Energy is the working power in
all achievement. Energy converts inert coal into fire, and water it transmutes
into steam; it vivifies and intensifies the commonest talent until it
approaches to genius, and when it touches the mind of the dullard, it turns
into a living fire that which before was sleeping in inertia.
Energy is a moral virtue, its
opposing vice being laziness. As a virtue, it can be cultivated, and the lazy
man can become energetic by forcibly arousing himself to exertion.
Compared with the energetic
man, the lazy man is not half alive. Even while the latter is talking about the
difficult of doing a thing, the former is doing it.
The active man has done a
considerable amount of work before the lazy man has roused himself from sleep.
While the lazy man is waiting for an opportunity, the active man has gone out,
and met and utilized half a dozen opportunities.
He does things while the other
is rubbing his eyes.
Energy is one of the primary
forces: without it nothing can be accomplished. It is the basic element in all
forms of action. The entire universe is a manifestation of tireless, though
inscrutable energy.
Energy is, indeed, life, and
without it there would be no universe, no life. When a man has ceased to act,
when the body lies inert, and all the functions have ceased to act, then we say
he is dead; and in so far as a man fails to act, he is so far dead.
Man, mentally and physically, is framed for action, and not
for swinish ease. Every muscle of the body (being a lever for exertion) is a
rebuke to the lazy man. Every bone and nerve is fashioned for resistance; every
function and faculty is there for a legitimate use. All things have their end
in action; all things are perfected in use.
This being so,
there is no prosperity for the lazy man, no happiness, no refuge and no rest;
for him, there is not even the ease which he covets, for he at last becomes a
homeless outcast, a troubled, harried, despised man, so that the proverb wisely
puts it that "The lazy man does the hardest work", in that, avoiding
the systematic labor of skill, he brings upon himself the hardest lot.
Yet energy
misapplied is better than no energy at all. This is powerfully put by St. John
in the words: "I would have you either hot or cold; if you are lukewarm I
will spew you out of my mouth". The extremes of heat and cold here
symbolize the transforming agency of energy, in its good and bad aspects.
The lukewarm
stage is colorless, lifeless, useless; it can scarcely be said to have either virtue
or vice, and is merely barren empty, fruitless.
The man who
applies his abounding energy to bad ends, will, using the very power with which
he strives to acquire his selfish ends, bring upon him such difficulties,
pains, and sorrows, that will compel him to learn by experience, and so at last
to re-fashion his base of action.
At the right
moment, when his mental eyes open to better purposes, he will turn round and
cut new and proper channels for the outflow of his power, and will then be just
as strong in good as he formerly was in evil.
This truth is beautifully crystallized in the old proverb,
"The greater the sinner, the great the saint".
Energy is
power, and without it there will be no accomplishment; there will not even be
virtue, for virtue does not only consist of not doing evil, but also,
primarily, of doing good.
There are
those who try, yet fail through insufficient energy. Their efforts are too
feeble to produce positive results. Such are not vicious, and because they
never do any deliberate harm, are usually spoken of as good men that fail.
But to lack
the initiative to do harm is not to be good; it is only to be weak and
powerless. He is the truly good man who, having the power to do evil, yet
chooses to direct his energies in ways that are good.
Without a
considerable degree of energy, therefore, there will be no moral power. What
good there is, will be latent and sleeping; there will be no going forth of good,
just as there can be no mechanical motion without the motive power.
Energy is the
informing power in all doing in every department of life, whether it be along
material or spiritual lines.
The call to
action, which comes not only from the soldier but from the lips or pen of every
teacher in every grade of thought, is a call to men to rouse their sleeping
energy, and to do vigorously the task in hand. Even the men of contemplation
and mediation never cease to rouse their disciples to exertion in meditative
thought. They issue a call to men to rouse their sleeping energy, and to do
vigorously the task in hand.
Energy is alike needed in all spheres of life, and not only
are the rules of the soldier, the engineer and the merchant rules of action,
but nearly all the precepts of the saviours, sages, and saints are precepts of
doing.
The advice of
one of the Great Teachers to his disciples - "Keep wide awake",
tersely expresses the necessity for tireless energy if one's purpose is to be
accomplished, and is equally good advice to the salesman as to the saint.
"Eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty", and liberty is the reaching of one's
fixed end. It was the same Teacher that said: "If anything is to be done,
let a man do it at once; let him attack it vigorously!"
The wisdom of
this advice is seen when it is remembered that action is creative, that
increase and development follow upon legitimate use. To get more energy we must
use to the full that which we already possess.
Only to him
that has is given more. Only to him that puts his hand vigorously to some task
does power and freedom come.
But energy, to
be productive, must not only be directed towards good ends, it must be
carefully controlled and conserved.
"The
conservation of energy" is a modern term expressive of that principle in
nature by which no energy is wasted or lost, and the man whose energies are to
be fruitful in results must work intelligently upon this principle.
Noise and
hurry are so much energy running to waste. "More haste, less speed".
The maximum of noise usually accompanies the minimum of accomplishment. With
much talk there is little doing.
Working steam is not
heard. It is the escaping steam which makes a great noise. It is the
concentrated powder which drives the bullet to its mark.
In so far as a man intensifies his energies by conserving
them, and concentrating them upon the accomplishment of his purpose, just so
far does he gain quietness and silence, in response and calmness. It is great
delusion that noise means power.
There is no greater baby than the blustering boaster.
Physically a man, he is but an infant mentally, and having no
strength to anything, and no work to show, he tries to make up for it by loudly
proclaiming what he has done, or could do.
"Still waters run deep," and the great universal
forces are inaudible. Where calmness is, there is the greatest power. Calmness
is the sure indication of a strong, well trained, patiently disciplined mind.
The calm man knows his business, be sure of it. His words are
few, but they tell. His schemes are well planned, and they work true, like a
well-balanced machine. He sees a long way ahead, and makes straight for his
object.
The enemy, Difficulty, he converts into a friend, and makes
profitable use of him, for he has studied well how to "agree with his
adversary while he is in the way with him". Like a wise general, he has
anticipated all emergencies. Indeed, he is the man who is prepared beforehand.
In his meditations, in the counsels of his judgment, he has
conferred with causes, and has caught the bent of all contingencies.
He is never taken by
surprise; is never in a hurry, is safe in the keeping of his own steadfastness,
and is sure of his ground.
You may think you have got him, only to find, the next
moment, that you have tripped in your haste, and that he has got you, or rather
that you, wanting calmness, have hurried yourself into the dilemma which you
had prepared for him.
Your impulse cannot do battle with his deliberation, but is
foiled at the first attack; your uncurbed energy cannot turn aside the wisely
directed steam of his concentrated power.
He is "armed at all points". By a mental Ju-Jitsu
acquired through self discipline, he meets opposition in such a way that it
destroys itself. Upbraid him with angry words, and the reproof hidden in his
gentle reply searches to the very heart of your folly, and the fire of your
anger sinks into the ashes of remorse.
Approach him with a vulgar familiarity, and his look at once
fill you with shame, and brings you back to your senses. As he is prepared for
all events, so he is ready for all men; though no men are ready for him.
All weaknesses are betrayed in his presence, and he commands
by an inherent force which calmness has rendered habitual and unconscious.
Calmness, as distinguished from the dead placidity of
languor, is the acme of concentrated energy. There is a focused mentality
behind it. In agitation and excitement the mentality is dispersed. It is
irresponsible, and is without force or weight. The fussy, peevish, irritable
man has no influence. He repels, and not attracts.
He wonders why his
"easy going" neighbor succeeds, and is sought after, while he, who is
always hurrying, worrying and troubling, fails and is avoided.
His neighbor, being a calmer man, not more easy going but
more deliberate, gets through more work, does it more skillfully, and is more
self possessed and manly. This is the reason of his success and influence. His
energy is controlled and used, while the other man's energy is dispersed and
abused.
Energy, then, is the first pillar in the temple of
prosperity, and without it, as the first and most essential equipment, there
can be no prosperity. No energy means no capacity; there is no manly self
respect and independence.
Amongst the unemployed will be found many who are
unemployable through sheer lack of this first essential of work energy.
The man that stands many hours a day at a street corner with
his hands in his pockets and a pipe in his mouth, waiting for some one to treat
him to a glass of beer, is little likely to find employment, or to accept it
should it come to him.
Physically flabby and mentally inert, he is every day
becoming more so, and is making himself more unfit to work, and therefore unfit
to live. The energetic man may pass through temporary periods of unemployment
and suffering, but it is impossible for him to become one of the permanently
unemployed.
He will either find work or make it, for inertia is painful
to him, and work is a delight; and he who delights in work will not long remain
unemployed. 1
The lazy man does not wish
to be employed. He is in his element when doing nothing. His chief study is how
to avoid exertion.
To vegetate in semi torpor is his idea of happiness.
He is unfit and unemployable. Even the extreme Socialist, who
places all unemployment at the door of the rich, would discharge a lazy,
neglectful and unprofitable servant, and so add one more to the arm of the
unemployed; for laziness is one of the lowest vices repulsive to all active,
right minded men.
But energy is a composite power. It does not stand alone.
Involved in it are qualities which go to the making of vigorous character and
the production of prosperity.
Mainly, these qualities are contained in the four following
characteristics:
1. Promptitude
2. Vigilance
3. Industry
4. Earnestness
The pillar of energy is therefore a concrete mass composed of
these four tenacious elements. They are enduring qualities, and are calculated
to withstanding the wildest weather of adversity. They all make for life,
power, capacity, and progress.
Promptitude is valuable possession. It begets reliability. ENERGY
according to the scientists is exertion of power, and as always it produces
something good or bad. If wisely applied, it produces success. And one will be
said to prosper.
An
article written by G.U Hugohills
For
Vanguard newspaper
Published in June 2013.
