Self-Development and the Way to Power | Page 3

our invisible bodies. We are not the
same being, physically, mentally or spiritually, any two days in
succession. The very soul itself is subject to this law of change. It may
expand and shine out through the physical organism resplendent, or it
may only faintly glimmer through a constantly coarsening body.
What is the law of soul growth? Through adherence to what principle
may we reach spiritual illumination? There are certain well established
facts about the laws of growth that we should not overlook when
seeking the way forward. Nothing whatever can grow without use,
without activity. Inaction causes atrophy. Physiologists tell us that if
the arm be tied to the body so that it cannot be used it will in time
become so enfeebled, that it is of no further service. It will wither away.
That is nature's law of economy. She never gives life where it is useless,
where it can not, or will not, be utilized. On the other hand, exercise
increases power. To increase the size and strength of muscles we must
use them. This is just as true of mental and moral faculties as it is of the
physical body. The only way to make the brain keen and powerful is to
exercise it by original thinking. One way to gain soul powers is to give
free play to the loftiest aspirations of which we are capable, and to do it
systematically instead of at random. We grow to be like the things we
think about. Now, the reverse of all this must be equally true. To give
no thought to higher things, to become completely absorbed in material
affairs, is to stifle the soul, to invite spiritual atrophy.
Turning our attention to nature we shall find in the parasite convincing
proof of all this. The parasite, whether plant or animal, is living
evidence that to refuse or neglect to use an organ or faculty results in
being deprived of it. The dodder, says Drummond, has roots like other
plants, but when it fixes sucker discs on the branches of neighboring
plants and begins to get its food through them, its roots perish. When it
fails to use them it loses them. He also points to the hermit-crab as an
illustration of this great fact in nature, that disuse means loss, and that
to shirk responsibility is the road to degeneration. The hermit-crab was

once equipped with a hard shell and with as good means of locomotion
as other crabs. But instead of courageously following the hardy life of
other crustaceans it formed the bad habit of taking up its residence in
the cast-off shells of mollusks. This made life easy and indolent. But it
paid the price of all shirking. In time it lost four legs, while the shell
over the vital portion of its body degenerated to a thin membrane which
leaves it practically helpless when it is out of its captured home. And
this is the certain result of all shirking of responsibility. There may be
an apparent temporary gain, but it always means greater loss, either
immediate or remote. So nature punishes inaction with atrophy.
Whatever is not used finally ceases to be. In plain language, apathy,
inaction, idleness, uselessness, is the road to degeneration. On the other
hand, aspiration and activity mean growth, development, power.
So we grow, physically, mentally and morally, by activity, by exercise
of the organs or the faculties we desire to possess. It is only by the
constant exercise of these things that we can grow at all. When this
great law of nature is understood we see at once how it is that life is full
of trouble; why it is that the whole visible world seems to be designed
to keep us constantly at work physically and mentally, to challenge our
resourcefulness in improving our physical, social and political
conditions, to continually try our patience and to forever test our
courage. It is the way of development. It is the price of progress.
The universe is a training school for evolving intelligence--a vast
gymnasium for the development of moral fibre. We become mentally
clever by playing at the game of life. We match our courage against its
adversities and acquire fearlessness. We try our optimism against its
disappointments and learn cheerfulness. We pit our patience against its
failures and gain persistence. We are torn from the pinnacle of ambition
by opponents and learn toleration of others. We fall from the heights of
vanity and pride, and learn to be modest and humble. We encounter
pain and sorrow and learn sympathy with suffering. It is only by such
experiences that we can grow to rounded measure. It is only in an
environment thus adapted to our spiritual development that we can
evolve the latent powers within