 Chapter 9 of The Eight Pillars of Prosperity by James Allen The eighth pillar, self-reliance Every young man ought to read Emerson's essay on self-reliance. It is the manliest, most virile essay that was ever penned. It is calculated to cure alike those two mental maladies common to youth, namely self-depreciation and self-conceit. It is almost as sure to reveal to the prig the smallness and emptiness of his vanity as it is to show the bashful man the weakness and ineffectuality of his defiance. It is a new revelation of manly dignity, as much a revelation as any that was vouchsafed to ancient seer and prophet, and perhaps a more practical, eminently suited to this mechanic age. Coming as it does from a modern prophet of a new type, and cradled in a new race, and its chief merit is its powerfully tonic quality, let not self-reliance become founded with self-conceit, for as high and excellent as is the one, just so low and worthless is the other. There cannot be anything mean in self-reliance, while in self-conceit there cannot be anything great. The man that never says no when questioned on subjects of which he is entirely ignorant, to avoid, as he imagines, being thought ignorant, but confidently puts forward guesses and assumptions as knowledge will be known for his ignorance and ill-esteemed for his added conceit. An honest confession of ignorance will command respect, where a conceited assumption of knowledge will elicit contempt. The timid, apologetic man who seems almost afraid to live, who fears that he will do something not in the approved way and will subject himself to ridicule, is not a full man. He must imitate others and have no independent action. He needs that self-reliance which will compel him to fall back on his own initiative and so become a new example instead of the slavish follower of an old one. As ridicule, he who is hurt by it is no man. The shafts of mockery and sarcasm cannot pierce the strong armor of the self-reliant man. They cannot reach the invincible citadel of his honest heart to sting or wound it. The sharp arrows of irony may rain upon him, but he laughs as they are deflected by the strong breastplate of his confidence and fall harmless about him. Trust thyself, says Emerson, every heart vibrates to that iron sting. Throughout the ages men have so far leaned and do still lean upon external make-shifts instead of standing upon their own native simplicity and original dignity. The few who have had the courage, so to stand, have been singled out and elevated as heroes and he is indeed the true hero who has the hardy-hood to let his nature speak for itself who has that strong meddle which enables him to stand upon his own intrinsic worth. It is true that the candidate for such heroism must endure the test of strength. He must not be shamed from his ground by the bugbears of an imitative conventionalism. He must not fear for his reputation or position or for his standing in the church or his prestige in local society. He must learn to act and live as independently of these considerations as he does of the current fashions in the antipodes, yet when he has endured this test and slander and odium have failed to move or afflict him, he has become a man indeed, one that society will have to reckon with and finally accept on his own terms. Sooner or later all men turn for guidance to the self-reliant man, and while the best minds do not make a prop of him, they respect and value his work and worth and recognize his place among the gods that have gone before. It must not be thought an indication of self-reliance to scorn to learn. Such an attitude is born of a stubborn superciliousness which has the elements of weakness and is prophetic of a fall rather than the elements of strength and the promise of high achievement which are characteristic of self-reliance. Pride and vanity must not be associated with self-reliance, those degrade while this ennobles. Pride rests upon incidentals and appurtenances on money, clothing, property, prestige, position, and these lost, all is lost. Self-reliance rests upon essentials and principles, on worth, probidity, purity, character, truth, and whatever may be lost is of little account, for these are never lost. Pride tries to hide its ignorance by ostentation and assumption, and is unwilling to be thought a learner in any direction. It stands during its little fleeting day on ignorance and appearance. When the higher it is lifted up today, the lower will it be cast down tomorrow. Self-reliance has nothing to hide and is willing to learn, and while there can be no humility where pride is, self-reliance and humility are compatible, nay more, they are complementary and the sublimest form of self-reliance is only found associated with the profoundest humility. Extremes meet, says Emerson, and there is no better example than the haughtiness of humility. No aristocrats, no prince, born to the purple, can begin to compare with the self-respect of the saint. Why, is he so lowly, but that he knows that he can well afford it, resting on the largeness of God in him? It was Buddha who, in this particular said, those who either now or after I am dead, shall be a lamp unto themselves, relying upon themselves only and not relying upon any external help, but holding fast to the truth as their lamp, and seeking their salvation in the truth alone, shall not look for assistance to anyone besides themselves. It is they among my disciples who shall reach the very topmost height, but they must be willing to learn. In this saying, the repeated insistence on the necessity for relying upon oneself alone, coupled with the final exhortation to be eager to learn, is the wisest utterance on self-reliance that I know. In it the great teacher comprehends that perfect balance between self-trust and humility, which the man of truth must acquire. Self-trust is the essence of heroism. All great men are self-reliant, and we should use them as teachers and exemplars, and not as props and perambulators. A great man comes who leans upon no one, but stands alone in the solitary dignity of truth, and straight away the world begins to lean upon him, begins to make him an excuse for spiritual indolence and a destructive self-abasement. Better than cradling our vices in the strength of the great, would it be newly to light our virtues at their luminous lamp? If we rely upon the light of another, darkness will overtake us. But if we rely upon our own light, we have but to keep it burning. We may both draw light from another and communicate it, but to think it's sufficient while our own lamp is rusting neglect is shortly to find ourselves abandoned in darkness. Our own inner light is the light which never fails us. What is the inner light of the Quakers, but another name for self-reliance? We should stand upon what we are, not upon what another is. But I am so small and poor, you say, will stand upon that smallness, and presently it will become great. A babe must need suckle and cling, but not so a man. Henceforth he goes upon his own limbs. Men pray to God to put into their hands that which they are framed to reach out for, to put into their mouths the food for which they should strenuously labour, but men will outgrow this spiritual infancy. The time will come when men will no more pay a priest to pray for them and preach to them. Man's chief trouble is a mistrust of himself, so that the self-trusting man becomes a rare and singular spectacle. If man look upon himself as a worm, what can come out of him but an ineffectual wriggling? Truly. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, but not he that degradeth himself. A man should see himself as he is, and if there is any unworthiness in him, he should get rid of it, and retain and rely upon that which is of worth. A man is only debased when he debases himself. He is exalted when he lives an exalted life. Why should a man with ceaseless iterations draw attention to his fallen nature? There is a false humility which takes a sort of pride and vice. If one has fallen, it is that he may rise and be the wiser for it. If a man falls into a ditch, he does not lie there and call upon every passer by to mark his fallen state. He gets up and goes on his way with greater care. So if one has fallen into the ditch of vice, let him rise and be cleansed and go on his way rejoicing. There is not a severe in life wherein a man's influence and prosperity will not be considerably increased by even a measure of self-reliance. And to the teacher, whether secular or religious, to organizers, managers, overseers, and all in positions of control and command, it is an indispensable quality. The four grand qualities of self-reliance are one, decision, two, steadfastness, three dignity or independence. Decision makes a man strong. The waiverer is the weakling. A man who is to play a speaking part, houseover small, in the drama of life must be decisive and know what he is about. Whatever he doubts, he must not doubt his power to act. He must know his part in life and put all his energy into it. He must have some solid ground of knowledge from which to work and stand securely on that. It may only be the price and quality of stock, but he must know his work thoroughly and know that he knows it. He must be ready at any time to answer for himself when his duty is impugned. He should be so well grounded upon his particular practice as not to be afflicted with hesitation on any point or in any emergency. It is a truth saying that the man that hesitates is lost. No one believes in him who does not believe in himself, who doubts, halts and waivers and cannot extricate himself from the tangled threads of two courses. Who would deal with a tradesman who did not know the price of his own goods or was not sure where to find them? A man must know his business. If he does not know his own, who shall instruct him? He must be able to give a good report of the truth that is in him. Must have that decisive touch which skill and knowledge can only impart. Certainty is a great element in self-reliance. To have weight, a man must have some truth to impart, and all skill is a communication of truth. He must speak with authority, and not as the scribes. He must master something, and know that he has mastered it, so as to deal with it lucidly and understandingly in the way of a master, and not to remain always an apprentice. In decision is a disintegrating factor. A minute's faltering may turn back the current of success. Men who are afraid to decide quickly for fear of making a mistake nearly always make a mistake when they do act. The quickest in thought and action are less liable to blunder, and it is better to act with decision and make a mistake than to act with indecision and make a mistake. For in the former case there is but error, but in the latter weakness is added to the error. A man should be decided always both where he knows and where he does not know. He should be as ready to say no as yes, as quick to acknowledge his ignorance as to impart his knowledge. If he stands upon fact and acts from the simple truth, he will find no room for halting between two opinions. Make up your mind quickly and act decisively, better still have a mind that is already made up, and then decision will be instinctive and spontaneous. Said fastness arises in the mind that is quick to decide. It is indeed a final decision upon the best course of conduct and the best path in life. It is the vow of that soul to stand firmly by its principles whatever be tied. It is neither necessary nor unnecessary that there be any written or spoken vow for unswerving loyalty to a fixed principle is the spirit of all vows. The man without fixed principles will not accomplish much. Seasy is a quagmire under thorny waste in which a man is continually sticking in the shifting mud of his own moral looseness and is pricked and scratched with the thorns of his self-created disappointments. One must have some solid ground on which to stand among one's fellows. We cannot stand on the bog of concession. Shiftiness is a vice of weakness, and the vices of weakness do more to undermine character and influence than the vices of strength. The man that is vicious through excess of animal strength takes a shorter cut to truth. When his mind is made up, then he who is vicious through lack of reality and whose chief vice consists not in having a mind of his own upon anything. When one understands that power is adaptable to both good and bad ends, it will not surprise him that the drunkards and harlots should reach the kingdom of heaven before the diplomatic religionists. They are at least thorough in the course which they have adopted, vile though it be, and thoroughness is strength. It only needs that strength to be turned from bad to good and low. The loathed sinner has become the lofty saint. A man should have a firm fixed determined mind. He should decide upon those principles which are best to stand by in all issues and which will most safely guide him through the maze of conflicting opinions and inspire him with unflinching courage in the battle of life. Having adopted his principles, they should be more to him than gain or happiness, more even than life itself, and if he never deserts them, he will find that they will never desert him. They will defend him from all enemies, deliver him safely from all dangers, light up his pathway through all darkness and difficulties. They will be to him a light in darkness, arresting plays from sorrow and a refuge from the conflicts of the world. Dignity cloths as with a majestic garment, thus that fast mind. He who is as unyielding as a bar of steel when he is expected to compromise with evil and as supple as a willow wand in adapting himself to that which is good carries about with him a dignity that calms and uplifts others by its presence. The unsteady mind, the mind that is not anchored to any fixed principles, that is stubborn where its own desires are threatened and yielding where its own moral welfare is at stake has no gravity, no balance, no calm composure. A man of dignity cannot be downtrodden and enslaved because he has ceased to tread upon and enslave himself. He at once disarms, with a look, a word, a wise and suggestive silence, any attempt to demean him. His mere presence is a wholesome reproof to the flippant and the unseemly, while it is a rock of strength to the lover of the good. But the chief reason why the dignified man commands respect is not only that he is supremely self-respecting, but that he graciously treats all others with a due esteem. Pride loves itself and treats those beneath it with supercilious contempt, for love of self and contempt for others are always found together in equal degrees. So that the greater the self-love, the greater the arrogance. True dignity arises not from self-love but from self-sacrifice, that is, from unbiased adherents to a fixed central principle. The dignity of the judge arises from the fact that in the performance of his duty he sets aside all personal considerations and stands solely upon the law. His little personality, impermanent and fleeting, becomes nothing, while the law, enduring and majestic, becomes all. Should a judge in deciding a case forget the law and fall into personal feeling and prejudice, his dignity will be gone. So with a man of stately purity of character, he stands upon the divine law and not upon personal feeling. For immediately a man gives way to passion, he has sacrificed dignity and takes his place as one of the multitude of unwise and uncontrolled. Every man will have composure and dignity in the measure that he acts from a fixed principle. It only needs that the principle be right, and therefore unassailable. So long as a man abides by such a principle and does not waver or descend into the personal element, attacking passions, prejudices and interests, how so ever powerful will be weak and ineffectual before the unconquerable strength of an uncorruptible principle and will at last yield their combined and unseemly confusion to his single and majestic right. Independence is the birthright of the strong and well-controlled man. All men love and strive for liberty, all men aspire to some sort of freedom. A man should labor for himself or for the community. Unless he's a cripple, a chronic invalid or is mentally irresponsible, he should be ashamed to depend upon others for all he has, giving nothing in return. If one imagines that such a condition is freedom, let him know that it is one of the lowest forms of slavery. The time will come when to be a drone in the human hive, even as matters are now. A respectable drone and not a poor tramp will be a public disgrace and will be no longer respectable. Independence, freedom, glorious liberty come through labor and not from idleness, and the self-reliant man is too strong, too honorable to upright to depend upon others. Like a sucking babe for his support, he earns with hand or brain the right to live as becomes a man and a citizen. And this he does, whether born rich or poor, for riches are no excuse for idleness. Rather, they are an opportunity to labor with the rare facilities which they afford for the good of the community. Only he who is self-supporting is free, self-reliant, independent. Thus is the nature of the eight pillars explained on what foundation they rest, the manner of their building, their ingredients, the fourfold nature of the material of which each is composed, what positions they occupy, and how they support the temple. All is made clear so that he who knew not how to build may now build, and he who knew but imperfectly may know more perfectly, and he who knew perfectly may rejoice in this systematization and simplification of the moral order and prosperity. Let us now consider the temple itself, that we may know the might of its pillars, the strength of its walls, the endurance of its roof, and the architectural beauty and perfection of the whole. End of Chapter 9. Chapter 10 of the Eight Pillars of Prosperity by James Allen. The Sleeper-Vox recording is in the public domain. The Temple of Prosperity. The reader who has followed the course of this book with a view to obtaining information on the details of money-making, business transactions, profit and loss in various undertakings, prices, markets, agreements, contracts, and other matters connected with the achievement of prosperity will have noted an entire absence of any instruction on these matters of detail. The reason for this is fourfold, namely, first, details cannot stand alone, and are powerless to build up anything unless intelligently related to principles. Second details are infinite and are ceaselessly changing, while principles are few and are eternal and unchangeable. Third principles are the coherent factors in all details regulating and harmonizing them so that to have right principles is to be right in all the subsidiary details. Fourth. The teacher of truth in any direction must adhere rigidly to principles, and must not allow himself to be drawn away from them into the ever-changing maze of private particulars and personal details, because such particulars and details have only a local right and are only necessary for certain individuals, while principles are universally right and are necessary for all men. Anybody who grasps the principles of this book so as to be able intelligently to practice them will be able to reach the heart of this fourfold reason. The details of a man's affairs are important, but they are his details or the details of his particular branch of industry, and all outside that branch are not concerned with them, but moral principles are the same for all men. They are applicable to all conditions and govern all particulars. The man who works from fixed principles does not need to harass himself over the complications of numerous details. He will grasp, as it were, the entire details in one single thought, and will see them through and through, eliminated by the light of the principle to which they stand related, and this without friction, and with freedom from anxiety and strain. While principles are grasped, details are regarded and dealt with as primary matters, and so viewed they lead to innumerable complications and confused issues. In the light of principles they are seen to be secondary facts, and so seen all difficulties connected with them are at once overcome and annulled by a reference to principles. He who is involved in numerous details without the regulating and synthesizing element of principles is like one lost in a forest, with no direct path along which to walk amid a mass of objects. He is swallowed up by the details, so the man of principles contains all details within himself. He stands outside them, as it were, and grasps them in their entirety, while the other man can only see the few that are nearest to him at the time. All things are contained in principles. They are the laws of things, and all things observe their own law. It is an error to view things apart from their nature. Details are the letter of which principles are the spirit. It is true in art, science, literature, commerce, as in religion that the letter killeth, the spirit giveth life. The body of a man with its wonderful combinations of parts is important, but only in its relation to the spirit. The spirit being withdrawn the body is useless, and is put away. The body of business, with all its complicated details, is important, but only in its relation to the verifying principles by which it is controlled. These withdrawn the business will perish. To have the body of prosperity, its material presentation, we must first have the spirit of prosperity, and the spirit of prosperity is the quick spirit of moral virtue. Moral blindness prevails, men see money, property, pleasure, leisure, etc., and mistaking them for prosperity strive to get them for their own enjoyment, but when obtained they find no enjoyment in them. Prosperity is at first a spirit, an attitude of mind, a moral power, a life, which manifests outwardly in the form of plenty, happiness, joy. This is a man cannot become a genius by writing poems, essays, plays, but must develop and acquire the soul of genius when the writing will follow as effect to cause. So one cannot become prosperous by hoarding up money and by gaining property and possessions, but must develop and acquire the soul of virtue when the material accessories will follow as effect to cause. For the spirit of virtue is the spirit of joy, and it contains within itself all abundance, all satisfaction, all fullness of life. There is no joy in money, there is no joy in property, there is no joy in material accumulations or in any material thing of itself. These things are dead and lifeless. The spirit of joy must be in the man, or it is nowhere. He must have within him the capacity for happiness. He must have the wisdom to know how to use these things and not merely hoard them. He must possess them and not be possessed by them. They must be dependent upon him and not he upon them. They must follow him and not he forever be running after them, and they will inevitably follow him if he have the moral elements within to which they are related. Nothing is absent from the kingdom of heaven. It contains all good, true, and necessary things, and the kingdom of God is within you. I know rich people who are supremely happy because they are generous, magnanimous, pure, and joyful, but I know also rich people who are very miserable, and these are they who looked to money and possessions for their happiness, and have not developed the spirit of good and of joy within themselves. How can it be said of a wretched man that he is prosperous even if his income be ten thousand pounds a year? There must be fitness and harmony and satisfaction in a true prosperity. When a rich man is happy, it is that he brought the spirit of happiness to his riches and not that the riches brought happiness to him. He is a full man with full material advantages and responsibilities, while the miserable rich man is an empty man looking to riches for that fullness of life which can only be evolved from within. Thus prosperity resolves itself into a moral capacity and in the wisdom to use rightfully and enjoy lawfully the material things which are inseparable from our earthly life. If one would be free without, let him first be free within. For if he be bound in spirit and weakness, selfishness or vice, how can the possession of money liberate him? Will it not rather become in his hands a ready instrument by which further to enslave himself? The visible effects of prosperity then must not be considered alone, but in their relation to the mental and moral cause. There is a hidden foundation to every building. The fact that it continues to stand is proof of that. There is a hidden foundation to every form of established success. Its performance proves that it is so. Prosperity stands on the foundation of character and there is not in all the wide universe any other foundation. True wealth is wheel, welfare, well-being, soundness, wholeness, and happiness. The wretched rich are not truly wealthy. They are merely encumbered with money, luxury, and leisure as instruments of self-torture. By their possessions they are self-cursed. The moral man is ever blessed, ever happy, and his life viewed as a whole is always a success. To this there is no exception. For whatever failures he may have in detail, the finished work of his life will be sound, whole, complete, and through all he will have a quiet conscience, an honorable name, and all manifold blessings which are inseparable from richness of character, and without this moral richness, financial riches will not avail or satisfy. Let us briefly recapitulate and again view the eight pillars in their strength and splendor. One, energy rousing oneself up to strenuous and unremitting exertion in the accomplishment of one's task. Two, economy, concentration of power, the conservation of both capital and character, the latter being mental capital, and therefore of the utmost importance. Three, integrity, unswerving honesty, keeping in violet all promises, agreements, and contracts apart from all considerations of loss or gain. Four, system, making all details subservient to order, and thereby relieving the memory and the mind of superfluous work and strained by reducing many to one. Five, sympathy, magnanimity, generosity, gentleness, and tenderness, being open-handed, free, and kind. Six, sincerity, being sound and whole, robust and true, and therefore not being one person in public and another in private, and not assuming good actions openly while doing bad actions in secret. Seven, impartiality, justice not striving for self, but weighing both sides and acting in accordance with equity. Eight, self-reliance, looking to oneself only for strength and support, by standing on principles which are fixed and invincible and not relying upon outward things which at any moment may be snatched away. How can any life be other than successful, which is built on these eight pillars? Their strength is such that no physical or intellectual strength can compare with it, and to have built all the eight perfectly would render a man invincible. It will be found, however, that men are often strong in one or several of these qualities, and weak in others, and it is this weak element that invites the ignorant to attribute for instance a man's failure in business to his honesty. It is impossible for honesty to produce failure. The cause of failure must be looked for in some other direction, in the lack and not the possession of some good and necessary quality. Moreover, such attribution of failure to honesty is a slur on the integrity of commerce and a false indictment of those men numerous enough who are honorably engaged in trade. A man may be strong in energy, economy, and system, but comparatively weak in the other five. Such a man will just fail of complete success by lacking one of the four corner pillars, namely integrity. His tempo will give way at that weak corner. For the first four pillars must be well built before the temple of prosperity can stand secure. They are the first qualities to be acquired in a man's moral evolution, and without them the second four cannot be possessed. Again, if a man be strong in the first three and lack the fourth, the absence of order will invite confusion and disaster into his affairs, and so on, with any partial combination of these qualities, especially of the first four. For the second four are of so lofty a character that had present men can but possess them with rare exceptions in a more or less imperfect form. The man of the world then who wishes to secure an abiding success in any branch of commerce or in one of the many lines of industry in which men are commonly engaged must build into his character by practice the first four moral pillars. By these fixed principles, he must regulate his thoughts, his conduct and his affairs, consulting them in every difficulty, making every detail serve them, and above all, never deserting them under any circumstance to gain some personal advantage or to save some personal trouble. For so to desert them is to make oneself vulnerable to the disintegrating elements of evil and to become assailable to accusations from others. He who so abides by these four principles will achieve a full measure of success in his own particular work, whatever it may be, his temple of prosperity will be well built and well supported and it will stand secure. The perfect practice of these four principles is within the scope of all men who are willing to study them with the object in view. For they are so simple and plain that a child could grasp their meaning and their perfection in conduct does not call for an unusual degree of self-sacrifice, though it demands some self-denial and personal discipline without, which there can be no success in this world of action. The second four pillars, however, are principles of a more profound nature, are more difficult to understand in practice and call for the highest degree of self-sacrifice and self-affacement. Few at present can reach that detachment from the personal element which their perfect practice demands, but the few who accomplish this in any marked degree will vastly enlarge their powers and enrich their life and will adorn their temple of prosperity with a singular and attractive beauty which will gladden and elevate all beholders long after they have passed away. But those who are beginning to build their temple of prosperity in accordance with the teaching of this book must bear in mind that a building requires time to erect and that it must be patiently raised up brick upon brick and stone upon stone, and the pillars must be firmly fixed and cemented and labor and care will be needed to make the whole complete. And the building of this inner mental temple is nonetheless real and substantial because invisible and noiseless. For in the raising up of this temple, as of Solomon's, which was seven years in building, it can be said there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in the building. Even so, oh reader, construct thy character, raise up the house of thy life, build up thy temple of prosperity, be not as the foolish who rise and fall upon the uncertain flux of selfish desires, but be at peace in thy labor, crown thy career with completeness, and so be numbered among the wise who without uncertainty build upon a fixed and secure foundation, even upon the principles of truth which endure forever. End of chapter five, end of The Eight Pillars of Prosperity by James Allen.