THE MENTAL EFFICIENCY SERIES
COMMON SENSE HOW TO EXERCISE IT
By YORITOMO-TASHI
ANNOTATED BY: B. DANGENNES
TRANSLATED BY: MME. LEON J. BERTHELOT DE LA BOILEVEBIB
1916
ANNOUNCEMENT
The quality popularly designated as "Common Sense" comprehends, according
to the modern point of view, the sound judgment of mankind when
reflecting upon problems of truth and conduct without bias from logical
subtleties or selfish interests. It is one of Nature's priceless gifts;
an income in itself, it is as valuable as its application is rare.
How often we hear the expression "Why, I never thought of that!" Why?
Because we have failed to exercise Common Sense--that genius of mankind,
which, when properly directed is the one attribute that will carry man
and his kind successfully through the perplexities of life. Common Sense
is as a plant of delicate growth, in need of careful training and
continued watching so that it may bear fruit at all seasons. In the
teachings that follow, the venerable Shogun, Yoritomo-Tashi, points out
that Common Sense is a composite product consisting of (1) Perception;
(2) Memory; (3) Thought; (4) Alertness; (5) Deduction; (6) Foresight; (7)
Reason, and (8) Judgment. Discussing each of these separately, he
indicates their relations and how they may be successfully employed.
Further, he warns one against the dangers that lurk in moral inertia,
indifference, sentimentality, egotism, etc.
Common Sense is a quality that must be developed if it is to be utilized
to the full of its practical value. Indispensable to this development are
such qualifications--(1) Ability to grasp situations; (2) Ability to
concentrate the mind; (3) Keenness of perception; (4) Exercise of
the reasoning power; (5) Power of approximation; (6) Calmness;
(7) Self-control, etc. Once mastered, these qualifications enable one to
reap the reward of a fine and an exalted sense, and of a practical common
sense which sees things as they are and does things as they should be
done.
The desire for knowledge, like the thirst for wealth, increases by
acquisition, but as Bishop Lee has told us, "Knowledge without common
sense is folly; without method it is waste; without kindness it is
fanaticism; without religion it is death." But, Dean Farrar added: "With
common sense, it is wisdom; with method it is power; with charity
beneficence; with religion it is virtue, life, and peace."
In these pages, Yoritomo-Tashi teaches his readers how to overcome such
defects of the understanding as may beset them. He shows them how to
acquire and develop common sense and practical sense, how to apply them
in their daily lives, and how to utilize them profitably in the
business world.
To him common sense is the crown of all faculties. Exercised vigilantly,
it leads to progress and prosperity, therefore, says he "enthusiasm is as
brittle as crystal, but common sense is durable as brass."
THE PUBLISHERS.
PREFACE
Why should I hesitate to express the pleasure I felt on learning that the
public, already deeply interested in the teachings of Yoritomo-Tashi,
desired to be made familiar with them in a new form?
This knowledge meant many interesting and pleasant hours of work in
prospect for me, recalling the time passed in an atmosphere of that peace
which gives birth to vibrations of healthful thoughts whose radiance
vitalizes the soul.
It was also with a zeal, intensified by memories of the little deserted
room in the provincial museum, where silence alone could lend rhythm to
meditation, that I turned over again and again the leaves of those
precious manuscripts, translating the opinions of him whose keen and
ornate psychology we have so often enjoyed together.
It was with the enthusiastic attention of the disciple that once more I
scanned the pages, where the broadest and most humane compassion allies
itself with those splendid virtues: energy, will and reason.
For altho Yoritomo glorifies the will and energy under all their aspects,
he knows also how to find, in his heart, that tenderness which transforms
these forces, occasionally somewhat brutal, into powers for good, whose
presence are always an indication of favorable results.
He knows how to clothe his teachings in fable and appealing legend, and
his exotic soul, so near and yet so far, reminds one of a flower, whose
familiar aspect is transmuted into rare perfume.
By him the sternest questions are stripped of their hostile aspects and
present themselves in the alluring form of the simplest allegories of
striking poetic intensity.
When reading his works, one recalls unconsciously the orations of the
ancient philosophers, delivered in those dazzling gardens, luxuriant in
sunlight and fragrant with flowers.
In this far-away past, one sees also the silhouette of a majestic figure,
whose school of philosophy became a religion, which interested the world
because it spoke both of love and goodness.
But in spite of this fact, the doctrines of Yoritomo are of an
imaginative type. His kingdom belongs to this world, and his theories
seek less the joys of the hereafter than of that tangible happiness which
is found in the realization of the manly virtues and in that effort to
create perfect harmony from which flows perfect peace.
He takes us by the hand, in order to lead us to the center of that Eden
of Knowledge where we have already discovered the art of persuasion, and
that art, most difficult of all to acquire--the mastery of timidity.
Following him, we shall penetrate once more this Eden, that we may study
with Yoritomo the manner of acquiring this art--somewhat unattractive
perhaps but essentially primordial--called Common Sense.
B. DANGENNES.
CONTENTS
Announcement
Preface
I. Common Sense: What Is It?
II. The Fight Against Illusion
III. The Development of the Reasoning Power
IV. Common Sense and Impulse
V. The Dangers of Sentimentality
VI. The Utility of Common Sense in Daily Life
VII. Power of Deduction
VIII. How to Acquire Common Sense
IX. Common Sense and Action
X. The Most Thorough Business Man
XI. Common Sense and Self-Control
XII. Common Sense Does Not Exclude Great Aspirations
LESSON I
COMMON SENSE: WHAT IS IT?
One beautiful evening, Yoritomo-Tashi was strolling in the gardens of
his master, Lang-Ho, listening to the wise counsels which he knew so
well how to give in all attractiveness of allegory, when, suddenly, he
paused to describe a part of the land where the gardener's industry was
less apparent.
Here parasitic plants had, by means of their tendrils, crept up the
shrubbery and stifled the greater part of its flowers.
Only a few of them reached the center of the crowded bunches of the grain
stalks and of the trailing vines that interlaced the tiny bands which
held them against the wall.
One plant alone, of somber blossom and rough leaves, was able to flourish
even in close proximity to the wild verdure. It seemed that this plant
had succeeded in avoiding the dangerous entanglements of the poisonous
plants because of its tenacious and fearless qualities, at the same time
its shadow was not welcome to the useless and noxious creeping plants.
"Behold, my son," said the Sage, "and learn how to understand the
teachings of nature: The parasitic plants represent negligence against
the force of which the best of intentions vanish."
Energy, however, succeeds in overcoming these obstacles which increase
daily; it marks out its course among entanglements and rises from the
midst of the most encumbered centers, beautiful and strong.
Ambition and audacity show themselves also after having passed through
thousands of difficulties and having overcome them all.
Common sense rarely needs to strive; it unfolds itself in an atmosphere
of peace, far from the tumult of obstructions and snares that are not
easily avoided.
Its flower is less alluring than many others, but it never allows itself
to be completely hidden through the wild growth of neighboring branches.
It dominates them easily, because it has always kept them at a distance.
Modest but self-sustaining, it is seen blossoming far from the struggles
which always retard the blossoming of plants and which render their
flowering slower and, at times, short-lived.
A most absurd prejudice has occasionally considered common sense to be an
inferior quality of mind.
This error arises from the fact that it can adapt itself as well to the
most elevated conceptions as to the most elemental mentalities.
To those who possess common sense is given the faculty of placing
everything in its proper rank.
It does not underestimate the value of sentiments by attributing to them
an exaggerated importance.
It permits us to consider fictitious reasons with reservation and of
resolutely rejecting those that resort to the weapons of hypocrisy.
Persons who cultivate common sense never refuse to admit their errors.
One may truly affirm that they are rarely far from the truth, because
they practise directness of thought and force themselves never to deviate
from this mental attitude.
Abandoning for a moment his favorite demonstration by means of symbolism,
Yoritomo said to us:
"Common sense should be thus defined:
"It is a central sense, toward which all impressions converge and unite
in one sentiment--the desire for the truth.
"For people who possess common sense, everything is summed up in one
unique perception:
"The love of directness and simplicity.
"All thoughts are found to be related; the preponderance of these two
sentiments makes itself felt in all resolutions, and chiefly in the
reflections which determine them.
"Common sense permits us to elude fear which always seizes those whose
judgment vacillates; it removes the defiance of the Will and indicates
infallibly the correct attitude to assume."
And Yoritomo, whose mind delighted in extending his observations to the
sociological side of the question, adds:
"Common sense varies in its character, according to surroundings and
education.
"The common sense of one class of people is not the same as that of a
neighboring class.
"Certain customs, which seem perfectly natural to Japan would offend
those belonging to the western world, just as our Nippon prejudices would
find themselves ill at ease among certain habits customary among
Europeans."
"Common sense," he continues, "takes good care not to assail violently
those beliefs which tradition has transmuted into principles.
"However, if direct criticism of those beliefs causes common sense to be
regarded unfavorably, it will be welcomed with the greatest reserve and
will maintain a certain prudence relative to this criticism, which will
be equivalent to a proffered reproach.
"Common sense often varies as to external aspects, dependent upon
education, for it is evident that a diamio (Japanese prince) can not
judge of a subject in the same way as would a man belonging to the lowest
class of society.
"The same object can become desirable or undesirable according to the
rank it occupies.
"Must one believe that common sense is excluded from two such
incompatible opinions?
"No, not at all. An idea can be rejected or accepted by common sense
without violating the principles of logic in the least.
"If, as one frequently sees, an idea be unacceptable because of having
been presented before those belonging to a particular environment, common
sense, by applying its laws, will recognize that the point of view must
be changed before the idea can become acceptable."
And again, Yoritomo calls our attention to a peculiar circumstance.
"Common sense," he says, "is the art of resolving questions, not the art
of posing them.
"When taking the initiative it is rarely on trial.
"But the moment it is a case of applying practically that which
ingenuity, science or genius have invented, it intervenes in the happiest
and most decisive manner.
"Common sense is the principle element of discernment.
"Therefore, without this quality, it is impossible to judge either of the
proposition or the importance of the subject.
"It is only with the aid of common sense that it is possible to
distinguish the exact nature of the proposition, submitted for a just
appreciation, and to render a solution of it which conforms to perfect
accuracy of interpretation.
"The last point is essential and has its judicial function in all the
circumstances of life. Without accuracy, common sense can not be
satisfactorily developed, because it finds itself continually shocked by
incoherency, resulting from a lack of exactness in the expression of
opinions."
If we wish to know what the principal qualities are which form common
sense, we shall turn over a few pages and we shall read:
"Common sense is the synthesis of many sentiments, all of which converge
in forming it.
"The first of these sentiments is reason.
"Then follows moderation.
"To these one may add:
"The faculty of penetration;
"The quality consistency.
"Then, wisdom, which permits us to profit by the lessons of experience.
"A number of other qualities must be added to these, in order to complete
the formation of common sense; but, altho important, they are only the
satellites of those we have just named.
"Reason is really indispensable to the projection of healthy thoughts.
"The method of reasoning should be the exhaustive study of minute detail,
of which we shall speak later.
"For the moment we shall content ourselves by indicating, along the broad
lines of argument, what is meant by this word reason.
"Reasoning is the art of fixing the relativeness of things.
"It is by means of reasoning that it is possible to differentiate events
and to indicate to what category they belong.
"It is the habit of reasoning to determine that which it is wise to
undertake, thus permitting us to judge what should be set aside.
"How could we guide ourselves through life without the beacon-light of
reason? It pierces the darkness of social ignorance, it helps us to
distinguish vaguely objects heretofore plunged in obscurity, and which
will always remain invisible to those who are unprovided with this
indispensable accessory--the gift of reasoning.
"He who ventures in the darkness and walks haphazard, finds himself
suddenly confronted by obstacles which he was unable to foresee.
"He finds himself frightened by forms whose nature he cannot define, and
is often tempted to attribute silhouettes of assassins to branches of
trees, instead of recognizing the real culprit who is watching him from
the corner of the wild forest.
"Life, as well as the wildest wilderness, is strewn with pitfalls. To
think of examining it rapidly, without the aid of that torch called
reason, would be imitating the man of whom we have just spoken.
"Many are the mirages, which lead us to mistake dim shadows for
disquieting realities, unless we examine them critically, for otherwise
we can never ascribe to them their true value.
"Certain incidents, which seem at first sight to be of small importance,
assume a primordial value when we have explained them by means of
reasoning.
"To reason about a thing is to dissect it, to examine it from every
point of view before adopting it, before deferring to it or before
rejecting it; in one word, to reason about a thing is to act with
conscious volition, which is one of the phases essential to the conquest
of common sense.
"This principle conceded, it then becomes a question of seriously
studying the method of reasoning, which we propose to do in the following
manner but first it is necessary to be convinced of this truth."
Without reason there is no common sense.
Yoritomo teaches us that, altho moderation is only of secondary
importance, it is still indispensable to the attainment of common sense.
It is moderation which incites us to restrain our impatience, to silence
our inexplicable antipathies and to put a break on our tempestuous
enthusiasms.
Can one judge of the aspect of a garden while the tempest is twisting the
branches of the trees, tearing off the tendrils of the climbing vines,
scattering the petals of the flowers and spoiling the corollas already in
full bloom?
And now, Yoritomo, who loves to illustrate his teachings by expressive
figures of speech, tells us the following story.
"A Japanese prince, on awakening, one day, demanded lazily of his
servants what kind of weather it was, but he forbade them to raise the
awnings which kept a cool, dim light in his room and shielded his eyes
from the strong light from without. The two servants left him reclining
upon his divan and went into the adjoining room, where the stained-glass
windows were not hung with curtains.
"One of them, putting his face close to a yellow-tinted pane of glass,
exclaimed in admiration of the beautiful garden, bathed in the early
morning sunlight.
"The second one, directing his gaze to a dark blue pane and, looking
through the center, remarked to his companion, I see no sunshine, the day
is dreary and the clouds cast gloomy shadows upon the horizon.
"Each one returned to relate their impressions of the weather, and
the prince wondered at the different visions, unable to understand
the reason."
There, concluded the Shogun, that is what happens to people who do not
practise moderation.
Those, who see things through the medium of enthusiasm refuse to
recognize that they could be deprived of brilliancy and beauty.
The others, those who look upon things from a pessimistic standpoint,
never find anything in them save pretexts for pouring out to their
hearers tales of woe and misery.
All find themselves deceptively allured; some rush toward illusion,
others do not wish to admit the positive chances for success, and both
lacking moderation, they start from a basis of false premises from which
they draw deplorable conclusions, thus defeating future success.
The spirit of penetration, according to the old Nippon philosopher, is
not always a natural gift. "It is," said he, "a quality which certain
people possess in a very high degree but which in spite this fact should
be strengthened by will and discipline.
"One can easily acquire this faculty by endeavoring to foresee the
solution of contemporary events; or at least try to explain the hidden
reasons which have produced them.
"Great effects are produced, many times, from seemingly unimportant
causes, and it is, above all, to the significant details that the spirit
of penetration should give unceasing and undivided attention.
"Everything around us can serve as a subject for careful study; political
events, incidents which interest family or friends, all may serve as just
so many themes for earnest reflection.
"It is always preferable to confine this analysis to subjects in which we
have no personal interest; thus we shall accustom ourselves to judge of
people and things dispassionately and impersonally. This is the quality
of mind necessary to the perfect development of penetration.
"If, for any reason, passion should create confusion of ideas, clearness
of understanding would be seriously compromised and firmness of judgment,
by deteriorating, would cast aside the manifestation of common sense.
"The spirit consistency is perhaps more difficult to conquer, for it is a
combination of many of the qualities previously mentioned.
"Its inspiration is drawn from the reasoning faculty, it cannot exist
without moderation and implies a certain amount of penetration, because
it must act under the authority of conviction.
"If you strike long enough in the same place on the thickest piece of
iron, in time it will become as thin as the most delicate kakemono [a
picture which hangs in Japanese homes].
"It is impossible to define the spirit of consistency more accurately.
"It is closely related to perseverance, but can not be confounded with
it, because the attributes of consistency have their origin in logic and
reason which does not produce one act alone but a series of acts
sometimes dependent, always inferred.
"The spirit of consistency banishes all thought derogatory to the subject
in question; it is the complete investiture of sentiments, all converging
toward a unique purpose."
This purpose can be of very great importance and the means of attainment
multiform, but the dominant idea will always direct the continuous
achievements; under their different manifestations--and these at times
contradictory--they will never be other than the emanation of a direct
thought, whose superior authority is closely united to the final success.
Wisdom, continued the philosopher, should be mentioned here only as the
forerunner which permits us to analyze experience.
It is from this never-ending lesson which life teaches us that the wisdom
of old age is learned.
But is it really necessary to reach the point of decrepitude, in order to
profit by an experience, actually useless at that time, as is always a
posthumous conquest.
"Is it not much better to compel its attainment when the hair is black
and the heart capable of hope?
"Why give to old age alone the privileges of wisdom and experience?
"It is high time to combat so profound an error.
"Is it not a cruel irony which renders such a gift useless?
"Of what benefit is wisdom resulting from experience if it cannot
preserve us from the unfortunate seduction of youth?
"Why should its beauty be unveiled only to those who can no longer profit
by it?" This is the opinion of Yoritomo, who says:
"What would be thought of one who prided himself on possessing bracelets
when he had lost his two arms in war?
"It is, therefore, necessary, not only to encourage young people to
profit by lessons of wisdom and experience, but, still further, to
indicate to them how they can accomplish the result of these lessons.
"It is certain that he who can recall a long life ought to understand
better than the young man all the pitfalls with which it is strewn.
"But does he always judge of it without bias or prejudice?
"Does he not find acceptable pretexts for excusing his past faults and
does he not exaggerate the rewards for excellence, which have accorded
him advantages, due at times to chance or to the force of circumstances?
"Finally, the old man can not judge of the sentiments which he held at
twenty years of age, unless it be by the aid of reminiscences, more or
less fleeting, and an infinitely attenuated intensity of representation.
"Emotive perception being very much weakened, the integrity of memory
must be less exact.
"Then, in the recession of years, some details, which were at times
factors of the initial idea, are less vivid, thus weakening the power of
reason which was the excuse, the pretext, or the origin of the act.
"This is why, altho we may honor the wisdom of the aged, it is well to
acquire it at a time when we may use it as a precious aid.
"To those who insist that nothing is equivalent to personal experience,
we shall renew our argument, begging them to meditate on the preceding
lines, drawing their attention to the fact that a just opinion can only
be formed when personal sentiment is excluded from the discussion.
"Is it, then, necessary to have experienced pain in order to prevent
or cure it?
"The majority of physicians have never been killed by the disease
they treat.
"Does this fact prevent them from combatting disease victoriously?
"And since we are speaking of common sense we shall not hesitate to
invoke it in this instance, and all will agree that it should dictate
our reply.
"Then why could we not do for the soul that which can be done for the
body?
"It is first from books, then from the lessons of life that physicians
learn the principles underlying their knowledge of disease and its
healing remedies.
"Is it absolutely indispensable for us to poison ourselves in order to
know that such and such a plant is harmful and that another contains the
healing substance which destroys the effects of the poison?
"We may all possess wisdom if we are willing to be persuaded that the
experience of others is as useful as our own."
The events which multiply about us, Yoritomo says, ought to be, for each
master, an opportunity for awakening in the soul of his disciples a
perfect reasoning power, starting from the inception of the premises to
arrive at the conclusions of all arguments.
From the repetition of events, from their correlation, from their
equivalence, from their parallelism, knowledge will be derived and will
be productive of good results, in proportion as egotistical sentiment is
eliminated from them; and slowly, with the wisdom acquired by experience,
common sense will manifest itself tranquil and redoubtable, working
always for the accomplishment of good as does everything which is the
emblem of strength and peace.
LESSON II
THE FIGHT AGAINST ILLUSION
Common Sense such as we have just described it, according to Yoritomo, is
the absolute antithesis of dreamy imagination, it is the sworn enemy of
illusion, against which it struggles from the moment of contact.
Common sense is solid, illusion is yielding, also illusion never
issues victorious from a combat with it; during a struggle illusion
endeavors vainly to display its subterfuges and cunning; illusions
disappear one by one, crusht by the powerful arms of their terrible
adversary--common sense.
"The worship of illusion," says Yoritomo, "presents certain dangers to
the integrity of judgment, which, under such influence, falsifies the
comparative faculty, and sways decision to the side of neutrality.
"This kind of mental half-sleep is extremely detrimental to
manifestations of reason, because this torpor excludes it from imaginary
conceptions.
"Little by little the lethargy caused by this intellectual paralysis
produces the effect of fluidic contagion over all our faculties.
"Energy, which ought to be the principle factor in our resolutions,
becomes feeble and powerless at the point where we no longer care to feel
its influence.
"The sentiment of effort exists no longer, since we are pleased to
resolve all difficulties without it.
"In this inconstant state of mind, common sense, after wandering a moment
withdraws itself, and we find that we are delivered over to all the
perils of imagination.
"Nothing that we see thus confusedly is found on the plane which belongs
to common sense; the ideas, associated by a capricious tie, bind and
unbind themselves, without imposing the necessity of a solution.
"The man who allows himself to be influenced by vague dreams," adds the
Shogun, "must, if he does not react powerfully, bid farewell to common
sense and reason; for he will experience so great a charm in forgetting,
even for one moment, the reality of life, that he will seek to prolong
this blest moment.
"He will renounce logic, whose conclusions are, at times, opposed to his
desires, and he will plunge himself into that false delight of awakened
dreams, or, as some say, day-dreams.
"Those who defend this artificial conception of happiness, like to
compare people of common sense to heavy infantry soldiers, who march
along through stony roads, while they depict themselves as pleasant
bird-fanciers, giving flight to the fantastic bearers of wings.
"But they do not take into account the fact that the birds, for whom they
open the cage, fly away without the intention of returning, leaving them
thus deceived and deprived of the birds, while the rough infantry
soldiers, after many hardships, reach the desired end which they had
proposed to attain, thus realizing the joys of conquest.
"There they find the rest and security, which the possessors of fugitive
birds will never know.
"Those who cultivate common sense will always ignore the collapses which
follow the disappearance of illusions.
"How many men have suffered thus uselessly!
"And what is more stupid than a sorrow, voluntarily imposed, when it can
not be productive of any good?
"Men can not be too strongly warned against the tendency of embellishing
everything that concerns the heart-life, and this is the inclination of
most people.
"The causes of this propensity are many and the need for that which
astounds is not the only cause to be mentioned.
"Indolence is never a stranger to illusion.
"It is so delightful to foresee a solution which conforms to our desires!
"For certain natures, stained with moral atrophy, it is far sweeter to
hope for that which will be produced without pain.
"One begins by accelerating this achievement, so earnestly desired, by
using all the will-power, and one becomes accustomed progressively to
regard desires as a reality, and, aided by indolence, man discounts in
advance an easy success.
"False enthusiasm, or rather enthusiasm without deliberate reflection,
always enters into these illusions, which are accompanied by persuasion
and never combatted by common sense.
"Vanity is never foreign to these false ideas, which are always of a
nature to flatter one's amour propre.
"We love to rejoice beforehand in the triumph which we believe will win
and, aided by mental frivolity, we do not wish to admit that success can
be doubted.
"The dislike of making an effort, however, would quickly conceal, with
its languishing voice, the wise words of common sense, if we would listen
momentarily to them.
"And, lastly, it is necessary to consider credulity, to which, in our
opinion, is accorded a place infinitely more honorable than it deserves."
And now the sage, Yoritomo, establishes the argument which, by the aid of
common sense, characterized these opinions.
According to him, "It does not belong to new and vibrating souls, as many
would have us believe.
"When credulity does not proceed from inveterate stupidity, it is always
the result of apathy and weakness.
"Unhappiness and misfortune attend those who are voluntarily feeble.
"Their defect deprived them of the joy derived from happy efforts. They
will be the prey of duplicity and untruth.
"They are the vanquished in life, and scarcely deserve the pity of the
conqueror; for their defeat lacks grandeur, since it has never been
aurioled by the majestic strength of conflict."
Following this, the Shogun speaks to us of those whom he calls the ardent
seekers after illusion.
One evening he related the following story: "Some men started off for an
island, which they perceived in the distance.
"It looked like a large, detached red spot, amid the flaming rays of the
setting sun, and the men told of a thousand wonders about this unknown
land, as yet untrodden by the foot of man.
"The first days of the journey were delightful. The oars lay in the
bottom of the boat untouched, and they just allowed themselves to drift
with the tide. They disembarked, singing to the murmur of the waters, and
gathered the fruits growing on the shores, to appease their hunger.
"But the stream, which was bearing them onward, did not retain long its
limpidity and repose; the eddies soon entrapped the tiny bark and dragged
the men overboard.
"Some, looking backward, were frightened at the thought of ascending the
river, which had become so tempestuous.
"Escaping the wreckage of the boat as best they could, they entrusted
themselves again to the fury of the waters.
"They had to suffer from cold and hunger, for they were far from shore,
and as, in their imagination, the island was very near, they had
neglected to furnish themselves with the necessities of life.
"At last, after the fatigues which forethought would have prevented, they
found themselves one evening, at sundown, at the base of a great rock,
bathed in the rosy light of the departing sun.
"This, then, was the island of their dreams.
"Tired out and exhausted from lack of food, they had only the strength to
lie down upon the inhospitable rock, there to die!
"The disappearance of the illusion, having destroyed their courage and
having struck them with the sword of despair, the rock of reality had
proved destructive of their bodies and souls.
"The moral of this story easily unfolds itself.
"If the seekers after illusions had admitted common sense to their
deliberations, they would certainly have learned to know the nature of
the enchanted isle, and they would have taken good care not to start out
on their journey which must terminate by such a deception.
"Would they not have taken the necessary precaution to prevent all the
delays attendant upon travels of adventure, and would they have entrusted
their lives to so frail a skiff, if they had acquired common sense?"
We must conclude, with Yoritomo, that illusion could often be transformed
into happy reality if it were better understood, and if, instead of
looking upon it through the dreams of our imagination, we applied
ourselves to the task of eliminating the fluid vapors which envelop it,
that we might clothe it anew with the garment of common sense.
Many enterprises have been considered as illusions because we have
neglected to awaken the possibilities which lay dormant within them.
The initial thought, extravagant as it may appear, brings with it, at
times, facilities of realization that a judgment dictated by common sense
can alone make us appreciate.
He who knows how to keep a strict watch over himself will be able to
escape the causes of disillusion, which lead us through fatal paths of
error, to the brink of despair.
"That which is above all to be shunned," said the philosopher, "is the
encroachment of discouragement, the result of repeated failures.
"Rare are those who wish to admit their mistakes.
"In the structure of the mind, inaccuracy brings a partial deviation from
the truth, and it does not take long for this slight error to generalize
itself, if not corrected by its natural reformer--common sense.
"But how many, among those who suffer from these unhappy illusions, are
apt to recognize them as such?
"It would, however, be a precious thing for us to admit the causes
which have led us to such a sorry result, by never permitting them to
occur again.
"This would be the only way for the victims of illusion to preserve the
life of that element of success and happiness known as hope.
"Because of seeing so often the good destroyed, we wish to believe no
more in it as inherent in our being, and rather than suffer repeatedly
from its disappearance, we prefer to smother it before perfect
development.
"The greater number of skeptics are only the unavowed lovers of illusion;
their desires, never being those capable of realization, they have lost
the habit of hoping for a favorable termination of any sentiment.
"The lack of common sense does not allow them to understand the folly of
their enterprise, and rather than seek the causes of their habitual
failures, they prefer to attack God and man, both of whom they hold
responsible for all their unhappiness.
"They are willingly ironical, easily become pessimists, and villify life,
without desiring to perceive that it reserved as many smiles for them as
the happy people whom they envy.
"All these causes of disappointment can only be attributed to the lack of
equilibrium of the reasoning power and, above all, to the absence of
common sense, hence we cannot judge of relative values.
"To give a definite course to the plans which we form is to prepare the
happy termination of them.
"This is also the way to banish seductive illusion, the devourer of
beautiful ambitions and youthful aspirations."
And, with his habitual sense of the practical in life, Yoritomo adds the
following:
"There are, however, some imaginations which can not be controlled by the
power of reasoning, and which, in spite of everything, escape toward the
unlimited horizons of the dream.
"It would be in vain to think of shutting them up in the narrow prison
walls of strict reason; they would die wishing to attempt an escape.
"To these we can prescribe the dream under its most august form, that
of science.
"Each inventor has pursued an illusion, but those whose names have lived
to reach our recognition, have caught a glimpse of the vertiginous course
they were following, and no longer have allowed themselves to get too far
away from their base--science.
"Yes, illusion can be beautiful, on condition that it is not constantly
debilitated.
"To make it beautiful we must be its master, then we may attempt
its conquest.
"It is thus that all great men act; before adopting an illusion, as
truth, they have assured themselves of the means by the aid of which they
were permitted first to hope for its transformation and afterward be
certain of their power to discipline it.
"Illusion then changes its name and becomes the Ideal.
"Instead of remaining an inaccessible myth, it is transformed into an
entity for the creation of good.
"It is no longer the effort to conquer the impossible, which endeavor
saps our vital forces; it is a contingency which study and common sense
strip of all aleatory principles, in order to give a form which becomes
more tangible and more definite every day.
"We have nothing more to do with sterile efforts toward gaining an object
which fades from view and disappears as one approaches it.
"It is no longer the painful reaching out after an object always growing
more indistinct as we draw near it.
"It is through conscious and unremitting effort that we attain the
happy expression of successful endeavor and realize the best in life,
for slow ascension in winning this best leaves no room for satiety in
this noble strife.
"We must pity those who live for an illusion as well as those whose
imagination has not known how to create an ideal, whose beauty illumines
their efforts.
"It is the triumph of common sense to accomplish this transformation and
to banish empty reveries, replacing them by creating a desire for the
best, which each one can satisfy--without destroying it.
"The day when this purpose is accomplished, illusion, definitely
conquered, will cease to haunt the mind of those whom common sense has
illumined; vagaries will make place for reason and terrible disillusion
will follow its chief (whose qualities never rise above mediocrity) into
his retreat, and allow the flower of hope to blossom in the souls
already filled with peace--that quality which is born of reason and
common sense."
LESSON III
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REASONING POWER
When reading certain passages in the manuscripts of Yoritomo, one is
forcibly reminded of the familiar phrase: "Nothing is definitely finished
among men, for each thing stops only to begin again."
He says, "That many centuries before the great minds constructed altars
to the goddess of Reason, they were in search of a divinity to replace
the one they had just destroyed.
"If it were proposed to me to build temples which would synthesize my
devotion with certain sentiments, my desire would be that those dedicated
to the Will and to Reason should dominate all others, for then they would
be under the protection of powers for good."
In a few pages further on he insists again and again upon the necessity
of developing the worship of reason.
"Reasoning," he continues, "is a divinity, around which gravitate a whole
world of gods, important but inferior to it.
"Among this people of these idols, so justly revered, there is one god
which occupies a place apart from the others.
"This god is Common Sense, which gave birth to Reason, and has always
been its faithful companion.
"It is, in reality, the controlling force exercising its power to guard
reason against the predominating character and nefarious tendencies
created by self-interest.
"Common sense compels reason to admit principles whose justice it has
already recognized, and, at the same time, incites reason to reject those
whose absurdity it has demonstrated.
"Common sense allies itself with reason, in order to make that selection
of ideas which personal interest can either set aside entirely or modify
by illogical inference.
"Reason obeys certain laws, all of which can be united in one
sentiment--common sense."
This statement could be illustrated symbolically by comparing its truth
to a fan, whose blades converge toward a central point where they
remain fixt.
Applying the precept to the picture, the old Shogun gives the design
which we are faithfully copying.
"In this ideal fan," explains Yoritomo, "not only the true reproduction
of the qualities directing the progress of knowledge must be perceived,
but the symbol of their development must be traced.
"All of these qualities are born of common sense, to which they are
closely allied, unfolding and disclosing a luminous radiance.
"Altho each one may have its autonomy, they never separate, and, even as
a fan from which one blade has disappeared can only remain an imperfect
object little to be desired, even so, the symbolic fan of reasoning, when
it does not unite all the required qualities, becomes a mutilated power,
which can only betray the destiny originally attributed to it.
"Consequently, starting from common sense as the central point of
reasoning, we find, first, perception.
"This is the action by which exterior things are brought near to us.
"Perception is essentially visual and auditory, altho it influences all
our senses.
"For example, the fact of tasting a fruit is a perception.
"The seeing of a landscape is equally one.
"The hearing of a song is also a perception.
"In a word, everything which presents itself to us, coming in
contact with one of our senses, is a perception; otherwise, the
inception of an idea.
"This is the first degree of reasoning.
"Immediately following is memory, without which nothing could be proved.
"It is memory, which, by renewing the motive power of reason, allows us
to judge of the proportion of things, grasped by the senses in the
present as related to those which come to us from the past.
"Without memory it would be impossible to make a mental comparison.
"It would be most difficult to determine the true nature of an event,
announced by perception, if an analogous sensation, previously
experienced, had not just permitted us to classify it by close
examination or by differentiating it.
"Memory is a partial resurrection of a past life, whose reconstruction
has just permitted us to attribute a true value to the phases of
existence.
"It is in preserving the memory of things that we are called upon to
compare them and then to judge of them.
"Thought is produced immediately after perception, and the recollection,
very often automatic, that it creates within us.
"It is the inception of the idea which it engenders by a series of
results.
"Thought permits the mind to exercise its judgment without allowing
itself to be influenced by the greatness or humility of the idea.
"By virtue of corresponding recollections, it will associate the present
perception with the past representations, and will take an extension,
more or less pronounced, according to the degree of intellectuality of
the thinker, and according to the importance of the object of its
reflections.
"But rarely does the idea present itself alone.
"One thought almost always produces the manifestation of similar
thoughts, which group themselves around the first idea as birds of the
same race direct their flight toward the same country.
"Thought is the manifestation of the intellectual life; it palpitates in
the brain of men as does the heart in the breast.
"It is thought which distinguishes men from animals, who have only
instinct to guide them.
"It can be admitted, however, that this instinct is a kind of obscure
thought for these inferior beings, from which reflection is eliminated,
or, at least, reveals itself only as a vassal of material appetite.
"But with creatures who have intelligence, thought is a superior faculty,
which aids the soul to free itself from the bondage of vulgar and limited
impressions.
"When perception, memory, and thought unite to form judgment, activity of
mind will become necessary, in order to accelerate the production of
ideas in extending the field of imagination.
"Moral inertia is the most deplorable of all defects; it retards
intellectual growth and hinders the development of personality.
"It is, in this understanding, the enemy of common sense, for it will
admit voluntarily a reasoning power, existing per se, rather than make
the necessary effort which will set free the truth and constitute an
individual opinion.
"Vulgarity is, then, almost always the sign of mental sloth.
"It is not infrequent to see a mind of real capacity fall into error,
where an intelligence of mediocre caliber asserts its efficiency.
Indifference is the most serious obstacle to the attainment of judgment.
"Common sense demands a keen alertness of understanding, placed at the
disposal of a reflection which appears at times slow of action, but which
is long in being manifested only because of the desire to surround itself
by all the guaranties of truth concerning the object in question.
"The fifth blade of the fan is the quality of deduction--the most solid
basis for the judgments which are formed by common sense.
"By deduction we are able to solve all relative questions with
perfect accuracy.
"It is by abstracting reckless contingencies, and by relying only upon
the relativeness of facts, that we can succeed in discovering the truth
that there are too many representations as to these facts.
"Deduction is the great support of mental weakness. It helps in
discerning proportions, possibilities, even as it helps in skilfully
avoiding the fear of error."
We shall have occasion to speak more at length of deduction, for Yoritomo
devotes many pages to it. We shall, then, defer to a future chapter the
interesting developments that he discloses on this subject, and we shall
continue to study the fan of common sense with him.
"Foresight," he continues, "is rightly looked upon as one of the
indispensable elements in cultivating common sense.
"The faculty of foresight always accompanies common sense, in order to
strengthen its qualities of skill and observation.
"One must not confound, as many people are tempted to do, foresight and
conjecture.
"The first consists in taking great care to prevent the repetition of
unhappy facts which have already existed.
"Foresight will exert an influence on future events by establishing an
analogy between them and the actual incidents which, of necessity, will
lead to the adoption or rejection of present projects.
"It is to be observed that all these faculties are subordinate, one to
the other, and, in proportion to the unfolding of the fan, we can prove
that all the blades previously mentioned have concurred in the formation
of the blade of which we are now speaking.
"In order to foresee disasters it is necessary that the
perception--visual or auditory--of said disasters should already have
imprest us.
"We have kept intact the memory of them, since it is reconstructed
emotion which guides our thoughts.
"These same thoughts, in extending themselves, form groups of thoughts
harmonious in character, all relative to the one, which is the object of
the debate.
"Our mind becomes more active in recalling the incidents, the remembrance
of which marks the time which has elapsed between the old perception and
the present state of mental absorption.
"The faculty of deduction, which is born of these different mental
conflicts, permits me to foresee that circumstances of the same nature
will lead to others similar to those we have already mentioned.
"We have merely sketched rapidly the scale of sensations which follow
each other, in order to reach the explanation of how foresight is formed,
this faculty of which we are now speaking.
"By assimilating these present facts with those of the past, we are
permitted to draw a conclusion, relating to the same group of results,
because of the conformity of those past facts to the present questions.
"Foresight is passive; between it and precaution there is the same
difference as between theory and practise.
"Precaution is preeminently active, and it marks its first appearance by
means of foresight, but does not stop in this effort until it has
rendered foresight productive.
"It is well to foresee, but it is precious to preclude.
"The second part of the act of precaution can, however, only be
accomplished after having permitted the brain to register the thoughts
which determine the first part of this act."