ir homes toward the battlefields of Manchuria;
or there is some loved one at a distance who needs us, calls us,
expects us. Then the stations on the way are unable to captivate
our attention; we are impatient to pass them by; we welcome each
one as we approach it as bringing us one step nearer to the desired
goal.

Some such analogy will help us understand the inner state of a
spiritually-minded person. He thinks always of the ultimate end.
In whatever he does or omits to do he asks himself, Will it advance
me or divert me from the ultimate goal? Since spirituality consists
in keeping in mind the ultimate goal, it follows, in accordance with
what was said in the beginning, that there must be various types of
spirituality, corresponding to the various ways in which the
ultimate goal is conceived. For those to whom the final end of
human life is union with God, the Divine Father, the thought of
this Divine Father gives color and complexion to their spiritual life.
They think of Him when they lie down at night and when they rise
up in the morning; his praise is ever on their lips; the desire to win
his approbation is with them in all their undertakings. To those
who regard the attainment of Nirvana as the supreme end, like the
Buddhists, the thought of Nirvana is a perpetual admonition. To
those who view the supreme end of life as moral perfection, the
thought of that perfection is the constant inner companion. The
moral man, commonly so-called; the man who is honest, pays his
debts, performs his duties to his family; the man who works for
specific objects, such as political reform; this man, worthy of all
respect though he be, is still intent on the stages of his journey.
The spiritual man, as we must now define him from the point of
view of Ethical Culture, is the man who always thinks of the
ultimate goal of his journey, i. e., a moral character complete in
every particular, and who is influenced by that thought at all times
and in all things. Spirituality, in this conception of it, is nothing but
morality raised to its highest power.

And now, let us ask what are some of the conditions on which the
attainment of such a life depends. The prime condition is to
acquire the habit of ever and anon detaching one's self from one's
accustomed interests and pursuits, becoming, as it were, a
spectator of one's self and one's doings, escaping from the
sweeping current and standing on the shore. For this purpose it is
advisabl