The “Miseries.”

To be at odds with our immediate universe, to hug that unhappy feeling, to quicken our resentment at some small lack of consideration in others, gratifies something in us. Wilfully we assume the pose of martyrdom and in doing so increase our sense of self-importance.

Mankind is anything but rational. It is only by the exertion of considerable intellectual force that we can prevent our ego feeding upon the hurts of others. So most of us blunder on, “cutting off our noses to spite our faces,” alienating those dear to us in our blind hitting-out. Just as a baby kicks and throws its tiny arms about in the process of physical development so do we wildly use our faculties especially that of speech in the cause of some sort of personal enlargement. Yet we know in our thinking moments that such a form of development is harmful.

All, in these times of blind rational “hitting-out” are yet ready to pray for peace on earth. We only ask: “We want it; but what can we do to obtain it?” Meanwhile we are engaged in numerous small wars of our own. Of these wars, none can be brought to perpetual peace save that waged with oneself. It is only by the exertion of the reasoning faculty in times of social strain that the individual can attain concord within himself.

All this seems very “high-falutin'.” It is my attempt to put into words my idea of social life and of the quest of individual peace which I am inclined to think is a necessary prelude to world peace.

Next time I feel irritated at the behaviour of a dear friend, I want to recall this idea of mine and to realise that he (or she) is suffering a moment of stress, is temporarily at war with himself, and that it is not my part to join in and make the war triangular; that any careless remark or casual hurt is not inflicted by him rationally, but is a by-product of the process he is undergoing.

When I myself feel irrationally annoyed, ready to be unpleasant to any who come near, may I realise that I cannot conclude my war by embroiling others in it. It is a civil war in which I must invite no outside power to join. For, after all, on the friendliness of these outside powers depends my social happiness.

Postscript: I settled down to write about the “miseries” probably because I was suffering from them myself. In the eagerness of the pursuit of words, I have lost them, dumped my load. That is a marvellous thing. In pursuit of my hobby, as you no doubt find in the pursuit of yours, the mental landscape lightens considerably.