Higher living

Prefatory Note

I feel that this volume offers the legitimate bloom of my half-century of professional preparation and service with satisfactory fullness. Old friends and clients will find what I have so many times said to them, perhaps in clearer, more convincing detail than ever. New friends and strangers will learn of the dominant purpose and the methods that have characterized my work, even until now.

In the spirit of the Ideality that has inspired and sustained me through many vicissitudes, I send forth this broadening " beam " from out my " sphere," and trust it to penetrate and vitalize wherever this sort of light is most needed.

Smith Baker, M.D.

Camden, N. Y.

November, 1917.

Contents

■IAFTER PAOI

Introduction iii

I Hyperions 3

Introduction

Fixing an idea before the mind must lead to some sort of expression. theodor ziehen

The secret of happiness for a refined nature is a just estimate of limitations. e. c. steadman

Let us think quietly, enlarging our stock of true and fresh ideas, and not, as soon as we get an idea or half an idea, be running out into the street, and trying to make it rule there. Our ideas will, in the end, shape the world all the better for maturing a little.

MATTHEW ARNOLD

Are you aware that life is very like a railway? One gets into deep cuttings and long dark tunnels, where one sees nothing and hears twice as much noise as usual, and one can't read, and one shuts up the window and waits, and then it all comes clear again. Only in life, it sometimes feels as if one has to dig the tunnel as he goes along, all new for oneself. Get straight on, however, and one's sure to come out into a new country, on the other side of the hills, sunny and bright.

ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH

The sweet affluence of love and song,

The rich results of the divine consents

Of man and earth, of world beloved and lover,

The nectar and ambrosia, are withheld;

And in the midst of spoils and slaves, we thieves

And pirates of the universe, shut out

Daily to a more thin and outward rind,

Turn pale and starve.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

INTRODUCTION

A few years since I was engaged to prepare for the periodical Unity (Chicago), a series of articles on the general subject Higher Living. 1 Unexpectedly, as the series progressed, I found myself becoming increasingly interested in the subject and in the manner in which it should be considered. Far-reaching indeed did the issues of all appropriate considerations promise to be, both as to present need and future possibility. Eventually, the topic came to appear as one worth every effort, and all the time that I could give to it.

Since then the conviction has continued to strengthen, that never before in the world's history has it been more absolutely incumbent on everyone to do what he can to further the development of Higher Living, than now. In fact, the more closely and frequently one studies one's own needs, or similarly studies the needs of other people, the stronger this conviction must grow, and the more imperative must be the impulse to lend a hand, on the part of everyone susceptible to this sort of " stirring of soul."

For it must be noted that in every walk in life there is surely needed men and women who can regularly eat and digest everything requisite for better-

i Permission to make needful use of these articles is gratefully acknowledged.

iii iv INTRODUCTION

ment of health endurance, who can sleep sweetly and recuperatively, and who can handle the tools requisite for every situation with adequate skill and strength, — who are, in fact, so constituted as to be physically energetic and resisting and enduring enough for every ordinary shock or stress that modern life demands of them. Business men certainly need to have this to meet the demands of complex business transactions, which are much more serious users-up of the finer physical vitality than the simpler ones of the past ever were. Professional people need it, that they may not only do their work better, but that they may the better radiate its real value and use to those they wittingly or unwittingly guide. Tradesmen need it, that they may have the clear vision and firm confidence that robust health naturally provides. Moralists and reformers and leaders all need it, that their efforts to make the world better may not be swamped in a mush of weak sentiment, and lead to harmful hindrance rather than to encouraging good. All these need to have ruddy cheeks and lips, strong arms and legs, well coordinated hands and nimble feet, — especially in these days of exorbitant demand and yet of degenerate weakness. Full and symmetrical development of physique should therefore be considered the universal foundation of every system of human betterment.

Again, it must be noted that the growth of a mind, which shall eventually be able to control and direct the body as it should, is not as yet fully provided for, and that this must be the next step, even though it does seem that, with all the educational " principles " and " systems " already so universally and so long

INTRODUCTION v

in vogue, it were quite superfluous to say another word on this part of the subject. Yet it must be acknowledged, none the less, that nothing like an ideal education of the mind, either theoretical or practical, has yet been devised. The old psychology, with its partisan disregard for the underlying body and its functions, and with its almost exclusively subjective definitions and classifications, still too widely prevails. The coming educational seer must look to something more comprehensive than has as yet been reached, if the strict and efficient development of the mind itself, to say nothing of the co-ordinating of mental with physical activity, of individual with social effort, and of the industrial and practical with the theoretical academic learning and discipline, is ever to be realized.

Nor should we fail to note that as yet the notion of a better body and mind and a better functioning of both these side by side, is not everywhere accepted as being most scientifically promising, or most necessary to insure a better Life of the Spirit than the world has ever yet experienced. Usually, heretofore, the spiritual life has been thought to be rather exclusively dependent upon sources that transcend all natural origins and laws and activities, and consequently to be a life that is absolutely exceptional, if not unique. Moreover, it has been generally believed that unless this transcendental Source graciously of its own accord floods the soul with its specific light, and likewise affords unusual capacities for receiving this light as well as unusual abilities for profiting by it, the true spiritual life is not quite possible, or must soon die out if for any reason the transcendental vi INTRODUCTION

light is withheld. The Life of the Spirit has thus been systematically divorced from the life of the natural body and the natural mind, and in these days of a better understanding of the close relationship of body, mind and spirit, at least during our earthly lives, this unwarranted divorcement has not only come to be confusing and forbidding and emasculating, but to be recognized as in need of comprehensive correction, as well. No wonder that in so many minds the so-called " Christian revelation " is allowed slowly to give way, either to stolid indifference, or to still more stolid denial, or else to something like the Buddhism that teaches so exclusively that, " By one's self the evil is done, by one's self one suffers ; by one's self evil is left undone; by one's self one is purified," and to feel themselves doubly assured as they read further that " No God can turn into defeat the victory of a man who has conquered himself . . . holding fast to the truth as a refuge, looking not to any one but himself." Indeed it may be safely premised that from now on the number of people whose Spiritual Life will thus be founded more exclusively than heretofore on the natural experiences of their own selves, and a natural interpretation of the ideas and hints that are derived from close and accurate investigation of the entire field of natural phenomena, and not so exclusively on so-called " miraculous " revelations, except, perchance, as these are thought to corroborate what is otherwise discovered, must grow rapidly. Everything in the intelligible universe looks to the conclusion that, after all, the real Spiritual Life, the life of permanent and progressive betterment and achievement, is not to be realized so

INTRODUCTION vii

fully and accurately in some supernatural other world, as in the best developed bodies coupled with the most perfect minds and the most loving and hopeful hearts, as these are even now possible in this present world of nature and of art.

Whether this will be so or not, is perhaps as yet of speculative worth chiefly. But the call to make human life in this world happier, more useful and brighter, prospectively, is real and imperative and growing with every advance toward betterment. " Shall the predatory, deceptive, destructive instincts and the superstitious and hypocritical instincts continue longer to rule so dominantly the world's life and its activity? " is now asked, " or, shall the instinct to discover and know the whole truth, to follow just ideals, to ascend higher and higher in the scale of development, increasingly and everywhere prevail, instead? " Which of these series of instincts shall be most cultivated and followed, and how shall the problems concerning humanity's well-being or ill-being be finally solved? — these are the questions that should be asked, even as they are now being asked, by everyone who thinks of anything like intelligent duty towards his fellows, — asked until they can be answered in such a way that everyone instead of certain privileged ones will be equally benefited and satisfied.

The moment one seriously thinks of this higher duty towards his fellows, one cannot escape thinking with equal seriousness of the realizations of what goes to make up the truly desirable fruitage of the spirit, and to ask most relevantly, What indeed shall be said of our present and prospective clarity of outviii INTRODUCTION

look and anticipation? what of our hope, and faith, and patience, and benevolence, and love, and all the rest? Have we no "open door" here, yet to be entered? Is all attained that is possible in this respect? Have we no further revelations to look for? Do we really know sufficiently of the " law," the " grace," the " promise," the " sacrifice," the " resurrection," and all else needful for the promotion of the true life of reasonable duty and spiritual bloom? The most casual glance at life in general, and at the agencies for promoting the highest ethical and spiritual prosperity in particular, does not discover this to be quite satisfactorily so, at least very frequently or very widely. Here, surely, is a field that remains open for the modern man and woman to enter upon to find out the still better way, a field in which even the best tillers and reapers may yet find themselves needing a much better furnishing of body and mind than they have heretofore thought needful. It is a field moreover in which all the faith and strength and acumen and determination of a fully endowed and instructed and disciplined human being has seldom if ever been enlisted. What glorious prospect and hope is there not here for every properly endowed and instructed and disciplined worker; what promise of discovery and harvest, what gleanings by the way! Ah, all the goodly fellowship of dutiful and devoted workers will most certainly here find the acreage broad enough, and the tillage difficult enough ; yet also will find the spring-light flooding it more and more, the summer growth encouraging, and the Harvest-home unprecedented, in the end. So, then, let our definition of the betterment that

INTRODUCTION ix

shall result in universal Higher Living be something like this, namely : That kind of intelligent cultivation which shall manifest progressively a more comprehensive respect for every structure and function of the human being, whether bodily, mental or spiritual, and shall intelligently further the best interests of all these together, and in every way feasible at the time. With this definition in mind, it is easy to see that the body and all its activities and possibilities must come to be much more accurately understood and cultivated than now; that the mind itself and its expansibilities shall be more thoroughly furnished and disciplined; and that the soul and its high aspirations and needs shall also be more and more fully appreciated and encouraged and provided for, than ever ; — that, in fact, no one of these several constituents shall be partially judged or given undue attention, especially to the depreciation and neglect of the others. In the economy of the individual as well as of the community, it should be estimated that the foot is equal to the brain, the stomach to the eye, the heart to the nerves, the body to the soul, and every function and faculty of any part of equal worth in its place. With a proper appreciation of this important estimation, and a resolute direction of energy in accordance therewith, there must necessarily result the progressive betterment that shall everywhere express itself effectively in Higher Living. Surely then, here is a direction in which everyone can do something that will prove very " practical " in enhancing the essential value of his own life, as well as that of the lives of everyone else, now and hereafter. Each and every one can thus do somex INTRODUCTION

thing to increase the attractiveness and the usefulness of all those elements of the Higher Life, — intelligence, patience, sturdiness for the right, appreciation and wholesome worship of beauty and goodness, kindliness of spirit, gentleness of action, sympathetic fellowship for all, radiant hope and inspiring aspiration, daily manifestation of the best within us — in fact, of all those noblest characteristics, which of themselves and by their exercise assure their eternal worth; and, in doing this feel also that he is indeed fulfilling the highest duty yet known to man, either to himself, or to the Great Source whence he and all else have originally come. Such an obedience to the impulse to betterment will surely bring its due reward, in measure incalculable and in satisfaction unalloyed.

Chapter I Hyperions

But breathe the air Of mountains, and their inapproachable summits Will lift thee to the level of themselves.

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW

A mortal may fancy himself treading the upper altitudes, only to discover that the baser forces in the brain are working independently of the will.

GERTRUDE ATHERTON

We want the hero's heart, but are aggrieved at the battle that proves it; we want patience, but are critical of the suffering that evokes it; we want sympathy, but not the kind of world in which it is possible.

A. w. JACKSON

It is amidst the perpetual and inextricable combination of the limited with the illimitable, of the definite with the indefinite, in every sphere of human existence, that the free unfolding of man's nature, his liberty of soul, becomes possible; and this, according to God's will as well as according to man's own inner God-given law; and, in harmony with the general unity of living nature.

FRIEDRICH FROEBEL

Use all your powers: that is all the obedience which the universe exacts. william james

CHAPTER I HYPERIONS

One night, in midsummer, I stepped out into the unvitiated darkness of a far-up mountain side. As I gazed into the heavens they seemed slowly to close down upon me, and with a fascination that impelled repeated movements to meet them ; yet they would never come quite near enough for me to pluck the stars, seemingly so near at hand! Suddenly the ground slightly trembled and then crumbled almost beneath my feet; and then there was noisy confusion far below. I recoiled with a sad sense of both failure and fright. In the morning I found that one step more, and I would have fallen hundreds of feet to inevitable destruction!

A rapidly increasing number of people, restless in the light as yet afforded them, venture longingly forth into the unstimulating quiet of the mystical night. For, with them,

" Beneath the calm, within the light, A hid unruly appetite Of swifter life, a surer hope, Strains every sense to larger scope, Impatient to anticipate The halting steps of aged Fate ";

and the impatient yearning will not be restrained, even until an ever deeper, more impressive ideal, still, promises the fullest realization, later on.

As they do this, however, they often forget the weariness and strife and pain of the past days, become fascinated with the openings through which stream the light from heavenly places, and their spirits seem invited to a realization, which, if ever to be, is certainly now but just beyond their safe reach. Remembering Plotinus, and Tauler, and Guyon, or their like, they, too,

" Pray for a beam Out of that sphere/'

— a beam which shall be as strength and rest and satisfaction, world without end. And so they impulsively reach up, and step forward, and often would almost realize, were it not that their feet rest on unsteadiness only; and so they recoil lest they irrevocably fall. Stars cannot be plucked except we climb to them on something which surely supports us !

Philosophic idealism, constructive though it may be, and spiritual exaltation, blessed as it undoubtedly is, are indeed universally to be reached for as among the richest gatherings of life ; but only as an experience proven to be within safe reach of everyone. It is well sometimes to be able to say, " My God is all," or to yield to the Higher Self an unquestioned obedience. Indeed, such a feeling of exalted yielding of self might be allowed to qualify continuously one's every moment and undertaking, with much good, possibly, to result. But only the kind of affirmation of self that in turn compels intelligent obedience, is, day by day, the firmest basis of permanent self-realization and ultimate satisfaction. Not only are we to invite heavenly influences in order that our

HYPERIONS 5

higher life may prosper, but also are we properly to make use of every kind of earthly influence, as the pledge of our sincerity. Hitching wagons to stars and forgetting the patient oxen that possess so many elements of strength and efficiency, does not manifest the thoroughgoing good sense upon which all truly cultural aspirations are safely founded. Humanity needs the " feet of clay," as well as the spirit of the stars — the alluvial sustaining of the valleys, as well as the lifting air of the mountains.

Were the question, Who would be an Hyperion? — a child of the light, the good, the strong — clearly put to civilized people universally, almost unanimous would be the answer, " I, of course ! " So inborn is this feeling, no one is ever so high that vistas of brighter perspective, spheres of greater achievement, states of truer bliss, are not glimpsed frequently enough to warrant both it and the resulting conviction which so very naturally ensues; nor are there many quite so low, so spent or so oppressed, that there do not come to them also dreams of upward and outward betterment, which not only make them feel worthy of these, but more or less ready to hope that eventually they will be able to justify the corresponding complacency sometimes felt. "More light!" "More light!" is not the cry of genius alone; it is the wail of common humanity. Greater strength and purer good are parts of a common demand, which, no matter how vague its voice, yet makes itself known upon occasion. We everywhere and all think, at least, that we really want to live in the light and be transparently receptive to its cheering influences. We would be able also to impress some portions of the world, if ever so slightly, with the truer nerve and the steadier hand that would prove an earnest of our sincerity in this. We actually want heaven — of nothing else, are we quite so sure!

Yet, on a certain illuminating day, a physician, who for a score of years had answered every call and done whatever he could to alleviate human distress, was asked, " What is the chief lesson of it all for you? " To which the answer was neither quickly formulated nor readily given. The good man thought back, as he had an assured right to, upon all the kindnesses, the affectionate tokens, the joyous friendlinesses, the manifold appreciations, so vividly and so gratefully remembered, that had marked his professional lifeway ; but he thought, too, of so much that was quite the opposite of this. All his thinking, however, did not at once give the clue to what he was sure he wished to say. Finally, a glance at his books of record seemed to rapidly precipitate the thought needed. Then his face grew, not bright and satisfied, but pathetic in its repressed pain and sorrow, as he said : " The chief lesson to me is, that the large majority of people are not altogether truthful when they claim they want to be healthy. Over and over again," he continued, after another period of reflection, " have I seen that, when under stress of weariness or lack of time, I have simply prescribed for people's ailments perfunctorily, but probably with due conventional impressiveness, not only have my services been acceptable, but satisfactory to an unusual and praised degree. But, on the other hand, have I seen, also, that when I have

HYPERIONS 7

taken time carefully to gather up every thread of relevant history, investigate every region and symptom carefully, and then have fully considered every point of the knowledge thus gained, all with a view to saying the word which should teach a better, safer way of living, I have been met with suggestions of professional weakness, or worse, lack of skill — and this, I am sorry to say, in very many instances, indeed. So I am forced to believe that many people do not really want to be healthier," he affirmed, with emphasis. " They more truly like instead to please themselves, even recklessly, and then try to appease their consciences or superstitions by glibly but insincerely talking about their ' troubles,' and by seeking indiscriminately every sort of means of so-called ' cure,' possible to be had."

It seems somewhat painfully true that, if people could only

" Be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease,"

or if they could have light and strength and goodness come to them in dulcet portions only or perhaps have them injected once for all during some anaesthetic moment ; or if they could only get the very best for the very least, or possibly for the worst — then, self-sufficiently would they think themselves to be Hyperions in fact, as well as in aspiration. But, actually and determinedly to use the necessary and commonplace hammer and broom until the muscles grow strong; to select such courses of resistance as require active overcoming; or resolutely to open the mind and heart, even with utmost sturdiness, if g HIGHER LIVING

need be, so that the light of instructed sense may really penetrate and vitalize ; — this, how few are really minded to do? Yet it is this — just this — which justifies any sort of pretension to having or sincerely desiring those interests that are centered in light, or strength, or goodness. When we say we want to be wiser, or stronger, or better, it would be a mark of good sense at once to enter upon some corresponding course of life, which, if persisted in, will realize not only the high desire, but affirm an unmistakable sincerity, both in purpose and effort. To talk of health, happiness and prosperity, to read about them, to long for them, to dream over possibilities, and not actively to energize one's self in the direction clearly pointed out by accurate science and common sense, is not the kind of ground for expectancy that will ever prove realizable, at all. Every time,

" Earth gets its price for what earth gives us,"

and the only reliable assurance of fullest realization that we can have, is ever higher and higher living, persisted in both for ourselves and for all the generations to come.

Chapter II The Model Man

I wish men and women, every soul of them, would try to make the most of themselves, and see what would come

Of that. C. D. WARNER

The very essence of culture is shaking off the nightmare of self-consciousness and self-absorption and attaining a sort of Christian Nirvana — lost in the great whole of humanity. e. r. sill

The effervescence of youth and passion, and the fresh gloss of the intellect and imagination, endow them with a false brilliancy, which makes fools of themselves and other people. Like certain chintzes, calicoes and ginghams, they show finely in their first newness, but can't stand the sun and rain, and assume a very sober aspect after washing day. Nathaniel hawthorne

You cannot buy the wares of knowledge and carry them away in another vessel; when you have paid for them you must receive them into the soul and go your way, either greatly harmed or greatly benefited. socrates

The blissful development of the human being which leads to perfection and completion, and the fitting lines for the attainment of his destiny and thus for the attainment by effort of the genuine joy and true peace of life, depend alone on the correct comprehension of man, even as a child, in respect to his nature as well as his relations. FREDERICK FROEBEL

CHAPTER II THE MODEL MAN

The central personality of modern thought — its vital nucleus and the inspiration of its best directed energy — is undoubtedly Jesus of Nazareth. As heretofore, so now, when compared with every one else, he stands conspicuously in the front. As a life-motive, his words and spirit are still distinctive enough to amply sustain the most exalted characterization. How he was born and nurtured; what he said and did; all the influence of his life and death; are things whose distinctive value is appreciated, as well by scientists as by religionists and philosophers. To us all, he is the deep revelator, the wise teacher and inspired, and the great promise and surety of a better life, both in the present and the future. To him, we all bow our heads in tenderest respect and in more or less filial devotion. We claim Him as our Model Man — unique and worthy ; and we gladly crown Him Lord of all!

When, however, we come to look closely at this Royal Personage, in just what does his distinction really consist? We see at once and clearly that he was a product of such racial and ancestral antecedents, that in his body, his mind and his disposition, there were summations of the very best that human life could then produce. In his body there were no observable flaws, — he was ruddy and chief among ten thousand; yet there were necessarily many of the essential weaknesses inherent in all flesh. His mentality was of such a deep and comprehensive order that he has ever since been most acceptable to multitudes, as the chief embodiment of model and spiritual universality. Yet some of his thoughts nevertheless reveal suggestions of certain of the limitations and localizations common to mankind everywhere. And his disposition, so sweet and tender that he has been looked upon as indeed the spiritual light of the world, had yet in it certain elements that constrained him betimes energetically to pronounce woe upon his enemies, and to scourge them with an unsparing hand. Human, at any rate, he was ; but in what a model sense, nineteen centuries of remembrance amply testify ; and this, because he had body, mind and spirit, which were persistently held in an equilibrium that was as exact as it was comprehensive.

But he is said to have been more than ordinarily human, and we all feel this to have been at least exceptionally true. If so, in just what did the unusual quality consist? The answer commonly has been, and is : His extra human quality was derived from " The supernatural and immaculate conception of his grandmother combined with the virginity of his mother. In this he was surely more than human, in fact, was truly divine." Yet, we are bound to say, in spite of the wide acceptance of this, that neither science, nor common observation, nor any sort of legitimate theology, can thus find a stable and sufficient ground for a satisfactory accounting for the full nature of the Son of Man. Strictly speak-

THE MODEL MAN 13

ing, such an unnatural progeniture would have made him divine simply and to just the extent that the first unicellular organism was divine, and to no other extent, whatever. At best, it would have simply started him on his physical life-way; after which, at every step further, all would have had to depend upon ordinary natural processes, and been subject to the thousand arrests and perversions of growth that are owing to accidents, disease, or failure, any one of which would have been quite sufficient to frustrate the final outcome in the development of an adult Godin-manhood. The fact is, the ordinary explanation of the divinity of Jesus is in no way entirely or chiefly sufficient for the requirements of his so-called M divine " life. To be satisfactory the explanation must be at least as real and as ideal as the manifesting Life itself.