Hints for Self-Culture

Simple living, extreme early retirement, becoming and being wealthy, wisdom, praxis, personal growth,...
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fiby41
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Hints for Self-Culture

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https://dn790008.ca.archive.org/0/items ... ts-For.pdf

Here is the link to the PDF. It was first published in 1934 so out of copyright now.

I wanted to put this in the what would you give your 17 year old self thread but couldn't find it in time.

There are many ERE compatible ideas right off the bat:
Many men and women are so money-minded that they do
not undertake any serious work that does not pay. They believe
that it is foolish to exert themselves for such study and.brain-work
as cannot be converted into cash. Hard work only for money,
and then plenty of play and pleasure: this seems to be their rule
of life. They value intellect only as the key to material prosperity,
and regard' personal mental development as a foolish fad. This
miserable materialistic psychology is very deep-rooted in all classes
of society. Rich and poor, all suffer from it. An old working -.
woman complained to me of her son's habit of occasionally buying
some cheap books, and said: "He wastes his money on books.
What good are they to him? He is a carpenter, not a school-
master." We meet many people whose lives are spent in a
monotonous see-saw between their trade (whatever it may be)
and their frivolous amusements. They may be successful and
distinguished in their business or profession, in law, theology,
medicine, or art; but they know only golf and chess and mountain-
climbing, when they leave their bread-and-butter studies behind them.
To such one-sided, over-worldly people, I would say: "Take
heed lest you grasp the shadow and miss the substance. You may
coin your Brain into money, but then you are abusing and misusing
this rare gift of Nature. Intellect should be employed chiefly as
an instrument of growth and social service. It must not be a tool
for exploiting your fellow-citizens. If you look upon all brain-work
as a money-making device, you are a degraded and pitiable
prostitute. Such prostitution is so rampant in our capitalistic
world that you take it as a matter of course. You are not repelled
by it or astonished at it. Nature has given you a Brain to know,
to think, to understand, to reflect, to discover, to invent, and to
feel the deep joy that comes to all who fulfil Nature's great law.
No words can describe the happiness and beatitude that the pursuit
of Knowledge confers on its votaries. The French speak of 'la
joie de vivre' (the joy of living); let us enrich their beautiful
language with another phrase: 'la joie de savoir' (the joy of
knowing). If you shirk the duty of all-round mental development,
you rob yourself of ineffable bliss, such bliss as far transcends all
that money can buy. Therefore, be not content with living as
intellectual dwarfs, bent under the burden of heavy money-bags.
Just take a look at the table of contents for hints of what to do after retiring:

I. INTELLECTUAL CULTURE .

SECT. I. SCIENCE
II. HISTORY
III. PSYCHOLOGY
IV. ECONOMICS
V. PHILOSOPHY
VI. SOCIOLOGY
VII. LANGUAGES
VIII. COMPARATIVE RELIGION

II. PHYSICAL CULTURE

III. ÆSTHETIC CULTURE .
SECT. I. THEORY AND FUNCTION OF ART
II. ARCHITECTURE .
III. SCULPTURE .
IV. PAINTING
V. MUSIC
VI. DANCING AND ORATORY
VII. POETRY.

IV. ETHICAL CULTURE
SECT. I. PERSONAL ETHICS
II. PERSONAL SERVICE
III. THE FIVE CIRCLES
IV. ECONOMICS
V. POLITICS .

Here is a partially different scan:
https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.d ... ts-For.pdf

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