The Struggles of Man

"Religion, Society, and Nature—these are the three struggles of man." ~ Victor Hugo If all the human activity undertaken in the course of a day, month or year were put in a pot still and reduced to its fractions, there would be but three fundamental components: religion, society and nature. Every man who has ever …

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A Foundation in Truth

I saw a great many castles while traveling through Europe during my youth and one in particular caught my fancy. Pictured above, the Neuschwanstein castle ("New Swan Rock") is a magical edifice built upon Swan Rock, a massive stone outcropping overlooking Hohenschwangau near Füssen in southwestern Bavaria. A powerful symbol for a life built upon …

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Know the Truth

"Truth is the oldest of all the virtues; it antedated man, it lived before there was man to perceive it or to accept it. It is the unchangeable, the constant. Law is the eternal truth of Nature—the unity that always produces identical results under identical conditions. When a man discovers a great truth in Nature …

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Changeless Truth

"Lying is the sacrifice of honor to create a wrong impression. It is masquerading in misfit virtues. Truth can stand alone, for it needs no chaperone or escort. Lies are cowardly, fearsome things that must travel in battalions. They are like a lot of drunken men, one vainly seeking to support another. Lying is the …

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The Power of Truth

The relationship between horse and rider is sacred. Each must adapt what is natural in movement and balance to accommodate the other. Watch a riderless horse in a turn, for instance, and you may see him transfer weight to his inside legs, leaning into the turn and twisting himself to counterbalance the centripetal and centrifugal …

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The Library of Wisdom and Your Excalibur

"In the conquest of any weakness in our mental or moral make-up; in the attainment of any strength; in our highest and truest relation to ourselves and to the world, let us ever make “love” our watchword, not mere “duty.” If we desire to live a life of truth and honesty, to make our word …

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Truth and Reason

"I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way." ~ Thomas Jefferson Every man, woman and child is called to make acquaintance with truth while navigating the river of life. Some scarcely have the opportunity …

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Throwing Away Our Happiness II

"Happiness does not consist of what we have but what we are; not in our possessions but in our attitude towards them. It is the serenity of the soul in the presence of a present joy. It is not absolute, requiring certain fixed conditions; it is relative. What would be a fast for one might …

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The Hungers of Life III

"There are times in the life of all when, weak and worn with the struggle, the ebb-tide of hope seems to carry out with it all inspiration, all impulse, all incentive. In the darkest night of a great loss, a paralyzing pain, or a voiceless grief we seem to lose our very bearings on life, …

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Facing the Mistakes of Life X

"Failure does not necessarily imply a mistake. If we have held our standard high, bravely fought a good fight for the right, held our part courageously against heavy opposition and have finally seen the citadel of our great hope taken by superior force, by overwhelming conditions, or sapped and undermined by jealousy, envy or treachery …

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