THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS 



the philosophy of Epicurus differed not a jot in its 

 motives from every other philosophy. All philosophical 

 systems seek the road to happiness. If some modern 

 philosophers deplore the ideals of epicureanism, it is 

 not the actual ideal, but a false conception of that 

 ideal, which they deprecate. 



In this new age of science, it would seem that the 

 time had come to put aside something of the dog- 

 matic prudery of the Middle Ages, freely acknowl- 

 edging that the old Greek had keen insight when he 

 declared that, rightly considered, pleasure is, in the last 

 analysis, the only good ; and urging that such acknowl- 

 edgment goes hand in hand with the fullest aims of 

 idealism in the mental, the social, and the moral worlds. 



Let us learn to realize that a healthful exercise of 

 all normal bodily functions is in the highest degree 

 moral. What makes for bodily health makes also for 

 spiritual health and a healthy organism would seem 

 to be the great specific ideal of Nature. Bodily health 

 will make for clearer thinking, a better appreciation 

 and practise of justice toward our fellow men, a kindlier 

 philosophy of living all of them steps toward the goal 

 of happiness. Therefore, a well-rounded personality, 

 physical, mental, social, and moral, is the enviable 

 personality. 



Consider for a moment how woefully most of us fall 

 short of this ideal, even as to the most elementary 

 functions: 



It is a daily paradox that most of us never learn to 

 perform the commonest bodily functions even ap- 

 proximately as well as we might. We take air into our 



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