Wisdom Vault — onlinknow.co.za

prosperity and power related to the inward good, and poverty and weakness to the inward evil. Money does not constitute true wealth, nor position, nor power, and to rely upon it alone is to stand upon a slippery place. Your true wealth is your stock of virtue, and your true power the uses to which you put it.

Rectify your heart, and you will rectify your life. Lust, hatred, anger, vanity, pride, covetousness, self-indulgence, self-seeking, ob- stinacy,—all these are poverty and weakness; whereas, fove, purity, gentleness, meekness patience, compassion, generosity, self-forget- The Way out of Undesirable Conditions 47 tulness, and self-renunciation,—all these are wealth and power.

As the elements of poverty and weakness are overcome, an irresistible and all-conquering power is evolved from within, and he who succeeds in establishing himself in the highest virtue, brings the whole world to his feet. But the rich, as well as the poor, have their undesirable conditions, and are frequently farther removed from happiness than the poor.

And here we see how happiness de- pends, not upon outward aids or possessions, but upon the inward life. Perhaps you are an employer, and you have endless trouble with those whom you employ, and when you do get good and faithful servants they quickly leave you.

As a result you are beginning to lose, or have completely lost, your faith in human nature. You try to remedy matters by giving better wages, and by allowing certain liberties, yet matters remain unaltered, Let me advise you. The secret of all your trouble is not in your servants, 7¢ 2s in yourself; and if you look within, with a humble and sincere desire to discover and eradicate your error, you will, sooner or later, find the origin of all vour 38 The Path of Prosperuy unhappiness.

It may be some selfish desire, or lurking suspicion, or unkind attitude of mind which sends out its poison upon those about you, and reacts upon yourself, even though you may not show it in your manner ur speech. Think of your servants with kindness, consider their happiness and comfort, and never demand of them that extremity of service which you yourself would not care to perform were you in their place.

Rare and beautiful is that humility of soul by which a servant entirely forgets him: self in his master’s good; but far rarer, and beautiful with a divine beauty, is that nobility of soul by which a man, forgetting his own happiness, seeks the happiness of those who ara under his authority, and who depend upon him for their bodily sustenance.

And such a man’s happiness is increased tenfold, nor does he need to complain of those whom he employs. Said a well-known and extensive employer of labour, who never needs to dismiss an employee: “I have always had the happiest relations with my workpeople.

If you ask me how it 1s to be accounted for, I can only say that it has been my aim from the first to do to them as I would wish to be done by.” Herein lies the secret by Ihe Way out of Undesirable Conuitzms 39 which all desirable conditions are secured, and all that are undesirable are overcome.

Do you say that you are lonely and unloved, and have “not a friend in the world”? Then, I pray you, for the sake of your own happiness, blame nobody but yourself. Be friendly towards others, and friends will soon flock round you. Make yourself pure and lovable, and you will be loved by all.