Page:The astral world, higher occult powers; (IA astralworldhighe00tiff).pdf/193

 *cient unto the day are the evils thereof," and sufficient unto the day are the duties and pleasures thereof. Man can not take being and existence by anticipation, neither can he take their true incidents in that way. All anticipations of pleasure by which the individual is made to live in the future, to the neglect of the present, are lustful and illegitimate, and antagonize with man's true nature and destiny, and consequently tend to defeat true happiness. That this is so, all human experience affirms. That this must be so, the philosophy of true happiness demonstrates.

There is no room for controversy upon this point. It is most evident that true happiness can only flow to the finite by fulfilling the true desires of the finite, and that complete satisfaction can only take place when every true desire or demand is complied with.

Now it must follow that every true desire is indicative of a real need of the being in which it exists; and consequently when every need is supplied, every true desire must be gratified, and true happiness must be the result. And as every need has respect to that which pertains to the present, every true desire belongs to the present, and asks present fulfillment.

From considerations of this kind it becomes evident that anticipated pleasures are illegitimate, and belong to the school of lusts, and do not tend to beget true happiness; and that just in proportion as the individual is absorbed in the anticipated pleasures or duties of the morrow, he is disregarding the true law of his being, neglecting present needs, and laying the foundation for defeating the very end he seeks. Man, as a physical, intellectual, moral, and religious being, has