How to be happy though human / by W. Béran Wolfe.
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Even though this book may not have led them to that inner clarification that comes of knowing the truth, and though they do not choose to practise any of the suggestions I have outlined, I believe they will have gained a certain measure of tolerance and understanding of their fellow-men and their struggles, and, in this way, my book will not be without a certain value. It has been my hope, it is true, that the previous pages will have helped readers to assume the responsibility for the self- education of their characters and personalities. So wise a man as Socrates maintained that virtue could be learned. But if I have not succeeded in stimulating the reader to tackle the task of broadening his mental horizons and enlarging the scope of his pattern of life, to the end of attaining a larger and surer happiness in being human, I at least have succeeded in showing the over-timid and over-cautious reader that he is not alone in the world, that others, too, suffer from fear and isolation. And this may be of some solace and consolation. If you have really understood the meaning of my book, I feel almost certain you will realize that almost every¬ thing is possible. No man, no woman, is damned to live an ineffectual, unhappy life either by the facts of heredity or the defects of environment. Almost every human being can be happier than he is, and nearly every human being can either master the fine art of living richly or at least contribute to the general happiness of humanity by cheerfully helping those who are more adept or more experienced. No one need be useless, no one need be isolated, no one, knowing the truth, need be unhappy. There may also be readers of this book who have realized in the reading that they have completely lost their way, and have no certain maps and no fixed stars to aid them in charting their course. To these readers and to those others whose specific problems have not been satisfactorily illumined, together with those readers whose problems are too complicated or individualized to have been touched in these pages, I counsel seeking the advice of a recognized psychiatrist or mental hygiene