Happiness as Found in Forethought Minus Fearthought. Fletcher Horace
called unconscious cerebration; intelligence not derived from experience; principally obtained during undisturbed sleep, and, seemingly, supernaturally clear to consciousness on awakening in natural manner; Spiritual Cerebration is man's best partner, if confidently listened to, heeded and followed.
Unconscious physical attraction; assisting sustenance, protection, development and reproduction; attribute of all life.
Attribute only of Man; distinguishing Man from the rest of Creation; exercised in modifying the brute law of the "survival of the fittest, or strongest," by cultivating harmonic conditions favoring growth and producing happiness; God's Higher Law of Harmony executed through Man.
The evidence and fruit and reward of growth as involved in Altruism.
As commonly used, "nature" means creation apart from man. The accepted definition is "creation," and as such includes man and all created things, and also the processes of creation – generation, degeneration and regeneration – as involved in growth. The common use of the word "nature" is a convenient one, and hence let us make use of it as meaning creation other than man.
Egociation is, Appreciation of self as a creation of God and as an instrument of Altruism– to be cultivated to its greatest possibilities in order that it may render Altruistic service in the execution of the Higher Law of Harmony.
There are two distinct kinds of ego– self: The ego that is physically and intellectually born only, and whose tendencies are egotistically selfish, and therefore, animalesque: And the ego that enjoys Appreciation, realizes God, loves spontaneously, understands the Higher Law of Harmony and serves with enthusiasm in the execution of the Law by the exercise of Divine Selection, and thereby attains True Happiness.
The mental equipment of the unthinking is dulled by a confusion of these two egos, and hence they cultivate egotism, believing it to be Egociation; as they cultivate fearthought, believing it to be forethought; and as they tolerate license, believing it to be an attribute of liberty.
The desirability of separating the lower, or animal, self from the Higher Self, warrants the coining of a term, sufficiently new to attract attention and sufficiently allied to well-known words to explain itself. With this object in view I have empirically selected a combination of ego and appreciation, and in so doing, have coined the euphonious term Egociation as an antithesis of "egotism," especially useful in inculcating a general understanding of the Higher Law of Harmony and in securing recognition of the place of the Higher Self within the Law.
In the cultivation of Egociation, man recognizes and asserts an individuality, or responsibility, as a part of the whole, the result of appreciation, opposed to personality or separateness, which is an attribute of egotism.
Words that carry good suggestion with them are less liable to do harm by being variously understood than those that convey bad suggestion. These latter should be defined in such a manner as to clearly suggest their badness; in fact, war should be waged upon them by every possible means.
"Egotism" is separation from God. The fruit of egotism is selfishness.
In the list of the deterrents, selfishness holds bottom place. Self-forethought, self-carefulness, self-culture, and self-respect, are in no way related to selfishness, but are provision of strength towards useful purposes. Selfishness is the mark of animal origin. We will therefore define it as relic of animalism remaining in man.
Selfishness is the opposite of altruism. While a suggestion of altruism is found in some animals, especially in dogs, it is not an animal characteristic. Selfishness is the predominant animal trait and therefore excuses the otherwise unkindly comparison.
Fear is also a relic of animalism, and a child of selfishness – a deformed child of an ill-formed parent. It is not a physical condition, but simply an expression of fearthought. We will therefore define "fear" as an expression of fearthought.
"Fearthought" is the self-imposed or self-permitted suggestion of inferiority. It is both a cause and an effect of selfishness. It is the "tap-root of evil."
"Fearthought" was coined by the author in order, if possible by suggestion, to separate from divinely ordained forethought any element of apprehension or weakness that might be masquerading under the name of forethought in the minds of the unthinking.
"Worry" is fearthought in contradistinction to forethought.
"Anger" is the brutal and self-inflicting expression of disapproval– brutal, because it is ungodly, unchristian and unaltruistic; self-inflicting, because the ill-effect of it reacts upon the person enangered.
There can be no "righteous anger." Disapproval there must be, because man has been endowed with the faculty of Divine Selection, and thereby shows a divinity denied to all other living things whose preferences are called in Science "natural selection." Disapproval in the interest of harmony —Divine Selection– and disapproval in the creation of discord – anger – are, the one holy, and the other unholy, uses of the faculty of selection.
There may be, then, righteous disapproval, but there never can be "righteous anger."
"Envy" is anger of non-possession.
"Envy" is sometimes wrongly used to express appreciation, as, "I envy you your good fortune," but we will give it the one meaning of "anger of non-possession."
"Jealousy" is "the homage that inferiority pays to merit";3 or, recognition or confession of inferiority; or, fearthought.
"Tap-root" is "the chief root." It is the main support of the tree, of nearly the size of the trunk, and without which the tree must fall and die. The tap-root strikes deep into the soil, while the surface-roots reach out along the surface. For example; egotism is the tree of evil, either selfishness or fearthought is the tap-root, and anger and worry in all their phases are the surface roots of the tree. The tree is known by its fruits, which are, separation, paralysis, disease, unhappiness and death.
Trouble does not really exist. Fearthought of trouble is as near as one ever gets to the condition, for the reason that whatever has come has already ceased to exist, except in the memory. The reason for so fine a distinction is made clear under the caption of "The Impotence of Pain," and is emphasized in order to place merited responsibility on fearthought. What is called "trouble," however, can be defined as unwelcome conditions, but, if analyzed, the chief elements of the "conditions" will be found to be fearthought of still more unwelcome conditions. The tap-root, then, of trouble is fearthought.
Pessimism is fearthought. Pessimism is the devil.
Nervousness is generally an effect and not a cause. It is the immediate or reflex result of fearthought.
Like "nervousness," so-called, "temperament" – habit-of-feeling – is generally an effect and not a cause; and is frequently used as an excuse for self-indulged weaknesses.
THE VALUE OF SIMILE
Christ taught almost entirely by parable.
Apropos of the value of simile is an experiment about which I have recently heard.
An experimenter wished to measure in some way the strength of certain vibrations and their effect upon vibratory things. A large steel comb, such as is used in music-boxes to produce sounds, was constructed. Each tooth was made as nearly as possible just like every other tooth. They not only seemed to measure alike, but when set in motion the vibrations seemed to be alike to the sense of hearing.
There was also
Note – I take this apt definition of "jealousy" from that excellent periodical – the organ of the League of American Wheelmen – "The Bulletin and Good Roads." Many good suggestions in menticulture accompany the excellent suggestions relative to good roads in this paper. Good thoughts are good roads to good action.