Optimism – The Lloyd C Douglas Page

A page from the sermon “Personality (Second Phase),” preached by Lloyd C Douglas at the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor on 1/25/1920. In Sermons [5], Box 3, Lloyd C. Douglas Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. © University of Michigan.

It is Sunday, January 25, 1920, and Lloyd Douglas is still preaching his series on “Personality” at the First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor. (This is from Sermons [5], Box 3, Lloyd C. Douglas Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. © University of Michigan.) Douglas says:

“Another desirable grace is Reserve.

“Having sold yourself to yourself and having gone out to market yourself, the very best advertising you can have is satisfied customers.

“There is a type of personality that is good for a short haul but will not stand up under an endurance test. He makes a dreadful mistake who, in an effort to impress his personality on other people, rushes at them with much palaver and a great noise. He gives the impression of having all his stock in the front window. It may be entirely untrue. He may have a great deal in reserve; only he doesn’t act like it.

“People of strong personality always give one the impression of having a tremendous amount of power that is stored against a correspondingly great demand.

“The bubbler, who is always in a state of effervescence, may have a great deal of energy laid back for a rainy day, but it isn’t sure that he has to the casual observer. At all events, don’t feel that this kind of human kinetics that is forever pip-pipping at the safety-valve is to be imitated.

“Of course, if you are a natural bubbler and can’t help it, bubble on. We don’t worry much about your future. You’ll get along, and the world will be a whole lot better off for your having been in it.

“But, all things considered, if somehow you can give out the impression that you have a little spiritual energy in repose — secreted somewhere about you — it helps greatly to make other people think that your personality is strong. And a very good way to make people think that you have it is to have it. In fact, not many people will think that you have it unless you do have it.

“We all need to cultivate Enthusiasm. But that virtue has been sufficiently extolled in our time and needs no advocate.

“Advice can be had, in plenty, to spread your canvas to the breeze; but do not forget also to carry a little ballast. It makes a longer voyage, and a safer one. Don’t talk more than you think, if you would develop some reserve power. Don’t, for the sake of seeming animated and enthusiastic, become a mere chatterbox. Don’t let it be suspected, as you talk, that your voice is in advance of your thoughts, or that, somehow, your mouth and your mind had become disengaged. Keep something back.

“Before you offer your opinions, take them out and look them over carefully. A little practice of this kind makes for that reserve power we were talking about. Mostly we refer to it as poise.

“I am sure it could be shown that they have most in reserve, and are best poised spiritually, who have deliberately planned to give some time, when it could be snatched from other duties, for reflection upon very serious considerations.

“Like ‘Destiny.’ Whence — whither — why?

“The problems of our beginnings and our ends; our future, our ambitions, and our goal; our strivings, our longings, and our consecrations — think of them in whatsoever terms you will, they are, in their last analysis, considerations which throw us back upon God.”

[Then he quotes excerpts from the poem, “Each In His Own Tongue,” by William Herbert Carruth. It’s not clear to me why he chose to recite parts of this poem, but it does address the big questions of life and includes the line, “Some call it Evolution/And others call it God.”] He continues:

“It will give you personal power to have, in reserve, some deductions of your own which have led you irresistibly into the presence of Him who is your Father.

“This is no idle fancy but an attested fact, that ‘they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

by Ronald R Johnson

“Now, there are a few graces of character which are possible to some degree in every life and worthy of mention in a discussion of this topic. Not for anything would I suggest that you attempt imitation of such graces as exhibited in others, for that would be a flat denial of our course of procedure. But it is well to keep in mind what these graces are, and then to try to express your own thought of them, in your own particular way.

“The first is Optimism.

“We have been fairly well fed up on that principle of late; and perhaps my mention of it is only carrying coals to Newcastle. It has not been long since we were so depressed of spirit that we took the smile cure as a remedy for our dismal mood. Everywhere we went, somebody was coaxing us to ‘pack up our troubles in our old kit-bag and smile.’ The effect of it was very good. Some people were induced to smile who had almost lost the knack. The thing became epidemic, and has, by no means, lost its influence upon our thinking. All things considered, a smile will carry you farther than a frown wherever you go, and with whomsoever you have dealings.

“Just now, however, I am thinking about an inner, permanent optimism that is deep-rooted in a fixed philosophy of life.

“There must be a very definite plan in the mind of the Creator, for the development of mankind. Apparently we are moving, as a race, toward some goal which He thinks is for our good. Then we must be on the way up, for surely He would not plan for the disaster of His own creation. I think that statement will stand, without argument.

“If, then, we are on the way up, every man has within him that which, if rightly used, will contribute toward this achievement. It will do me no harm in the development of my personality to keep saying to myself, quite frequently, ‘We are on the way up!’

“Now, this belief, not unlike the doctrine concerning the brotherhood of man, is much easier to talk about than to accept as a practical fact. There are a great many people in the world whose general conduct fails to reveal even a scintilla of interest in the altus [Latin for ‘high’], to say nothing of the altior [higher]. But we must ascribe this to faulty training, unfortunate environment, and peculiar combinations of ruinous circumstances.

“Some men seem to love darkness rather than light, but it is because they have had so little light that they do not understand its value. We must cultivate something of the sympathy of Him ‘who, looking upon the multitude, was moved with compassion, for he saw them as sheep without a shepherd.’ Whatever depressing sights we see — of human need and organized iniquity — it is our business to understand that, as a race, we are on the way up.

“Part of my life-task is to demonstrate my belief in this theory, in such manner as to call out an expression of it in the lives of others. They want to think so, too. Some of them have met discouragements that were entirely too much for them. But, by instinct, they still want to believe that, in spite of conditions, life is tending upward.

“If this faith is strong enough in your heart, it will show up in the tone of your voice, in the light of your eye, in every word you speak and every act you perform. People will like you. They will think of you with warm appreciation. For you are helping them to hold on to an idea which they desire to have.

“Mostly it works out this way:

“Your belief that we, as a race, are en route to higher attainments gives you faith in the natural willingness of humanity to become party to this upward course. I think it makes a great deal of difference in the development of personality, whether one assumes that humanity would prefer to go up or down.

“Once you assume that every normal man has that within him which makes him desire to rise, your contacts with him inspire him to take a step upward. He likes you for that. You needn’t preach to him about the importance of his being his very best. Not at all. If you have this idea imbedded in your personality, he will see it reflected in your manner. He likes you, because you help him to find himself. You impute your ideals to him which he very greatly desires to have.

“This mental habit of yours makes you on the alert to discern the peculiar points of merit in another man, and you address yourself to the man he might be if he gave these peculiar points of merit a chance to develop. You pick them out and hold them up before his eyes so he can see them. He likes you for that. He is a bigger man, everyway considered, when he is in your presence. Your personality hasn’t overshadowed his or put him at a disadvantage. That would make him hate or fear you. But you have a trick of calling out the very finest attributes he possesses. You can’t do that unless you are on the alert to discover, in every man, the forces which will contribute toward their upward trend.

“If you wish to test this out in your own experience, just mentally call the roll of the people you know whom you think of as having powerful and pleasing personalities and you will find that, in every case, they are persons in whose presence you are at your very best and from whose presence you go with a light step and a sense of self-value. This is easily explained on the ground that such persons are able to recognize, at a glance, your distinctive points of merit and address themselves to your highest potentiality.

“And if you would have this priceless grace of character in your life so that you may address yourself to the potential best in other people, you may have it at the cost of patiently building into your subconsciousness the belief that there is, in all men, that which, if properly utilized, will bring us, as a race, up to the higher ground.

“Plenty of people are to be found who are ready and willing to ‘weep with them that weep,’ who have neglected to learn how to ‘rejoice with them that do rejoice.’ Blessed are they who find time to mingle their tears with the seriously afflicted. The world is very heavily in their debt. But it is a great art to discover in other people what things are promoting their happiness, and share their pleasure with them.

“A very young friend of mine said to me the other day, ‘See my new shoes!’ And I felicitated her upon the shoes, as she knew I would. And she was pleased — with the shoes. I doubt not she considered me rather stupid not to have noticed the shoes without having my attention called to them. If I had been quite on the alert, I should have remarked about the shoes before being invited so to do. That would have been a red-letter day for me in her estimation.

“Now, men and women are, in more ways than this, just grownup children, eager to have recognition of their attainments and merits. The person who is quick to observe all the good and gracious and joy-producing facts in the life of his friend — well, he never needs worry much about how to express his personality. And, as to success, he can have about anything he desires.”

Douglas went into this a little more deeply, and I’ll tell you about that in my next post.

Tag: Optimism

Personality II: Reserve Power