his career. He was a generous friend and patron of
> rising or would-be genius—a Maecenas "par ex­
> cellence."
> Why did Destiny so persecute him? Because he
> was too supremely the egotist. Like Napoleon he
> had to be crushed. He blazed through the firma-
> T H E LAW OF DUTY               . 97
> 
> ment of fame in a path more spectacular and ec'
> centric than that which comets show. Disorder was
> the \eynote of his life. No permanent happiness, no
> stability, no ordered prosperity could have been
> prognosticated for such a personality. His career
> at every turn illustrates and vindicates the great
> spiritual law of cause and effect. Read "Sailor on
> Horseback." It will do you more good than a
> sermon.
> 
> In a small city where I once taught, strife and
> hostility arose through the jealousy of two women
> who struggled for control of an Arts Club founded
> by one of them. Both women were of the domh
> nating, alhconquering type. They made acrimc
> nious attacks upon each other, not hesitating even at
> slander spread over the telephone and on all possible
> social occasions.
> What was the result? One of these women came
> down with a severe case of grippe, which kept her
> ill a month. In the other family, the woman and
> her two children were ill for weeks. Such were
> the results of disharmony and psychic cruelty in a
> Universe devoted to the great Law of Order and
> Harmony. Anyone knowing this Law could have
> foreseen such results and predicted them, as surely
> as an astronomer can predict an eclipse.
> 98                  CHARACTER
> 
> How important it is, then, to realize the great
> spiritual laws. How infinitely more important for
> us in the present stage of civilization to be able to
> predict the results of moral or immoral actions than
> to be able to analyze or synthesize the chemical
> elements of nature or to discover new constellations
> and new universes.
> 
> We have certain definite responsibilities as indi'
> vidual units of the family and of social and political
> groups. No individual is an isolated unit of exisť
> ence, just as no sun or planet or atom even is
> isolated in the Universe. Everything in phenomenal
> existence is integrated; connected by invisible links,
> one with the other. It is these necessary ties link'
> ing us one with another that create our responsi'
> bilities. To come to appreciate and satisfy these
> social and spiritual obligations is but the part of
> wisdom.
> Responsibility is not equivalent, on the spiritual
> scale, to altruism. It is but a debt we owe to the
> existence we are staged in, a debt that must be paid
> if we would live a free and wholesome life. It is a
> law of nature and a law of fulfillment. A law which
> we are destined fully to realize, if not in this life
> then in the next.
> THE LAW OF DUTY                   99
> 
> Perfect freedom on the part of the individual, in
> the sense of untrammeled expression of his egocen'
> trie will, is an impossibility in a universe dedicated
> to harmonious order. True freedom is attained by
> submitting one's selfiwill to the Cosmic Will, so
> that one's life flows in universal channels. Only
> thus does one find that life becomes untrammeled
> and unimprisoned. Those iron doors which shut
> upon the evil doer exist not for the righteous.
> The greatest mistake a spiritually aspiring person
> can make is to conceive that any exercise of spiritual
> zeal can absolve him from the material and secular
> responsibilities of life. Even seal in working for
> God cannot condone the violation of life's necessary
> obligations.
> 
> The doctrine of karma as expounded by the
> Theosophists has one most important omission—
> the "grace of God."
> Prayer and repentance for wrong action, leading
> to actual reform, can attract the Divine forgiveness.
> There is a certain amount of cosmic grace available
> to an individual or a people who have done wrong.
> As in the world of nature there is usually a lag
> between abuse of the body and the natural suffering
> which follows it, so on the moral plane there may be
> considerable leeway between a series of wrong acts
> ioo                      CHARACTER
> 
> and their moral and spiritual consequences. This
> is illustrated in the maxim, "The mills of the gods
> grind slowly."
> But this cosmic elasticity, grace, or forgiveness
> cannot go beyond a certain point. When that point
> is reached, the universal law becomes a grim reality
> to us. There is no avoiding the penalty. When
> we have used up our last bit of credit we become
> spiritually insolvent. Nothing but suffering and
> catastrophe can ensue at this point. Therefore it
> is wise to avoid the ultimate point of wrong'doing,
> as in fact it is wise to avoid any wrong'doing.
> 
> That attribute of Deity which we call Justice is
> the equilibrating force of the Universe. When an
> individual or a people depart too far from the natural
> orbit of law and order, they are pulled back with a
> terrific corrective force. The suffering which ensues
> from such a cataclysm may be looked upon not so
> much in the light of punishment as in the light of a
> stern guidance. "Calamity is my Providence to
> thee. In appearance it is fire and vengeance, in
> reality it is light and mercy."*
> "Wisdom is manifested in the operation of the
> principle of Justice. This principle, as exhibited in
> * Baha u'Uih, "Hidden Words."
> T H E LAW OF DUTY                          IOI
> 
> the lower departments of nature, acts as a regulator
> among the essences, elements, and forces that opeť
> ate in all substances. In other words, it seeks to
> equalize all the agencies of activity, and aids in com'
> bining the different elements into harmonious forms
> and beautiful proportions. Justice is the great bah
> ancing'power of the Universe; it seeks to balance all
> accounts, to settle all difficulties, to harmonize all in'
> terests. It is God's peacemaker, fulfilling its mission
> in the various departments of nature, by properly
> adjusting all elements, and combining all forms
> according to their material qualities or spiritual
> essences. It seeks to harmonize man with his
> fellow'man, as the legitimate means of producing
> harmony with the great laws of his natural and
> spiritual being. Thus, by harmonizing man with
> himself, justice rejoices in having harmonized man
> with his Divine Author.
> "If in any department of nature a law is violated,
> Justice sees that the violation is followed by a corre­
> sponding effect, in order that the violator may he
> induced to desist from his course, and that the
> wonted harmony may thus he restored. Thus,
> 'chastisement' is inflicted for the purpose of causing
> the transgressor to return to right relations and
> their accompanying enjoyment."*
> * R. P. Wilson, "Discourses from the Spirit-World." New York, Part­
> ridge and Brittan, 1855.
> 102                  CHARACTER
> 
> Everything in existence obeys two forces. One
> is the centrifugal force of self'expression; the other
> is the centripetal force of law or duty.
> Self-expression is always joyous, for Destiny has
> generously associated pleasure with wholesome
> functioning. Duty seems to be made of sterner
> stuff. But this forbidding appearance of duty is
> not its real aspect. For duty is the natural corollary
> of selfexpression, and when willingly performed
> becomes also a source of joy. Selfexpression with'
> out duty would be aimless and in time vapid.
> Responsibility is the fruit of the tree of life, of
> which selfexpression is the blossom. For a tree to
> blossom without culminating in fruitage is to fail
> of its destined mission. So also for man to be
> seeking always his satisfaction in egocentric forms
> of selfexpression is to negate his spiritual and
> creative station.
> Duty is the track upon which the creative will of
> man makes effective progress. Its purpose is benefi'
> cent. Its proper functioning is spiritually joyous.
> CHAPTER VII
> 
> Altruism
> 
> H      E WHO performs his necessary duties in this
> world, who works industriously and efficiently, supports his family, and carries out all
> of his responsibilities—he is a man we call a model
> citizen. Yet he has reached but one stage of the
> upward climb toward the Perfect Man. Above
> that stage is the stage of Altruism.
> It is to raise man's actions to a plane where they
> are motivated by love for others that the Prophets
> incarnate and reveal their great message to humanity.
> Religion calls upon all men and women to rise to the
> plane of altruism in their daily living.
> Without the inspiration and the support which
> religion and the spiritual life give, it would be
> difficult for man to turn his egocentric self-developmental urges into altrocentric or altruistic motivation. If this transition were not difficult, it would
> not be so necessary for the Revelator to appear
> upon this planetary plane. History has proved that
> without revealed religion altruism does not appear
> in any large extent.
> 
> It is true, Nature provides certain urges toward
> IO4                  CHARACTER
> 
> altruism. Biologists point out that altruism first
> developed in the course of normal evolution with
> the mammal bearing its young within its body,
> suckling it and caring for it tenderly after birth.
> Even in the animal world, the mother will protect
> its young at the risk or cost of its death. In the
> human world, marital life and parenthood produce
> in the average individual a certain inevitable degree
> of altruism. This altruism gradually extends to the
> complete extent of the family life, including the clan
> as the unit of society as has been the case in China
> up to date.
> This family fealty and altruism, which was charac'
> teristic of all patriarchal peoples, has come down
> from the Mosaic Dispensation into the life of modern
> Jewry and is one of the important factors in the
> commercial success of Jews to this day. All within
> the family must be helped. One for all and all for
> one is the ideal which generally prevails.
> In feudalism the loyalty to clan enlarges into
> loyalty to the feudal group. And in modern times
> we have seen the rise of nationalism, in which
> loyalty and altruism have grown to include all of
> the national group.
> Outside of these natural or political groups, how
> ever, altruism has not prevailed. For instance, in
> China the stranger outside the clan is allowed to
> drown when simple aid would save him. The sense
> ALTRUISM                     105
> 
> of general altruism in that country is so feeble that
> supplies contributed from the Red Cross of this
> country to China some years ago for the starving
> famine'Struck populations were seized by the war
> lords through whose provinces they had to pass and
> diverted to their own selfish uses. Finally our Red
> Cross, in disgust at this futility, ceased to render
> such aid to China.
> Even within the Christian commonwealth of na'
> tions, altruism ceases upon national borders and
> hatred and cruelty begin.
> 
> BaháVlláh proclaimed man's duty to the world
> at large. His world message implies an altruism as
> wide as the planet itself. "Pride not yourself in
> this that you love your country, but rather this,
> that you love mankind.'''' Every child is to be
> brought up to realize his spiritual obligation to love
> all humanity and to work for the benefit of all races
> and peoples.
> "All the divine messengers have come to this
> earth as specialists of the law of love. They came
> to teach a divine love to the children of men; they
> came to minister a divine healing between the
> nations; they came to cement in one the hearts of
> men and to bring humanity into a state of unity
> and concord.
> io6                        CHARACTER
> 
> "The object of the dawn of the Morn of Guidance
> and the effulgence of the Sun of Reality have been
> no other than the inculcation of the utmost love
> among the children of men and perfect gooďfellow'
> ship between the individuals of mankind. There'
> fore, in the beginning the foundation of this love and
> unity must be laid among the believers of God, and
> then permeate through the nations of the world.
> Therefore as much as you can be ye kind towards
> one another, and likewise to others.
> "There is the family bond which is the cause of
> love. There is the patriotic bond which is a basis
> for love. There is the racial cause which is a source
> of love. There is the political one which is the
> cause of love and unity. Partnership in business is
> one sort of connection.
> "But there is no bond like the love of God, for the
> love of God is the bond eternal, and outside of it
> there are only temporary ones." *
> 
> Where and how shall we express this altruism in
> daily life? Opportunities for good deeds do not
> occur at every moment, but the attitude of good will
> and of universal love can go out from us in all the
> events and encounters of life bringing happiness to
> * 'Abdu'1-Bahá, "The Divine Art of Living."
> ALTRUISM                   107
> 
> other human beings about us, shedding a ray of that
> celestial light which a Savior concentrates upon
> humanity.
> This general, pervasive spirit of altruism or uni'
> versal love when permeating the whole social group
> establishes a marvelous atmosphere of harmony and
> happiness. The absence of it, on the other hand,
> creates an atmosphere of submerged complexes, bick'
> erings, inharmonies and consequent unhappiness.
> We can make our own heaven or hell upon earth
> by the kind of social atmosphere we radiate and
> attract.
> We are not asked to love everyone equally—that
> is impossible. "There are two kinds of love, one
> universal and one individual. You must love hu'
> manity in order to uplift and help humanity. Even
> if they kill you, you must love them. Individual
> love cannot he forced and you are not called upon
> to love everybody personally, hut if they are in your
> lives see to it that they are means of your development
> and that you are means of their development through
> your universal love for them.
> "How can one love another whose personality is
> unpleasant?" 'AbduTBaha was asked, and he
> answered: "We are creatures of the same God. We
> must therefore love all as children of God even
> though they are doing us harm. Christ loved his
> persecutors, it is possible, for us to attain to that
> io8                        CHARACTER
> 
> love. God manifested his love by creating man in
> his own image. Man must manifest his love by
> developing himself and others more and more in the
> image of God. The true fruit of man is, therefore,
> love. The purpose of a tree is to produce fruit.
> Man is like a tree; his fruit should be love." *
> This preachment of love and harmony sounds very
> delightful. It is easier to say, however, than to do.
> As a matter of fact, it is extremely difficult for the
> average individual to transform his egocentric urges
> into altruistic urges. Here we are wrestling with
> primitive instincts and impulses of human nature,
> and the task is not easy. We should not be dis'
> couraged if the process is slow. And as pointed out
> in the previous chapter, we greatly need for this
> transformation of our motives the aid of prayer and
> of the Holy Spirit.
> Undoubtedly the greatest force for achieving this
> universal love on the part of the individual is first
> the achieving of attachment of the heart to God.
> Through that attachment, the Cosmic Love is caused
> to stream into the human heart spontaneously, ex'
> pressing itself toward other individuals in a manner
> that is not forced or artificial. In fact, it is doubtful
> if the spiritual love which is enjoined upon us by the
> Prophets can be attained by us in any other way.
> * 'Abdu'1'Bahá, "The Divine Art of Living."
> ALTRUISM                     109
> 
> Can we carry altruism into our business affairs?
> Yes, we not only can, but must. All our work
> should be done in the spirit of service. Then it is
> equivalent to prayer. We should do our work with
> love, praying that it may be a means of benefaction
> and happiness to others.
> The commercial world in its secular pattern of
> today, so dominated by materialism and greed, is a
> difficult place in which to express this attitude of
> service in one's work. Yet we must somehow make
> a beginning, even now and today. In a later and
> more ideal civilisation this spiritualised motivation
> will invade all business, and it will be easy for the
> individual to fall into the then prevailing altruistic
> current of thought and practice.
> Even today in the secular world it is apparent that
> all business transactions are an exchange of services
> and are built upon a foundation of mutuality. Both
> parties to a transaction must derive mutual benefits
> and advantages from it.
> It is only a matter of spiritual psychology, therefore, to transfer our motivation in business transactions from one of profit to one of service. The
> transaction remains the same, the profit remains the
> same, our living still accrues to us. But the psycho*
> i io                 CHARACTER
> 
> logical basis is far different when the spirit of service
> dominates than when the spirit of profit dominates.
> 
> When the spirit of service or altruism motivates
> our business or professional life we shall find a new
> mysterious tide of prosperity and success. For we
> shall be operating on the plane of the Kingdom, of
> which Christ said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God
> and all these things shall be added unto you." On
> this plane, we rise above the jungle life of brutal
> economic competition into a cooperative world
> where prosperous living is assured for all.
> Even now in the midst of a greeďmotivated world
> the assertion of altruism in all one's acts can be
> counted upon to assure material success, provided
> other factors of success are also present such as
> energy, persistence and efficiency.
> There is a mysterious tide which can be counted
> upon to bring to us that which we send forth.
> "Cast your bread upon the waters and it shall return
> after many days." He who sows generous measures
> of good will upon the fields of life will never fail to
> reap abundant harvests. One is thus building up
> a body of friendship and good will which is actually a
> working capital for success in life.
> In another and better world where society is
> ALTRUISM                    II I
> 
> operated upon a more cooperative basis and where
> service is the prevailing motive, prosperity will flow
> in greater abundance to all humanity. This will be
> a different planet then. Want or poverty will be
> unknown either to the individual or to groups
> of society.
> Altruism, therefore, or the centering of one's
> motivation upon our fellows rather than upon our'
> selves, is in reality a feasible working basis even on
> the material and practical plane. Altruism is not
> synonymous with self-effacement. It does not call
> for undue sacrifice. It is a practical law—the great
> law of mutuality which hinds all existence together.
> "Love your neighbor as yourself," said Christ.
> And this, you notice, is a fifty'fifty proposition. It
> does not call for neglect of self-needs. This is altru'
> ism: a kindly consideration of others jointly with
> ourselves. "Do unto others as you would like them
> to do unto you." There is a still loftier plane of
> human character'attainment, the plane of sacrifice,
> which will be described in the ensuing chapter.
> 
> What a wonderful world it would be if the golden
> rule applied throughout the business life as well as
> through the social and family life of man upon this
> planet. "The law to love one another is the law of
> ii2'                  CHARACTER
> 
> service," says Henry Demarest Lloyd in "Man, the
> Social Creator." "And service calls for service.
> The Golden Rule cannot be applied to human life in
> any other way than to call upon everyone who
> receives the results of labour to labour in his turn.
> Mamini said, 'Let labour be the basis of civil society.'
> It must also be the basis of religion. It is such;
> what remains is that we so recognise it. The
> labourer is the creator; the labourer is the lover. He
> is the reunaker of man, nature and society; he is the
> one who comes to serve, who does the things that
> he would have done to him, who makes possible life
> which is love incarnated, who is the Prince of
> Peace. . . .
> "As labour is creation, by labour men do unto
> each other as they ought and enter heaven. Love
> for the people has one of its roots, though not the
> greatest root, in the fact that the body of the
> common people is the reservoir in which is gathered
> up the creative energy of society, and that out of it
> flow the streams of power and progress. . . .
> "It is only by labouring that man can fulfill his
> function as creator. When man works creation is
> under way. Labour as the exercise of faculty is the
> greatest happiness, and as the fabricator of nature,
> man and society is the highest prerogative of human'
> ity. All faculty demands expression, and the work
> of creation is infinite. Labour with love is the divine
> ALTRIUSM                    113
> 
> in action at its highest power. This divine service is
> the true worship, and was prefigured by the sacrifice
> by primitive man of fruits and yearling kids, the
> doves and firsťborn of every flock. . . .
> "The task set for love for today is as clear and
> concrete as that of any previous moment of social
> creation. It is determined by the new circunv
> stances of our time, which are incontestably the new
> wealth and the new multitudes it has brought
> together. The history of love is the clue to follow
> if we would understand the earthquaking power
> with which men are moving toward each other to
> establish peace, happiness and prosperity in the now
> desolated fields of the new Industry. Poverty is to
> be abolished, and with it the crime and disease
> caused by poverty. Every man is to be made a
> master—the master of all because he and all serve all.
> More wealth than has ever been known is to be
> created out of the manhood and earth now waste.
> The rewards of the leaders as well as the people are
> to be made indefinitely greater than now. The
> dependence of individuals or communities on the
> will or greed of others is to be brought to an end.
> "The present hatreds, anarchies, waste of good
> will and waste of wealth are but passing phenomena
> of the transition into a new social order. In its
> previous creations of organised love to rule men in
> the territories of contact mankind has been doing
> ii4                          CHARACTER
> 
> laboratory work. The family, the nation, have been
> experiments on a small scale with the forces which
> are now to be applied universally. The family, the
> nation, are true facts and will be eternal; but they
> are members of a series which will express its highest
> term in a still greater fact.
> "The mission of the individual and the race is to
> create. Individuality and association are means;
> each of equal dignity, each indispensable. Once
> man and men see the grandeur of the destiny before
> them, life will never again seem cold or narrow, dis'
> couraging or uninspired. This is an aim which
> makes life divine. Infinite are the allurements, the
> joys, the problems, the solutions, the prices of life
> thus lived. Ours is the era of the new Newton who
> will work out the attraction of men for each other
> as the gravitating force which explains the position,
> motion and relations of the social atoms and the
> social masses." *
> 
> There is a paradoxical claim which life makes upon
> * Henry Demarest Lloyd, "Man, the Social Creator." Doubleday Page
> 6ř Co., New York, 1906.
> This posthumous book, the result of Lloyd's researches in this country
> and Europe, especially regarding human relations in industrial and govern,
> mentalfields,is deserving of republication. The spiritual fervor of his ideals
> of economic cooperation and brotherhood has an inspiration as fresh and
> necessary today as in the epoch for which he wrote.
> ALTRUISM                     115
> 
> us. On the one hand it demands of us a struggle for
> self'existence. Destiny plants deeply in us the
> egocentric urges for this necessary end. On the
> other hand, Destiny demands of us as spiritual
> beings, made in the image of God, a development
> toward altruism.
> How, then, can the transition be attained? It
> cannot adequately be attained except through the
> mission of the Revelator, through His teachings,
> His exhortations, the example of His own life; and
> most important of all, through the streams of love
> which He lets loose upon humanity and in particular
> upon every individual who turns to Him and to the
> Holy Spirit for aid in this process.
> Character for adequate and successful seLf-expres'
> sion, character adequate to meet the responsi'
> bilities of life, may be attained without revealed
> religion. But the character of altruism needs the
> light and heat of the Spirit for its development and
> fruition. The seeds of altruism lie within us. But
> their potentiality can become actual only through
> the action of that great Sun of Truth whose rays can
> nurse these seeds to life.
> One of the great struggles one faces in life is this
> constant chronic struggle to sublimate egoism into
> altruism. Youth starts life with egoistic urges and
> ambitions. This is but natural. The more power'
> ful these urges, the better is the prognostication for
> no                  CHARACTER
> 
> ultimate success. Somewhere in the process, h o w
> ever, these urges must be restrained, modified, trans'
> ferred into altruistic urges. And that is not easy.
> The process is all the harder for those who have
> strong creative gifts demanding expression. The
> genius, the creator, is prone to self-centeredness, to
> egoism, to selfishness. Yet these are the salt of the
> earth, these are the great achievers, the ones who
> move the race forward and cause it to progress. Is
> it possible for them also to transfer their center of
> motivation from egoism to altruism?
> Certainly it is possible. And the history of
> religion proves that it can be done. But because
> the capacity and degree of power is greater here than
> in the ordinary individual, the efforts toward sublh
> mation and spiritualization must also be greater.
> The possession of genius can win no exemption
> from the spiritual law of altruism. One of the main
> weafmesses of past human society has been the fact
> that its leaders in achievement have been too much
> motivated by egocentric aims. T^pt until the worlds
> leadership becomes altruistic can human society hope
> to attain to ideal patterns.
> 
> Every person is capable of expressing kindliness
> and love in the daily life. No matter at what stage
> ALTRUISM                    I 17
> 
> of spiritual development we happen to be, we can
> at least begin to motivate our deeds with the spirit
> of helpfulness.
> "Try Giving Yourself Away," urges an anonymous writer in "Forbes." * "People have different
> things to give. Some have time, energy, skill, ideas.
> Others have some special talent. All of us can
> give away appreciation, interest, understanding,
> encouragement. I get my compensation out of
> feeling that I am a part of the life of my times,
> doing what I can to make things more interesting
> and exciting for other people. And that makes life
> more interesting and exciting for me, and keeps my
> mind keener. As if this were not enough, I find
> that friends multiply and good things come to me
> from every direction."
> That man has attained to the habitual expression
> of altruism who radiates kindliness and good will in
> all his human contacts and who does all his work in
> the spirit of service. It is just as easy to live this
> way, once one forms the habit, as to live a selfcentered money-motivated life.
> "Work done in the spirit of service," says \Abdu'l-Baha, "is equivalent to prayer."
> One has to work, anyway. Why not adjust one's
> necessary actions to this great law of altruism, which
> is cosmic in its foundations and scope? Work done
> * "Try Giving Yourself Away." Forbes, June i, 1938.
> n8                         CHARACTER
> 
> as duty may be disagreeable.            Work done with love
> is joyful.
> 
> "For those we love, we venture many things,
> The thought of them gives spiritflamingwings.
> For those we love, we labor hard and long,
> To dream of them stirs in the heart a song.
> For those we love, no task can be too great,
> We forge ahead, defying adverse fate.
> For those we love, we seek life's highest goal,
> And find contentment deep within the soul." *
> 
> Altruism—or in its more ardent aspect, love—is
> the creative and sustaining force of the universe.
> God created man not by accident but by the Will'tc
> Love. It is that same force of love expressed on
> the phenomenal plane which causes coherence in
> life-forms, the law of attraction, the affinities of
> chemistry and the affections of the human world.
> To live outside this Law of Love is to be an
> outcast from the Kingdom. One who habitually
> practices love lives thereby in heaven. One who
> knows not how to give or attract love lives in pur-
> * "Those We Love," Agnes Carr in the "Boston Traveller."
> ALTRUISM                      119
> 
> gatory. One who gives forth and attracts to him'
> self the opposite of love, hatred, lives in hell.
> Love is the atmosphere of paradise. When it
> reigns amidst earth'bound groups it makes these
> groups tiny replicas of heaven. We do not need to
> wait until death in order to taste the glories and joys
> of celestial life. And we cannot expect, if we have
> not learned the taste of heaven here, to gravitate
> later to the HeavemoveťThere.
> "Love is primarily not a subjective emotion, but
> an expansion and a deepening of life, through Life
> setting itself in the other, taking the other up into
> itself; and in this movement life itself becomes
> greater, more comprehensive and noble. Love is
> not a mere relation of given individuals, but a deveh
> opment and a growing in communion, and elevation
> and an animation of the original condition. And
> this movement of love has no limits; it has all infinity
> for its development; it extends beyond the relation
> to persons to the relation to things; for things also
> reveal their innermost being only to a disposition of
> love: again, the striving after truth in science and
> art cannot succeed without love and an animation
> that proceeds from it, without inwardly becoming
> one with the object. . . .
> "This increasing spirituahzation of human life
> never becomes a sure possession that calls for no toil;
> 120                       CHARACTER
> 
> ever anew it demands our attention and activity; it
> has continually to be won anew as a whole. For
> the spiritualiž&tion of human life a longing rooted in
> the whole being is primarily necessary." *
> 
> The stage of altruism, or cosmic love, is a height
> that must be eventually achieved by all who would
> make spiritual progress. At present, human society
> is so constructed as to make the daily practise of
> altruism difficult.
> But this will not always be the case. Collective
> humanity, like individual man, is called upon to
> reach these heights of altruism in its destined prog'
> ress toward perfection. A cooperative world is in
> the making. Those who cling to the husks of selfish'
> ness will discover what empty treasures they possess.
> For nothing is certain in the way of human posses'
> sions or human security. Nothing is more certain
> in our planetary fife today than that the predomi'
> nantly selfish motives of humanity are hastening it
> toward a sure and inescapable destruction.
> Just as certain is it that those who today are
> expressing ideality in their thoughts and deeds
> are building for a better world that is sure to come.
> * Rudolf Eucken, "Love in Creation."
> ALTRUISM                     121
> 
> They are architects of the future. 7s[o idealism is
> lost or wasted.
> Altruism is the world's greatest need today—on
> the part of statesmen, industrialists,financialleaders,
> educators, professional men of every type, and every
> humble citizen.
> In spite of the negative and chaotic conditions of
> society today, that individual who boldly and cour'
> ageously asserts the wilhtodove in the midst of a
> world of fear and hate will create for himself and
> for those who love him a magic realm of serenity
> and peace.
> CHAPTER VIII
> 
> The Stage of Selflessness
> A S LIFE moves on it requires more and more
> i S l . °f us - -A m a n w n 0 n a s faithfully and successfully striven in the path of self-development and self-training, who fulfills his responsibilities to family and state, and who practices altruism
> in the daily relationships of life—has he reached the
> ultimate goal of human character? No, he has not,
> for there are still loftier goals to which humanity
> must attain.
> The path of character-building, of spiritual progress must ultimately lead, through valleys of selfsacrifice and renunciation of personal ambition, to
> lofty heights of selfless consecration.
> The valley of sacrifice seems indeed, as the
> Psalmist puts it, "the valley of the shadow of
> death." In reality it is a stage of development freed
> from the limitations of personality and under the
> guidance and protection of the Universal.
> This is a definite and final stage of characterbuilding which relatively few individuals reach in
> this life. It is the final and essential maturity of
> the human soul, and as such is demanded by Destiny
> of everyone.
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS          123
> 
> If human personality were flawless, one would
> not need to abdicate it in order to attain to the
> supreme station of human perfection.
> But man's personality is not perfect. On the
> contrary, it is a most imperfect and kaleidoscopic
> miscellany—a composite of man's inner gifts and
> desires as responding to and modified by environ'.
> ment and experience.
> Personality has little consistency and no unity or
> coherence within itself. Worse than that, person'
> ality as expressed by millions of separate human
> entities is antipathetic to that organic unity which
> the Universe requires.
> It is evident, then, from a merely material and
> scientific point of view that personality, at first a
> necessary pattern of life, becomes later an obstruc'
> tion to spiritual progress and to lofty achievement.
> In the beautifully fitting allegory of the "Cham'
> bered Nautilus," Oliver Wendell Holmes counsels
> us to leave our lowvaulted past, discarding old
> forms and crystallisations in order to attain to the
> larger self.
> The personality is this shell which we must dis'
> card. At first an essential function of growth, it
> becomesfinallyan obstacle to growth.
> It is necessary at some point, then, to drop the
> impedimenta of selfi-consciousness and egotism and
> free ourselves for the stiff upward climb which the
> 124                  CHARACTER
> 
> greater heights require. This is what is meant by
> sacrifice. It is the giving up not of something that is
> worth while, but of something less valuable for
> something more valuable. Seen in this light, self'
> sacrifice is but the way to the supreme attainments
> of character and of life.
> Great achievement is predicated upon the sacri'
> fice of little things and requires complete devotion
> of one's abilities to the task at hand. This quality
> of consecration is common to all great achievers.
> They lose themselves in the great goals for which
> they strive. Every creator must sacrifice self in the
> white heat of his vision. Genius is the quality of
> nfinite absorption in the creative work.
> 
> However patent be these conclusions as to the
> necessity for attainment to the plane of selflessness,
> few people will of their own accord go through the
> intellectual operations necessary to conceive this
> great law of character. And fewer still would
> undertake the arduous task of actually putting this
> law of sacrifice into practice.
> Therefore it is necessary that the great Educators
> of humanity awaken men to the lofty requirements
> of the law of selflessness. A central part of the
> message of Christ lies within this all-important,
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS          125
> 
> great, and even to this day little understood theme.
> This is the station described by Christ as the second
> birth, or attainment to the plane of eternal life. It
> is the very flower and fruitage of religion, the
> highest and ultimate peak of character.
> Salvation, as intended in these terms, is not a
> sudden process. Moral and religious convictions
> may start it, but they do not accomplish it at one
> stroke. It is a matter of development. A slow
> and steady process of gradual transference of desire
> and allegiance, from material things for the satisfaction of self, to universal and spiritual objectives. It
> is the sublimation of natural or carnal man, with all
> his native faults, into spiritual man characterized by
> divine attributes.
> This is the attainment of the loftiest station of
> which man is capable—the fulfillment of the saying: "Man is made in the image of God." It means
> a subordination of the ego to the Whole, the overcoming of self, and complete habitual submission to
> the Will of God.
> Winning through to eternal life means functioning predominantly on the plane of the spirit. It is
> a state of being, not a condition in time. It is a life
> independent of all save God—the daily expression
> of the consciousness that all things live and move
> by His desire. Thus eternal life can be attained
> even in this world. And if not attained here, there
> 126                  CHARACTER
> 
> is no magic in Death capable of guaranteeing it
> hereafter.
> 
> This evanescence—this abnegation of self-will
> and self-desire—is the necessary path to higher
> spiritual planes of existence. In a Universe which
> offers immortality to the individual how could it be
> possible for countless billions of souls to go forward
> and upward, infinitely increasing in intelligence and
> power, if these gifts were to be used in the direction
> of self-will and egoism? From such a situation
> would result an impossible warring chaos of Titans.
> No! In order to reach the celestial plane one
> must renounce self-will and sacrifice the ego on the
> altar of the Universal. The sublime harmony of
> the celestial spheres, mirrored forth even on the
> lowest material plane in that harmony which Nature
> knows, results from the unobstructed expression of
> one potent and divinely intelligent Will.
> Not even on shipboard can order be maintained
> without the subordination of every will to the will
> of the captain. How then can one expect the
> Universe to be managed with harmony unless all
> wills are effectively subordinated to the Great
> Executive?
> This necessary surrender of self, this attainment to
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS           127
> 
> evanescence, is not a virtue deserving of any special
> praise. It is merely the expression of wisdom and
> intelligence on the part of man—the perception that
> not elsewise can he attain to immortality.
> It is not demanded of man by Deity that he thus
> abnegate his will. Man may hug his self-will as
> long as he so wishes and desires—hug it to himself
> eternally if he pleases. But by this foolish process
> he will miss nine'tenths—no, ninetynine-one-hundredths of existence. For in that World which lies
> on the other side of death the self-willed individual
> cannot function. He is born into that other World
> blind and dumb, crippled of limb, helpless. In fact
> his existence there is as tragically limited in comparison with the transcendent life of those who have
> attained to immortality as is the existence of a stone
> in this world in comparison with the existence of a
> human being.
> Attainment to the plane of sacrifice and evanescence, then, is not a duty thrust upon us by Deity.
> It is merely the scientific and necessary step toward
> the attainment of man's highest potentiality. This
> attainment is of no gain or advantage to Deity, but
> only to us.
> God can dispense with our perfectioning, but we
> cannot. God does not need our love, but we need
> His. And His love can never reach us while we are
> filled with love of self.
> 128                  CHARACTER
> 
> God does not need that we should discard the
> self. But we need to if we are to advance. This
> is only the part of the higher wisdom—the fulfill'
> ment of our lofty destiny as Sons of God. This is
> the highest station to which man can attain upon
> this planet. On the part of the individual, it may
> be called salvation; as expressed collectively by
> humanity, it is the achievement of the Kingdom of
> God upon earth.
> 
> It has not been expected that all humans can
> attain this plane of immortality, this perfect sub'
> mission of self-will to the Will of God. The attain'
> ment to holiness and sanctity has been up to the
> present the rare achievement of the few who stand
> out as glittering golden peaks of character'perfection.
> But BaháVlláh astoundingly calls upon all the
> world to strive for and attain the station of celestial
> purity and power. No one is to be exempt from
> this requirement. Character is not complete if it
> falls short of this.
> The successive dispensations demand of humanity
> higher and higher attainments. The Mosaic dis'
> pensation attained to a stern and drastic sense of
> responsibility and duty. The Christian dispensa'
> tion, in response to the message of Christ, has manf
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS          129
> 
> rested and expressed many beautiful forms of altni'
> ism. The New World Order of BaháVlláh expects
> all humanity to strive for and attain to evanescence,
> selflessness and sanctity.
> This is the final and consummate attainment for
> this planet, the attainment of a culture which is the
> expression of spirituality. Humanity will never
> again be called upon to undertake so gigantic a task
> as the present one which confronts it, of sublimating
> its instincts into one great emotion of worlď
> brotherhood and unity—the expression on the outer
> plane of that inner spirituality which constitutes
> man a true Son of God.
> 
> One of the most important expressions of evanes'
> cence is a wise and serene humility. This quality
> is hard to understand and even harder to achieve.
> At first thought humility suggestsweakness; a giving
> in to others; a lamblike submission to the more
> obstreperous forces and entities of the Universe.
> But humility is something quite different from this.
> Í should define humility as the realization on the
> part of the individual that he is hut an expression and
> beneficiary of the Universal, from which alone all
> power is derived.
> Humility is merely the result of a scientific evalua'
> 130                  CHARACTER
> 
> tion of existence—the realization that God's will is
> potent everywhere and that all existence is but an
> expression of His power. As we achieve through
> life, it is of the highest importance that we realize
> ourselves to be a channel only. To ascribe power
> and glory to ourselves—this pride is the beginning
> of downfall. It was, as the allegory of the Bible
> informs us, the cause of Lucifer's destruction—
> Archangel Lucifer, Sun of the Morning, cast down
> to the station of Satan.
> Humility assures us safety in the expression of
> large powers and the execution of great enterprises.
> Humility is a rare and difficult and a most precious
> attribute of man. It is difficult because the more we
> become aware of the expression of powers in or
> through us, the more difficult it is to practice
> absolute humility.
> Pride, the opposite of humility, is a constant test
> and temptation endangering a rising career. For
> growth attracts power, and this is as it should be.
> Every individual should be developing greater and
> greater powers of achievement. If, however, he is
> self-conscious regarding these achievements and b e
> comes stuffed up with pride he is to that degree
> choking up his channels of inspiration. Little by
> little he will degenerate. The greatness delegated
> to him for purposes of service will be taken from
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS          131
> 
> him by Destiny because he is using it for the
> glorification of self.
> Angels, Swedenborg tells us, are a type of being
> who know no other will than the Will of God. They
> are incapable of self-will or of self-conceit. Man,
> who in reality inherits a potential station even
> higher than that of the angels, has always the power
> of self-will and the danger of self-conceit. Therefore pride is a fault which ever menaces the upward
> spiritual climb. It may bring down the soaring
> soul of man as the hunter brings down the bird.
> Meister Eckhart, one of the greatest mystics of
> the Middle Ages—whose sermons crammed the
> great cathedral of Cologne—suddenly failed one day
> in the midst of a sermon, grew pale, descended from
> the lectern and left his congregation. He did not
> preach again for a period of two years. This space
> of time he spent in completely overcoming the ego
> and that sense of pride which had been gradually
> gaining ground upon him. Then he returned to
> his pulpit, greater than ever in his spiritual power,
> never again failing in the expression of a constant
> and true humility.
> Humility is so important a spiritual attribute that
> the statements and devotional writings of the world
> Saviors are full of language designed to stimulate and
> develop that quality in worshippers. The only
> 151                  CHARACTER
> 
> prayer which Christ gave us begins with attributing
> fatherhood to God and closes with the majestic
> phrase, "For thine is the kingdom and the power
> and the glory." The Koran is full of ringing
> phrases asserting the universal power of God and its
> effective rule in human lives. The obligatory daily
> use of prayer by Moslems—prayer which ascribes
> all power to God—is one of the great factors of the
> true piety which characterizes their daily life. The
> prayers of BaháVlláh and 'Abdu'1-Bahá are strongly
> impregnated with this verbal power to arouse reverence and humility.
> Humility is the keynote of Lao-tze's spiritual
> philosophy. The sage, he says, is characterized by
> a humility as sweet and lowly as that of a little child.
> (How similar is Christ's injunction: Unless ye become as one of these Httle ones, ye cannot inherit
> the Kingdom of Heaven.) The more one knows,
> says Lao-tze, the more one realizes the immensity of
> one's limitations in comparison with the infinity
> of life.
> The ruler, Lao-tze states, must be non-assertive.
> When the leadership of a people practise harmony,
> the people themselves practise harmony and a
> nation is at peace. When rulers express humiHty,
> the people express loyalty. But when rulers express
> pride, a nation's peace and order disintegrate.
> Everything flows to the man who knows this
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS           133
> 
> great and too - little ' understood art of humility.
> "The ocean, by lying low, receives all things into
> it," says Lact2;e—one of the ten most truth'
> pregnant sentences in all the worlcVs literature.
> I advise every one to memorise this phrase and
> meditate on it daily. Like all Chinese wisdom, it is
> both profound and practicable. If rulers practised
> it, many a throne would be saved. If executives
> practised it, their concerns would run smoothly. If
> scholars practised it, their scholarship would remain
> always virile and explorative.
> 
> Another important aspect of selflessness is the
> ability to make oneself a receptacle or channel for
> inspiration. Every true artist knows this secret.
> It is in these moments or hours of self-effacement, of
> self-immolation in the furnace of inspiration that
> the artist creates his magic forms of art. Others
> who miss this white heat—this utter merging of the
> self into the creative vision—remain but imitators
> of the Real. Their work may partake of talent—
> it lacks that pure gold of genius from which all
> dross has been purged away.
> The reason why Chinese art, in almost all its
> phases, has achieved an inimitable supremacy is
> because Chinese artists for millenniums have known
> 134                  CHARACTER
> 
> how to put into practice this profound creative
> secret.
> The nobly spiritual attitude of the Chinese artist,
> his reverential approach to the creative task, is
> largely the result of the teachings of Buddha and
> Lao'tze which have so deeply impregnated Chinese
> thought and action. The Chinese know how to
> lose themselves in the contemplation of Nature.
> And through Nature they see the Universal and the
> Infinite. That is why, when they depict a lonely
> crooked pine upon the mountain side—or a reed,
> butterfly-laden, on the river-bank—we see expressed
> not the objectivity of Nature but its subjectivity, its
> soul, its infinite essential beauty. It is not an old
> man that we see in the bit of Chinese carving but
> old age itself. Not a tiger painted on a screen but
> the spirit of ferocity.
> This is genius. How is it attained? By submerging the self in the Ocean of Life.
> Laurence Binyon, writing of the theory and practice of art in China and Japan, says: "Of Wu Taot2;u it is said that it seemed as if a god possessed him
> and wielded the brush in his hand; of another master
> that his ideas welled up as from a power unseen. It
> was felt that the true artist, working when the mood
> was on him, was brought into direct relation with
> the creative power indwelling in the world; and
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS                     135
> 
> this power, using him as a medium or instrument,
> breathed actual life into the strokes of his brush.'1''*
> "K ing, the Sculptor, carved a belfry for a peal of
> bells. The harmony and beauty of it astonished
> everybody. The Marquess of Lar, having come on
> purpose to admire it, asked K ing how he went to
> work. 'When I had received the commission to
> execute this belfry I began to.coil up all my vital
> powers, to gather myself unto my own source. After
> three days of this exercise I had forgotten the praise
> and payment which would accrue to me for my work.
> After five days I no longer hoped for success—also I
> no longer feared failure. After seven days, having
> lost thought of everything, even to the motion of my
> body and limbs—having entirely forgotten even
> your highness and the Court, every faculty being
> swallowed up by my object—I felt the moment for
> action had arrived.
> " 'I went into the forest and set myself to contenv
> plate the natural forms of trees—the bearing of the
> most perfect among them. When I felt thoroughly
> penetrated with this inspiration, then at last, I set
> my hand to work. It was that which directed my
> labour. It was by this fusion into one, of my nature
> of that with that of trees, that this belfry acquired
> the qualities which makes it so much admired. , '
> * Laurence Binyon, "The Flight of the Dragon." London, John Murray,
> t A fragment from the Chinese. Authorship unknown.
> 136                  CHARACTER
> 
> 7.
> 
> In every creative work be it of art or of engineer'
> ing, of business or of government, that man achieves
> most nobly who can best empty himself and become
> an abundant channel for inspiration.
> The inventor or the discoverer of new truth must
> lose himself in his great quest. Thus Edison passed
> days and years in supreme consecration to his supreme
> objective, that of creating more light for the world.
> Charles Holmes Herty, recently deceased, devoted
> the last ten years of his life to an important goal—
> that of converting the various species of Southern
> pine into white newsprint. Overcoming one after
> another apparently insuperable obstacle, he finally
> achieved his goal—a discovery which will ultimately
> add billions to the wealth of the South. He sue
> ceeded because he was working selflessly for univer'
> sal rather than for personal ends.
> In one of his recent statements Dr. Herty revealed
> what the development of this new industry for the
> South meant to him as a human being. "I don't
> think of this thing in terms of dollars and cents," he
> commented. "The development of this industry is
> going to mean the elimination of one'room houses for
> families, better food for those who are living on corn
> bread, and occasional meat, better clothes for those
> who go in rags today. On the great coastal plain,
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS             137
> 
> a great mass of the population in the midst of the
> finest paper material have for generations endured
> the bitterest sort of poverty. Use of Southern pine
> will change this."
> To work avidly for self assures a limited success in
> life, but it is a selfish kind of success which imprisons
> the soul as in a tomb. To work selflessly for
> humanity assures life's supreme success, the results
> of which radiate out infinitely into life upon this
> planet and at the same time promote the spiritual
> progress of the individual who so achieves.
> To seek individual salvation may seem a selfish
> goal. It is not. For all humanity must strive
> hitherward. To achieve eternal life is the supreme
> goal of earthly existence. Selflessness is the portal
> through which one passes from time into Eternity,
> from place to the Placeless.
> Eternal life is a state of being which we must
> strive to gain in this life. Death does not initiate
> us into immortality. We carry over with us from
> this planet just that character which we have
> attained up to the point of death. This is the keynote
> of the message of every Prophet—to attain salvation
> here and now. Postponement is disastrous!
> The plane of eternal life is a plane of existence
> consciously under the directive Force of the Holy
> 138                  CHARACTER
> 
> Spirit, which is the governing aspect of Deity. All
> existence is in reality under this directive Force.
> But man in his unregenerate and carnal state is not
> only unaware of this Force but is able to and fre'
> quently does assert his own will in opposition to It,
> thus incurring conditions of inharmony and disaster.
> The kingdom of nature below man, while also
> unconscious of this Force, exerts no will of its own,
> hence is a passive and wholly harmonious instrument
> and expression of Super'Control.
> Man, more fortunate than the animals, is capable
> of realizing the power of the Holy Spirit. This
> realization is due entirely to the teaching of the
> Prophets. Without that teaching, man could not
> himself, by the power of his native intelligence,
> attain to this supreme and cosmic discovery.
> When man conceives and lives this truth—that
> the Holy Spirit is the creative, sustaining and guiding
> force of the Cosmos—he is acting on a plane of unh
> versal and cosmic harmony. His own will is not
> egotistically and obstreperously assertive but is sub'
> missive to the Divine Will as expressed through the
> Holy Spirit. Hence all such individuals are existing
> and operating on a plane one step above the plane of
> phenomenal existence. They are living on the plane
> of the Kingdom, the plane of Eternal Life. Such
> existence is controlled by forces of invisible har'
> mony and is above the plane of the jungle law of
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS           139
> 
> cruel competition which characterizes ordinary
> mundane existence.
> While on earth individuals are permitted to live
> and act outside the plane of celestial harmony.
> They can, if they so desire, create here a hell for
> themselves. As a matter of fact most humans do,
> both individually and collectively.
> But in the life after death no activity can exist
> outside the plane of Etemality. Hence those indf
> viduals who die without having attained to that
> plane here are in a state of suspended or imperfect
> animation over there. Such maimed existences have
> to be nursed into normal condition, and the process
> is long and unpleasant for the individual. Hence
> the vital importance of attaining salvation—or the
> ability to function on the plane of Eternality—
> during one's life upon this planet.
> 
> This life of self-abnegation is really not a giving
> up and loss of something worth while. We are
> simply exchanging lower for immensely higher values.
> It is a miraculous process of transubstantiation. The
> symbols used by Christ are those of the seed dying
> unto self in order to become the ripened ear of wheat.
> This is a perfect figure, adequately describing the
> process which takes place in the human being in
> changing from carnal man into spiritual man.
> 140                      CHARACTER
> 
> The seed when placed in the ground has to die
> unto itself to become a plant. It apparently goes
> through all the processes of death, giving even its
> body to feed that marvelous growth which pushes
> up through the soil to blossom in a new and sunlit
> world. This lovely and fruitful plant, blossoming
> in the face of heaven, is the same entity which once
> was a tiny hard seed but has now reached its station
> of fulfillment. This, Christ would have us under'
> stand, is the nature of the transformation intended by
> Destiny for all human heings, hut attained in actuality
> by very few. I do not know how long the seed can
> continue to exist as seed if it forever rejects the
> opportunity of growth and proper functioning.
> I do not know that Destiny guarantees immor'
> tality to every individual. Certainly immortality
> is something that has to be attained, it is not a gift
> of nature to us. He who would save his life shall
> lose it, and he who would lose his life for My sake
> shall save it unto life Eternal—this is the immortal
> Message of world Saviors.
> "The seed that is to grow must lose itself as
> seed;
> And they that creep may graduate, through
> chrysalis, to wings:—
> Wilt thou then, O mortal, cling to those husks
> which falsely seem to you the Self?" *
> * Wu Ming Fu, "Patterns in Jade." Avalon Press, Washington, D. C.
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS        I 4-1
> 
> "The meaning of Eternal Life is the gift of the
> Holy Spirit, as the flower receives the gift of the
> season, the air, and the breezes of spring. . . .
> "Entrance into the Kingdom is through d c
> tachment, through holiness and chastity, through
> truthfulness, purity, steadfastness, faithfulness, and
> sacrifice of self. . . .
> "The Life of the Kingdom is the Life of the Spirit,
> the Eternal Life. . . .
> "Morality is the governing of oneself. Tmmortality consists in the governing of the human soul by
> Divine Spirit. ,, *
> 
> It can readily be seen, if one contemplates the sub'
> ject with scientific and inspired intelligence, that the
> celestial plane of Evanescence is not a plane of weak'
> ness but a plane of power. The individual in attain'
> ing to that plane becomes a channel for the Universal.
> He puts ofF the limitations of personality and becomes
> endowed with the quality of Universality.
> "Let us yearn for the Kingdom of God, so that
> our works may bear eternal fruit. Then from day
> to day you will become more enlightened; day by
> day your efForts will increase; day by day your work
> * 'Abdu'1'Bahá, "Life Eternal." Roycroft.
> 142                        CHARACTER
> 
> will become universal, and day by day your horizons
> will broaden until in the end they will embrace the
> universe. Glory be upon the people of glory."'1 *
> When our will is submitted to the Will of God
> and we become sensitive to guidance, the problems
> of life for the most part disappear from before our
> path and we are saved many of the pitfalls into
> which blind feet are apt to stray. The life of sane'
> tified man knows a harmony and happiness which
> are transcendent. Inner doors open to him—giving
> access to new avenues of action and achievement, new
> possibilities for growth.
> In fact, joy is a natural quality and expression of
> the truly spiritual life. Joy is so innately connected
> with spiritualized existence that it may be said that
> all truly spiritual people are joyous; and conversely,
> that people who are not joyous are missing some'
> thing of spiritual perfection.
> 
> In conclusion, let it be realized that the spiritual
> climb is not in reality a harsh and painful journey.
> It is an ascent, like mountain'dimbing, full of upper
> sunshine and of joy.
> Nor is it necessary that we wait tofinishone step
> * 'Abdu'1-Bahá, "Divine Philosophy."   The Tudor Press, Boston.
> T H E STAGE OF SELFLESSNESS                       143
> 
> of progress before we begin the next. Four chief
> stages of character growth are in this book isolated
> one from the other merely for purposes of elucidation.
> In reality, development should go ahead somewhat
> on all these lines at one and the same time.
> Development of self, the training in responsibility,
> the acquisition of altruistic motivation, and the
> glorious attainment of evanescence—these four proc'
> esses should be carried on throughout our lives.
> We shall never finish with them here, but we may
> make a good beginning.
> The Saviors come to earth in order that human
> beings may be imbued with greater power for this
> celestial struggle, this striving for perfection. And
> all who turn to Them will be aided into a miraculous
> growth of spiritual potency.
> The inner experience of Discipleship—of the
> quest and discovery of the Holy Grail—is exquisitely
> expressed in the following poetic rendering of an
> episode in the life of Bab:
> "Ah, no," answered Abbas, "if men have not glimpsed of the dawning.
> A difference lies here: The gods give of mercy and patience;
> Our Allah is kind to souls that see not, yet temper
> Each nerve of their beings to find some link with Perfection,
> Some hidden and loving rapport with all that esisteth.
> Suppose on the morrow we find when we meet Husayn-Ali,
> A seer, or the Promised of Ages; not frail finite teacher,
> But Prophet, whose knowledge transcendeth our leader's,
> Whose grace reflects God and whose claims seem truly well-founded—
> 144                            CHARACTER
> 
> "What then be our action? Forget our old fealty and follow?
> Would I give my life's blood to completely surrender? No, not
> To one who now is my teacher, though great is his learning,
> And much I admire him. My soul is my own! and I'm loyal
> As you to the center of glory, the master within me . . .
> But beloved! I'm suddenly shaken! What means this enchantment
> That lures now our spirits on tides of volition and power
> Beyond our own choosing? With consciousness light and ecstatic
> We move, as it were, toward a vortex of Truth and of Beauty!"
> 
> "Man's mystery I show," Ab'ul heard in sacred Communion,
> When later he knelt at the feet of the Teacher whose chanting
> iUumined his reason and woke him,—as harps in high chancels
> Might summon the angels to singing—then tuned his whole spirit
> To godly emotion. Tears rose to his eyes and swift-flowing,
> Revealed bis submission, a well-spring of reverence within him.
> "Return to the Mulla, I cannot," he told his companion;
> "I stay here to learn, not to question, the Truth that long we were seeking;
> The Light that we yearned for together I find here is burning."
> 
> "Assurance uplifts me," cried Abbas. "I worship! I praise Him!
> To return were a sign of my pride and explicit rejection;
> My teacher no longer, the Mulla of Abad, who led me
> To seek this bright goal, but refuses to come to the Ridvan . . .
> We are true to ourselves and our mission, when true to All Beauty.
> We give up the sceptre of will when thus we attaineth
> Such ransom as flows to our hearts from this Master of Guidance:
> He standeth within us! and we are gold beams with His Sunrise,
> Clear drops of the stream that grows sweet when fed from this Fountain."*
> 
> * Alice Simmons Cox, "The Prophet of Nur." World Order Magazine,
> May, 1938.
> CONCLUSION
> CHAPTER IX
> 
> Progress Onward and Upward
> Forever
> TT 7E HAVE traced the scientific and religious
> Y ^ foundations for character, and seen that
> character is the very structure of life. To
> be without character is to remain deprived of that
> noble ascent which planetary life began when it
> left the mollusk stage and which culminates not in
> man the thinker but in Man the Son of God..
> Lack of character spells failure for all of life's
> demands. It is the only real tragedy of life. How
> many frustrated careers and bitter lives are traceable
> to this cause! Maturity and the experiences of life
> bring cognisance of this colossal cosmic truth.
> Could this lesson be acquired early in life it would
> avert many sorrows and many corroded hearts.
> 
> If failure to achieve character leads to suffering,
> success in character'development is the open sesame
> to success in life'achievement and to that serenity
> which all noble souls know.
> As soon as the individual becomes conscious of
> H7
> 148                 CHARACTER
> 
> self, so soon should he begin the conscčLt&Qd; raining
> of his character. Fortunate is he whose personal
> and cultural environment are such as to inspire and
> sustain aspiration toward perfection! Yet even in
> the lack of such an environment souls can become
> stimulated, by the law of opposites, to struggle out
> from chaos into Order.
> No one is condemned by Destiny to a character­
> less life of failure and futility! Because life is ever
> creative and the spirit alone is causal, every indi­
> vidual has the potentiality of perfection. No one
> can offer alibis to Destiny on the score of native
> endowment or of environment. Whether it be ten
> talents or one which we possess—whether we live
> in the midst of want and degradation or of culture
> and plenty—there is no point conceivable in human
> experience at which the upward climb cannot begin.
> Mary Magdalene began it from a life of prostitu­
> tion, and climbed so swiftly that she outpassed even
> the glorious devotion of Peter and the sinless purity
> of John.
> 
> To falter, then, upon this cosmic task of characterbuilding is childish—an evidence of not yet having
> come-to-age. To halt when once one has begun the
> climb is a sign of weakness, of a decrepitude which
> PROGRESS ONWARD AND UPWARD FOREVER 149
> 
> has no         in Reality. For the spirit of man is
> ageless and unaging. It obeys a divine and infinite
> law of continuity. Moral effort, then, should be
> continuous. To stop progressing means spiritual
> death! For there is no stopping still in the Unf
> verse. One progresses, or one retrogresses.
> From a rich self-development to a noble sense of
> responsibility; from functioning on the plane of re'
> sponsibility to a loftier and more loving functioning
> on the plane of altruism; from altruism that still has
> some degree of self'motivation into a spiritual state
> of existence that attains to selfless and cosmic greať
> ness,—such is the spiritual climb as we may vision it
> upon this planet. If other stages of the soul still
> loftier there be in the BeyonďWorld, we shall learn
> of them in due time.
> 
> And finally, let it be said that religion is not only
> the chief guide to character but the chief aid in the
> upward climb. Would that everyone could say of
> God, as David learned to say, "Thou art my rod
> and my staff."                          >
> Religion is not a restraint put upon life. It is an
> added power offered to man. " I came that ye
> might have life, and have it more abundantly." As
> foolish to neglect this Cosmic Power for our spiritual
> 150                 CHARACTER
> 
> needs as to refuse the power which steam, electricity
> and gasoline bring to the material life of man.
> Religion means greater speed in character-building,
> greater power for soul-growth.
> Amidst the various aspects of religion, the aspects
> of devotion to a Leader and of aspiration toward the
> perfection of the Great Examplar are by far the
> most potent for the arduous process of self-perfectioning. Unfortunately few know how to avail
> themselves of this potent aid without the obstructions of fanaticism and of personality worship. As
> humanity advances, however, to greater maturity
> of intellect and of vision it will be able to see the
> Light rather than the Lamp, and to experience the
> Celestial on the plane of that Horizon where earth
> and Heaven meet.
> 
> We have endeavored to keep these pages free from
> the didactic. We urge no one to be good. We
> exhort no one to accept our statements. But we
> should rejoice if the thoughts presented upon these
> pages—thoughts of Truth as the writer visions it—
> could stimulate the reader to himself make search
> and effort and gain enhancement for himself in that
> great inner field of achievement which must forerun
> all achievement on the outer planes of life.
> PROGRESS ONWARD AND UPWARD FOREVER 151
> 
> Character is destiny. May your destiny, reader,
> be blessed with the successful building of that great
> edifice housing human life upon this planet—an
> edifice eternal, and ever expanding like the Cham'
> bered Nautilus—the edifice of CHARACTER.
>
> — *Character: A Sequence in Spiritual Psychology (Used by permission of the curator)*