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diff --git a/22108.txt b/22108.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3dc2cc --- /dev/null +++ b/22108.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1964 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Untroubled Mind, by Herbert J. Hall + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Untroubled Mind + +Author: Herbert J. Hall + +Release Date: July 19, 2007 [EBook #22108] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNTROUBLED MIND *** + + + + +Produced by Peter Vachuska, Dave Morgan, Laura Wisewell +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +THE + +UNTROUBLED MIND + + +BY + +HERBERT J. HALL, M.D. + + + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +The Riverside Press Cambridge + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY HERBERT J. HALL + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +_Published May 1915_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +A very wise physician has said that "every illness has two parts--what +it is, and what the patient thinks about it." What the patient thinks +about it is often more important and more troublesome than the real +disease. What the patient thinks of life, what life means to him is also +of great importance and may be the bar that shuts out all real health +and happiness. The following pages are devoted to certain ideals of life +which I would like to give to my patients, the long-time patients who +have especially fallen to my lot. + +They are not all here, the steps to health and happiness. The reader may +even be annoyed and baffled by my indirectness and unwillingness to be +specific. That I cannot help--it is a personal peculiarity; I cannot ask +any one to live by rule, because I do not believe that rules are +binding and final. There must be character behind the rule and then the +rule is unnecessary. + +All that I have written has doubtless been presented before, in better +ways, by wiser men, but I believe that each writer may expect to find +his small public, his own particular public who can understand and +profit by his teachings, having partly or wholly failed with the others. +For that reason I am encouraged to write upon a subject usually shunned +by medical men, being assured of at least a small company of friendly +readers. + +I am grateful to a number of friends and patients who have read the +manuscript of the following chapters. These reviewers have been frank +and kind and very helpful. I am particularly indebted to Dr. Richard C. +Cabot, who has given me much valuable assistance. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. THE UNTROUBLED MIND 1 + + II. RELIGIO MEDICI 10 + + III. THOUGHT AND WORK 20 + + IV. IDLENESS 30 + + V. RULES OF THE GAME 38 + + VI. THE NERVOUS TEMPERAMENT 50 + + VII. SELF-CONTROL 59 + + VIII. THE LIGHTER TOUCH 65 + + IX. REGRETS AND FOREBODINGS 73 + + X. THE VIRTUES 81 + + XI. THE CURE BY FAITH 88 + + + + +I + +THE UNTROUBLED MIND + + + Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd, + Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, + Raze out the written troubles of the brain, + And with some sweet oblivious antidote + Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff + Which weighs upon the heart? + MACBETH. + +When a man tells me he never worries, I am inclined to think that he is +either deceiving himself or trying to deceive me. The great roots of +worry are conscience, fear, and regret. Undoubtedly we ought to be +conscientious and we ought to fear and regret evil. But if it is to be +better than an impediment and a harm, our worry must be largely +unconscious, and intuitive. The moment we become conscious of worry we +are undone. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we cannot leave conscience to +its own devices unless our lives are big enough and fine enough to +warrant such a course. The remedy for the mental unrest, which is in +itself an illness, lies not in an enlightened knowledge of the +harmfulness and ineffectiveness of worry, not even in the acquirement of +an unconscious conscience, but in the living of a life so full and good +that worry cannot find place in it. That idea of worry and conscience, +that definition of serenity, simplifies life immensely. To overcome +worry by substituting development and growth need never be dull work. To +know life in its farther reaches, life in its better applications, is +the final remedy--the great undertaking--_it is life_. We must warn +ourselves, not infrequently, that the larger life is to be pursued for +its own glorious self and not for the sake of peace. Peace may come, a +peace so sure that death itself cannot shake it, but we must not expect +all our affairs to run smoothly. As a matter of fact they may run badly +enough; we shall have our ups and downs, we shall sin and repent, and +sin again, but if in the end we live according to our best intuitions, +we shall be justified, and we need not worry about the outcome. To put +it another way, if we would have the untroubled mind, we must transfer +our conscientious efforts from the small details of life--from the worry +and fret of common things--into another and a higher atmosphere. We must +transfigure common life, dignify it and ennoble it; then, although the +old causes of worry may continue, we shall have gained a stature that +will make us unconscious masters of the little troubles and in a great +degree equal to the larger requirements. Life will be easier, not +because we make less effort, but because we are working from another and +a better level. + +If such a change, and it would be a change for most of us, could come +about instantly, in a flash of revelation, that would be ideal, but it +would not be life. We must return again and again to the old uninspired +state wherein we struggle conscientiously with perverse details. I would +not minimize the importance and value of this struggle; only the sooner +it changes its level the better for every one concerned. Large serenity +must, finally, be earned through the toughening of moral fibre that +comes in dealing squarely with perplexing details. Some of this struggle +must always be going on, but serener life will come when we begin to +concern ourselves with larger factors. + +How are we to live the larger life? Partly through uninspired struggle +and through the brave meeting of adversity, but partly, also, in a way +that may be described as "out of hand," by intuition, by exercise of the +quality of mind that sees visions and grasps truths beyond the realms of +common thought. + +I am more and more impressed with the necessity of inspiration in life +if we are to be strong and serene, and so finally escape the pitfalls +of worry and conscience. By inspirations I do not mean belief in any +system or creed. It is not a stated belief that we need to begin with; +that may come in time. We need first to find in life, or at least in +nature, an essential beauty that makes its own true, inevitable response +within us. We must learn to love life so deeply that we feel its +tremendous significance, until we find in the sea and the sky the +evidence of an overbrooding spirit too great to be understood, but not +too great to satisfy the soul. This is a sort of mother religion--the +matrix from which all sects and creeds are born. Its existence in us +dignifies us and makes simple, purposeful, and receptive living almost +inevitable. We may not know why we are living according to the dictates +of our inspiration, but we shall live so and that is the important +consideration. + +If I urge the acquirement of a religious conception that we may cure +the intolerable distress of worry, I do what I have already warned +against. It is so easy to make this mistake that I have virtually made +it on the same page with my warning. We have no right to seek so great a +thing as religious experience that we may be relieved of suffering. +Better go on with pain and distress than cheapen religion by making it a +remedy. We must seek it for its own sake, or rather, we must not seek it +at all, lest, like a dream, it elude us, or change into something else, +less holy. Nevertheless, it is true that if we will but look with open, +unprejudiced eyes, again and again, upon the sunrise or the stars above +us, we shall become conscious of a presence greater and more beautiful +than our minds can think. In the experience of that vision strength and +peace will come to us unbidden. We shall find our lives raised, as by an +unseen force, above the warfare of conscience and worry. We shall begin +to know the meaning of serenity and of that priceless, if not wholly to +be acquired, possession, the untroubled mind. + +I am aware that I shall be misunderstood and perhaps ridiculed by my +colleagues when I attempt to discuss religion in any way. Theology is a +field in which I have had no training, but that is the very reason why I +dare write of it. I do not even assume that there is a God in the +traditional sense. The idea is too great to be made concrete and +literal. No single fact of nature can be fully understood by our finite +minds. But I do feel vaguely that the laws that compass us, and make our +lives possible, point always on--"beyond the realms of time and +space"--toward the existence of a mighty overruling spirit. If this is a +cold and inadequate conception of God, it is at least one that can be +held by any man without compromise. + +The modern mind is apt to fail of religious understanding and support, +because of the arbitrary interpretations of religion which are +presented for our acceptance. It is what men say about religion, rather +than religion itself, that repels us. Let us think it out for ourselves. +If we are open to a simple, even primitive, conception of God, we may +still repudiate the creeds and doctrines, but we are likely to become +more tolerant of those who find them true and good. We shall be likely +in time to find the religion of Christ understandable and +acceptable--warm and quick with life. The man who ungrudgingly opens his +heart to the God of nature will be religious in the simplest possible +sense. He may worry because of the things he cannot altogether +understand, and because he falls so far short of the implied ideal. But +he will have enlarged his life so much that the common worries will find +little room--he will be too full of the joy of living to spend much +conscious thought in worry. Such a man will realize that he cannot +afford to spend his time and strength in regretting his past mistakes. +There is too much in the future. What he does in the future, not what he +has failed to do in the past, will determine the quality of his life. He +knows this, and the knowledge sends him into that future with courage +and with strength. Finally, in some indefinable way, character will +become more important to him than physical health even. Illness is half +compensated when a man realizes that it is not what he accomplishes in +the world, but what he _is_ that really counts, which puts him in touch +with the creative forces of God and raises him out of the aimless and +ordinary into a life of inspiration and joy. + + + + +II + +RELIGIO MEDICI + + + At all events, it is certain that if any medical man had come to + Middlemarch with the reputation of having definite religious + views, of being given to prayer and of otherwise showing an + active piety, there would have been a general presumption + against his medical skill. + GEORGE ELIOT. + +When a medically educated man talks and writes of religion and of God, +he is rightly enough questioned by his brothers--who are too busy with +the hard work of practice to be concerned with anything but material +problems. To me the word "God" is symbolic of the power which created +and which maintains the universe. The sunrise and the stars of heaven +give me some idea of his majesty, the warmth and tenderness of human +love give me some idea of his divine love. That is all I know, but it is +enough to make life glow; it is enough to inspire the most intense +devotion to any good cause; it is enough to make me bear suffering with +some degree of patience; and it is enough, finally, to give me some +confidence and courage even in the face of the great mystery of death. +Why this or another conception of God should produce such a profound +result upon any one, I do not know, except that in some obscure way it +connects the individual with the divine plan, and does not leave him +outside in despair and loneliness. However that may be, it will be +conceded that a religious conception of some kind does much toward +justifying life, toward making it strong and livable, and so has +directly to do with certain important problems of illness and health. +The most practical medical man will admit that any illness is made +lighter and more likely to recover in the presence of hope and serenity +in the mind of the patient. + +Naturally the great bulk of medical practice calls for no handling other +than that of the straight medical sort. A man comes in with a crushed +finger, a girl with anaemia--the way is clear. It is only in deeper, more +intricate departments of medicine that we altogether fail. The +bacteriologist and the pathologist have no use for mental treatment, in +their departments. But when we come to the case of the nervously +broken-down school teacher, or the worn-out telegrapher, that is another +matter. Years may elapse before work can be resumed--years of dependence +and anxiety. Here, a new view of life is often more useful than drugs, a +view that accepts the situation reasonably after a while, that does not +grope blindly and impatiently for a cure, but finds in life an +inspiration that makes it good in spite of necessary suffering and +limitations. Often enough we cannot promise a cure, but we must be +prepared to give something better. + +A great deal of the fatigue and unhappiness of the world is due to the +fact that we do not go deep enough in our justification for work or +play, or for any experience, happy or sad. There is a good deal of a +void after we have said, "Art for art's sake," or "Play for the joy of +playing," or even after we have said, "I am working for the sake of my +family, or for some one who needs my help." That is not enough; and +whether we realize it or not, the lack of deeper justification is at the +bottom of a restlessness and uncertainty which we might not be willing +to acknowledge, but which nevertheless is very real. + +I am not satisfied when some moralist says, "Be good and you will be +happy." The kind of happiness that comes from a perfunctory goodness is +a thing which I cannot understand, and which I certainly do not want. If +I work and play and serve and employ, making up the fabric of a busy +life, if I attain a very real happiness, I am tormented by the desire to +know why I am doing it, and I am not satisfied with the answer I +usually get. The patient may not be cured when he is relieved of his +anaemia, or when his emaciation has given place to the plumpness and +suppleness and physical strength that we call health. The man whom we +look upon as well, and who has never known physical illness, is not well +in the larger sense until he knows why he is working, why he is living, +why he is filling his life with activity. In spite of the elasticity and +spring of the world's interests, there must come often, and with a kind +of fatal insistence, the deep demand for a cause, for a justification. +If there is not an adequate significance behind it, life, with all its +courage and accomplishment, seems but a sorry thing, so full of pathos, +even in its brightest moments, so shadowed with a sense of loss and of +finality that the bravest heart may well fail and the truest courage +relax, supported only by the assurance that this way lies happiness or +that right is right. + +What is this knowledge that the world is seeking, but can never find? +What is this final justification? If we seek it in its completeness, we +are doomed always to be ill and unsatisfied. If we are willing to look +only a little way into the great question, if we are willing to accept a +little for the whole, content because it is manifestly part of the final +knowledge, and because we know that final knowledge rests with God +alone, we shall understand enough to save us from much sorrow and +painful incompleteness. + +There is, in the infinitely varied and beautiful world of nature, and in +the hearts of men, so much of beauty and truth that it is a wonder we do +not all realize that these things of common life may be in us and for us +the daily and hourly expression of the infinite being we call God. We do +not see God, but we do feel and know so much that we may fairly believe +to be of God that we do not need to see Him face to face. It is +something more than imagination to feel that it is the life of God in +our lives, so often unrecognized or ignored, that prompts us to all the +greatness and the inspiration and the accomplishment of the world. If we +could know more clearly the joy of such a conception, we should dry up +at its source much of the unhappiness which is, in a deep and subtle +way, at the bottom of many a nervous illness and many a wretched +existence. + +The happiness which is found in the recognition of kinship with God, +through the common things of life, in the experiences which are so +significant that they could not spring from a lesser source, the +happiness which is not sought, but which is the inevitable result of +such recognition--this experience goes a long way toward making life +worth living. + +If we do have this conception of life, then some of the old, old +questions that have vexed so many dwellers upon the earth will no longer +be a source of unhappiness or of illness of mind or body. The question +of immortality, for instance, which has made us afraid to die, will no +longer be a question--we shall not need to answer it, in the presence of +God, in our lives and in the world about us. We shall be content finally +to accept whatever is in store for us--so it be the will of God. We may +even look for something better than mere immortality, something more +divine than our gross conception of eternal life. + +This is a religion that I believe medical men may teach without +hesitation whenever the need shall arise. I know well enough that many a +blunt if kindly man cannot bring himself to say these words, even if he +believes them, but I do think that in some measure they point the way to +what may wisely be taught. + +There is a practice of medicine--the common practice--that is concerned +with the body only, and with its chemical and mechanical reactions. We +can have nothing but respect and admiration for the men who go on year +after year in the eager pursuit of this calling. We know that such a +work is necessary, that it is just as important as the educational +practice of which I write. We know that without the physical side +medicine would fail of its usefulness and that disease and death would +reap far richer harvests: I only wish the two naturally related aspects +of our dealing with patients might not be so completely separated that +they lose sight of each other. As a matter of fact, both elements are +necessary to our human welfare. If medicine devotes itself altogether to +the cure and prevention of physical disease, it will miss half of its +possibilities. It is equally true that if we forget the physical +necessities in our zeal for spiritual hygiene, we shall get and deserve +complete and humiliating failure. Many men will say, "Why mix the two? +Why not let the preachers and the philosophers preach and the doctors +follow their own ways?" For the most part this may have to be the +arrangement, but the doctor who can see and treat the spiritual needs of +his patient will always be more likely to cure in the best sense than +the doctor who sees only half of the picture. On the other hand, the +philosopher is likely to be a comparatively poor doctor, because he +knows nothing of medicine, and so can see only the other half of the +picture. There is much to be said for the religion of medicine if it can +be kept free from cant, if it can be simple and rational enough to be +available for the whole world. + + + + +III + +THOUGHT AND WORK + + + I wish I had a trade!--It would animate my arms and tranquilize + my brain. + SENANCOUR. + + "Doe ye nexte thynge."--_Old English Proverb_. + +Since our minds are so constantly filled with anxiety, there would seem +to be at least one sure way to be rid of it--to stop thinking. + +A great many people believe that the mind will become less effective, +that life will become dull and purposeless, unless they are constantly +thinking and planning and arranging their affairs. I believe that the +mind may easily and wisely be free from conscious thought a good deal of +the time, and that the greatest progress and development in mind often +comes when the thinker is virtually at rest, when his mind is to all +intents and purposes blank. The busy, unconscious mind does its best +work in the serenity of an atmosphere which does not interfere and +confuse. + +It is true that the greatest conceptions do not come to the untrained +and undisciplined mind. But do we want great conceptions all the time? +There is a technical training for the mind which is, of course, +necessary for special accomplishments, but this is quite another matter. +Even this kind of thought must not obtrude too much, lest we become +conscious of our mental processes and so end in confusion. + +One of the greatest benefits of work with the hands, or of objective and +constructive work with the mind, is that it saves us from unending hours +of thinking. Work should, of course, find its fullest justification as +an expression of faith. If we have ever so dim a vision of a greater +significance in life, of its close relationship to infinite things, we +become thereby conscious of the need of service, of the need of work. It +is the easy, natural expression of our faith, the inevitable result of +a spiritual contact with the great working forces of the world. It is +work above all else that saves us from the disasters of conflicting +thought. + +A few years ago a young man came to me, suffering from too much +thinking. He had just been graduated from college and his head was full +of confused ideas and emotions. He was also very tired, having +overworked in his preparation for examinations, and because he had not +taken the best care of his body. The symptoms he complained of were +sleeplessness and worry, together with the inevitable indigestion and +headache. Of course, as a physician, I went over the bodily functions +carefully, and studied, as far as I might, into the organic conditions. +I could find no evidence of physical disease. I did not say, "There is +nothing the matter with you"; for the man was sick. I told him that he +was tired, that he had thought too much, that he was too much concerned +about himself, and that as a result of all this his bodily functions +were temporarily upset. He thought he ought to worry about himself, +because otherwise he would not be trying to get well. I explained to him +that this mistaken obligation was the common reason for worry, and that +in this case, at least, it was quite unnecessary and even harmful for +him to go on thinking about himself. That helped a little, but not +nearly enough, because when a man has overworked, when he has begun to +worry, and when his various bodily functions show results of worry, no +reasoning, no explanations, can wholly relieve him. I said to this young +man, "In spite of your discomforts, in spite of your depression and +concern in regard to yourself, you will get well if you will stop +thinking about the matter altogether. You must be first convinced that +it is best for you to stop thinking, that no harm or violence can +result, and then you must be helped in this direction by going to work +with your hands--that will be life and progress, it will lead you to +health." + +Fortunately I had had some experience with nervous illness, and I knew +that unless I managed for this man the character and extent of his work, +he would not only fail in it, but of its object, and so become more +confused and discouraged. I knew the troubled mind, in this instance, +might find its solace and its relief in work, but that I must choose the +work carefully to suit the individual, and I must see that the nervously +fatigued body was not pushed too hard. + +In the town where I live is a blacksmith shop, presided over by a genial +old man who has been a blacksmith since he was a boy, and in whose hands +iron is like clay. I took my patient down to the smithy and said, "Here +is a young man whom I want to put to work. He will pay for the chance. I +want you first to teach him to make hand-wrought nails." This was a +good deal of a joke to the smith and to the patient, but they saw that I +was in earnest and agreed to go ahead. We got together the proper tools +and proceeded to make nails, a job which is really not very difficult. +After an hour's work, I called off my patient, much to his disgust, for +he was just beginning to be interested. But I knew that if he were to +keep on until fatigue should come, the whole matter would end in +trouble. So the next day, with some new overalls and a leather apron +added to the equipment, we proceeded to another hour's work. We went on +this way for three or four days, before the time was increased. + +The interest of the patient was always fresh, he was eager for more, and +he did not taste the dregs of fatigue. Yet he did get the wholesome +exercise, and he did get the strong turning of the mind from its worry +and concern. Of course, the rest of the day was taken care of in one +way or another, but the work was the central feature. In a week, we were +at it two hours a day, in three weeks, four hours, and in a month, five +hours. He had made a handsome display of hand-wrought nails, a superior +line of pokers and shovels for fireplaces, together with a number of +very respectable andirons. On each of these larger pieces of handiwork +my patient had stamped his initials with a little steel die that was +made for him. Each piece was his own, each piece was the product of his +own versatility and his own strength. His pride and pleasure in this +work were very great, and well they might be, for it is a fine thing to +have learned to handle so intractable a material as iron. But in +handling the iron patiently and consistently until he could do it +without too much conscious thinking, and so without effort, he had also +learned to handle himself naturally, more simply and easily. + +As a matter of fact, the illness which had brought this boy to me was +pretty nearly cured by his blacksmithing, because it was an illness of +the mind and of the nerves, and not of the body, although the body had +suffered in its turn. That young man, instead of becoming a nervous +invalid as he might have done, is now working steadily in partnership +with his father, in business in the city. I had found him a very +interesting patient, full of originality and not at all the tedious and +boresome person he might have been had I listened day after day, week +after week to the recital of his ills. I was willing to listen,--I did +listen,--but I also gave him a new trend of life, which pretty soon made +his complaints sound hollow and then disappear. + +Of course, the problem is not always so simple as this, and we must +often deal with complexities of body and mind requiring prolonged +investigation and treatment. I cite this case because it shows clearly +that relief from some forms of nervous illness can come when we stop +thinking, when we stop analyzing, and then back up our position with +prescribed work. + +There may be some nervous invalids who read these lines who will say, +"But I have tried so many times to work and have failed." Unfortunately, +such failure must often occur unless we can proceed with care and with +understanding. But the principle remains true, although it must be +modified in an infinite variety to meet the changing conditions of +individuals. + +I see a great many people who are conscientiously trying to get well +from nervous exhaustion. They almost inevitably try too hard. They think +and worry too much about it, and so exhaust themselves the more. This is +the greater pity because it is the honest and the conscientious people +who make the greatest effort. It is very hard for them to realize that +they must stop thinking, stop trying, and if possible get to work +before they can accomplish their end. We shall have to repeat to them +over and over again that they must stop thinking the matter out, because +the thing they are attempting to overcome is too subtle to be met in +that way. So, if they are fortunate, they may rid themselves of the +vagueness and uncertainty of life, until all the multitude of details +which go to make up life lose their desultoriness and their lack of +meaning, and they may find themselves no longer the subjects of physical +or nervous exhaustion. + + + + +IV + +IDLENESS + + + O ye! who have your eyeballs vex'd and tir'd, + Feast them upon the wideness of the sea. + KEATS. + + Extreme busyness, whether at school or college, kirk or market, + is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness + implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal + identity. + STEVENSON. + +It is an unfortunate fact that very few people are able to be idle +successfully. I think it is not so much because we misuse idleness as +because we misinterpret it that the long days become increasingly +demoralizing. I would ask no one to accept a forced idleness without +objection or regret. Such an acceptance would imply a lack of spirit, to +say the least. But idleness and rest are not incompatible; neither are +idleness and service, nor idleness and contentment. If we can look upon +rest as a preparation for service, if we can make it serve us in the +opportunity it gives for quiet growth and legitimate enjoyment, then it +is fully justified and it may offer advantages and opportunity of the +best. + +The chief trouble with idleness is that it so often means introspection, +worry, and impatience, especially to those conscientious souls who would +fain be about their business. + +I have for a long time been accustomed to combat the worry and fret of +necessary idleness--not by forbidding it, not by advising struggle and +fight against it, but by insisting that the best way to get rid of it is +to leave it alone, to accept it. When we do this there may come a kind +of fallow time in which the mind enriches and refreshes itself beyond +our conception. + +I would rather my patient who must rest for a long time would give up +all thought of method, would give up all idea of making his mind follow +any particular line of thought or absence of thought. I know that the +mind which has been under conscious control a good deal of the time is +apt to rebel at this freedom and to indulge in all kinds of alarming +extravagances. I am sure, however, that the best way to meet these +demands for conscious control is to be careless of them, to be willing +to experience these extravagances and inconsistencies without fear, in +the belief that finally will come a quiet and peace which will be all +that we can ask. The peace of mind that is unguided, in the conscious +and literal sense, is a thing which too few of us know. + +Mr. Arnold Bennett, in his little book, "How to Live on Twenty-four +Hours a Day," teaches that we should leave no time unused in our lives; +that we should accomplish a great deal more and be infinitely more +effective and progressive if we devoted our minds to the definite +working-out of necessary problems whenever those times occur in which we +are apt to be desultory. I wish here to make a plea for desultoriness +and for an idleness which goes even beyond the idleness of the man who +reads the newspaper and forgets what he has read. It seems to me better, +whether we are sick or well, to allow long periods in our lives when we +think only casually. To the good old adage, "Work while you work and +play while you play," we might well add, "Rest while you rest," lest in +the end you should be unable successfully either to work or play. + +A man is not necessarily condemned to tortures of mind because he must +rest for a week or a month or a year. I know that there must be anxious +times, especially when idleness means dependence, and when it brings +hardship to those who need our help. But the invalid must not try +constantly to puzzle the matter out. If we do not make ourselves sick +with worry, we shall be able sometime to approach active life with +sufficient frankness and force. It is the constant effort of the poor, +tired mind to solve its problems that not only fails of its object, but +plunges the invalid deeper into discouragement and misunderstanding. How +cruel this is, and how unfortunate that it should come more commonly to +those who try the hardest to overcome their handicaps, to throw off the +yoke of idleness and to be well. + +When you have tried your best to get back to your work and have failed, +when you have done this not once but many times, it is inevitable that +misunderstanding should creep in, inevitable that you should question +very deeply and doubt not infrequently. Yet the chances are that one of +the reasons for your failure is that you have tried too hard, that you +have not known how to rest. When you have learned how to rest, when you +have learned to put off thinking and planning until the mind becomes +fresh and clear, when you are in a fair way to know the joy of idleness +and the peace of rest, you are a great deal more likely to get back to +efficiency and to find your way along the great paths of activity into +the world of life. + +It is not so much the idleness, then, as the attempt to overcome its +irksomeness, that makes this condition painful. The invalid in bed is in +a trap, to be tormented by his thoughts unless he knows the meaning of +successful idleness. This knowledge may come to him by such strategy as +I have suggested--by giving up the struggle against worry and fret; but +peace will come surely, steadily, "with healing in its wings," when the +mind is changed altogether, when life becomes free because of a growth +and development that finds significance even in idleness, that sees the +world with wise and patient eyes. + +In a way it does not matter, your physical condition or mine, if our +"eyes have seen the glory" that deifies life and makes even its waste +places beautiful. What is that view from your window as you lie in your +bed? A bit of the sea, if you are fortunate, a corner of garden, surely, +the top of an elm tree against the blue. What is it but the revelations +of a God in the world? There is enough that is sad and unhappy, but over +all are these simple, ineffable things. If the garden is an expression +of God in the world, then the world and life are no longer meaningless. +Even idleness becomes in some degree bearable because it is a part of a +significant world. + +Unfortunately, the idleness of disability often means pain, the wear and +tear of physical or nervous suffering. That is another matter. We cannot +meet it fully with any philosophy. My patients very often beg to know +the best way to bear pain, how they may overcome the attacks of "nerves" +that are harder to bear than pain. To such a question I can only say +that the time to bear pain is before and after. Live in such a way in +the times of comparative comfort that the attacks are less likely to +appear and easier to bear when they do come. After the pain or the +"nervous" attack is over, that is the time to prevent the worst features +of another. Forget the distress; live simply and happily in spite of the +memory, and you will have done all that the patient himself can do to +ward off or to make tolerable the next occasion of suffering. Pain +itself--pure physical pain--is a matter for the physician's judgment. It +is his business to seek out the causes and apply the remedy. + + + + +V + +RULES OF THE GAME + + + It is not growing like a tree + In bulk, doth make man better be. + BEN JONSON. + + It is a good thing to have a sound body, better to have a sane + mind, but neither is to be compared to that aggregate of virile + and decent qualities which we call character. + THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + The only effective remedy against inexorable necessity is to + yield to it. + PETRARCH. + +When I go about among my patients, most of them, as it happens, +"nervously" sick, I sometimes stop to consider why it is they are ill. I +know that some are so because of physical weakness over which they have +no control, that some are suffering from the effects of carelessness, +some from wilfulness, and more from simple ignorance of the rules of the +game. There are so many rules that no one will ever know them all, but +it seems that we live in a world of laws, and that if we transgress +those laws by ever so little, we must suffer equally, whether our +transgression is a mistake or not, and whether we happen to be saints or +sinners. There are laws also which have to do with the recovery of poise +and balance when these have been lost. These laws are less well observed +and understood than those which determine our downfall. + +The more gross illnesses, from accident, contagion, and malignancy, we +need not consider here, but only those intangible injuries that disable +people who are relatively sound in the physical sense. It is true that +nervous troubles may cause physical complications and that physical +disease very often coexists with nervous illness, but it is better for +us now to make an artificial separation. Just what happens in the human +economy when a "nervous breakdown" comes, nobody seems to know, but mind +and body cooeperate to make the patient miserable and helpless. It may +be nature's way of holding us up and preventing further injury. The +hold-up is severe, usually, and becomes in itself a thing to be managed. + +The rules we have wittingly or unwittingly broken are often unknown to +us, but they exist in the All-Wise Providence, and we may guess by our +own suffering how far we have overstepped them. If a man runs into a +door in the dark, we know all about that,--the case is simple,--but if +he runs overtime at his office and hastens to be rich with the result of +a nervous dyspepsia--that is a mystery. Here is a girl who "came out" +last year. She was apparently strong and her mother was ambitious for +her social progress. That meant four nights a week for several months at +dances and dinners, getting home at 3 A.M. or later. It was gay and +delightful while it lasted, but it could not last, and the girl went to +pieces suddenly; her back gave out because it was not strong enough to +stand the dancing and the long-continued physical strain. The nerves +gave out because she did not give her faculties time to rest, and +perhaps because of a love affair that supervened. The result was a year +of invalidism, and then, because the rules of recovery were not +understood, several years more of convalescence. Such common rules +should be well enough understood, but they are broken everywhere by the +wisest people. + +The common case of the broken-down school teacher is more unfortunate. +This tragedy and others like it are more often, I believe, due to unwise +choice of profession in the first place. The women's colleges are +turning out hundreds of young women every year who naturally consider +teaching as the field most appropriate and available. Probably only a +very small proportion of these girls are strong enough physically or +nervously to meet the growing demands of the schools. They may do well +for a time, some of them unusually well, for it is the sensitive, +high-strung organism that is appreciative and effective. After a while +the worry and fret of the requirements and the constant nag of the +schoolroom have their effect upon those who are foredoomed to failure in +that particular field. The plight of such young women is particularly +hard, for they are usually dependent upon their work. + +It is, after all, not so much the things we do as the way we do them, +and what we think about them, that accomplishes nervous harm. Strangely +enough, the sense of effort and the feeling of our own inadequacy damage +the nervous system quite as much as the actual physical effort. The +attempt to catch up with life and with affairs that go on too fast for +us is a frequent and harmful deflection from the rules of the game. Few +of us avoid it. Life comes at us and goes by very fast. Tasks multiply +and we are inadequate, responsibilities increase before we are ready. +They bring fatigue and confusion. We cannot shirk and be true. Having +done all you reasonably can, stop, whatever may be the consequences. +That is a rule I would enforce if I could. To do more is to drag and +fail, so defeating the end of your efforts. If it turns out that you are +not fit for the job you have undertaken, give it up and find another, or +modify that one until it comes within your capacity. It takes courage to +do this--more courage sometimes than is needed to make us stick to the +thing we are doing. Rarely, however, will it be necessary for us to give +up if we will undertake and consider for the day only such part of our +task as we are able to perform. The trouble is that we look at our work +or our responsibility all in one piece, and it crushes us. If we cannot +arrange our lives so that we may meet their obligations a little at a +time, then we must admit failure and try again, on what may seem a +lower plane. That is what I consider the brave thing to do. I would +honor the factory superintendent, who, finding himself unequal to his +position, should choose to work at the bench where he could succeed +perfectly. + +The habit of uncertainty in thought and action, bred, as it sometimes +is, from a lack of faith in man and in God, is, nevertheless, a thing to +be dealt with sometimes by itself. Not infrequently it is a petty habit +that can be corrected by the exercise of a little will power. I believe +it is better to decide wrong a great many times--doing it quickly--than +to come to a right decision after weakly vacillating. As a matter of +fact, we may trust our decisions to be fair and true if our life's +ideals are beautiful and true. + +We may improve our indecisions a great deal by mastering their unhappy +details, but we shall not finally overcome them until life rings true +and until all our acts and thoughts become the solid and inevitable +expression of a healthy growing regard for the best in life, a call to +right living that is no mean dictum of policy, but which is renewed +every morning as the sun comes out of the sea. However inconsequential +the habit of indecision may seem, it is really one of the most disabling +of bad habits. Its continuance contributes largely to the sum of nervous +exhaustion. Whatever its origin, whether it stands in the relation of +cause or effect, it is an indulgence that insidiously takes the snap and +sparkle out of life and leaves us for the time being colorless and weak. + +Next to uncertainty, an uninspired certainty is wrecking to the best of +human prospects. The man whose one idea is of making himself and his +family materially comfortable, or even rich, may not be coming to +nervous prostration, but he is courting a moral prostration that will +deny him all the real riches of life and that will in the end reward +him with a troubled mind, a great, unsatisfied longing, unless, to be +sure, he is too smug and satisfied to long for anything. + +The larger life leads us inevitably away from ourselves, away from the +super-requirements of our families. It demands of them and of ourselves +an unselfishness that is born of a love that finds its expression in the +service of God. And what is the service of God if it is not such an +entering into the divine purposes and spirit that we become with God +re-creators in the world--working factors in the higher evolution of +humanity? While we live we shall get and save, we shall use and spend, +we shall serve the needs of those dependent upon us, but we shall not +line the family nest so softly that our children become powerless. We +shall not confine our charities to the specified channels, where our +names will be praised and our credit increased. We shall give and serve +in secret places with our hearts in our deeds. Then we may possess the +untroubled mind, a treasure too rich to be computed. We shall not have +it for the seeking; it may exist in the midst of what men may call +privations and sorrows; but it will exist in a very large sense and it +will be ours. The so-called hard-headed business man who never allows +himself to be taken advantage of, whose dealings are always strict and +uncompromising, is very apt to be a particularly miserable invalid when +he is ill. I cannot argue in favor of business laxity,--I know the +imperative need of exactness and finality,--but I do believe that if we +are to possess the untroubled mind we must make our lives larger than +the field of dollars and cents. The charity that develops in us will +make us truly generous and free from the reaction of hardness. + +It is a great temptation to go on multiplying the rules of the game. +There are so many sensible and necessary pieces of advice which we all +need to have emphasized. That is the course we must try to avoid. The +child needs to be told, arbitrarily for a while, what is right, and what +is wrong, that he must do this, and he must not do that. The time comes, +however, when the growing instinct toward right living is the thing to +foster--not the details of life which will inevitably take care of +themselves if the underlying principle is made right. It must be the +ideal of moral teaching to make clear and pure the source of action. +Then the stream will be clear and pure. Such a stream will purify itself +and neutralize the dangerous inflow along its banks. It is true that +great harm may come from the polluted inflows, but they will be less and +less harmful as the increasing current from the good source flows down. + +We shall have to look well to our habits lest serious ills befall, but +that must never be the main concern or we shall find ourselves living +very narrow and labored lives; we shall find that we are failing to +observe one of the most important rules of the game. + + + + +VI + +THE NERVOUS TEMPERAMENT + + + Beyond the ugly actual, lo, on every side, + Imagination's limitless domain. + BROWNING. + + He that too much refines his delicacy will always endanger his + quiet. + SAMUEL JOHNSON. + + The great refinement of many poetical gentlemen has rendered + them practically unfit for the jostling and ugliness of life. + STEVENSON. + +It has been my fortune as a physician to deal much with the so-called +nervous temperament. I have come both to fear and to love it. It is the +essence of all that is bright, imaginative, and fine, but it is as +unstable as water. Those who possess it must suffer--it is their lot to +feel deeply, and very often to be misunderstood by their more practical +friends. All their lives these people will shed tears of joy, and more +tears of sorrow. I would like to write of their joy, of the perfect +satisfaction, the true happiness that comes in creating new and +beautiful things, of the deep pleasure they have in the appreciation of +good work in others. But with the instinct of a dog trained for a +certain kind of hunting I find myself turning to the misfortunes and the +ills. + +The very keenness of perception makes painful anything short of +perfection. What will such people do in our clanging streets? What of +those fine ears tuned to the most exquisite appreciation of sweet sound? +What of that refinement of hearing that detects the least departure from +the rhythm and pitch in complex orchestral music? And must they bear the +crash of steel on stone, the infernal clatter of traffic? Well, yes,--as +a matter of fact--they must, at least for a good many years to come, +until advancing civilization eliminates the city noise. But it is not +always great noises that disturb and distract. There is a story told of +a woman who became so sensitive to noise that she had her house made +sound-proof: there were thick carpets and softly closing doors; +everything was padded. The house was set back from a quiet street, but +that street was strewn with tanbark to check the sound of carriages. +Surely here was bliss for the sensitive soul. I need not tell the rest +of the story, how absolutely necessary noises became intolerable, and +the poor woman ended by keeping a man on the place to catch and silence +the tree toads and crickets. + +There is nothing to excuse the careless and unnecessary noises of the +world--we shall dispose of them finally as we are disposing of +flamboyant signboards and typhoid flies. But meanwhile, and always, for +that matter, the sensitive soul must learn to adjust itself to +circumstances and conditions. This adjustment may in itself become a +fine art. It is really the art by which the painter excludes the +commonplace and irrelevant from his landscape. Sometimes we have to do +this consciously; for the most part, it should be a natural, unconscious +selection. + +I am sure it is unwise to attempt at any time the dulling of the +appreciative sense for the sake of peace and comfort. Love and +understanding of the beautiful and true is too rare and fine a thing to +be lost or diminished under any circumstances. The cure, as I see it, is +to be found in the cultivation of the faculty that finds some good in +everything and everybody. This is the saving grace--it takes great bulks +of the commonplace and distils from the mass a few drops of precious +essence; it finds in the unscholarly and the imperfect, rare traces of +good; it sees in man, any man, the image of God, to be justified and +made evident only in the sublimity of death, perhaps, but usually to be +developed in life. + +The nervous person is often morose and unsocial--perhaps because he is +not understood, perhaps because he falls so short of his own ideals. +Often he does not find kindred spirits anywhere. I do not think we +should drive such a man into conditions that hurt, but I do believe that +if he is truly artistic, and not a snob, he may lead himself into a +larger social life without too much sacrifice. + +The sensitive, high-strung spirit that does not give of its own best +qualities to the world of its acquaintance, that does not express itself +in some concrete way, is always in danger of harm. Such a spirit turned +in upon itself is a consuming fire. The spirit will burn a long time and +suffer much if it does not use its heat to warm and comfort the world of +need. + +Real illness makes the nervous temperament a much more formidable +difficulty--all the sensitive faculties are more sensitive--irritability +becomes an obsession and idleness a terror. + +The nervous temperament under irritation is very prone to become +selfish--and very likely to hide behind this selfishness, calling it +temperament. The man who flies into a passion when he is disturbed, or +who spends his days in torment from the noises of the street; the woman +of high attainment who has retired into herself, who is moody and +unresponsive,--these unfortunates have virtually built a wall about +their lives, a wall which shuts out the world of life and happiness. +From the walls of this prison the sounds of discord and annoyance are +thrown back upon the prisoner intensified and multiplied. The wall is +real enough in its effect, but will cease to exist when the prisoner +begins to go outside, when he begins to realize his selfishness and his +mistake. Then the noises and the irritations will be lost in the wider +world that is open to him. After all, it is only through unselfish +service in the world of men that this broadening can come. + +There is no lack of opportunity for service. Perhaps the simplest and +most available form of service is charity,--the big, professional kind, +of course,--and beyond that the greater field of intimate and personal +charity. I know a girl of talent and ability--herself a nervous +invalid--sick and helpless for the lack of a little money which would +give her a chance to get well. I do not mean money for luxuries, for +foolish indulgences, but money to buy opportunity--money that would lift +her out of the heavy morass of poverty and give her a chance. She falls +outside the beaten path of charity. She is not reached by the usual +philanthropies. I also know plenty of people who could help that girl +without great sacrifice. They will not do it because they give money to +the regular charities--they will not do it because sometimes generosity +has been abused. So they miss the chance of broadening and developing +their own lives. + +I know well enough that objective interest can rarely be forced--it +must usually come the other way about--through the broadening of life +which makes it inevitable. Sometimes I wish I could force that kind of +development, that kind of charity. Sometimes I long to take the rich +neurasthenic and make him help his brother, make him develop a new art +that shall save people from sorrow and loss. We are all together in this +world, and all kin; to recognize it and to serve the needs of the +unfortunate as we would serve our own children is the remedy for many +ills. It is the new art, the final and greatest of all artistic +achievements; it warms our hearts and opens our lives to all that is +wholesome and good. This is one of the crises in which my theory of +"inspiration first" may fail. Here the charity may have to come first, +may have to be insisted upon before there can be any inspiration or any +further joy in life. It is not always charity in the usual sense that is +required; sometimes the charity that gives something besides money is +best. But charity in any good sense means self-forgetfulness, and that +is a long way on the road to nervous health. Give of yourself, give of +your substance, and you will cease to be troubled with the penalties of +selfishness. Then take the next step--that gives not because life has +come back, but because the world has become larger and warmer and +happier. When the giver gives of his sympathy and of his means because +he wants to,--not because he has to do so,--he will begin to know what I +mean when I say it is better to have the inspiration first. + + + + +VII + +SELF-CONTROL + + + He only earns his freedom and existence + Who daily conquers them anew. + GOETHE. + +A good many writers on self-control and kindred subjects insist that we +shall conscientiously and consciously govern our mental lives. They say, +"You must get up in the morning with determination to be cheerful." They +insist that in spite of annoyance or trouble you shall keep a smiling +face, and affirm to yourself over and over again the denial of +annoyance. + +I do not like this kind of self-control. I wish I could admire it and +approve it, but I find I cannot because it seems to me self-conscious +and superficial. It is better than nothing and unquestionably adds +greatly to the sum of human happiness. But I do not think we ought to be +cheerful if we are consumed with trouble and sorrow. The fact is we +ought not to be for long beyond a natural cheerfulness that comes from +the deepest possible sources. While we are sad, let us be so, simply and +naturally; but we must pray that the light may come to us in our sorrow, +that we may be able soon and naturally to put aside the signs of +mourning. + +The person who thinks little of his own attitude of mind is more likely +to be well controlled and to radiate happiness than one who must +continually prompt himself to worthy thoughts. The man whose heart is +great with understanding of the sorrow and pathos of life is far more +apt to be brave and fine in his own trouble than one who must look to a +motto or a formula for consolation and advice. Deep in the lives of +those who permanently triumph over sorrow there is an abiding peace and +joy. Such peace cannot come even from ample experience in the material +world. Despair comes from that experience sometimes, unless the heart +is open to the vital spirit that lies beyond all material things, that +creates and renews life and that makes it indescribably beautiful and +significant. Experience of material things is only the beginning. In it +and through it we may have experience of the wider life that surrounds +the material. + +Our hearts must be opened to the courage that comes unbidden when we +feel ourselves to be working, growing parts of the universe of God. Then +we shall have no more sorrow and no more joy in the pitiful sense of the +earth, but rather an exaltation which shall make us masters of these and +of ourselves. We shall have a sympathy and charity that shall need no +promptings, but that flow from us spontaneously into the world of +suffering and need. + +Beethoven was of a sour temper, according to all accounts, but he wrote +his symphonies in the midst of tribulations under which few men would +have worked at all. When we have felt something of the spirit that makes +work inevitable, it will be as though we had heard the eternal harmonies. +We shall write our symphonies, build our bridges, or do our lesser tasks +with dauntless purpose, even though the possessions that men count dear +are taken from us. Suppose we can do very little because of some +infirmity: if that little has in it the larger inspiration, it will be +enough to make life full and fine. The joy of a wider life is not +obtainable in its completeness; it is only through a lifetime of service +and experience that we can approach it. That is the proof of its divine +origin--its unattainableness. "God keep you from the she wolf and from +your heart's deepest desire," is an old saying of the Rumanians. If we +fully obtain our desires, we prove their unworthiness. Does any one +suppose that Beethoven attained his whole heart's desire in his music? +He might have done so had he been a lesser man. He was not a cheerful +companion. That is unfortunate, and shows that he failed in complete +inspiration and in the ordinary kind of self-control. He was at least +sincere, and that helped not a little to make him what he was. I would +almost rather a man would be morose and sincere than cheerful from a +sense of duty. + +Our knowledge of the greater things of life must always be substantiated +and worked out into realities of service, or else we shall be weak and +ineffective. The charity that balks at giving, reacts upon a man and +deadens him. I am always insisting that we must not live and serve +through a sense of duty, but that we must find the inspiration first. It +is better to give ourselves to service not for the sake of finding God, +but because we have found Him and because our souls have grown in the +finding until we cannot help giving. If we have grown to such a stature +we shall be able to meet sorrow and loss bravely and simply. We shall +feel for ourselves and for others in their troubles as Forbes Robertson +did when he wrote to his friend who had met with a great loss: "I pray +that you may never, never, never get over this sorrow, but through it, +into it, into the very heart of God." All this is very unworldly, no +doubt, and yet I will venture the assertion that such a standard and +such a method will come nearer to the mark of successful and +well-controlled living than the most carefully planned campaign of duty. +If we plan to make life fine, if we say, in effect, "I will be good and +cheerful, no matter what happens," we are beginning at the wrong end. We +may be able to work back from our mottoes to real living, but the +chances are we shall stop somewhere by the way, too confused and +uncertain to go on. Self-control, at its best, is not a conscious thing. +It is not well that we should try to be good, but that we should so +dignify our lives with the spirit of good that evil becomes well-nigh +impossible to us. + + + + +VIII + +THE LIGHTER TOUCH + + + Heart not so heavy as mine, + Wending late home, + As it passed my window + Whistled itself a tune. + EMILY DICKINSON. + +I have never seen good come from frightening worriers. It is no doubt +wise to speak the truth, but it seems to me a mistake to say in public +print or in private advice that worry leads to tragedies of the worst +sort. No matter how hopeful we may be in our later teaching about the +possibilities of overcoming worry, the really serious worrier will +pounce upon the original tragic statement and apply it with terrible +insistence to his own case. + +I would not minimize the seriousness of worry, but I am convinced that +we can rarely overcome it by direct voluntary effort. It does not go +until we forget it, and we do not forget it if we are always trying +consciously to overcome it. We worriers must go about our +business--other business than that of worry. + +Life is serious--alas, too serious--and full enough of pathos. We cannot +joke about its troubles; they are real. But, at least, we need not +magnify them. Why should we act as though everything depended upon our +efforts, even the changing seasons and the blowing winds? No doubt we +are responsible for our own acts and thoughts and for the welfare of +those who depend upon us. The trouble is we take unnecessary +responsibilities so seriously that we overreach ourselves and defeat our +own good ends. + +I would make my little world more blessedly careless--with an _abandon_ +that loves life too much to spoil it with worry. I would cherish so +great a desire for my child's good that I could not scold and bear down +upon him for every little fault, making him a worrier too, but, +instead, I would guide him along the right path with pleasant words and +brave encouragement. The condemnation of faults is rarely constructive. + +We had better say to the worriers, "Here is life; no matter what +unfortunate things you may have said or done, you must put all evil +behind you and live--simply, bravely, well." The greater the evil, +the greater the need of forgetting. Not flippantly, but reverently, +leave your misdeeds in a limbo where they may not rise to haunt you. +This great thing you may do, not with the idea of evading or escaping +consequences, but so that past evil may be turned into present and +future good. The criminal himself is coming to be treated this way. He +is no longer eternally reminded of his crime. He is taken out into the +sunshine and air and is given a shovel to dig with. A wonderful thing is +that shovel. With it he may bury the past and raise up a happier, +better future. We must care so much to expiate our sins that we are +willing to neglect them and live righteously. That is true repentance, +constructive repentance. + +We cannot suddenly change our mental outlook and become happy when grief +has borne us down. "For the broken heart silence and shade,"--that is +fair and right. I would say to those who are unhappy, "Do not try to be +happy, you cannot force it; but let peace come to you out of the great +world of beauty that calmly surrounds our human suffering, and that +speaks to us quietly of God." Genuine laughter is not forced, but we may +let it come back into our lives if we know that it is right for it to +come. + +We have all about us instances of the effectiveness of the lighter touch +as applied to serious matters. The life of the busy surgeon is a good +example. He may be, and usually is, brimming with sympathy, but if he +were to feel too deeply for all his patients, he would soon fail and +die. He goes about his work. He puts through a half-dozen operations in +a way that would send cold shivers down the back of the uninitiated. And +yet he is accurate and sure as a machine. If he were to take each case +upon his mind in a heavy, consequential way, if he were to give deep +concern to each ligature he ties, and if he were to be constantly afraid +of causing pain, he would be a poor surgeon. His work, instead of being +clean and sharp, would suffer from over-conscientiousness. He might +never finish an operation for fear his patient would bleed to death. +Such a man may be the reverse of flippant, and yet he may actually enjoy +his somber work. Cruel, bloodthirsty? Not at all. These men--the great +surgeons--are as tender as children. But they love their work, they +really care very deeply for their patients. The successful ones have the +lighter touch and they have no time for worry. + +Sometimes we wish to arouse the public conscience. Do the long columns +of figures, the impressive statistics, wake men to activity? It is +rather the keen, bright thrust of the satirist that saves the day. Once +in a New England town meeting there was a movement for a much-needed new +schoolhouse. By the installation of skylights in the attic the old +building had been made to accommodate the overflow of pupils. The +serious speakers in favor of the new building had left the audience +cold, when a young man arose and said he had been up into the attic and +had seen the wonderful skylights that were supposed to meet the needs of +the children. "I have seen them," he said; "we used to call them +scuttles when I was a boy." A hundred thousand dollars was voted for the +new schoolhouse. + +There is a natural gayety in most of us which helps more than we realize +to keep us sound. The pity is that when responsibilities come and +hardships come, we repress our lighter selves sternly, as though such +repression were a duty. Better let us guard the springs of happiness +very, very jealously. The whistling boy in the dark street does more +than cheer himself on the way. He actually protects himself from evil, +and brings courage not only to himself, but to those who hear him. I do +not hold for false cheerfulness that is sometimes affected, but a brave +show of courage in a forlorn hope will sometimes win the day. It is +infinitely more likely to win than a too serious realization of the +danger of defeat. The show of courage is often not a pretense at all, +but victory itself. + +The need of the world is very great and its human destiny is in our +hands. Half of those who could help to right the wrongs are asleep or +too selfishly immersed in their own affairs. We need more helpers like +my friend of the skylights. Most of us are far too serious. The +slumberers will slumber on, and the worriers will worry, the serious +people will go ponderously about until some one shows them how +ridiculous they are and how pitiful. + + + + +IX + +REGRETS AND FOREBODINGS + + + Regret avails little--still less remorse--the one keeps alive + the old offense, the other creates new offenses. + GOETHE. + +The unrepentant sinner walks abroad. Unfortunately for us moralists he +seems to be having a very good time. We must not condone him, though he +may be a very lovable person; neither must we altogether condemn him, +for he may be repentant in the very best way of all ways, the way that +forgets much and leaves behind more, because life is so fine that it +must not be spoiled, and because progress is in every way better than +retrospection. The fact is, that repentance is too often the fear of +punishment, and such fear is, to say the least, unmanly. I would rather +be a lovable sinner than one of the people who repent because they +cannot bear to think of the consequences. Knowledge and fear of +consequences undoubtedly keep a great many young people from the +so-called sins of ignorance. But there must be something behind +knowledge and fear of consequences to stop the youth of spirit from +doing what he is inclined to do. Over and over again we must go back to +the appreciation of life's dignity and beauty--to the consciousness of +the spirit of God behind and in the world if we are to find a balance +and a character that will "deliver us from evil." + +When we have found this consciousness--when we live it and breathe it, +we shall be far less apt to sin, and when we have sinned, as we all must +in the course of our blundering lives, we shall not waste our time in +regret or in the fear of consequences. If the God we dream of is as +great as the sea, or as beautiful as a tree, we need not fear Him. He +will be tender, and just at the same time. He will be as forgiving as +He is strong. The best we can do, then, is to leave our sins in the hand +of God and go our way, sadder and wiser, maybe, but not regretting too +much, not fearing any more. + +There is a new idea in medicine--the development of which has been one +of the most striking achievements of modern times--the idea of +psychanalysis as taught and advocated by Freud in Germany. The plan +is to study the subconscious mind of the nervous patient by means of +hypnotism, to assist the patient to recall all the mental experiences of +his past,--even his very early childhood,--and in this way to make clear +the origin of the misconceptions and the unfortunate impressions which +have presumably exerted their influence through the years. The new +system includes, also, the interpretation of dreams, their effect upon +the conscious life and their influence upon the mentality. Very +wonderful results are reported from the pursuit of this method. Many a +badly warped and twisted life has been straightened out and renewed when +the searchlight has revealed the hidden influences that have been at +work and which have made trouble. The repression of conscious or +unconscious feelings can no doubt change the whole mental life. We +should have the greatest respect for the men who are doing this work. It +requires, I am told, an almost unbelievable amount of patience and time +to accomplish the analysis. No doubt the adult judgment of childish +follies is a direct means of disposing of their harmful influence in +life, the surest way of losing the conscious or unconscious regrets that +sadden many lives. There are probably many cases of disturbed and +troubled mind that can be cured in this way only. The method does not +appeal to me because I am so strongly inclined to take people as they +are, to urge a forgetfulness that does not really forget, but which goes +on bravely to the development of life. This development cannot proceed +without the understanding that life may be made so beautiful that sins +and failures are lost in progress. Some of us may need the subtle +analysis of our lives to make clear the points where we went astray in +our thoughts and ideas, but many of us, fortunately, are able to take +ourselves for better or for worse, sins and all. Most of us ought to do +that, for the most part, if we are to progress and live. Sometimes the +revelations of evils we know not of result in complications rather than +simplification, as in the case of a boy who wrote to me and said that +since he had learned of his early sins he had made sure that he could +never be well. Instead of going into further analysis with him, I +assured him that, while it was undoubtedly his duty to regret all the +evil of his life, it was a still greater duty to go on and live the rest +of it well, and that he could do so if he would open his eyes to the +possibilities of unselfish service. + +I am very much inclined to preach against self-analysis and the almost +inevitable regret and despair that accompany it. + +One of my patients decided some time ago that her life was wasted, that +she had accomplished nothing. It was true that she had not the endurance +to meet the usual demands of social or even family life, and that for +long periods she had to give up altogether. But it happened that she had +the gift of musical understanding, that she had studied hard in younger +days. With a little urging the gift was made to grow again and to serve +not only the patient's own needs, but to bring very great pleasure to +every one who listened to her playing. That rare, true ability was worth +everything, and she came to realize it in time. The gift of musical +expression is a very great thing, and I succeeded in making this woman +understand that she should be happy in that ability even if nothing +else should be possible. + +Often enough nothing that can compare with music exists, and life seems +wholly barren. Rather cold comfort it seems at first to assure a person +who is helpless that character is the greatest thing in the world, but +that is the final truth. The most limited and helpless life may glow +with it and be richer than imagination can believe. It is never time to +regret--and never time to despair. The less analysis the better. When it +comes to character, live, grow, and get a deeper and deeper +understanding of life--of life that is near to God and so capable of +wrong only as we turn away from Him. "Do not say things; what you are +stands over you and thunders so, I cannot hear what you say to the +contrary." We shall do well not to forget that, whatever failures or +mistakes we have made, there is infinite possibility ahead of us, that +character is the greatest thing in the world, and that most good +character has been built upon mistakes and failures. I believe there is +no sin which may not make up the fabric of its own forgiveness in the +living of a free, self-sacrificing life. I know of no bodily ill nor +handicap which we may not eventually rise above and beyond by means of +brave spiritual progress. The body may fail us, but the spirit reaches +on and into the great world of God. + + + + +X + +THE VIRTUES + + + The virtues hide their vanquished fires + Within that whiter flame-- + Till conscience grows irrelevant + And duty but a name. + FREDERICK LAWRENCE KNOWLES. + +In most books I have read on "nerves" and similar subjects, advice is +given, encouragement is given, but the necessity for patience is not +made clear. Patience is typical of all the other virtues. Many a man has +followed the best of advice for a time, and has become discouraged +because the promised results did not materialize. It is disappointing, +surely, to have lived upon a diet for months only to find that you still +have dyspepsia, or to have followed certain rules of morality with great +precision and enthusiasm without obtaining the untroubled mind. We are +accustomed to see results in the material world and naturally expect +them everywhere. The trouble is we do not always recognize improvements +when we see them, and we insist upon certain preconceived changes as a +result of our endeavors. The physician is apt rashly to promise definite +physical accomplishments in a given time. He is courting disappointment +and distrust when he does so. We all want to get relief from our +symptoms, and we are inclined to insist upon a particular kind of relief +so strongly that we fail to appreciate the possibilities of another and +a better relief which may be at hand. The going astray in this +particular is sometimes very unfortunate. I have known a man to rush +frantically from one doctor to another, trying to obtain relief for a +particular pain or discomfort, unwilling to rest long enough to find out +that the trouble would have disappeared naturally if he had taken the +advice of the first physician, to live without impatience and within his +limitations. + +The human body is a very complex organism, and sometimes pain and +distress are better not relieved, since they may be the expression of +some deeper maladjustment which must first be straightened out. This is +also true of the mind--in which the unhappy proddings of conscience had +better not be cured by anodynes or by evasion unless we are prepared to +go deeply enough to make them disappear spontaneously. We must sometimes +insist upon patience, though it should exist as a matter of +course--patience with ourselves and with others. The physician who +demands and secures the greatest degree of patience from his clients is +the most successful practitioner, for no life can go on successfully +without patience. If patience can be spontaneous,--the natural result of +a broadening outlook,--then it will be permanent and serviceable; the +other kind, that exists by extreme effort, may do for a while, but it is +a poor makeshift. + +I always feel like apologizing when I ask a man or a woman to be +tolerant or charitable or generous or, for that matter, to practice any +of the ordinary virtues. Sound living should spring unbidden from the +very joy of life; it should need no justification and certainly no +urging. But unfortunately, as the world now stands, there are men and +groups of men who do not see the light. There is a wide contagion of +selfishness and short-sightedness among the well-to-do, and a necessary +federation of protection and selfishness among the poor. The practical +needs of life, artificial as they are among the rich, and terribly +insistent as they are among the poor, blind us to larger considerations. + +If all matters of welfare, public or private, could be treated +unselfishly, how quickly we should be rid of some of the great evils +that afflict the race. I am inclined to think that much of the goodness +of people does come in that way, unconsciously, naturally, as the light +flows from the sun. Yet I suppose that in our present order, and until, +through the years, the better time arrives, we must very often ask +ourselves and others to be good and to be charitable, just because it is +right, or worse still because it is good policy. + +A man grows better, more human, more intelligent, as he practices the +virtues. He is safer, no doubt, and the world is better. It is even true +that, by the constant practice of virtues, he may come finally to +espouse goodness and become thoroughly good. That is the hopeful thing +about it and the reason why we may consistently ask or demand the +routine practice of the virtues. But let us hold up all the time in our +teaching and in our lives the other course, the development of the +inspiration that includes all virtues and that makes all our way easy +and plain in a world where confusion reigns, because men are going at +the problem of right living the wrong way around. + +The practice of good living will never be easy in its details, but if it +is sure in its inspiration there will be no question of the final +triumph. We shall have to fight blindly sometimes and with all the +strength and persistence of animals at bay. We shall fail sometimes, +too, and that is not always the worst thing that can happen. It is the +glory of life that we shall slowly triumph over ourselves and the world. +It is the glory of life that out of sore trouble, in the midst of +poverty and human injustice, may rise, spontaneous and serene, the +spirit of self-sacrifice, the unconquerable spirit of service that does +not question, that expresses the divine tenderness in terms of human +love. Through the times of darkness and doubt which must inevitably +come, there will be for those who cherish such a vision, and who come +back to it again and again, no utter darkness, no trouble that wholly +crushes, no loss that wholly destroys. + +If we could not understand it before, it will slowly dawn upon us that +the life of Christ exemplified all these things. Charity, kindliness, +service, patience,--all these things which have seemed so hard will +become in our lives, as in his, the substance and expression of our +faith. The great human virtues will become easy and natural, the +untroubled mind, or as much of it as is good to possess, will be ours, +not because we have escaped trouble, but because we have disarmed it, +have welcomed it even, so long as it has served to strengthen and +ennoble our lives. + + + + +XI + +THE CURE BY FAITH + + + The healing of his seamless dress + Is by our beds of pain-- + We touch Him in life's throng and press, + And we are whole again. + WHITTIER. + +I cannot finish my little book of ideals without writing some things +that are in my mind about cure by faith or by prayer. It is a subject +that I approach with hesitation because of the danger of +misunderstanding. No subject is more difficult and none is more +important for the invalid to understand. We hear a great deal about the +wonderful cures of Christian Science or of similar agencies, and we all +know of people who have been restored to usefulness by such means. Has +the healing of Christ again become possible on earth? No one would be +more eager to accept it and acknowledge it than the physician if it +were really so. But careful investigation always reveals the fact that +the wonderful cures are not of the body but of the mind. It is easy +enough to say that a cancer or tuberculosis has been cured by faith, and +apparently easy for many people to believe it, but alas, the proof is +wanting. The Christian Scientist, honest and sincere as he may be, is +not qualified to say what is true disease and what is not. What looks +like diseased tissue recovers, but medical men know that it could not +have been diseased in the most serious sense, and that the prayer for +recovery could have had nothing to do with the cure, save in a very +indirect way. + +The man who discards medicine for philosophy or religion is courting +unnecessary suffering and even death. The worst part of it is that he +may induce some one else to make the same mistake with similar results. +In writing this opinion I am in no way denying the great significance +and value of faith nor of the prayerful and trustful mind. If it cannot +cure actual physical disease, faith can accomplish veritable miracles of +healing in the mind of the patient. No thoughtful or honest medical man +will deny it. Nor will most medical men deny that the course of almost +any physical illness may be modified by faith and prayer. I am almost +saying that there is no known medicine of such potency. Every bodily +function is the better for the conquering spirit that transcends the +earth and finds its necessary expression in prayer. + +There really need be no issue or disagreement between medicine and faith +cure. At its best, one is not more wonderful than the other, and both +aim to accomplish the same end--the relief of human suffering. When the +two are merged, as some day they will be, we shall be surprised to +discover how alike they are. Christian Science is rightly scorned by +medical men because it is unscientific, because it makes absurd and +untenable claims outside its own field, and because it has not as yet +investigated that field in the scientific spirit. When proper study and +investigation have been made it will be found that faith cure, not in +its present state, but in some future development, will have an immense +field of usefulness. It will be worthy of as much respect in that field +as medicine proper in its own sphere. As a matter of fact both medicine +and faith cure are miraculous in a very real sense, as both depend for +efficiency now and always upon the same great laws which may be fairly +called divine. What is the discovery that the serum of a horse will +under certain circumstances cure diphtheria? Does it not mean that man +is tapping sources of power far beyond his understanding? Is man +responsible save as the agent? Did he produce the complex animal +chemistry that makes this cure possible? Did man make the horse, or the +laws that control the physiology and pathology of that animal? Here, +then, is faith cure in its largest and best sense. The biologist may not +be willing to admit it, but his faith in these great laws of God have +made possible the cure of a dread disease. Here, as in all matters of +pure religion, it is what men say and write, not the fact itself, that +makes all the misunderstanding; we make our judgments and conceive our +prejudices from mere surface considerations. Call life what you +will,--leave out the symbolic word "God" altogether,--the facts remain. +The true scientific spirit must reverence and adore the power that lies +behind creation. It is as inconsistent for the bacteriologist to be an +unbeliever as it is for the Christian Scientist to deny the value of +bacteriology. Medicine is infinitely farther advanced than Christian +Science, and yet Christian Science has grasped some truth that the +natural scientist has stupidly missed. When an obsession is thrown off +and courage substituted for fear, we witness as important a "cure" as +can be shown to the credit of surgery. If the Christian Scientists and +the other faith-curers were only less superficial and less narrow in +their explanation of the facts, if they would condescend to study the +diseases they treat, they would be entitled to, and would receive, more +respect and consideration. + +The cure and prevention of disease through the agency of man are +evidently part of the divine plan. Our eagerness to advance along the +lines of investigation and practice is but that divine plan in action. +The truly scientific spirit will neglect no possible curative agent. +When scientific men ridicule prayer, they are thinking not of the real +thing which is above all possible criticism, but of the feeble and often +pathetic groping for the real thing. We ask in our prayers for +impossible blessings that would invert the laws of God and change the +face of nature--very well, we must be prepared for disappointment. The +attitude of prayer may, indeed, transform our own lives and make +possible for us experiences that would otherwise have been impossible. +But our pathetic demands--we shall never know how forlorn and weak they +are. Prayer is the opening of the heart to the being we call God--it is +most natural and reasonable. If we pray in our weakness and blindness +for what we may not have, there is, nevertheless, a wonderful +re-creative effect within us. The comfort and peace of such communion is +beyond all else healing and restoring in its influence upon the troubled +and anxious mind of man. The poet or the scientist who bows in adoration +before the glory of God revealed in nature, prays in effect to that God +and his soul is refreshed and renewed. The poor wretch who stands +blindfolded before the firing squad, waiting the word that ends the life +of a military spy, is near enough to God--and the whispered prayer upon +his lips is cure for the wounds that take his life. + +The best kind of prayer seeks not and asks not for physical relief or +benefit, but opens the heart to its maker, and so receives the cure of +peace that is a greater miracle than any yet wrought by man. Under the +influence of that cure the sick are well and the dead are alive again. +With the courage and spirit of such a cure in our lives, we shall +inevitably do our utmost to relieve, by any good means, the physical +suffering of the world. We shall follow the laws of nature. We shall +study them with the utmost care. We shall take nothing for granted, +since by less careful steps we shall miss the divine law and so go +astray. The science of healing will become no chance and irrational +thing. We shall use all the natural means to relieve and prevent +suffering--there will be no scoring of one set of doctors by another +because all will have one purpose. But more to the point than that, men +will discover that health in its largest sense consists in living devout +and prayerful lives whereunto shall be revealed in good time all that +our finite minds can know and use. There will be no suffering of the +body in the old and pitiful sense, for we shall be so much alive that +disease and death can no longer claim us. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Untroubled Mind, by Herbert J. 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