--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Brimhall, George H. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 24 number: 11 published: 1921-09 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'George H. Brimhall, "Sources of Joy and Factors of Happiness," *Improvement Era* 24, no. 11 (September 1921): 1002–1008.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera24011unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera24011unse start_page: 1002 end_page: 1008 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1921-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera24011unse publication_year: 1921 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1921, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Sources of Joy and Factors of Happiness Sources of Joy and Factors of Happiness A Study for the Advanced Senior Classes of the M. I. A., 1921-1922 By Dr. George H. Brimhall Lesson I. — Optimism as a Source of Joy and a Factor of Happiness "Man is that he may have joy." Book of Mormon, II Nephi 2:25. Herbert Spencer says, "That is best which contributes the most hap- piness immediate and remote to the greatest number." In discussing this subject for a single evening the time will necessarily be devoted to a consideration of how to develop the habit of looking for the good and how this habit contributes to happiness. /. Optimism and Intelligence. Optimism is not only an accompaniment of the individual intelligence, but in its highest form it is the creation of individual intelligence. In the first place there are creatures that are so instinctively optimistic that they fly to the light and perish, as well as per- sons who are so naturally optimistic that they are blind to a danger signal. They go through the world shedding sunshine in such super-abundance that their commendation becomes lit- tle more than honest flattery. They are true to themselves, but not true to reality. Their omptimism is more than instinctive and less than deliberative. There is a habit of goodness so ultra that it verges into the bad. Habits of optimism born of deliberation are often so dis- torted by desire, and warped by the will, that consistency can scarcely find footing. This form of optimism is manifested in the lines of life varying from reckless speculation in the world to the denial of the existence of evil in the spiritual. People plunge into drowning depths, deceived by the glitter of pebbles, which creates a phantom shallowness of the water; and in like manner some seek to prove salvation by denying the existence of sin. Intelligent optimism does not consist in silencing the wail of woe, but in skilfully seeing to it that the songs of joy have a prominent place in the daily program of life. There is a sort of happy-go-lucky or daffy-down-dilly optim- ism which produces a kind of semi-civilized happiness; but in comparison with optimism that is born of judicious discrimina- SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 1003 tion, it is like the sun-basking lizzard of the desert to the nest- building bird of the mountains; the one happy in whatever is, the other full of anxious activity in what is to be. //. Optimism and Attitude. The habit of looking for the good and concentrating on the sunshine of life gives us poise in the direction of our better selves; and by the law of contrast a shrinking from the other selves. It inclines toward the worth- while in others, and pulls them towards the best in us, and thus fast and lasting friendships are formed. The reiteration of God's goodness in prayer, both secret and private, intensifies our attitude towards the divine, and we auto- matically look aloft for more good. Individual discouragement with one's self, social disparage- ment of others, and distrust of divinity, with all their power, dis- pair of pushing us into the pit whenever they find us in the attitude of optimism. ///. Optimism and Action. In the hunt for good we find happiness without seeking it, and joy unbidden walks at our side, and if ever our hunt is ended these companions leave us and we find ourselves at home without relatives, in society with- out friends, in the universe without God. The reward for optimistic action is the possession of a set of habits that make for happiness immediate and remote. With the forming of the habit comes the corresponding increase of capacity to see the good, which capacity in turn accelerates our speed and increases our power, and this capacity is a final source of joy, a fundamental factor of happiness. IV. Illustration of Optimism. The story is told of Presi- dent Anthony W. Ivins that while on a hunt for white-tailed deer he could not be shown a herd of hogs that scampered through the forest in full view. "Optimism sees the whole doughnut ; pessimism sees the hole in the doughnut." Summary of Ways in Which the Habit of Looking for the Good is a Source of Joy and a Factor of Happiness. 1. It forms a founda tion for faith in one's self, one's fellowman, and in God. 2. It gives us good neighbors. 3. Constantly increases the friendship of our old friends and makes us new friends. 4. It gives us an appreciative at- titude toward labor. 5. It produces patriotism: only those who can look for the good in their country can love it. 6. It increases our faith and stabilizes our hopes. 7. It furnishes the satisfaction of obeying, from one point of view at least, the second great command- ment. 8. It keeps one busy in the joy- ful occupation of finding the good, enjoying the good, and passing the good along. 9. It makes us not only loving, but lovable. 10. Optin idm calls for religion and finds therein the deepest streams of joy and the broadest streams of happiness. 11. It jars against the pernicious habit of confessing other people's sins. 1004 IMPROVEMENT ERA Literary Lights "Thou wilt not leave us in the dust; Thou madest man. he knows not why. He thinks he was not made to die; And thou hast made him: thou art just." In Memoriam — Alfred Tennyson. "One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward. Never doubted clouds would break. Never dreamed though right were worsted, wrong would triumph; Held, we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, Sleep to wake." — Epilogue to Asolando — Robert Browning. Questions, Problems, and Statements for Discussion 1. "Judge not a country by its drawbacks, but by its advantages." What two words added to the above sentence would change it from poor advice to good? 2. Wherein is the self-counting of one's virtues a sour«e of strength, and at what point does it make for weakness? 3. Why is the optimistic attitude essential to the enjoyment of life? 4. Discuss Roosevelt's muck-raking philosophy which is in substance: "He who will not come to the cause of necessity to muckrake is a coward." 5. What do you think of the advice: Count your blessings, their op- posites will count themselves? 6. What is wrong with the theory; "Things are as good as they can be"? 7. Discuss the proposition: A set of good habits is indispensable to happiness, and the habit of optimism is one of the best of the set. 8. Discuss the proposition: Without civic optimism, the town is doomed. 9. Better be poor with the hope of becoming rich, than be rich with the fear of becoming poor. 10. Wherein does religion furnish the broadest field for optimism? 11. Discuss the optimism behind the following expressions: "I know that my Redeemer lives." "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell." Discuss the optimism in the last stanza of the "Star Spangled Banner." Supplementary Readings The Book of Job. Helen Keller, Optimism. Cory Hanks, Up from the Hills. Robert Browning, Saul. "Count your many blessings" would be an appropriate song for the evening. Lesson II. — Self Correction The consciousness of possessing the self corrective power is a source of infinite joy. Self correction is a safeguard against optimism degenerating into self coddling, social cant, and spirit- ual license. It is a source of joy and a factor of happiness, positively and negatively, by its positive pull and its negative push. In the former it reaches out to and draws in the good, in the latter it eliminates the bad or the less good. SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 1005 The power of self correction is man's heritage alone, no lower creature has it. Through it man becomes both garden and gardener. Man must grow; the pull from without and the potentiality fro^ within force growth whether we will it or not, but upon our self correction depends the straightness of the growth. Self correction is the keystone to the archway of repent- ance; it is reformation. The archway of repentance is the only bridge that spans the gulf between heaven and its opposite. Man, self separated from his higher self, from society, or from God, through error, in intent, word, or action, by omis- sion of duty or commission of sin becomes a wanderer, seeking but never finding the fountain of happiness. Self-fooled at times he drinks from some pool of pleasure, which momentarily slakes his thirst for joy, then racks him with poison-pains. Self correction secures the progressive perpetuity of the joy of doing. With it life becomes more than one eternal round ; is not only circular, but spiral. The consciousness of elevative advancement is joy without parallel, and self correction deals out a daily portion of this form of happiness. One cannot "So act that each tomorrow finds him further than today" without optimism and self correction. They are the feet with which we climb; they are the wings with which we fly. Self correction has four specific fields of operation: the physical, the intellectual, the moral or social, and the spiritual. Physical. — The human body has been called by very high authority the Temple of God. Aside from all health considera- tions, physical defects, whatever their cause, become a part of the self, and call for attempt at self correction, and the change increases happiness, whether the contribution comes in the form of strength, utility, or beauty. One may temporarily for- get a physical defect, but it never forgets him. Many a person has not only arrested, but remedied stooped shoulderedness by judicious self correction. Man is intended for straightness, in all the aspects of life. The eyes, those windows of the soul, reflectors of the physi- cal universe, should be objects of protection and correction. Few indeed are the eyes that are not measurably defective. That the eyes may bring to us the truth and beauty of the outer world, with a clearness not possible under the handicap of defect, proper corrections should be made. A self correction that adds to clearness of vision must of necessity multiply our joys. What is said of the eye applies to the ear, the heart, and other organs of the body. There is more than poetry in the Shakesperian lines: 1006 IMPROVEMENT ERA "My pulse as thine doth temperately keep time, And makes as healthful music." Getting to the bottom of things is counted as a virtue; yet many people never get the air to the bottom of their lungs, where five minutes a day of deep breathing would cause a per- ceptible lung expansion, a correspondingly strong circulation of blood, resulting in a physical buoyancy, which helps to keep one's happiness at high tide. Intellectual. The difference between the trained and the untrained mind is the difference between the bee and the but- terfly; the one flies straight, the other flits. Mind-wandering is a habit of following the line of least resistance, the line of little labor and much leisure. Self correction in this direction can reverse the procedure, and the individual intellectually rise to the rank of student; his perception is quicker, his memory is clearer, his judgment more accurate, his reasoning stronger, and his imagination becomes an architect of something more than a temporary wigwam. Moral or Social. "Build thee more stately mansions, 0 my soul, As the swift seasons roll!" One needs to survey his social self, his moral self, and see wherein, through intention or accident, there have come the de- fects which prevent a full flow of joy as he looks into the moral mirror. If the habit of exaggeration be found, prescribe for the self more exercise in accuracy. If a tendency is discovered towards grouchiness, practice swallowing grumbles. If symptoms of the greeds appear, straightway be generous and mark the rise in the stream of joy. Self correction in the line of greed will make one know and feel the truth uttered by the Master, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Having done the work, we know of the doctrine. Spiritual. Any form of indulgence that leads away from God calls for heroic treatment. If luxury leads away, turn back. Better be a rich man with meager possessions than a poor man with much riches. Should we find ourselves autoing away from the assembly of the Saints upon the Sabbath day, lock up the car and give it a Sabbath day rest, see to it that the gasoline tank is emptied on Saturday night, or sell the car. If prosperity interferes with our praying, create adversity in the form of self demand, for a renewal of our correspondence with the Lord. SOURCES OF JOY AND FACTORS OF HAPPINESS 1007 Literary Lights "Build thee more stately mansions. 0 my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!" — O. W. Holmes. "I held it truth, with him who sings To one clear harp in diverse tones, That men may rise on stepping-stones, Of their dead selves to higher things."— Alfred Tennyson. Questions and Problems 1. Show that self correction is one of the lines of demarkation be- tween man and the animal. 2. Wherein does self correction supplement optimism? 3. What aspect of repentance is covered by self correction? 4. Wherein is liberty dependent upon self correction? 5. Discuss the distinction between self correction and self control. 6. Name the four special fields of self correction. 7. Wherein is it unjust to our spirit to carry a remediable bodily de- fect? 8. What is your remedy for the greeds? 9. Discuss the proposition: "The peddler of slander is as bad as the one who manufactures it." 10. How may grouchiness be cured? 11. Discuss the propriety of compelling one's self to pray. 12. Write a list of self corrections of which you are conscious with- out attaching your name to it. Collateral Readings II Corinthians 7:9-10. Hebrew 6:1-6. Gospel Doctrine, pp. 117-118. Vitality of Mormonism, p. 275, James E. Talmage. Lesson III. — Cleanliness The consciousness of being strong, the consciousness of be- ing straight, the consciousness of being safe, and the conscious- ness of being clean; these four are the foundation stones of the palace of happiness. There is a sort of joy, a type of happiness, that is made up mostly of the consciousness of strength; strength to domineer, strength to drive, strength to destroy. And this sense of strength is often accompanied by a shallow sense of safety, rising from the sophistry of the doctrine that to the victor belongs the spoils, regardless of whether the path taken to success be straight or crooked. In such cases the safety anchor is error, above which stands the immutable truth, that success in an un- 1008 IMPROVEMENT ERA righteous cause, or by unfair means, is always failure, and that failure, in a righteous cause, is labeled by the high hand of destiny, success. The consciousness of straightness in purpose and pursuit is more than a journey towards joy, it is joy; it is high happiness. To feel safe is to be happy. In the absence of the sense of security, fear fights its way to the front and joy flees. The sense of security in one of its highest forms is a feeling of being at rest with right. There is the strength of being clean; there is the straight- ness of being clean; there is the safety of being clean; but the sense of cleanliness itself includes them all and more, it en- compasses the consciousness of a worthiness to be strong and straight and safe. Cleanliness contributes not only to our stream of joy in the inner world, but it makes way for happiness in the outer world. Contact with filth invites disease and makes way for death. The more "clean up" the less "doctor up" is a slogan of the century. There is much philosophy in the advertisement: "preserve with paint." The law which says, "spray, or sell no fruit" is a mandatory call of cleanliness in the interest of health and hap- piness. A sweet breath and clean-kept private yards are in- dividual possessions unconsciously making their contributions to community cleanliness. They are factors of happiness to in- dividual and to the group. The cleanliness of a city is the sum total of the purity of its public and private places. The people, the church, every individual organization seek- ing salvation with any certainty of success must be a city set up- on a hill. The place to which we go to worship should be so kept that men passing by and entering shall find a harmony between the spiritual education and the environment. The L. D. S. mission house in Portland, which took the prize, preached the doctrines of its builders to every passerby, and enlisted the press in the propaganda for the Church. A thing of beauty is a joy forever, and cleanliness is a characteristic of beauty, in both the mental and material world. Literary Lights "Cleanliness of body was ever deemed to proceed from a due rever- ence to God." Bacon, Advancement of Learning, Book II. "Slovenliness is no part of religion; neither this (I Pet. 3:3, 4) nor any text of Scriptures condemns neatness of apparel. Certainlv this is a duty, not a sin; 'cleanliness is, indeed, next to Godliness.'" John Wesley Sermons on Dress. Wesley puts the last sentence into quotation marks, giving no indica- tion as to its' source. It may have been a popular proverb in his day, as