A Spiritual Philosophy of Life

A Spiritual Philosophy of Life By MILTON BENNION Dean of the School of Education, University of Utah VIII Some Specific Illustrations of Moral Obligations In What Ways Is the Individual Under Moral Obligation to be Personally Efficient and How Can This Be Accomplished? Why Is Everyone Under Obli- gation to His Fellows Diligently to Seek and to Apply Social Knowledge? IT HAS already been shown that each member of a civil- ized community is under ob- ligation to serve humanity to the fullest extent of his ability and of Ibis opportunities. This being granted, it follows that one of his first duties, not only to himself, but also to his fellow-men, is to develop as completely as may be his native capacities, and to keep ;tumself physically and mentally ifit for the best possible service, ""THIS obligation calls first for the ttiost healthful habits of living.. This includes, among other things, reasonable and appropriate hours of sleep, adequate and suitable ex- ercise and recreation, food most suitable to the needs of the body, and ample supply of water for both external and internal cleans- ing. Personal hygiene is now taught in the schools from kinder- garten to university. Teachers of this subject are, or ought to be, well informed concerning applica- tions of the latest scientific knowl- edge to the problems of health. There is, therefore, now no ex- cuse for ignorance in regard to the fundamental laws of health. It is, in fact, very much easier to ac- quire this knowledge than it is to put it into practice. The com- mercializing of recreation, often re- sulting in transposing night into day too often interferes with the normal sleep. The intense com- petitive and spectacular develop- ment of modern athletics has led to greatly overdoing physical ex- ercise for the few and to reducing all others to mere exercise of their vocal organs. The development of the manufacture and sale of foods and drinks designed pri- marily to please the taste, or to stimulate, soothe, or depress the nerves, has made doubly difficult the problem of proper nutrition. This difficulty is raised to the fourth power by the combination, now fashionable, of following night shows and parties with after mid-night indulgence in refresh- ments— poor substitutes for sub- stantial meals. Then conditions are made worse by the fact that these refreshments usually consist of sugars with starchy accompani- ments; and are deficient in vege- tables, fresh fruits, and other foods most suitable for a healthful, bal- anced diet. The current anti-fat fashion has been used as an oppor- tunity to make popular the sub- stitution of a cigarette for a sweet. This substitution is no doubt ef- fective as an anti-fat measure, but so also is tuberculosis. If the idea is to adopt anything that will tend to reduce weight, there are a vari- ety of diseases that might be re- commended. But the real purpose of health procedure is to select and to utilize in proper quantities food (not drugs, narcotics, or diseases) that will help to keep both body and mind in the most perfect state .of health and in the highest degree of efficiency. rTrHE growth of cities and with ■*■ them the multiplication of sed- entary occupations has greatly re- duced for many persons oppor- tunity for physical exercise in the course of their daily work. This sedentary life has also reduced the natural thirst that calls for water during the course of the day. With no thought given to this matter on the part of the majority of workers, the .healthful habit of drinking water freely is ne- glected. This often results in clogging the "sewage system" of the body, thus poisoning the blood stream, and this, in turn, results in very great reduction of mental efficiency, not to mention the bodily ills to which such neglect is liable. The current agitation concern- ing prohibition, and, in this con- nection, the custom adopted by some men and women of issuing their personal declarations of in- dependence manifest in violating the prohibition law, calls atten- tion at once to the diminished effi- ciency both of body and mind resulting from this irrational and unpatriotic procedure. The so- called freedom in whose name it is defended is the reverse of moral freedom or of any other worth while variety. It should be noted that sobriety is one of the first essentials of efficiency, and that any degree of intoxication is one of its most deadly enemies. T\7HILE strict adherence to the ** laws of health contributes to potential efficiency, this efficien- cy becomes actual only through purposive industry. Few people work to the full limit of their capacities; this is especially true of mental labor. The physical activities of youths often quite overshadow their study habits. Mental labor, it may be noted in- cidentally, is harder than physical labor; and mental laziness more prevalent than physical laziness. Industry, both physical and men- tal, like its opposite, laziness, can be cultivated; either may become a life habit. The one is often associated with purpose; the other with want of purpose. Work without purpose is deadening drudgery; with enlightened and appealing purpose, however, it is transformed into joyous, satisfy- ing activity. If the daily work of an individual does not yield

The Improvement Era for July, 1930 623 him constant joy — one of the ma- jor joys of his life — that individ- ual is in need of personal guid- ance, vocational counsel, the help of an efficiency expert, or he may need a new philosophy of life. 'T'HESE facts suggest at once the ■■ need of thoughtfulness. Vastly too much of the world's work is done with a minimum of thought. This fact is not only a prolific cause of drudgery, but it is also a chief cause of inefficiency. Even in ordinary manual labor a little use of the head may mean very great saving of the muscles. In the general development of in- dustry this fact is strikingly mani- fested on every hand. Mind ac- tivity applied to industry has re- duced muscular labor and increased efficiency in production a thousand fold. The same principle, how- ever, applies also in the work of the individual at his daily task. Does he take thought of the pur- pose of what he is doing, and the most time saving and efficient ways of doing it? If he has a variety of tasks, does he plan ahead? Does he put system into his work? Or do things go haphazardly, in spontaneously irregular and irre- sponsible ways? Does he have a place for each tool or other worlc material when not in use, or does he spend half his life in looking for things he should be able to put his hands on at once? It is well for every youth while he is still plastic to give thoughtful con- sideration to these questions as ap- plied to himself. If he arrives at early maturity without having ac- quired orderly ways, let him at once devote his attention to the matter. One of the latest discov- eries in psychology is that no one in working condition is ever too old to learn or even to modify his habits. As a matter of efficiency, however, from the standpoint of one's life work, there is very great advantage in developing habits of thoughtfulness and orderly pro- cedure as early in life as possible. A LL of these things, and others ^- unmentioned, have to do with the individual's fulfilling his mor- al obligations to his fellow-men. To neglect any of these require- ments of efficiency is to fall short of a satisfactory moral life, not to use a harsher term by calling such a life immoral. It should be noted that many people do seriously neglect some of these standards and yet, because they do not lie, steal, swear, or otherwise break the traditional command- ments, they think themselves thoroughly moral. Are they? There is a negative side to mo- rality which is important, but chiefly because it is essential to securing the highest and best re- sults in positive morality. At- tention, therefore, to the negative side only, is to miss the major aspects of the moral life — positive service in promoting the greatest joy iand lasting satisfactions of mankind. This, in turn, is the only means whereby these desired ends are secured to the one who thus serves. Why Emphasize Getting and Using Social Knowledge? XJ G. WELLS has said that our -L-L civilization hangs upon the outcome of the race between ca- tastrophe and education. C. A. Ell wood in his recent book, "The Social Destiny of Man," has modi- fied this thought to read : "Our civilization hangs upon the out- come of the race between catastrophe and social, political, moral, and religious ed- ucation, and these are just the kinds of education which we have been neglect- ing." *Page 81. Used by permission of the publishers, Cokesbury Press, Nashville, Tenn. A T the World Conference on Education held in Oakland-San Francisco, June 28 to July 6, 1923, under the auspices of the National Education Association of the United States, Dean Milton Bennion was appointed chairman of Group D. To this group, en- titled, "International Ideals," was assigned the subject of "Character Education." All delegates who joined this section were asked to contribute advice as to the make-up of a basic plan for character ed- ucation of children and youth, which basic plan should be pre- sented to the educational authori- ties of every nation of the World for use in working out plans for its own schools. A committee was appointed to receive these items of advice, and to edit them into a basic plan which could be taken up for re- vision and adoption by the section. Dean Bennion was persuaded to act as chief editor of items of ad- vice, and the task of formulating a set of resolutions along these lines was also delegated to him. A hundred and fifty years ago leaders of political thought in America were enthusiastic in their faith in the future success of de- mocracy and in its power to eman- cipate mankind from the repres- sions and retardations of ages of autocratic rule. In this connection, however, they recognized the need of universal education as a means of social enlightenment. Now, after many decades of such educa- tion there are influential American citizens who decry democracy and who would welcome return to au- tocratic rule. In some instances this opinion may be the outgrowth of selfish interests; in others, it is a manifestation of real pessim- ism, a loss of faith in the social intelligence or in the integrity of the masses of the people; it may be in both, together with a hope- less attitude toward the ability of the masses to acquire adequate so- cial knowledge and social responsi- bility successfully to conduct the affairs of their government. "\T7E have assumed, in a previous ** number of this series, that both individuals and social insti- tutions have some degree of power to modify their own natures. This faith in human possibilities is es- pecially applicable to the question of increasing social knowledge. It is properly one of the major func- tions of education to equip the in- dividual with such knowledge and with ability to make sound judg- ments in regard to social questions. This fact is now recognized more than ever before by those who administer the schools. Hereto- fore the schools have been largely occupied in providing the individ- ual with opportunities to acquire the tools of knowledge, leaving to him the task of using these tools in after years in whatever ways circumstances require. This at- titude rightly carries the implica- tion that education is a lifelong business, and that much depend- ence must be placed upon self-ed- ucation. Now, however, with the extension of the years of school life for the masses of young people, and with the increase in the com- plexity of business, social, and political life, there is both oppor- tunity and greater need for atten- tion to developing social knowl- edge and social intelligence. It is the responsibility of the com- munity, as well as of school offi- cials, to see that this is done. It

624 The Improvement Era for July, 1930 is the great opportunity of youth to take full advantage of the fa- cilities offered for the attainment of social knowledge and social judgment. This comes, in large measure, through proper methods of studying history, civics or po- litical science, human geography, sociology, economics, and ethics. Right application of this type of knowledge in social life calls for religious devotion to truth and to the highest ultimate good of hu- manity. TT may truthfully be said that in case of some individuals op- portunities for attending schools are inadequate, and that even with those not thus handicapped the schools can offer only the begin- nings of this type of education. It follows, therefore, that every youth and every adult, having normal mentality, is morally obligated to the fullest extent of his oppor- tunities diligently to acquire social knowledge and social intelligence. His social knowledge may be in any of the subjects named in the schools as social studies, or it may be unclassified or of mixed classi- fication. This is, of course, a matter of little consequence; the main point is that he should ac- quire social knowledge that is meaningful and helpful in solving successfully the problems of social life as they arise and need or de- mand solution. In the field of civic activity, for instance, in al- most every political election voters are called upon to pass judgment upon issues that involve questions of economics, ethics, or other social study, questions that the majority A voters have neither the necessary knowledge nor the social judgment to settle intelligently. It is this fact that helps to make social and po- litical pessimists. rT7HE difficulty is, of course, not confined to the field of civics. It is manifested frequently in all sorts of social relations, in the family, in the church, in fraternal orders, in business and profession- al associations, in labor unions, and in human relations generally other than institutional. It hap- pens too often that ordinarily well educated people fail to understand or even to try to understand some of the most elemental facts of the constitution and working of the human mind, of how it is affected by the attitude toward it of other minds. In college circles this type of knowledge, here indicated as wanting, may be studied under the names of social psychology, or, in its applications, it may be studied in classes in education. In any case such knowledge is foundation- al to the study of all social insti- tutions and social relations. Does this mean that only those who are privileged to go to college can measure up to the moral obligation here under discussion? No, col- lege helps, if lightly used, but much more depends upon the na- tive intelligence, reading, direct observation of social life, and thoughtful consideration of what is read and observed; all of these are major factors that contribute to social knowledge, and social intelligence — ability to make right judgments with respect to social problems at issue. This is the essence of wisdom, which should not be confused with mere knowl- edge, necessary and valuable as knowledge is. Among the wisest of men are some who have never had the privilege of attending col- lege, these have, however, generally studied harder, and thought more deeply, than has the average col- lege student. There are, on the other hand, college students who neglect their educational opportu- nities and who, it may be safely predicted, never will be noted either for their superior knowledge or for more than ordinary wis- dom. ""THE point to be emphasized is •*- that success in measuring up to social obligations is dependent primarily upon the personal char- acteristics of the individual; those characteristics which constitute his character, in the broad sense of that term; and that his personal character is a thing for him to fashion by cultivating his native powers, and utilizing to the full such opportunities as are his ; these include not simply those that are said to come to him, but also others he may create. The general shortening of the hours of labor in industry, the easy accessibility of newspapers, magazines, and books, the oppor- tunities now offered for observa- tion of social life, and for partici- pating in the activities of social institutions; all of these are or ought to be made the major factors in developing social knowledge, social intelligence, and social re- sponsibility. All of these are es- sential to the spiritual life, to the fulfilment of moral obligation, and to the development of moral character. Joseph Smith — A Modern American Prophet (Continued from page 605) "I suspected as much," says the mother, "else why don't they throw away some of their notions about God. They make me feel terrible. To listen to the ministers you would think God was some wild animal, and not our Father at all." "And he said people worship him with their lips, and not with their hearts." "That means, Joseph, that we don't think enough about what we do when we worship God. We do it through habit. Take yourself, for instance. You read the Bible, as we all do. But you thought about what you read. You took it seriously. I think, maybe, you are about the only one that did that — and it was so easy. But what are we to do, Joseph, now we know the churches are all wrong — that's what I'm wondering." "I was told that, too, mother. The true Church of Christ is to be restored — through me, if I prove worthy." "NJEITHER speaks for a time. Presently the mother breaks the silence with "You know, Joseph, your grandfather Smith used to say — and still does, for anything I know — that it was borne in upon his soul (that's the way he puts it) that one of his descendants would promulgate a work to revolution- ize the world. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you were the one to do that!"