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.
Plows with a Stick 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 Druggists Conventionhad 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 Montgomery, Alabamapays 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.
Slavery to Waste 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 Martyr 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.
Axiom of the Circus 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.
Psychic Researches 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.