Heart and Soul

and Soul, by Victor Mapes (AKA
Maveric Post)

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Title: Heart and Soul
Author: Victor Mapes (AKA Maveric Post)
Release Date: October 2, 2006 [EBook #19432]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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AND SOUL ***

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HEART AND SOUL
BY

MAVERIC POST
[Illustration]
NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1921

Copyright, 1921, by THE CENTURY CO.

APOLOGY
This book was not written with any idea of being published, but simply
because I could not help it.
I got thinking about various things, in the lives of people about me, and
in my own life, and, after a while, I found that my thoughts would not
let me alone. They kept coming back, to trouble and haunt me, until
finally I realized that the only way I could be rid of them and have a
little peace, was to set them down on paper.
After that, I had the indiscretion to read parts of them to one or two
who are near to me. These seemed to think that they might prove
helpful to others who felt the same way and urged me to publish them.
I cannot be blamed very much for conceiving a hope that this might
prove true. And, in that hope, I have followed their advice.
M.P.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I DIAGNOSIS 3

II THE UP-TO-DATE PRINCIPLE 43
III REASON AND EXPERIENCE 59
IV AFFECTION 83
V FAITH 109
VI SCIENCE AND THE INTELLECT 167
VII HOPE 221
VIII HEART AND SOUL 234
APPENDIX 317

HEART AND SOUL

HEART AND SOUL

I
DIAGNOSIS
Many of us, to-day, are disturbed and alarmed by the point of view and
the behavior of people about us--especially the younger generation.
Girls of good family are seen on all sides, who smoke and gamble and
drink and paint their faces and laugh with scorn at the traditions and
conventions which their grand-parents regarded with almost sacred
reverence. The young men are worse, if anything, and as for the
married people of the new era, what they are doing to the sanctity of the
home and the bonds of matrimony might seem like a weird travesty of
the teachings of the past.
What is the world coming to? Are things going on indefinitely, this

way,--or more so? If not, who, or what, is to stop the movement and
turn it in another direction? What is the meaning of it all? What is to be
done about it?
Before attempting to speculate on these questions, it might be a good
idea to consider for a moment the main, fundamental influences which
have always been at work, to a greater or less extent, in determining the
conduct of human beings.
First come the material instincts. Each individual is born with a large
number of desires, appetites, feelings, impulses, tastes. There is also a
natural wish to gratify these and the process of doing so brings with it a
sense of satisfaction and pleasure. So that if these natural instincts were
the only things to be considered, the problem of humanity in a general
way would resolve itself into preserving life and getting as much
pleasure out of it as possible. Why not follow the lead of our instincts,
accept all opportunities as they come, and make the most of them?
Is not this point of view, however briefly and crudely expressed, the
first principle of existence as it confronts each individual to-day, as it
has confronted them in the past, and as it will continue to confront them
always?
Is it not, in its essence, the starting point--the ever-present raw
material--which must be recognized and dealt with somehow in any
scheme of philosophy or morality?
The next consideration, which follows closely after, is that certain
wishes cannot be gratified, certain pleasures are forbidden, certain
instincts must be repressed or controlled.
Why?
For various reasons. The first being force and might. Some one
stronger interferes and prevents.
Every child comes in contact with this principle at an early stage. It
cannot have what it wants, it cannot do as it wills--because the nurse or

the mother says "no."
A little later, if it undertakes to gratify a certain wish which has been
forbidden, if it gives free play to an instinct for pleasure, against orders,
it is slapped and scolded. It is made to feel that it