First work out the contrast. Before reading further, think what
happens when one keeps the opposite of happy, whatever be the actual
stage between the extreme homicidal or suicidal violence or suicidal
melancholia on the one hand, and, on the other hand, ordinary fear,
worry, resentment, depression, grumpiness, and so on.
* * * * *
Those who wish to study the effects of these states of mind more
fully, can consult Elmer Gates’ “The Mind and the Brain,” or William
S. Sadler’s “Physiology of Faith and Fear,” both quoted in my book.[A]
Professor Elmer Gates, of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington,
says:--
“_My experiments show that irascible, malevolent, and depressing
emotions generate in the system injurious compounds, some of which
are extremely poisonous; also that agreeable, happy emotions generate
chemical compounds of nutritious value, which stimulate the cells to
manufacture energy...._
“_If an evil emotion is dominant, then during that period the
respiration contains volatile poisons, which are expelled through the
breath and are characteristic of these emotions._
“_Wearisome, unpleasant memories weaken health, and do not generate
thought energy. Cure is accomplished in expelling these by another crop
of wholly pleasant memories, which put the necessary structures of the
mind in systematic order and teach the patient how to use the mental
faculties._”
Therefore, keep happy.
On page 40 of “Economy of Energy” will be found a summary of some
results of states of mind:--
“_They affect_:--
“_The heart, and the circulation--both its rate, and its distribution
of blood; (unfavourable states of mind tend to anaemia or dysxmia, or
to congestion, etc.)._
“_The actual chemical condition of the blood and the lymph._
“_The lungs, and the rhythm and the fulness of the breathing, and the
amount of oxygen inhaled, and of carbonic acid gas, etc., exhaled._
“_The digestive and ‘assimilative’ organs and functions._
“_The curative energies of the body; which include:--_
“_The excretory organs--the bowels, kidneys, skin, etc. (Thus fear may
act as a diuretic.)_
“_The muscular system in general (as when it is paralysed by fear--for
instance, when one feels ‘all of a tremble’)._
“_The appearance--the attitude, the position of the organs, the
expression of the face, etc._
“_The voice--its tone and timbre, and the words used or repressed._
“_The nervous system--partly influenced indirectly by the altered
breathing, and by the blood, and by the effects of the state of mind
upon the Solar Plexus._
“_The energy and endurance._
“_The poise, and ease of self-mastery, self-recovery, and
self-direction._
“_The brain--the clearness of thought, etc._
“_The influence of the person on others--especially in the immediate
neighbourhood._
“_The direction and bias of the mind in the future, states of mind
tending to become habitual apart from the active will._”
Therefore, keep happy.
“Anxiety (which includes fear) saps more life in a day than work does
in a week.” Anxiety is unnecessary, unproductive, destructive work. It
is hard work. It is sinful work.
We must remember how prevalent are the states of mind in which fear is
one of the factors. For fear is a factor in worry, and usually even in
anger, and in depression. These words from M. J. M. Hickson’s “Healer”
are worth reading:--
“_We have very seldom reflected upon the fact that fear runs like a
baleful thread through the whole web of our life from beginning to end.
We are born into the atmosphere of fear and dread, and the mother who
bore us had lived in the same atmosphere for weeks and months before we
were born. We are surrounded in infancy and childhood by clouds of fear
and apprehension on the part of our parents, nurses, and friends. As
we advance in life, we become instinctively, or by experience, afraid
of almost everything. We are afraid of our parents, afraid of our
teachers, afraid of our playmates, afraid of ghosts, afraid of rules
and regulations and punishments, afraid of the doctor, the dentist,
the surgeon. Our adult life is a state of chronic anxiety, which is
fear in a milder form. We are afraid of failure in business, afraid of
disappointments and mistakes, afraid of enemies, open or concealed;
afraid of poverty, afraid of public opinion, afraid of accidents, of
sickness, of death, and unhappiness after death. Man is like a haunted
animal, from the cradle to the grave, the victim of real or imaginary
fears, not only his own, but those reflected upon him from the
superstitions, self-deceptions, sensory illusions, false beliefs, and
concrete errors of the whole human race, past and present._
“_Fear not only affects the mind and the nervous and muscular tissues,
but the molecular chemical transformations of the organic network,
even to the skin, the hair, and the teeth. This might be expected
of a passion that disturbs the whole mind, which is represented or
externalised in the whole body._
“_How does fear operate upon the body to produce sickness? By
paralysing the nerve centres, especially those of the vasomotor nerves,
thus producing not only muscular relaxation, but capillary congestions
of all kinds. This condition of the system invites attack, and there
is no resilience or power of resistance. The gates of the citadel have
been opened from within, and the enemy may enter at any point._”
Therefore keep happy.
First because, once again, non-happiness is a mistake. It acts, as I
said just now, in a vicious circle, increasing itself. It poisons the
blood, and this very poisoning tends to produce more non-happiness. It
radiates itself, and is infectious. It inclines to become a fixed and
sub-conscious habit. It sinks down into the sub-conscious self, and
afterwards expresses itself in various ways which (as Psychoanalysts
show) are not usually associated with their true mental cause. It
is toxic, and produces non-health and non-efficiency, by wasting
power and force; by bringing fatigue; by encouraging bad sleep; by
injuring the whole body; by cramping the energies; by “distracting”
the body and mind, and thus hindering concentration; by impeding the
circulation, and the elimination of waste-matters; and by upsetting the
rhythm and the deepness and thoroughness of the breathing, and all the
vibrations of the physical system. Besides, it is ugly. It militates
against financial success, and against social success--for who wants a
non-happy acquaintance?--and against intellectual success.
Consider this. Non-happiness is liable to make one’s work poor
and inferior, difficult, tiring, and wanting in foresight and in
perspective.
It does not help. As Ian Maclaren said:
“_What does your anxiety do? It does not empty to-morrow, brother, of
its sorrow; but ah! it empties to-day of its strength. It does not make
you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with it if it comes._”
Therefore, keep happy.
On the moral and ethical side, non-happiness, especially in the form
of worry, is cowardly, unbalanced, against moral consistency and
persistency, against self-control and self-mastery, and very unkind to
others.
Therefore, keep happy.
Non-happiness shortens life, and brings premature, incompetent,
burdensome old age.
It is selfish, in the worst sense of the word; for there is a
selfishness that is altruistic.
It harms posterity, as--among other proofs--we see from the influence
of a mother upon her babe before as well as after birth.
It makes us less independent and less free. Therefore, keep happy.