If we once fairly experienced it, we should
never go back to or be content with the
husks and shells of our old life of fears, resentments,
hatreds, narrowness, miseries, — in a
word, selfishness in its Protean forms.
Did we ever find anything but good whenever
we have, even in any slight degree,
brought the high qualities of our nature into
activity ? The true satisfaction, the inner
reward, the deep gratification thereof, we have
well known when we have let them sway our
minds and hearts. We shall never know,
however, the full blessedness they give — the
full blessedness they are — until we allow
them to reign supreme within us. This would
be the ideal life.

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