It is so; but Hell is rather what we start from, and out of
which we have to find our way, than the waste-paper basket of life,
the last receptacle for our shattered purposes.
XX
SERENITY
To achieve serenity we must have the power of keeping our hearts and
minds fixed upon something which is beyond and above the passing
incidents of life, which so disconcert and overshadow us, and which
are after all but as clouds in the sky, or islets in a great ocean.
Think with what smiling indifference a man would meet indignation
and abuse and menace, if he were aware that an hour hence he would
be triumphantly vindicated and applauded. How calmly would a man
sleep in a condemned cell if he knew that a free pardon were on its
way to him! Of course the more eagerly and enjoyably we live, so
much the more we are affected by little incidents, beyond which we
can hardly look when they bring us so much pleasure or so much
discomfort; and thus it is always the men and women of keen and
highly-strung natures, who taste the quality of every moment, in its
sweetness and its bitterness, who will most feel the influence of
fear.
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