"_Can anger and worry be entirely eliminated from the human mind?_"
"Yes; they are simply bad habits of the mind, parasites, unnatural, and
therefore uncivilized conditions, nursed by false ideas of pride or
necessity; and their elimination is a purely mental process within the
control of every intelligent person who has sufficient self-respect to
recognize within himself the reflection of the Divine Image."
"_In what does the germ cure of mental ills differ from the Christian
method of repression through answer to prayer?_"
[Sidenote: Christ Advocated Germ Cure]
"Christ clearly advocated the germ cure. He did not say 'Try to do unto
others as you would have others do unto you,' but '_Do_ unto others,'
etc. '_Be_ ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.' In all of
his teachings _do_ and _be_ were the commands. Most of the creeds,
however, endow man with a weakness which is self-condemning. The
prayers are offered perfunctorily, and sometimes without belief in
their efficacy, while the passions are nursed privately in full belief
that they are essential attributes of fallen man."
"_May not the elimination of anger and worry take away some of the
stimulation to effort that is necessary to human progress?_"
[Sidenote: Emancipation not Weakness]
"Assuredly not. The absence of anger and worry is an evidence of
strength and not of weakness. So-called righteous anger is a weakness
in the presence of judicial calm. Without anger and worry one is
stronger to ward off a blow, administer a correction, or protect a
principle. The emancipated mind is as eager for effort as a child is
for play. Freed from anger and worry one can shovel more dirt, plough
more furrows, perform every duty better, and with less fatigue, than if
under their influence."
"_Are there examples in every-day life, among every-day people, that
prove the possibility of superiority over anger and worry?_"
[Sidenote: The Strongest Evidence]
"Yes. Habitually profane men do not swear in the presence of ladies.
Vicious men are gentle when among those whom they respect. The passions
are subservient to the will under conditions that reverence or fashion
prescribe. _If they are subservient under any conditions they can be
controlled under all conditions._ Nothing for instance, could make you
angry while we are talking on this subject, because you would feel
ashamed to show slavery to a condemned and unmanly weakness."
"_If it is possible to get rid of the depressing passions, and they are
so unprofitable, why has not mankind become emancipated long before
this?_"
[Sidenote: Why not Always Known]
"This question can best be answered by asking others. Why were a
personal devil and witches and filmy ghosts considered possibilities as
late as the beginning of this century? Why was human slavery believed
to be a divine institution by the majority of the world's inhabitants
as late as fifty years ago? Why are the divine right of kings, and the
assumption that the sovereign can do no wrong, possibilities of the
present? Why is it possible that a Supreme Court of the United States
can be divided on questions of political significance, and the points
of difference of opinion be in harmony with the previous political
affiliations of the justices? Politics represent the selfish in human
contact as at present managed, while justice is supposed to be
spotlessly unselfish; yet the former unblushingly invades the sanctuary
of the latter, because selfishness is held to be a necessity."
[Sidenote: Emancipation not Selfish]
"_Is not the condition of Emancipation selfish? Is it not selfish not
to worry for one's friend, even if self-worry is eliminated?_"
"Emphatically, no! Emancipation puts one in a condition to be
unselfish. Suppose his friend need aid or sympathy; will worry furnish
either? With the extirpation of the depressing passions comes the
strength, and the ability, and the _desire_, to give to others, the aid
and sympathy they may be in need of. Actual, or even metaphorical,
wringing of hands, is not the sort of sympathy that soothes. It is like
the "blind leading the blind," or rather, the weak trying to assist the
weak. Better try to help with the strength born of Emancipation than
with the weakness of the enervating passions."
"_I can easily understand how anger can be classed as a sin, because it
is aggressive and affects something outside of us; as a sin, I can see
how it ought to be cast out; but as worry deals only with one's self, I
do not believe it can be called a sin; then why is it necessary to
eliminate it, especially as it may be an incentive to action, to
prevent the causes of the worry?_"
"This whole question has been answered before in the presentation of
the theory, but as it has not carried the force of impression that I
intended, I will take it up piecemeal, and try to be more clear.
[Sidenote: One's First Duty]
"In the first place, one's first duty is to one's self in the matter of
cultivation and care; this, not on account of egotism or selfishness,
but in order to fit him to be strong and useful and a good member of
his circle. As a parent, he should make himself the most perfect
progenitor and example possible; as a member of Society he should aim
to be the most able and useful; and as the custodian of the Divine
Essence within him, he should not harbor or encourage weeds of the
soul, whether visible to others, or within the secret corners of his
own heart.
"As to worry ever being an incentive to wise or good action, I will
repeat a section of the theory. 'Worry's prophesies are seldom
realized, and if they are, the realization is generally caused by the
worry itself.'"
"_How can emancipation be secured for the community?_"
[Sidenote: Woman's Opportunity]
"Through the influence of the emancipated individual; chiefly through
the influence of the emancipated woman. In the crossing of sabers she
cannot assist; but in a war against the enemies of the mind, when love
is the weapon, she can and will occupy a place in the front rank. She
can make anger and worry unfashionable, as she already has made
profanity and obscenity unfashionable.
[Sidenote: Emancipation Clubs]
"To accomplish this, let clubs be formed in each community and in each
church, and let each church become a club-house as well. Introduce
healthful amusements such as make other clubs attractive, and place in
large letters over the portal and the altar
GROWTH
EMANCIPATION
HELP.
"You will have then constantly before you the _only_ cure for mental
cancers, and the essence of all religions expressed in three words; you
will have touched the button of the Divine camera within you whose film
is sensitive only to the rays of good. Love and growth will do the
rest. The teachers of morality and religion will do abler work under
the realization that not only the 'old Adam,' but the Divine Essence as
well, have seats in each human soul, and that, when the good is
appealed to in terms of confidence and understanding, evil will be cast
out _instantly_, without a lifetime of controversy, and without waiting
for eternity, or even for the death-bed to unloose the fetters.
[Sidenote: Christian Societies]
"As a result of organization on the basis of Emancipation, and when it
has become an accepted fact that anger and worry are only bad habits of
the mind, no clergyman can show them and retain the respect of his
congregation; no King's Daughter can entertain them and be worthy of
her badge; no member of the Christian Endeavor Society can harbor
within himself the arch enemies of Christianity which the Master
commanded his disciples to cast out, and be loyal to his cause; and no
individual in the pursuit of duty, or even of selfish pleasure, can
afford to carry such weighty handicaps and hope to win the race."