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CHAPTER VII

HINDRANCES TO SONG

F it is God's intent that all created things and beings should go singing through life with Him, why is the intent not fulfilled? I am wise enough not to attempt any explanation as to "why" it is that man, seemingly, can circumvent the clearly avowed purposes of God, but I do think I am wise enough to know that this circumvention is purely "seeming," that, at its best (or worst) it is merely temporary, and that, ultimately, somewhere, somehow, God's plans will be fully ripened and completed. Such is my faith, my confident assurance.

In the meantime, here and now, men and women are not singing as they might, as they ought, as it is their privilege, and should be their joy to do.

The more complex and civilized a people become the less it sings-that is with the spontaneous, exuberant, buoyant songs of races in their childhood or of individuals in their younger and unconscious periods.

This is a lamentable fact, a pity, a source of deep regret, not only for the joy thus lost to the individual and to the race at large, but because of the

reflex action of the songless life upon the moods, habits and religion of the people.

Song is generally and rightly regarded as the natural expression of joy; one sings because he is happy; he sings, unconscious that he sings, for his heart is full of quiet, deep, rich or exuberant ebullient delight, and the song bubbles forth from his fullness just as water leaps to outer life from the overfull spring beneath.

One feels this spirit in Joaquin Miller's two lines:

I built as His birds builded-
Builded, singing as I built.

What is it that makes individuals stop singing? As a rule the young, cheerful, healthy, exuberant give vent to their joy by singing, humming, whistling or shouting. Some few keep up the habit as they grow older, but most of us give it up. Why? There are several reasons. We grow too sophisticated, too self-conscious, too mindful of the opinions and judgments of others to sing. For such mental feelings destroy the simple, natural spontaneity of youth. It is one of the sad facts of life that we are so afraid of the opinions of others. Why should we be? Why should the judgments of those whom we do not know and who certainly do not know us have weight with us? Let us be more conscious of our relationship with God. That is the aristocracy of feeling I desire to cultivate. It is well known that the genuine aristocrat whose "family-tree" is centuries tall, pos

sesses the power to disregard the opinions of others. He walks serene and indifferent alike to the praise or blame of men. That is the attitude every child of the Divine should take, not as a pose, as something assumed, or put on, but as the natural outcome of the feelings of his inmost soul. He should radiate, not proud indifference and contempt for the opinions of others, but supreme consciousness of his oneness with God, his amenability solely to the law and to Him, and, therefore, his right to live his life as naturally, as individualistically as he chooses. When a man, a woman, so walks, he, she, appears to me as a pure, white, glorious Easter lily in a field of dandelions.

Another reason people cease to sing is they grow too occupied with material things for purely selfish purposes. A man can be busy eighteen hours a day with material things yet be a benefactor to all with whom he comes in contact. A cheerful milkman, a vegetable peddler, an obliging and kindly clerk, a willing baggageman, a courteous railway clerk, a helpful street car conductor, a ditch digger, a mill hand-all, all, may work with the assurance that his work is needful, helpful, beneficial to his fellows, and thus his work in itself is a song of joy and blessing, and calls upon his voice to join in and make vocal the singing of the heart.

On the other hand he may think solely of the money his work is to earn, of the cash received for so many hours, whether he works or not. He dodges,

slacks, slinks, is indifferent, careless, discourteous, and has the "Take it or leave it" attitude. Such an one does not possess the singing spirit within and neither his acts nor his voice blossom forth into song. Poor songless mortals, how I pity them. Their "Where do I come in?" is so pitiful when you see how cheerless, how barren of beauty, joy, service and song it makes their lives. He only sings who gladly serves, and if we would join the Universal Symphony there must be the singing spirit within or it cannot break forth into outward expression. Hence it becomes self-apparent that only he who possesses the spirit of service, of brotherhood, can sing.

What is brotherhood? Well might the disciples of Christ ask: Who is my brother? and thus call forth the touching and beautiful story of the Good Samaritan. The questions need answering today; but they must first be asked by sincere hearts. There are many tests of brotherhood. Let us look at a few of them. The story just referred to gives us a basis. Caring for the unfortunate with personally exercised sympathy. Have you suffered deep grief? Then let your griefs lovingly compel you to seek to assuage the griefs of others.

Another test is that you are always ready to make peace rather than strife between men.

"Blessed are the peacemakers." Their songs are those of joy and love, hence are heard evermore in the great symphony. But where is the song of the

gossip, the slanderer, the bearer and repeater of false witness against his neighbor, the tittle-tattler, the tale-bearer, the one who rejoices in iniquity and not in the truth? Has he any place in the great song? How can he, she, have such a place when the spirit of slander is the spirit of murder, consciously or unconsciously exercised. Hatred is the same. Hence he who can place love and a desire for peace in the heart of the slanderer, the talebearer, is a creator of song, thrice sung, one who deserves well of man and is sure of the approval of God.

Another wonderful test of brotherhood is that one is tolerant of beliefs and acts of which he does not approve. No one man or body of men ever lived who were competent to take full charge of the conscience of another man. We do not know enough. We cannot know what is going on in another man's heart. Yet there is so much intolerance manifested today. Men's passions rise high at those who differ from them on matters they deem important, and in politics, social customs, religion, business, there is a tremendous amount of vindictive persecution and cruel attacking which springs from these differences. I believe that this spirit is entirely opposed to brotherhood and that it inhibits in those who manifest it the power to join in the Universal Song.

There are those who believe that the Catholic Church is the only church that has persecuted those