Maybe I’m guilty of writing a “self-help” blog. I say “guilty” because anyone who writes such blogs must have a bit of hubris. “Here I am. I have some things that can help you even though you are a complete stranger and probably better in every way than I.” But you might be similarly guilty: Many of us have a bit of such hubris; otherwise, this would be an advice-less world. We just can’t keep our mouths shut when it comes to the behaviors and thoughts of others. Nebby species? Or, seekers of some Ultimate Truth to share with others?
Every so often one of us strings along some words of advice that might be worth the listening. I came across such a string in a self-help book of sorts from 1916. Living the Radiant Life: A Personal Narrative by George Wharton James offers this:
“The more sensitive our minds and souls are to what they perceive, the more we receive, absorb, gain, and, therefore, the more we in turn radiate to others, but we must remember that the character and quality of that which we receive will be reflected, therefore it is necessary to be constantly in that attitude of mind which is receptive to good only.”*
James prefaced that advice with a discussion of the natural radiance of all things natural, from cacti to minerals, and he writes that we have varying levels of receptiveness to the radiation of different objects. Thus, a botanist might see more in a cactus than a mineralogist, whereas the mineralogist might see more in a crystal. It’s a matter of being more knowledgeable and consequently more open to whatever is radiating its nature.
Now back to the quotation as it applies to us as both absorbers and radiators. In the spectrum under which we all now operate, one that runs from computer games centered on killing to social media expressions of hatred, each of us probably finds difficulty in being “receptive to good only.” All of us attend a very public school with a required curriculum of courses in evil. Of course, we could argue that there is a spectrum of good and another of evil. We might even argue that “one man’s good is another’s evil.” Under such situational ethics and judgments, why should any of us listen to someone else? Isn’t our own advice sufficient if it has the same or greater value than that of another?**
Do we not accept advice because we think we have an understanding of both truths and Truth that needs no refining? Then consider what James also writes: “There are few people in the world who are true absorbers. We are so full of prejudices, conceits, notions, that we refuse to receive from this, that, or the other source, because, forsooth, we in our pride deem the source unworthy.”***
Do all of us need advice even though we reject most of the advice that we get? And on what grounds do we either accept or reject? Humility or pride? Similarly, on what grounds do we offer advice?
I think many, if not all, of us have an insatiable desire for Truth, but little desire for truths. How sensitive are our minds to what they perceive? How mirror-like are we in reflecting what we have perceived? And if what we have perceived is more evil than good, is that what we reflect?
James is probably right: We need to be good absorbers if we want to be good radiators. If there is any self-help principle that applies, it is that we can help ourselves by becoming absorbers who, on occasion, radiate a little helpful truth.
So, how does this really apply here? I hope that you see in these blogs something to absorb and to radiate in your own manner. The radiating is up to you. One short analogy: The shortwave radiation we get from the sun strikes Earth and then is reradiated in long wave radiation (heat). You get the effect in a greenhouse, but the whole atmosphere is largely heated by the radiation from the surface. Just like the surfaces struck by incoming solar radiation, you also convert the radiation. You are not a perfect mirror. You alter the character of the radiation after you absorb it. Nothing going in comes out the same, and that's why I say this website offers points of departure. I might say something interesting on occasion, but it is your insight that you radiate.
*Chapter 1: “The Radiances of Nature.” Pasadena. The Radiant Life Press. J. F. Tapley Co. New York, 1916.
**Isn’t saying definitively that something has variable value an absolute judgment?
**Chapter 22: “Absorption in Relation to Radiation.”
Every so often one of us strings along some words of advice that might be worth the listening. I came across such a string in a self-help book of sorts from 1916. Living the Radiant Life: A Personal Narrative by George Wharton James offers this:
“The more sensitive our minds and souls are to what they perceive, the more we receive, absorb, gain, and, therefore, the more we in turn radiate to others, but we must remember that the character and quality of that which we receive will be reflected, therefore it is necessary to be constantly in that attitude of mind which is receptive to good only.”*
James prefaced that advice with a discussion of the natural radiance of all things natural, from cacti to minerals, and he writes that we have varying levels of receptiveness to the radiation of different objects. Thus, a botanist might see more in a cactus than a mineralogist, whereas the mineralogist might see more in a crystal. It’s a matter of being more knowledgeable and consequently more open to whatever is radiating its nature.
Now back to the quotation as it applies to us as both absorbers and radiators. In the spectrum under which we all now operate, one that runs from computer games centered on killing to social media expressions of hatred, each of us probably finds difficulty in being “receptive to good only.” All of us attend a very public school with a required curriculum of courses in evil. Of course, we could argue that there is a spectrum of good and another of evil. We might even argue that “one man’s good is another’s evil.” Under such situational ethics and judgments, why should any of us listen to someone else? Isn’t our own advice sufficient if it has the same or greater value than that of another?**
Do we not accept advice because we think we have an understanding of both truths and Truth that needs no refining? Then consider what James also writes: “There are few people in the world who are true absorbers. We are so full of prejudices, conceits, notions, that we refuse to receive from this, that, or the other source, because, forsooth, we in our pride deem the source unworthy.”***
Do all of us need advice even though we reject most of the advice that we get? And on what grounds do we either accept or reject? Humility or pride? Similarly, on what grounds do we offer advice?
I think many, if not all, of us have an insatiable desire for Truth, but little desire for truths. How sensitive are our minds to what they perceive? How mirror-like are we in reflecting what we have perceived? And if what we have perceived is more evil than good, is that what we reflect?
James is probably right: We need to be good absorbers if we want to be good radiators. If there is any self-help principle that applies, it is that we can help ourselves by becoming absorbers who, on occasion, radiate a little helpful truth.
So, how does this really apply here? I hope that you see in these blogs something to absorb and to radiate in your own manner. The radiating is up to you. One short analogy: The shortwave radiation we get from the sun strikes Earth and then is reradiated in long wave radiation (heat). You get the effect in a greenhouse, but the whole atmosphere is largely heated by the radiation from the surface. Just like the surfaces struck by incoming solar radiation, you also convert the radiation. You are not a perfect mirror. You alter the character of the radiation after you absorb it. Nothing going in comes out the same, and that's why I say this website offers points of departure. I might say something interesting on occasion, but it is your insight that you radiate.
*Chapter 1: “The Radiances of Nature.” Pasadena. The Radiant Life Press. J. F. Tapley Co. New York, 1916.
**Isn’t saying definitively that something has variable value an absolute judgment?
**Chapter 22: “Absorption in Relation to Radiation.”
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