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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Personal Problems (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 37. The Foes of Self-Mastery.
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The Foes of Self-Mastery.
There are four tempting demons of very subtle spirit constantly besieging the path of self-mastery. They are apt to come by turns, not all at once. They make a sort of relay race of it; as quickly as one seems held in check or winded, another takes its place, and the new arrival is usually the opposite of the last one. Yet oft times they come in a bunch, all together, with a rush. These four enemies are lack of use, deficiency; over-use, prodigality; misuse, the inappropriate, the improper; and abuse, the injurious.
The man who catches fire with a noble purpose is apt to be attacked by the temptation to overuse his powers. He feels the strong tide of the needs and of the possibilities of life. Life becomes to him an emergency, with himself as the chief factor in meeting it. He seems to be occupying the central position; so much depends upon him. His view of the need or possibility becomes too intense. It shuts out the broader view of a plan, the great wise plan of a master Planner in which he is simply a part; an important part it may be, yet but a part; the responsibility for the whole is upon broader shoulders. This temptation comes very strongly, with the rush of a storm down the valley; many a man is swept off his feet by it.
The result is bad. Through over-use the man loses the chief thing with which to work and fight —his mastery of himself; the working, fighting power. The cause he would carry through is helped much, and may be hindered more, because he does not bring to its aid the best weapon he can use—self-mastery. If a man in his weakness persist here the over-use is apt to lead to both misuse and abuse. His bodily strength fails; through that the judgment is impaired; the vision blurs; the will grows unsteady, either weak or stubborn; and serious mistakes are made. Tired-out nerves lose the sense of proportion. Details look big and awesome. One's strength and gifts are used as they were not meant to be.
And some catch fire from below, with the ignoble flames that belong lower down than the human level. They are caught by the fires of self-seeking. Self becomes and remains the horizon of the life. They have no eyes to see over the boundary lines of their own needs and lives. All the tides of life washing up and out are reckoned only as incoming tides beating ever on the shores of self. The self-fires send out some brilliant sparks and flashes, and warm some needy folks by their glow. But this is incidental; they are kindled and fed by the man primarily for himself. There is no sacrifice involved in the heat given out. It costs nothing. On the contrary, it only feeds the flames of self-praise. Misuse saps a life of the sweets of self-mastery.
And some are kindled with the fiercely burning fires of low passion that burn out hot and quick. Or, the highly colored flames of pleasure get control. The masterful man is controlled in everything by a high, strong purpose, never by pleasure. Pleasure comes, and is all the keener, and leaves no dregs, because not sought. True pleasure is the sweet fragrance of life brought out under the pressure of a strong purpose. It should never be an end in itself. It comes as a restful cushion to a man absorbed in his purpose.
Sometimes there is a smoldering or waiting of the soul-fires. The fire is there but has not yet broken out into flames. Then some event, simple in itself or perhaps great, is the whiff of fresh oxygen that brings the burst of flame. So it seems to have been with Jesus. With all reverence be it said that He seems to have first caught fire, as a boy, in Jerusalem. That visit to the holy city and temple was the match that ignited all the wondrous nature within.
The man who catches fire sometimes lets that fire die down, and sometimes die out. That-is always a tragedy. The man has had his vision. He has felt the upper pull upon his powers and responded to it, and then has yielded to the suction of lower things. The lapping waves of selfishness have been allowed to creep in and put the fire out. This is one of the sad and frequent tragedies of human life.
But some people never catch fire at all. They never wake up. Their powers lie sluggishly asleep while they drift slowly along with the moving tide made by others. They never feel the blessed contagion of the fire of God. Their powers lie wrapped up in closely folded napkin-cloths, under heavy clods, that never know pick or spade. A man never amounts to anything until he catches fire. Lack of use robs many men of self-mastery, and robs the needy world of their needed help.
Mastery means full use and full control; it does not mean repression, but full expression through control. It means control of the body, developed, and held to its true use; control of the mental powers developed fully and held steady to their true use; above all, control of spirit, the master of all, developed and reigning masterfully over all. The highest seems to yield last and hardest. Lack of control in the realm of one's spirit seems the commonest of all weaknesses. It may crop out in the wild outburst of rage, or the sullen, silent rage yet more to be feared, with its tenacious memory and secret plottings.
Men strong in every other way often seem weak here. And in time the whole fabric is affected. Nothing injures the body more than a fierce outburst of temper. And in time the body, tired-out or weakened through disease, is responsible for much lack of control on the higher levels. Greater is he that controlleth his spirit than he who can control everything else but cannot do this.