THE NATURAL LAW
But what is the law of our being? It is harmony, peace, rest. We have
but to look at the workings of our own marvelous physical bodies to
perceive that law. The more we study the human body, the more we wonder
at its mechanism. Yet every part of this intricate machinery, in
harmony with each other part, finds its own work, unless man, through
his misunderstanding, throws it out of order.
Perhaps the strongest proof of the naturally harmonious working of the
body is found in the responsive distress or disease which result from
the wrong use of any one function. It is not necessary to cut the heart
itself to injure it. To sever an artery anywhere will interfere with
the perfection of the heart’s work as effectively as a direct injury to
the heart. To bring bad news may stop its action forever.
It is not necessary to strike the head to cause a headache; that will
follow if we abuse the stomach, or live so that the liver becomes
deranged. We get these results because of the perfect harmony in which
all the parts of the body work when we conform to the law of our
being. The pain is a kindly monitor, warning us that we have violated
some law and bidding us get into line once more. It is always wise to
heed such warning, gratefully.
Suppose that a man has a cellar which is so dark and damp and dirty
that he hates to go into it, and tries to forget it. But it is flooded
in a storm, and he is forced to go down to examine it, and then finds
that the wall is unsafe, and must be supported, else the house may
fall. Will he not say, “It was well that the flood came that took me
down into the depths, so that I might find what was endangering my
property and the lives of my family?” And if, in addition, he not only
reinforces and buttresses the wall, but also lets in the light and
cleans up the cellar, he will actually remove out of his life what was
always a disagreeable and neglected task. He will add to the value of
his property, and have besides a security in his house that he would
never have had but for the “accident.” So we, if we heed the first
pain that tells us we have violated the law of harmony in our physical
body, may be led into a better and truer understanding of ourselves
than ever before.
If the law of the physical body is harmony, peace, rest, it must be
true that the law of the intelligence and the law of the spirit are the
same. If it were not so, there would be constant warring between the
three natures—physical, intellectual, and emotional—and happiness and
rest would be impossible.
Harmony, peace, rest are the blessings that all men crave, even when
they do not understand their own desires. To say that peace and rest
are inherently impossible of attainment is to say that we are formed
with desires that tantalize and torment us, as a mirage tantalizes the
traveler dying of thirst in the desert, with no hope of satisfying
those desires. It is in effect to say that a cruel monster governs this
world and takes delight in our suffering.
He who tries with apparent disregard of harmony to enforce his own will
is, after all, striving in his blind and hopeless way for harmony.
He thinks that to make his will supreme would bring peace, and so he
tries to have his own way: that accounts for much tyranny, especially
domestic tyranny.
That so few do attain happiness and rest in their lives is because of
this misunderstanding of life rather than from any inability to gain
happiness and rest. We allow trifles to distract us from our real
purpose. We feel ourselves so pressed and oppressed by petty cares that
we cannot find time during the day to do all that we feel we must do.
It would be well for us to follow Pitt’s rule, to do our part in the
world instead of trying to run it.
If that rule worked in his high and responsible position, it would
probably work in our less important places. Most of us spend our
strength for that which is naught, largely because we do not examine
the nature of the “duty” which presents itself to us. We should
probably find that our duties are not worth doing, or else that another
could do them as well.
Rest brings sleep more than sleep brings rest.