Hints on Making the Best of Life

Hints on Making {he Best of Life DURING the past 35 years, in more than 500 high schools and colleges, the writer of this article has given lectures on vocational guidance and character education. In nearly all those in- stitutions, an office was set apart for personal interviews where in- dividual help was given students in choosing the vocations to which they were best adapted and in making physical and mental ad- justments that would increase ef- ficiency and improve personality. This work was based upon the science of human nature used by Horace Mann, America's greatest educator, by our beloved Dr. Karl G. Maeser, and by others who showed more than ordinary talent in helping young people to make the best of life. These principles of self-culture are so simple that they can be applied successfully by any youth of ordinary intelligence who has persistence and determin- ation. The encouraging response that has come from thousands who have been given this help is evi- dence that the intellectual, moral and spiritual tendencies in youth can be aroused and strengthened until they direct the impulses to physical, social, intellectual, moral and spiritual harmony. "C VERY youth desires to gain the -^ information that will help him to make the best of life and to get into the vocation to which he is best adapted mentally and physi- cally. It is now generally recog- nized that it is as much the duty of society to direct young people to their right vocation as it is to edu- cate them. Two thousand years ago Cicero sent his son to the lead- ing philosopher of his time hoping to make a philosopher of him. The boy made an effort but was such a failure that Cicero suggested there should be triers to help bovs get into the right vocation. At that time girls were not educated, so they did not need vocational guidance. It has required 2,000 years to make vocational guidance a part of our educational system. During that time education for girls has developed until they have By DR. JOHN T. MILLER the same need for help in choos- ing a vocation and in self-culture that boys have. Not long ago the United States Commissioner of Education said that in our com- plex social life it is little less waste- ful to leave boys and girls with- out help in choosing a vocation than it is to leave them without education. There is now suffi- cient reliable information on hu- man culture to unfold every life normally and to help each youth to get into a vocation where he can be happy and help best to do the world's work. "C VERY, power of mind is good - if properly used. Vice and crime result from the misuse of divine powers of mind. The normal use of appetite is most es- sential in building the body; the abuse of it is in drunkenness and gluttony. The use of acquisitive- ness and thrift is to store away in times of plenty and harvest what is needed for other times; the abuse is theft and excessive desire for things that moth and rust cor- rupt and that thieves steal. En- ergy gives force to the character; the abuse of it is temper and high pitched nerves. Courage gives self- defense and a tendency to protect others; the abuse is quarrelsome- ness and fighting. The mating in- stinct is the basis for faithfulness in married life; its abuse is too commonly seen in the divorce courts. Parental love is the in- stinct that gives parents love for their children; when too active it causes children to be spoiled through over-indulgence and when deficient may cause parents to be cruel. The reproductive instinct is the wonderful power the Creator has given for perpetuating the race; the abuses of it are lewdness, vul- garity, lustfulness, licentiousness and obscenity. Concentration gives the power to attend to one thing at a time; the abuse of it is lack of power to concentrate. Strong self-consciousness and lack of self-reliance form the inferiority complex that can only be overcome by cultivating self-reliance. Firm- ness gives persistence, perseverance ' and determination to succeed under difficulties; the abuse of it is stub- bornness. Thus we might go on and speak of the use and abuse of each of the 44 primary elements of mind. A harmonious character is the result of their normal action. TOURING the past century won- *~^ derful changes have taken place in methods of education. In the past too much emphasis was placed upon rescue and cure. These are gradually being displaced by prevention and conservation. Mild- er methods of discipline are dis- placing harsh ones. Nobility of character and harmony of life are being emphasized more and more, while coercion, suppression and re- pression are not so common as formerly. The five educators who have done most to bring about this desirable change in education are Pestalozzi in Switzerland, Froebel in Germany, George Combe and Charles Dickens in Great Britain, and Horace Mann in America. The lives of these men are an inspira- tion to any person interested in human improvement. The world spends time and money teaching young people the mechanism and methods of operat- ing the machines now used to do the world's work, but how little

328 The Improvement Era for March, 1930 time is spent in studying the won- ders of mind and body, and the best methods of keeping them healthy and efficient? It is natural to be well. It is unnatural to be sick. There is much unnecessary sickness in the world. In the Word of Wisdom certain health principles are explained and the promise is made that those who observe those principles of health- culture shall receive health and treasures of knowledge, even hid- den treasures. During the past century much attention has been given to the study of the body and its needs; if the truths that have been discovered in anatomy, physi- ology and hygiene were universal- ly applied disease would become the exception and health the rule. pROM the time of the Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Pythagoras, about 2,500 years ago to the present, thinkers have been trying to dis- cover mind. Each philosopher has spun his own thread of philosophy different from all the rest. From these theoretical studies nothing , came that could be used successfully in harmonizing mind. During the past generation 24 varieties of in- telligence tests have been created. The present trend in psychology is to study the feelings and methods of controlling them. Since every person has a mind to develop, the study of mind should form a part of every person's education. The powers of self-preservation serve to preserve life. The social and domestic affections relate each in- dividual to family and social life. The intellect is used in gathering, remembering and classifying facts pertaining to our world. The per- fecting powers serve in designing, planning, constructing and beau- tifying things; this is known as the creative imagination. The aspiring and governing powers give ambition, self-reliance and deter- mination. The moral and spirit- ual emotions are the highest ex- pression of life and connect us with principles and things that give the highest joys of life and are essential in eternal progression. To study mind intelligently we must know its primary elements. During the past 150 years scientists have dis- covered the following 44 primary elements of mind: appetite, ac- quisitiveness, thrift, reserve, en- ergy, courage, love of life, friend- ship, love of home, the mating in- stinct, parental love, amativeness or the reproductive power, the in- dividualizer, form, size, weight, color, order, number, comparison, causality, mirth, construction, ideality, sublimity, adaptation, imitation, concentration, self-re- liance, firmness, self-consciousness, ambition, caution, conscience, hope, faith, love, reverence and in- tuition. In future articles these will be studied in detail. In ev- ery act of the mind some of these are used. The kind of thinking or feeling done is expressed in the face. One of the Hebrew writers 500 B. C. said, "The heart (feel- ings) of a man changeth his coun- tenance, whether for good or evil. And a merry heart maketh a cheer- ful countenance. A man may be known by his looks and one that hath understanding by his coun- tenance when thou meetest him. A man's attire (clothing) , and ex- cessive laughter and gait show what he is." This truth is beau- tifully illustrated in these lines: "By a whisper sow we blessings, By a breath we scatter strife. In our words and looks and actions Lie the seeds of death and life." One of the modern poets says: "The human face I love to view, And trace the passions of the soul; On it the feelings write anew Each changing thought as on a scroll. There the mind its evil doings tells, And there its noblest deeds do speak Just as the ringing of the bells Proclaim a knell or wedding feast. How beautiful love's features are, Enthroned on virtue's radiant face. Like some jewel bright and rare, Worn by the fairest of the race. But vice and hatred, how they mar The form and face of man And from the choicest pleasures bar, All who fail to do the good they can." HP HE statement, "As a man -*• thinketh so is he," is true. It is also true that "As a man is so thinketh he." As we change our habits of thinking we restrain or cultivate our mental tendencies and the brain centers through which they function. This pro- cess of change goes on in every per- son during the entire life, here and hereafter. The key to education is in the proportionate develop- ments of mind and body. These are the essential bases for character development. When from earliest childhood throughout life human beings respond through reason, conscience and love of the best in life are developed. If the appeal that causes the response is through appetite, money or prizes, fear, flat- tery or force, the impulses gain control over the higher nature and the results are not good. The more self-control is developed in each of us, the less need there will be for others to control us. It is reported that the Prophet Joseph Smith was once asked how he governed the people over whom he presided. It is said that he an- swered, "I do not govern them. I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves." This is one of the most fundamental prin- ciples and is much needed today. When this principle is universally adopted in the physical, social, in- tellectual, moral and spiritual de- velopment of humanity there will be much more happiness than there is in the world today, and vice, crime, disease and other imperfec- tions will be less common. Oth- ers can point the way for us, but each individual must develop self-control that will result in making the best of life. XJUMAN lives are the master- J"L piece of the Creator. The development of the intellectual, esthetic, moral and spiritual tend- encies of life in human beings con- stitute their superiority over the lower animals. The Great Teacher said nearly 2,000 years ago that where our treasure is there is our heart also. There never was a time before when the opportunities for self-development and service to humanity were greater than at present. Many marvelous dis- coveries have been made during the past century but human happiness has not been increased in propor- tion. The most valuable discov- eries we can make are in our own lives and in our relations with oth- ers. Future articles will contain in- formation about each one of the primary elements of mind and will show how to restrain those that are too active and cultivate the de- ficient ones so as to produce har- mony of life. The study of hu- man nature can be so simplified that anybody can easily learn it. This study should form a part of the education of every person, be- cause it helps to form good habits and to overcome bad ones, thus putting harmony into life. When there is harmony in each individual there will be harmony in every home, every community, and throughout the universe.