Page:About people (IA aboutpeople00well).pdf/47

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INDIVIDUALITY IN HOME.
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the point. Who can tell whether it is a good or bad something?

The consensus of the competent is needed as judge of the right; but the hour may come when one alone is competent. Then the multitude stand aloof and gaze. Only when the voice of the wise is as the sound of many waters do the people praise. An individual who is such for the sake of growth, and not from aggressiveness or a liking for peculiarity, feels the sting in everything that separates him from his fellows; it is painful work to be alone, yet to be alone with one's truth often means living farther from men and nearer to God, and what begins as an act of self-protection becomes the religious deed and communion with the Most High. As we swing ourselves on to the heights we must often feel the pain that comes to us through the self-complacency of others, who misunderstand our simple longing to be true, our unconsciousness is disturbed, and we analyze our motives till afraid of ourselves.

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