hat it
should do so by reaching its own level, and then got indignant because
he did not succeed, and wondered if there were not some "cure" by means
of which his object might be accomplished. And yet it is no more
strange for a man to disobey habitually the laws of character, and then
to suffer for his disobedience, and wonder why he suffers.

There is an external necessity for obeying social laws which must be
respected, or society would go to pieces; and there is just as great an
internal necessity for obeying spiritual laws to gain our proper
self-control and power for use; but we do not recognize that necessity
because, while disregarding the laws of character, we can still live
without the appearance of doing harm to the community. Social laws can
be respected in the letter but not in the spirit, whereas spiritual
laws must be accepted by the individual heart and practiced by the
individual will in order to produce any useful result. Each one of us
must do the required work in himself. There is no "cure," no help from
outside which can bring one to a lasting freedom.

If self-consciousness makes us blush, the more we are troubled the more
it increases, until the blushing may become so unbearable that we are
tempted to keep away from people altogether; and thus life, so far as
human fellowship goes, would become more and more limited. But, when
such a limitation is allowed to remain within us, and we make no effort
of our own to find its root and to exterminate it, it warps us through
and through. If self-consciousness excites us to talk, and we talk on
and on to no end, simply allowing the selfish suffering to goad us, the
habit weakens our brains so that in time they lose the power of strong
consecutive thought and helpful brevity.

If self-consciousness causes us to wriggle, and strain, and stammer,
and we do not recognize the root of the trouble and shun it, and learn
to yield and quietly relax our nerves and muscles, of course the strain
becomes worse. Then, rather than suffer from it any longer, we keep
away from people, just as the blushing man is tempted to do. In that
case, the strain is still in us, in the back of our brains, so to
speak--because we have not faced and overcome it.

Stage fright is an intense form of self-consciousness, but the man who
is incapable of stage fright lacks the sensitive temperament required
to achieve great power as an artist. The man who overcomes stage fright
by getting