CHAPTER XVI WORRY 1. One of the most distressing ailments of the human heart is worry. The sage of Proverbs remarks: "Worry in the heart boweth it down." For there is hardly an ailment more fatal or more destructive than worry. 2. Worry is a disease which prevents man from enjoying the blessings of the present by filling him with forebodings and cares about his future. Worry destroys happiness, and is ruinous to the health of mind and body. Constant worry is a corrosive that eats away the fibres of the mind and the tissues of the body. Worry checks the smooth and even flow of vitality, it retards the stream of thought. It distorts the power of judgment, so that he who is filled with worry sees nothing in its true proportion and light. The artist who is obsessed by worry, cannot put forth his finest skill, no matter how great his natural gifts; the thinker, no matter how advanced, will be unable to delve into the heart of knowledge; the statesman will be confused in his tactics and err in the manipulation of the affairs entrusted to his care; the man of industry will fear to expand his enterprises, and stand at the threshold of the future with faltering heart. Worry destroys the finest in man, it undermines his natural gifts and abilities. 3. Moreover, though worry is a mental ailment, its effects on the body are equally serious. When worry is active in the mind, certain changes take place in the body. Constant worry interferes with the process of digestion, and is a direct cause of sleeplessness. An overclouded countenance and dulled eyes are the outward manifestations of worry, but the havoc which worry works within the body is even more serious. Worry perturbs every organ and function of the body as it attacks the integrity of the mind. Man was built for cheer and joy; and he can thrive only when these fill his mind. 4. It is a characteristic of worry that the more one worries the more will the mind seek out causes for worry, and where such causes do not exist, will actually create them in order to sustain its habit of worry; it will exaggerate difficulties, dilate upon obstacles, make mountainous the most insignificant and transient weakness, and magnify far beyond actuality all illness and discomfort. 5. Worry is the outstanding disease of our age. The standards of living which our modern life has created are imposing too strong a strain on mankind. Civilization has its peculiarities. On one wing, it carries culture and progress, and on the other, artificiality, luxury and excess. On the one hand, it brings forth the keenest and finest powers of the human mind, and on the other hand, it utilizes those powers for useless and shoddy attainments. Man today is using his highly developed powers, not to get the most good out of life, but to get as much of the world's goods as he can possibly grasp. 6. With an increase in the luxuries of living, there seems to be a corresponding increase in the worries of life. Stand on the corner of a busy street. Observe the faces of the hundreds who pass by you, intent on their affairs. See the tense look in their eyes, the thin line of determination on their lips, the deep lines between the eyebrows. How many happy faces do you see? How many genuine, kindly smiles? How much carefree laughter do you hear? How many feet of all those that rush by you move in gentle, serene, unhurried rhythm? In all that stream of humanity, do you see one face that has learned the secret of the joy of life? There is a shadow on each countenance; worry of some degree or other is gripping at each one. 7. What are these souls tormenting themselves about? What are they straining for? They worry, they fear lest they may have less-not less than they need-but less than the luxurious standards of modern life demand. They have taken a long step away from that plain and simple life that brings contentment and happiness and health. They are running, rushing towards a goal that offers not one of the genuine, fundamental pleasures of life. 8. The desire for wealth is one of the accompaniments of civilization which is taxing the nervous resources of man today. This desire appears to be gaining in strength over all the other desires. In order to satisfy it, man is exhausting his body and his mind; for, even when his body is at rest, in the hours of the night, his mind is nevertheless still milling over the problems of the day, |