Developing Spiritual Consciousness: Chapter II. The Ideal and the Practical
HERE are two words—IMAGINATION and FANCY. What is the distinction between the two? Well, the one is closely related to the positive and the conscious side of our character; the other can claim kinship with the negative and the receptive side only. Take a youth starting in life. He has not been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He is poor and has absolutely none to look to for help of any sort whatsoever. Now, suppose he has spirit, and instead of sitting down and bewailing his lot, he forms a definite plan of conduct, throws his mind forward into the future, and decides to reach a certain state of development. He pictures to himself that state in its perfection, plans out the methods whereby he is to achieve it, takes in the difficulties to be met with and conquered, and by an effort of common sense reasoning sees the actual amount of good accruing to humanity and to all of God's creatures in general. He has had to think hard in order to construct the whole picture. He has had to breathe life upon it by repeating the images in connection with the whole picture. He has had to acquire knowledge, seek the advice of men more experienced than himself, A man is what his ideals are. If one man with an ideal makes fifty mistakes in a day, the man without an ideal is sure to commit many more. This is a simple truth, yet it will bear repetition here. All muscular actions, whether mental or physical, are simply fragments from the ideal. "The life of the ideal is in the practical; it is the ideal that has penetrated the whole of our life, whether we philosophise or perform the hard, everyday duties of life. . . . It is the ideal that has made us what we are and will make us what we are to be. . . . The principle is seldom expressed in the practical, yet the ideal is never lost sight of"—("Pavhari Baba" by Vivekananda). "Great actions are only transformed great concentrations."THE IDEAL AND THE PRACTICAL.
