CONSTRUCTIVE IDEALISM: Page 92

structive Idealism then is a life-building assimilation of the highest and the best within the reach of our mental and spiritual vision. It is from my point of view a determined effort to intensify ourselves along lines of human uplift by a systematized application of the laws of psychology. It is the putting forth of positive effort to develop and expand our spiritual stature. Life in this world is a gymnasium for the exercise of the will. It matters little how many years you have been here in this world. It matters little how many moments of sense enjoyment you have had. Indeed! You may be as old as Methuselah. Your entire life-span may have been enjoyable. Such things do not count. What is of vital moment is how far you have succeeded in your triumph over your lower Nature, how far your Spirituality, Firmness, Conscientiousness, Veneration, Casuality, etc., are developed; how far you feel for suffering humanity; how far your Soul is on the ascendant and your flesh is under your feet. For this last is the crown and climax of all human endeavor along right lines. It is chastity alone that can give us a lift up from the quadruped stage. With ordinary humanity, with even the intellectual classes-in some measure-*-!^ is a step forward and then a long stagger backwards to the animal stage. This phenomenon is so constant that the aspiring soul stops, hesitates, and then as if a douche of cold water had been poured upon it, shrivels up in fear and heaves a sigh, "Oh! It is impossible! It is my nature! How can I transcend it? Impossible! Im-