Their
bodily attitude seems a sort of apology for life, and we long to invoke
the aid of some teacher of physical training to rescue them from
themselves and restore them to their rightful heritage. They are weak,
apparently ill-nourished, scrawny, ill-groomed; and we know, without the
aid of words, that neither a vigorous mind nor a great spirit would
choose that type of body as its habitation.
=The body subject to the mind.=--A healthy, vigorous, symmetrical body
that performs all its functions like a well-articulated, well-adjusted
mechanism is the beginning, but only a beginning. Next comes a mind that
is so well trained that it knows what orders to give to the body and how
to give them. Many a strong body enters the door of a saloon because the
mind is not sufficiently trained to issue wise orders. The mind was
befuddled before the body became so, and the body becomes so only
because the mind commands. Intoxication, primarily, is a mental
apostasy, and the body cannot do otherwise than obey. If the mind were
intent upon securing a book at the library, the body would not have seen
the door of the saloon, but would have been urgent to reach the library.
There is neither fiction nor facetiousness in the adage, "An idle brain
is the devil's workshop." On the contrary, the saying is crammed full of
psychology for the thoughtful observer. Hence, when we are training the
mind we are wreaking destruction upon this workshop.
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