“The world is rich beyond the power of man to compute. We are just beginning to turn the wheels of commerce with a motive power the vast extent of which seems limitless, and which we use over and over again without destroying its substance. The material things which go to make life comfortable are in extent as boundless as is the oxygen which makes the combustion that we call life possible. For do you think for a moment that the Supreme Intelligence that quickened life into being would make too much of this and only half enough of that, so men would have plenty of air to breathe and plenty of water to drink, but only half enough food or raiment?
“No, the world is rich—surpassing rich, but, alas! men are poor.
“One man gets many things more than he can use and makes himself poor, that is, unsuccessful, by a vain attempt to keep that which in fact is not his. He draws on the material world for more than he needs, but fails to absorb from the world of spirit of the pure oxygen of life to aid digestion; he is like a man who has eaten twice as much as he can digest, he is full of fear and distrust and his life is a failure. He is not a success.
“And we see men great and good in soul whose bodies are not properly nourished and who shiver with the cold. This is not success.
“There is no virtue in poverty. To do without things we do not need is both manly and right (for to do right is manly), but to deprive ourselves of the bounties and blessings that have been provided for us, is not only to be lacking in common sense, but it is to be guilty of sin.
“So we say that the unsuccessful man is he who does not secure for his use all that which his being needs for its growth and advancement.
“I have spoken of the pure air we should breathe being supplied in limitless quantities, but every physician knows that the most prolific cause of disease is the breathing of a bad atmosphere. People deliberately fire up the coal stove, close the drafts so that the poison cannot escape up the chimney, shut down the windows and pray for sweet, refreshing sleep. This is done as much out in the open country as in the crowded city. At daylight this morning, just as the summer sun was coming up from behind the far-away hills, I walked through the sleeping village and noticed that in almost every house the windows were tightly shut, blinds closed, and, of course, the doors locked to keep out burglars, forgetful that the murderer who sought their lives was already in the house.
“The rich in cities ride in closed carriages, breathing the same air over and over. They are pale, yellow and despondent. The coachman rides outside ruddy and full of life.
“Thousands upon thousands die yearly of consumption, a disease coming entirely from improper breathing. If we use only a part of the lungs, the rest of the cells collapse, decay and we die—die through poverty—die through not using enough of that which is supplied so plenteously. And, yet, air is free, but whether through ignorance or inability (and ignorance is inability) we die, for nature takes no thought of the individual. You must comply with her rules or suffer from noncompliance. ‘Here are these good things,’ she says, ‘use them freely;’ and if we do not know how to use them we suffer just as surely as though we wilfully rebelled and knowingly said, ‘We will not use them.’
“So if you ask me to define success, I will say that he is successful who uses that which his well-being requires for its best development. To fail is not to use what your physical, mental and moral well-being demands. Whether you fail through ignorance of your needs or inability to supply them makes no difference.