In the matter of sympathy and good will, there is often just the same abuse of the great law of giving and receiving. We offer a maudlin pity that degrades the receiver and weakens the giver. In this way we put ourselves on the plane with the weakest, and so make it impossible to be of any real service to him. We can never help a man to be better and stronger by talking and condoling with him as to his weaknesses.

We can never call out the good in another by dwelling on the evil. Think of him as good, and this makes it the easier for him to realize your thought of him. Wherever there is the true giving there is no need to consider the matter of receiving. It takes care of itself. Only this, when things come - whether material or immaterial - do not let the spirit of pride prevent the benefit that comes from generous receiving. You hear some one say: "But I don't want to be dependent; I love to give, but I don't like to be under obligations." Now this is all wrong. Give others an opportunity to feel the joy of giving. We are not keeping the law in poise and balance if we want to do all the giving. It is as bad as the other extreme of withholding when another needs. We often give most truly by receiving, and we keep only as we give freely away. "He that loseth his life shall find it." There are many phases of independence. Some people think that brutal frankness is independence. They believe that speaking out whatever is in their minds, or anything that is true, without any other consideration, proves them independent. Now, any inconsiderate-ness or unkindness can not fail to hurt another, and whatever hurts another must hurt ourselves as well. It is impossible to affect another for either good or evil without ourselves being influenced in the same way and to the same extent. We do not need to tell unkind things of another, even if they are facts, in order to prove our own truthfulness. We do not need to say that we are truthful. Our lives will stand for that. A true independence would be as kind as it is strong. No matter what the words spoken, the motive prompting them would somehow find expression. If one has the good of a person at heart this will make itself felt, and the word spoken in gentleness leaves the deepest impress. Then as to that class of actions called independent. Often when one person, justly or unjustly, feels he has cause to dislike another, he will scorn any overture from that other. He may "forgive" him, but he will not want to accept any favor from him. Now just stop and think what this means - he is standing in the way of that individual's doing something that would make his life better. He feels he has hurt the other, and wants to do something to show his change of attitude and to make reparation. The person injured spurns that effort, and thereby hinders his own growth and development as well as that of the other. Now this is not independence, but short-sighted obstinacy, pride, and arrogance. True independence, as I understand it, is this: the knowledge that in life all acts react, none can separate himself, but all contribute, each to the other's good, and all to the good of the whole. The true independence is where each would scorn to do less than his best, to give less than his real self, and so the best and the truest comes back to each. This does not mean that all relationship with one's fellows are on a level - that there are no close, warm, personal ties of sympathy and friendship. Even with near friends there are degrees of friendship. We can love all, and yet love some more than others. John, because he had unfolded more to the love principle, could best understand Jesus, and so came into closest companionship with Him. I can conceive of nothing so much to be desired in this world - or any other - as that we love all our fellow men. Not that we love our friends only, or those that love us, but that, without exception and without effort, we love all. There will always be some that are closest, but if we live from the center, if we live out our true, our deepest selves, there is no reason why the spirit of love should not bring us in touch with all. It is not the love that comes to us, but that which we give out that really enriches our lives. If I could love everybody and everything in this world, it would seem to me I had achieved the grandest, the highest, and most wonderful thing of all life. If this is true, then, is not the life of true independence the life of service, of benefit to others, of answering to their needs? "Give to him that asketh of thee; and of him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away." Let the demand come from wherever it will - it does not matter. From relatives or from strangers - it should be all the same with us in our giving - wherever there is a genuine need, there we should give. This is the plan of life - only as we give out will more come into our lives. You know when you exhale the breath thoroughly, the air rushes back into the lungs again without stint. The effort is in the exhaling, there is none required in the inhaling. So in our lives we must put forth the effort in our actions - in the outgoing - and the return will be without fail. This illustrates the truth that God is more willing to give than we are to receive. This does not mean a personal God, who is at times benign and gracious, and at times indifferent or implacable, but the Law of Love, which is the undying power of the Universe. In the true interdependence there lies the life of perfect freedom. There is nothing contradictory in dependence and independence; in the balance of both lies the truth, and those who poise their lives between the two extremes are giving real service to the world.