 Chapter 5 of 8 Pillars of Prosperity by James Allen The sleeper box recording is in the public domain. Fourth pillar, System System is the principle of order by which confusion is rendered impossible. In the natural and universal order, everything is in its place so that the vast universe runs more perfectly than the most perfect machine. Disorder in space would mean the destruction of the universe and disorder in a man's affairs destroys his work and his prosperity. All complex organizations are built up by system. No business or society can develop into large dimensions apart from system and this principle is preeminently the instrument of the merchant, the businessman and the organizer of institutions. There are many departments in which a disorderly man may succeed although attention to order would increase his success. But he will not succeed in business unless he can place the business entirely in the hands of a systematic manager who will thereby remedy his own defect. All large business concerns have been evolved along definitely drawn systematic lines any violation of which would be disastrous to the efficiency and welfare of the business. Complex business or other organizations are built up like complex bodies in nature by scrupulous attention to details. The disorderly man thinks he can be careless about everything but the main end but by ignoring the means he frustrates the end. By the disarrangement of details organisms perish and by the careless neglect of details the growth of any work or concern is prevented. Disorderly people waste an enormous amount of time and energy. The time frittered away and hunting for things is sufficient were it conserved by order to enable them to achieve any success. For slovenly people never have a place for anything and have to hunt frequently for a long time for any article which they require. In the irritation, bad humor and chagrin which this daily hunting for things brings about as much energy is dissipated as would be required to build up a big business or scale the highest heights of achievement in any direction. Orderly people conserve both their time and energy. They never lose anything and therefore never have to find anything. Everything is in its place and the hand can be at once placed upon it though it be in the dark. They can well afford to be cool and deliberate and so use their mental energies in something more profitable than irritation, bad temper and accusing others for their own lack of order. There is a kind of genius and system which can perform apparent wonders with ease. A systematic man can get through so great a quantity of work in such a short time and with such freedom from exhaustion as to appear almost miraculous. He scales the heights of success while his slovenly competitor is wallowing hopelessly in the bogs of confusion. His strict observance of the law of order enables him to reach his ends swiftly and smoothly without friction or loss of time. The demands of system in all departments of the business world are as rigid and exacting as the holy vows of a saint and cannot be violated in the smallest particular but at the risk of one's financial prospects. In the financial world the law of order is an iron necessity and he who faultlessly observes it saves time, temper and money. Every enduring achievement in human society rests upon a basis of system so true is this that where system withdrawn progress would cease. Think for instance of the vast achievements of literature, the works of great classic authors and of great geniuses, the great poems, the innumerable prose works, the monumental histories, the soul-stirring orations. Think also of the social intercourse of human society, of its religions, its legal statutes and its vast fund of book knowledge. Think of all these wonderful resources and achievements of language and then reflect that they all depend for their origin, growth and continuance on the systematic arrangement of 26 letters, an arrangement having inexhaustible and illimitable results by the fact of its rigid limitation within certain fixed rules. Again all the wonderful achievements of mathematics have come from the systematic arrangement of ten figures, while the most complex piece of machinery with its thousands of parts working together smoothly and almost noiselessly to the achievement of the end for which it was designed was brought forth by the systematic observance of a few mechanical laws. Here then we see how system simplifies that which is complex, how it makes easy that which was difficult, how it relates an infinite variety of details to the one central law of order and so enables them to be dealt with and accounted for with perfect regularity and with an entire absence of confusion. The scientist names and classifies the myriad details of the universe from the microscopic rotifer to the telescopic star by his observance of the principle of system so that out of many millions of objects reference can be made to any one object in at most a few minutes. It is this faculty of speedy reference and swift dispatch which is of such overwhelming importance in every department of knowledge and industry and the amount of time and labour thus saved to humanity is so vast as to be incomputable. We speak of religious, political and business systems, of systems of thought, education, travel, government and so on indicating that all things in human society are welded together by the adhesive qualities of order. System is indeed one of the great fundamental principles in progress and in the binding together in one complete whole of the world's millions of human beings while they are at the same time each striving for a place and are competing with one another in opposing aims and interests. We see here how system is allied with greatness for the many separate units whose minds are untrained to the discipline of system are kept in their place by the organizing power of the comparatively few who perceive the urgent, the unescapable necessity for the establishment of fixed and unviable rules whether in business, law, religion, science or politics. In fact, in every sphere of human activity for immediately two human beings meet together they need some common ground of understanding for the avoidance of confusion. In a word, some system to regulate their actions. Life is too short for confusion and knowledge grows and progress proceeds along avenues of system which prevent retardation and retrogression so that he who systemizes his knowledge or business simplifies and enhances it for his successor enabling him to begin with a free mind where he left off. Every large business has its system which renders its vast machinery workable enabling it to run like a well balanced and well oiled machine. A remarkable businessman, a friend of mine once told me that he could leave his huge business for 12 months and it would run on without a hitch till his return and he does occasionally leave it for several months while traveling and on his return every man, boy and girl every tool, book and machine, every detail down to the smallest is in its place doing its work as when he left and no trouble, no difficulty, no confusion has arisen. There can be no marked success apart from a love of regularity and discipline and the avoidance of friction along with the restfulness and efficiency of mind which spring from such regularity people who abhor discipline whose minds are ungoverned and anarchic and who are careless and irregular in their thinking their habits and the management of their affairs cannot be highly successful and prosperous and they fill their lives with numerous worries troubles, difficulties and petty annoyances all of which would disappear under a proper regulation of their lives. An unsystematic mind is an untrained mind and it can no more cope with well-disciplined minds in the race of life than an untrained athlete can successfully compete with a carefully trained competitor in athletic races the ill-disciplined mind that thinks everything will do rapidly falls behind the well-disciplined minds who are convinced that only the best will do in the strenuous race for the prizes of life whether they be material, mental or moral prizes the man who when he comes to do his work is unable to find his tools or to balance his figures or to find the key of his desk or the key to his thoughts will be struggling in his self-made toys while his methodical neighbor will be freely and joyfully scaling the invigorating heights of successful achievement the businessman whose method is slovenly or cumbersome or behind the most recent developments of skilled minds should only blame himself if his prospects are decadent and should wake up to the necessity for more highly specialized and effective methods in his concern he should seize upon everything every invention and idea that will enable him to economize time and labor and aid him in thoroughness deliberation and dispatch system is the law by which everything every organism, business, character, nation, empire is built by adding cell to cell department to department thought to thought, law to law and colony to colony in orderly sequence and classification all things, concerns and institutions grow in magnitude and evolve to completeness the man who is continually improving his methods of gaining in building power it therefore behooves the businessman to be resourceful and inventive in the improvement of his methods for the builders, whether of cathedrals or characters, businesses or religions are the strong ones of the earth and the protectors and pioneers of humanity the systematic builder is a creator and preserver while the man of disorder demolishes and destroys and no limit can be set to the growth of a man's powers the completeness of his character the influence of his organization or the extent of his business if he but preserve intact the discipline of order and have every detail in its place keep every department to its special task and tabulate and classify with such efficiency and perfection as to enable him at any moment to bring under examination or into requisition the remotest detail in connection with his special work in system are contained these four ingredients one, readiness two, accuracy three, utility four, comprehensiveness readiness is aliveness it is the spirit of alertness by which a situation is immediately grasped and dealt with the observance of system fosters and develops the spirit the successful general must have the power of readily meeting any new and unlooked for move on the part of the enemy so every businessman must have the readiness to deal with any unexpected development affecting his line of trade and so also must the man of thought be able to deal with the details of any new problem which may arise deleteriness is a vice that is fatal to prosperity for it leads to in capability and stupidity the men of ready hands, ready hearts and ready brains who know what they are doing and do it methodically skillfully and with smooth yet consummate dispatch are the men who need to think little of prosperity as an end for it comes to them whether they seek it or not success runs after them and knocks at their door and they unconsciously command it by the superb excellence of their faculties and methods accuracy is of supreme importance in all commercial concerns and enterprises but there can be no accuracy apart from system and a system which is more or less imperfect will involve its originator in mistakes more or less disastrous until he improves it inaccuracy is one of the commonest failings because accuracy is closely allied to self-discipline and self-discipline along with that glad subjection to external discipline which it involves is an indication of high moral culture to which the majority have not yet attained if the inaccurate man will not willingly subject himself to the discipline of his employer or instructor but thinks he knows better his failing can never be remedied and he will thereby bind himself down to an inferior position if in the business world or to imperfect knowledge if in the world of thought the prevalence of the vice of inaccuracy and in view of its disastrous effects it must be regarded as a vice though perhaps one of the lesser vices is patent to every observer in the way in which the majority of people relate a circumstance or repeat a simple statement of fact it is nearly always made untrue by more or less marked inaccuracies few people perhaps not reckoning those who deliberately lie have trained themselves to be accurate in what they say or are so careful as to admit and state their liability to error and from this common form of inaccuracy many untruths and misunderstandings arise more people take more pains to be accurate in what they do than in what they say but even here inaccuracy is very common rendering many inefficient and incompetent and unfitting them for any strenuous and well-sustained endeavor the man who habitually uses up a portion of his own or his employer's time trying to correct his errors or for the correction of whose mistakes another has to be employed is not the man to maintain any position in the work-a-day world much less to reach a place among the ranks of the prosperous there never yet lived a man who did not make some mistakes on his way to his particular success but he is the capable and right-minded man who believes his mistakes and quickly remedies them and who is glad when they are pointed out to him it is habitual and persistent in accuracy which is a vice and he is the incapable and wrong-minded man who will not see or admit his mistakes and who takes offense when they are pointed out to him the progressive man learns by his own mistakes as well as by the mistakes of others he is always ready to test good advice by practice and aims at greater and greater accuracy in his methods which means higher and higher perfection for accuracy is perfection and the measure of a man's accuracy will be the measure of his uniqueness and perfection utility or usefulness is the direct result of method in one's work labor arrives at fruitful and profitable ends when it is systematically pursued if the gardener is to gather in the best produce he must not only sow and plant but he must sow and plant at the right time and if any work is to be fruitful in results it must be done seasonably and the time for doing a thing must not be allowed to pass by utility considers the practical end it deploys the best means to reach that end it avoids side issues, dispenses with theories and retains its hold only on those things which can be appropriated to good uses in the economy of life unpractical people burden their minds with useless and unverifiable theories and court failure by entertaining speculations which by their very nature cannot be applied in practice the man whose powers are shown in what he does and not in mere talking and arguing avoids metaphysical quibblings and quandaries and applies himself to the accomplishment of some good and useful end that which cannot be reduced to practice should not be allowed to hamper the mind it should be thrown aside, abandoned and ignored a man recently told me that if his theory should be proved to have no useful end he should still retain his hold upon it as a beautiful theory if a man chooses to cling to so-called beautiful theories which are proved to have no use in life and no substantial basis of reality he must not be surprised if he fail in his worldly undertakings for he is an unpractical man when the powers of the mind are diverted from speculative theorizing to practical doing whether in material or moral directions skill, power, knowledge and prosperity increase a man's prosperity is measured by his usefulness to the community and a man is useful in accordance with what he does and not because of the theories which he entertains the carpenter fashions a chair the builder erects a house the mechanic produces a machine and the wise man molds a perfect character not the schematics, the theorists and the conversationalists but the workers, the makers and the doers are the salt of the earth let a man turn away from the mirages of intellectual speculation to begin to do something and to do it with all his might and he will thereby gain a special knowledge wield a special power and reach his own unique position and prosperity among his fellows comprehensiveness is the quality of mind which enables a man to deal with a large number of related details to grasp them in their entirety along with a single principle which governs them and binds them together it is a masterly quality giving organizing and governing power and is developed by systematic attention to details the successful merchant holds in his mind as were all the details of his business and regulates them by a system adapted to his particular form of trade the inventor has in his mind all the details of his machine along with their relation to a central mechanical principle and so perfects his invention the author of a great poem or story relates all his characters and incidents to a central plot and so produces a composite and enduring literary work comprehensiveness is analytic and synthetic capacity combined in the same individual a capacious and well-ordered mind which holds within its silent depths an army of details in their proper arrangement and true working order is the mind that is near to genius even if it has not already arrived every man cannot be a genius nor does he need to be but he can be gradually evolving his mental capacity by careful attention to system in his thoughts and business as his intellect deepens and broadens his power will be intensified and his prosperity accentuated such then are the four corner pillars of the temple of prosperity and of themselves they are sufficient permanently to sustain it without the addition of the remaining four the man who perfects himself in energy, economy, integrity and system will achieve an enduring success in the work of his life no matter what the nature of that work may be it is impossible for one to fail who is full of energy who carefully economizes his time and money and virtuously husbands his vitality who practices unswerving integrity and who systematizes his work by first systematizing his mind such a man's efforts will be rightly directed and that too with concentrated power so that they will be effective and fruitful in addition he will reach a manliness and an independent dignity which will unconsciously command respect and success and will strengthen weaker ones by its very presence in their midst seized thou a man diligent in business he shall stand before kings he shall not stand before mean men says a scripture of such a one he will not beg or whimper or complain or cynically blame others but will be too strong and pure and upright a man to sink himself solo and so standing high in the nobility and integrity of his character he will fill a high place in the world and in the estimation of men his success will be certain and his prosperity will endure he will stand and not fall in the battle of life and a chapter five chapter six of the eight pillars of prosperity by James Allen this LibriVox recording is in the public domain the fifth pillar, sympathy the remaining pillars are the four central pillars in the temple of prosperity they give it greater strength and stability and add both to its beauty and utility they contribute greatly to its attractiveness for they belong to the highest moral sphere and therefore to great beauty and nobility of character they indeed make a man great and place him among the comparatively few whose minds are rare and that shine apart in sparkling purity and bright intelligence sympathy should not be confounded with that modelan and superficial sentiment which like a pretty flower without root presently perishes and leaves behind neither seed nor fruit to fall into hysterical weeping when parting with a friend or on hearing of some suffering abroad is not sympathy neither are bursts of violent indignation against the cruelties and injustices of others any indication of a sympathetic mind if one is cruel at home if he badgers his wife or beats his children or abuses his servants or stabs his neighbors with shafts of bitter sarcasm what hypocrisy is in his profession of love for suffering people who are outside the immediate range of his influence what shallow sediment informs his bursts of indignation against the injustices of heartedness in the world around him says Emerson of such go love thy infant love thy woodchopper be good-natured and modest have that grace and never varnish your hard uncharitable ambition with this incredible tenderness for black folk a thousand miles off thy love afar is spite at home the test of a man is in his immediate acts and not in his ultra-sentiments and if those acts are consistently informed with selfishness and bitterness if those at home hear his steps in dread and feel a joyful relief on his departure how empty are his expressions of sympathy for the suffering or the downtron how futile his membership of a philanthropic society though the well of sympathy may feed the spring of tears that spring more often draws its supply from the dark pool of selfishness for when selfishness is forted it spends itself in tears sympathy is a deep silent inexpressible tenderness which is shown in a consistently self-forgetful, gentle character sympathetic people are not gushing and spasmodic but are permanently self-restrained firm, quiet, unassuming, and gracious their undisturbed demeanor where the suffering of others is concerned is frequently mistaken for indifference by shallow minds but the sympathetic and discerning eye recognizes in their quiet strength and their swiftness to aid while others are weeping and wringing their hands the deepest, soundest sympathy lack of sympathy is shown in cynicism ill-natured sarcasm bitter ridicule taunting and mockery and anger and condemnation as well as in that morbid and false sediment which is a theoretical and assumed sympathy having no basis in practice lack of sympathy arises in egotism sympathy arises in love egotism is involved in ignorance love is allied to knowledge it is common with men to imagine themselves as separate from their fellows with separate aims and interests and to regard themselves as right and others wrong in their respective ways sympathy lifts a man above this separate and self-centered life and enables him to live in the hearts of his fellows and to think and feel with them he puts himself in their place and becomes for the time being as they are as Whitman the hospital hero expresses it I do not ask the wounded person how he feels I myself become the wounded person it is a kind of impertinence to question a suffering creature suffering calls for aid and tenderness and not for curiosity and the sympathetic manner woman feels the suffering and ministers to its alleviation nor can sympathy boast and wherever self praise enters in sympathy passes out if one speaks of his many deeds of kindness and complaints of the ill treatment he has received in return he has not done kindly deeds but has yet to reach that self-forgetful modesty which is the sweetness of sympathy sympathy in its real and profound sense is oneness with others in their strivings and sufferings so that the man of sympathy is a composite being he is, as it were, a number of men and he views a thing from a number of different sides and not from one side only and that his own particular side he sees with other men's eyes, hears with their ears thinks with their minds and feels with their hearts he is thus able to understand men who are vastly different from himself the meaning of their lives is revealed to him and he is united to them in the spirit of goodwill said Balzac the poor fascinate me, their hunger is my hunger I am with them in their homes their privations I suffer I feel the beggars' rags upon my back I for the time being become the poor and despised man it reminds us of the saying of one greater than Balzac that a deed done for a suffering little one was done for him and so it is sympathy leads us to the hearts of all men so that when we become spiritually united to them and when they suffer we feel the pain when they are glad we rejoice with them when they are despised and persecuted we spiritually descend with them into the depths and take into our hearts their humiliation and distress and he who has this binding united spirit of sympathy can never be cynical and condemnatory can never pass thoughtless and cruel judgments upon his fellows because in his tenderness of heart he is ever with them in their pain but to have reached this ripened sympathy it must needs be that one has loved much suffered much and sounded the dark depths of sorrow it springs from acquaintance with the profoundest experiences so that a man has had conceit, thoughtlessness and selfishness burnt out of his heart no man can have true sympathy who has not been in some measure at least a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief but the sorrow and grief must have passed must have ripened into a fixed kindness and habitual calm to have suffered so much in a certain direction that the suffering is finished and only its particular wisdom remains enables one wherever that suffering presents itself to understand and deal with it by pure sympathy and when one has been perfected by suffering in many directions he becomes a center of rest and healing for the sorrowing and broken hearted who are afflicted with the afflictions which he has experienced and conquered as a mother feels the anguish of her suffering child so the man of sympathy feels the anguish of suffering men such is the highest and holiest sympathy but a sympathy much less perfect is a great power for good in human life and a measure of it is everywhere and every day needed while rejoicing in the fact that in every walk of life there are truly sympathetic people one also perceives that harshness, resentment and cruelty are all too common these hard qualities bring their own sufferings and there are those who fail in their business or particular work entirely because of the harshness of their disposition a man who is fiery and resentful or who is hard, cold and calculating with the springs of sympathy dried up within him even though he be otherwise an able man will in the end scarcely avoid disaster in his affairs his heated folly in the one case or cold cruelty in the other will gradually isolate him from his fellows and from those who are immediately related to him in his particular avocation so that the elements of prosperity will be eliminated from his life leaving him with a lonely failure and perhaps a hopeless despair even in ordinary business transactions sympathy is an important factor for people will always be attracted to those who are of a kindly and genial nature preferring to deal with them rather than with those who are hard and forbidding in all spheres where direct personal contact plays an important part the sympathetic man with average ability will always take precedence of the man of greater ability but who is unsympathetic if a man be a minister or clergyman a cruel laugh or an unkind sentence from him will seriously injure his reputation and influence but particularly his influence for even they who admire his good qualities will through his unkindness unconsciously have a lower regard for him in their personal esteem if a businessman profess religion people will expect to see the good influence of that religion on his business transactions to profess to be a worshiper of the gentle Jesus on Sunday and all the rest of the week be a hard grasping worshiper of Mammon will injure his trade and detract considerably from his prosperity sympathy is a universal spiritual language which all even animals instinctively understand and appreciate for all beings and creatures are subject to suffering and the sameness of painful experience leads to that unity of feeling which we all call sympathy selfishness impels men to protect themselves at the expense of others but sympathy impels them to protect others by the sacrifice of self and in this sacrifice of self there is no real and ultimate loss for while the pleasures of selfishness are small and few the blessings of sympathy are great and manifold it may be asked how can a businessman whose object is to develop his own trade practice self-sacrifice? every man can practice self-sacrifice just where he is and in the measure that he is capable of understanding it if one contends that he cannot practice a virtue because of his circumstances he will never practice it for were his circumstances different he would still have the same excuse diligence in business is not incompatible with self-sacrifice for devotion to duty even though that duty betrayed is not selfishness but may be an unselfish devotion I know a businessman who when a competitor who had tried to cut him out in business cut himself out and failed set that same competitor up in business again truly a beautiful act of self-sacrifice and the man that did it is today one of the most successful and prosperous of businessman the most prosperous commercial traveler I have ever known was overflowing with exuberant kindness and geniality he was as innocent of all tricks of trade as a newborn infant but his great heart and manly uprightness won for him fast friends wherever he went men were glad to see him come into their office or shop or mill and not alone for the good and bracing influence he brought with him also because his business was sound and trustworthy this man was successful through sheer sympathy but sympathy so pure and free from policy that he himself would probably have denied that his success could be attributed to it sympathy can never hinder success it is selfishness that blights and destroys as good will increases man's prosperity will increase all interests are mutual and stand or fall together and as sympathy expands the heart it extends the circle of influence making blessings both spiritual and material more greatly to abound fourfold are the qualities which make up the great virtue of sympathy namely one kindness to generosity three gentleness for insight kindness when fully developed is not a passing impulse but a permanent quality an intermittent and unreliable impulse is not kindness though it often goes under that name there is no kindness in praise if it be followed by abuse the love which seems to prompt the spontaneous kiss will be of little account if it be associated with a spontaneous spite the gift which seemed so gracious will lose its value should the giver afterwards wish its value in return to have one's feelings aroused to do a kind action towards another by some external stimulus pleasing to oneself and shortly afterwards to be swayed to the other extreme towards the same person by an external event pleasing to oneself should be regarded as weakness of character and it is also a selfish condition for to do a kind action only towards one who pleases us and when he pleases us is to be thinking of oneself only a true kindness is unchangeable and needs no external stimulus to force it into action it is a well from which thirsty souls can always drink and it never runs dry kindness when it is a strong virtue is bestowed not only on those who please us but also upon those whose actions go contrary to our wish and will and it is a constant and never varying glow of genial warmth there are some actions of which men repent such are all unkind actions there are other actions of which men do not repent and such are all kind actions the day comes when men are sorry for the cruel things they said and did but the day of gladness is always with them for the kindly things they have said and done unkindness marrs a man's character it marrs his face as time goes on and it marrs that perfection of success which he would otherwise reach kindness beautifies the character it beautifies the face with the growth of the years and it enables a man to reach that perfection of success to which his intellectual abilities entitle him a man's prosperity is mellowed and enriched by the kindness of his disposition generosity goes with a large-hearted kindness if kindness be the gentle sister generosity is the strong brother a free open-handed and magnanimous character is always attractive and influential stinginess and meanness always repel they are dark, cramped, narrow and cold kindness and generosity always attract they are sunny, genial, open and warm that which repels makes for isolation and failure that which attracts makes for union and success giving is as important a duty as getting and he who gets all he can and refuses to give will at last be unable to get for it is as much a spiritual law that we cannot get unless we give as that we cannot give unless we get giving has always been taught as a great and important duty by all the religious teachers this is because giving is one of the highways of personal growth and progress it is a means by which we attain to greater and greater unselfishness and by which we prevent the falling back into selfishness it implies that we recognize our spiritual and social kinship with our fellow men and are willing to part with a portion of that we have earned or possessed for the good and well-being of others the greedy man who the more he gets hungers for still more and refuses to loosen his grasp upon his accumulating store like a wild beast with its prey is retrogressing he is shutting himself out from all the higher and joy-giving qualities and from free and life-giving communion with unselfish happy human hearts Dickens Scrooge in a Christmas Carol represents the condition of such a man with graphic vividness and dramatic force our public men in England today probably also in America are nearly all I think I might say all for I have not yet met an exception a great givers these men Lord mayors mayors magistrates town and city councillors and all men feeling responsible public offices being men who have been singularly successful in the management of their own private affairs are considered the best men for the management of public affairs and numerous noble institutions throughout the land are perpetual witnesses to the munificence of their gifts nor have I been able to find any substantial truth in the accusation so often hurled against such men by the envious and unsuccessful that their riches are made unjustly without being perfect men they are an honorable class of manly vigorous generous and successful men who have acquired riches and honors by sheer industry ability and uprightness let a man beware of greed of meanness of envy of jealousy of suspicion for these things if harbored will rob him of all that is best in life I even all that is best in material things as well as all that is best in character and happiness let him be liberal of heart and generous of hand magnanimous and trusting not only giving cheerfully and often of his substance but allowing his friends and fellow men freedom of thought and action let him be thus and honor plenty and prosperity will come knocking at his door for admittance as his friends and guests gentleness is akin to divinity perhaps no quality is so far removed from all that is coarse brutal and selfish as gentleness so that when one is becoming gentle he is becoming divine it can only be acquired after much experience and through great self-discipline it only becomes established in a man's heart when he has controlled and brought into subjection his animal passions its external signs are a low-pitched clear voice a distinct firm but quiet enunciation and freedom from excitement vehemence or resentment in peculiarly aggravating circumstances if there is one quality which above all others should distinguish the religious man it is the quality of gentleness for it is the hallmark of spiritual culture the rudely aggressive man is an affront to cultivated minds and unselfish hearts a word gentlemen has not altogether departed from its original meaning it is still applied to one who is modest and self-restrained and is considerate for the feelings and welfare of others a gentle man, one whose good behavior is prompted by thoughtfulness and kindliness is always loved whatever may be his origin quarrelsome people make a display in their bickering and recriminations of their ignorance and lack of culture the man who has perfected himself in gentleness never quarrels he never returns the hard word he leaves it alone or meets it with a gentle word which is far more powerful than wrath gentleness is webbed to wisdom and the wise man has overcome all anger in himself and so understands how to overcome it in others the gentleman is saved from most of the disturbances and term oils with which uncontrolled men afflict themselves while they are wearing themselves out with wasteful and needless strain he is quiet and composed and such quietness and composure are strong to win in the battle of life insight is the gift of sympathy the sympathetic mind is the profoundly perceiving mind we understand by experience and not by argument before we can know a thing or being our life must touch its or his life argument analyzes the outer skin but sympathy reaches to the heart the cynic sees the hat and coat and thinks he sees the man the sympathetic seer sees the man and is not concerned with the hat and coat in all kinds of hatred there is a separation by which each misjudges the other in all kinds of love there is a mystic union by which each knows the other sympathy being the purest form of love sees to the heart of men and things Shakespeare is the greatest poet because he has the largest heart no other figure in all literature has shown such a profound knowledge of the human heart and of nature both animate and inanimate the personal Shakespeare is not to be found in his works he is merged by sympathy into his characters the wise man and the philosopher the mad man and the fool the drunkard and the harlot these he for the time being became he stood where they stood he entered into their particular experiences and knew them better than they knew themselves Shakespeare has no partiality no prejudice his sympathy embraces all from the lowest to the highest prejudice is the great barrier to sympathy and knowledge it is impossible to understand those against whom one harbors a prejudice we only see men and things as they are when we divest our minds of partial judgments we become seers as we become sympathizers sympathy has knowledge for her companion inseparable are the feeling heart and the seeing eye the man of pity is the man of prophecy he whose heart beats in tune with all hearts to him the contents of all hearts are revealed nor are past and future any longer insoluble mysteries to the man of sympathy his moral insight apprehends the perfect round of human life sympathetic insights lifts a man into the consciousness of freedom gladness and power his spirit in hails joy as his lungs inhale air there are no longer any fears of his fellow men of competition hard times enemies and the like these groveling illusions have disappeared and there has opened up before his awakened vision a realm of greatness and grandeur End of Chapter 6 Chapter 7 of the Eight Pillars of Prosperity by James Allen the sleeper-box recording is in the public domain the sixth pillar, sincerity human society is held together by its sincerity a universal falseness would beget a universal mistrust which would bring about a universal separation if not destruction life is made sane wholesome and happy by our deep rooted belief in one another if we did not trust men we could not transact business with them could not even associate with them Shakespeare's time and shows us the wretched condition of a man who through his own folly has lost all faith in the sincerity of human nature he cuts himself off from the company of all men and finally commits suicide Emerson has something to the effect that if the trust system were withdrawn from commerce society would fall to pieces that system being an indication of universal confidence men place in each other business commonly supposed by the short sighted and foolish to be all fraud and deception is based on a great trust a trust that men will meet and fulfill their obligations payment is not asked until the goods are delivered and the fact of the continuance of the system for ages proves that most men do pay their debts and have no wish to avoid such payment back of all its shortcomings human society rests on a strong basis of truth its fundamental note is sincerity its great leaders are all men of superlative sincerity their names and achievements are not allowed to perish a proof that the virtue of sincerity is admired by all the race it is easy for the insincere to imagine that everybody is like themselves and to speak of the rottenness of society as though a rotten thing could endure age after age for is not everything yellow to the jaundice die? people who cannot see anything good in the constitution of human society should overhaul themselves their trouble is near home they call good evil they have dwelt cynically and peevishly on evil till they cannot see good and everything and everybody appear evil societies run from top to bottom I heard a man say recently and he asked me if I did not think so I replied that I should be sorry to think so that while society had many blemishes it was sound at the core and contained within itself the seeds of perfection society indeed is so sound that the man who is playing a part for the accomplishment of entirely selfish ends cannot long prosper and cannot fill any place as an influence he is soon unmasked and disgraced and the fact that such a man can even for a brief period baton on human credulity speaks well for the trustfulness of men if it reveals their lack of wisdom an accomplished actor on the stage is admired but the designing actor on the stage of life brings himself down to ignimony and contempt in striving to appear what he is not he becomes as one having no individuality no character and he is deprived of all influence all power all success a man of profound sincerity is a great moral force and there is no force not even the highest intellectual force that can compare with it men are powerful in influence according to the soundness and perfection of their sincerity morality and sincerity are so closely bound up together that where sincerity is lacking morality as a power is lacking also for insincerity undermines all the other virtues so that they crumble away and become of no account even a little insincerity robs a character of all its nobility and makes it common and contemptible falseness is so despicable a vice that it cannot coexist with character and influence and no man of moral weight can afford to dally with pretty compliments or play the fool with trivial and conventional deceptions let a man resort to deception howsoever light in order to please and he is no longer strong and admirable he becomes a shallow weakling whose mind has no deep well of power from which men can draw and no satisfying richness to stir in them a worshipful regard even they who are of the moment flattered with a painted lie or pleased with a deftly woven deception will not escape those permanent undercurrents of influence which move the heart and shape the judgment to fix the final issues while these designed delusions create but momentary repuls on the surface of the mind I'm very pleased with his attentions as a woman of an acquaintance but I would not marry him why not she was asked he does not ring true was the reply ring true a term full of meaning it has reference to the coin which when tested by its ring emits a sound which reveals the sterling metal throughout without the add mixture of any base metal it comes up to the standard and will pass anywhere and everywhere for its full value so with men their words and actions emit their own peculiar influence there is in them an inaudible sound which all other men inwardly hear and instinctively detect they know the false ring from the true yet know not how they know as the outer ear can make the most delicate distinctions in sound so the inner ear can make equally subtle distinctions between souls none are ultimately deceived by the deceiver it is the blind folly of the insincere that while flattering themselves upon their successful stimulations they are deceiving none but themselves their actions are laid bare before all hearts there is at the heart of man a tribunal whose judgments do not miscarry if the senses faultlessly detect shall not the soul infallibly know this inner infallibility is shown in the collective judgment of the race this judgment is perfect so perfect that in literature art science invention religion in every department of knowledge it divides the good from the bad the worthy from the unworthy the true from the false zealously guarding and preserving the former and allowing the latter to perish the works words and deeds of great men are the heirlooms of the race and the race is not careless of their value a thousand men write a book and one only is a work of original genius yet the race singles out that one elevates and preserves it while it consigns the 999 copyists to oblivion ten thousand men utter a sentence under a similar circumstance and one only is a sentence of divine wisdom yet the race singles out that saying for the guidance of posterity while the other sentences are heard no more it is true that the race lays its profits but even that slaying becomes a test which reveals the true ring and men detect its trueness the slain one has come up to the standard and the deed of his slaying is preserved as furnishing infallible proof of his greatness as the counterfeit coin is detected and cast back into the melting pot while the sterling coin circulates among all men and is valued for its worth so the counterfeit word deed or character is perceived and is left to fall back into the nothingness from which it emerged a thing unreal, powerless, dead spurious things have no value whether they be brick-a-brack or men we are ashamed of imitations that try to pass for the genuine article falseness is cheap the masquerader becomes a byword he is less than a man he is a shadow a spook a mere mask trueness is valuable the sound-hearted man becomes an exemplar he is more than a man he is a reality a force a molding principle by falseness all is lost even individuality dissolves for falseness is non-entity nothingness by trueness everything is gained for trueness is fixed permanent real it is all important that we be real that we harbor no wish to appear other than what we are that we simulate no virtue assume no excellency adopt no disguise the hypocrite thinks he can hoodwink the world and the eternal law of the world there is but one person that he hoodwinks and that is himself and for that the law of the world inflicts its righteous penalty there is no theory that the excessively wicked are annihilated I think to become a pretender is to come as near to annihilation as a man can get for there is a sense in which the man is gone and in his place there is but a mirage of shams the hell of annihilation which so many dread he has descended into and to think that such a man can prosper is to think that shadows can do the work of entities and displace real men if any man thinks he can build up a successful career on pretenses and appearances let him pause before sinking into the abyss of shadows for in insincerity there is no solid ground no substance no reality there is nothing on which anything can stand and no material with which to build but there are loneliness poverty shame confusion fears suspicions weeping's groanings and lamentations for if there is one hell lower darker fowler than all others it is the hell of insincerity for beautiful traits adorn the mind of the sincere man they are one simplicity to attractiveness three penetration for power simplicity is naturalness it is simple being without fake or foreign adornment why are all things in nature so beautiful because they are natural we see them as they are not as they might wish to appear for in sooth they have no wish to appear otherwise there is no hypocrisy in the world of nature outside of human nature the flower which is so beautiful in all eyes would lose its beauty if it could pretend looking upon nature we look upon reality and its beauty and perfection gladden and amaze us we cannot find anywhere a flaw and are conscious of our incapacity to improve upon anything even to the most insignificant everything has its own peculiar perfection and shines in the beauty of unconscious simplicity one of the modern social cries is back to nature it is generally understood to mean a cottage in the country and a piece of land to cultivate it will be of little use to go into the country if we take our shams with us and an evenir which may cling to us can as well be washed off just where we are it is good that they who feel burdened with the conventions of society should fly to the country and court the quiet of nature but it will fail if it be anything but a means to that inward redemption which will restore us to the simple and the true but though humanity has wandered from the natural simplicity of the animal world it is moving towards a higher a divine simplicity men of great genius are such because of their spontaneous simplicity they do not feign they are lesser minds study style and effect they wish to cut a striking figure on the stage of the world and by that unholy wish they are doomed to mediocrity said a man to me recently I would give 20 years of my life to be able to write an immortal hymn with such an ambition a man cannot write a hymn he wants to pose he is thinking of himself of his own glory before man can write an immortal hymn or create any immortal work he must give not 20 years of his life to ambition but his whole life to humanity he must forget that he can do anything great and must sing paint write out of 10,000 bitter experiences 10,000 failures 10,000 conquests 10,000 joys he must know Gethsemane he must work with blood and tears retaining his intellect and moral powers and returning to simplicity a man becomes great he forfeits nothing real only the shams are cast aside revealing the standard gold of character where there is sincerity there will always be simplicity a simplicity of the kind that we see in nature the beautiful simplicity of truth attractiveness is the direct outcome of simplicity this is seen in the attractiveness of all natural objects to which we have referred but in human nature it is manifested as personal influence of recent years certain pseudo mystics have been advertising to sell the secret of personal magnetism for so many dollars by which they purport to show vain people how they can make themselves attractive to others by certain occult means as though attractiveness can be bought or sold and put on and off like powder and paint nor are people who are anxious to be thought attractive likely to become so for their vanity is a barrier to it the very desire to be thought attractive is in itself deception and it leads to the practice of numerous deceptions it infers to that such people are conscious of lacking the genuine attractions and graces of character and are on the lookout for a substitute but there is no substitute for beauty of mind and strength of character attractiveness like genius is lost by being coveted and possessed by those who are too solid and sincere of character to desire it there is nothing in human nature not talent nor intellect nor affection nor beauty of feature that can compare an attractive power to that soundness of mind and wholeness of heart which we call sincerity there is a perennial charm about a sincere man or woman and they draw about themselves the best specimens of human nature there can be no personal charm apart from sincerity infatuation there may be and is but this is a kind of disease and is vastly different from the indissoluble bond by which sincere people are attached infatuation ends in painful disillusion but as there is nothing hidden between sincere souls and they stand upon that solid ground of reality there is no illusion to be dispelled leaders among men attract by power of their sincerity and the measure of their sincerity is the measure of their attractive influence however great may be a man's intellect he can never be a permanent leader and guide of men unless he be sincere for a time he may sail jauntily upon the stream of popularity and believe himself secure but it is only that he may shortly fall the lower in popular odium he cannot long deceive the people with his painted front they will soon look behind and find of what spurious stuff he has made he is like a woman with a painted face she thinks she is admired for her complexion but all know it is paint and despise her for it she has one admirer herself and the hell of lamentation to which all the insincere commit themselves is the hell of self admiration sincere people do not think of themselves of their talent, their genius, their virtue, their beauty and because they are so unconscious of themselves they attract all and win their confidence, affection and esteem penetration belongs to the sincere all shams are unveiled in their presence all stimulators are transparent to the searching eye of the sincere man with one clear glance he sees through all their flimsy pretenses tricksters wither under his strong gaze and want to get away from it he who has rid his heart of all falseness and entertains only that which is true has gained the power to distinguish the false from the true and others he is not deceived who is not self deceived as man looking round on the objects of nature infallibly distinguish them such as a snake, a bird, a horse, a tree, a rose and so on so the sincere man distinguishes between the variety of characters he perceives in a movement a look, a word, an act the nature of the man and acts accordingly he is on his guard without being suspicious he is prepared for the pretender without being mistrustful he acts from positive knowledge and not from negative suspicion men are open to him and he reads their contents his penetrative judgments pierce to the center of actions and enables him to deal with them as they are his direct and unequivocal conduct strengthens in others the good and shames the bad and he is a staff of strength to those who have not yet attained to his soundness of heart and head power goes with penetration an understanding of the nature of actions is accompanied with the power to meet and deal with all actions in the right and best way knowledge is always power but knowledge of the nature of actions is superlative power and he who possesses it becomes a presence to all hearts and modifies their actions for good long after his bodily presence has passed away he is still a molding force in the world and is a spiritual reality working subtly in the minds of men and shaping them towards sublimer ends at first his powers local and limited but the circle of righteousness which he has set moving continues to extend and extended till it embraces the whole world and all men are influenced by it the sincere man stamps his character upon all that he does also upon all people with whom he comes in contact he speaks a word in season and someone is impressed the influence is communicated to another and another and presently some despairing soul ten thousand miles away hears it and is restored such a power is prosperity in itself and its worth is not to be valued in coin money cannot purchase the priceless jewels of character but labor in right doing can and he who makes himself sincere who acquires a robust soundness throughout his entire being will become a man of singular success and rare power such is the strong pillar of sincerity its supporting power is so great that once it is completely erected the temple of prosperity is secure its walls will not crumble its rafters will not decay its roof will not fall in it will stand while the man lives and when he has passed away it will continue to afford a shelter and a home for others through many generations and a chapter seven chapter eight of the eight pillars of prosperity by James Allen the sleeper-box recording is in the public domain the seventh pillar impartiality to get rid of prejudice is a great achievement prejudice piles obstacles in a man's way obstacles to health, success, happiness and prosperity so that he is continually running up against imaginary enemies who when prejudice is removed are seen to be friends life is indeed a sort of obstacle race to the man of prejudice a race wherein the obstacles cannot be negotiated and the goal is not reached whereas to the impartial man life is a day's walk in a pleasant country with refreshment and rest at the end of the day to acquire impartiality a man must remove that innate egotism which prevents him from seeing anything from any point of view other than his own a great task truly but a noble and one that can be well begun now even if it cannot be finished truth can remove mountains and prejudice is a range of mental mountains beyond which the partisan does not see and of which he does not believe there is any beyond these mountains removed however their opens to the view the unending vista of mental variety blended in one glorious picture of light and shade of color and tone gladdening beholding eyes by clinging to stubborn prejudice what joys are missed what friends are sacrificed what happiness is destroyed and what prospects are blighted and yet freedom from prejudice is a rare thing there are few men who are not prejudiced partisans upon the subjects which are of interest to them one rarely meets a man that will dispassionately discuss his subject from both sides considering all the facts and weighing all the evidence so as to arrive at truth on the matter each partisan has his own case to make out he is not searching for truth for he is already convinced that his own conclusion is the truth and that all else is error but he is defending his own case and striving for victory neither does he attempt to prove that he has the truth he does not form a ray of facts and evidence but defends his position with more or less heat and agitation prejudice causes a man to form a conclusion sometimes without any basis of fact or knowledge and then to refuse to consider anything which does not support that conclusion and in this way prejudice is a complete barrier to the attainment of knowledge it binds a man down to darkness and ignorance and prevents the development of his mind in the highest and noblest directions more than this it also shuts him out from communion with the best minds and confines him to the dark and solitary cell of his own egotism prejudice is a shutting up of the mind against the entrance of new light against the perception of more beauty against the hearing of diviner music the partisan clings to his little fleeting flimsy opinion and thinks it the greatest thing in the world he is so in love with his own conclusion which is only a form of self-love that he thinks all men ought to agree with him and he regards men as more or less stupid who do not see as he sees while he praises the good judgment of those who are one with him in his view such a man cannot have knowledge cannot have truth he is confined to the sphere of opinion to his own self-created illusions which is outside the realm of reality he moves in a kind of self-infatuation which prevents him from seeing the commonest facts of life while his own theories usually more or less groundless assume in his mind overpowering proportions he fondly imagines that there is that one side to everything and that side is his own there are at least two sides to everything and he it is who finds the truth in a matter who carefully examines both sides with all freedom from excitement and without any desire for the predominance of one side over another in its divisions and controversies the world at large is like two lawyers defending a case the counsel for the prosecution presents all the facts which prove his side while the counsel for the defense presents all the facts which support his contention and each belittles or ignores or tries to reason away the facts of the other the judge in the case however is like the impartial thinker among men having to listen to all the evidence on both sides he compares and sifts it so as to form an impartial summing up in the cause of justice not that this universal partiality is a bad thing for as in all other extremes nature here reduces the oppositions of conflicting parties to a perfect balance moreover it is a factor in evolution it stimulates men to think who have not yet developed the power to rouse up vigorous thought at will and it is a phase through which all men have to pass but it is only a byway and a tangled confused and painful one towards the great highway of truth it is the arc of which impartiality is the perfect round the partisan sees a portion of the truth and thinks it the whole but the impartial thinker sees the whole truth which includes all sides it is necessary that we first see truth in sections as it were until having gathered up all the parts we may piece them together and form the perfect circle and the forming of such a circle is the attainment of impartiality the impartial man examines ways and considers with freedom from prejudice and from likes and dislikes his one wish is to discover the truth he abolishes preconceived opinions and lets facts and evidence speak for themselves he is no case to make out for himself for he knows that truth is unalterable that his opinions can make no difference to it and that it can be investigated and discovered he thereby escapes a vast amount of friction and nervous wear and tear to which the feverish partisan is subject and in addition he looks directly upon the face of reality and so becomes tranquil and peaceful so rare is freedom from prejudice that wherever the impartial thinker may be he is sure sooner later to occupy a very high position in the estimation of the world and in the guidance of its destiny not necessarily an office in worldly affairs for that is improbable but an exalted position in the sphere of influence there may be such a one now and he may be a carpenter, a weaver, a clerk he may be in poverty or in the home of a millionaire he may be short or tall or of any complexion but whatever and wherever he may be he has though unknown already begun to move the world and will one day be universally recognized as a new force and creative center in evolution there was one such some 1900 years ago he was only a poor unlettered carpenter he was regarded as a madman by his own relatives and he came to an ignominious end in the eyes of his countrymen but he sowed the seeds of an influence which has altered the whole world there is another such in India some 25 centuries ago he was accomplished, highly educated and was the son of a capitalist and landed proprietor, a petty king he became a penniless homeless mendicant and today one third of the human race worship at his shrine and are restrained and elevated by his influence beware when the great god lets loose thinker on this planet says Emerson and a man is not a thinker who is bound up by prejudice he is merely the strenuous upholder of an opinion every idea must pass through the medium of his particular prejudice and receive its color so that dispassionate thinking and impartial judgment are rendered impossible such a man sees everything only in its relation or imagined relation to his opinion whereas the thinker sees things as they are the man who has so purified his mind of prejudice and of all the imperfections of egotism as to be able to look directly upon reality has reached the acme of power he holds in his hands as it were the vastest influence and he will wield this power whether he knows it or not it will be inseparable from his life and will go from him as perfume from the flower it will be in his words his deeds in his bodily postures and the motions of his mind even in his silence and the stillness of his frame wherever he goes even though he should fly to the desert he will not escape this lofty destiny where a great thinker is the center of the world by him all men are held in their orbits and all thought gravitates towards him the true thinker lives above and beyond the seething whirlpool of passion in which mankind is engulfed he is not swayed by personal considerations for he has grasped the import of impersonal principles and being thus a non-combatant in the clashing warfare of egotistic desires he can from the vantage ground of an impartial but not indifferent watcher see both sides equally and grasp the cause and meaning of the fray not only the great teachers but the greatest figures in literature are those who are free from prejudice who like true mirrors reflect things impartially such are Whitman, Shakespeare, Balzac, Emerson, Homer these minds are not local but universal their attitude is cosmic and not personal they contain within themselves all things and beings all worlds and laws they are the gods who guide the race and who will bring it at last out of its fever of passion into their own serene land the true thinker is the greatest of men and his destiny is the most exalted the altogether impartial mind has reached the divine and it basks in the full daylight of reality the four great elements of impartiality are one, justice, two, patience, three, calmness, or wisdom justice is the giving and receiving of equal values what is called striking a hard bargain is a kind of theft it means that the purchaser gives value for only a portion of his purchase the remainder being appropriated as clear gain the seller also encourages it by closing the bargain the just man does not try to gain an advantage he considers the true values of things and molds his transactions in accordance therewith he does not let what will pay come before what is right for he knows that the right pays best in the end he does not seek his own benefit to the disadvantage of another for he knows that a just action benefits equally and fully both parties to a transaction if one man's loss is another man's gain it is only that the balance may be adjusted later on unjust gains cannot lead to prosperity but are sure to bring failure a just man could no more take from another an unjust gain by what is called a smart transaction then he could take it by picking his pocket he would regard the one as dishonest as the other a bargaining spirit in business is not the true spirit of commerce it is the selfish and thieving spirit which wants to get something for nothing the upright man purges his business of all bargaining and builds it on the more dignified basis of justice he supplies a good article at its right price and does not alter he does not soil his hands with any business which is tainted with fraud his goods are genuine and they are properly priced customers who try to beat down a tradesman in their purchases are degrading themselves their practice assumes one or both of two things namely that either the tradesman is dishonest and is overcharging a low suspicious attitude of mind or that they are eager to cajole him out of his profit an equally based attitude and so benefit by his loss the practice of beating down is altogether a dishonest one and the people who pursue it most assiduously are those who complain most of being imposed on and this is not surprising seeing that they themselves are all the time trying to impose upon others on the other hand the tradesman who is anxious to get all he can out of his customers irrespective of justice and the right values of things is a kind of robber and is slowly poisoning his success for his deeds will assuredly come home to him in the form of financial ruin said a man of fifty to me the other day I have just discovered that all my life I have been paying fifty percent more for everything than I ought to a just man cannot feel that he has ever paid too much for anything for he does not close with any transaction which he considers unjust but if a man is eager to get everything at half price then he will be always meanly and miserably mourning that he is paying double for everything the just man is glad to pay full value for everything whether in giving or receiving and his mind is untroubled and his days are full of peace let a man above all avoid meanness and strive to be ever more and more perfectly just for if not just he can be neither honest nor generous nor manly but is a kind of disguised thief trying to get all he can and give back as little as possible let him eschew all bargaining and teach bargainers a better way of conducting his business with that exalted dignity which commands a large meritorious success patience is the brightest jewel in character of the impartial man not a particular patience with a particular thing like a girl with her needlework or a boy building his toy engine but an unswerving considerateness a sweetness of disposition at all times and under the most trying circumstances an unchangeable gentle strength which no trial can mar and no persecution can break a rare possession it is true and one not to be expected for a long time yet from the bulk of mankind but a virtue that can be reached by degrees and even a partial patience will work wonders in a man's life and affairs as a confirmed impatience will work devastation the irascible man is courting speedy disaster for who will care to deal with a man who is continually going off like gunpowder when some small spark of complaint or criticism falls upon him even his friends will one day desert him for who would court the company of a man who rudely assaults him with an impatient and fiery tongue over every little difference or misunderstanding a man must begin wisely to control himself and to learn the beautiful lessons of patience if he is to be highly prosperous if he is to be a man of use and power he must learn to think of others to act for their good and not alone for himself to be considerate for bearing and long suffering he must study how to have a heart at peace with men who differ from him on those things which he regard as most vital he must avoid quarreling as he would avoid drinking a deadly poison discords from without will be continually overtaking him but he must fortify himself against them he must study how to bring harmonies out of them by the exercise of patience it is common it pains the heart and distorts the mind patience is rare it enriches the heart and beautifies the mind every cat can spit and fume it requires no effort but only a looseness of behavior it takes a man to keep his moorings through all events and to be painstaking and patient with the shortcomings of humanity but patience wins a soft water wears away the hardest rock so patience overcomes all opposition it gains the heart of men it conquers and controls calmness accompanies patience it is a great and glorious quality it is the peaceful haven of emancipated souls after their long wanderings on the tempest-riven ocean of passion it marks the man who has suffered much endured much experienced much and has finally conquered a man cannot be impartial who is not calm excitement, prejudice and partiality spring from disturbed passions when a personal feeling is thwarted it rises and seeds like a stream of water that is damned the calm man avoids this disturbance by directing his feelings from the personal to the impersonal channel he thinks and feels for others as well as for himself he sets the same value on other men's opinions as on his own if he regards his own work as important he sees also that the work of other men is equally important he does not contend for the merit of his own against the demerit of that of others he is not overthrown like Humpty Dumpty with a sense of self-importance he has put aside egotism for truth and he perceives the right relations of things he has conquered irritability and has come to see that there is nothing in itself that could cause irritation as well be irritable with a pansy because it is not a rose as with a man because he does not see as you see minds differ and the calm man recognizes the differences facts in human nature the calm impartial man is not only the happiest man he also has all his power at his command he is sure, deliberate executive and swiftly and easily accomplishes in silence with the irritable man slowly and laboriously toils through with much noise his mind is purified, poised, concentrated and is ready at any moment to be directed upon a given work with an airing power in the calm mind all passions are tranquilized all conflicts are harmonized all contradictions are reconciled and there is radiant gladness and perpetual peace as Emerson puts it calmness is joy fixed and habitual one should not confound indifference with calmness for it is at the opposite extreme indifference is lifelessness while calmness is glowing life and full-orbed power the calm man has partially or entirely conquered self and having successfully battled with the selfishness within he knows how to meet and overcome it successfully in others in any mortal contest the calm man is always the victor so long as he remains calm defeat is impossible self-control is better than riches and calmness is a perpetual benediction wisdom abides with the impartial man her counsel guides him her wings shield him she leads him along pleasant ways to happy destinations wisdom is many-sided the wise man adapts himself to others he acts for their good yet never violates the moral virtues or principles of right conduct the foolish man cannot adapt himself to others he acts for himself only and continually violates the moral virtues and the principles of right conduct there is a degree of wisdom in every act of impartiality and once a man has touched and experienced the impartial zone he can recover it again and again until he finally establishes himself in it every thought, word, or act of wisdom tells on the world at large for it is fraught with greatness wisdom is a well of knowledge and a spring of power it is profound and comprehensive and is so exact and all-inclusive as to embrace the smallest details in its spacious greatness it does not overlook the small the wise mind is like the world it contains all things in their proper place and order and is not burdened thereby like the world also it is free and unconscious of any restrictions yet it is never loose never airing, never sinful, and repentant wisdom is the steady grown-up being of whom folly was the crying infant it has outgrown the weakness independence, the errors the punishments of infantile ignorance and is erect, poised, strong, and serene the understanding mind needs no external support it stands of itself on the firm ground of knowledge not book knowledge but ripened experience it has passed through all minds and therefore knows them it has travelled with all hearts and knows their journeyings in joy and sorrow when wisdom touches a man lifted up and transfigured he becomes a new being with new aims and powers and he inhabits a new universe in which to accomplish a new and glorious destiny such is the pillar of impartiality which adds its massive strength and incomparable grace to support and beautify the temple of prosperity End of Chapter 8