Christ Advocated Germ Cure "Christ clearly advocated the germ cure. He did not say 'Try to do unto others as you would have others do unto you,' but 'Do unto others,' etc. 'Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect.' In all of his teachings do and be were the commands. Most of the creeds, however, endow man with a weakness which is self-condemning. The prayers are offered perfunctorily, and sometimes without belief in their efficacy, while the passions are nursed privately in full belief that they are essential attributes of fallen man."
"May not the elimination of anger and worry take away some of the stimulation to effort that is necessary to human progress?"
Emancipation not Weakness "Assuredly not. The absence of anger and worry is an evidence of strength and not of weakness. So-called righteous anger is a weakness in the presence of judicial calm. Without anger and worry one is stronger to ward off a blow, administer a correction, or protect a principle. The emancipated mind is as eager for effort as a child is for play. Freed from anger and worry one can shovel more dirt, plough more furrows, perform every duty better, and with less fatigue, than if under their influence."
"Are there examples in every-day life, among every-day people, that prove the possibility of superiority over anger and worry?"
The Strongest Evidence "Yes. Habitually profane men do not swear in the presence of ladies. Vicious men are gentle when among those whom they respect. The passions are subservient to the will under conditions that reverence or fashion prescribe. If they are subservient under any conditions they can be controlled under all conditions. Nothing for instance, could make you angry while we are talking on this subject, because you would feel ashamed to show slavery to a condemned and unmanly weakness."
"If it is possible to get rid of the depressing passions, and they are so unprofitable, why has not mankind become emancipated long before this?"
Why not Always Known "This question can best be answered by asking others. Why were a personal devil and witches and filmy ghosts considered possibilities as late as the beginning of this century? Why was human slavery believed to be a divine institution by the majority of the world's inhabitants as late as fifty years ago? Why are the divine right of kings, and the assumption that the sovereign can do no wrong, possibilities of the present? Why is it possible that a Supreme Court of the United States can be divided on questions of political significance, and the points of difference of opinion be in harmony with the previous political affiliations of the justices? Politics represent the selfish in human contact as at present managed, while justice is supposed to be spotlessly unselfish; yet the former unblushingly invades the sanctuary of the latter, because selfishness is held to be a necessity."
Emancipation not Selfish "Is not the condition of Emancipation selfish? Is it not selfish not to worry for one's friend, even if self-worry is eliminated?"
"Emphatically, no! Emancipation puts one in a condition to be unselfish. Suppose his friend need aid or sympathy; will worry furnish either? With the extirpation of the depressing passions comes the strength, and the ability, and the desire, to give to others, the aid and sympathy they may be in need of. Actual, or even metaphorical, wringing of hands, is not the sort of sympathy that soothes. It is like the "blind leading the blind," or rather, the weak trying to assist the weak. Better try to help with the strength born of Emancipation than with the weakness of the enervating passions."
"I can easily understand how anger can be classed as a sin, because it is aggressive and affects something outside of us; as a sin, I can see how it ought to be cast out; but as worry deals only with one's self, I do not believe it can be called a sin; then why is it necessary to eliminate it, especially as it may be an incentive to action, to prevent the causes of the worry?"