I WONDER!

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 131, 24 August 1927, Page 5

I WONDER!

j Some people never wonder about j life; they take short views and re--1 | fleet, if they reflect at all, only on the | i tangible. And what good, hearty, senj sible men and women the unimaginaj tive often are! Those of us who ask | questions sometimes feel frail and j futile in comparison with them. Why do we weary ourselves and waste time with trying to solve riddles that no one ever has solved or will solve? However, if you are born to wonder you will go on wondering* We cannot throw away our capacities or our in- ; capacities. We can only do the best we can with them or in spite of them. The people who are born without the reflective, inquiring habit of mind get l on very well with their incapacity bc- : cause they do not have to make a decision in regard to it. Life is a straight - . forward affair for them. But if you i have the questioning, sensitive and probably rather irritable mind, you \ have got to come to terms with it, , otherwise it will wear you out. Questions You Can Answer ; Obviously, you cannot get your quesj tions about life answered. But it is • possible to use the capacity for wonder and reflection in one quite practical and common-sense way. By means , of it you can arrive not at a solution of the problem of the universe, but ol > your own minute personal problem ; which, after all, is a mighty thing to , you. You can find or make a philosophy which in the eyes of a learned i philosopher may be full of holes, and ! yet which answers your purpose; fits i you for the place you have to fill and the work you have to do. You cannot find out what life is, but what you can learn is how to live it. From other people you can draw much inspiration, take many hints, but the ultimate decision will be made by the inner light of your own mind. No one knows you quite well enough to tell you how to adjust yourself to life. But you know, or yon can know if you like. You know all about your powers and your weaknesses, your sympathies and your hardnesses, the proportion of your time that you give to yourself as compared with that which you give to others. You know which point of view it is best to make your own point of view, which aspect of life it is, for you, healthiest and wisest and kindest, to make the main outlook. Some of us have to try specially for quiet, or for firmness, or for gentleness; for order or for greater adaptability; for confidence or humblemindedness, for generosity in deed or thought. To think about yourself continually is bad, but to tend the mind as you might a garden is good. Our intelligence and imagination find a normal and very useful outlet in this way.