THE GOLDEN RULE AS A PASSKEY TO ALL ACHIEVEMENT
This article took form in the editor’s mind while he was
listening to an intensely practical scientist, and it so crowded
his attention that it gave him no rest until he had placed it on paper. It may bring you the passkey to achievement and understanding which you have been seeking all your life.
A very learned man entertained me at lunch yesterday. For more than two hours, I listened to his philosophy of life. This man is a scientist of international reputation. He made two statements, however, which were in direct conflict with each other. First, he said there was no panacea for the present ills of the world.
Then, he told me the story of the structure of the human body, of its interesting growth from a single tiny cell. He traced the history of the cells which compose the human body and showed me how millions upon millions of these tiny little creatures cooperate in the business of keeping the body alive and healthy, in compliance with an unvarying law.
It was an interesting story. This learned scientist made it so with his graphic illustrations and comparisons. In his climax, he made a statement which caused this article to begin to shape itself in my mind. He said that the human body would never die if it were not for the fact that some of the body cells quit their practice of cooperating with the other cells. He said that as long as there is complete harmony among the various groups of cells which constitute the human body, as long as each group carries on the work which it is supposed to carry on, perfect health will exist in the entire human body.
All the while, I was trying to harmonize his statement that there was no panacea for the present world’s ills with his statement that the human body would live forever if all the tiny little cells which constitute the body continued to cooperate in harmony. Before my mind’s eye, I could see an underlying principle which affects not alone the various groups of cells in the human body, but which affects the entire human race. This man of science had unconsciously started my mind to work along lines entirely new to it, and before I left him, I had drawn this conclusion, a conclusion which I pass on to you with the feeling that the simple analogy which I have drawn may enable you to see that which I saw as I listened to my host talk of a principle which is as immutable as the law of gravitation itself: namely, that there is a panacea for the world’s ills, and that this panacea is nothing more nor less than the principle which insures perfect health in the human body, as long as the cells which constitute the body are working harmoniously, and insures death when a portion of these cells cease to cooperate and function normally.
I hope I am not dealing in terms too abstract to carry my exact meaning. To make myself more clearly understood, I will draw for you the same comparison which I drew for myself while this man was talking.
I saw, in my imagination, the entire human race, every living human being on earth, all gathered in one spot and standing in such a position as to form the perfect outline of a human being. At a distance, this seething mass of humanity would resemble one enormous human being. I could see health and success and prosperity for the whole mass as long as there was no discord or misunderstanding between the individuals who constituted the whole. I could see some of the human beings plowing the ground
while others were sowing seed and getting ready to produce food. I could see some of the individuals of that enormous gathering working on clothing. I would see still other s entertaining the mass with music and causing each individual to be happy and contented. Perfect harmony prevailed in this imaginary picture. Every individual had plenty to eat and plenty to wear. All were happy and contented. Sorrow and grief were not to be found.
Then, with sudden switch of the imagination, I saw the picture from another angle, an angle which is comparable to the story of the human cells of which the scientist had been telling me. Away down toward the bottom of this great mass of human beings, at a point which would correspond to one of the imaginary giant’s feet, I saw two tiny little human beings get into an argument. They came to blows. Other human beings began to rush up and join in the argument.
Pretty soon, one of the entire feet of the imaginary giant had discontinued its regular business, and the ‘‘human cells’’ of which the foot was composed were fighting among themselves. They no longer cooperated. They no longer functioned normally. Pretty soon, the entire body began to feel the loss of one of its feet. It was crippled. It tried to walk but could not move. Other parts of the body commenced to suffer. The body, as a whole, commenced to suffer with hunger because the loss of its foot prevented it from producing food.
Slowly, that enormous body began to wither and go into decay. I could not help comparing it to the individual human body which withers, goes into decay, and finally into death when any group of cells ceases to carry on its normal work. There is a remedy which is often applied with successful results when the individual cells of the human body begin to ‘‘lie down on the job,’’ and that remedy is to re-establish harmony and cooperation among the cells to the end that they will again function normally.
That same remedy is the one, and probably the only one, which will save the human race and bring it back to normal, healthy, constructive living once more. The same principle which causes the tiny human body cells to function and cooperate in peace and harmony while the individual enjoys a healthy, happy human body applies with equal precision to the entire human race.
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A wise philosopher has said that we cannot indict a whole race.But, it may be too much to expect one man to be a soundphilosopher and also a successful automobile manufacturer.
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That which affects a single human being affects, also, to some extent, the neighborhood in which that person lives; and that which affects an entire neighborhood affects, to some extent, the entire world. That which brings sorrow and suffering and hunger in one family may not be felt, directly, in another family, but you may be sure that a change really takes place.
The late world war has taught the human race the folly of believing that one nation or group of people can suffer without their suffering affecting the entire world.We are all paying for the cost of the war, no matter which country seems to have won or lost. Not alone are we all paying now, but we have created a debt which will burden the generations yet to come. When lack of harmony grips the human race, we all suffer just as the human body suffers when one little group of cells ceases to cooperate in harmony. So much for these comparisons!
Now let’s go back to the remedy—to the cause which will produce peace and harmony and success among the various groups of ‘‘human cells’’ which constitute the human family on this earth. This remedy has been discovered. It is not a new remedy, but it is a sure one. It is nothing more nor less than the Golden Rule philosophy.
What a pity the schools of medicine and the law schools and the mechanical engineering schools and all the other schools have not given over part of their curriculum to teaching their students the necessity of carrying on their vocation under the Golden Rule principle. What a loss the human race has suffered because it hasbeen taught to look upon the Golden Rule philosophy as a mere theory instead of viewing it as a practical, workable principle which affects favorably all who understand and apply it in business, finance, industry, and economics.
Every practicing physician and every chiropractor and every osteopath and every other healer on earth should have been taught the absolute necessity of recommending the Golden Rule, in
plentiful quantities, along with his other remedies for human bodily ills. And every lawyer should have been taught, while learning the profession of law, to settle all cases out of court under the Golden
Rule principle, whenever possible. It should have been laid down as an established principle, and so taught in every law school on earth, that any lawyer failing to use his best efforts to bring his clients to see the advantage of settling their grievances under the Golden Rule
principle would immediately be classed as a ‘‘quack.’’
And, every business college teacher on earth should have been trained to teach the boys and girls under his tutorship to apply the Golden Rule in all business relationships; that to fail to do so would bring failure and reproach from the business world. What a regrettable fact it is that the human race still remains in comparative ignorance of the possibilities of the simple Golden Rule philosophy as a basis for all business dealings. The world has never accepted this philosophy except in theory, yet it is unquestionably the panacea for the world’s ills, from the least to the greatest of the ills.
Before I began this article, I scanned the pages of my daily paper, and my eyes fell upon the following news item: Dog under ‘‘Arrest’’ Acquitted When He Licks Boy’s Hand Justice Daniel Mickey of Evanston returned a verdict of acquittal in the case of Spug, a black dog of unknown pedigree, charged with grave crimes against the person of Arnold Martin, 12. He bit him.
Arnold, son of John C. Martin, 921 Tenth Street, Evanston, threw a newspaper up the porch of C. F. Hess, 1335 Gregory Avenue. When he drew his hand back, there was something hanging on it, Spug.
The boy told his father, after standing in front of the Hess home and telling the world. Police took Spug to the station house, and a warrant was issued for Mr. Hess. In court, Mr. Martin was angry. Mr. Hess was indignant. Arnold Martin was relenting; Spug wagged his silly tail.
Arnold Martin happened to pet Spug thoughtlessly, and the dog jumped into his lap and proceeded to lick his face and hands frantically. The boy laughed, struggling, Mr. Martin snickered, Mr. Hess let a tear trickle down his cheek, and the case was over. ‘‘Discharged,’’ said the court.
I hope you see in this news item that which this writer saw when he read it, because it embodies the whole of the Golden Rule principle and shows exactly how that principle works when properly applied. That little dumb animal which we call a dog, either consciously or unconsciously, tapped the power which rules this universe, keeps the stars in their places, determines the destiny of men on this earth, and controls every atom of matter throughout the universe.
Read the foregoing paragraph again, because it carries a broad statement which, if true, will give you the clue that will help you solve your own problems and help you serve the human race to advantage. The little dog saved its own life—saved it by applying the principle which underlies the Golden Rule. How long, oh, God! how long until we little children of the human race will learn to apply this Golden
Rule principle with as much intelligence as this little dog applied it? How long must we go on suffering and destroying one another and helping to cut down the human race through envy and hatred and jealousy and greed? How long must we go on suffering and passing
the cause for our suffering on to our offspring before we will awake to the realization that the simple injunction laid down in the Golden Rule will bring us peace and happiness on this earth?
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Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants, brothers all—and we see no reason for inciting them to strife because of race or religion.
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There has never been a war, not a labor trouble, nor a misunderstanding between two human beings which could not have been averted through proper understanding and application of the Golden Rule philosophy.
Most of us are interested in getting some other member or members of the race to do that which we want them to do. We lie awake nights trying to think out schemes whereby we can get
another person to do that which we want him to do.We know exactly how we could make a million dollars, or build a great business, or reduce the cost of living, or render mankind some other great service if—and that eternal if is this:
‘‘If ’’ we could get people to do that which we want them to do! Seemingly, it has never occurred to most of us that there is an infallible method through which we can get other people to do that which we want them to do. Seemingly, it has never occurred to us that we can get other people to act toward us as we wish them to by simply acting that way toward them first and keeping it up until they respond!
Do you get the full significance of that which you have just read? If you do, you are to be congratulated, because you will never again complain that anyone failed to do that which you wanted him to do. You will know how to get that which you want by first giving the same
thing to some other member or group of members of the human race. Furthermore, you will never again be guilty of putting into motion a cause which will bring suffering and sorrow and hunger and deprivation to any member of the human race, because you will know beforehand that this same result will eventually come back t curse you.
If you get the full significance of the foregoing, you will never again place another person in any situation wherein you, yourself, would not be delighted to take his place and let him take yours.
If you understand and believe in the principle just outlined, which is nothing more nor less than the Golden Rule philosophy as it applies in the practical, everyday life, you will never permit one of your own children to grow into maturity without thoroughly understanding and learning the advantages of applying this principle.
This message, I fully realize, is not for the entire human race; it is only for those rare souls who have evolved to that state of understanding in which they can check up, in their own experiences, and draw comparisons which will prove all that I have stated. It is mainly for those who tried and failed, and tried and failed again and again, until they are now ready to stop and ask themselves the reason why they have failed.
You can test yourself, before laying aside this magazine, as to how much evolution has done for you. If you are contented to pass this thought by without resolving, with that grim determination that knows no defeat, to put this Golden Rule philosophy to work as a part of your own philosophy, you must suffer and fail and undergo some more grief and reverses, because you are not one of those rare human beings who has learned that there is a cause for every effect!
There is still another thought I would like to leave with you, and it is this:
We learn more about a principle the moment we try to teach it to someone else; therefore, do not rest contented with your own understanding of this Golden Rule principle. Go out into the highways and the byways of life, into the shops and factories, and begin to explain it to others. The more you try to explain it, the more you will find out about it yourself, until finally you will attain that rare degree of master ship which will enable you to see that the salvation of the human race from ultimate destruction depends upon the race learning the power back of the Golden Rule and applying that power for the preservation of the race.
Who can profit most through the universal application of the Golden Rule? Just how can any individual profit by applying the Golden Rule in all relationships with other people? These are pertinent questions that we ought to ask ourselves, and we should never cease searching for the answer. The man who earns his living by day’s wages, and who finds it hard to produce enough
with his hands to feed and clothe his body, finds it hard to accept the Golden Rule philosophy as applying to him. On every hand, he sees what looks to him like injustice and conspiracy against him.
He believes that he receives too little for the amount of work he performs. All around him, he sees others living in better circumstances. Fate seems to have dealt him an unfair blow. Now, please follow me with close thought because here is the point at which millions of people are making a fundamental mistake thatcuts them off from that rich heritage of happiness and success which could be theirs if they understood and applied a simple fundamental principle, and that principle is the Golden Rule.
These people who see the injustice of life which has sentenced them to toil and strife and unhappiness and grief and poverty feel very keenly the sting of this injustice, or that which they believe to be injustice. Feeling as they do, they reflect their feelings in their faces, in every movement of their bodies, and in every act toward their fellowmen! Unconsciously, they so conduct themselves that they impress others about them as possessing an ‘‘ingrown’’ disposition which is inhibitory and repelling to others. As a result of this impression, they have no real intimate friends or associates.
No one takes the trouble to throw opportunity their way. Others keep away from them as far as possible. While they are inwardly condemning their employers or the public whom they are supposed to serve and please, the employers or the public are searching for ways and means of dispensing with their services on account of their disagreeable attitude toward life.
Remember this: There are only two kinds of forces in this universe. One attracts, and the other repels! You are a force, and you belong in one or the other of these classifications. You either attract people or repel them. And, remember this also, that all whom you attract are in
harmony with your own attitude toward life. That is why you attract them. Like attracts like. Men of wealth and success are attracted to one another. Professional tramps and down-and-outers are attracted to one another. This principle applies to every atom, molecule, and electron throughout this universe.
To seek a day’s pay for half a day’s work is not observing the Golden Rule. To think of yourself and yours and forget your duty to your neighborhood, your fellow workers, or your associates is not observing the Golden Rule. To permit another person to render you service for which you do not give adequate pay is not observing the Golden Rule.
Check up on yourself and see if you are making any of these fundamental mistakes, and if you are, you will begin to find the reason for your unhappy, poverty-stricken condition in life. That is, you will discover the reason for your ‘‘unlucky’’ lot in life unless you are one of those peculiar human beings who absolutely refuse to face any condition that shows him his real self.
You can change the attitude of others toward you by first changing your attitude toward others!
Please read the foregoing sentence again. It is worth it.
This writer must make a confession before closing, and it is this: He knows this principle will work because he has tried it. You never will know whether it will work or not until you try it. This lesson might as well never have been written, as far as you are concerned, unless you experiment with the fundamental principle with which it deals. There might as well be no such law as that embodied in the
Golden Rule, as far as you are concerned, unless you apply it in your relationships with your fellow sojourners here on earth. Never mind what others are doing, or whether they are applying the Golden Rule or not. Never mind the injustices and wrongs of the world. Never mind those who fail to apply the Golden Rule in their dealings with you. Your job is to master yourself and direct your efforts in the direction that you wish them to go. If others choose to
go on violating the Golden Rule, that is their misfortune, but it will not excuse you if you do the same.
This is a thought which I would like to drive home in the minds of organized labor, not as a reprimand to the workers of the world, but as a constructive, helpful suggestion that may show them the pathway to ultimate solution of their problem. I wish I had the power to clearly
and definitely impress the minds of the workers of the world with the fundamental truth that they cannot succeed by committing the same error and making the same mistakes which they accuse capital of making.
To do so is not applying the Golden Rule! No human being or group of human beings can attain success that will be permanent unless that success is built upon sound fundamentals. A temporary point of advantage may be attained through unfair means, and without observing the Golden Rule, but there is always some leveling circumstance, some evening-up process which will cut the foundation from under all whom so attain temporary advantage.
Before closing, I wish to leave this final thought with you, namely, that religion or philosophy which is merely passive is of but little value to the individual. To profit by the Golden Rule philosophy, you must do more than understand it—you must apply it. You must talk about it to others. You must teach others the advantage of applying it. To profit most by the Golden Rule, you should gain recognition in your neighborhood, place of business, or place of employment as being a person who believes in and applies the Golden Rule in all human relationships.
If you understand the power back of the Golden Rule philosophy, you can appropriate enough of that power, inside of the next twelve months, to bring you all the happiness you want. You can make this philosophy bring you wealth and material success. You can make it help you turn enemies into friends. You can make it help you attain greater success in the practice of law, medicine, engineering, or merchandising. You can make it help you earn more with a pick and shovel, if you earn your living with these implements of labor.
But, you can do none of these things unless you actually live in harmony with the Golden Rule. To merely believe in the principle is not enough. Nearly everyone believes in it, no doubt, but the trouble which the millions are making is that they are merely passive toward this principle. To profit by it, they must become active in using it. The blessings that come from applying the Golden Rule can be appropriated in no other way except through use. To believe in the Golden
Rule and preach it to others carries but little, if any, weight unless you actually demonstrate it in every transaction with your fellowmen.
This writer got his first glimpse of the real possibilities back of the Golden Rule philosophy when he found it to be an expedient means of achieving an objective in life. Measure the Golden Rule by the cold standard of economics, and you will see that its use is always expedient. In dollars and cents, the Golden Rule pays handsome dividends, and this is how and why it pays:
Every person has what we call ‘‘reputation.’’ It may be good, medium, or bad, but whatever it is, it represents the accumulated transactions which you have had with other people. One dishonest or shady transaction may make but slight difference in your life if it is followed by a long series of straightforward dealings. People come to know you by the preponderance of your tendency toward honesty or dishonesty.
When you deliberately establish a standard by which to govern yourself in all transactions with others, and that standard is the Golden Rule, you gradually build a reputation which gains you the confidence, good will, and active cooperation of all with whom you come in contact. This is in compliance with the law of attraction, a law which you deliberately set into motion in your favor when you deal with people on the Golden Rule basis.
Reverse the principle and build your reputation out of ‘‘shady’’ transactions, even though no single transaction be of far-reaching importance, and by and by, the ‘‘accumulated experience’’ of the people who know you, which constitutes your reputation, will undermine their confidence in you and reduce you to sure failure.
There is no escape from this law. Lastly, and perhaps of more importance than the other principles mentioned, if you understand the principle of auto-suggestion, you know the effect which every transaction has on your own mind. If you are filling your subconscious mind with the undeniable fact that you are dealing with other people always on the Golden Rule basis,
you soon build such a healthy respect for yourself and develop such powerful self-confidence that nothing on earth can stop you from attaining your desires in life. A Golden Rule consciousness, well developed in your own mind, will give you the power to attain the heights of achievement in whatever life work you may have chosen, and no one will ever care to stop you.
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