THE SECRET CHAMBER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23704, 11 January 1939, Page 10

THE SECRET CHAMBER

There is much to be done in the stream of the world, but the world will see to that; there is also something to be done in stillness, and there is also a time “to stand and stare ” (writes Dr Ernest Barker, political economist and philosopher, in musing on “ The Values of Life ”). Where shall a man find his secret chamber, and the leisure to spend time there, and the courage to enter and shut the door? It is the most difficult of the questions which We are asked to answer. But it contains, or it implies, the last and ultimate duty which a man owes to himself! 'to others through himself, and to the self which is behind himself and all other selves. Solitude never need be solitary; and contemplation is so far from being the opposite of action that it is ? at its height, the mother and mainspring of all considered and fruitful action. “In the patience of thyself thou shalt gain the soul of thyself.” The soul that is gained in solitude and contemplation goes out beyond itself, even in the act and article of standing by itself. It goes out to practise the sense of eternity and communication with the Eternal.