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Title: Self-Development and the Way to Power

Author: L. W. Rogers

Release Date: August 9, 2004 [eBook #13142]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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SELF-DEVELOPMENT AND THE WAY TO POWER

by

L. W. ROGERS

Price 25 Cents

1922

"We may be either the suffering slaves of nature or the happy masters
of her laws."

SELF DEVELOPMENT AND THE WAY TO POWER

It is the natural right of every human being to be happy--to escape
all the miseries of life. Happiness is the normal condition, as
natural as the landscapes and the seasons. It is unnatural to suffer
and it is only because of our ignorance that we do suffer. Happiness
is the product of wisdom. To attain perfect wisdom, to comprehend
fully the purpose of life, to realize completely the relationship of
human beings to each other, is to put an end to all suffering, to
escape every ill and evil that afflicts us. Perfect wisdom is
unshadowed joy.

Why do we suffer in life? Because in the scheme of nature we are being
forced forward in evolution and we lack the spiritual illumination
that alone can light the way and enable us to move safely among the
obstacles that lie before us. Usually we do not even see or suspect
the presence of trouble until it suddenly leaps upon us like a
concealed tiger. One day our family circle is complete and happy. A
week later death has come and gone and joy is replaced with agony.
Today we have a friend. Tomorrow he will be an enemy and we do not
know why. A little while ago we had wealth and all material luxuries.
There was a sudden change and now we have only poverty and misery and
yet we seek in vain for a reason why this should be. There was a time
when we had health and strength; but they have both departed and no
trace of a reason appears. Aside from these greater tragedies of life
innumerable things of lesser consequence co