1 files changed, 4529 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/13072-0.txt b/13072-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa575fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/13072-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4529 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13072 ***
+
+                      THE MENTAL EFFICIENCY SERIES
+
+                    COMMON SENSE HOW TO EXERCISE IT
+
+                           By YORITOMO-TASHI
+
+                      ANNOTATED BY: B. DANGENNES
+
+        TRANSLATED BY: MME. LEON J. BERTHELOT DE LA BOILEVEBIB
+
+                                 1916
+
+
+
+
+ANNOUNCEMENT
+
+
+The quality popularly designated as "Common Sense" comprehends, according
+to the modern point of view, the sound judgment of mankind when
+reflecting upon problems of truth and conduct without bias from logical
+subtleties or selfish interests. It is one of Nature's priceless gifts;
+an income in itself, it is as valuable as its application is rare.
+
+How often we hear the expression "Why, I never thought of that!" Why?
+Because we have failed to exercise Common Sense--that genius of mankind,
+which, when properly directed is the one attribute that will carry man
+and his kind successfully through the perplexities of life. Common Sense
+is as a plant of delicate growth, in need of careful training and
+continued watching so that it may bear fruit at all seasons. In the
+teachings that follow, the venerable Shogun, Yoritomo-Tashi, points out
+that Common Sense is a composite product consisting of (1) Perception;
+(2) Memory; (3) Thought; (4) Alertness; (5) Deduction; (6) Foresight; (7)
+Reason, and (8) Judgment. Discussing each of these separately, he
+indicates their relations and how they may be successfully employed.
+Further, he warns one against the dangers that lurk in moral inertia,
+indifference, sentimentality, egotism, etc.
+
+Common Sense is a quality that must be developed if it is to be utilized
+to the full of its practical value. Indispensable to this development are
+such qualifications--(1) Ability to grasp situations; (2) Ability to
+concentrate the mind; (3) Keenness of perception; (4) Exercise of
+the reasoning power; (5) Power of approximation; (6) Calmness;
+(7) Self-control, etc. Once mastered, these qualifications enable one to
+reap the reward of a fine and an exalted sense, and of a practical common
+sense which sees things as they are and does things as they should be
+done.
+
+The desire for knowledge, like the thirst for wealth, increases by
+acquisition, but as Bishop Lee has told us, "Knowledge without common
+sense is folly; without method it is waste; without kindness it is
+fanaticism; without religion it is death." But, Dean Farrar added: "With
+common sense, it is wisdom; with method it is power; with charity
+beneficence; with religion it is virtue, life, and peace."
+
+In these pages, Yoritomo-Tashi teaches his readers how to overcome such
+defects of the understanding as may beset them. He shows them how to
+acquire and develop common sense and practical sense, how to apply them
+in their daily lives, and how to utilize them profitably in the
+business world.
+
+To him common sense is the crown of all faculties. Exercised vigilantly,
+it leads to progress and prosperity, therefore, says he "enthusiasm is as
+brittle as crystal, but common sense is durable as brass."
+
+THE PUBLISHERS.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Why should I hesitate to express the pleasure I felt on learning that the
+public, already deeply interested in the teachings of Yoritomo-Tashi,
+desired to be made familiar with them in a new form?
+
+This knowledge meant many interesting and pleasant hours of work in
+prospect for me, recalling the time passed in an atmosphere of that peace
+which gives birth to vibrations of healthful thoughts whose radiance
+vitalizes the soul.
+
+It was also with a zeal, intensified by memories of the little deserted
+room in the provincial museum, where silence alone could lend rhythm to
+meditation, that I turned over again and again the leaves of those
+precious manuscripts, translating the opinions of him whose keen and
+ornate psychology we have so often enjoyed together.
+
+It was with the enthusiastic attention of the disciple that once more I
+scanned the pages, where the broadest and most humane compassion allies
+itself with those splendid virtues: energy, will and reason.
+
+For altho Yoritomo glorifies the will and energy under all their aspects,
+he knows also how to find, in his heart, that tenderness which transforms
+these forces, occasionally somewhat brutal, into powers for good, whose
+presence are always an indication of favorable results.
+
+He knows how to clothe his teachings in fable and appealing legend, and
+his exotic soul, so near and yet so far, reminds one of a flower, whose
+familiar aspect is transmuted into rare perfume.
+
+By him the sternest questions are stripped of their hostile aspects and
+present themselves in the alluring form of the simplest allegories of
+striking poetic intensity.
+
+When reading his works, one recalls unconsciously the orations of the
+ancient philosophers, delivered in those dazzling gardens, luxuriant in
+sunlight and fragrant with flowers.
+
+In this far-away past, one sees also the silhouette of a majestic figure,
+whose school of philosophy became a religion, which interested the world
+because it spoke both of love and goodness.
+
+But in spite of this fact, the doctrines of Yoritomo are of an
+imaginative type. His kingdom belongs to this world, and his theories
+seek less the joys of the hereafter than of that tangible happiness which
+is found in the realization of the manly virtues and in that effort to
+create perfect harmony from which flows perfect peace.
+
+He takes us by the hand, in order to lead us to the center of that Eden
+of Knowledge where we have already discovered the art of persuasion, and
+that art, most difficult of all to acquire--the mastery of timidity.
+
+Following him, we shall penetrate once more this Eden, that we may study
+with Yoritomo the manner of acquiring this art--somewhat unattractive
+perhaps but essentially primordial--called Common Sense.
+
+
+B. DANGENNES.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+Announcement
+
+Preface
+
+    I. Common Sense: What Is It?
+
+   II. The Fight Against Illusion
+
+  III. The Development of the Reasoning Power
+
+   IV. Common Sense and Impulse
+
+    V. The Dangers of Sentimentality
+
+   VI. The Utility of Common Sense in Daily Life
+
+  VII. Power of Deduction
+
+ VIII. How to Acquire Common Sense
+
+   IX. Common Sense and Action
+
+    X. The Most Thorough Business Man
+
+   XI. Common Sense and Self-Control
+
+  XII. Common Sense Does Not Exclude Great Aspirations
+
+
+
+
+LESSON I
+
+COMMON SENSE: WHAT IS IT?
+
+
+One beautiful evening, Yoritomo-Tashi was strolling in the gardens of
+his master, Lang-Ho, listening to the wise counsels which he knew so
+well how to give in all attractiveness of allegory, when, suddenly, he
+paused to describe a part of the land where the gardener's industry was
+less apparent.
+
+Here parasitic plants had, by means of their tendrils, crept up the
+shrubbery and stifled the greater part of its flowers.
+
+Only a few of them reached the center of the crowded bunches of the grain
+stalks and of the trailing vines that interlaced the tiny bands which
+held them against the wall.
+
+One plant alone, of somber blossom and rough leaves, was able to flourish
+even in close proximity to the wild verdure. It seemed that this plant
+had succeeded in avoiding the dangerous entanglements of the poisonous
+plants because of its tenacious and fearless qualities, at the same time
+its shadow was not welcome to the useless and noxious creeping plants.
+
+"Behold, my son," said the Sage, "and learn how to understand the
+teachings of nature: The parasitic plants represent negligence against
+the force of which the best of intentions vanish."
+
+Energy, however, succeeds in overcoming these obstacles which increase
+daily; it marks out its course among entanglements and rises from the
+midst of the most encumbered centers, beautiful and strong.
+
+Ambition and audacity show themselves also after having passed through
+thousands of difficulties and having overcome them all.
+
+Common sense rarely needs to strive; it unfolds itself in an atmosphere
+of peace, far from the tumult of obstructions and snares that are not
+easily avoided.
+
+Its flower is less alluring than many others, but it never allows itself
+to be completely hidden through the wild growth of neighboring branches.
+
+It dominates them easily, because it has always kept them at a distance.
+
+Modest but self-sustaining, it is seen blossoming far from the struggles
+which always retard the blossoming of plants and which render their
+flowering slower and, at times, short-lived.
+
+A most absurd prejudice has occasionally considered common sense to be an
+inferior quality of mind.
+
+This error arises from the fact that it can adapt itself as well to the
+most elevated conceptions as to the most elemental mentalities.
+
+To those who possess common sense is given the faculty of placing
+everything in its proper rank.
+
+It does not underestimate the value of sentiments by attributing to them
+an exaggerated importance.
+
+It permits us to consider fictitious reasons with reservation and of
+resolutely rejecting those that resort to the weapons of hypocrisy.
+
+Persons who cultivate common sense never refuse to admit their errors.
+
+One may truly affirm that they are rarely far from the truth, because
+they practise directness of thought and force themselves never to deviate
+from this mental attitude.
+
+Abandoning for a moment his favorite demonstration by means of symbolism,
+Yoritomo said to us:
+
+"Common sense should be thus defined:
+
+"It is a central sense, toward which all impressions converge and unite
+in one sentiment--the desire for the truth.
+
+"For people who possess common sense, everything is summed up in one
+unique perception:
+
+"The love of directness and simplicity.
+
+"All thoughts are found to be related; the preponderance of these two
+sentiments makes itself felt in all resolutions, and chiefly in the
+reflections which determine them.
+
+"Common sense permits us to elude fear which always seizes those whose
+judgment vacillates; it removes the defiance of the Will and indicates
+infallibly the correct attitude to assume."
+
+And Yoritomo, whose mind delighted in extending his observations to the
+sociological side of the question, adds:
+
+"Common sense varies in its character, according to surroundings and
+education.
+
+"The common sense of one class of people is not the same as that of a
+neighboring class.
+
+"Certain customs, which seem perfectly natural to Japan would offend
+those belonging to the western world, just as our Nippon prejudices would
+find themselves ill at ease among certain habits customary among
+Europeans."
+
+"Common sense," he continues, "takes good care not to assail violently
+those beliefs which tradition has transmuted into principles.
+
+"However, if direct criticism of those beliefs causes common sense to be
+regarded unfavorably, it will be welcomed with the greatest reserve and
+will maintain a certain prudence relative to this criticism, which will
+be equivalent to a proffered reproach.
+
+"Common sense often varies as to external aspects, dependent upon
+education, for it is evident that a diamio (Japanese prince) can not
+judge of a subject in the same way as would a man belonging to the lowest
+class of society.
+
+"The same object can become desirable or undesirable according to the
+rank it occupies.
+
+"Must one believe that common sense is excluded from two such
+incompatible opinions?
+
+"No, not at all. An idea can be rejected or accepted by common sense
+without violating the principles of logic in the least.
+
+"If, as one frequently sees, an idea be unacceptable because of having
+been presented before those belonging to a particular environment, common
+sense, by applying its laws, will recognize that the point of view must
+be changed before the idea can become acceptable."
+
+And again, Yoritomo calls our attention to a peculiar circumstance.
+
+"Common sense," he says, "is the art of resolving questions, not the art
+of posing them.
+
+"When taking the initiative it is rarely on trial.
+
+"But the moment it is a case of applying practically that which
+ingenuity, science or genius have invented, it intervenes in the happiest
+and most decisive manner.
+
+"Common sense is the principle element of discernment.
+
+"Therefore, without this quality, it is impossible to judge either of the
+proposition or the importance of the subject.
+
+"It is only with the aid of common sense that it is possible to
+distinguish the exact nature of the proposition, submitted for a just
+appreciation, and to render a solution of it which conforms to perfect
+accuracy of interpretation.
+
+"The last point is essential and has its judicial function in all the
+circumstances of life. Without accuracy, common sense can not be
+satisfactorily developed, because it finds itself continually shocked by
+incoherency, resulting from a lack of exactness in the expression of
+opinions."
+
+If we wish to know what the principal qualities are which form common
+sense, we shall turn over a few pages and we shall read:
+
+"Common sense is the synthesis of many sentiments, all of which converge
+in forming it.
+
+"The first of these sentiments is reason.
+
+"Then follows moderation.
+
+"To these one may add:
+
+"The faculty of penetration;
+
+"The quality consistency.
+
+"Then, wisdom, which permits us to profit by the lessons of experience.
+
+"A number of other qualities must be added to these, in order to complete
+the formation of common sense; but, altho important, they are only the
+satellites of those we have just named.
+
+"Reason is really indispensable to the projection of healthy thoughts.
+
+"The method of reasoning should be the exhaustive study of minute detail,
+of which we shall speak later.
+
+"For the moment we shall content ourselves by indicating, along the broad
+lines of argument, what is meant by this word reason.
+
+"Reasoning is the art of fixing the relativeness of things.
+
+"It is by means of reasoning that it is possible to differentiate events
+and to indicate to what category they belong.
+
+"It is the habit of reasoning to determine that which it is wise to
+undertake, thus permitting us to judge what should be set aside.
+
+"How could we guide ourselves through life without the beacon-light of
+reason? It pierces the darkness of social ignorance, it helps us to
+distinguish vaguely objects heretofore plunged in obscurity, and which
+will always remain invisible to those who are unprovided with this
+indispensable accessory--the gift of reasoning.
+
+"He who ventures in the darkness and walks haphazard, finds himself
+suddenly confronted by obstacles which he was unable to foresee.
+
+"He finds himself frightened by forms whose nature he cannot define, and
+is often tempted to attribute silhouettes of assassins to branches of
+trees, instead of recognizing the real culprit who is watching him from
+the corner of the wild forest.
+
+"Life, as well as the wildest wilderness, is strewn with pitfalls. To
+think of examining it rapidly, without the aid of that torch called
+reason, would be imitating the man of whom we have just spoken.
+
+"Many are the mirages, which lead us to mistake dim shadows for
+disquieting realities, unless we examine them critically, for otherwise
+we can never ascribe to them their true value.
+
+"Certain incidents, which seem at first sight to be of small importance,
+assume a primordial value when we have explained them by means of
+reasoning.
+
+"To reason about a thing is to dissect it, to examine it from every
+point of view before adopting it, before deferring to it or before
+rejecting it; in one word, to reason about a thing is to act with
+conscious volition, which is one of the phases essential to the conquest
+of common sense.
+
+"This principle conceded, it then becomes a question of seriously
+studying the method of reasoning, which we propose to do in the following
+manner but first it is necessary to be convinced of this truth."
+
+Without reason there is no common sense.
+
+Yoritomo teaches us that, altho moderation is only of secondary
+importance, it is still indispensable to the attainment of common sense.
+
+It is moderation which incites us to restrain our impatience, to silence
+our inexplicable antipathies and to put a break on our tempestuous
+enthusiasms.
+
+Can one judge of the aspect of a garden while the tempest is twisting the
+branches of the trees, tearing off the tendrils of the climbing vines,
+scattering the petals of the flowers and spoiling the corollas already in
+full bloom?
+
+And now, Yoritomo, who loves to illustrate his teachings by expressive
+figures of speech, tells us the following story.
+
+"A Japanese prince, on awakening, one day, demanded lazily of his
+servants what kind of weather it was, but he forbade them to raise the
+awnings which kept a cool, dim light in his room and shielded his eyes
+from the strong light from without. The two servants left him reclining
+upon his divan and went into the adjoining room, where the stained-glass
+windows were not hung with curtains.
+
+"One of them, putting his face close to a yellow-tinted pane of glass,
+exclaimed in admiration of the beautiful garden, bathed in the early
+morning sunlight.
+
+"The second one, directing his gaze to a dark blue pane and, looking
+through the center, remarked to his companion, I see no sunshine, the day
+is dreary and the clouds cast gloomy shadows upon the horizon.
+
+"Each one returned to relate their impressions of the weather, and
+the prince wondered at the different visions, unable to understand
+the reason."
+
+There, concluded the Shogun, that is what happens to people who do not
+practise moderation.
+
+Those, who see things through the medium of enthusiasm refuse to
+recognize that they could be deprived of brilliancy and beauty.
+
+The others, those who look upon things from a pessimistic standpoint,
+never find anything in them save pretexts for pouring out to their
+hearers tales of woe and misery.
+
+All find themselves deceptively allured; some rush toward illusion,
+others do not wish to admit the positive chances for success, and both
+lacking moderation, they start from a basis of false premises from which
+they draw deplorable conclusions, thus defeating future success.
+
+The spirit of penetration, according to the old Nippon philosopher, is
+not always a natural gift. "It is," said he, "a quality which certain
+people possess in a very high degree but which in spite this fact should
+be strengthened by will and discipline.
+
+"One can easily acquire this faculty by endeavoring to foresee the
+solution of contemporary events; or at least try to explain the hidden
+reasons which have produced them.
+
+"Great effects are produced, many times, from seemingly unimportant
+causes, and it is, above all, to the significant details that the spirit
+of penetration should give unceasing and undivided attention.
+
+"Everything around us can serve as a subject for careful study; political
+events, incidents which interest family or friends, all may serve as just
+so many themes for earnest reflection.
+
+"It is always preferable to confine this analysis to subjects in which we
+have no personal interest; thus we shall accustom ourselves to judge of
+people and things dispassionately and impersonally. This is the quality
+of mind necessary to the perfect development of penetration.
+
+"If, for any reason, passion should create confusion of ideas, clearness
+of understanding would be seriously compromised and firmness of judgment,
+by deteriorating, would cast aside the manifestation of common sense.
+
+"The spirit consistency is perhaps more difficult to conquer, for it is a
+combination of many of the qualities previously mentioned.
+
+"Its inspiration is drawn from the reasoning faculty, it cannot exist
+without moderation and implies a certain amount of penetration, because
+it must act under the authority of conviction.
+
+"If you strike long enough in the same place on the thickest piece of
+iron, in time it will become as thin as the most delicate kakemono [a
+picture which hangs in Japanese homes].
+
+"It is impossible to define the spirit of consistency more accurately.
+
+"It is closely related to perseverance, but can not be confounded with
+it, because the attributes of consistency have their origin in logic and
+reason which does not produce one act alone but a series of acts
+sometimes dependent, always inferred.
+
+"The spirit of consistency banishes all thought derogatory to the subject
+in question; it is the complete investiture of sentiments, all converging
+toward a unique purpose."
+
+This purpose can be of very great importance and the means of attainment
+multiform, but the dominant idea will always direct the continuous
+achievements; under their different manifestations--and these at times
+contradictory--they will never be other than the emanation of a direct
+thought, whose superior authority is closely united to the final success.
+
+Wisdom, continued the philosopher, should be mentioned here only as the
+forerunner which permits us to analyze experience.
+
+It is from this never-ending lesson which life teaches us that the wisdom
+of old age is learned.
+
+But is it really necessary to reach the point of decrepitude, in order to
+profit by an experience, actually useless at that time, as is always a
+posthumous conquest.
+
+"Is it not much better to compel its attainment when the hair is black
+and the heart capable of hope?
+
+"Why give to old age alone the privileges of wisdom and experience?
+
+"It is high time to combat so profound an error.
+
+"Is it not a cruel irony which renders such a gift useless?
+
+"Of what benefit is wisdom resulting from experience if it cannot
+preserve us from the unfortunate seduction of youth?
+
+"Why should its beauty be unveiled only to those who can no longer profit
+by it?" This is the opinion of Yoritomo, who says:
+
+"What would be thought of one who prided himself on possessing bracelets
+when he had lost his two arms in war?
+
+"It is, therefore, necessary, not only to encourage young people to
+profit by lessons of wisdom and experience, but, still further, to
+indicate to them how they can accomplish the result of these lessons.
+
+"It is certain that he who can recall a long life ought to understand
+better than the young man all the pitfalls with which it is strewn.
+
+"But does he always judge of it without bias or prejudice?
+
+"Does he not find acceptable pretexts for excusing his past faults and
+does he not exaggerate the rewards for excellence, which have accorded
+him advantages, due at times to chance or to the force of circumstances?
+
+"Finally, the old man can not judge of the sentiments which he held at
+twenty years of age, unless it be by the aid of reminiscences, more or
+less fleeting, and an infinitely attenuated intensity of representation.
+
+"Emotive perception being very much weakened, the integrity of memory
+must be less exact.
+
+"Then, in the recession of years, some details, which were at times
+factors of the initial idea, are less vivid, thus weakening the power of
+reason which was the excuse, the pretext, or the origin of the act.
+
+"This is why, altho we may honor the wisdom of the aged, it is well to
+acquire it at a time when we may use it as a precious aid.
+
+"To those who insist that nothing is equivalent to personal experience,
+we shall renew our argument, begging them to meditate on the preceding
+lines, drawing their attention to the fact that a just opinion can only
+be formed when personal sentiment is excluded from the discussion.
+
+"Is it, then, necessary to have experienced pain in order to prevent
+or cure it?
+
+"The majority of physicians have never been killed by the disease
+they treat.
+
+"Does this fact prevent them from combatting disease victoriously?
+
+"And since we are speaking of common sense we shall not hesitate to
+invoke it in this instance, and all will agree that it should dictate
+our reply.
+
+"Then why could we not do for the soul that which can be done for the
+body?
+
+"It is first from books, then from the lessons of life that physicians
+learn the principles underlying their knowledge of disease and its
+healing remedies.
+
+"Is it absolutely indispensable for us to poison ourselves in order to
+know that such and such a plant is harmful and that another contains the
+healing substance which destroys the effects of the poison?
+
+"We may all possess wisdom if we are willing to be persuaded that the
+experience of others is as useful as our own."
+
+The events which multiply about us, Yoritomo says, ought to be, for each
+master, an opportunity for awakening in the soul of his disciples a
+perfect reasoning power, starting from the inception of the premises to
+arrive at the conclusions of all arguments.
+
+From the repetition of events, from their correlation, from their
+equivalence, from their parallelism, knowledge will be derived and will
+be productive of good results, in proportion as egotistical sentiment is
+eliminated from them; and slowly, with the wisdom acquired by experience,
+common sense will manifest itself tranquil and redoubtable, working
+always for the accomplishment of good as does everything which is the
+emblem of strength and peace.
+
+
+
+
+LESSON II
+
+THE FIGHT AGAINST ILLUSION
+
+
+Common Sense such as we have just described it, according to Yoritomo, is
+the absolute antithesis of dreamy imagination, it is the sworn enemy of
+illusion, against which it struggles from the moment of contact.
+
+Common sense is solid, illusion is yielding, also illusion never
+issues victorious from a combat with it; during a struggle illusion
+endeavors vainly to display its subterfuges and cunning; illusions
+disappear one by one, crusht by the powerful arms of their terrible
+adversary--common sense.
+
+"The worship of illusion," says Yoritomo, "presents certain dangers to
+the integrity of judgment, which, under such influence, falsifies the
+comparative faculty, and sways decision to the side of neutrality.
+
+"This kind of mental half-sleep is extremely detrimental to
+manifestations of reason, because this torpor excludes it from imaginary
+conceptions.
+
+"Little by little the lethargy caused by this intellectual paralysis
+produces the effect of fluidic contagion over all our faculties.
+
+"Energy, which ought to be the principle factor in our resolutions,
+becomes feeble and powerless at the point where we no longer care to feel
+its influence.
+
+"The sentiment of effort exists no longer, since we are pleased to
+resolve all difficulties without it.
+
+"In this inconstant state of mind, common sense, after wandering a moment
+withdraws itself, and we find that we are delivered over to all the
+perils of imagination.
+
+"Nothing that we see thus confusedly is found on the plane which belongs
+to common sense; the ideas, associated by a capricious tie, bind and
+unbind themselves, without imposing the necessity of a solution.
+
+"The man who allows himself to be influenced by vague dreams," adds the
+Shogun, "must, if he does not react powerfully, bid farewell to common
+sense and reason; for he will experience so great a charm in forgetting,
+even for one moment, the reality of life, that he will seek to prolong
+this blest moment.
+
+"He will renounce logic, whose conclusions are, at times, opposed to his
+desires, and he will plunge himself into that false delight of awakened
+dreams, or, as some say, day-dreams.
+
+"Those who defend this artificial conception of happiness, like to
+compare people of common sense to heavy infantry soldiers, who march
+along through stony roads, while they depict themselves as pleasant
+bird-fanciers, giving flight to the fantastic bearers of wings.
+
+"But they do not take into account the fact that the birds, for whom they
+open the cage, fly away without the intention of returning, leaving them
+thus deceived and deprived of the birds, while the rough infantry
+soldiers, after many hardships, reach the desired end which they had
+proposed to attain, thus realizing the joys of conquest.
+
+"There they find the rest and security, which the possessors of fugitive
+birds will never know.
+
+"Those who cultivate common sense will always ignore the collapses which
+follow the disappearance of illusions.
+
+"How many men have suffered thus uselessly!
+
+"And what is more stupid than a sorrow, voluntarily imposed, when it can
+not be productive of any good?
+
+"Men can not be too strongly warned against the tendency of embellishing
+everything that concerns the heart-life, and this is the inclination of
+most people.
+
+"The causes of this propensity are many and the need for that which
+astounds is not the only cause to be mentioned.
+
+"Indolence is never a stranger to illusion.
+
+"It is so delightful to foresee a solution which conforms to our desires!
+
+"For certain natures, stained with moral atrophy, it is far sweeter to
+hope for that which will be produced without pain.
+
+"One begins by accelerating this achievement, so earnestly desired, by
+using all the will-power, and one becomes accustomed progressively to
+regard desires as a reality, and, aided by indolence, man discounts in
+advance an easy success.
+
+"False enthusiasm, or rather enthusiasm without deliberate reflection,
+always enters into these illusions, which are accompanied by persuasion
+and never combatted by common sense.
+
+"Vanity is never foreign to these false ideas, which are always of a
+nature to flatter one's amour propre.
+
+"We love to rejoice beforehand in the triumph which we believe will win
+and, aided by mental frivolity, we do not wish to admit that success can
+be doubted.
+
+"The dislike of making an effort, however, would quickly conceal, with
+its languishing voice, the wise words of common sense, if we would listen
+momentarily to them.
+
+"And, lastly, it is necessary to consider credulity, to which, in our
+opinion, is accorded a place infinitely more honorable than it deserves."
+
+And now the sage, Yoritomo, establishes the argument which, by the aid of
+common sense, characterized these opinions.
+
+According to him, "It does not belong to new and vibrating souls, as many
+would have us believe.
+
+"When credulity does not proceed from inveterate stupidity, it is always
+the result of apathy and weakness.
+
+"Unhappiness and misfortune attend those who are voluntarily feeble.
+
+"Their defect deprived them of the joy derived from happy efforts. They
+will be the prey of duplicity and untruth.
+
+"They are the vanquished in life, and scarcely deserve the pity of the
+conqueror; for their defeat lacks grandeur, since it has never been
+aurioled by the majestic strength of conflict."
+
+Following this, the Shogun speaks to us of those whom he calls the ardent
+seekers after illusion.
+
+One evening he related the following story: "Some men started off for an
+island, which they perceived in the distance.
+
+"It looked like a large, detached red spot, amid the flaming rays of the
+setting sun, and the men told of a thousand wonders about this unknown
+land, as yet untrodden by the foot of man.
+
+"The first days of the journey were delightful. The oars lay in the
+bottom of the boat untouched, and they just allowed themselves to drift
+with the tide. They disembarked, singing to the murmur of the waters, and
+gathered the fruits growing on the shores, to appease their hunger.
+
+"But the stream, which was bearing them onward, did not retain long its
+limpidity and repose; the eddies soon entrapped the tiny bark and dragged
+the men overboard.
+
+"Some, looking backward, were frightened at the thought of ascending the
+river, which had become so tempestuous.
+
+"Escaping the wreckage of the boat as best they could, they entrusted
+themselves again to the fury of the waters.
+
+"They had to suffer from cold and hunger, for they were far from shore,
+and as, in their imagination, the island was very near, they had
+neglected to furnish themselves with the necessities of life.
+
+"At last, after the fatigues which forethought would have prevented, they
+found themselves one evening, at sundown, at the base of a great rock,
+bathed in the rosy light of the departing sun.
+
+"This, then, was the island of their dreams.
+
+"Tired out and exhausted from lack of food, they had only the strength to
+lie down upon the inhospitable rock, there to die!
+
+"The disappearance of the illusion, having destroyed their courage and
+having struck them with the sword of despair, the rock of reality had
+proved destructive of their bodies and souls.
+
+"The moral of this story easily unfolds itself.
+
+"If the seekers after illusions had admitted common sense to their
+deliberations, they would certainly have learned to know the nature of
+the enchanted isle, and they would have taken good care not to start out
+on their journey which must terminate by such a deception.
+
+"Would they not have taken the necessary precaution to prevent all the
+delays attendant upon travels of adventure, and would they have entrusted
+their lives to so frail a skiff, if they had acquired common sense?"
+
+We must conclude, with Yoritomo, that illusion could often be transformed
+into happy reality if it were better understood, and if, instead of
+looking upon it through the dreams of our imagination, we applied
+ourselves to the task of eliminating the fluid vapors which envelop it,
+that we might clothe it anew with the garment of common sense.
+
+Many enterprises have been considered as illusions because we have
+neglected to awaken the possibilities which lay dormant within them.
+
+The initial thought, extravagant as it may appear, brings with it, at
+times, facilities of realization that a judgment dictated by common sense
+can alone make us appreciate.
+
+He who knows how to keep a strict watch over himself will be able to
+escape the causes of disillusion, which lead us through fatal paths of
+error, to the brink of despair.
+
+"That which is above all to be shunned," said the philosopher, "is the
+encroachment of discouragement, the result of repeated failures.
+
+"Rare are those who wish to admit their mistakes.
+
+"In the structure of the mind, inaccuracy brings a partial deviation from
+the truth, and it does not take long for this slight error to generalize
+itself, if not corrected by its natural reformer--common sense.
+
+"But how many, among those who suffer from these unhappy illusions, are
+apt to recognize them as such?
+
+"It would, however, be a precious thing for us to admit the causes
+which have led us to such a sorry result, by never permitting them to
+occur again.
+
+"This would be the only way for the victims of illusion to preserve the
+life of that element of success and happiness known as hope.
+
+"Because of seeing so often the good destroyed, we wish to believe no
+more in it as inherent in our being, and rather than suffer repeatedly
+from its disappearance, we prefer to smother it before perfect
+development.
+
+"The greater number of skeptics are only the unavowed lovers of illusion;
+their desires, never being those capable of realization, they have lost
+the habit of hoping for a favorable termination of any sentiment.
+
+"The lack of common sense does not allow them to understand the folly of
+their enterprise, and rather than seek the causes of their habitual
+failures, they prefer to attack God and man, both of whom they hold
+responsible for all their unhappiness.
+
+"They are willingly ironical, easily become pessimists, and villify life,
+without desiring to perceive that it reserved as many smiles for them as
+the happy people whom they envy.
+
+"All these causes of disappointment can only be attributed to the lack of
+equilibrium of the reasoning power and, above all, to the absence of
+common sense, hence we cannot judge of relative values.
+
+"To give a definite course to the plans which we form is to prepare the
+happy termination of them.
+
+"This is also the way to banish seductive illusion, the devourer of
+beautiful ambitions and youthful aspirations."
+
+And, with his habitual sense of the practical in life, Yoritomo adds the
+following:
+
+"There are, however, some imaginations which can not be controlled by the
+power of reasoning, and which, in spite of everything, escape toward the
+unlimited horizons of the dream.
+
+"It would be in vain to think of shutting them up in the narrow prison
+walls of strict reason; they would die wishing to attempt an escape.
+
+"To these we can prescribe the dream under its most august form, that
+of science.
+
+"Each inventor has pursued an illusion, but those whose names have lived
+to reach our recognition, have caught a glimpse of the vertiginous course
+they were following, and no longer have allowed themselves to get too far
+away from their base--science.
+
+"Yes, illusion can be beautiful, on condition that it is not constantly
+debilitated.
+
+"To make it beautiful we must be its master, then we may attempt
+its conquest.
+
+"It is thus that all great men act; before adopting an illusion, as
+truth, they have assured themselves of the means by the aid of which they
+were permitted first to hope for its transformation and afterward be
+certain of their power to discipline it.
+
+"Illusion then changes its name and becomes the Ideal.
+
+"Instead of remaining an inaccessible myth, it is transformed into an
+entity for the creation of good.
+
+"It is no longer the effort to conquer the impossible, which endeavor
+saps our vital forces; it is a contingency which study and common sense
+strip of all aleatory principles, in order to give a form which becomes
+more tangible and more definite every day.
+
+"We have nothing more to do with sterile efforts toward gaining an object
+which fades from view and disappears as one approaches it.
+
+"It is no longer the painful reaching out after an object always growing
+more indistinct as we draw near it.
+
+"It is through conscious and unremitting effort that we attain the
+happy expression of successful endeavor and realize the best in life,
+for slow ascension in winning this best leaves no room for satiety in
+this noble strife.
+
+"We must pity those who live for an illusion as well as those whose
+imagination has not known how to create an ideal, whose beauty illumines
+their efforts.
+
+"It is the triumph of common sense to accomplish this transformation and
+to banish empty reveries, replacing them by creating a desire for the
+best, which each one can satisfy--without destroying it.
+
+"The day when this purpose is accomplished, illusion, definitely
+conquered, will cease to haunt the mind of those whom common sense has
+illumined; vagaries will make place for reason and terrible disillusion
+will follow its chief (whose qualities never rise above mediocrity) into
+his retreat, and allow the flower of hope to blossom in the souls
+already filled with peace--that quality which is born of reason and
+common sense."
+
+
+
+
+LESSON III
+
+THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REASONING POWER
+
+
+When reading certain passages in the manuscripts of Yoritomo, one is
+forcibly reminded of the familiar phrase: "Nothing is definitely finished
+among men, for each thing stops only to begin again."
+
+He says, "That many centuries before the great minds constructed altars
+to the goddess of Reason, they were in search of a divinity to replace
+the one they had just destroyed.
+
+"If it were proposed to me to build temples which would synthesize my
+devotion with certain sentiments, my desire would be that those dedicated
+to the Will and to Reason should dominate all others, for then they would
+be under the protection of powers for good."
+
+In a few pages further on he insists again and again upon the necessity
+of developing the worship of reason.
+
+"Reasoning," he continues, "is a divinity, around which gravitate a whole
+world of gods, important but inferior to it.
+
+"Among this people of these idols, so justly revered, there is one god
+which occupies a place apart from the others.
+
+"This god is Common Sense, which gave birth to Reason, and has always
+been its faithful companion.
+
+"It is, in reality, the controlling force exercising its power to guard
+reason against the predominating character and nefarious tendencies
+created by self-interest.
+
+"Common sense compels reason to admit principles whose justice it has
+already recognized, and, at the same time, incites reason to reject those
+whose absurdity it has demonstrated.
+
+"Common sense allies itself with reason, in order to make that selection
+of ideas which personal interest can either set aside entirely or modify
+by illogical inference.
+
+"Reason obeys certain laws, all of which can be united in one
+sentiment--common sense."
+
+This statement could be illustrated symbolically by comparing its truth
+to a fan, whose blades converge toward a central point where they
+remain fixt.
+
+Applying the precept to the picture, the old Shogun gives the design
+which we are faithfully copying.
+
+"In this ideal fan," explains Yoritomo, "not only the true reproduction
+of the qualities directing the progress of knowledge must be perceived,
+but the symbol of their development must be traced.
+
+"All of these qualities are born of common sense, to which they are
+closely allied, unfolding and disclosing a luminous radiance.
+
+"Altho each one may have its autonomy, they never separate, and, even as
+a fan from which one blade has disappeared can only remain an imperfect
+object little to be desired, even so, the symbolic fan of reasoning, when
+it does not unite all the required qualities, becomes a mutilated power,
+which can only betray the destiny originally attributed to it.
+
+"Consequently, starting from common sense as the central point of
+reasoning, we find, first, perception.
+
+"This is the action by which exterior things are brought near to us.
+
+"Perception is essentially visual and auditory, altho it influences all
+our senses.
+
+"For example, the fact of tasting a fruit is a perception.
+
+"The seeing of a landscape is equally one.
+
+"The hearing of a song is also a perception.
+
+"In a word, everything which presents itself to us, coming in
+contact with one of our senses, is a perception; otherwise, the
+inception of an idea.
+
+"This is the first degree of reasoning.
+
+"Immediately following is memory, without which nothing could be proved.
+
+"It is memory, which, by renewing the motive power of reason, allows us
+to judge of the proportion of things, grasped by the senses in the
+present as related to those which come to us from the past.
+
+"Without memory it would be impossible to make a mental comparison.
+
+"It would be most difficult to determine the true nature of an event,
+announced by perception, if an analogous sensation, previously
+experienced, had not just permitted us to classify it by close
+examination or by differentiating it.
+
+"Memory is a partial resurrection of a past life, whose reconstruction
+has just permitted us to attribute a true value to the phases of
+existence.
+
+"It is in preserving the memory of things that we are called upon to
+compare them and then to judge of them.
+
+"Thought is produced immediately after perception, and the recollection,
+very often automatic, that it creates within us.
+
+"It is the inception of the idea which it engenders by a series of
+results.
+
+"Thought permits the mind to exercise its judgment without allowing
+itself to be influenced by the greatness or humility of the idea.
+
+"By virtue of corresponding recollections, it will associate the present
+perception with the past representations, and will take an extension,
+more or less pronounced, according to the degree of intellectuality of
+the thinker, and according to the importance of the object of its
+reflections.
+
+"But rarely does the idea present itself alone.
+
+"One thought almost always produces the manifestation of similar
+thoughts, which group themselves around the first idea as birds of the
+same race direct their flight toward the same country.
+
+"Thought is the manifestation of the intellectual life; it palpitates in
+the brain of men as does the heart in the breast.
+
+"It is thought which distinguishes men from animals, who have only
+instinct to guide them.
+
+"It can be admitted, however, that this instinct is a kind of obscure
+thought for these inferior beings, from which reflection is eliminated,
+or, at least, reveals itself only as a vassal of material appetite.
+
+"But with creatures who have intelligence, thought is a superior faculty,
+which aids the soul to free itself from the bondage of vulgar and limited
+impressions.
+
+"When perception, memory, and thought unite to form judgment, activity of
+mind will become necessary, in order to accelerate the production of
+ideas in extending the field of imagination.
+
+"Moral inertia is the most deplorable of all defects; it retards
+intellectual growth and hinders the development of personality.
+
+"It is, in this understanding, the enemy of common sense, for it will
+admit voluntarily a reasoning power, existing per se, rather than make
+the necessary effort which will set free the truth and constitute an
+individual opinion.
+
+"Vulgarity is, then, almost always the sign of mental sloth.
+
+"It is not infrequent to see a mind of real capacity fall into error,
+where an intelligence of mediocre caliber asserts its efficiency.
+Indifference is the most serious obstacle to the attainment of judgment.
+
+"Common sense demands a keen alertness of understanding, placed at the
+disposal of a reflection which appears at times slow of action, but which
+is long in being manifested only because of the desire to surround itself
+by all the guaranties of truth concerning the object in question.
+
+"The fifth blade of the fan is the quality of deduction--the most solid
+basis for the judgments which are formed by common sense.
+
+"By deduction we are able to solve all relative questions with
+perfect accuracy.
+
+"It is by abstracting reckless contingencies, and by relying only upon
+the relativeness of facts, that we can succeed in discovering the truth
+that there are too many representations as to these facts.
+
+"Deduction is the great support of mental weakness. It helps in
+discerning proportions, possibilities, even as it helps in skilfully
+avoiding the fear of error."
+
+We shall have occasion to speak more at length of deduction, for Yoritomo
+devotes many pages to it. We shall, then, defer to a future chapter the
+interesting developments that he discloses on this subject, and we shall
+continue to study the fan of common sense with him.
+
+"Foresight," he continues, "is rightly looked upon as one of the
+indispensable elements in cultivating common sense.
+
+"The faculty of foresight always accompanies common sense, in order to
+strengthen its qualities of skill and observation.
+
+"One must not confound, as many people are tempted to do, foresight and
+conjecture.
+
+"The first consists in taking great care to prevent the repetition of
+unhappy facts which have already existed.
+
+"Foresight will exert an influence on future events by establishing an
+analogy between them and the actual incidents which, of necessity, will
+lead to the adoption or rejection of present projects.
+
+"It is to be observed that all these faculties are subordinate, one to
+the other, and, in proportion to the unfolding of the fan, we can prove
+that all the blades previously mentioned have concurred in the formation
+of the blade of which we are now speaking.
+
+"In order to foresee disasters it is necessary that the
+perception--visual or auditory--of said disasters should already have
+imprest us.
+
+"We have kept intact the memory of them, since it is reconstructed
+emotion which guides our thoughts.
+
+"These same thoughts, in extending themselves, form groups of thoughts
+harmonious in character, all relative to the one, which is the object of
+the debate.
+
+"Our mind becomes more active in recalling the incidents, the remembrance
+of which marks the time which has elapsed between the old perception and
+the present state of mental absorption.
+
+"The faculty of deduction, which is born of these different mental
+conflicts, permits me to foresee that circumstances of the same nature
+will lead to others similar to those we have already mentioned.
+
+"We have merely sketched rapidly the scale of sensations which follow
+each other, in order to reach the explanation of how foresight is formed,
+this faculty of which we are now speaking.
+
+"By assimilating these present facts with those of the past, we are
+permitted to draw a conclusion, relating to the same group of results,
+because of the conformity of those past facts to the present questions.
+
+"Foresight is passive; between it and precaution there is the same
+difference as between theory and practise.
+
+"Precaution is preeminently active, and it marks its first appearance by
+means of foresight, but does not stop in this effort until it has
+rendered foresight productive.
+
+"It is well to foresee, but it is precious to preclude.
+
+"The second part of the act of precaution can, however, only be
+accomplished after having permitted the brain to register the thoughts
+which determine the first part of this act."
+
+In order to understand this very subtle difference, but very important
+one, which classifies these two sentiments, the old sage gives us the
+following example:
+
+"Let us suppose," he says, "that, on a beautiful day in spring, a man
+starts out for an excursion which will last until the dawn of the
+following day.
+
+"If he has common sense, he will say to himself that the sun will not be
+shining at the time of his return, that the nights of spring are cold,
+and that this one will be no exception to the rule.
+
+"This is foresight.
+
+"If common sense, with all its consequences, takes possession of him, it
+will increase his power of reasoning. He will think that, in order to
+avoid suffering from the change of temperature, it would be well to cover
+himself with a cloak.
+
+"And, even tho the sun shone, he would not hesitate to furnish himself
+with this accessory, which in fact will render him the greatest service.
+
+"This is precaution.
+
+"This quality is indispensable to the formation of the reasoning power;
+for, in addition to the necessity of foreseeing certain results, it
+permits also of directing their course, if it be impossible to exempt
+them completely.
+
+"Reasoning is the art of developing, to the highest degree, the
+suppositions resulting from deduction.
+
+"One is usually mistaken as to the exact meaning of the words 'to
+reason,' and people seldom attach the importance to them which
+they should.
+
+"One is apt to think that the gift of reasoning is bestowed upon
+every one.
+
+"Perhaps; but to reason, following the principles of justice and truth,
+is an operation which can only be performed by minds endowed with
+common sense.
+
+"In order to arrive at this result, it is essential to impress upon
+oneself the value of the words, 'to deduct accurately,' after having
+produced the radiation of thoughts which depend upon the object in
+question, and to foresee the consequences of the facts that a resolution
+could determine.
+
+"Above all, to avoid contentment with the approximate, which conceals
+many pitfalls under false appearances.
+
+"Without permitting oneself to express useless trivialities, not to
+neglect to become impregnated with those axioms which have been
+rightfully baptized, 'wisdom of nations.'
+
+"They are generally based on a secular observation, and are the product
+of many generations.
+
+"It would be puerile to attach vital importance to them, but one would
+surely regret having entirely scorned their counsel.
+
+"Too much erudition is at times detrimental to reason, based on common
+sense. Altho fully appreciating science, and devoting serious study to
+it, one would do well to introduce the human element into his knowledge.
+
+"There are some essential truths which modify daily life without, for
+this reason, lessening their importance.
+
+"Some of them are of premature development; others are of
+miniature growth.
+
+"To reason without offending common sense, it is, therefore,
+indispensable to consider time, place, environment, and all the
+contingencies which could arise to undermine the importance of
+reasoning."
+
+After having reviewed all these phases, we shall then extend, in accord
+with Yoritomo, the last blade of this rudimentary fan, and we shall
+find judgment.
+
+"This one is the index to that quality of mind called conviction.
+
+"This mental operation consists in drawing together many ideas that their
+relative characteristics may be determined.
+
+"This operation takes the place contiguous to reasoning, of which it is
+the result.
+
+"Judgment determines its character after having registered the reasons
+which ought to indicate its position; it deducts the conclusions imposed
+by the explanatory principle, and classifies the idea by submitting it to
+the valuation placed upon it by judgment.
+
+"All judgment is either affirmative or negative.
+
+"It can never be vascillating nor neutral.
+
+"In this last case it will assume the title of opinion, and will
+attribute to itself the definite qualities which characterize judgment.
+
+"It is, however, at times subjected to certain conditions, where the
+principles on which it is based are not sufficiently defined, and,
+therefore, becomes susceptible to a change, either of form or of nature.
+
+"It is possible, without violating the laws of common sense, to establish
+a judgment whose terms will be modified by the mutation of causes.
+
+"But common sense demands that these different influences should be
+foreseen, and that these eventualities should be mentioned when
+pronouncing the judgment."
+
+We have reached the last blade of the symbolic fan, described by the
+philosopher, for many secondary qualities may be placed between the
+principle blades.
+
+But faithful to his explanatory method, he wished to indicate to us the
+broad lines first, and also to state the indispensable faculties
+constituting common sense, by teaching us their progression and
+development.
+
+He desired to demonstrate to us also how much all these qualities would
+be lessened in value if they were not united and bound together in the
+order in which they ought to manifest themselves.
+
+"We have all possest," said he, "some fans whose point of reunion was
+destroyed in part or altogether lost.
+
+"What becomes of it, then?
+
+"During a certain length of time, always rather short, the blades, after
+having remained bound together by the thread which holds them, separate,
+when it is severed because of the lack of harmony and of equilibrium at
+their base.
+
+"Very soon, one blade among them detaches itself, and the mutilated fan
+takes its place in the cemetery where sleep those things deteriorated
+because of old age or disuse.
+
+"It is the same with the qualities which we have just enumerated. As long
+as they remain attached to their central point, which is common sense,
+they stand erect, beautiful and strong, concurring in the fertilization
+of our minds, and in creating peace in our lives.
+
+"But if the point of contact ceases to maintain them, to bind them
+together, to forbid their separating, we shall soon see them fall apart
+after having escaped from the temporary protection of the secondary
+qualities.
+
+"For a while we seek to evoke them; but recognizing the ruse existing in
+their commands, we shall soon be the first to abandon them, in order to
+harmonize our favors with the deceptive mirage of the illusions; at
+least, if we do not allow ourselves to be tempted by fallacious arguments
+of vanity.
+
+"In the one as in the other case, we shall become, then, the prey of
+error and ignorance, for common sense is the intelligence of truth."
+
+
+
+
+LESSON IV
+
+COMMON SENSE AND IMPULSE
+
+
+Impulsive people are those who allow themselves to be guided by their
+initial impressions and make resolutions or commit acts tinder the
+domination of a special consciousness into which perception has
+plunged them.
+
+Impulse is a form of cerebral activity which, forces us to make a
+movement before the mind is able to decide upon it by means of reflection
+or reasoning. The Shogun deals with it at length and defines it thus:
+
+"Impulse is an almost direct contact between perception and result.
+
+"Memory, thought, deduction, and, above all, reason are absolutely
+excluded from these acts, which are never inspired by intellectuality.
+
+"The impression received by the brain is immediately transmuted into an
+act, similar to those acts which depend entirely on automatic memory.
+
+"It is certain in making a series of movements, which compose the act of
+walking upstairs or the action of walking from one place to another, we
+do not think of analyzing our efforts and this act of walking almost
+limits itself to an organic function, so little does thought enter into
+its composition.
+
+"In the case of repeated impulses, it can be absolutely affirmed that
+substance is the antecedent and postulate of the essence of being.
+
+"Substance comprises all corporal materialities: instinctive needs,
+irrational movements, in a word, all actions where common sense is
+not a factor.
+
+"Essence is that imponderable part of being which includes the soul, the
+mind, the intelligence, in fact the entire mentality.
+
+"It is this last element of our being which poetizes our thoughts,
+classifies them, and leads us to common sense, by means of reasoning
+and judgment.
+
+"He who, having received an injury from his superior, replies to it at
+once by corresponding affront, is absolutely sure to become the victim of
+his impulses.
+
+"It is only when his act is consummated, that he will think of the
+consequences which it can entail; the loss of his employment first, then
+corporal punishment, in severity according to the gravity of the offense;
+lastly, misery, perhaps the result of forced inactivity.
+
+"On the contrary, the man endowed with common sense will reflect in a
+flash, by recalling all the different phases which we have described. His
+intelligence, being appealed to, will represent to him the consequences
+of a violent action.
+
+"He will find, in common sense, the strength not to respond to an injury
+at once; but will not forego the right, however, of avenging himself
+under the guise of a satisfaction which will be all the more easily
+accorded to him as his moderation will not fail to make an impression in
+his favor."
+
+"There is, between common sense and impulse," says Yoritomo, "the
+difference that one would find between two coats, one of which was bought
+ready-made, while the other, after being cut according to the proportions
+of the one who is to wear it, was sewed by a workman to whom all the
+resources of his art are known."
+
+If impulses adopt the same character for every one, common sense adapts
+itself to the mind, to the sensitiveness, to the worth of him who
+practises it; it is a garment which is adjusted to the proportions of its
+owner, and, according to his taste, is elaborate or simple.
+
+Certain people have a tendency to confound intuition and impulse.
+
+These two things, really very different in essence, are only related by
+spontaneity of thought which gives them birth.
+
+But whereas intuition, a sensation altogether moral, concisely stated, is
+composed of mental speculations, impulses always resolve themselves into
+acts and resolutions to act.
+
+Intuition is a sort of obscure revelation, which reason controls only
+after its formation.
+
+Impulse never engages common sense in the achievements which it
+realizes. It never decides upon them in advance, and almost always
+engenders regrets.
+
+It is the result of a defeat in self-control, which will-power and the
+power of reasoning alone can correct.
+
+Intuition is less spontaneous than impulse.
+
+It is a very brief mental operation, but, nevertheless, very real, which,
+very indistinctly, touches lightly all the phases of reasoning, in order
+to reach a conclusion so rapidly that he who conceives it has difficulty
+in making the transformations of the initial thought intelligible.
+
+It is none the less true that intuition is always inspired by a predicted
+reflection, but, in spite of this fact, an existing reflection.
+
+Impulse, on the contrary, only admits instinct as its source of
+existence.
+
+It is the avowed enemy of common sense, which counsels the escape from
+exterior insinuations that one may concentrate, in order to listen to the
+voice which dictates to us the abstinence from doing anything until after
+making a complete analysis of the cause which agitates us.
+
+Some philosophers have sought to rank inspiration under the flag of
+impulse, which they thought to defend; yes, even to recover esteem under
+this new form.
+
+"We should know how to stand on guard," says Yoritomo, "against this
+fatal error."
+
+"Inspiration," says he, "is rarely immobilized under the traits which
+characterized its first appearance.
+
+"Before expressing itself in a work of art or of utility, it was the
+embryo of that which it must afterward personify.
+
+"The ancients when relating that a certain divinity sprang, fully armed,
+from the head of a god, accredited this belief to instantaneous creation.
+
+"If musicians, painters, poets, and inventors want to be sincere, they
+will agree that, between the thought which they qualify as inspiration,
+and its tangible realization, a ladder of transformations has been
+constructed, and that it is only by progressive steps that they have
+attained what seemed to them the nearest to perfection."
+
+Impulse, then, is only distantly related to inspiration and intuition.
+
+Let us add that these gifts are very often only the fruit of an
+unconscious mental effort, and that, most of the time, the thoughts,
+which in good faith one accepts as inspiration or intuition, are only
+nameless reminiscences, whose apparition coincides with an emotional
+state of being, which existed at the time of the first perception.
+
+There, again, the presence of reasoning is visible, and also the presence
+of common sense, which tries to convert into a work of lasting results
+those impressions which would probably remain unproductive without the
+aid of these two faculties.
+
+Impulses are, most of the time, the vassals of material sensations.
+
+Definite reasoning and impartial judgment, inspired by common sense, are
+rarely the possession of a sick man.
+
+Sufferings, in exposing him to melancholy, make him see things in a
+defective light; the effort of thinking fatigues his weak brain, and the
+fear of a resolution which would force him to get out of his inactivity
+has enormous influence upon the deductions which dictate his judgment.
+
+Before discussing the advantages of conflict, he will instinctively
+resign himself to inertia.
+
+If, on the contrary, his temperament disposes him to anger, he will
+compromise an undertaking by a spontaneous violence, which patience and
+reflection would otherwise have made successful. It is possible also that
+a valiant soul is unable to obey a weak body, and that instinct, awakened
+by fear, leads one on to the impulsive desires of activity.
+
+Inadequate food or excessive nourishment can produce impulses of a
+different nature, but these differences are wholly and completely
+distinct as to character.
+
+The most evident danger of impulses lies in the scattering of mental
+forces, which, being too frequently called upon, use themselves up
+without benefiting either reason or common sense.
+
+The habit of indulging in movements dictated only by instinct, in
+suppressing all the phases of judgment leaves infinitely more latitude to
+caprice, which exists at the expense of solid judgment.
+
+Perception, being related to that which interests our passions, by
+getting in direct contact with the action which should simply be derived
+from a deduction, inspired by common sense, multiplies the unreflected
+manifestations and produces waste of the forces, which should be
+concentrated on a central point, after having passed through all the
+phases of which we have spoken.
+
+In addition, the permanency of resolutions is unknown to impulsive
+people.
+
+Their tendency, by leading them on toward instantaneous solutions, allows
+them to ignore the benefits of consistency.
+
+"They are like unto a peasant," said the old Nippon, "who owned a field
+in the country of Tokio. Scarcely had he begun to sow a part of the field
+when, under the influence of an unhappy impulse, he plowed up the earth
+again in order to sow the ground with a new seed.
+
+"If he heard any one speak of any special new method of cultivation,
+he only tried it for a short while, and then abandoned it, to try
+another way.
+
+"He tried to cultivate rice; then, before the time for harvesting it, he
+became enthusiastic for the cultivation of chrysanthemums, which he
+abandoned very soon in order to plant trees, whose slow development
+incited him to change his nursery into a field of wheat.
+
+"He died in misery, a victim of his having scorned the power of
+consistency and common sense."
+
+Now Yoritomo, after having put us on our guard against impulses, shows us
+the way to conquer these causes of disorder.
+
+"To control unguarded movements, which place us on a level with inferior
+beings. That is," said he "in making us dependent on one instinct alone.
+This is," said he, "to take the first step toward the will to think,
+which is one of the forms of common sense.
+
+"In order to reach this point, the first resolution to make is to escape
+from the tyranny of the body, which tends to replace the intellectual
+element in impulsive people.
+
+"When I was still under the instruction of my preceptor, Lang-Ho, I saw
+him cure a man who was affected with what he called 'The Malady of the
+First Impulse.'
+
+"Whether it concerned good actions or reprehensible ones, this man always
+acted without the least reflection.
+
+"To launch a new enterprise, which the most elementary common sense
+condemned, he gave the greater part of his fortune in a moment of
+enthusiasm.
+
+"He allowed himself to commit acts of violence which taught him
+severe lessons.
+
+"Finally, vexed beyond measure, dissatisfied with himself and others, he
+so brutally maltreated a high dignitary in a moment of violent anger that
+the latter sent for him that he might punish him. Learning of this, the
+man, crazy with rage, rushed out of his house in order to kill the prince
+with his own hand.
+
+"It was in this paroxysm of passion that my master met him. Like all
+impulsive people, he was full of his subject, and, joining the perception
+of the insult to the judgment of it, which his instinct had immediately
+dictated to him, he did not conceal his murderous intentions.
+
+"My master, by means of a strategy, succeeded in dissuading him from
+accomplishing his revenge that day. He persuaded him that the prince was
+absent and would only return to town upon the following day.
+
+"The man believed him, and allowed himself to be taken to the house
+of Lang-Ho.
+
+"But it was in vain that Lang-Ho unfolded all his most subtle arguments.
+Neither the fear of punishment, nor the hope of pardon, could conquer the
+obstinacy which can always be observed in impulsive people when their
+resolution has not accomplished its purpose.
+
+"It was then that my master employed a ruse, whose fantastic character
+brings a smile, but which, however, demonstrates a profound knowledge of
+the human heart when acting under the influence of common sense.
+
+"During the sleep of his guest, Lang-Ho took off his robe, replacing it
+by a garment made of two materials. One was golden yellow, the other a
+brilliant green. After attacks of terrible anger, in spite of the
+solicitation of his impulsive nature which incited him to go out, he did
+not dare to venture into the streets in such a costume.
+
+"That which the most subtle arguments had been unable to accomplish, was
+obtained through fear of ridicule.
+
+"Two days passed; his fury was changed into great mental exhaustion,
+because impulsive people can not withstand the contact with obstacles for
+any length of time.
+
+"It was this moment which my master chose to undertake the cure, in which
+he was so vitally interested.
+
+"With the most delicate art, he explained to the impulsive man all the
+chain of sentiments leading from perception to judgment.
+
+"He caused common sense to intervene so happily that the man was
+permeated by it. My master kept him near by for several weeks, always
+using very simple arguments to combat the instinctive resolutions which
+were formulated in his brain many times a day.
+
+"Common sense, thus solicited, was revealed to the impulsive one, and
+appeared like a peaceful counselor.
+
+"The ridiculous and odious side of his resolution was represented to him
+with such truth that he embraced Lang-Ho, saying:
+
+"'Now, Master, I can go away, and your mind can be at rest about me.
+
+"'The arguments of common sense have liberated me from bondage in which
+my lack of reflection held me.
+
+"'I return to my home, but, I beg of you, allow me to take away this
+ridiculous costume which was my savior.
+
+"'I wish to hang it in my home, in the most conspicuous place, that, from
+the moment my nature incites me to obey the commands of impulse, I may be
+able to look at once upon this garment, and thus recall your teachings,
+which have brought sweetness and peace into my life.'"
+
+All those who are inclined to act by instinct should follow this example,
+not by dressing up in a ridiculous robe half green and half yellow, but
+by placing obstacles in the way of the accomplishment of impulsive acts,
+which the dictates of common sense would not sanction.
+
+"For those whose mind possess a certain delicacy," again says the old
+master, "these obstacles will be of a purely moral order, but for those
+who voluntarily allow themselves to be dominated by a diseased desire for
+action, obstacles should adopt a tangible form; the difficulty in
+conquering anything always makes impulsive people reflect a little.
+
+"Under the immediate impression of the perception of an act they are
+ready for a struggle to the death; but this ardor is quickly
+extinguished, and inertia, in its turn, having become an impulse, makes
+them throw far away from them the object which determined the effort.
+
+"In proportion as they encounter obstacles, which they have taken the
+precaution to raise, the encroachment of the impression will make itself
+less felt.
+
+"The mere fact of having foreseen will become a matter for
+reflection for them.
+
+"The feeling of the responsibilities will be roused in them, and they
+will understand how difficult it is to escape the consequences of
+impulsive acts."
+
+Would one not say that these lines had been written yesterday?
+
+More than ever our age of unrest makes us the prey of impulses, and to
+the majority of our contemporaries, the robe, half green and half yellow
+(by recalling to them the worship of common sense), will become a fetish,
+more precious than all the amulets with which superstition loves to adorn
+logic, or to incorporate fantastic outline in the classic setting of
+beautiful jewels.
+
+
+
+
+LESSON V
+
+THE DANGERS OF SENTIMENTALITY
+
+
+The Shogun says: "There are sentimentalities of many kinds, some present
+less dangers than others, but from every point of view they are
+prejudicial to the acquisition and exercise of common sense. To cultivate
+sentiment over which the Will has no control is always to be regretted.
+
+"Sentimentality is multiform.
+
+"It presents itself, at times, under the aspect of an obscure appeal to
+sensuality and brings with it a passing desire of the heart and of the
+senses, which produces an artificial appreciation of the emotion felt.
+
+"In this first case sentimentality is an unconscious manifestation of
+egotism, because, outside of that which provokes this outward
+manifestation, everything is alienated and becomes indistinct.
+
+"The incidents of existence lose their true proportion, since everything
+becomes relative to the object because of our preoccupation.
+
+"The impulse reigns supreme there when sentimentality establishes itself,
+and the desire of judgment, if it makes itself apparent, is quickly
+shunned, to the profit of illusory reasons, in which pure reason does not
+intervene.
+
+"This sentimentality amalgamating the springs of egotism bereaves the
+soul's longing of all its greatness.
+
+"The anxiety to attribute all our impressions to emotion is only a way of
+intensifying it for our personal satisfaction, at the expense of a
+sentiment far deeper and more serious, which never blossoms under the
+shadow of egotism and of frivolous sentimentality.
+
+"Never will common sense have the chance to manifest itself in those who
+permit such ephemeral and enfeebling impressions to implant themselves in
+their souls.
+
+"However they must be pitied because their artificial emotion often
+results in a sorrow which is not lessened by repetition, but whose
+manifestation is none the less prejudicial to the peace of their being.
+
+"All those who do not harmonize common sense and the emotions of the
+heart become passive to the investiture of a sentimentality which does
+not wait to know if the object be worthy of them before it exists in
+consciousness.
+
+"From this state of mind arise disillusions and their recurrence entails
+a defect in the conception.
+
+"Men who are often deceived in allowing themselves to feel a sorrow which
+is only based on the longings of sentimentality become pessimists quickly
+and deny the existence of deep and enduring affection judged from its
+superior expression.
+
+"This superior expression of sentiment is freed from all personality and
+such judgment which differentiates it from other sentiments.
+
+"If we wished to appeal to common sense we should acknowledge, too often,
+that in the search for expansion we have only recognized the opportunity
+to satisfy the inclination which urges us to seek for pleasure.
+
+"Sentiment reasons, and is capable of devotion. Sentimentality excludes
+reflective thought and ignores generosity.
+
+"We are capable of sacrificing ourselves for sentiment.
+
+"Sentimentality exacts the sacrifice of others.
+
+"Therefore, profiting by the principles already developed, he who
+cultivates common sense will never fail to reason in the following
+manner:
+
+"Opening the symbolic fan, he will encounter, after perfection, the
+memory which will suggest to him the recollections of personal and
+strange experiences and he will record this fact: abegation is rarely
+encountered.
+
+"The inclination of our thoughts will suggest to us the difficulties
+there are in searching for it.
+
+"Deduction will acquaint us with the temerity of this exaction, and
+precaution will attract our thoughts to the possibility of suffering
+which could proceed from disillusion.
+
+"Following this, reasoning and judgment will intervene in order to hasten
+the conclusion formulated by common sense.
+
+"It follows then that, abnegation being so rare, common sense indicates
+to me that it would be imprudent for me to allow my happiness to rest
+upon the existence of a thing so exceptional.
+
+"For this reason this sentimental defect will find common sense armed
+against this eventuality.
+
+"There is another form or sentimentality not less common.
+
+"It is that which extends itself to all the circumstances of life and
+transforms true pity into a false sensibility, the exaggeration of which
+deteriorates the true value of things.
+
+"Those who give publicity to this form of sentiment are agitated (or
+imagine themselves to be agitated) as profoundly on the most futile of
+pretexts as for the most important cause.
+
+"They do not think to ask themselves if their ardor is merited; also
+every such experience, taking out of them something of their inner
+selves, leaves them enfeebled and stranded.
+
+"Every excursion into the domain of sentimentality is particularly
+dangerous, for tourists always fail to carry with them the necessary
+coinage which one calls common sense."
+
+After having put ourselves on guard against the surprizes of mental
+exaggeration, Yoritomo warns us of a kind of high respectable
+sentimentality which we possess, that is none the less censurable
+because under an exterior of the purest tenderness it conceals a
+profound egotism.
+
+It concerns paternal love from which reasoning and common sense
+are excluded.
+
+"Nothing" said he, "seems more noble than the love of parents for their
+children, and no sentiment is more august when it is comprehended in all
+its grandeur.
+
+"But how many people are apt to distinguish it from an egotistical
+sentimentality.
+
+"I have seen some mothers oppose the departure of their sons, preferring
+to oblige them to lead an obscure existence near to them, rather than
+impose upon themselves the sorrow of a separation.
+
+"These women do not fail to condemn the action of others, who, filled
+with a sublime abnegation, allow their children to depart, hiding from
+them the tears which they shed, because they have the conviction of
+seeing them depart for the fortune and the happiness which they feel
+themselves unable to offer them.
+
+"Which of these are worthy of admiration? Those who condemn their
+children to a life of mediocrity in order to obey an egotistical
+sentimentality, or those who, with despair in their hearts, renounce the
+joy of their presence, and think only of their own grief in order to
+build upon it the happiness of their dear ones.
+
+"The common sense of this latter class inspiring in them this magnificent
+sentiment, and forcing them to set aside a sentimentality which is, in
+reality, only the caricature of sentiment, has permitted them to escape
+that special kind of egotism, which could be defined thus: The
+translation of a desire for personal contentment.
+
+"Ought we then to blame others so strongly?
+
+"It is necessary, above all, to teach them to reason about the ardor of
+their emotions, and only to follow them when they find that they are
+cleansed from all aspiration which is not a pledge of devotion."
+
+Now the Shogun speaks to us with that subtlety of analysis which is
+characteristic and refers to a kind of sentimentality the most frequent
+and the least excusable.
+
+"There are," he tells us, "a number of people who, without knowing that
+they offend common sense in a most indefensible manner, invoke
+sentimentality in order to dispense with exercising the most vulgar pity,
+to the profit of their neighbor.
+
+"A prince," he continues, "possest a large? tract of land which he had
+put under grain.
+
+"For the harvest, a large number of peasants and laborers were employed
+and each one lived on the products of his labor.
+
+"But a prolonged drought threatened the crop; so the prince's overseer
+dismissed most of the laborers, who failed to find employment in the
+parched country.
+
+"Soon hunger threatened the inmates of the miserable dwellings, and
+sickness, its inseparable companion, did not fail to follow.
+
+"Facing the conditions the prince left, and had it not been for two
+or three wealthy and charitable people the laborers would have
+starved to death.
+
+"This pitiful condition was soon changed, abundance replaced famine, and
+the master returned to live in his domain.
+
+"But amazement followed when he addrest his people as follows: Here I am,
+back among you, and I hope to remain here a long time; if I left you, it
+was because I have so great an affection for all my servants and because
+even the bare thought of seeing them suffer caused me unbearable sorrow.
+
+"I am not among those who are sufficiently hard-hearted to be able to
+take care of sick and suffering people and to be a witness of their
+martyrdom. My pity is too keen to permit of my beholding this spectacle;
+this is why I had to leave to others, less sensitive, the burden of care
+which my too tender heart was unable to lavish on you."
+
+And that which is more terrible is that this man believed what he said.
+
+He did not understand the monstrous rent which he made in the robe of
+common sense, by declaring that he had committed the vilest act of
+cruelty due to excessive sensitiveness since it represented a murderous
+act of omission.
+
+Examples of this form of sentimentality are more numerous than we think.
+
+There exist people who cover their dogs with caresses, gorging them with
+dainties, and will take good care not to succor the needy.
+
+Others faint away at sight of an accident and never think of giving aid
+to the wounded.
+
+One may observe that for people exercising sentimentality at the expense
+of common sense, the greatest catastrophe in intensity, if it be far away
+from us, diminishes, while the merest incident, a little out of the
+ordinary, affects them in a most immoderate manner if it be produced in
+the circle of their acquaintances.
+
+It is needless to add that, if it touches them directly, it becomes an
+unparalleled calamity; it seems that the rest of the world must be
+troubled by it.
+
+This propensity toward pitying oneself unreasonably about little things
+which relate to one directly and this exaggerated development of a
+sterile sentimentality are almost always artificial, and the instinct of
+self-preservation very often aids in their extermination.
+
+"Among my old disciples," pursues the Shogun, "I had a friend whose son
+was afflicted by this kind of sentimentality, the sight of blood made him
+faint and he was incapable of aiding any one whomsoever; that which he
+called his good heart, and which was only a form of egotistical
+sentimentality, prevented him from looking at the suffering of others.
+
+"One day, a terrible earthquake destroyed his palace; he escaped, making
+his way through the ruins and roughly pushing aside the wounded who told
+about it afterward.
+
+"I saw him some days after; instead of reproaching him severely for his
+conduct, I endeavored to make him see how false was his conception of
+pity, since, not only had he not fainted at the sight of those who,
+half-dead, were groaning, but he had found in the egotistical sentiment
+of self-preservation the strength to struggle against those who clung to
+him, beseeching him for help.
+
+"I demonstrated to him the evident contradiction of his instinctive
+cruelty to the sentimentality that it pleased him to make public.
+
+"I made an appeal to common sense, in order to prove to him the attitude
+which he had, until then, assumed, and I had the joy of seeing myself
+understood.
+
+"My arguments appealed to his mentality, and always afterward, when he
+had the opportunity to bring puerile sentimentality and common sense face
+to face, he forced himself to appeal to that quality, which in revealing
+to him the artifice of the sentiment which animated him, cured him of
+false sensibility, which he had displayed up to that time."
+
+Sentimentality is in reality only a conception of egotism, under the
+different forms which it adopts.
+
+Yoritomo proves it to us again, in speaking of the weakness of certain
+teachers, who, under the pretext of avoiding trouble, allow their
+children to follow their defective inclinations.
+
+"It is by an instinctive hatred of effort that parents forbid themselves
+to make their children cry when reprimanding them," said he.
+
+"If the parents wish to be sincere to themselves, they will perceive that
+the sorrow in seeing their children's tears flow, plays a very small part
+in their preconceived idea of indulgence.
+
+"It is in order to economize their own nervous energy or to avoid
+cleverly the trouble of continued teaching, that they hesitate to provoke
+these imaginary miseries, the manifestation of which is caused by the
+great weakness of the teachers.
+
+"Common sense, nevertheless, ought to make them understand that it is
+preferable to allow the little ones to shed a few tears, which are
+quickly dried, rather than to tolerate a deplorable propensity for these
+habits which, later in life, will cause them real anxiety."
+
+And the philosopher concludes:
+
+"A very little reasoning could suffice to convince one of the dangers of
+sentimentality, if the persons who devote themselves entirely to it
+consented to reflect, by frankly agreeing to the true cause which
+produces it.
+
+"They would discover in this false pity the desire not to disturb their
+own tranquility.
+
+"They would also perceive that, in order to spare themselves a few
+unpleasant moments in the present they are preparing for themselves great
+sorrow for the future.
+
+"In parental affection, as in friendship or in the emotions of
+love, sentimentality is none other than an exaggerated amplification
+of the ego.
+
+"If it be true that all our acts, even those most worthy of approbation,
+can react in our personality, at least it is necessary that we should be
+logical and that, in order to create for ourselves a partial happiness or
+to avoid a temporary annoyance, we should not prepare for ourselves an
+existence, outlined by deception and fruitless regrets.
+
+"Sentimentality and its derivatives, puerile pity and false
+sensitiveness, can create illusion for those who do not practise the art
+of reasoning, but the friends of common sense do not hesitate to condemn
+them for it.
+
+"In spite of the glitter in which it parades itself, sentimentality will
+never be anything but the dross of true sentiment."
+
+
+
+
+LESSON VI
+
+THE UTILITY OF COMMON SENSE IN DAILY LIFE
+
+
+As our philosopher explains, the influence of common sense is above all
+appreciation of daily events. "We have," he continues, "very rarely in
+life the opportunity of making grave decisions, but we are called upon
+daily to resolve unimportant problems, and we can only do it in a
+judicious way, if we are allowed to devote ourselves to certain kinds of
+investigation.
+
+"This is what may be called to judge with discrimination, otherwise, with
+common sense.
+
+"Without this faculty, it is in vain that our memory amasses the
+materials, which must serve us in the comparative examination of facts.
+
+"And this examination can only be spoiled by decrepitude, if common sense
+did not succeed in dictating its conclusions to us.
+
+"Thanks to this faculty, we possess this accuracy of mind which permits
+us to discern truth from falsehood.
+
+"It is this power which aids us in distinguishing what we should consider
+as a duty, as a right, or as a thing conforming to equity, established by
+the laws of intelligence.
+
+"Without common sense we should be like an inexperienced gardener, who,
+for want of knowledge, would allow the tares to grow and would neglect
+the plants whose function is to nourish man.
+
+"In order to conform to the habit of judging with common sense, one ought
+first to lay down the following principle:
+
+"No fact can exist, unless there is a sufficient motive to determine
+its nature.
+
+"It is when operating on the elements furnished us by common sense that
+we are able to discern the quality of the object of our attention.
+
+"One day, a sage, whom people gladly consulted, was asked by what means
+he had learned to know so well the exact proportion of things, so that he
+never failed to attribute to them their real value.
+
+"'Why' they added, 'can you foresee so exactly the evil and direct us to
+that which is right and just?'
+
+"And the superstitious people added:
+
+"'Are you not in communication with the spirits, which float in space,
+which come from the other world?
+
+"Would you not be counseled by voices which we have not the power to
+hear, and do you not see things which are visible to you alone?'
+
+"'You are right,' replied the saintly man, smiling:
+
+"'I have indeed the power to hear and to see that which you do not
+perceive; but sorcery has no relation to the power which is
+attributed to me.
+
+"If you wish, you will be able to possess it in your turn, for my means
+are not a secret.
+
+"'I keep my eyes and ears open.'
+
+"And as every one burst out laughing, believing it a joke, the sage
+began again:
+
+"'But this is not all; after having seen and heard, I call to my aid all
+the qualities which constitute common sense and, thanks to this faculty,
+I draw my conclusions from my experience, from which enthusiasm, fancy,
+as well as personal interest are totally excluded.
+
+"'This done, and my judgment being formulated in my thought, I adapt it
+to the circumstances, and especially to the material situation and to the
+mentality of those who consult me.'
+
+"From these counsels," thinks the Shogun, "we must draw a precious
+lesson.
+
+"It is true that an exigency, physical or moral, can determine, in
+different individuals, a very different resolution.
+
+"According to the manner of life adopted, or the direction given to one's
+duties, different resolutions can be made without lacking common sense.
+It is indisputable that what represents social obligations does not
+demand the same conduct from the peasant as from the prince.
+
+"We should outrage common sense in presenting a workman with a gorgeous
+robe suitable for great ceremonies, in which to do his work, but reason
+would be equally outraged if one put on a shabby costume to go to the
+palace of the Mikado."
+
+The nature of resolutions inspired by common sense varies according to
+environment, the time, and the state of mind in which one is.
+
+These conditions make of this quality a virtue really worth acquiring,
+for it is more difficult to conquer than many others and its effects are
+of infinite variety.
+
+But as always, Yoritomo, after having signaled the danger, and indicated
+the remedy, gives us the manner of its application.
+
+That which follows is marked by that simplicity of conception and
+facility of execution which render the doctrine of the Nippon philosopher
+absolutely efficacious.
+
+Instead of losing himself by digressing from his subject and by placing
+himself on the summits of psychology, he remains with us, puts himself on
+the level of the most humble among us, and says to us all:
+
+"The best way to use common sense in daily life consists in declaring
+one's honest intentions.
+
+"What should I do if I were in the place of the person with whom I am
+discussing?
+
+"I found myself one day on the slope of a hill named Yung-Tshi, and I
+remarked that the majority of the trees were stript of their foliage.
+
+"The season seeming to me not sufficiently advanced for this condition of
+vegetation, I exprest my astonishment to a passer-by, who replied to me:
+
+"'Alas! This occurs every year at the same time, and it is not well to
+cultivate trees on the height of Yung-Tshi, for the sun, being too hot,
+dries them up before the time when the foliage ought to fall.'
+
+"A few days afterward my steps lead me on the opposite slope of the
+same hill.
+
+"There the trees were covered with foliage, still green but uncommon, and
+their appearance indicated an unhealthy condition of growth.
+
+"'Alas!' said a man who was working in the hedges to me, 'it is not well
+to cultivate trees on the height of Tung-Tshi, for the sun never shines
+there, and they can only acquire the vigor they would possess if they
+were planted in another country.'
+
+"And, altho recognizing the truth of these two opinions, so
+contradictory, I could not help thinking that they were the reproduction
+of those which men, deprived of common sense, express every day.
+
+"The same hill produced a vegetation, affected in different ways, by
+reason of different causes; and the people, instead of taking into
+consideration how carelessly they had chosen the location of their
+plantation, preferred to attribute the defect to the site itself, rather
+than to their lack of precaution.
+
+"Both of them were suffering from a hurtful exaggeration, but each one
+explained it in a way arbitrarily exclusive.
+
+"He of the north made out that the sun never shone on the summit of
+Yung-Tshi, and the inhabitant of the south affirmed that the
+health-giving shade was unknown there."
+
+This is why it is indispensable to the successful resolution of the
+thousand and one problems of daily life, both those whose sole importance
+is derived from their multiplicity and those whose seriousness justly
+demands our attention, to employ the very simple method which prescribes
+that we place ourselves mentally in the position and circumstances of the
+person with whom we are discussing.
+
+If each one of the inhabitants of Yung-Tshi had followed this precept,
+instead of declaring that the hill never received the sun or that shade
+never fell upon it, they would each one have thought for himself.
+
+"At what conclusions should I arrive, if I had planted my trees on the
+opposite side?"
+
+From the reasoning which would have ensued, the following truth would
+most certainly have been revealed.
+
+"If I were in the other man's place, I should certainly think as he
+does."
+
+This premise once laid down, the conclusion would be reached; all the
+more exact, because, without abandoning their arguments, each one would
+present those which it is easy to turn against an adversary.
+
+Before solving a problem, he who desires to avoid making a mistake must
+never fail to ask himself this question:
+
+What should I do if my interests were those of the opposite party?
+
+Or, yet again:
+
+What should I reply if my adversaries used the same language to me as I
+purpose using when addressing them?
+
+This method is valuable in that it raises unexpected objections, which
+the mind would not consider if one had simply studied the question from
+one's own point of view.
+
+It is a self-evident fact that, according to the state of mind in which
+we are, things assume different proportions in the rendering of
+judgment on them.
+
+We must not argue as children do, who, not having the sense of
+calculating distances, ask how the man standing near to them will be able
+to enter his house, which they see far away, and which seems to them of
+microscopic dimensions.
+
+One departs from common sense when one attributes to insignificant things
+a fundamental value.
+
+We neglect to consider it in a most serious way when we adopt principles
+contrary to the general consensus of opinion accredited in the
+environment in which we are living.
+
+"A high dignitary of the court," says Yoritomo, "would be lacking in
+common sense if he wished to conduct himself as a peasant and, on the
+other hand, a peasant would give a proof of great folly were he to
+attempt the remodeling of his life on the principles adopted by
+courtiers.
+
+"He who, passing his life in camps, wished to think and to act like the
+philosopher, whose books are his principal society, would cause people to
+doubt his wisdom; and the thinker who should adopt publicly the methods
+of a swashbuckler would only inspire contempt."
+
+In ordinary life, one ought to consider this faculty of common sense as
+the ruling principle of conduct.
+
+One can be lacking in thought, in audacity, in brilliant qualities, if
+only one possesses common sense.
+
+It takes the place of intelligence in many people, whose minds,
+unaccustomed to subtle argument, only lend themselves to very simple
+reasoning.
+
+A versatile mentality rarely belongs to such minds, because it is not
+their forte to unfold hidden truths.
+
+It walks in the light and keeps in the very middle of the road, far from
+the ambushes which may be concealed by the hedges of the cross-roads.
+
+Many people gifted with common sense but deprived of ordinary
+intelligence have amassed a fortune, but never, no matter how clever he
+may be, has a man known success, if he has not strictly observed the laws
+of common sense.
+
+It is not only in debates that the presence of this virtue should make
+itself felt, but every act of our life should be impregnated with it.
+
+There are no circumstances, no matter how insignificant they may appear,
+where the intervention of common sense would be undesirable.
+
+It is only common sense which will indicate the course of conduct to be
+pursued, so as not to hurt the feelings or offend the prejudices of
+other people.
+
+There are great savants, whose science, freed from all puerile beliefs,
+rises above current superstition.
+
+They would consider it a great lack of common sense if they expounded
+their theories before the humble-minded, whose blind faith would be
+injured thereby.
+
+Of two things one is certain: either they would refuse to believe such
+theories and this display of learning would be fruitless, or their
+habitual credulity would be troubled and they would lose their
+tranquility without acquiring a conviction sufficiently strong to give
+them perfect peace of mind.
+
+Even in things which concern health, common sense is applicable to
+daily life.
+
+It is common sense which will preserve us from excesses, by establishing
+the equilibrium of the annoyances which result from them, with reference
+to the doubtful pleasure which they procure.
+
+Thanks to common sense, we shall avoid the weariness of late nights and
+the danger of giving oneself up to the delights of dissipation.
+
+"It is common sense," says the philosopher, "which forces us at a banquet
+to raise our eyes to the hour-glass to find out how late it is.
+
+"It is under the inspiration of this great quality of mind that we shall
+avoid putting to our lips the cup already emptied many times.
+
+"Common sense will reflect upon the mirror of our imagination the specter
+of the day after the orgy; it will evoke the monster of the headache
+which works upon the suffering cranium with its claws of steel; and, at
+some future day, it will show us precocious decrepitude as well as all
+bodily ills which precede the final decay of those who yield to their
+passions. It will also impose upon us the performance of duty under the
+form which it has adopted for each individual.
+
+"Common sense represents for some the care of public affairs; for others
+those of the family; for us all the great desire to leave intact to our
+descendants the name which we have received from our fathers.
+
+"For some of those still very young, it is like a lover long desired!
+
+"For sages and warriors, it blows the trumpet of glory.
+
+"Finally, common sense is the chosen purpose of every one, courted,
+demanded, desired or accepted, but it exists, and under the penalty of
+most serious inconveniences it does not permit us to forget its
+existence."
+
+Coming down from the heights where he allows himself to be transported at
+times for a brief moment, Yoritomo tells us the part played by common
+sense with reference to health.
+
+"Common sense" he assures us, "is the wisest physician whom it is
+possible to consult.
+
+"If we followed its advice, we should avoid the thousand and one little
+annoyances of illnesses caused by imprudence.
+
+"The choice of clothing would be regulated according to the existing
+temperature.
+
+"One would avoid the passing at once from extreme heat to extreme cold.
+
+"One would never proffer this stupid reflection: Bah! I shall take care
+of myself, which impudent people declare when exposing themselves
+carelessly to take cold.
+
+"We should understand that disease is a cause of unparalleled disorder
+and discord.
+
+"In addition to the thought of possible sufferings, that of grief for
+those whom we love, joined to the apprehension of a cessation of social
+functions, on whose achievement depends our fortune, would suffice to
+eliminate all idea of imprudence, if we had the habit of allowing common
+sense to participate in all our actions of daily life.
+
+"To those who walk under its guidance; it manifests itself without
+ceasing; it dominates all actions without their being compelled to
+separate themselves from it.
+
+"It is unconsciously that they appeal to common sense and they have no
+need of making an effort to follow its laws.
+
+"Common sense is the intelligence of instinct."
+
+
+
+
+LESSON VII
+
+POWER OF DEDUCTION
+
+
+Before entering the path which relates directly to the intellectual
+efforts concerning the acquisition of common sense, the Shogun calls our
+attention to the power of deduction.
+
+"It is only," said he, "where we are sufficiently permeated with all the
+principles of judgment that we shall be able to think of acquiring this
+quality, so necessary to the harmony of life.
+
+"The most important of all the mental operations which ought to be
+practised by him who desires common sense to reign supreme in all his
+actions and decisions, is incontestably deduction.
+
+"When the union of ideas, which judgment permits, is made with perception
+and exactness, there results always an analysis, which, if practised
+frequently, will end by becoming almost a mechanical act.
+
+"It is, however, well to study the phases of this analysis, in order to
+organize them methodically first.
+
+"Later, when the mind shall be sufficiently drilled in this kind of
+gymnastics, all their movements will be repeated in an almost unconscious
+way, and deduction, that essential principle of common sense, will be
+self-imposed.
+
+"In order that deductions may be a natural development, the element
+relating to those which should be the object of judgment should be
+grouped first.
+
+"The association of statements is an excellent method for it introduces
+into thought the existence of productive agents.
+
+"We have already spoken of the grouping of thoughts, which is a more
+synthetical form of that selection.
+
+"Instead of allowing it to be enlarged by touching lightly on all that
+which is connected with the subject, it is a question, on the contrary,
+of confining it to the facts relating to only one object.
+
+"These facts should be drawn from the domain of the past; by comparison,
+they can be brought to the domain of the present in order to be able to
+associate the former phenomena with those from which it is a question of
+drawing deductions.
+
+"It is rarely that these latter depend on one decision alone, even when
+they are presented under the form of a single negation or affirmation.
+
+"Deduction is always the result of many observations, formulated with
+great exactness, which common sense binds together.
+
+"That which is called a line of action is always suggested by the
+analysis of the events which were produced under circumstances analogous
+to those which exist now.
+
+"From the result of these observations, the habit of thinking permits of
+drawing deductions and common sense concludes the analysis.
+
+"The method of deduction rests upon this.
+
+"One thing being equal to a previous one should produce the same effects.
+
+"If we find ourselves faced by an incident that our memory can assimilate
+with another incident of the same kind, we must deduce the following
+chain of reasoning:
+
+"First, the incident of long ago has entailed inevitable consequences.
+
+"Secondly, the incident of to-day ought to produce the same effects,
+unless the circumstances which surround it are different.
+
+"It is then a question of analyzing the circumstances and of weighing the
+causes whose manifestation could determine a disparity in the results.
+
+"We shall interest ourselves first in the surroundings for thus, as we
+have said, habits of thought and feeling vary according to the epoch and
+the environment.
+
+"A comparison will be established between persons or things, in order to
+be absolutely convinced of their degree of conformity.
+
+"The state of mind in which we were when the previous events were
+manifested will be considered, and we shall not fail to ascertain
+plainly the similarity or change of humor at the moment as related to
+that of the past.
+
+"It is also of importance to observe the state of health, for under the
+affliction of sickness things assume very easily a hostile aspect.
+
+"It would be wrong to attribute to events judged during an illness the
+same value which is given to them at this present moment.
+
+"When one is absolutely decided as to the relation of new perceptions and
+mental representations, one can calculate exactly the degree of
+comparison.
+
+"The moment will then have arrived to synthesize all the observations and
+to draw from them the following deductions:
+
+"First, like causes ought, all things being equal, to produce like
+effects.
+
+"Secondly, the event which is in question will therefore have the same
+consequences as the previous one, since it is presented under the same
+conditions.
+
+"Or again:
+
+"Being granted the principle that like causes produce like effects, as I
+have just affirmed, and that there exist certain incompatibilities
+between the contingencies of the past and those of to-day, one must allow
+that these incompatibilities will produce different results.
+
+"And, after this reasoning, the deductions will be established by
+constituting a comparison in favor of either the present or past state
+of things."
+
+But the philosopher, who thinks of everything, has foreseen the case
+where false ideas have obscured the clearness of the deductions, and he
+said to us:
+
+"The association of false ideas, if it does not proceed from the
+difficulty of controlling things, is always in ungovernable opposition to
+the veracity of the deduction.
+
+"What would be thought of a man of eighty years who, coming back to
+his country after a long absence, said, on seeing the family roof from
+a distance:
+
+"'When I was twenty years old, in leaving here, it took me twenty
+minutes to reach the home of my parents, so I shall reach the threshold
+in twenty minutes.'
+
+"The facts would be exact in principle.
+
+"The distance to be covered would be the same; but legs of eighty
+years have not the same agility as those of very young people, and in
+predicting that he will reach the end of his walk in the same number
+of minutes as he did in the past, the old man would deceive himself
+most surely.
+
+"If, on the contrary, on reaching the same place he perceived that a new
+route had been made, and that instead of a roundabout way of approach, as
+in the past, the house was now in a straight line from the point where he
+was looking at it, it would be possible to estimate approximately the
+number of minutes which he could gain on the time employed in the past,
+by calculating the delay imposed upon him by his age and his infirmities.
+
+"Those to whom deduction is familiar, at times astonish thoughtless
+persons by the soundness of their judgment.
+
+"A prince drove to his home in the country in a sumptuous equipage.
+
+"He was preceded by a herald and borne in a palanquin by four servants,
+who were replaced by others at the first signs of fatigue, in order that
+the speed of the journey should never be slackened.
+
+"As they were mounting, with great difficulty, a zigzag road which led up
+along the side of a hill, one of these men cried out:
+
+"'Stop,' said he, 'in the name of Buddha, stop!'
+
+"The prince leaned out from the palanquin to ask the cause of this
+exclamation:
+
+"'My lord,' cried the man, 'if you care to live, tell your porters to
+stop!'
+
+"The great man shrugged his shoulders and turning toward his master of
+ceremonies, who was riding at his side, said:
+
+"'See what that man wants.'
+
+"But scarcely had the officer allowed his horse to take a few steps in
+the direction of the man who had given warning when the palanquin, with
+the prince and his bearers, rolled down a precipice, opened by the
+sinking in of the earth.
+
+"They raised them all up very much hurt, and the first action of the
+prince, who was injured, was to have arrested the one who, according to
+him, had evoked an evil fate.
+
+"He was led, then and there, to the nearest village and put into a cell.
+
+"The poor man protested.
+
+"'I have only done what was natural,' said he. 'I am going to explain it,
+but I pray you let me see the prince; I shall not be able to justify
+myself when he is ill with fever.'
+
+"'What do you mean,' they replied, 'do you prophesy that the prince will
+have a fever?'
+
+"'He is going to have it.'
+
+"'You see, you are a sorcerer,' said the jailer, 'you make predictions.'
+
+"And then he shut him in prison, to go away and to relate his
+conversation to them all.
+
+"During this time, they called in a healer who stated that the wounds of
+the great nobleman were not mortal in themselves, but that the fever
+which had declared itself could become dangerous.
+
+"He was cured after long months.
+
+"During this time the poor man languished in his prison, from whence he
+was only taken to appear before the judges.
+
+"Accused of sorcery and of using black magic, he explained very simply
+that he had foreseen the danger, because in raising his eyes he had
+noticed that the part of the ground over which the herald had passed was
+sinking, and that he had drawn the following conclusions:
+
+"The earth seemed to have only a medium thickness.
+
+"Under the feet of the herald he had seen it crumble and fall in.
+
+"He had deduced from this that a weight five times as heavy added to that
+of the palanquin, would not fail to produce a landslide.
+
+"As to the prediction concerning the fever, it was based on what he had
+seen when in the war.
+
+"He had then observed that every wound is always followed by a
+disposition to fever; he therefore could not fail to deduce that the
+serious contusions occasioned by the fall of the prince would produce the
+inevitable consequences.
+
+"The judge was very much imprest with the perspicacity of this man; not
+only did he give him his liberty, but he engaged him in his personal
+service and in due time enabled him to make his fortune."
+
+We do not wish to affirm--any more than Yoritomo, for that matter--that
+fortunate deductions are always so magnificently rewarded as were those
+of this man.
+
+However, without the causes being so striking, many people have owed
+their fortune to the faculty which they possest of deducing results
+where the analogy of the past circumstances suggested to them what
+would happen.
+
+He warns us against the propensity which we have of too easily avoiding a
+conclusion which does not accord with our desires.
+
+"Too many people," said he, "wish to undertake to make deductions by
+eliminating the elements which deprive them of a desired decision.
+
+"They do not fail either to exaggerate the reasons which plead in favor
+of this decision; also we see many persons suffer from reasoning, instead
+of feeling the good effects of it."
+
+Those who cultivate common sense will never fall into this error, for
+they will have no difficulty in convincing themselves that by acting thus
+they do not deceive any one except themselves.
+
+By glossing over truth in order to weaken the logical consequences of
+deductions they are the first to be the victims of this childish trick.
+
+That which is called false deduction is rarely aught save the desire to
+escape a resolution which a just appraisement would not fail to dictate.
+
+It might be, also, that this twisting of judgment comes from a person
+having been, in some past time, subjected to unfortunate influences.
+
+By devoting oneself to the evolution of thought, of which we have already
+spoken when presenting the symbolical fan, and above all, by adopting the
+precepts which, following the method of Yoritomo, we are going to develop
+in the following lessons, we shall certainly succeed in checking the
+errors of false reasoning.
+
+"The important thing," said he, "is not to let wander the thought, which,
+after resting for a moment on the subject with which we are concerned and
+after touching lightly on ideas of a similar character, begins to stray
+very far from its basic principles.
+
+"Have you noted the flight of certain birds?
+
+"They commence by gathering at one point, then they describe a series of
+circles around this point, at first very small, but whose circumference
+enlarges at every sweep.
+
+"Little by little the central point is abandoned, they no longer approach
+it, and disappear in the sky, drawn by their fancy toward another point
+which they will leave very soon.
+
+"The thoughts of one who does not know how to gather them together and to
+concentrate them are like these birds.
+
+"They start from a central point, then spread out, at first without
+getting far from this center, but soon they lose sight of it and fly
+toward a totally different subject that a mental representation has
+just produced.
+
+"And this lasts until the moment when, in a sudden movement, the first
+one is conscious of this wandering tendency.
+
+"But it is often too late to bring back these wanderers to the initial
+idea, for, in the course of their circuits, they have brushed against a
+hundred others, which are confounded with the first, weaken it, and take
+away its exact proportions.
+
+"The great stumbling-block again is that of becoming lost in the details
+whose multiplicity prevents us from discerning their complete function in
+the act of practising deduction.
+
+"It is better, in the case where our perception finds itself assailed by
+the multitude of these details, to proceed by the process of elimination,
+in order not to become involved in useless and lazy efforts.
+
+"In this case we must act like a man who must determine the color of a
+material at a distance where the tiny designs stand out in a relief of
+white on a background of black.
+
+"Suppose that he is placed at a distance too great to perceive
+this detail.
+
+"What should he do to be able to give the best possible description?
+
+"He will proceed by elimination.
+
+"The material is neither red nor green; orange and violet must be set
+aside, as well as all the subordinate shades.
+
+"It has a dull appearance, hence, it is gray; unless.... And here mental
+activity comes into play and will suggest to him that gray is composed of
+black and white.
+
+"He will then be sure to form a judgment which will not be spoiled
+by falsity, if he declares that the material is a mixture of black
+and white.
+
+"Later, by drawing nearer, he will be able to analyze the designs and to
+convince himself of their respective form and color, but by deducing that
+the material was made up of the mixture of two colors he will have come
+as near as possible to the truth:
+
+"Deduction never prejudges; it is based on facts; only on things
+accomplished; it unfolds the teaching that we ought to obtain as a
+result."
+
+Again the Shogun recommends to us the union of thoughts and the
+continuous examination of past incidents in the practise of deductions.
+
+"If on entering a room," said he, "we are at times confused, it happens
+also that we correct this impression after a more attentive examination.
+
+"The gilding is of inferior quality; the materials are of cotton, the
+paintings ordinary, and the mattings coarse.
+
+"At first sight we should have deduced, judging from appearances, that
+the possessor of this house was a very rich man, but a second examination
+will cause us to discover embarrassment and anxiety.
+
+"It is the same with all decisions that we must make.
+
+"Before devoting ourselves to deductions inspired by the general aspect
+of things, it is well to examine them one by one and to discover their
+defects or recognize their good qualities.
+
+"We shall be able thus to acquire that penetration of mind whose
+development, by leading us toward wise deductions, will bring us to the
+discovery of the truth."
+
+
+
+
+LESSON VIII
+
+HOW TO ACQUIRE COMMON SENSE
+
+
+Common Sense is a science, whatever may be said; according to Yoritomo,
+it does not blossom naturally in the minds of men; it demands
+cultivation, and the art of reasoning is acquired like all the faculties
+which go to make up moral equilibrium.
+
+"This quality," said the philosopher, "is obscure and intangible, like
+the air we breathe.
+
+"Like the air we breathe, it is necessary to our existence, it surrounds
+us, envelops us, and is indispensable to the harmony of our mental life.
+
+"To acquire this precious gift, many conditions are obligatory, the
+principle ones being:
+
+"Sincerity of perception.
+
+"Art of the situation.
+
+"Attention.
+
+"Approximation.
+
+"Experience.
+
+"Comparison.
+
+"Analysis.
+
+"Synthesis.
+
+"Destination.
+
+"Direction.
+
+"And lastly the putting of the question.
+
+"It is very clear that without exactness of perception we could not
+pretend to judge justly; it would then be impossible for us to hear the
+voice of common sense, if we did not strive to develop it.
+
+"Perception is usually combined with what they call in philosophical
+language adaptation.
+
+"Otherwise it is difficult, when recognizing a sensation, not to
+attribute it at once to the sentiment which animated it at the time of
+its manifestation.
+
+"The first condition, then, in the acquiring of common sense is to
+maintain perfection in all its pristine exactness, by abstracting the
+contingencies which could influence us.
+
+"If we do not endeavor to separate from our true selves the suggestions
+of sense-consciousness, we shall reach the point where perception is
+transformed into conception, that is to say, we shall no longer obtain
+reality alone, but a modified reality.
+
+"With regard to perception, if we understand its truthfulness; it will be
+a question for reawakening it, of placing ourselves mentally in the
+environment where it was produced, and of awakening the memory, so as to
+be able to distinguish, without mistake, the limits within which it is
+narrowly confined.
+
+"The art of situation consists in reproducing, mentally, past facts,
+allowing for the influence of the surroundings at that time, as compared
+with the present environment.
+
+"One must not fail to think about the influences to which one has been
+subjected since this time.
+
+"It is possible that life during its development in the aspirant to
+common sense may have changed the direction of his first conceptions
+either by conversation or by reading or by the reproduction of divers
+narrations.
+
+"It would then be a lack of common sense to base an exact recollection of
+former incidents on the recent state of being of the soul, without
+seeking to reproduce the state of mind in which one was at the epoch when
+those incidents occurred.
+
+"Activity of mind, stimulated to the utmost, is able to give a color to
+preceding impressions, which they never have had, and, in this case
+again, the recollection will be marred by inexactness.
+
+"The art of situation requires the strictest application and on this
+account it is a valuable factor in the acquirement of common sense.
+
+"Attention vitalizes our activity in order to accelerate the development
+of a definite purpose toward which it can direct its energy.
+
+"It could be analyzed as follows:
+
+"First, to see;
+
+"Secondly, to hear.
+
+"The functions of the other senses come afterward, and their
+susceptibility can attract our attention to the sensations which they
+give us, such as the sense of smell, of touch, of taste.
+
+"These purely physical sensations possess, however, a moral
+signification, from which we are permitted to make valuable deductions.
+
+"The first two have three distinct phases:
+
+"First degree, to see.
+
+"Second degree, to look.
+
+"Third degree, to observe.
+
+"If we see a material, its color strikes us first and we say: I have seen
+a red or yellow material, and this will be all.
+
+"Applying ourselves more closely, we look at it and we define the
+peculiarities of the color. We say: it is bright red or dark red.
+
+"In observing it we determine to what use it is destined.
+
+"The eye is attracted by:
+
+"The color.
+
+"The movement.
+
+"The form.
+
+"The number.
+
+"The duration.
+
+"We have just spoken of the color.
+
+"The movement is personified by a series of gestures that people make or
+by a series of changes to which they subject things.
+
+"The form is represented by the different outlines.
+
+"The number by their quantity.
+
+"The duration by their length; one will judge of the length of time it
+takes to walk a road by seeing the length of it.
+
+"The act of listening is divided into three degrees.
+
+"First degree, to hear.
+
+"Second degree, to understand.
+
+"Third degree, to reflect.
+
+"If some one walking in the country hears a dog bark he perceives first a
+sound: this is the act of hearing.
+
+"He will distinguish that this sound is produced by the barking of a dog;
+this is the act of understanding.
+
+"Reflection will lead him then to think that a house or a human being is
+near, for a dog goes rarely alone.
+
+"If the things which are presented to our sight are complex, those which
+strike our ears are summed up in one word, sound, which has only one
+definition, the quality of the sound.
+
+"Then follow the innumerable categories of sound that we distinguish only
+by means of comprehension and reflection, rendered so instinctive by
+habit that we may call them automatic, so far as those which relate to
+familiar sounds.
+
+"The example which we have just given is a proof of this fact.
+
+"Let us add that this habit develops each sensitive faculty to its
+highest degree.
+
+"The inhabitants of the country can distinguish each species of bird by
+listening to his song; and the hermits, the wanderers, those who live
+with society on a perpetual war footing, perceive sounds which would not
+strike the ears of civilized people.
+
+"Approximation is also one of the stones by whose aid we construct the
+edifice of common sense.
+
+"Concerning the calculations of probabilities, the application of
+approximation will allow us to estimate the capacity or the probable
+duration of things.
+
+"We can not say positively whether a man will live a definite number of
+years but we can affirm that he will never live until he is two hundred.
+
+"There are, for approbation, certain known limits which serve as a basis
+for the construction of reasoning, inspired by common sense.
+
+"It can be affirmed, in a positive way, that, if the trunk of a tree were
+floating easily, without sinking to the bottom of the water, it would not
+float the same if thirty men were to ride astride of it.
+
+"The initial weight of the tree permits it to maintain itself on the
+surface; but if it be increased to an exaggerated total, we can, without
+hesitation, calculate indirectly the moment when it will disappear,
+dragging with it the imprudent men who trusted themselves to it.
+
+"Everything in life is a question of approximation.
+
+"The house which is built for a man will be far larger than the kennel,
+destined to shelter a dog, because the proportions have been calculated,
+by approximation, according to the relative difference between the
+stature of the human and canine species.
+
+"Clothing is also suited to the temperature.
+
+"One naturally thinks that, below a certain degree of cold, it is
+necessary to change light clothes for those made of thicker material.
+
+"As with the majority of the constructive elements of common sense,
+approximation is always based on experience.
+
+"It draws its conclusions from the knowledge of known limitations, whose
+affirmation serves as a basis for the argument which determines deduction
+in a most exact manner.
+
+"Experience itself depends on memory, which permits us to recall
+facts and to draw our conclusions from them, on which facts reasoning
+is based."
+
+The Shogun does not fail to draw our attention to the difference between
+experience and experimentation.
+
+"This last," said he, "only serves to incite the manifestation of
+the first.
+
+"It consists of determining the production of a phenomenon whose
+existence will aid us in establishing the underlying principles of an
+observation which interprets the event.
+
+"That is what is called experience.
+
+"Comparison is a mental operation which permits us to bring things that
+we desire to understand to a certain point.
+
+"It is comparison which has divided time according to periods, which the
+moon follows during its entire length.
+
+"It is by comparing their different aspects and by calculating the
+duration of their transformations, that men have been able to divide time
+as they do in all the countries of the world.
+
+"The science of numbers is also born of comparison, which has been
+established between the quantities that they represent.
+
+"This is the art of calculating the differences existing between each
+thing, by determining the relativeness of their respective proportions.
+
+"Comparison acts on the mind automatically, as a rule.
+
+"It is indispensable to the cultivation of common sense, for it furnishes
+the means of judging with full knowledge of all the circumstances.
+
+"Analysis is an operation, which consists of separating each detail from
+the whole and of examining these details separately, without losing sight
+of their relationship to the central element.
+
+"Analysis of the same object, while being scrupulously exact, can,
+however, differ materially in its application, according to the way that
+the object is related to this or that group of circumstances.
+
+"There are, however, immutable things.
+
+"For example: the letters of the alphabet, the elementary sounds, the
+colors etc., etc.
+
+"It suffices to quote only these three elements; one can easily
+understand that the most elaborate manuscript is composed of only a
+definite number of letters always repeating themselves, whose
+juxtaposition forms phrases, then chapters, and finally the
+complete work.
+
+"Music is composed only of seven sounds whose different combinations
+produce an infinite variety of melodies.
+
+"Elementary colors are only three in number.
+
+"All the others gravitate around them.
+
+"Therefore, these same letters, these same notes, these same colors,
+according to their amalgamation, can change in aspect and cooperate in
+the production of different effects.
+
+"The same letters can express, according to the order in which they are
+placed, terror or confidence, joy or grief.
+
+"The same is true of notes and colors.
+
+"Common sense ought then, considering these rules, to know how to analyze
+all the details and, having done this, to coordinate and to classify
+them, in order to distinguish them easily.
+
+"Coordination and classification form an integral part of common sense."
+
+And Yoritomo, who delights in reducing the most complex questions to
+examples of the rarest simplicity, says to us:
+
+"I am supposing that one person says to another, I have just met a negro.
+The interlocutor, as well as he who mechanically registers this fact,
+without thinking, gives himself up to analysis and to coordination which
+always precedes synthesis.
+
+"Without being aware of this mental action, their minds will be occupied
+first with the operations of perception then of classification.
+
+"This negro was a man of a color which places him in a certain group of
+the human race.
+
+"It is always thus that common sense proceeds, its principal merit being
+to know how to unite present perceptions with those previously cognized,
+then to understand how to coordinate them so as to be able to group them
+concretely, that is to say, to synthesize them.
+
+"Destination is defined as the purpose or object, born of deduction and
+of classification.
+
+"Destination does not permit of losing sight of the end which is
+proposed.
+
+"It allows the consideration of the purpose to predominate always, and
+directs all actions toward this purpose, these actions being absolutely
+the demonstrations of this unique thought.
+
+"Habits, acquired in view of certain realizations, ought to be dropt from
+the moment the purpose is accomplished, or that it is weakened."
+
+It is by absolutely perpetuating those habits, whose pretext has
+disappeared, that one sees the achievement of certain actions which have
+been roughly handled by common sense.
+
+"There are," again says the philosopher, "certain customs, whose origin
+it is impossible to remember; at the time of their birth, they were
+engendered by necessity, but even tho their purpose be obliterated,
+tradition has preserved them in spite of everything, and those who
+observe them do not take into consideration their absurdity.
+
+"People of common sense refrain from lending themselves to these useless
+practises, or, if they consent to allow them a place in their thoughts it
+is that they attribute to them some reason for existence, either
+practical or sentimental."
+
+Direction is indicated by circumstances, by environment, or by necessity.
+
+There is direction of resolutions as well as direction of a journey; it
+is necessary, from the beginning, to consider well the choice of a good
+route, after having done everything possible to discriminate carefully
+between it and all other routes proposed.
+
+It happens, however, that the way leads also through the cross-roads; it
+is even indispensable to leave the short cuts in order to trace the
+outline of the obstacles.
+
+Direction is, then, an important factor in the acquiring of common sense.
+
+The putting of the question takes its character from comparison, from
+experience, and principally from approximation; but it is in itself a
+synthesis of all the elements which compose common sense.
+
+He who wishes to acquire common sense should be impregnated with all that
+has preceded.
+
+Then he will discipline himself, so as to be able to judge, by himself,
+of the degree of reason which he has the right to assume.
+
+He will begin by evoking some subject, comparing its visual forms with,
+those forms which he understands the best, in other words, to the
+perceptions which are the most familiar to him.
+
+If it concerns a question to be solved, he will try to recall some
+similar subject, and establish harmony, by making them both relative to a
+common antecedent.
+
+Yoritomo advises choosing simple thoughts for the beginning.
+
+"One will say, for example:
+
+"Such a substance is a poison; the seeds of this fruit contain a weak
+dose of it; these seeds could then become a dangerous food, if one
+absorbed a considerable quantity.
+
+"Common sense will thus indicate a certain abstaining from eating of it.
+
+"Then one may extend his argument to things of a greater importance, but
+taking great care to keep within the narrow limits of rudimentary logic.
+
+"One must be impregnated with this principle:
+
+"Two things equal to a third demand an affirmative judgment or decision.
+
+"In the opposite case the negative deduction is enjoined.
+
+"It is by deductions from the most ordinary facts that one succeeds in
+making common sense intervene automatically in all our judgments.
+
+"What would be thought of one who, finding himself in a forest at the
+time of a violent storm, would reason as follows:
+
+"First: The high summits attract lightning.
+
+"Secondly: Here is a giant tree.
+
+"Thirdly: I'm going to take refuge there.
+
+"Then it is that common sense demands that the state his three
+propositions as follows:
+
+"First: High summits attract lightning.
+
+"Secondly: Here is a giant tree.
+
+"Thirdly: I'm going to avoid its proximity because it will surely be
+dangerous.
+
+"If he acted otherwise; if, in spite of his knowledge of the danger, he
+took shelter under the branches of the gigantic tree, exposing himself to
+be struck by lightning, one could, in this case, only reproach him with
+imprudence and lay the blame to the lack of common sense which allowed
+him to perform the act that logic condemned."
+
+Now the old Nippon speaks to us of the means to employ, that we may avoid
+pronouncing too hasty judgments, which are always, of necessity, weakened
+by a too great indulgence for ourselves and at the same time too great a
+severity for others.
+
+"I was walking one day," said he, "on the shores of a lake, when I
+discovered a man sitting at the foot of a bamboo tree, in an attitude of
+the greatest despair.
+
+"Approaching him, I asked him the cause of his grief.
+
+"'Alas!' said he to me, 'the gods are against me; everything which I
+undertake fails, and all evils crush me.
+
+"'After the one which has just befallen me only one course of action is
+left to me, to throw myself in the lake. But I am young, and I am weeping
+for myself before resolving to take such a step.'
+
+"And he related to me how, after many attempts without success, he had at
+last gained a certain sum of money, the loss of which he had just
+experienced.
+
+"In what way did you lose it?" I asked him.
+
+"'I put it in this bag.'
+
+"'Has some one stolen it?'
+
+"'No, it has slipt through this rent.'
+
+"And he showed me a bag, whose ragged condition confirmed, and at the
+same time illustrated his statement.
+
+"'Listen,' said I, sitting down beside him, 'you are simply devoid of
+common sense, by invoking the hatred of the gods! You alone are the cause
+of your present misery.
+
+"'If you had simply reasoned before placing your money in this bag, this
+would not have happened to you.'
+
+"And as he opened his eyes wide:
+
+"'You would have thought this,' I resumed:
+
+"'The material, very much worn, is incapable of standing any weight
+without tearing.
+
+"'Now, the money which I possess is heavy, my bag is worn out.
+
+"'I shall not, therefore, put my money in this bag or, at least, I shall
+take care to line it beforehand with a solid piece of leather.
+
+"'From this moment,' I proceeded, 'there only remains one thing for you
+to do, always consult common sense before coming to any conclusion, and
+you will always succeed.
+
+"'As for your opinion concerning the hatred of the gods for you, if
+you will once more call common sense to your assistance you will
+reason as follows:
+
+"'Gracious divinities protect only wise people.
+
+"'Now, I have acted like a fool.
+
+"'It is, therefore, natural that they should turn away from me.'
+
+"How many useless imprecations would be avoided," adds the Shogun, "if it
+were given to men to know how to employ the arguments which common sense
+dictates, in order to distribute the weight of the mistakes committed
+among those who deserve the burden, without, at the same time, forgetting
+to assume our own share of the responsibility if we have erred.
+
+"Nothing is more sterile than regrets or reproaches when they do not
+carry with them the resolution never again to fall into the same error."
+
+Afterward the philosopher demonstrates to us the necessity of abstracting
+all personality from the exercises which combine for the attainment of
+common sense.
+
+"There is," said he, "an obstacle against which all stupid people
+stumble; it is the act of reasoning under the influence of passion.
+
+"Those who have not decided to renounce this method of arguing will never
+be able to give a just decision.
+
+"There are self-evident facts, which certain people refuse to admit,
+because this statement of the truth offends their sympathies or impedes
+their hatreds, and they force themselves to deny the evidence, hoping
+thus to deceive others regarding it.
+
+"But truth is always the strongest and they soon become the solitary
+dupes of their own wilful blindness.
+
+"The man of common sense knows how to recognize falsehood wherever he
+meets it; he knows how vain it is to conceal a positive fact and also how
+dangerous it is to deceive oneself, a peril which increases in power, in
+proportion to the effort made to ignore it.
+
+"He does not wish to imitate those pusillanimous people who prefer to
+live in the agony of doubt rather than to look misfortunes in the
+face. He who is determined to acquire common sense will use the
+following argument:
+
+"Doubt is a conflict between two conclusions.
+
+"So long as it exists it is impossible to adopt either.
+
+"Serenity is unknown to those whom doubt attacks.
+
+"To obtain peace, it is necessary to become enlightened.
+
+"However, it is wise always to foresee the least happy issue and to
+prepare to support the consequences.
+
+"The man who thinks thus will be stronger than adversity and will know
+how to struggle with misfortune without allowing it to master him."
+
+It is in these terms that Yoritomo initiates us into what he calls the
+mechanism of common sense; in other words, the art of acquiring by the
+simplest reasoning this quality dull as iron, but, like it, also solid
+and durable.
+
+
+
+
+LESSON IX
+
+COMMON SENSE AND ACTION
+
+
+These qualities are two relatives very near of kin; but, just for this
+reason, they must not be confounded.
+
+While common sense is applied to all the circumstances of life, practical
+sense is applicable to useful things.
+
+Common sense admits a very subtle logic which is, at times, a
+little complex.
+
+Practical sense reasons, starting from one point only; viz., material
+conveniences.
+
+It is possible for this sense to be spoiled by egotism, if common sense
+does not come to its assistance.
+
+It is by applying the discipline of reasoning to practical sense that it
+modifies simple sense perception by urging it to ally itself with logic,
+which unites thought to sentiment and reason.
+
+"The association of common sense and practical sense is necessary," says
+Yoritomo, "in order to produce new forms, at the same time restraining
+the imagination within the limits of the most exact deductions and of the
+most impartial judgment."
+
+Science is, in reality, a sort of common sense to which the rules of
+reasoning are applied, and is supported by arguments which practical
+sense directs into productive channels.
+
+That which is called great common sense is none other than a quality with
+which people are endowed who show great mental equilibrium whenever it is
+a question of resolving material problems.
+
+These people are generally country people or persons of humble
+position, whose physical organism has been developed without paying
+much attention to their intellectual education; they are, in fact,
+perfect candidates for the attainment of common sense, without having
+been educated to this end.
+
+Their aptitude results from a constant habit of reflection which,
+rendering their attention very keen, has permitted them to observe the
+most minute details, therefore they can form correct conclusions, when it
+is a question of things that are familiar to them.
+
+A peasant who has been taught by nature will be more skilled in
+prophesying about the weather than others.
+
+He will also know how to assign a limit to the daily working hours, at
+the same time stating the maximum time which one can give without
+developing repulsion, which follows excesses of all kinds.
+
+In his thought, very simple, but very direct, will be formulated this
+perfect reasoning:
+
+Health is the first of all blessings, since without it we are incapable
+of appreciating the other joys of life.
+
+If I compromise this possession I shall be insensible to all others.
+
+It is, therefore, indispensable that I should measure my efforts, for,
+admitting that a certain exaggerated labor brings me a fortune, I shall
+not know how to enjoy it if illness accompanies it.
+
+This is the logic which is called practical sense.
+
+Yoritomo continues, saying that there is a very close connection between
+the faculty of judging and that of deducing.
+
+"Practical sense, allied to common sense, comes to the assistance of the
+latter, when it is tempted to reject the chain of analogy, whose
+representation too often draws one far from the initial subject.
+
+"It facilitates coordination, clearness, and precision of thought.
+
+"It knows how to consider contingencies, and never fails to have a clear
+understanding of relative questions."
+
+And to illustrate his theory, he cites us an example which many of our
+young contemporaries would do well to remember.
+
+"There was," said he, "in the village of Fu-Isher, a literary man, who
+wrote beautiful poems.
+
+"He lived in great solitude, and no one would have heard of his existence
+if it had not been that my master, Lang-Ho, while walking in the woods
+one day, was attracted by the harmonious sounds of poetry, which this
+young man was reciting, without thinking that he had any other listeners
+than the birds of the forest.
+
+"Lang-Ho made himself known to him and began to question him.
+
+"He learned that he did not lack ambition, but, being poor, and having no
+means of approaching those who would have been able to patronize him, he
+was singing of nature for his own pleasure, waiting patiently until he
+should be able to influence the powerful ones of the earth to share his
+appreciation.
+
+"Lang-Ho, touched by his youth and his ardor, pointed out to him the
+dwelling of a prince, a patron of the arts, and, at the same time, told
+him how he ought to address the nobleman, assuring him that the fact of
+his being a messenger from a friend of the prince would open the doors of
+the palace to him.
+
+"The next day the young poet presented himself at the home of the
+great lord, who, knowing that he had been sent by Lang-Ho, received
+him in spite of the fact that he was suffering intensely from a
+violent headache.
+
+"He learned from the young man that he was a poet and treated him with
+great consideration, making him understand, however, that all sustained
+mental effort was insupportable to him on that day.
+
+"But the poet, not paying attention to the prince's exprest desire,
+unrolled his manuscripts and began reading an interminable ode without
+noticing the signs of impatience shown by his august hearer.
+
+"He did not have the pleasure of finishing it.
+
+"The prince, seeing that the reader did not understand his importunity,
+struck a gong and ordered the servant who appeared to conduct the young
+man out of his presence.
+
+"Later, he declared to Lang-Ho that his protégé had no talent at all, and
+reprimanded him severely for having sent the poet to the palace.
+
+"But my master did not like to be thus criticized.
+
+"So, a little while after that, one day, when that same prince was in an
+agreeable frame of mind, Lang-Ho invited him to the reading of one of
+his works.
+
+"The nobleman declared that he had never heard anything more beautiful.
+
+"'That is true,' said Lang-Ho, 'but you ought to have said this the first
+time you heard it.'
+
+"And he revealed to the prince that these verses were those of the young
+man whom he had judged so harshly."
+
+From this story two lessons may be drawn:
+
+The first is, that if common sense indicates that judgment should not
+change from scorn to enthusiasm, when it is a question of the same
+object, practical sense insists that one should be certain of
+impartiality of judgment, by avoiding the influence of questions which
+relate to environment and surrounding circumstances.
+
+The second concerns opportunity.
+
+We have already had occasion to say how much some things, which seem
+desirable at certain times, are questionable when the situation changes.
+
+Bad humor creates ill-will; therefore it is abominably stupid to
+provoke the manifestation of the second when one has proved the
+existence of the first.
+
+In order that there may be a connection between the faculty of judgment
+and that of deduction, it is essential that nothing should be allowed to
+interpose itself between these two phases of the argument.
+
+Harmony between all judgments is founded on common sense, but it is
+practical common sense, which indicates this harmony with precision.
+
+It is also practical common sense which serves as a guide to the orator
+who wishes to impress his audience.
+
+He will endeavor first to choose a subject which will interest those who
+listen to him.
+
+In this endeavor he ought, above all, to consult opportunity.
+
+And, as we have remarked on many occasions, the Shogun expresses theories
+on this subject, to which the people of the twentieth century could not
+give too much earnest consideration.
+
+"There are," said he, "social questions, as, for example, dress
+and custom.
+
+"With time, opinions change, as do forms and manners, and this is quite
+reasonable.
+
+"The progress of science by ameliorating the general conditions of
+existence, introduces a need created by civilization which rejects
+barbarous customs; the mentality of a warrior is not that of an
+agriculturist; the man who thinks about making his possessions productive
+has not the same inclinations as he whose life is devoted to conquest,
+and the sweetness of living in serenity, by modifying the aspirations,
+metamorphoses all things.
+
+"In order to lead attention in the direction which is governed by reason,
+it is indispensable for the orator that he should expound a subject whose
+interpretation will satisfy the demand of opportunity, which influences
+every brain.
+
+"Practical sense will make him take care to speak only of things that he
+has studied thoroughly.
+
+"It will induce him to expound his theory in such a way that his hearers
+will have to make no effort to assimilate it.
+
+"That which is not understood is easily criticized, and practical sense
+would prevent an orator from attempting to establish an argument whose
+premises would offend common sense.
+
+"He would be certain of failure in such a case.
+
+"His efforts will be limited, then, to evoking common sense, by employing
+practical sense, so far as what refers to the application of principles
+which he desires to apply successfully."
+
+Yoritomo recommends this affiliation for that which concerns the struggle
+against superstition.
+
+"Superstition," he says, "offends practical sense as well as common
+sense, for it rests on an erroneous analysis.
+
+"Its foundation is always an observation marred by falsity, establishing
+an association between two facts which have nothing in common.
+
+"There are people who reenter their homes if, when they reach the
+threshold, they perceive a certain bird; others believe that they are
+threatened with death if they meet a white cat."
+
+Without going back to the days of Yoritomo, we shall find just as many
+people who are the victims of superstitions concerning certain facts,
+which are only the observance of customs fallen into disuse, and whose
+practise has been perpetuated through the ages, altho, as we have said in
+the preceding chapter, the purpose of the custom has disappeared, but the
+custom itself has not been forgotten.
+
+It is in this way that the origin of the superstition concerning salt
+dates back to the time of the Romans, who (while at variance with the
+principles of contemporary agriculture) sowed salt in the fields of their
+enemies and thought that by so doing they would make them sterile.
+
+To that far-distant epoch can be traced the origin of the superstition
+concerning the spilling of salt.
+
+Whatever may have been its cause, superstition is the enemy of common
+sense, for, when it does not originate in an abolished custom, it is the
+product of a personal impression, associating two ideas absolutely
+unconnected.
+
+"Practical sense," Yoritomo continues, "is a most valuable talent to
+cultivate, for it prevents our judging from appearances.
+
+"Frivolous minds are always inclined to draw conclusions from passing
+impressions; they adopt neither foresight, nor precaution, nor
+approximation.
+
+"There are people who will condemn a country as utterly unattractive,
+because they happened to have visited it under unfavorable circumstances.
+
+"Others, without considering what a country has previously produced, and
+that at present the grain has not been planted, will declare unfertile
+the soil which has been untilled for some months.
+
+"On the other hand, if they visit a house on a sunny day, it would be
+impossible for them to associate it with the idea of rain.
+
+"It would be most difficult to make these people alter their judgment,
+prematurely formed, and, in spite of the most authoritative assertions
+and the most self-evident proofs, their initial idea will dominate all
+those which one would like to instil into their minds.
+
+"One moment would, however, suffice for reason to convince them that the
+variations of atmosphere and the conditions of cultivation can modify
+the aspect of a country, of a field, and of a house, to the extent of
+giving them an appearance totally different from the one which they
+seemed to have.
+
+"But he who judges by appearances never rejoices in the possession of
+that faculty which may be called reason in imagination.
+
+"This is a gift, developed by practical sense and which common sense
+happily directs in right channels.
+
+"Those who are endowed with this faculty can, with the help of reasoning,
+and by means of thought, build up a future reality based on a judgment
+whose affirmation admits of no doubt.
+
+"It is not a question of hypothesis, no matter how well-founded it is.
+
+"Experience, in this case, is united with deduction to form a
+preconceived but certain idea.
+
+"By cultivating practical sense, we shall escape the danger of
+idealization which, with people of unbalanced mentality, often sheds an
+artificial light upon the picture."
+
+There is still another point to which Yoritomo calls our attention, in
+order to encourage us to cultivate the twin reasoning powers whose
+advantages we are trying to commend in this chapter:
+
+"Practical sense," says he, "sometimes puts common sense apparently in
+the wrong, while acting, however, without the inspiration of the latter.
+
+"This happens when it is an advantage, for the perfect equilibrium of the
+projects in question, that it should be maintained at the same pitch, in
+order that it may be understood by all.
+
+"In the legendary days, snow the color of fire once fell on the
+inhabitants of a little village, who were all about to attend a
+religious ceremony.
+
+"One man alone, an old philosopher, had remained at home because, at the
+time they were to leave, he suddenly fell ill.
+
+"When his sufferings were relieved, he started out to join the others and
+found them committing all sorts of follies.
+
+"Two among them were reviling one another, each one claiming that he was
+the only king.
+
+"Some were weeping because they thought that they were changed
+into beasts.
+
+"Others were screaming, without rime or reason, now embracing each other,
+now attacking one another furiously.
+
+"Soon the wise man recognized that they had been affected by the fall of
+snow, which had made them crazy, and he tried to speak to them in the
+language of reason.
+
+"But all these crazy people turned on him, crying out that he had just
+lost his reason and that he must be shut away.
+
+"They undertook the task of taking him back to his home, but, as that was
+not to be accomplished without rough usage, he assumed the part indicated
+by practical sense; this man of common sense feigned insanity, and from
+the moment the insane people thought that he resembled them they let him
+alone and ceased to torment him.
+
+"The philosopher profited by this fact to disarm their excitement, and,
+little by little, all the time indulging in a thousand eccentricities,
+which had no other object than to protect himself against them, he
+demonstrated their aberration to them."
+
+Could not this story serve as an example to the majority of
+contemporary critics?
+
+Is it not often necessary to appear to be denuded of common sense, to
+make the voice of reason dominate?
+
+In the fable of Yoritomo, his philosopher proved his profound knowledge
+of the human heart, while he put in practise the power of practical sense
+in apparent opposition, however, to common sense.
+
+We said this at the opening of the chapter: practical sense and common
+sense are two very near relatives, but they are two and not one.
+
+
+
+
+LESSON X
+
+THE MOST THOROUGH BUSINESS MAN
+
+
+One of the principle advantages of common sense is that it protects the
+man who is gifted with it from hazardous enterprises, the risky character
+of which he scents.
+
+Only to risk when possessing perfect knowledge of a subject is the sure
+means of never being drawn into a transaction by illusory hopes.
+
+An exact conception of things is more indispensable to perfect success
+than a thousand other more brilliant but less substantial gifts.
+
+"However," says Yoritomo, "in order to make success our own, it is
+not sufficient to have the knowledge of things, one must above all
+know oneself.
+
+"On the great world-stage, each one occupies a place which at the start
+may not always be in the first rank.
+
+"Nevertheless, work, intelligence, directness of thought and, above all,
+common sense, can exert a positive influence on the future superiority of
+the situation.
+
+"Before everything else, it is indispensable that we should never delude
+ourselves about the position which we occupy.
+
+"To define it exactly, one should call to mind the wise adage which says:
+Know thyself.
+
+"But this knowledge is rare.
+
+"Presumptuous persons readily imagine that they attract the eyes of every
+one, even if they be in the last rank.
+
+"Timid persons will hide themselves behind others and, notwithstanding,
+they are very much aggrieved not to be seen.
+
+"Ambitious persons push away the troublesome ones, in order that they
+themselves may get the first places.
+
+"Lazy persons just let them do it.
+
+"Irresolute persons hesitate before sitting down in vacant places and
+are consumed with regrets from the time they perceive that others,
+better prepared, take possession of them; the more so as they no longer
+get back their own, for, during their hesitation, another has seated,
+himself there.
+
+"Enthusiasts fight to reach the first rank, but are so fatigued by their
+violent struggles that they fall, tired out, before they have attained
+their object.
+
+"Obstinate people persist in coveting inaccessible places and spend
+strength without results, which they might have employed more
+judiciously.
+
+"People of common sense are the only ones who experience no nervous
+tension because of this struggle.
+
+"They calculate their chances, compute the time, do not disturb
+themselves uselessly, and never abandon their present position until they
+have a firm grasp on the following place.
+
+"They do not seek to occupy a rank which their knowledge would not permit
+them to keep; they draw on that faculty with which they are gifted to
+learn the science of true proportion.
+
+"They do not meddle in endeavors to reform laws; they submit to them, by
+learning how to adapt them to their needs, and respect them by seeking to
+subordinate their opinion to the principle on which they are based.
+
+"Persons who have no common sense are the only ones to revolt against the
+laws of the country where they live.
+
+"The wise man will recognize that they have been enacted to protect him
+and that to be opposed to their observance would be acting as an enemy
+to oneself."
+
+However, people will say, if laws are so impeccable in their right
+to authority, how is it that their interpretation leads so often
+to disputes?
+
+It is easy to reply that lawsuits are rarely instituted by men of common
+sense; they leave this burden to people of evil intent, who imagine thus
+to make a doubtful cause triumph.
+
+It must be conceded that this means succeeds at times with them, when
+they are dealing with timid or irresolute persons; but those who have
+contracted the habit of reasoning, and who never undertake anything
+without consulting common sense, will never allow themselves to be drawn
+into the by-paths of sophistry.
+
+If they are forced to enter there temporarily, in order to pursue the
+adversary, who has hidden himself there, they will leave these paths as
+soon as necessity does not force them to remain there longer and with
+delight regain the broad road of rectitude.
+
+A few pages further on we find a reflection which the Shogun, always
+faithful to his principles of high morality, specially addresses to those
+who make a profession of humility.
+
+"Obedience," he says, "ought to be considered as a means; but, for the
+one who wishes to succeed, in no sense can it be honored as a virtue.
+
+"If it be a question of submission to law, that is nothing else but the
+performance of a strict duty; this is a kind of compact which the man
+of common sense concludes with society, to which he promises his
+support for the maintenance of a protection from which he will be the
+first to benefit.
+
+"This obedience might be set down as selfishness were it not endorsed by
+common sense.
+
+"There are people, it is true, who, even altho wishing to support their
+neighbor when called upon to do so by the law, seek to evade this duty if
+left to themselves.
+
+"These are pirates who have broken completely not only with the spirit of
+equity, but also with simple common sense.
+
+"It is always foolish to set the example of insubordination, for, if it
+were followed, it would not be long before general disorder would appear.
+
+"Some men were sitting one day on the edge of an inlet and were trying
+with a net to catch fish, whose playful movements the men were following
+through the limpid water.
+
+"According to their character, their perseverance, their cleverness, and
+the ingenuity of the means employed, they caught a proportionate number
+of fish; but those who caught the least had one or two.
+
+"This success encouraged them, and they began again in good earnest,
+each one in his own way, when a stranger appeared; he was armed with a
+long branch of a tree, which he plunged in the pond, touching the bottom
+and stirring up the mud, which, as it scattered, rose to the surface of
+the water.
+
+"The limpidity of the water was immediately changed; one could no longer
+see the fish, and the fishermen decided to discontinue their sport.
+
+"But the man only laughed at their discomfiture and, brandishing a large
+net, he threw it in his turn, chaffing them at the patient cunning by
+which they had, he said, taken such a poor haul.
+
+"He brought up some fish, it is true, but at each haul he was obliged to
+lose so much time in removing the impurities, the débris, and the weeds
+of all kinds from the net that very soon the fishermen had the
+satisfaction of seeing him punished for his mean conduct.
+
+"What he took was scarcely more than what the smartest among them had
+taken, and his net, filthy from the mud, torn by the roots that he was
+unable to avoid, was soon good for nothing."
+
+Might it not be from this fable that we have taken the expression, "to
+fish in troubled waters," of which without a doubt the good Yoritomo
+furnished the origin many, many centuries ago?
+
+His prophetic mind is unveiled again in the following advice that not a
+business man of the twentieth century would reject.
+
+"Common sense," he says, "when it is a question of the relations of men
+as to what concerns business or society, ought to adopt the
+characteristic of that animal called the chameleon.
+
+"His natural color is dull, but he has the gift of reflecting the color
+of the objects on which he rests.
+
+"Near a leaf, he takes the tint of hope.
+
+"On a lotus, he is glorified with the blue of the sky.
+
+"Is this to say that his nature changes to the point of modifying his
+natural color?
+
+"No; he does not cease to possess that which recalls the color of the
+ground, and the ephemeral color which he appropriates is only a
+semblance, in order that he may be more easily mistaken for the objects
+themselves.
+
+"The man who boasts of possessing common sense, altho preserving his
+personality, ought not to fail, if he wants to succeed, to reflect that
+of the person whom he wishes to aid him in succeeding."
+
+Let it not be understood for a moment, that we advise any one to act
+contrary to the impulses of justice.
+
+But cleverness is a part of common sense in business, and assimilation is
+essential to success.
+
+It is not necessary to abandon one's convictions in order to
+reflect principles which, without contradicting them, give them a
+favorable color.
+
+Common sense can remain intact and be differently colored, according as
+it is applied to the arts, politics, or science.
+
+It would not deserve its name if it did not know how to yield to
+circumstances, in order to adorn the momentary caprice with flowers
+of reason.
+
+In the primitive ages, common sense consisted in keeping oneself in a
+perpetual state of defense; attack was also at times prescribed, by
+virtue of the principle that it is pernicious to allow one's rights to be
+imperiled.
+
+Attack was also at times a form of repression.
+
+It was also a lesson in obedience and a reminder not to misunderstand
+individual rights.
+
+In later times, common sense served to make the advantages of harmony
+appreciated.
+
+It directed the descendants of peoples exclusively warlike toward the
+secret place where science unfolds itself to the gaze of the vulgar; then
+it taught them to provide for their existence by working.
+
+It has demonstrated to them the necessity of reflection, by inciting
+them to model their present course of life on the lessons which come
+from the past.
+
+It has given them the means to evoke it easily and effectively.
+
+It has injected into their veins the calmness which permits them to draw
+just conclusions and to adopt toward preceding reasonings the attitude
+of absolute neutrality, without which all former presentiments are
+marred by error.
+
+Each epoch was, for common sense, an opportunity to manifest itself
+differently.
+
+At the moment when poetry was highly honored, it would have been
+unreasonable to have ignored it, for the bards excited great enthusiasm
+by their songs which gave birth to heroes.
+
+And now, imbued with the principles which in his day might be taken to
+represent what we to-day call advanced ideas, Yoritomo continues:
+
+"Common sense can, then, without renouncing its devotion to truth, take
+various forms or shades, for the truth of yesterday is not always the
+truth of to-day.
+
+"The gods of the past are considered simply as idols in our day and the
+virtues of the distant past would be, at present, moral defects which
+would prevent men from winning the battle of life, whose ideal is The
+Best for which all the faculties should strive."
+
+The Shogun also touches lightly on a subject which, already discust in
+his time, has become, in our day, a burning truth; it is a question of a
+fault, which in the world of practical life and in that of business can
+cause considerable injury to him who allows it to be implanted in him.
+
+We refer to that tendency which has been adorned or rather branded
+successively with the names of hypochondria, pessimism, and lastly
+neurasthenia, an appellation which comprises all kinds of nervous
+diseases, the characteristic of which is incurable melancholy.
+
+"There are people," he says, "who are afflicted with a special
+color-blindness.
+
+"Everything they look at assumes immediately to their eyes the most
+somber hues.
+
+"They see in a flower only the germ of dry-rot; the most ideal
+beauty appears to them only like the negligible covering of some
+hideous skeleton.
+
+"However, they hang on to this life which they do not cease to
+calumniate, and people of common sense are rarely found who will try to
+reason with them from a common-sense standpoint:
+
+"'Since life is so insupportable to you, why do you impose upon yourself
+the obligation to struggle with it?
+
+"'Only insane people try to prolong their sojourn in a place where they
+suffer martyrdom.'
+
+"It is true that when, perchance, this argument is placed before them,
+they do not fail to reply by invoking the shame of desertion.
+
+"'Well, is not then the interest of the struggle to which we are
+subjected a sufficient attraction to keep us at our post?'"
+
+And, always enamored with the doctrine, which we are now assiduously
+maintaining, he concludes:
+
+"Common sense is, at times, the unfolding of a magnificent force which
+incites us to attune our environment to actualities.
+
+"One must not, however, fall into excess and draw a huge sword to pierce
+the clouds, which obscure the sun.
+
+"If struggle is praiseworthy when we have to face a real enemy, it
+becomes worthy of scorn and laughter if we attack a puerile or imaginary
+adversary.
+
+"But the number of people incapable of appreciating the true color of
+things is not limited to those who enshroud them in black.
+
+"There are others, on the contrary, who obstinately insist upon
+surrounding them with a halo of sunlight only existing in their
+imagination.
+
+"For such deluded people, obstacles seen from a distance take on the most
+attractive appearance; they would be readily disposed to enjoy them and
+only consent to allow them a certain importance if they absolutely
+obstruct the way.
+
+"But until the moment when impossibility confronts them, do they deny its
+existence or underrate its importance by attributing a favorable
+influence to it.
+
+"This propensity to see all in the ideal would be enviable if it did not
+wound common sense, which revenges itself by refusing to these
+improvident people the help of the reasoning power necessary to sustain
+them in the crisis of discouragement which brings about irresistibly the
+establishment of error.
+
+"These unbalanced people rarely experience success, for they are unable,
+as long as their blindness lasts, to mark out a line of serious conduct
+for themselves.
+
+"All projects built on the quicksands of false deductions will perish
+without even leaving behind them material sufficient to reconstruct them.
+
+"It is impossible to combat strongly enough this tendency to
+self-delusion, which inclines us to become the prey of untruth, by
+preventing the birth of faith, based on preceding success.
+
+"Sincere conviction, on the contrary, will lead us to refute strongly
+all the false arguments, which impede thought and would choke it in
+order to allow unadulterated pleasure to be installed on the ruins of
+common sense.
+
+"The battle of life demands warriors and conquerors as well as critics,
+less brilliant, perhaps, but just as worthy of admiration, for their
+mission is equally important, altho infinitely more obscure.
+
+"Whether he be a peasant tilling his field or a rich capitalist
+manipulating his gold, he who works in order to satisfy the needs or
+luxury of his existence is a fighter whose hours are spent in occupations
+more or less dangerous.
+
+"From time to time, however, a cessation of hostilities is produced; such
+always follows the appearance of common sense which, by giving to things
+their true proportions, causes the greater part of inequalities to
+disappear.
+
+"Finally, he who cultivates this virtue unostentatiously will always be
+protected from the caprices of fortune; if he is poor, common sense will
+indicate to him the way to cease to be poor, and, if chance has given him
+birth in opulence, the counsels of experience will demonstrate to him the
+frailty of possessions that one has not acquired by personal effort."
+
+This conclusion is strikingly true, for it is certain that prosperity
+attained by personal effort is less likely to fade away than an inherited
+fortune, whose owner can only understand the ordinary pleasure of a
+possession which he has not ardently desired.
+
+He who is the maker of his own position is more able to maintain it; he
+knows the price of the efforts which he had to make in order to construct
+it, and, armed with common sense, he is as able to defend his treasure as
+to enjoy the sweet savor of a thing which he has desired, longed for, and
+won by the force of his will and judgment, placed at the service of
+circumstances and directed toward success.
+
+
+
+
+LESSON XI
+
+COMMON SENSE AND SELF-CONTROL
+
+
+"Where life manifests itself," says Yoritomo, "antagonism always
+springs up."
+
+"In the eternal struggle between the individual and social soul, each of
+which, in its turn, is victorious or vanquished, a truce is declared only
+if self-control is allied to common sense, in order to maintain the
+equilibrium between individual sentiment, natural to each one of us, and
+the ideas of mankind as a whole.
+
+"All classes of society are subject to this law, and, from the proudest
+prince to the humblest peasant, every one is obliged to harmonize their
+social duties with their personal obligations.
+
+"Those who understand how to imbibe thoroughly the lessons of common
+sense, never ignore the fact that morality is always closely related to
+self-interest.
+
+"If each one of us would observe this rule individual happiness would not
+be long in creating a harmony from which all men would benefit.
+
+"One thing we should avoid, for the attainment of universal
+tranquility, and that is the perpetual conflict between individual and
+social interest.
+
+"The day when each one of us can comprehend that he is a part of this
+'all,' which is called society, he will admit that sinning against
+society may be considered the same as sinning against oneself.
+
+"Passing one day before an immense cabin, built of bamboo, which stood
+near a rice-plantation, I perceived a man who hid himself from my view,
+without however being able to escape my notice altogether. I went
+resolutely to him, to ask him the explanation of his suspicious movement.
+
+"After an unsuccessful attempt to escape, he resigned himself to allow me
+to approach him, and I understood the reason of his apprehension:
+
+"He was carrying several pieces of bamboo which he had detached from the
+house. He wanted, he said, to make a little blaze because the dampness
+was chilling him.
+
+"Without replying to him, I led him by the hand to the place where the
+branches taken away had left a large space, a kind of opening in the side
+of the house, through which a keen wind was rushing.
+
+"'Look,' I said to him, 'the blaze that you are going to make will warm
+you for a few minutes, but, during the whole night the cold wind will
+freeze you--you and your companions.
+
+"'In order to procure for yourself an agreeable but passing sensation you
+are going to inflict upon them continued sufferings, of which you can not
+escape your share.'
+
+"The man hung his head and said: 'I had not thought of this; I was cold
+and I allowed myself to be tempted by the anticipated pleasure of warming
+myself, even if only for a few minutes.'
+
+"And, convinced by common sense, he repaired the harm which he had done,
+first by reason of selfishness, then by thoughtlessness, but, above all,
+by lack of self-control.
+
+"To dominate oneself to the point of not allowing oneself to become the
+slave of miserable contingencies which appear as temptations to
+self-indulgence, and conceal from their pettiness the beauty of the
+consistent action--this is only given to the chosen few and can only be
+understood by those who cultivate common sense."
+
+Is this to say that reasoning should be a school for abnegation.
+
+Such a thought is far from our minds.
+
+Neither habitual abnegation nor modesty is among the militant virtues,
+and for this reason the critics ought often to relegate them to their
+proper place, which is the last, very close to defects to which they
+closely approach and among whose ranks one must sometimes go in order to
+discover them.
+
+But, apart from the question of a sterile abnegation, we must foresee
+that it may be important not to overestimate one's individual interests,
+to the visible detriment of the general interest.
+
+This is a fault common to all those who have not been initiated into the
+practise of self-control by means of reasoning based on solid premises.
+
+They are ready to sacrifice very great interests, which do not seem to
+concern them directly, for some immediate paltry gratification.
+
+"They act," said the philosopher, "like a peasant who should risk
+his harvest in order to avoid paying the prince the rent which
+belongs to him.
+
+"Common sense teaches us that we should call to our assistance
+self-control, in order to repress the tendencies which tempt men to
+sacrifice the general interest to some personal and vehement desire.
+
+"Rarely do these people find their advantage in separating themselves
+from the mass, and the prosperity of the greatest number is always the
+cradle of individual fortunes."
+
+Leaving questions of primary importance to come to the subtleties of
+detail in which, he delights, Yoritomo speaks to us of self-control
+allied to common sense, extolling to us its good effects in practical
+questions of our every-day life.
+
+"We too often confound," said he, "self-control and liberty.
+
+"We are tempted to believe that a slave can not possess it, inasmuch as
+it is the special possession of all those to whom riches give a superior
+position in the world.
+
+"How profound is this error!
+
+"The lowest slave can enjoy this liberty, which is worth all others:
+self-control, which confers intellectual independence more precious than
+the most precious of possessions, whereas the most powerful prince may be
+altogether ignorant of this blessing.
+
+"There are dependent souls who, for want of the necessary strength to
+escape from vassalage to the external impressions will always drag on,
+feeble and opprest by the exactions of a mental servitude from which they
+can not free themselves.
+
+"Others rise proudly, ready to command circumstances, which they dominate
+with all the power of their volition governed by reason.
+
+"It is common sense which will guide them in this ascent by keeping them
+within the limits assigned to those things pertaining to reason and
+rectitude of mind.
+
+"Before everything, it is well not to forget that this faculty invites
+those who cultivate it to seek always for exact facts.
+
+"Knowledge, in all its aspects is, then, a perfect educator for those who
+do not wish to build on the flimsy foundation of approximate truth.
+
+"In pronouncing the word knowledge, we do not wish to speak of abstract
+studies which are only accessible to a small number; we wish to express
+the thought of instruction embracing all things, even the most humble
+and ordinary.
+
+"A man from the city was walking in the country one day, not far from a
+vast swamp.
+
+"All around it were a few miserable huts, the shelter of some peasants
+whose business it was to gather the reeds from the borders, weaving them
+into large baskets to be sold afterward in the neighboring country.
+
+"Little by little twilight descended, slowly enveloping all things in a
+mist of ashy gray, and vapors arose from afar over the stagnant water.
+
+"The man from the city trembled, believing that he recognized fantoms in
+this moving vapor; he sought to flee, but, unfamiliar with the locality,
+he ran along the side of the swamp without finding the end of it.
+
+"Exhausted from fatigue and trembling with fear, he resolved to knock at
+one of the cabins.
+
+"He was welcomed by a basket-maker, to whom he related his fright, adding
+that he was unable to understand how this man found the courage to live
+in a place haunted in such a terrible way.
+
+"The peasant smiled and explained to the man, whose intellectual culture
+was, however, infinitely superior to his own, by what phenomenon of
+evaporation these mirages were produced.
+
+"He demonstrated to him that these fantoms were only harmless vapors, and
+the city man admired the knowledge which common sense had taught the
+ignorant one."
+
+And Yoritomo concluded:
+
+"This peasant gave there a proof of what self-control allied to common
+sense can do.
+
+"Instead of allowing himself to be influenced by appearances, he confined
+himself to reflection, and observation aided by attention led him to a
+deduction resting on truth.
+
+"The essential factor of control is cool-headedness, which permits of
+seeing things in their true light, and forbids us to gild them or to
+darken them, according to our state of mind at the time."
+
+The Shogun adds:
+
+"Fear, hideous fear, is a sentiment unknown to those whose soul communes
+with self-control and common sense.
+
+"The first of these qualities will produce a fixt resolution tending to
+calmness, at the same time that it makes a powerful appeal to
+cool-headedness, which permits of reflection.
+
+"Fear is always the confession of a weakness which disavows struggle and
+wishes to ignore the name of adversary.
+
+"Cool-headedness is the evanescent examination of forces, either physical
+or intellectual, with reference to supposed danger.
+
+"Without self-control cool-headedness can not exist; but it only develops
+completely under the influence of common sense which dictates to it the
+reasons for its existence.
+
+"Cool-headedness, by leaving us our liberty of thought, enlightens us
+undoubtedly on the nature of danger, at the same time that it suggests to
+us the way to avoid it, if it really exists.
+
+"There can not be a question of fear for those who possess the faculties
+of which we have just spoken, for it is well known that, from the moment
+when the cause of fear is defined it ceases to exist; it becomes stupid
+illusion or a real enemy.
+
+"In the one case, as in the other, it ought not to excite anxiety any
+longer, but contempt or the desire to fight it.
+
+"For those whose mind is not yet strong enough to resolve on one or other
+of these decisions it will be well to take up again the argument
+indicated in the preceding pages, and to say:
+
+"Either the object of my fear really exists, and, in this case, I must
+determine its nature exactly, in order to use the proper means first to
+combat it and then to conquer it.
+
+"Or it is only an illusion, and I am going to seek actively for that
+which produces it, in order never again to fall into the error of which
+my senses have just been the dupes."
+
+Looking over these manuscripts, so rich in valuable advice, we find once
+more the following lines:
+
+"Self-control and cool-headedness are above all necessary to aid in
+dissimulating impressions.
+
+"It is very bad to allow one of the speakers in a dialog to read the mind
+of him who speaks to him like an open book.
+
+"He whose thoughts are imprest vividly on the surface is always placed at
+a glaring disadvantage.
+
+"The thought of glorifying hypocrisy is far from our minds, for it has
+nothing to do with the attitude which we recommend.
+
+"The hypocrite strives to assume emotions which he does not feel.
+
+"The man gifted with cool-headedness is intent on never allowing them
+to be seen.
+
+"It keeps his adversary in ignorance of the effect produced by his
+reasoning and allows him to take his chance, until the moment when, in
+spite of this feigned indifference, he reveals himself and permits his
+mind to be seen.
+
+"Now, to know the designs of a rival, when he is ignorant of those that
+we have conceived, is one of the essential factors of success.
+
+"In every way, he who is informed about the projects of his adversary
+walks preceded by a torch of light, while the adversary, if he can not
+divine his opponent's plans, continues to fight in darkness."
+
+The most elementary common sense counsels then cool-headedness
+when exchanging ideas, even when the discussion is of quite an
+amicable nature.
+
+From this habit there will result a very praiseworthy propensity to
+exercise self-control, which is only a sort of superior cool-headedness.
+
+It is also the cause of a noble pride, because it is more difficult to
+win a victory over one's passions than to conquer ordinary enemies, and
+he who, with the support of common sense, succeeds in ruling himself, can
+calculate, without arrogance, the hour when he will reign over the minds
+of others.
+
+
+
+
+LESSON XII
+
+COMMON SENSE DOES NOT EXCLUDE GREAT ASPIRATIONS
+
+
+"A very common error," says Yoritomo, "is that which consists in
+classifying common sense among the amorphous virtues, only applicable to
+things and to people whose fundamental principle is materiality.
+
+"This is a calumny which is spread broadcast by fools who scatter their
+lives to the four winds of caprice and extravagance.
+
+"Not only does common sense not exclude beauty, but it really aids in its
+inception and protects its growth by maintaining the reasons which
+produced its appearance.
+
+"Without it, the reign of the most admired things would be of short
+duration, granting that the want of logic had not prevented their
+production.
+
+"What is there more commendable than the love of work, devotion to
+science, ambition to succeed?
+
+"Could all this exist if common sense did not intervene to permit the
+development of the deductions on which are based the resolutions that
+inspired in us these aspirations.
+
+"But this is not all; without logic, which permits us to give them
+solidity, the most serious resolutions would soon become nothing but
+vague projects, shattered as soon as formed.
+
+"In common sense lies the cause and the object of things.
+
+"It is common sense which makes us realize that difference that
+few persons are willing to analyze, and which lies between
+judgment and opinion.
+
+"We almost always succeed in readily confounding them, and from this
+mistake results a too-frequent cause of failures.
+
+"Opinion is a conviction which is capable of modification.
+
+"In addition to this, as it is based on mere indications and probability,
+it is rarely free from the personal element.
+
+"Opinion depends upon the favorite inclination, upon the mood of the
+moment, upon sundry considerations, which direct it almost always toward
+the desired solution.
+
+"Also it depends often on thoughtfulness or on the inexactness of the
+initial representation, which we are pleased to disguise slightly at
+first, then little by little to color in accordance with our desires.
+
+"Falsehood does not necessarily enter into this process of tricking
+things out; it is, three-quarters of the time, the result of an illusion
+which we are prone to perpetuate within us.
+
+"We are too often in the position of the three wise men who, while
+rummaging in an old sarcophagus, discovered a vase whose primitive
+function they were unable to determine with any certainty.
+
+"One of them was a poet and an idealist.
+
+"The second only prized positive things.
+
+"The third belonged to the category of melancholy people.
+
+"After a few days devoted to special research work, they met together
+again in order to communicate to each other their different opinions
+about the exhumed vase.
+
+"'I have found the secret,' said the first.
+
+"'I also,' affirmed the second.
+
+"'I equally have found it,' replied the third.
+
+"And each one based his opinion on preconceived notions which reflected
+their bent of mind:
+
+"'This vase,' said the first, 'was intended to hold incense, which
+they burned a that epoch, in the belief that the smoke dispelled the
+evil spirits.'
+
+"'Nonsense!' cried out the second; 'this vase is a pot which at that time
+served as a receptacle for keeping spices.'
+
+"'Not so!' insisted the third, 'it is an urn of antiquated design used
+for receiving tears; that is all.'
+
+"These three serious men were certainly sincere in giving explanations
+which each one of them declared decisive. They exprest opinions which
+they believed implicitly and which their respective natures directed
+irresistibly toward their peculiar bents of mind.
+
+"Judgment, in order to be free from all which is not common sense, ought
+then to put aside all personal predilections, all desire to form a
+conclusion to humor our inclinations.
+
+"Absolute impartiality of judgment is one of the rarest gifts and at the
+same time is the noblest quality which we can possess."
+
+We should then conclude, with the Shogun, that common sense aids in the
+production of noble aspirations, and is not concerned only with that
+which relates to materiality, as so many people would have us understand.
+
+The Nippon philosopher teaches us also the part which he assigns to the
+habitual practise of goodness.
+
+"We are too easily persuaded," he says, "that goodness, like beauty, is a
+gift of birth.
+
+"It is time to destroy an error rooted in our minds for too many
+centuries.
+
+"Goodness is acquired by reasoning and logic, as are so many other
+qualities, and it is common sense which governs its formation.
+
+"Have we ever reflected over the sum total of annoyances that people, who
+are essentially wicked, add every day to those imposed upon them by
+circumstances?
+
+"Are we capable of appreciating the joys of life when impatience makes
+the nerves vibrate or when anger brandishes its torch in the bends and
+turns of the brain?
+
+"People who lack goodness are the first to be punished for their defect.
+Serenity is unknown to them and they live in perpetual agitation, caused
+by the irritation which they experience on the slightest provocation."
+
+Common sense indicates then in an irrefutable way that there is every
+advantage in being good.
+
+And Yoritomo proves it to us, by using his favorite syllogism:
+
+"Happiness," he says, "is above all a combination of harmony and absence
+of sorrow.
+
+"Wickedness, by inspiring us with discontent and anger, disturbs
+this harmony.
+
+"We must, therefore, banish wickedness, that we may cultivate goodness,
+which is the creator of harmony."
+
+Continuing still further the same argument, he adds:
+
+"Common sense would have the tendency even to make us promise to be good,
+so as to satisfy our own egotism.
+
+"Goodness creates smiles; to sow happiness around one, is a way of having
+neither eyes nor heart offended by the sight of people in tears; it is
+the eliciting of an agreeable joy, whose rays will shed a golden light
+over our life; is it not more pleasing to hear the ring of laughter than
+to listen to painful sobs?"
+
+So, we should never lose an opportunity of being good and that without
+mental reservation.
+
+Gratitude is not the possession of every soul and he who does good may
+expect to receive ingratitude.
+
+He will not suffer from it, if he has done good, not in the way a
+creditor does who intends to come on the very day appointed to claim his
+debt, but as a giver who fulfils his mission from which he is expecting
+a personal satisfaction, without thinking of any acknowledgment for what
+he has done.
+
+If the debtor is filled with gratitude, the joy of being good is that
+much increased.
+
+There is a species of common sense of a particularly noble quality that
+is called moral sense and which the Shogun defines thus:
+
+"The moral sense is the common sense of the soul; it is the superior
+power of reasoning which stands before us that we may be prevented from
+passively following our instincts; it is by its assistance that we
+succeed without too much difficulty in climbing the steep paths of duty.
+
+"This sense discerns an important quality, which puts us on our guard
+against the danger of certain theories, whose brilliancy might seduce us.
+
+"It is the moral sense which indicates to us the point of delimitation
+separating legitimate concessions from forbidden license.
+
+"It allows us to go as far as the dangerous place where the understanding
+with conscience might become compromised and, by reasoning, proves to us
+that there would be serious danger in proceeding further.
+
+"It is the moral sense which distinguishes civilized man from the brute;
+it is the regulator of the movements of the soul and the faithful
+indicator of the actions which depend on it."
+
+We must really pity those who are deprived of moral sense for they are
+the prey of all the impulses created in them by the brute-nature, which
+sleeps in the depths of each human creature.
+
+The man whose moral sense is developed will live at peace with himself,
+for he will only know the evil of doubt when he realizes the satisfaction
+of having conquered it.
+
+Moral sense, like common sense, is formed by reasoning and is fostered by
+the practise of constant application.
+
+It is the property of those who avoid evil, as others avoid the spatter
+of mud, through horror of the stains which result from it.
+
+Those who do not have this apprehension flounder about, cover themselves
+with mud, sink in it and finally are swallowed up.
+
+Yoritomo again takes up the defense of common sense, with reference
+to the arts.
+
+"Can one imagine," he says, "a painter conceiving a picture and grouping
+his figures in such a way as to violate the rules of common sense?
+
+"We should be doomed, if this were true, to see men as tall as oak-trees
+and houses resembling children's toy constructions, placed without
+reference to equilibrium among green or pink animals, whose legs had
+queer shapes.
+
+"Madmen represent nature thus, which seems to them outlined in
+strange forms.
+
+"But people of common sense reproduce things just as sound judgment
+conceives of them; if they throw around them at times the halo of beauty
+which seems exaggerated, let us not decry them.
+
+"Beauty exists everywhere; it dwells in the most humble objects, makes
+all around us resplendent and, if we refuse to see it, we are blinded by
+an unjust prejudice, or our minds are not open to the faculty of
+contemplation.
+
+"It is revealed above all to those who cultivate common sense and reject
+the sophistries of untruth that they may surround themselves with truth.
+
+"Such people scorn trivial casualties; they adopt an immutable
+rule, reasoning, which permits them to deduce, to judge, and
+afterward to produce.
+
+"All beautiful creations are derived from this source.
+
+"The most admirable inventions would never have been known if common
+sense had not helped them to be produced, strengthening those who
+conceived them by the support of logic, which demonstrated to them the
+truth of their presumptions.
+
+"Authority follows, based on the experience which, by maintaining the
+effect of judgment, has armed them with the strength of the mind, the
+true glory of peaceful conquerors."
+
+Would one not say that the Shogun, in writing these lines, foresaw the
+magnificent efforts which we are witnessing each day and that from the
+depths of time he caught a glimpse of these brave conquerors of the
+air and of space, whose great deeds, seeming at times the result of a
+crazy temerity, are in reality only homage rendered to common sense,
+which has permitted them to calculate the value of their initiative
+without mistake?
+
+And one can not be denied the pleasure of entering once more into close
+communion of thought with the old philosopher when he says:
+
+"Enthusiasm is of crystal but common sense is of brass."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Common Sense, How To Exercise It
+by Mme. Blanchard Yoritomo-Tashi
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13072 ***