e thing. Have you ever heard of a person who cared nothing
for money?

Y.M. Yes. A scholar who would not leave his garret and his books to take
a place in a business house at a large salary.

O.M. He had to satisfy his master--that is to say, his temperament, his
Spiritual Appetite--and it preferred books to money. Are there other
cases?

Y.M. Yes, the hermit.

O.M. It is a good instance. The hermit endures solitude, hunger, cold,
and manifold perils, to content his autocrat, who prefers these things,
and prayer and contemplation, to money or to any show or luxury that
money can buy. Are there others?

Y.M. Yes. The artist, the poet, the scientist.

O.M. Their autocrat prefers the deep pleasures of these occupations,
either well paid or ill paid, to any others in the market, at any
price. You REALIZE that the Master Passion--the contentment of the
spirit--concerns itself with many things besides so-called material
advantage, material prosperity, cash, and all that?

Y.M. I think I must concede it.

O.M. I believe you must. There are perhaps as many Temperaments that
would refuse the burdens and vexations and distinctions of public office
as there are that hunger after them. The one set of Temperaments seek
the contentment of the spirit, and that alone; and this is exactly the
case with the other set. Neither set seeks anything BUT the contentment
of the spirit. If the one is sordid, both are sordid; and equally so,
since the end in view is precisely the same in both cases. And in both
cases Temperament decides the preference--and Temperament is BORN, not
made.

Conclusion

O.M. You have been taking a holiday?

Y.M. Yes; a mountain tramp covering a week. Are you ready to talk?

O.M. Quite ready. What shall we begin with?

Y.M. Well, lying abed resting up, two days and nights, I have thought
over all these talks, and passed them carefully in review. With this
result: that... that... are you intending to publish your notions about
Man some day?

O.M. Now and then, in these past twenty years, the Master inside of me
has half-intended to order me to set them to paper and publish them.
Do I have to tell you why the order has remained unissued, or can you
explain so simply a thing without my help?

Y.M. By your doctrine, it is simplicity itself: outside influences moved
your interior Master to give the order; stronger outside influences
deterred him. Without the outside influences, neither of these impu