Árdís - 01.01.1964, Page 23

Ársrit Bandalags lúterskra kvenna
21
Perfection
LILJA M. GUTTORMSSON
Most of us, perhaps all of us, have, at one time or another,
made resolutions to become better persons, to do better work, to
think what is true, to do what is right. The beginning of a new
year is the popular time for making such resolutions; we pause
on the threshold of a new period of time, taking stock of our suc-
cesses and failures in the past and resolving to mend our ways.
We start off on the right track, but, in a month or two, we find
that we have almost forgotten our resolutions and have gone off
the track once more.
Henry Drummond, Scottish scientist, author, lecturer, evan-
gelist, born in 1851, died in 1897, gives his opinion on Resolution
in a famous lecture entitled, “The Changed Life”. He calls it a self-
sufficient method, one of four imperfect methods of producing
better lives. He claims there is no salvation in will-power, in mere
spasms of earnestness; Christ had held up this method almost to
ridicule when He said, “Which of you by taking thought can add
a cubit to his stature?”
The second imperfect method is the self-crucifixion method,
whereby the experimenter concentrates on a single sin, one at a
time, crucifying it steadily. The author objects to this method on
the grounds that life is too short and the sins too many, that deal-
ing with one sin left the other sins for the time uncurbed, and that
it did not affect the root and spring of the disease; he objects for
the reason that religion does not consist in negatives, and that the
perfect character can never be produced with a pruning knife.
The third, the mimetic method, is the opposite to the self-
crucifixion method. The experimenter in this case copies the virtues
one by one. The author objects to this method because it produces
an artificial character, over-balanced and incongruous; because
character is a unity, and all the virtues must advance together to
make the perfect man.
The fourth, the diary method, is used by the very young man,
who keeps a private note-book with columns for the days of the
week, and a list of virtues with spaces against each for marks. This,