--- 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: 25 number: 5 published: 1922-03 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: Lessons XIX–XXI," *Improvement Era* 25, no. 5 (March 1922): 435–442.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2505unse 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: improvementera2505unse start_page: 435 end_page: 442 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1922-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2505unse publication_year: 1922 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 1922, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Sources of Joy and Factors of Happiness: Lessons XIX–XXI Sources of Joy and Factors of Happiness A Study for the Advanced Senior Class, M. I. A. 1921-22 By Dr. George H. Brimhall Lesson XIX. — Home-Comings During one of the recent "own- your-own-home" campaigns, the problem was found to possess two sides of very up-to-date interest, and the question arose as to wheth- er home attraction was not based more upon animal instinct than upon rationality. On one side it was urged that home attractive- ness was more than instinctive, that it had behind it an intrinsic ideal- ity, the attainment of which was a high form of happiness, that there was truth as well as poetry in the expression, "Be it ever so hum- ble, there's no place like home." "A charm from the sky" not only "seems to hallow us there," but does hallow us there; "which seen through the world is ne'er met with elsewhere." It was urged that "the orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wildwood, and every loved spot that my infancy knew" contributed a joy to life for which there could be no adequate substi- tute. It was also urged that home- making, home-keeping, was but a miniature world-creating and heav- en-making. When it came to the question of economics it was shown that the apartment house plan could claim life advantages which the segregated home could not give, that the building and main- taining of individual dwelling places was as wide of good busi- ness as the family shoeshop, spin- ning and weaving room, bakery and laundry; some of which have proved their unfitness to survive, and others are fast passing into the realm of the obsolete. Summed up, the argument against the home meant that more of the real honey of life could be conserved in tene- ment hives than in homes. The question is still an open one, and time alone can determine which side was right, but with the assumption that we are still in the home age, we can stand safely on the ground that home-comings are sources of joy and factors of hap- piness. The Family Home-Coming.— Fences and what they surround, walls and what is within them, do' not constitute home. The real home is life environed by home surroundings, and the life of home is the family. Family home-com- ings may fittingly be held any- where designated as a place of gathering. The most ideal place is the old homestead, the place of patriarchal interest as was Adani- ondi-Ahman, where the first fam- ily home-coming was held and where a greater one still is to be held. Doctrine and Covenants, section 107:53-56; 116:1. 436 IMPROVEMENT ERA Our forefather, Adam, set a splendid example in regard to home-comings, he did not leave it until some death-bell tolled the funeral call; his multitudinous household gathered to rejoice, it was a great family reunion, and a time of rejoicing and blessing. Birthdays, wedding days, vic- torious returns of missionaries, are all propitious days for family home-comings, as is also Thanks- giving day, Christmas, New Year's day, the Fourth and the Twenty- Fourth of July. The social and in- dustrial freedom, coming from public holiday provisions, may be made to contribute to interest in family home-comings without de- tracting in any way from the com- munity holiday interest. The program that will distribute the home-coming activities mo:t widely will succeed best. That branch of the family which has something to do will rarely be un- represented and generally will re- spond in full force. Houseparties. — We have family houseparties, many of which, too large) for private residences, are held in public meetinghouses. Then we have the family outing and greater still, the family Tem- ple day, where help from earth is handed up to increase the joys of heaven. Community Home-Comings. — These gatherings have more than a social value. Besides the greet- ings, the renewal of acquaintance- ship, the recounting of comrade hardships and adventure, the vis- iting of childhood haunts or places endeared by long-ago associations, all of which contribute to the ful- ness of life by mingling the past with the present, there is an ex- change of ideas, a sort of traffic of ambitions, a commerce of expe- riences, that is of intrinsic value to the community. The home- comer enriches the old town, and the old town with its newness adds to the home-comer, and thus these come-back community conferences contribute materially to the wel- fare of all within the circle of the gathering's interests. There is a form of sub -home- coming gaining in popularity, such as the gathering in one city of all the former inhabitants of another city or state. The gathering of all the Spanish Forkers residing in Salt Lake City, or all Utahns in Washington, or New York, are il- lustrations. It is preeminently fitting that the M. I. A. should lead out in these high grade community func- tions, which have claim to per- petuity on the grounds that they are sources of joy and factors of happiness. School Home-comings. — T h e school is our foster home, in recog- nition of which we call it our Al- ma Mater. While every com- mencement exercise is more than a call for the graduates to come back and see the school and contribute to its greatness by their presence, a prevalent college custom is to have a home-coming every decade, for a rallying of the classes, a re- newal of old-time college yells and songs, a reviewing of old-time epi- sodes and escapades, the retelling of college tales, and the opening up of the stream of inquiry concern- ing the what and where and who of SOURCES OF JOY AND FACOTRS OF HAPPINESS 437 both the present and the absent. These school home-comings, like all other gatherings that bring us back to where we may have expe- riences of which we may exclaim thereafter, "For that brief space, I was a boy again." When a home-coming college procession has in it a relatively strong showing of graduates, it be- comes an exhibition of its present strength, and a prophecy of its fu- ture greatness. The college jubi- lee home-coming and the centen- nial gathering of the graduates are events of rarity, but as civiliza- tion evolves so will they increase, for education and civilization are complements of each other, one is not without the other Home-comings Hereafter — The future that is worth while is the present more nearly perfected. Heaven without family heart- throbs, quickened and made warm- er than those of earth, is undesir- able for contemplation ; for the pic- ture of it there is no place in the drawing room of our desires. No matter who or what is there, For all its bounties, who would care, Without earth's loved ones there to share? Our joy will be full with the consciousness that each of our loved ones has his relative share. Men cannot be saved in perpetual loneliness. When the prodigal son said, "I will arise," he uttered more than he knew. The home-coming yearn- ing always lifts, and a yielding to the impulse elevates the soul, and when it is accompanied by a willingness to get back through the door of repentance, the ear of di- vine love catches the soul-cry and the Father of all hastens to meet the returning wanderer with his parental heart full of forgiveness, hands outstretched to lead him to the feast, the temporary guest of honor, finally to find his place for which he has proved his ability, a position of trust in great things, parallel with his proved capacity to handle small things. The permanent guest of honor at the great hereafter home-coming is he who, with pole-star fidelity, stood by his Father and whose temporary flush of irritation, by a seeming act of injustice, was cooled by the chiding of his momentary selfishness, with the reminder that all that his Father has is his. The Father has his sons, both sons have a father and a father's love. One has kept his full inheritance, a part of which is the unmarred confidence of his Father. As to the call for the great home-coming hereafter, the com- pany, the conditions, and the pro- cedure, the following [wonderful hymn by W. W. Phelps is sub- mitted: Come to me, will ye come to the Saints that have died, To the next, better world where the right- eous reside, Where the angels and spirits in harmony be, In the joys of a vast paradise? Come to me. Come to me, where the truth and the virtues prevail, Wliere the union is one, and the years never fail; For no heart can conceive, and no human eye see What the Lord has prepared for the just, Come to me. m IMPROVEMENT ERA Come to me, where there is no destruc- tion nor war, Neither tyrants, nor mobbers, nor na- tions ajar; Where the system is perfect and happi- ness free, And the life is eternal with God. Come to me. Come to me, will ye come to the man- sions above, Where the bliss and the knowledge, the light and the love, And the glory of God shall eternally be. Death, the wages of sin, is not here. Come to me. Come to me; here are Adam and Eve at the head Of a multitude quickened and raised from the dead; Here's the knowledge that was, or that is, or will be, In the gen'ral assembly of worlds. Come to me. Come to me; here are mysteries man hath not seen, Here's our Father in heaven, and Mother, the Queen. Here are worlds that have been, and the worlds yet to be, Here's eternity endless; amen. Come to me. Come to me, all ye faithful and blest of Nauvoo, Come, ye Twelve, and ye High Priests, and Seventies, too, Come, ye Elders, and all of the great company, When your work you have finished on earth, come to me. Come to me; here's the future, the pres- ent, and past, Here is Alpha, Omega, the first and the last, Here's the "Fountain," the "River of Life," and the "Tree!" Here's your Prophet and Seer, Joseph Smith. Come to me. See also Doc. and Cov. 27:3-15. Suggestions. — Have someone sing, "Home, Sweet Home" as an introduction to the lesson, and close the exercise by singing, "O, my Father," or at least the last stanza. Questions and Problems 1. In what way does the observance of home evening tend to stimulate home- coming? 2. What is lost to life by living in rent- ed habitations? 3. Show how one energetic member of the family may initiate a family home- coming. 4. Illustrate the value of a wide dis- tribution of the programmed exercises as a means of securing a good attendance at a family home-coming. 5. Show the value of a paper on fam- ily achievements being made a part of the home-coming program. 6. Discuss the mortgaging of homes. 7. In what way does a community home-coming benefit both the commun- ity and the home-comers? 8. What organizations, civic and ecclesi- astical, may unite in providing for com- munity home-coming? 9. Discuss this problem: School home-comings have two great objects, the promotion of alumni gatherings and the fostering of the institution. 10. Where was the first great family home-coming held, and what is yet to take place there? (For description of this place see Church History, Vol. 3, pages 34-40.) 11. Which two lines of the hymn, "Come to me" would be your choice for a memory gem? Lesson XX. — Neighbourliness Introduction. — Neighborliness in mean the social application of the this lesson shall stand for civil. Golden Rule. Neighborliness made peaceful, kind, helpful treatment up of such conduct is man's part of one person by another, it shall of making the millennium; it rep- SOURCES OF JOY AND FACOTRS OF HAPPINESS 439 resents the Abou Ben Adam side of salvation. Neighborliness does not stop at reciprocity; it carries over into the field of sympathy and sacrifice. It invests in a helpfulness that holds out no promise of dividend in kind. In its most enduring form it is wisely forbearing and ju- diciously generous, and while it would rather suffer than do wrong, it guards against an endurance which becomes injurious. Neigh- borliness has no hatchets buried with the handles sticking out. Making Good Neighbors. — The good neighbor never hunts good neighbors, he makes them. He never leaves a neighborhood with- out carrying neighborliness with him. He makes neighbors of sev- eral types, but all good. His Intellectual Neighbors. — He finds material for intellectual neighbors, he makes them through an exchange of ideas, taking care that the bartering is not one-sided by having the questions all on one side and the information all on the other. He talks with and not to his neighbors in the making. In his friendly visits he does not make overdraughts upon his welcome account; he does not strain the confidence of his neighbor to the breaking point by confessing other people's sins. He makes of his neighbor an intellectual comrade, even though that neighbor cannot become his peer. His Business Neighbors. — He makes neighbors by minding his own business, keeping his credit gilt-edged, caring for the property held in common with his neigh- bors as he cares for his own. He would no more make the highway unsightly than he would litter his own walk. His anxiety for the re- turn of that which he borrows far exceeds his eagerness to borrow. He helps without humiliating; his favors are all barbless. His Social Neighbors. — He makes neighbors whose neighborliness is chiefly social. They become his through the art of consistent en- tertainment. With such he never stoops except to lift. He does not rob his neighbors of sleep through the medium of a barking dog, nor does he steal his neighbor's garden truck by means of unpenned chick- ens. In the social sea, keeping his head above the waves, he becomes a center of safety. He is hail fel- low well met, always on high ground. He might be consistently cartooned as big-hearted, but never as big-headed. He makes a neigh- bor of the new-comer, by calling upon him and by extending cordial greetings at casual meetings, by in- viting him into his home. He also invites his neighbor to affiliate with organizations with which he has membership, and he is es- pecially solicitous of his neighbor in cases of trouble, such as sick- ness and death. His Religious Neighbors. — Our good neighbor-maker gives evi- dence of spiritual sincerity, with no air of self-righteousness. He loves his God and worships him in his own way. To him, as a Christ- ian, the keeping of the second great law requires the keeping of the first. He knows that to hoe in his garden, repair his fence, mow his lawn, or do any other avoidable 440 IMPROVEMENT ERA week-day work on a Sunday, not only gives evidence of a disregard for Deity, but it is positively un- neighborly in any Christian com- munity. The good neighbor keeps the Sabbath day holy. If he in- vites his njeighbor to attend his church, he is not above accepting an invitation to attend his neigh- bor's church. He courts relig- ious conversation, but avoids heated discussion of religious sub- jects. In friendly argument he emphasizes 'the beauties of his faith and leaves the defects of his neighbor's belief to be seen through silent comparison. Neither his neighbors nor his neighbor's children hear him use with irrev- erence the name of God. What- ever his religion requires, he gives evidence of trying to do; whatever his religion forbids, from that he refrains. He keeps the command- ment recorded in Matt. 5:16. His neighborliness is a source of joy and a factor of happiness, imme- diate and prospective, here and be- yond. Suggestions. — Have someone read, sing, or recite the hymn, "A poor wayfaring man of grief." The reciting of "Abou Ben Adam" would also be appropriate. Problems and Questions 1. Give Webster's definition of neigh- borliness. 2. What does neighborliness mean in this lesson? 3. How did Christ answer the law- yer's question, "Who is my neighbor?" Luke 10:25-36. 4. Why is the following desk sign un- necessary for a good neighbor, "This is my busy day"? 5. Illustrate helping without humiliat- ing. 6. Why is a violation of the Sabbath day unneighborly in a Christian com- munity? 7. What is religious aloofness, and how does it affect neighborliness? 8. Discuss disturbance of the peace by dogs. 9. Have a four-minute talk or a five- minute paper on the neglected new- comer. Lesson XXL — Obedience In its widest sense, obedience means the yielding of one thing to another voluntarily, involuntarily, or nonvoluntarily. We voluntar- ily extend a cordial greeting to a friend, we involuntarily scowl at the approach of an enemy, we non- voluntarily absorb heat. In any case we obey law. The universe is governed by law. As a whole it obeys the law of its existence and each part obeys the law of the whole. Law reigns everywhere and obedience is compliance with law. Liberty, being one of the highest conditions of life, it is well to re- member that the higher the law the greater the liberty, and that the only way to become a bene- ficiary of any law is to obey it, and that the more perfect the obedi- ence, the greater the gift of the law. Obedience, then, is the ac- ceptance of opportunity to be free and, therefore, to be happy. Willing or acquiescent obedi- ence is doubly fruitful as a factor of happiness. It yields happiness in the act as well as in the results of the act. It is a condition of joy in the pursuit, and satisfaction in the possession. The direction of one's willing obedience determines the objects of his love; under the SOURCES OF JOY AND FACOTRS OF HAPPINESS 441 law, which we grow to love in the direction of our willing service and acquiescent obedience, is service for the sake of service as wlell as for the object of service. To determine whom or what we will obey is to decide whom or what we shall love. Obedience as a Source of Indi- vidual Happiness. — Upward obedi- ence is power. Cooperation of the individual with something greater increases not only the freedom of the individual, but his power to act. In an act of obedience, there- fore, one is greater than himself, he is all of himself plus the rein- forcement that comes through his union with that which he obeys. As with agency or authority so with obedience, they each and both make us more than we possibly could be without them. Through obedience to law one has the bene- fit of the operations of the law; and through obedience to author- ity, one has the benefit of the in- telligence and the experience be- hind the authority. To refuse obe- dience to authority is to lose an opportunity of investing one's agency, intelligence, and ability with the agency, intelligence, and ability of a greater than one's own ability or authority. Every act of obedience to law and authority is a prophecy of success. It is nature's declaration of a fitness to survive, and fitness of survival is a high source of joy. An unerring prophecy of success is, to say the least, a factor of pros- pective happiness. Obedience as a Source of Hap- piness to the Group. — Disobedi- ence of a single member of the family brings distress upon the en- tire family. The return of the prodigal could not compensate for all the distress that his disobedi- ence had caused. He not only squandered his share of the family substance, but he cut down the joy-income of the whole house- hold. The prodigal was brought back to heaven's highway, not by divine coercion, but by the buffet- ings of Satan. The group can be saved from itself only through the obedience of the individuals to the group rules. In democracies, if the high- est form of liberty is to be enjoyed, the group, while in a reflective mood, when reason and judgment are in the ascendency, frame con- stitutions and enact laws that shall prevent or at least check the going to ruin at times when the passions temporarily rise to the ascend- ency; and these legislative provis- ions for obedience are to the ex- istence and freedom and happiness of the group what the rudder is to the ship in fair weather, and what the anchor is in storm; and the member of the group who re- fuses obedience to these provis- ions for progress and safety, and seeks to nullify them, is like one who would break the rudder or cut the anchor cable of the ship on which he rides. A sense of safety is psychic salvation, and salvation is a synonym for happiness. It is said that a good thing can be done in such a bad way that the method makes it bad, and the nullifying of an unwise law by an- archistic procedure is a case of the cure being worse than the disease; and the sorrow-product of the pro- 442 IMPROVEMENT ERA cedure is more than the joy-prod- uct of the results; and, therefore, it is fundamentally wrong. Nulli- fication at best stabs patriotism to reach the end that should be sought only through revision or repeal. In case of conflict, where the choice of necessity must be made, it were well always to remember the wisdom of him who said at the gates of Capernaum, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God that which is God's." The history of the Latter-day Saints furnishes a most striking ex- ample of the perpetuity of that policy. If obedience leaves a household, unhappiness enters; if it flees a country, safety follows it. Obedience and Religion. — It was the disobedience, and not the fruit, that caused man's spiritual death in Eden. No number of unofficial or unwilling baptisms could have resulted in man's spiritual rebirth. President Young is quoted as hav- ing said, "As well baptize a bag of sand as an unrepentant person." There can be no such thing as coerced conversion. The one great call heavenward is, "Son, give me thine heart." Before it was said of mankind, "They shall have joy," it was de- clared, "They shall be obedient." Pearl of Great Price, "Book of Abraham," chapter 4:31. The fundamental object of man's ex- istence is joy, but obedience is the only roadway to that goal. Heaven without a love for God does not exist, and the declaration of the Redeemer on this point is, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15; 15:10. Behind this declaration is the law of growth in the direction of service. We grow to love the objects of our willing service, and willing obedi- ence is the highest form of ser- vice. The privilege of mortal exist- ence was based upon premortal obedience. Pearl of Great Price, "Book of Abraham," 3:24, 25, 26. It would seem that it is perfectly safe theologically to declare that no one can be saved in disobedi- ence, but through obedience, both salvation and exaltation are made certain. Questions and Problems 1. Show that obedience is the first law of heaven. Give reasons for answer. 2. Discuss this proposition: As the es- sence of crime is intention, so the effi- cacy of ordinance depends upon obe- dience. 3. Where is this saying, and what cir- cumstance brought it forth, "Obedience is better than sacrifice"? 4. Show that the absence of obedience results in social chaos. 5. Why is there more freedom in tak- ing counsel than in obeying commands? 6. What kind of disobedience may fit- tingly be called the "seeds of anarchy"? 7. Show that obedience is a source of immediate individual joy, and that group happiness depends upon obedi- ence? 8. Give scriptural proof that obedi- ence is a principle of the gospel. 9. Prove the impotency of faith with- out obedience. 10. Show that obedience to law gov- erns both the giving and the receiving of blessing. Doctrine and Covenants, 130: 20. 21. 11. Connect up Pearl of Great Price, Book of Abraham, Chap. 4:25 with the following definition of instincts: "In- stincts are blind impulses leading to wise ends." 12. Distinguish between blind obedi- ence and the obedience of confidence.