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THE IDEAL..
15
Renunciation is a giving up certainly, bui a giving up of what? It is a giving up of base imitations, of false ideals, of worthless substitutes, and, in place thereof, the acquisition of the genuine article, the living waters of eternal life and joy.
'Has any one ever acquired this bliss ? ''what is the proof that these statements are true ?’ and many other like questions will naturally arise in the mind of the reader at this stage. He must, however, wait till he gets to the end of the book which will answer all of them, at their proper time and place.
In the meantime, we may emphasize the point that the pursuit of worldly pleasure is, sooner or later, bound to end in ennui and disgust, because the sense of pleasure chiefly depends on (1) the capacity to enjoy which decreases with age, and (2) the novelty of the sensation which wears off with intimacy and repetition, so that when both the capacity to enjoy and the novelty of the sensation are gone, the soul, whose thirst for happiness has nowise abated, is plunged into mourning over its lost power to enjoy itself with the objects of sense. This undesirable experience comes to every one, sooner or later in life; there is no favourite of fortune who can be said to be immune from it. When this feeling of ennui, or general dissatisfaction, takes possession of the soul, nothing but religion can come to its rescue. It is, however, by this time generally incapable of understanding the true principles of religion, and totally unfit to adapt itself to the life of physical and moral severity which is necessary for the attainment of Perfection and Bliss. Many persons who turn to religion
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