character. Character is something more than mere mind and morals. Of all social relations calculated to develop character, the most effective and ideal is the affectionate and understanding friendship of man and woman in the mutual embrace of intelligent wedlock. Marriage, with its manifold relations, is best designed to draw forth those precious impulses and those higher motives which are indispensable to the development of a strong character. I do not hesitate thus to glorify family life, for your Master has wisely chosen the father-child relationship as the very cornerstone of this new gospel of the kingdom. And such a matchless community of relationship, man and woman in the fond embrace of the highest ideals of time, is so valuable and satisfying an experience that it is worth any price, any sacrifice, requisite for its possession.
2. Union of souls—the mobilization of wisdom. Every human being sooner
or later acquires a certain concept of this world and a certain vision of the next.
Now it is possible, through personality association, to unite these views of temporal existence and eternal prospects. Thus does the mind of one augment its
spiritual values by gaining much of the insight of the other. In this way men
enrich the soul by pooling their respective spiritual possessions. Likewise, in
this same way, man is enabled to avoid that ever-present tendency to fall victim
to distortion of vision, prejudice of viewpoint, and narrowness of judgment.
Fear, envy, and conceit can be prevented only by intimate contact with other
minds. I call your attention to the fact that the Master never sends you out alone
to labor for the extension of the kingdom; he always sends you out two and two.
And since wisdom is superknowledge, it follows that, in the union of wisdom,
the social group, small or large, mutually shares all knowledge.
3. The enthusiasm for living. Isolation tends to exhaust the energy charge
of the soul. Association with one's fellows is essential to the renewal of the zest
for life and is indispensable to the maintenance of the courage to fight those
battles consequent upon the ascent to the higher levels of human living. Friendship enhances the joys and glorifies the triumphs of life. Loving and intimate
human associations tend to rob suffering of its sorrow and hardship of much of its
bitterness. The presence of a friend enhances all beauty and exalts every goodness. By intelligent symbols man is able to quicken and enlarge the appreciative
capacities of his friends. One of the crowning glories of human friendship is this
power and possibility of the mutual stimulation of the imagination. Great
spiritual power is inherent in the consciousness of wholehearted devotion to a
common cause, mutual loyalty to a cosmic Deity.
4. The enhanced defense against all evil. Personality association and
mutual affection is an efficient insurance against evil. Difficulties, sorrow, disappointment, and defeat are more painful and disheartening when borne alone.
Association does not transmute evil into righteousness, but it does aid in greatly
lessening the sting. Said your Master, "Happy are they who mourn"—if a friend
is at hand to comfort. There is positive strength in the knowledge that you live
for the welfare of others, and that these others likewise live for your welfare
and advancement. Man languishes in isolation. Human beings unfailingly become discouraged when they view only the transitory transactions of time. The
present, when divorced from the past and the future, becomes exasperatingly
trivial. Only a glimpse of the circle of eternity can inspire man to do his best and
