Balance…

We often hear of people defeated by adverse physical factors, of failures caused by cruel climates, of storms that take their toll, and of all manner of material obstacles that cause failures among men. But the most perplexing problems in the world aren’t the problems of the outside elements. The most perplexing problems are the problems of people⎯problems of mind and heart and spirit. (More men have been cut down by unkindness than have ever been cut down by cruel climates.) One of our greatest problems is that we have made much more progress with things than we have with people and principles, that we exercise more control over outside physical forces than we exercise over ourselves. One of the greatest problems of the age is to bring the manners and morals of men in balance with the material things that men have made. Increasingly, we seem to amaze ourselves with our ever-widening knowledge of unknown areas. Our physical powers have exceeded any known period of the past, and yet to the degree to which our spiritual and moral perception fail to keep pace with our physical powers, it is apparent that we are digging at our won destruction. In material matters we may gain much, but without moral balance and spiritual strength we may lose much more: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”128 Without kindness and consideration, cleanliness of life and thought, decency and restraint, and recognition of the rights and dignity of every individual⎯without keeping the commandments⎯we shall find ourselves reaching for things that canker when we acquire them, and running for places that aren’t worth arriving at. We shall find that the fruits and the sweets we reach for shall have lost their sweetness and their savor when we seek them to excess. Always and ever we must remind ourselves that in going so far in physical factors we must go fully as far in sustaining the morals and manners of men, in matching material matters with the saving inner qualities of character, and keeping the commandments of Him who gave us all we have, and who, if we will, would help us be much better and happier than we are.