A Look at Pleasure and Leisure March 15, 1964
As to pleasure and leisure and their place and importance: While there is need for leisure and relaxing, it is not good to have too many unoccupied hours; for there is too much too little time to do...
A Too Comfortable Complacency… October 25, 1964
It is safe to rely on the old assumption often cited, that what we don’t know won’t hurt us—that what we don’t see or sense won’t hurt us. It is possible to be hurt without...
Back to the Real Christmas… December 20, 1964
“Sometimes… as we travel through life, we swing around a circle,“ wrote Oscar Graeve. “We leave the calm faith of childhood for the … doubts of later years… But then, if we are...
Beginning: A Big Part of Any Process November 29, 1964
We seem at times to find ourselves running in ruts, in discouragement, assuming that things must be about as they are, with not much vision, or encouragement for the future. There are some who find...
Block the Beginnings December 6, 1964
Along with the importance of beginning what should be done, there is also the importance of not beginning what should not be done. This suggests two or three citations, on from a man named Amiel,...
Broadmindedness April 19, 1964
“Broadmindedness” is a word that has much meaning and much to commend it. But “The question is . . .” said Lewis Carroll, “The question is whether you make words mean...
Burdens---and Faith and Hope February 2, 1964
Cause… Consequence… and Cure August 23, 1964
Wherever there is disregard for standards, for law, for morals, there is need to consider causes and consequences. “What am I? And What is?” asked Emerson. “When man says:–I...
Don't Say It… Don't Do It… September 27, 1964
This terse advice comes from newspaper parlance: “If you don’t want it printed in the paper, don’t do it.” To this might be added: If you don’t want it printed,...
Freedom--and the Conquest of Self July 12, 1964
“No man can be free,” said Thomas O’Shaughnessy, “until he conquers himself. Many mistake slavery for liberty; they think their liberty consists in following their desires,...
Independence--and Principles April 26, 1964
In using our free agency, some considerable degree of independence is absolutely essential. But it is possible for people to be so independent that they cannot or do not cooperate, so independent...
Knowledge… Character… Responsibility… May 24, 1964
“The essence of character-building lies in action,” said David Starr Jordan. “Precepts of virtue are useless unless they can be built into life…. The habit of finding out the...
Marriage Is Half the Responsibility of Each August 9, 1964
More than a century ago, Goethe made this remark on marriage:”The sum which two married people owe each other defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged through...
Marriage--and Honesty Before and After… June 14, 1964
“Character,” said Josiah Holland, “must…back up everything.” This applies to marriage. There must be honesty before as well as after. “Before to persons enter into...
Morals and Manners June 28, 1964
In the day-to-day living of life there is always the question of morals and manners. “To have respect for ourselves guides our morals,” said Lawrence Sterne, “and to have a...
No One Leaves Himself Behind April 5, 1964
“Who can predict the quality of life… in heaven in the great hereafter?” asked one worried observer. “Does it not depend on the quality of his present life? Are we not today...
Not Into Nothingness May 31, 1964
We have mentioned before the beautiful scene form The Blue Bird by Maeterlinck as the children left their home in heaven to be born on earth, with anxiety and anticipation, some not wanting to leave...
Not Neutral, but Negative… October 18, 1964
There is a word considered sometimes as a virtue which is often not so, and indeed may be quite the contrary. The word is neutrality, which in dictionary definition means “neither one thing...
Parents…and Freedom… and Principles July 19, 1964
“Parents have a duty to govern their children . . .” said Dr. Lyman Abbott. “But the object of all good government is to prepare the subject for self-government.” Sometimes...
Personal Peace and Privacy August 30, 1964
In pursuing the subject of freedom and personal peace and the right of privacy, there are some interesting citations from some interesting sources. We all need times of quiet and composure and...