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The man who demands too much, on the other hand, sees in the
course he is advised to adopt nothing but difficulties, drawbacks, and
disadvantages.
Of all these he makes a fabric of impossibility, and ends by deciding to reject
every project he considers.
If circumstances, nevertheless, compel him to action, the exacting man will be
finally forced to make some decision. But he will make it with such an ill grace
that it will be almost impossible for him to persevere in it.
His fault will almost immediately transform his work into a burden and his ill
humor will develop into smoldering rage.
He will take offense at everything, and will hold circumstances and his friends
responsible for what he calls his "ill luck."
Under such circumstances what part does perseverance play in his new profession?
Alas! At one moment subjected to a whirlwind of exaggerated enthusiasm, at
another plunged into an abyss of desolation, it will never succeed in arriving
at the point of establishing itself as the prime mover of successful
accomplishments.
If one studies the life of any prominent man one will see how valuable a
determination to stick to one particular thing can be in the conquest of fame or
of fortune. It would perhaps be better to say "of fame and of fortune,"
because, as we have already written and now again repeat, the latter is always
the companion of the former.
It may happen that circumstances at the very outset may make it imperative for
us to deviate from our choice path, by forcing us to perform courageously a
number of actions whose tendency is quite foreign to that which the dominating
idea has awakened within us.
But this idea will not disappear, unless one deliberately decides to banish it.
Like a silent and devoted friend, it will follow us step by step all through our
lives, revealing its continued presence now and then by some gentle reminder
and then withdrawing itself discreetly to make room for the exigencies of the
moment.
It was in this fashion that the great Goethe lived for thirty years with the
tender spirit of Marguerite, a reality of his youth that he transformed little
by little in his imagination, until the day came in which, without taking away
from it too much of its personality, he revealed it to the world in the immortal
guise of the heroine of Faust.
But while these long years were passing by a mighty thinker took up his place
within the brain of the poet of yesterday.
It is for this reason that in the last part of Faust, the youthful enthusiasm of
its opening passages changes insensibly into the most profound of metaphysics,
the reflection of the thoughts of the Goethe of a later day.
The dominating idea is never lost sight of, however. It pervades all parts of
the work, retracing for us the differing phases of the author's mind, passing
from platonic tenderness to carnal love, and from the humble realities of
every-day life to flights of fancy, whose lyricism leads the writer into
frequent excursions into the realm of the fantastic.
But whether Marguerite is telling us of her humble tasks or, as in the later
portions of the work, the dialog of the great dead on the most exalted planes of
philosophy holds our interest, the presentation remains unique, and, thanks to
the persistence with which it has been kept before us throughout the years, an
immortal masterpiece has been produced.
"What is true of things of an exalted type is no less so when it comes down to
dealing with the most simple and matter-of-fact realities.
The choice of a profession, however modest it may be, calls forth the same
elements of sagacity, of will-power, and of endurance. It demands, moreover, a
discernment not only of moral aptitudes but also of physical capacities.
There are physical faults or weaknesses which render certain occupations doubly
difficult and we have not all of us the soul of a Demosthenes to be able to
combat these difficulties and conquer them.
And further, unless we have hit upon a vocation that draws us irresistibly, we
must not forget that the time passed in such struggles is lost to progress.
The effort required to carry us as far as the goal is always a considerable one.
Of what use, then, to double it?
We can not too forcibly impress this last point upon the minds of those young
people who wish to take up a different profession from that of their father
because, as they say, they are too well aware of its difficulties.
But no profession in the world is exempt from these, and for a son to follow his
father's profession is to make him a present of the experience that he will not
be forced to acquire at his own expense.
If he is dissatisfied with its progress, what is to prevent him from introducing
into it all the improvements that modern scientific methods have accomplished
in every walk of life.
He will be sure of a quick success, upon the sole condition that, in treading
the path that has been traveled by his father, he makes a determination to avoid
routine, that obstacle that men of an earlier generation always have a tendency
to place across the path that leads to better things.
He must combat this the more actively in proportion to the speed with which he
wishes to achieve success, and he will only become successful in this by
practicing perseverance while abandoning the ruts of habits that afford no
glimpse of wider horizons and can never lead to any form of perfection.
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