[Sidenote: Ernest Francisco Fenollosa]
It was my privilege one evening to be with Prof. Fenollosa in his
Japanesque apartment in Boston. Almost every article in view was the
product of some Japanese artist who had been the friend of Prof.
Fenollosa in Japan. The odor of incense added perceptibly to the
calming influence of the environment.
[Sidenote: We had met in Japan]
Many years ago we had met in far-off Japan amid similar surroundings,
and had discussed theories of true living that had been a source of
great pleasure to me, and whose influence had been with me to many
countries and climes, helping me to enjoy more fully than I otherwise
could, the beauties of nature, and of art, and of life.
We were exchanging the experiences of the intervening years, and I
became acutely interested in his account of the wonderful degree of
culture and self-control attained by some of his Japanese friends
through the practice of the Buddhist discipline.
It was all so interesting and beautiful, that under the spell of the
recital and the surroundings, I longed to taste some of the sweets of
the calm he pictured, and begged him to tell me the process of the
discipline, so that perchance I might follow it and reap some of the
benefits.
The philosopher saw that I was serious in my desire, and his face lit
up with approval as he said, "It is not easy to communicate at a
sitting what took me years of study to learn, but I can at least put
you in the way of a start. I can tell you where to begin to grow. _You
must first get rid of anger and worry._" "But," said I, "is that
possible?" "Yes," replied he, "it is possible to the Japanese, and
ought to be possible to us."
I was startled at the suggestion of the possibility of the entire
repression of anger and worry. I knew that their repression was
counselled by Christianity and Buddhism, and presumably by all codes of
religion and ethics; but I had never considered getting rid of them as
a human possibility, except under conditions of health and wealth and
ease, to which few, if any, ever attain.
[Sidenote: Get rid of Anger and Worry]
On my walk back to the Parker House, a distance of fully two miles, I
could not think of anything else but the words, "_get rid_," "_get
rid_;" and the idea must have continued to possess me during my
sleeping hours, for the first consciousness in the morning brought back
the same thought, with the revelation of a discovery, which framed
itself into the reasoning, "If it is possible to get rid of anger and
worry, why is it necessary to have them at all?" I felt the strength of
the argument and at once accepted the reasoning. The baby had
discovered that it could walk. It would scorn to creep any longer.
[Sidenote: Anger and Worry Instantly Removed]
From the instant I realized that these cancer spots of worry and anger
were removable, they left me. With the discovery of their weakness they
were exorcised. From that time life has had an entirely changed aspect.
Although from that moment the possibility and desirability of freedom
from the depressing passions has been a reality to me, it took me some
months to feel absolute security in my new position; but, as the usual
occasions for worry and anger have presented themselves over and over
again, and I have been unable to feel them in the slightest degree, I
no longer dread or guard against them, and I am amazed at my increased
energy and vigor of mind;--at my strength to meet situations of all
kinds, and at my disposition to love and appreciate everything.
[Sidenote: Wonderful Photographic Films]
[Sidenote: Sensitive only to Good]
I have had occasion to travel more than ten thousand miles by rail
since that morning; North, South, East and West, with the varying
comforts and discomforts, as they used to be. The same Pullman porter,
conductor, hotel waiter, peddler, book-agent, cabman, and others, who
were formerly a source of annoyance and irritation have been met, but I
am not conscious of a single incivility. All at once the whole world
has turned good to me. I am sure the change is not so much in the world
as in me. I have become, as it were, sensitive only to the rays of
good, as some photographic films of recent invention are sensitive only
to certain single colored rays of light.
If we are wise we never leave school. When the academy and the college
have put us through their curriculum, we have still before us the
example of Nature, and the walks of Science, and Art, and Brotherhood,
in which to search for suggestions to be applied in menticulture. May
we not learn a lesson from the newly discovered film?
Should not the chemical condition of selection be more difficult than a
similar voluntary mental accomplishment? In comparison with a similar
process in physics the more pliable material of the mind ought to be
fashioned with greater ease.
[Sidenote: A Fortunate Disappointment]
I could recount many experiences which prove a brand new condition of
mind, but one more will be sufficient. Without the slightest feeling of
annoyance or impatience I have seen a train that I had planned to take
with a good deal of interested and pleasurable anticipation, move out
of a station without me, because my baggage did not arrive. The porter
from the hotel came running and panting into the station just as the
train pulled out of sight. When he saw me he looked as if he feared a
scolding, and began to tell of being blocked in a crowded street and
unable to get out. When he had finished, I said to him, "It doesn't
matter at all, you couldn't help it, so we will try it again to-morrow.
Here is your fee, I am sorry you had all this trouble in earning it."
The look of surprise that came over his face was so filled with
pleasure that I was repaid on the spot for the delay in my departure.
Next day he would not accept a cent for the service, and he and I are
friends for life. The sequence of this incident has no bearing on its
value, but it has a significance. Had I taken the train I missed, I
would have been caught in a wreck in which two persons were killed and
several wounded, while my stay over in Cleveland proved to be both
pleasant and profitable.
During the first weeks of my experience I was on guard only against
worry and anger; but, in the meantime, having noticed the absence of
the other depressing and dwarfing passions, I began to trace a
relationship, until I was convinced that they are all growths from the
two roots I have specified.
I have felt the freedom now for so long a time that I am sure of my
relations toward it; and I could no more harbor any of the depressing
and thieving influences that once I nursed as a heritage of humanity
than a fop would voluntarily wallow in a filthy gutter: and the
strength of the position is reinforced by the experience of others.
[Sidenote: The Religions]
There is no doubt in my mind that pure Christianity, and pure Buddhism,
and the Mental Sciences, and all Religions, fundamentally teach what
has been a discovery to me; but none of them have presented it in the
light of a simple and easy process of absolute elimination. All of the
religions seemed to me to hinge principally on some other life, with
the usual features of punishment and reward, and with incidental
satisfaction or fear in this life. But as life reveals itself to me in
my present condition of mind, this world, these fellow men, the blush
of Spring, the blossom of Summer, the flame of Autumn, the sparkle of
Winter, and the violet-softened refulgence of every waking moment yield
a never failing succession of delights.
[Sidenote: Fear Eliminated]
At one time I wondered if elimination of the passions would not lead to
indifference and sloth. In my experience the contrary is the result. I
feel such an increased desire to do something useful that it seems as
if I were a boy again and the energy for play had returned. I could
fight as readily as, (and better) than ever, if there were occasion for
it. It does not make one a coward. It can't, since fear is one of the
things eliminated.
[Sidenote: Surprise Modified]
That fear is gotten rid of with worry is proven in many ways. I notice
the absence of timidity in the presence of any audience I am called on
to face, whereas I had never before conquered a tendency to partial
paralysis on such occasions. Timidity resulting from a shock has been
cured also. When I was a boy I was standing under a tree which was
struck by lightning and received a shock, from the effects of which I
never knew exemption until I had dissolved partnership with worry.
Since then lightning, and thunder, and storm clouds, with wind-swept
torrents of rain have been encountered under conditions which formerly
would have caused great depression and discomfort, without experiencing
a trace of either. Surprise is also greatly modified, and one is less
liable to become startled by unexpected sights or noises. Temperaments
may differ, but Emancipation strengthens all.
It has been suggested to me, in argument, that in Nature there is
sunshine and shadow, and that every height must have a corresponding
depression, and that immunity from the black or shadowy passions is an
unnatural condition. This is not true. In the process of growth and
evolution, conditions that once were natural, are changed to other
conditions equally natural. Weeds are pulled up by the roots to clear
the fields for the growing grain. Why should not mental weeds be pulled
up by the roots also, and the mind cleared for growth?
My experience teaches me that the natural evolution of the emancipated
mind is dominant calm, varied by seasons of exaltation, but never of
depression. It is a healthful succession of energy and rest, all
blessed with loving appreciation, which finds expression in
ever-present gratitude.
[Sidenote: I thanked the clock]
One morning recently I heard myself audibly thank the clock for
striking the time for me, and each awakening is as if on a much desired
holiday, no matter what the conditions of the weather or the comforts
of life at hand.
Contentment and happiness and gratitude and Heaven are generally
accepted as synonymous terms; but Emancipation embraces them all, and
in it only can they all be found.
[Sidenote: Heaven Here]
As far as I am individually concerned I am not bothering myself at
present as to what the result of this emancipated condition may be. I
have no doubt that the perfect health aimed at by Christian Science may
be one of the possibilities, for I note a marked improvement in the way
my stomach does its duty in assimilating the food I give it to handle,
and I am sure it works better to the sound of a song than under the
friction of a frown. Neither am I wasting any of this precious time
formulating an idea of a future existence or a future Heaven. The
Heaven that I have found within myself is as attractive as any that has
been promised or that I can imagine; and I am willing to let the growth
lead where it will, as long as anger and worry and their brood have no
part in misguiding it; but I feel the value of Mental Emancipation to
be so great that I long to spread the news of the discovery of an easy
and immediate means of attaining it.
[Sidenote: Practical Benefits]
[Sidenote: Everything to Woman]
The practical benefit of the emancipated mind to the individual, and of
the emancipated individual to the community, can not be over-estimated.
In every walk in life Emancipation is invaluable to the worker, and the
most potent aid to success. The emancipated peanut vender will have
more customers than his worm-eaten neighbor. The emancipated merchant
will find that trade will pass the door of his calamity-howling rival
and come to him. The emancipated writer will find writing an easy and
pleasant task as compared with that of his moody confrere, and that if
he has occasion to dip his pen in vinegar he can wield it better under
the influence of judicial calm than he can between the gulps of
rebellious indigestion. To woman Emancipation means everything. Any
other condition to her is like an ill fitting garment, and every lapse
from it is like adding a blotch to her complexion which succeeding
smiles can never entirely efface. Each expression of a shadowy passion
leaves a scar. The Emancipation of woman would mean the Emancipation of
the race. The adoption of the germ cure will be woman's means to that
end, and Emancipation will be her Heaven and man's Heaven at the same
time.
The influence of emancipated individuals in a community could be made
so great that if there were only one in ten, and they should organize
in clubs for the purpose, they would attract or rule the rest for good,
and something better than the social Utopia pictured by Edward Bellamy
in "Looking Backward" would follow as a natural sequence, and save us
from the threatened battle between capital and labor, which otherwise
seems inevitable. The horrors of such a conflict cannot be imagined;
and, unless the germ cure is sought to avert it, it is sure to come.
[Sidenote: Emancipation Cures All Ills]
The germ cure of the evil passions in the individual, followed by the
germ cure of social clumsiness in the body politic, form the only hope
of Emancipation from the evils which beset the social structure. For
these there is no real necessity. There is already such a surplus of
mechanical energy, such a surplus of creature comforts, and such a
surplus of luxuries on our planet, that a moderately sensible
distribution of them, would render every inhabitant comfortable and
happy. Among the Emancipated the desire to make a generous distribution
of these surplus stores would be as natural as is the habit of
recognizing "the rule of the road" among us all to-day. So also, the
vast amount of surplus energy born of Emancipation would find a natural
outlet in the arts.
In suggesting the possibility of a Social Paradise or Community Heaven,
it is presupposed that education along the lines of both intellectual
and manual training will have become universal, and that every one
shall render service to his fellows according to his strength; also
that idleness, when one should work, and deception in trade, will have
come to be classed as crimes, and not as evidences of "shrewdness."
[Sidenote: Thirty years of Travel]
It has been my good fortune to travel to and fro over the earth's
surface for thirty years, years of experience passed among the people
of many different nations. I have made quick comparisons of the habits
and customs of them all; and I have observed how easily some do things
that others perform clumsily. The standard measure of my comparison has
always been Japan. I could not help observing there less crime, better
appreciation of art and nature, more physical dexterity and skill,
fewer notes out of harmony, and more general happiness, gentleness, and
consideration for fellows and animals; less (almost no) religious or
sectional prejudice; a universal patriotism and respect for authority
(as good children are respectful of the authority of beloved parents);
a love of life, but no fear of death; and many other qualities that
have commanded the respect of the world under the bright light of
recent events.
[Sidenote: Brave Little Japan]
[Sidenote: World's Congress of Religions]
Brave, gentle, artistic, lovable little Japan, which, thirty odd years
ago, was nursing in quiet seclusion a beautiful flower of artistic
civilization, has been rudely but providentially forced into the
community of nations to teach the rest of the world a great lesson in
the art of true living. By the exercise of judicious but resistless
courage she has laid the Oriental Colossus who attacked her at her
feet; and if the bulldog and buzzard nations of the West, do not unite
their forces to obstruct her inclination, she will lift her fallen foe
from a condition of slavery to barbarous aliens to a condition of
tranquillity and happiness. She will do this through the introduction
of reforms in government and administration which she has gathered from
the best experience of all the world. What a missionary Japan is! A
missionary of the art of true living. A missionary of harmony. The
contact of Japan with the other nations made the World's Congress of
Religions possible; and what this means to the advancement of man on
the road to harmony and happiness, was recently stated by Prof. Max
Muller, when he prophesied that this event would come to be appreciated
as the greatest civilizing influence of the Nineteenth century.
[Sidenote: Extremes Brought Together]
May the example of Japan set the boors of the world to thinking, cause
them to take their fore feet out of the trough, look up to the sun and
the light of dawning civilization, accept the simple teachings of
Christ and Buddha and common sense, and start a Heaven here on earth.
Steam and electricity have brought the extremes of our earth together;
the telescope has let us into the secrets of the neighboring worlds,
and logic and common sense may find in the possibility of
_Emancipation_ a means of bringing Heaven to us in this life.