Interest yourself chiefly in the progress of your journey and do not look forward to its end with eagerness. Then when you look back you will notice the great distance you have advanced. If you have advanced say only three miles a day at the end of a year you would have covered a 1000 which is considerable. a little added constantly will go a long way to sustain and progress in the bigger picture. Yes we ought to interest ourselves chiefly in the progress of our work, and not to look forward to its end with eagerness for it not only spoils work but spoils life itself.
A truly intellectual philosophy must begin by recognizing the fact that the intellectual paths are infinitely long, that there will always be new horizons beyond the horizon that is before us, and that we must accept a gradual advance as the law of our intellectual life. It is our business to move forward, but we ought to do so without any great feeling of hurry. Our impatiences come mainly from an amateurish doubt about our own capacity, which is accompanied by a fevered eagerness to see the work done, because we are tormented by both hopes and fears so long as the work is in progress. We have fears that it may not turn out as it ought to do, and we have at the same time hopes for its success. Both these causes produce eagerness, and deprive one of tranquility which distinguishes a through workman and which is necessary to thoroughness in the work itself.
This can be experienced in the conduct of most experienced painters in the management of their work, the masterly coolness they exhibit in the management of their work. He will usually have several pictures at a time on the easels a will pass an hour upon one and move to another simply as the state of the pigment invites him. It should be an art in cultivation and not travelling.
A truly intellectual philosophy must begin by recognizing the fact that the intellectual paths are infinitely long, that there will always be new horizons beyond the horizon that is before us, and that we must accept a gradual advance as the law of our intellectual life. It is our business to move forward, but we ought to do so without any great feeling of hurry. Our impatiences come mainly from an amateurish doubt about our own capacity, which is accompanied by a fevered eagerness to see the work done, because we are tormented by both hopes and fears so long as the work is in progress. We have fears that it may not turn out as it ought to do, and we have at the same time hopes for its success. Both these causes produce eagerness, and deprive one of tranquility which distinguishes a through workman and which is necessary to thoroughness in the work itself.
This can be experienced in the conduct of most experienced painters in the management of their work, the masterly coolness they exhibit in the management of their work. He will usually have several pictures at a time on the easels a will pass an hour upon one and move to another simply as the state of the pigment invites him. It should be an art in cultivation and not travelling.
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