Book of Life

Upton Sinclair

Description

Best known as the rabble-rousing journalist responsible for penning the shocking novel exposing unsafe practices in the meat industry, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair was an insatiably curious free-thinker who also focused a great deal of his writing on what would be called "self-help" today. In The Book of Life, he takes on a remarkable array of topics both benign and highly charged, ranging from moral philosophy to his views on diet, exercise and health.

Sujets

• Mind
• Body
• Spirit

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781776531790
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE BOOK OF LIFE
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UPTON SINCLAIR
 
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The Book of Life First published in 1921 Epub ISBN 978-1-77653-179-0 Also available: PDF ISBN 978-1-77653-180-6 © 2013 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Introductory VOLUME ONE: MIND AND BODY PART ONE - THE BOOK OF THE MIND Chapter I - The Nature of Life Chapter II - The Nature of Faith Chapter III - The Use of Reason Chapter IV - The Origin of Morality Chapter V - Nature and Man Chapter VI - Man the Rebel Chapter VII - Making Our Morals Chapter VIII - The Virtue of Moderation Chapter IX - The Choosing of Life Chapter X - Myself and My Neighbor Chapter XI - The Mind and the Body Chapter XII - The Mind of the Body Chapter XIII - Exploring the Subconscious Chapter XIV - The Problem of Immortality Chapter XV - The Evidence for Survival Chapter XVI - The Powers of the Mind Chapter XVII - The Conduct of the Mind PART TWO - THE BOOK OF THE BODY Chapter XVIII - The Unity of the Body Chapter XIX - Experiments in Diet Chapter XX - Errors in Diet Chapter XXI - Diet Standards Chapter XXII - Foods and Poisons Chapter XXIII - More About Health Chapter XXIV - Work and Play Chapter XXV - The Fasting Cure Chapter XXVI - Breaking the Fast XXVII - Diseases and Cures VOLUME TWO: LOVE AND SOCIETY PART THREE - THE BOOK OF LOVE Chapter XXVIII - The Reality of Marriage Chapter XXIX - The Development of Marriage Chapter XXX - Sex and Young America Chapter XXXI - Sex and the "Smart Set" Chapter XXXII - Sex and the Poor Chapter XXXIII - Sex and Nature Chapter XXXIV - Love and Economics Chapter XXXV - Marriage and Money Chapter XXXVI - Love Versus Lust Chapter XXXVII - Celibacy Versus Chastity Chapter XXXVIII - The Defense of Love Chapter XXXIX - Birth Control Chapter XL - Early Marriage Chapter XLI - The Marriage Club Chapter XLII - Education for Marriage Chapter XLIII - The Money Side of Marriage Chapter XLIV - The Defense of Monogamy Chapter XLV - The Problem of Jealousy Chapter XLVI - The Problem of Divorce Chapter XLVII - The Restriction of Divorce PART FOUR - THE BOOK OF SOCIETY Chapter XLVIII - The Ego and the World Chapter XLVIX - Competition and Co-Operation Chapter L - Aristocracy and Democracy Chapter LI - Ruling Classes Chapter LII - The Process of Social Evolution Chapter LIII - Industrial Evolution Chapter LIV - The Class Struggle Chapter LV - The Capitalist System Chapter LVI - The Capitalist Process Chapter LVII - Hard Times Chapter LVIII - The Iron Ring Chapter LIX - Foreign Markets Chapter LX - Capitalist War Chapter LXI - The Possibilities of Production Chapter LXII - The Cost of Competition Chapter LXIII - Socialism and Syndicalism Chapter LXIV - Communism and Anarchism Chapter LXV - Social Revolution Chapter LXVI - Confiscation or Compensation Chapter LXVII - Expropriating the Expropriators Chapter LXVIII - The Problem of the Land Chapter LXIX - The Control of Credit Chapter LXX - The Control of Industry Chapter LXXI - The New World Chapter LXXII - Agricultural Production Chapter LXXIII - Intellectual Production Chapter LXXIV - Mankind Remade Endnotes
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To Kate Crane Gartz in acknowledgment of her unceasing efforts for a better world, and her fidelity to those who struggle to achieve it.
Introductory
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The writer of this book has been in this world some forty-two years.That may not seem long to some, but it is long enough to have made manypainful mistakes, and to have learned much from them. Looking about him,he sees others making these same mistakes, suffering for lack of thatsame knowledge which he has so painfully acquired. This being the case,it seems a friendly act to offer his knowledge, minus the blunders andthe pain.
There come to the writer literally thousands of letters every year,asking him questions, some of them of the strangest. A man is dying ofcancer, and do I think it can be cured by a fast? A man is unable tomake his wife happy, and can I tell him what is the matter with women? Aman has invested his savings in mining stock, and can I tell him what todo about it? A man works in a sweatshop, and has only a little time forself-improvement, and will I tell him what books he ought to read? Manysuch questions every day make one aware of a vast mass of people,earnest, hungry for happiness, and groping as if in a fog. The thingsthey most need to know they are not taught in the schools, nor in thenewspapers they read, nor in the church they attend. Of these agencies,the first is not entirely competent, the second is not entirely honest,and the third is not entirely up to date. Nor is there anywhere a bookin which the effort has been made to give to everyday human beings theeveryday information they need for the successful living of their lives.
For the present book the following claims may be made. First, it is amodern book; its writer watches hour by hour the new achievements of thehuman mind, he reaches out for information about them, he seeks toadjust his own thoughts to them and to test them in his own living.Second, it is, or tries hard to be, a wise book; its writer is not amongthose too-ardent young radicals who leap to the conclusion that becausemany old things are stupid and tiresome, therefore everything that isold is to be spurned with contempt, and everything that proclaims itselfnew is to be taken at its own valuation. Third, it is an honest book;its writer will not pretend to know what he only guesses, and where itis necessary to guess, he will say so frankly. Finally, it is a kindbook; it is not written for its author's glory, nor for his enrichment,but to tell you things that may be useful to you in the brief span ofyour life. It will attempt to tell you how to live, how to find healthand happiness and success, how to work and how to play, how to eat andhow to sleep, how to love and to marry and to care for your children,how to deal with your fellow men in business and politics and sociallife, how to act and how to think, what religion to believe, what art toenjoy, what books to read. A large order, as the boys phrase it!
There are several ways for such a book to begin. It might begin with thechild, because we all begin that way; it might begin with love, becausethat precedes the child; it might begin with the care of the body,explaining that sound physical health is the basis of all right living,and even of right thinking; it might begin as most philosophies do, bydefining life, discussing its origin and fundamental nature.
The trouble with this last plan is that there are a lot of people whohave their ideas on life made up in tabloid form; they have creeds andcatechisms which they know by heart, and if you suggest to them anythingdifferent, they give you a startled look and get out of your way. Andthen there is another, and in our modern world a still larger class, whosay, "Oh, shucks! I don't go in for religion and that kind of thing."You offer them something that looks like a sermon, and they turn to thebaseball page.
Who will read this Book of Life? There will be, among others, the greatAmerican tired business man. He wrestles with problems and cares allday, and when he sits down to read in the evening, he says: "Make itshort and snappy." There is the wife of the tired business man, theAmerican perfect lady. She does most of the reading for the family; butshe has never got down to anything fundamental in her life, and mostlyshe likes to read about exciting love affairs, which she distinguishesfrom the unexciting kind she knows by the word "romance." Then there isthe still more tired American workingman, who has been "speeded up" allday under the bonus system or the piece-work system, and is apt to fallasleep in his chair before he finishes supper. Then there is theworkingman's wife, who has slaved all day in the kitchen, and has achance for a few minutes' intimacy with her husband before he fallsasleep. She would like to have somebody tell her what to do for croup,but she is not sure that she has time to discuss the question whetherlife is worth living.
Yet, I wonder; is there a single one among all these tired people, oreven among the cynical people, who has not had some moment of awe whenthe thought came stabbing into his mind like a knife: "What a strangething this life is! What am I anyhow? Where do I come from, and what isgoing to become of me? What do I mean, what am I here for?" I have satchatting with three hoboes by a railroad track, cooking themselves amulligan in an old can, and heard one of them say: "By God, it's a queerthing, ain't it, mate?" I have sat on the deck of a ship, looking outover the midnight ocean and talking with a sailor, and heard him usealmost the identical words. It is not only in the class-room and theschools that the minds of men are grappling with the fundamentalproblems; in fact, it was not from the schools that the new religionsand the great moral impulses of humanity took their origin. It was fromlonely shepherds sitting on the hillsides, and from fishermen castingtheir nets, and from carpenters and tailors and shoemakers at theirbenches.
Stop and think a bit, and you will realize it does make a differencewhat you believe about life, how it comes to be, where it is going, andwhat is your place in it. Is there a heaven with a God, who watches youday and night, and knows every thought you think, and will some day takeyou to eternal bliss if you obey his laws? If you really believe that,you will try to find out about his laws, and you