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Foundation to Happiness and Success - James Allen · Classic Educational Library

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  Speaker 1: Foundation Stones to Happiness and Success by James Allen Forward.
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  Speaker 1: How does a man begin the building of a house?
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  Speaker 1: He first secures a plan of the proposed edifice, and
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  Speaker 1: then proceeds to build according to the plan, scrupulously following
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  Speaker 1: it in every detail, beginning with the foundation. Should he
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  Speaker 1: neglect the beginning, the beginning on a mathematical plan, his
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  Speaker 1: labor would be wasted, and his building, should it reach
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  Speaker 1: completion without tumbling to pieces, would be insecure and worthless.
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  Speaker 1: The same law holds good in any important work. The
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  Speaker 1: right beginning and first essential is a definite mental plan
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  Speaker 1: on which to build. Nature will have no slipshod work,
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  Speaker 1: no slovenliness, and she annihilates confusion, or rather confusion is
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  Speaker 1: in itself annihilated. Order, definiteness, purpose eternally prevail. And he who,
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  Speaker 1: in his operations ignores these mathematical elements at once deprives
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  Speaker 1: himself of sustainability, completeness, happiness and success. End of Forward
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  Speaker 1: Right Principles. It is wise to know what comes first
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  Speaker 1: and what to do first. To begin anything in the
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  Speaker 1: middle or at the end is to make a muddle
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  Speaker 1: of it. The athlete who began by breaking the tape
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  Speaker 1: would not receive the prize. He must begin by facing
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  Speaker 1: the starter and towing the mark, and even then a
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  Speaker 1: good start is important if he is to win. The
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  Speaker 1: pupil does not begin with algebra and literature, but with
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  Speaker 1: counting in abc. So in life, the business men who
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  Speaker 1: begin at the bottom achieve the more enduring success, and
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  Speaker 1: the religious men who reach the highest heights of spiritual
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  Speaker 1: knowledge and wisdom. Are they who have stooped to serve
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  Speaker 1: a patient apprenticeship to the humbler tasks, and if not
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  Speaker 1: scorned the common experiences of humanity, or overlook the lesson
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  Speaker 1: to be learned from them. The first things in a
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  Speaker 1: sound life, and therefore in a truly happy and successful life,
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  Speaker 1: are right principles. Without right principles to begin with, there
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  Speaker 1: will be wrong practices to follow with, and a bungled
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  Speaker 1: and wretched life to end with. All the infinite variety
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  Speaker 1: of calculations which tabulate the commerce and science of the
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  Speaker 1: world come out of ten figures. All the hundreds of
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  Speaker 1: thousands of books which constitute the literature of the world
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  Speaker 1: and perpetuate its thought in genius, are built up from
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  Speaker 1: the twenty six letters. The greatest astronomer cannot ignore the
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  Speaker 1: ten simple figures. The profoundest man of genius cannot dispense
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  Speaker 1: with the twenty six simple characters. The fundamentals of all
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  Speaker 1: things are few and simple, yet without them there is
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  Speaker 1: no knowledge and no achievement. The fundamentals the basic principles
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  Speaker 1: in life or true living, are also few and simple.
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  Speaker 1: And to learn them thoroughly and study how to apply
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  Speaker 1: them to all the details of life is to avoid
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  Speaker 1: confusion and to secure a substantial foundation for the orderly
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  Speaker 1: building up of an invincible character and a permanent success.
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  Speaker 1: And to succeed in comprehending those principles in their innumerable
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  Speaker 1: ramifications in the labyrinth of conduct, is to become a
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  Speaker 1: master of life. The first principles in life are principles
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  Speaker 1: of conduct. To name them is easy as mere words.
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  Speaker 1: They are on all men's lips, but as fixed sources
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  Speaker 1: of action, admitting of no compromise, few have learned them.
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  Speaker 1: In this short talk, I will deal with five only
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  Speaker 1: of these principles. These five are amongst the simplest of
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  Speaker 1: the root principles of life. But they are also those
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  Speaker 1: that come nearest to the everyday life, for they touch
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  Speaker 1: the artisan, the business man, the householder, the citizen. At
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  Speaker 1: every point, no one of them can be dispensed with,
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  Speaker 1: but at severe cost. And he who perfects himself in
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  Speaker 1: their application will rise superior to many of the troubles
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  Speaker 1: and failures of life, and will come into these springs
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  Speaker 1: and currents of thought which flow harmoniously towards the regions
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  Speaker 1: of enduring success. The first of these principles is duty,
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  Speaker 1: a much hackneyed word, I know, but it contains a
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  Speaker 1: rare jewel for him who will seek it by assiduous application.
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  Speaker 1: The principle of duty means strict adherence to one's own
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  Speaker 1: business and justice, strict non interference in the business of others.
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  Speaker 1: The man who is continually instructing others gradis how to
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  Speaker 1: manage their affairs is the one who most mismanage his own.
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  Speaker 1: Duty also means undivided attention to the matter in hand,
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  Speaker 1: intelligent concentration of the mind on the work to be done.
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  Speaker 1: It includes all that is meant by thoroughness, exactness, and efficiency.
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  Speaker 1: The details of duties differ with individuals, and each man
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  Speaker 1: should know his own duty better than he knows his neighbors,
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  Speaker 1: and better than his neighbor knows his. But Although the
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  Speaker 1: working details differ, the principle is always the same. Who
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  Speaker 1: has mastered the demands of duty. Honesty is the next principle.
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  Speaker 1: It means not cheating or overcharging another. It involves the
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  Speaker 1: absence of all trickery, lying, and deception by word, look,
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  Speaker 1: or gesture. It includes sincerity, the saying what you mean
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  Speaker 1: and the meaning what you say. It scorns cringing policy
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  Speaker 1: and shining compliment. It builds up good reputations and good
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  Speaker 1: reputations build up good businesses and bright joy accompanies well
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  Speaker 1: earned success. Who has scaled the heights of honesty. Economy
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  Speaker 1: is the third principle. The conservation of one's financial resources
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  Speaker 1: is merely the vestibule leading towards the more spacious chambers
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  Speaker 1: of true economy. It means, as well, the husband of
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  Speaker 1: one's physical, vitality and mental resources. It demands the conservation
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  Speaker 1: of energy by the avoidance of enervating self indulgences and
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  Speaker 1: sensual habits. It holds for its follower's strength, endurance, vigilance,
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  Speaker 1: and the capacity to achieve. It bestows great power on
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  Speaker 1: him who learns it well, who has realized the supreme
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  Speaker 1: strength of economy. Liberality follows economy. It is not opposed
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  Speaker 1: to it. Only the man of economy can afford to
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  Speaker 1: be generous. The spendthrift, whether in money, vitality, or mental energy,
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  Speaker 1: wasted so much on his own miserable pleasures as to
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  Speaker 1: have none left to bestow upon others. The giving of
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  Speaker 1: money is the smallest part of liberality. There is the
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  Speaker 1: giving of thoughts and deeds, and sympathy, the bestowing of
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  Speaker 1: good will, the being generous towards calumniators and opponents. It
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  Speaker 1: is a principle that begets a noble, reaching influence. It
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  Speaker 1: brings loving friends and staunch comrades, and is the foe
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  Speaker 1: of loneliness and despair who has measured the breadth of liberality.
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  Speaker 1: Self control is the last of these five principles, yet
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  Speaker 1: the most important. Its neglect is the cause of vast misery,
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  Speaker 1: innumerable failures, and tens of thousands of financial, physical, and
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  Speaker 1: mental wrecks. Show me the business man who loses his
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  Speaker 1: temper with a customer over some trivial matter, and I
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  Speaker 1: will show you a man who, by that condition of mind,
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  Speaker 1: is doomed to failure. If all men practiced even the
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  Speaker 1: initial stages of self control, anger, with its consuming and
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  Speaker 1: destroying fire would be unknown. The lessons of patience, purity, gentleness, kindness,
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  Speaker 1: and steadfastness, which are contained in the principle of self control,
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  Speaker 1: are slowly learned by men. Yet until they are truly learned,
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  Speaker 1: a man's care and success are uncertain and insecure. Where
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  Speaker 1: is the man who has perfected himself in self control?
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  Speaker 1: Where he may be he is a master. Indeed, the
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  Speaker 1: five principles are five practices, five avenues to achievement, and
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  Speaker 1: five sources of knowledge. It is an old saying and
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  Speaker 1: a good rule that practice makes perfect. And he who
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  Speaker 1: would make his own wisdom, which is inherent in those principles,
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  Speaker 1: must not merely have them on his lips. They must
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  Speaker 1: be established in his heart. To know them and receive
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  Speaker 1: what they alone can bring. He must do them and
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  Speaker 1: give them out in his actions. Sound methods from the
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  Speaker 1: five foregoing right principles, when they are truly apprehended and practiced,
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  Speaker 1: will issue sound methods. Right principles are manifested in harmonious action,
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  Speaker 1: and method is to life what law is to the universe.
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  Speaker 1: Everywhere in the universe there is the harmonious adjustment of parts.
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  Speaker 1: And it is this symmetry and harmony that reveals a
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  Speaker 1: cosmos as distinguished from chaos. So in human life, the
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  Speaker 1: difference between a true life and a false life, between
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  Speaker 1: one purposeful and effective and one purposeless and weak, is
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  Speaker 1: one of method. The false life is an incoherent jumble
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  Speaker 1: of thoughts, passions, and actions. The true life is an
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  Speaker 1: orderly adjustment of all its parts. It is all the
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  Speaker 1: difference between a mass of lumber and a smoothly working,
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  Speaker 1: efficient machine. A piece of machinery in perfect working order
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  Speaker 1: is not only useful but an admirable and attractive thing.
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  Speaker 1: But when its parts are all out of gear and
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  Speaker 1: refuse to be readjusted, its usefulness and attractiveness are gone,
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  Speaker 1: and it is thrown on the scrap heap. Likewise, a
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  Speaker 1: life perfectly adjusted in all its parts so as to
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  Speaker 1: achieve the highest point of efficiency is not only a
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  Speaker 1: powerful life, but an excellent and beautiful thing, whereas a
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  Speaker 1: life confused, inconsistent, discordant is a deplorable exhibition of wasted energy.
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  Speaker 1: If a life is to be truly lived, method must
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  Speaker 1: enter into and regulate every detail of it, as it
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  Speaker 1: enters and regulates every detail of the wondrous universe of
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  Speaker 1: which we form a part. One of the most distinguishing
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  Speaker 1: differences between a wise man and a foolish man is
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  Speaker 1: that the wise man pays careful attention to the smallest things,
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  Speaker 1: while the foolish man slurs over them or neglects them altogether.
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  Speaker 1: Wisdom consists in maintaining things on their right relations, in
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  Speaker 1: keeping all things, the smallest as well as the greatest,
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  Speaker 1: in their proper places and times. To violate order is
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  Speaker 1: to produce confusion and discord, and unhappiness is but another
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  Speaker 1: name for discord. The good business man knows that system
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  Speaker 1: is three parts of success, and that disorder means failure.
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  Speaker 1: The wise man knows that disciplined, methodical living is three
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  Speaker 1: parts of happiness, and that looseness means misery. What is
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  Speaker 1: a fool but one who thinks carelessly, acts rashly, and
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  Speaker 1: lives loosely. What is a wise man but one who
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  Speaker 1: thinks carefully, acts calmly, and lives consistently. The true method
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  Speaker 1: does not end with the orderly arrangement of the material
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  Speaker 1: things and external relations of life. This is but its beginning.
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  Speaker 1: It enters into the adjustment of the mind, the discipline
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  Speaker 1: of the passions, the elimination and choice of words and speech,
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  Speaker 1: the logical arrangement of the thoughts, and the selection of
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  Speaker 1: right actions. To achieve a life rendered sound, successful, and
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  Speaker 1: sweet by the pursuance of sound methods, one must begin
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  Speaker 1: not by neglect of the little everyday things, but by
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  Speaker 1: assiduous attention to them. Thus the hour of rising is important,
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  Speaker 1: and it's regularly significant, as are also the timing of
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  Speaker 1: retiring to rest and the number of hours given to sleep.
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  Speaker 1: Between the regularity and irregularity of meals and the care
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  Speaker 1: and carelessness in which they are eaten is all the
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  Speaker 1: difference between good and bad digestion with all that this applies,
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  Speaker 1: and an irritable or comfortable frame of mind with its
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  Speaker 1: train of good or bad consequences. For attaching to these
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  Speaker 1: meal times and meal ways are matters of both physiological
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  Speaker 1: and psychological significance. The due division of hours for business
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  Speaker 1: and for play, not confusing the two. The orderly fitting
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  Speaker 1: in of all the details of one's business. Times for solitude,
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  Speaker 1: for silent thought and for affective action, for eating and
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  Speaker 1: for abstinence. All these things must have their lawful place
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  Speaker 1: in the life of whom whose daily round is to
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  Speaker 1: proceed with the minimum degree of friction, who is to
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  Speaker 1: get the most usefulness, influence, and joy out of life.
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  Speaker 1: But all this is but the beginning of that comprehensive
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  Speaker 1: method which embraces the whole life and being. When this
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  Speaker 1: smooth order in logical consistency is extended to the words
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  Speaker 1: and actions, to the thoughts and desires, then wisdom emerges
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  Speaker 1: from folly, and out of weakness comes power sublime. When
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  Speaker 1: a man so orders his mind as to produce a beautiful,
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  Speaker 1: working harmony between all its parts, then he reaches the
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  Speaker 1: highest wisdom, the highest efficiency, the highest happiness. But this
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  Speaker 1: is the end, and he who would reach the end
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  Speaker 1: must begin at the beginning. He must systematize and render
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  Speaker 1: logical and smooth the smallest details of his life, proceeding
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  Speaker 1: step by step toward the finished accomplishment. But each step
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  Speaker 1: will yield its own particular measure of strength and gladness.
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  Speaker 1: To sum it up, method produces that smoothness which goes
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  Speaker 1: with strength and efficiency. Discipline is method applied to the mind.
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  Speaker 1: It produces that calmness which goes with power and happiness.
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  Speaker 1: Method is working by rule. Discipline is living by rule.
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  Speaker 1: But working and living are not separate. They are but
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  Speaker 1: two aspects of character of life. Therefore, be orderly in work,
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  Speaker 1: be accurate in speech, be logical in thought. Between these
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  Speaker 1: and slovenliness in accuracy and confusion is the difference between
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  Speaker 1: success and failure, music and discord, happiness and misery. The
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  Speaker 1: adoption of sound methods of working, acting, thinking in a
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  Speaker 1: word of living is the sh surest and safest foundation
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  Speaker 1: for sound health, sound success, sound peace of mind. The
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  Speaker 1: foundation of unsound methods will be found to be unstable
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  Speaker 1: and to yield fear and unrest even when it appears
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  Speaker 1: to succeed, and when its time of failure comes, it
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  Speaker 1: is grievous. Indeed, true actions following on right principles and
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  Speaker 1: methods come true actions. One who is striving to grasp
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  Speaker 1: true principles and work with sound methods will soon come
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  Speaker 1: to perceive that details of conduct cannot be overlooked, that indeed,
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  Speaker 1: those details are fundamentally distinctive or creative according to their nature,
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  Speaker 1: and are of deep significance and comprehensive importance. And this
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  Speaker 1: perception and knowledge of the nature and power of passing
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  Speaker 1: actions will gradually open and grow within him as an
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  Speaker 1: added vision, a new revelation as he acquires this in sight,
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  Speaker 1: his progress will be more rapid, his pathway in life,
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  Speaker 1: more sure, his days, more serene and peaceful. In all things,
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  Speaker 1: he will go the true and direct way, unswayed and
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  Speaker 1: untroubled by the external forces that play around and about him.
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  Speaker 1: Not that he will be indifferent to the welfare and
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  Speaker 1: happiness of those about him, that is quite another thing.
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  Speaker 1: But he will be indifferent to their opinions, to their ignorance,
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  Speaker 1: to their ungoverned passions. By true actions, indeed, is men
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  Speaker 1: acting rightly towards others. And the right doer knows that
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  Speaker 1: his actions, in accordance with truth, are but for the
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  Speaker 1: happiness of those about him, and he will do them
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  Speaker 1: even though an occasion may arise when someone near to
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  Speaker 1: him may advise or implore him to do Otherwise, true
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  Speaker 1: actions may easily be distinguished from falts by all who
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  Speaker 1: wish so to distinguish in order that they may avoid
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  Speaker 1: false action and a true As in the material world,
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  Speaker 1: we distinguish things by their form, color, size, et cetera,
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  Speaker 1: choosing those things which we require, and putting by those
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  Speaker 1: things which are not useful to us. So in the
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  Speaker 1: spiritual world of deeds, we can distinguish between those that
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  Speaker 1: are bad and those that are good by their nature,
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  Speaker 1: their aim, and their effect, and can choose and adopt
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  Speaker 1: those that are good and ignore those that are bad.
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  Speaker 1: In all forms of progress, avoidance of the bad always
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  Speaker 1: precedes acceptance and knowledge of the good, just as a
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  Speaker 1: child at school learns to do its lessons right by
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  Speaker 1: having repeatedly pointed out to it how it has done
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  Speaker 1: them wrong. If one does not know what is wrong
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  Speaker 1: and how to avoid it, how can he know what
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  Speaker 1: is right and how to practice it. Bad or untrue
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  Speaker 1: actions are those that spring from a consideration of one's
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  Speaker 1: own happiness only and ignore nor the happiness of others,
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  Speaker 1: that arise in violent disturbances of the mind and unlawful desires,
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  Speaker 1: or that call for concealment in order to avoid undesirable complications.
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  Speaker 1: Good or true actions are those that spring from a
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  Speaker 1: consideration for others, that may arise in calm reason and
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  Speaker 1: harmonious thought framed on moral principles, or that will not
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  Speaker 1: involve the doer in shameful consequences if brought into the
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  Speaker 1: full light of day. The right doer will avoid those
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  Speaker 1: acts of personal pleasure and gratification, which, by their nature
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  Speaker 1: bring annoyance, pain, or suffering to others. No matter how
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  Speaker 1: insignificant those actions may appear to be, he will begin
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  Speaker 1: by putting away these. He will gain a knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: the unselfish and true by first sacrificing the selfish and untrue.
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  Speaker 1: He will learn not to speak or act in anger
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  Speaker 1: or envy or resentment, but will study how to control
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  Speaker 1: his mind, and will restore it to calmness before acting.
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  Speaker 1: And most important of all, he will avoid, as he
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  Speaker 1: would the drinking of deadly poison, those acts of trickery, deceit,
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  Speaker 1: double dealing in order to gain some personal profit of advantage,
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  Speaker 1: and which lead sooner or later to exposure and shame
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  Speaker 1: for the doer of them. If a man is prompted
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  Speaker 1: to do a thing which he needs to conceal, and
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  Speaker 1: which he would not lawfully and frankly defend if it
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  Speaker 1: were examined of witness, he should know by that that
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  Speaker 1: it is a wrong act, and therefore to be abandoned
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  Speaker 1: without a further moment's consideration. The carrying out of this
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  Speaker 1: principle of honesty and sincerity of action, too, will further
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  Speaker 1: lead him into such a path of thoughtfulness in right
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  Speaker 1: doing as will enable him to avoid doing those things
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  Speaker 1: which would involve him in the deceptive practices of other people.
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  Speaker 1: Before signing papers, or entering into verbal or written agreements,
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  Speaker 1: or engaging himself to others in any way at their request,
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  Speaker 1: particularly if they be strangers, he will first inquire into
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  Speaker 1: the nature of the work or undertaking, and so enlightened
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  Speaker 1: he will know exactly what to do, and will be
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  Speaker 1: fully aware of the import of his action to the
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  Speaker 1: right doer. Thoughtlessness is a crime. Thousands of actions done
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  Speaker 1: with good intent lead to disastrous consequences because they are
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  Speaker 1: acts of thoughtlessness. And it is well said that the
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  Speaker 1: way to hell is paved with good intentions. The man
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  Speaker 1: of true action is above all things thoughtful. Be ye
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  Speaker 1: therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. The term
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  Speaker 1: thoughtlessness covers a wide field in the realm of deeds.
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  Speaker 1: It is only by increasing in thoughtfulness that a man
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  Speaker 1: can come to understand the nature of actions, and can
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  Speaker 1: thereby acquire the power of always doing that which is right.
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  Speaker 1: It is impossible for a man to be thoughtful and
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  Speaker 1: act foolishly. Thoughtfulness embraces wisdom. It is not enough that
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  Speaker 1: an action is prompted by a good impulse or intention.
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  Speaker 1: It must arise in thoughtful consideration if it is to
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  Speaker 1: be a true action, And the man who wishes to
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  Speaker 1: be permanently happy in himself and a power for good
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  Speaker 1: to others must concern himself only with true actions. I
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  Speaker 1: did it with the best of intentions is a poor
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  Speaker 1: excuse from one who has thoughtlessly involved himself in the
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: wrongdoing of others. His bitter experience should teach him to
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  Speaker 1: act more thoughtfully in the future. True actions can only
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  Speaker 1: spring from a true mind, and therefore, while a man
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  Speaker 1: is learning to distinguish and choose between the faults and
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  Speaker 1: the true, he is correcting and perfecting his mind, and
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  Speaker 1: is thereby rendering it more harmonious and felicitous, more efficient
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  Speaker 1: and power. As he acquires the inner eye to clearly
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  Speaker 1: distinguish the right in all the details of life, and
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  Speaker 1: the faith and knowledge to do it, he will realize
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  Speaker 1: that he is building the house of his character and
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  Speaker 1: life upon a rock which the winds of failure and
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the storms of persecution can never undermine. True speech truth
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: is known by practice. Only Without sincerity, there can be
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: no knowledge of truth, and true speech is the beginning
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: of all sincerity. Truth in all its native beauty and
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: original simplicity, consists in abandoning and not doing all those
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: things which are untrue, and embracing and doing all those
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: things which are true. True speech is therefore one of
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the elementary beginnings in the life of truth. Falsehood and
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: all forms of deception, slander, and all forms of evil speaking,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: these must be totally abandoned and abolished before the mind
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: can receive even a small degree of spiritual enlightenment. The
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: lyre in slanderer is lost in darkness. So deep is
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: his darkness that he cannot distinguish between good and evil,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: and he persuades himself that his lying and evil speaking
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: are necessary and good, that he is thereby protecting himself
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and other people. Let the would be student of higher
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: things look to himself and beware of self delusion. If
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: he is given to uttering words that deceive, or to
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: speaking evil of others, If he speaks in insincerity, envy,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: or malice, then he has not yet begun to study
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: higher things. He may be studying metaphysics or miracles, or
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: psychic phenomena or astral wonders. He may be studying how
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: to commune with invisible beings to travel invisibly during sleep
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: or to produce curious phenomena. He may even study spirituality
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: theoretically and as a mere book study. But if he
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: is a deceiver and a backbiter, the higher life is
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: hidden from him. For the higher things are these uprightness, sincerity, innocence, purity, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, humility, patience, pity, sympathy,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: self sacrifice, joy, good will, love. And he who would
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: study them, know them, and make them his own, must
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: practice them. There is no other way. Lying and evil
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: speaking belong to the lowest forms of spiritual ignorance, and
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: there can be no such thing as spiritual enlightenment while
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: they are practiced. Their parents are selfishness and hatred. Slander
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: is akin to lying, but it is even more subtle,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: as it is frequently associated with indignation, and by assuming
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: more successfully the appear yearance of truth, it ensnares many
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: who would not tell a deliberate falsehood. For there are
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: two sides to slander. There is the making of repeating
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: of it, and there is the listening to it and
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: acting upon it. The slanderer would be powerless without a listener.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Evil words require an ear, that is receptive to evil
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: in which they may fall before they can flourish. Therefore,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: he who listens to a slanderer, who believes it and
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: allows himself to be influenced against the person whose character
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: and reputation are defamed, is in the same position as
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the one who framed or repeated the evil report. The
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: evil speaker is a positive slanderer, the evil listener is
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: a passive slanderer. The two are co operators in the
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: propagation of evil. Slander is a common vice and a
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: dark and deadly one. An evil report begins in ignorance
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: and pursues its blind way in darkness. It generally takes
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: its rise in a misunderstanding. Someone feels that he or
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: she has been badly treated, and filled with indignation and resentment,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: unburdens himself to his friends and others in vehement language,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: exaggerating the enormity of the supposed offense, on account of
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: the feeling of injury by which he is possessed. He
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: has listened to and sympathized with the listeners without hearing
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: the other person's version of what has taken place, and
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: on no other proof than the violent words of an
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: angry man or woman become cold in their attitude towards
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: the one spoken against, and repeat to others what they
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: have been told, And as such repetition is always more
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: or less inaccurate. A distorted and altogether untrue report is
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: soon passing from mouth to mouth. It is because slander
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: is such a common vice that it can work the
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: suffering and injury that it does. It is because so
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: many not deliberate wrongdoers, and unconscious of the nature of
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: the evil into which they so easily fall, are ready
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: to allow themselves to be influenced against one whom they
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: have hitherto regarded as honorable, that an evil report can
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: do its deadly work. Yet its work is only amongst
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: those who have not altogether acquired the virtue of true speech,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: the cause of which is a truth loving mind. When
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: one who has not entirely freed himself from repeating or
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: believing an evil report about another hears of an evil
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: report about himself, his mind becomes a flame and burning resentment.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: His sleep is broken, and his peace of mind is destroyed.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: He thinks the cause of all his suffering is the
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: other man, and what the other man has said about him,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: and is ignorant of the truth that the root and
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: cause of his suffering lies in his own readiness to
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: believe in evil report about another. The virtuous man, he
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: who has attained to true speech, and whose mind is
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: sealed against even the appearance of evil speaking, cannot be
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: injured and disturbed by any evil reports concerning himself. And
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: although his reputation may for a time be stained in
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: the minds of those who are prone to suggestions of evil,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: his integrity remains untouched and his character unsoiled. For no
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: one can be stained by the evil deeds of another,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: but only by his own wrongdoing. And so through all misrepresentation, misunderstanding,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: and contumely he is untroubled and unrevengeful. His sleep is undisturbed,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: and his mind remains in peace. True speech is the
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: beginning of a pure, wise, and well ordered life. If
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: one would attain to purity of life, if he would
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: lessen the evil and suffering of the world, let him
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: abandon falsehood and slander and thought and word. Let him
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: avoid even the appearance of these things, for there are
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: no lies in slanders so deadly as those which are
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: half truths. And let him not be a participant in
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: evil speaking. By listening to it, let him also have
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: compassion on the evil speaker, knowing how such a one
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: is binding himself to suffering and unrest. For no liar
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: can know the bliss of truth. No slander can enter
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: into the Kingdom of peace by the words which he utters.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Is a man's spiritual condition declared by these? Also is
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: he finally and infallibly adjudged. For as the divine Master
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: of the Christian world has declared, by thy words, shalt
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: thou be justified, and by thy words, shalt thou be condemned.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Equal mindedness. To be equally minded is to be peacefully minded.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: For a man cannot be said to have arrived at
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: peace who allows his mind to be disturbed and thrown
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: off the balance by occurrences. The man of wisdom is dispassionate,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: and means all things with the calmness of a mind
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: in repose and free from prejudice. He is not a partisan,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: but having put away passion, and is always at peace
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: with himself in the world, not taking sides nor defending himself,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: but sympathizing withal. The partisan is so convinced that his
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: own opinion and his own side is right and that
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: all goes contrary to them is wrong. That he cannot
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: think there is any good in the other opinion and
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: the other side. He lives in a continual fever of
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: attack and defense, and has no knowledge of the quiet
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: peace of an equal mind. The equal minded man watches
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: himself in order to check and overcome even the appearance
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: of passion and prejudice in his mind, And by so
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: doing he develops sympathy for others and comes to understand
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: their position and particular state of mind. And as he
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: comes to understand others, he perceives the folly of condemning
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: them and a posing himself to them. Thus there grows
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: up in his heart a divine charity which cannot be limited,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: but which is extended to all things that live and
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: strive and suffer. When a man is under the sway
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: of passion and prejudice, he is spiritually blind, seeing nothing
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: but good in his own side and nothing but evil
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: in another. He cannot see anything as it really is,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: not even his own side. And not understanding himself, he
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: cannot understand the hearts of others, and thinks it is
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: right that he should condemn them. Thus there grows up
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: in his heart a dark hatred for those who refuse
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: to see him and who condemn him. In return, he
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: becomes separated from his fellow man and confines himself to
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: a narrow, torture chamber of his own making. Sweet and
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: peaceful are the days of the equal minded man, fruitful
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: and good and rich in manifold blessings. Guide by wisdom,
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: he avoids those pathways which lead down to hatred and
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: sorrow and pain, and takes those which lead up to
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: love and peace and bliss. The occurrences of life do
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: not trouble him, nor does he grieve over those things
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: which are regarded by mankind as grievous, but which must
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: befall all men in the ordinary course of nature. He
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: is neither elated by success nor cast down by failure.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: He sees the events of his life arranged in their
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: proper proportions, and can find no room for selfish wishes
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: or vain regrets, for vain anticipations and childish disappointments. And
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: how is this equal mindedness, this blessed state of mind
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: and life, acquired only by overcoming one's self, only by
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: purifying one's own heart. For the purification of the heart
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: leads to unbiased comprehension. Unbiased comprehension leads to equal mindedness.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: An equal mindedness leads to peace. The impure man is
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: swept helplessly away on the waves of passion. The pure
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: man guides himself into the harbor of rest. The fool says,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: I have an opinion. The wise man goes about his
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: business good results. A considerable portion of the happenings of
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: life comes to us without any direct choosing on our part,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: and such happenings are generally regarded as having no relation
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: to our will or character, but as appearing fortuitously, as
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: occurring without a cause. Thus one is spoken of as
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: being lucky and another unlucky, the inference being that each
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: has received something which he never earned, never caused. Deeper
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: thought and a clearer insight into life convinces us, however,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: that nothing appears without a cause, that cause and effect
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: are always related in perfect adjustment and harmony. That being so,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: every happening directly affecting us is intimately related to our
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: own will and character. Is indeed an effect justly related
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: to a cause, having its seat in our consciousness. In
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: a word, involuntary happenings of life are the results of
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: our own thoughts and deeds. This, I admit is not
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: apparent on the surface. But what fundamental law, even in
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: the physical universe, is so apparent. If thought, investigation, and
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: experiment are necessary to the discovery of the principles which
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: relate one material atom to another, even so are they
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: imperative to the perception and understanding of the mode of
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: action which relate one mental condition to another. And such
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: modes such laws are known by the right doer, by
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: him who has acquired an understanding mind. By the practice
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: of true actions. We reap as we sow. Those things
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: which come to us, though not by our own choosing,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: are by our own causing. The drunkard did not choose
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: the delirium tremens or insanity which overtook him, but he
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: caused it by his own deeds. In this case, the
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: law is plain to all minds. But where it is
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: not so plain, it is nonetheless true within ourselves. Is
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: the deep seated cause of all our sufferings, the spring
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: of all our joys. Alter the inner world of thoughts
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: and the other world of events will cease to bring
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: you sorrow, make the heart pure, and to you all
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: things will be pure, All occurrence is happy and in
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: true order. Within yourselves, deliverance must be sought. Each man
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: his prison makes each hath such lordship as the loftiest
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: one's nay, For with powers above around below, as with
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: all flesh, and whatsoever lives, maketh joy or woe. Our
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: life is good or bad, enslaved or free, according to
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: its causation in our thoughts. For out of these thoughts
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: spring all our deeds, and from these deeds come equitable results.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: We cannot seize good results violently like a thief, and
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: claim and enjoy them, but we can bring them to
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: pass by setting in motion the cause within ourselves. Men
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: strive for money, sigh for happiness, and we gladly possess wisdom,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: yet fail to secure these things. While they see others
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: to whom these blessings appear to come unbidden. The reason
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: is that they have generated causes which prevent the fulfillment
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: of their wishes and efforts. Each life is a perfectly
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: woven network of causes and effects of efforts or lack
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: of efforts and results, and good results can only be
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: reached by initiating good efforts good causes. The doer of
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: true actions, who pursue sound methods grounded on right principles,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: will not need to strive and struggle for good results.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: They will be there as the effects of his righteous
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: rule of life. He will reap the fruit of his
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: own actions, and the reaping will be in gladness and peace.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: This truth of sowing and reaping in the moral sphere
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: is a simple one, yet men are slow to understand
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: and accept it. We have been told by a wise
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: one that the children of darkness are wiser in their
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: day than the children of light. And who would expect
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: in the material world to reap and eat where he
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: had not sown and planted, Or who would expect to
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: reap wheat in the field where he had sown tears,
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: and would fall to weeping and complaining if he did not. Yet,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: this is just what men do in the spiritual field
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: of mind. Indeed, they do evil and expect to get
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: from it good. And when the bitter heart harvesting comes
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: in all its ripe and fullness, they fall into despair
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: and bemoan the hardness and injustice of their lot, usually
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: attributing it to the evil deeds of others, refusing even
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: to admit the possibility of its cause being hidden in themselves,
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: in their own thoughts and deeds. The children of light,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: those who are searching for the fundamental principles of right
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: living with a view to making themselves into wise and
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: happy beings, must train themselves to observe this law of
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: cause and effect in thought word. Indeed, as implicitly and
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: obediently as the gardener obeys the law of sowing and reaping,
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: he does not even question the law. He recognizes and
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: obeys it when the wisdom which he instinctively practices in
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: his garden is practiced by men in the garden of
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: their minds. When the law of the sowing of deeds
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: is so fully recognized that it can no longer be
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: doubted or questioned, then it will be just as faith
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: fully followed by the sowing of those actions which will
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: bring about a reaping of happiness and well being for all.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: As the children of matter obey the laws of matter,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: so let the children of spirit obey the laws of spirit.
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: For the law of matter and the law of spirit
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: are one, but they are two aspects of one thing,
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: the outworking of one principle in opposite directions. If we
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: observe right principles or causes. Wrong effects cannot possibly accrue
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: if we pursue sound methods. No shoddy thread can find
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: its way into our web of life, no rotten brick
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: enter into the building of our character to render it insecure.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: And if we do true actions, what but good results
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: can come to pass. For to say that good causes
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: can produce bad effects is to say that nettles can
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: be reaped from a sowing of corn. He who orders
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: his life along the moral lines thus read enunciated will
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: attain to such a state of insight and equilibrium as
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: to render him permanently happy and perennially glad. All his
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: efforts will be seasonally planted, All the issues of his
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: life will be good. And though he may not become
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: a millionaire, as indeed he will have no desire to
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: become such, he will acquire the gift of peace, and
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: true success will wait upon him as its commanding master.