Menticulture

FIRST PRINCIPLES OVERLOOKED

Simplicity and harmony are the ultimate conditions to be attained in all things. In literature, and in music, and in oratory, and in painting, and in mechanics, and in life, simplicity is at once the greatest charm, and the best evidence of merit. In mechanics, a simple little device usually perfects the great labor-saving machine. In chemistry, a simple little ingredient may give culminating power to a world-building or a world-destroying compound. In oratory, a simple and impassioned appeal is most potent to move the multitude to action; and in menticulture, the simple and direct application of the germ cure, may be able to effect a millennium in social evolution within a generation. Stranger things have happened! Because it has not happened, is no reason why it should not happen. In fact, there are logical reasons why the habit of repression should have smothered any idea of germ cure, till Science placed an analogy in physics before our eyes; especially because the false hypothesis of original (or natural) sin, has been persistently advanced as a law of our being.

Christ taught the germ cure, and hinted at no other as an alternative. In the sermon on the mount; in his talks by the Sea of Galilee; and in his rebuke of the devil in the desert, there was no note of indecision suggested. Do and be and get were unmistakable commands. But these commands were given in a gentle manner, to half-doubting disciples, and faintly echoed by them to an incredulous world, that had not learned the power of mind over matter, or over itself; and hence the world waited for Science to prove even greater possibilities, before giving heed to the simple commands of the Great Teacher in the manner he commanded.

One of the great weaknesses of the age in which we live is the ignoring of first principles, and a reaching out for the remote or unattainable. In the matter of home responsibilities, and in menticulture, this is most apparent. The order of responsibility is – the mind, – the body – the mind of the child – the body or health of the child – and so on in the sequence of relationship in the family, in the community, in the nation, and in the world; not with selfish discrimination against the more remote, but with zealous care of the nearer relationships. This order, however, is rarely observed. We weed the garden, but do not weed the mind. We pass laws to punish any who strike, or rob, or corrupt a citizen, but there is no law to protect the abused or neglected children of drunken or incompetent parents, except in extreme cases. Breeders of fine animals take the greatest pains to guard all the conditions surrounding their stock, and at the same time encourage family alliance with consumptive plutocrats.

The antiquated and primitive doctrine of laissez faire, has been replaced by those of Division of Labor, and of Protection, in the cases of the strong who have demanded them, or who have purchased them through legislative cupidity; but still obtains in the cases of the weak and non-assertive.

The truant subjects of great nations, scattered in foreign lands, are hedged about with protection equal to an imperial guard; and thousands of men and millions of money are sacrificed to revenge an insult to, or protect the property of a claimant citizen at the Antipodes; while hundreds and thousands of the producers at home are starving and dying, because of the maladministration of the first principles of economies, and the laissez faire license given to selfish and unscrupulous competition.

Arrogant commerce, and the already-powerful, have no end of protection; but the mind, the health, the child, and the producer, are left to the tender mercy of chance, or are hampered by crushing conditions of abuse and neglect contrary to every law of growth; and thus it must be; until we adopt the germ cure, as a principle of menticulture, and Emancipation, as the first evidence of intelligence and respectability.

In self-administration, the far-away habit is quite as prevalent as in the administration of Society. Men and women slave and save, to furnish means for sending missionaries to India, to release the Indian mind of imagined evils, while they crawl about servile to anger or worry, or both anger and worry. They set their ideal of happiness at an indefinite height, always out of reach. They hide their Heaven behind the curtain of death, and refuse to look for it within the precincts of their own heart. They waste precious time in speculating as to the form and attributes of the Cause of all things, its residence and disposition, while they smother under the pall of inappreciation, the best evidence of its existence, and the most potent workings of its power, within themselves. And all this because they work from the wrong end, and are dull to the efficacy of growth from the basis of Emancipation.

Their method of life is like the unraveling of a snarled skein from the middle. They fumble futilely at the snarl, and accomplish little, if anything, when they ought first to release the end within themselves, and follow the cord from that beginning, along the line of growth and organization, to the condition of unrestricted freedom, and usefulness, – the condition of Emancipated Brotherhood.

Religions are founded, fraternal societies are formed, armies are marshalled, and nations are grown about a sympathetic idea, to which the majority subscribe. The aim is always the same: growth, protection, harmony, happiness, Heaven. But the growth is slow, the protection is only partial, the harmony is incomplete, perfect happiness is impossible, and Heaven is indefinite and remote; because their organization tolerates selfishness as a necessary "mark of Cain," instead of being built on the foundation of Emancipation.

All true calculation must recognize a unit of value; in menticulture the only true unit is Emancipation.

In harmony, instruments cannot be tuned from several standards; there must be one key-note; and harmony in menticulture can only come from the key-note – Emancipation.

SLAVES OR FREEMEN – WHICH?

Within the memory of many now living, Society was dominated by the belief that human body-slavery was a Divine institution.

Thirty-five years ago a great war was waged against the institution in this country, at the expense of hundreds of thousands of lives, and thousands of millions of dollars worth of property.

That war resulted not only in killing the institution itself, but also in the extirpation of the idea of its Divine origin.

It is no longer a question of debate in any part of the civilized word, but an established international understanding, that slavery is not only unjust to the enslaved, but an evil, the effects of which are shared by the master.

Negro slavery in America was, however, a mild and beneficent institution, as compared to the voluntary servitude to Mercenary Fashion, which enthrals so many at the present time. Mercenary Fashion places burdens on rich and poor alike, and costs Society more lives and property yearly, than all that was wasted during the war of the Rebellion.

Most of the masters of the negro were kindly and considerate, and not a few of the negro uncles and aunties now living, regret the "good old times when marster and missus did all the plannin' and pervidin', and all we uns had to do was work, and sing and dance."

On the other hand, Mercenary Fashion has headquarters in Paris, in London, in Vienna, and in Berlin; and sets its traps all over the world, baited with styles of such absurd taste and uselessness that interest in them can only be brief. It is part of its deliberate policy, not to suggest any form or style that has merit sufficient to make it desirable a second season. It avoids any approach to the simple and beautiful and comfortable drapery used by the ancient Greeks, because of fear that its trade will be ruined by the stability of the wares. Ostentation is the ever-ready victim to take the poisonous bait; and then, there is a mad rush of the mimicking slaves, to assume the fetters which bind them to constant toil. Dishonor, infamy, and shame, are braved by men and women alike, in following the allurements of Mercenary Fashion.

Fear (of criticism) and Envy are the two phases of the root passions, that are the most powerful and active agents in securing victims for Mercenary Fashion; but, if Emancipation were the established rule of life, these agents would not exist; Ostentation would not be followed; and Taste, and Usefulness, and Permanence, would be the leaders instead; and a state of coöperation which might properly be named Good Fashion, or God Fashion, would succeed the tyrant of the present; and Fashion, under such conditions, would be a blessing instead of a curse as at present.

Mercenary Fashion has met with a formidable adversary in the bicycle. The absurd costumes inflicted by it on a servile world, seem as ridiculous when mounted on a bicycle, as if they were placed on the David of Michael Angelo, or on the Venus de Milo. Bicycle costumes for women may not displace all others; but, with the freedom of movement enjoyed on the wheel, in a costume suitable to the unhampered action of a biped; with the constant restraint of position rendered necessary by the wearing of skirts removed, woman may soon become free to move and act as Nature designed that she should move and act, and enjoyment of this new freedom will greatly modify her slavery to Mercenary Fashion.

Fashion (or mimicry) is good, if properly led.

If it were fashionable to believe that anger and worry were unnecessary weeds of the mind, were blemishes that could be removed from the disposition, were habits that were unbecoming to civilized man, and were handicaps to energy and happiness that could be put aside at will, the world could follow that fashion to a state of Emancipation, with all the enthusiasm it could muster, and benefit itself by being fashionable.

And, should a just appreciation of the power within us become fashionable, the tendency to mimicry; which is now the connecting link of resemblance between us and the monkey from which we have evolved, would become an element of strength, instead of an element of weakness.

We, as individuals, support the fashions, but we do not suggest them. We support waste and discomfort, for the benefit of mercenary and designing fashion-makers, with the product of never-ending toil, because we ape Ostentation, cringe before Fear, and encourage Envy as an attribute of Pride.

We are slaves indeed! not only in the matter of clothes, but in the matter of the distribution of the necessities and luxuries of life and comfort. We do some things more cleverly than the rest of the world, but in others we excel in clumsiness and inconsistency. In Mexico (our nearest neighbor), a sharpened stick is still used for plowing; but, that is not nearly as crude, of its kind, as some of the business methods that we support in this country are of their kind; and in matters of utmost importance, too. For instance: in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, there is a square, or rather a diamond, around which, and within a block of which, there are eight or nine drug stores. This may not be an unusual bunching of druggists, but, as Montgomery is a meeting point of several terminal railroads, and trains from all directions are usually detained there one or two hours,

I have had abundant opportunity to study this constellation of red and green lights, that blink and stare at all who visit the park they look on. They all seem to be full fledged, and fully equipped drug stores, and not devoted to specialties, as one would suppose as a reason for there being so many of them.

As it is, there are eight stores, eight stocks of goods, eight sets of clerks, eight insurance policies, eight computations of interest, eight gas or electric light bills, and probably eight many-other items of expense chargeable to the profits on the sales, and supported by the public, when one establishment would serve all the people of Montgomery better than the eight do now. If these stores were scattered about the city, the matter of convenience could be urged for their existence. To support such prodigality, profits ranging from one hundred to one thousand per cent. have to be charged, and the public evidently pays them, for their existence from year to year is evidence of support from some one.

Suppose the Corporation of the City of Montgomery were to vote an appropriation of fifty thousand (or perhaps only twenty thousand) dollars, for the purpose of establishing a first-class dispensary of medicines, etc., and should put it in charge of a competent chemist, who would know what medicines were good, and what compounds were not good? The patronage of the citizens would support such an establishment on a ten per cent. basis of profit, and pay ten per cent. interest on the investment without doubt, and the citizens would not be at the mercy of chance or imposition, in a matter of prime importance to health, as they are liable to be, under any but the most perfect system of selecting and dispensing drugs and patent medicines.

This is a single instance among thousands, of the unintelligent application of the doctrine of laissez faire to matters of vital social interest; and is given here to illustrate a form of slavery to inconvenience and waste, that would be cleared away like mist before the sun, as the result of evolution, from the standpoint of Emancipation.

It required a million guns, and the assistance of several million men, with all the waste and blood which war carries with it, to free the negro; and the advance of humanity the world over, was a fruit, worth the cost of the war; but slavery of the individual to the parasite passions, will not enlist the rescue of arms, although it entails greater hardship than was ever suffered by the average negro slave. Each individual must gain for himself this freedom; no one else can aid him except through suggestion and moral help. It is his birthright however, and awaits his call.

The face of the martyr glowed with radiant happiness, when he exclaimed to his jailers from the confines of his chains, "You have bound my body, but you cannot bind my soul! Kill my body if you like! it will only give greater freedom to my soul." But the so-called free citizen of to-day; who smothers himself under the blanket of worry; or, who spits angry injustice at a self-created-phantom-cause for resentment, is a weak and pitiable wretch, as compared with the bonded martyr or negro of long ago.

Emancipation, or, a perfectly de-angered and de-worryized mind, can only be secured through conviction of its possibility, and not simply through an intellectual admission of its possibility. Faith is the pre-requisite of every successful accomplishment in life. An axiom of the circus ring warns an acrobat, or a gymnast, never to attempt a feat, unless he has perfect confidence in his ability to perform it successfully. Knowledge and the appreciation of the power of the mind over phantoms of its own creation, and confidence to expel them, is as necessary in menticulture as is the confidence of the gymnast in performing wonderful feats of menti-physical skill. The condition required for growth to Emancipation, is that of perfect faith and confidence, born of knowledge of the power God has given us to "cast out evil," and in that condition, Emancipation, when attained, can be anchored safely, protected from any of the battling and surging elements of discord from without.

The researches of many scientific societies along the lines of Psychic Phenomena, endorsed by every utterance of Christ, reveal the fact that faith is a pre-requisite to subjection, or control, of the mind. The best subjects in scientific hypnotism are the strongest minded (who believe through knowledge), and the weakest minded (who believe through credulity); while the creatures of vacillating impulses, are hopeless dolts in the hands of the hypnotist, and will be those who will have to acquire Mental Emancipation because it is fashionable, and not because it is sensible.

The condition of Emancipation is one of faith in the beginning; but, as soon as it is attained, there is no desire to replant mental weeds, and no struggle to repress them, for there are no roots or seeds from which to grow them.

Faith must precede, but examples of Emancipation are sure to develop in every community, and soon the atmosphere will be pregnant with the possibility of it. Then it will be easy to follow the fashion and dismiss anger and worry; and, after a little, shame will attach to the possession of them. Growth and happiness will result from the elimination of the germs of strife; natural coöperation will follow natural growth; and we will catch up with Mr. Bellamy's prophecy, long before the time specified in "Looking Backward," by the simple unraveling of a silken skein of endless possibilities from the free end within ourselves.

Fear that individuality will be lost in coöperation, is one of the hot-shot missiles of mendacity, that is being fired at Coöperation from the citadel of the condemned passions, by the slaves of the tottering house of Can't, but will fall, harmless, before the armour of Emancipation.

Does it lessen the individuality of the gardener to weed his soil? Does it weaken the individuality of a patient to cut out the root of his cancer? Does it militate against the power of a cause, to rid it of its faults? Will the runner run less swiftly, or the jumper jump less far, if they remove the handicap?

ORGANIZATION

While Emancipation in the individual is worth more than all the wealth of the world to him without it, organization about the idea is desirable for the purpose of aiding others; and, (through coöperation and the most perfect economics) lightening the burden of compulsory labor, in order that there shall be more time to devote to recreation and recreative labor.

Organization on the basis of Emancipation is sure to be the next great movement of reform and growth, in the light of whose strength, the puny efforts of the past will seem like the light of a tallow dip beside an electric cluster.

This will come; not because I have discovered it for myself and am publishing an account of the discovery to my friends, but because the world has learned something of the powers at its command; has learned the possibility of germ cure in physics; has learned the efficacy of mental therapeutics in matters of both mind and body; and is ripe for it. When I tell my friends my experience and deductions, they are prepared at once to accept them with credence. And so it will be with them and their friends, for logic and self interest are merits to commend it to all intelligent persons; and, in the immediate future, it is not unreasonable to hope that Emancipation, as a basic condition favorable to growth and Brotherhood, may not be an uncommon accomplishment and requirement. I believe that it is one of the first steps urged in Christian Science and rendered possible by the belief, as it is in the Buddhist Discipline and Christian formula, and in the circle of my acquaintance there are already many believers in the possibility of Emancipation, who are enjoying its benefits; who find that it is the one little ingredient necessary to perfect their established beliefs, and strengthen their present affiliations; and to whom it adds everything and from whom takes nothing.

All the members of religious sects; all the members of fraternal societies, as well as many of the disconnected seekers after intellectual and spiritual growth, should be eager to enroll themselves under the banner of Emancipation; and if this should happen, the wished for Utopia of the most fertile imagination, would not be as remote as it has seemed to be in the past.

HOPE

When one has attained the condition of Emancipation, let him be sure that it is only the elementary stage of growth, the happy childhood of true life (no matter what the physical age of the body), and that there is a possibility of development to a point of unselfishness, whence one can view one's own individuality from without, and direct its action from an impersonal standpoint. Then each of us can will himself to act as he would like to have a beloved friend or relative act in any given situation.

I believe that this is true, and entirely possible to the emancipated mind; but, as I have aimed to present only a personal discovery and experience, I will leave a deeper consideration of the subject to the test of a longer acquaintance with the new-found life.