Action Is Nature at Work in Man: the Whole Universe Is the Scene of Action
Genuine action is necessarily ordered, rhythmical, systematic and directed towards some aim. It arises from that fullness of consciousness described as the "calm of mature reflection." It is inevitably straightforward and continuous, undeviating and unhesitating. Such motion as that of the revolving globe we ought not to call mere motion; that ceaseless axial and orbital rotation is a phenomenon called in ancient times the activity of nature; and it may serve us as the best possible illustration of the qualities of action. We may proceed to a fuller description of the nature of action by saying it is always marked by a certain regularity and order in the course of its fulfilment. Human life in all its aspects of growth and development, in each transition from stage to stage, in the preparatory and supplementary acquisitions of substance and experience between phase and phase,—all this is action. The normal routine of daily life,—sleeping, resting, eating and working,—is all to be considered within the scope of action. For the meaning of action may apply equally well to what occurs both in states of repose and in states of movement. While work throughout the process of carrying out a given task may clearly be action, recreation may also be action. States of motion and repose are of course to a superficial view opposites. Moreover in the modern world motion is especially set up in opposition to repose, and emphasized almost to the exclusion of the latter. This has caused the importance of stability to be lost to view.
For the truth of the matter is: "stability allows of repose; repose allows of calm; calm allows of reflection, and reflection gives grasp." It should be realized that repose can have a positive function. And what I call the philosophy of action permits of no distinction between motion and repose, a distinction which is superficial. A course of action may involve intervals of both motion and of repose, just as the invisible working of living matter contributes to the visible growth of the body. We need only concern ourselves as to whether what is done is in harmony with the laws of man's innate character.
The natural processes of the universe and of human life go on unceasingly, and in trying to ameliorate human life by positive action we must realize that such action to be effectual must be similar to those processes in its continuity and tenacity. Positive action in its every phase, whether outwardly visible or impalpable, never ceases to be action, never really for a moment comes to a halt. The whole universe is the scene of such action, and man in so far as he truly acts participates in its immense activity. Let us therefore distinguish clearly between mere motion and the true action that works by a steady advance in an undeviating course, with the timeless inexhaustibility of flowing water towards its appointed aim.
And now I have something more to add in definition of the essential meaning of action and its relation to life. The ancients said "Man's innate character is given him at birth together with life itself." I consider action to be the expression of that innate character, and so as inseparable from life as it. Man in his earliest infancy can laugh and cry, eat and drink; as he grows up he learns to gaze and listen, speak and walk; and once grown up, no matter whether he be intelligent or stupid, he strives for existence, progress, and development. Or, in other words, he seeks to conform to the elementary needs of human life. All these phenomena are phenomena of action, the action of the faculties for discerning moral and material good, with which man is naturally endowed.
It is apparent to me that love of ease and dislike of exertion are no part of fundamental human nature, but that on the contrary mankind is naturally disposed to labor and work. If you compel a lively man accustomed to be always on his feet and busy with his hands to be idle and sedentary, depriving him of anything to do, he is certain to feel exceedingly unhappy. In the same way, the least intelligent or experienced of men has felt the satisfaction and content that come with work, the joy of contributing to the accomplishment of some undertaking. There is a colloquialism current in certain coastal districts of China which substitutes the word "life" for the word "work"; thus, you may be asked whether you have "lived your life" for the day, in the sense of "have you done your day's work?" Work is indeed life; unless a man be totally incapable he will inevitably require the means of expression for his abilities, and particularly such expression as will accrue to the benefit of somebody beyond himself. Even a little child is conscious of the intense satisfaction to be derived from doing one's best in the service of others. Though no praise be awarded the child it is aware of an extraordinary complaisance within itself.
The Broadest Sense of Life
All these little illustrations bear witness to the fact that action is the object of man's life; and we should, vice versa, make life the object of our action. We are born with faculties for the discernment of moral and material good; life, from childhood to old age, is the energetic, ceaseless, use of them, at first chiefly for the satisfaction of the needs of one's own existence, to secure one's own footing in life, but next, as one's mental perspective broadens, the family, the village, the community, the nation, and mankind become objects of the desire to express oneself and give of oneself. When we speak of life it should mean for us the life of mankind, the life and existence of people and nation, the livelihood of masses and citizenry. And when we speak of action, we should mean action performed in the service of life in such a broad sense.