There are many phases of minding other people's business to the detriment of one's own, some seemingly very harmless, yet all tending to destroy the real usefulness of the offender. They who are continually looking for and expecting favors from others can not be said to be attending strictly to their own business. This method may seemingly advance selfish ends, but can not bring permanent good because true development comes only through rightly directed personal effort.

Much valuable time is spent in giving advice to others that is neither needed nor desired. Were the same time spent in living an example of superior wisdom, it would prove more effective than many words of advice. Freedom is essential to the highest growth and development of the individual; and it is absolutely necessary, in order to be free, to respect the rights of others. There need be no selfishness involved in this attitude which tends to individualize the life. Whenever a demand is made by others, minding one's own business does not in any way interfere with doing them good by lending a helping hand.

Questioning the motives of others is another phase of minding other people's business, and a lack of generosity in this respect too often reveals the same underlying motive attributed to others by the self-appointed critic.

From true individualization will flow the larger social life; the ideals of the few, when practically applied, eventually become the ideals of the many. There is no conflict between real individualism and real socialism; they are the two halves of one truth. Individual and economic freedom must go hand in hand in order to bring about better social conditions in the world.

No individual stands alone. He is an integral part of society, and the real law never works for the benefit of any one individual to the exclusion of all others. The law works to bring about the larger good to humanity; thus the individual, in turn, enters into the larger, the happier life because of the good that has come to the many.

The man, then, who has made the greatest success in life is the one who has been the greatest benefactor to the race, is the one who receives the love of the many. It is only as he has given of himself to the many that the many in turn give to him. A man may have an abundance of this world's goods, but without the love and respect of his fellow man his life is a barren one. It can in no way be considered a success. The real riches of life are not made up of material accumulation, but consist in the development of all the qualities necessary to the well-being of man, and these are the things that in turn bring him into touch with his fellow man, so that he is able in a sympathetic way to enter into the lives of many, understanding their needs and knowing how he can best be useful to them.

The man who has succeeded in doing this is the truly successful man, is the man who will never know want - want of love, friendship, or respect, or want of any material thing; because he has sought and found God's kingdom. Having come into the inner kingdom, and being also in true relation to the outer kingdom, he has not only an abundance within, but that inner abundance finds true outer expression. True it is he is not weighted down by vast accumulations bringing with them untold responsibilities, for it is well to remember right here that vast material wealth brings with it tremendous responsibilities, responsibilities that are not always recognized, but which, nevertheless, exist, and only as they are fulfilled does it become possible for the rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is a state of peace and harmony - peace and harmony in one's own mind, and peace and harmony with the rest of mankind; and if one is not living up to the requirements of life, but shirking its responsibilities, there can be no such peace and harmony. Individual success, then, must never be considered apart from its effect upon society. If the effect of any given course of action by the individual proves beneficial to society, then there must be a corresponding benefit or success to the individual. So, the wise course for the individual to follow in each and all of his undertakings is to ask himself two questions: First, what is going to be the effect of my action upon the lives of people with whom I am associated? Second, what is going to be the effect of it upon my own life? When he has decided that the effect will prove to be good upon others, the second is easy to answer. That which is good to the many, must of necessity be good for the individual. In the highest and truest sense, real success can never come to any one who puts the accomplishment of mere personal ends in advance of the greater good he might do to the world at large. Real success in life is attained through losing sight of the personal self and working for the realization of some great and good end which will benefit and uplift humanity in a physical, or a moral, or an intellectual way.

Selfishness is that false quality in man which breeds suspicion of other men, and the suspicion in the mind of the selfish man will call out suspicion in the minds of others toward him, thereby making it the less possible for him to become really successful. The truly upright man can never be selfish. He may desire his own good, he may desire an abundance of this world's good, but he will not desire them at the expense of others; for in the pathway to success one can never expect to reach the goal through the failure of some one else. The world may think differently, but the world is not right. The man who makes the greatest success is the one who is thoroughly mindful of other people's interests, realizing that his own good is inseparably bound with the good coming to others with whom he may be associated. He will be considerate and fair in all his dealings. He will realize that justice and honor are the true basic principles for a successful life, and this sense of justice and honor in him will appeal to the minds of those he is associated with, and will be recognized, doing away with suspicion or anything that could act to the man's detriment. The real success of life is not what an individual accomplishes for himself, but the good he has been able to bring to others. A life which has been devoted to the acquisition of wealth, knowledge, or even spiritual development, for a purely personal gain, is a life that has been wasted. In seeking to find itself it has been lost in the tangle of personality. Man may have wealth and be successful, if he is using the wealth that has been intrusted to his care in a wise and judicious way, by helping others to help themselves - not by accumulating and hoarding for the sake of accumulation or any personal end. Man may be successful in the field of knowledge, but only as he seeks to impart some of his own knowledge to those less developed than himself, and through the giving he receives a still greater store of knowledge.

One may become successful in life without a thoroughly intellectual knowledge of the laws of life by being intuitively led into conformity to law. Nevertheless, the one who has an intellectual understanding of law, as well as an intuitive perception, is better equipped for a successful life. He then has reason for his inner faith. He knows intellectually that discordant, inharmonious results come from a violation of law, and he is led to ask himself the question as to how he has violated it. Getting at the causes, he is able to adjust himself in a way entirely satisfactory to his own mind. This process of readjustment is most essential. Excessive friction and inharmony show a lack of adjustment to environment and that a thorough readjustment is necessary. Therefore, the great process of life is to adjust one's life in accord with law, and when changes and new developments come, to bring about a readjustment so that through the perfect balance of life will come the real joy of living.

Because, success that does not bring with it a joy in life and a joy in doing can not be considered real success - at least it is only partial. The really successful man is the one who delights in his work, and who gets a thorough satisfaction from the many other things in the world about him.

One who would be successful is going to profit by understanding the true relation be tween the inner and outer worlds. He shall see that all outer things exist because of inner causes; that his own product, be it what it may in the world, is an expression of his own mind and thought. In order, therefore, to have that expression perfect and harmonious without, the inner cause, his own mind and thought must be thoroughly harmonious. By doing away with friction in the inner he avoids friction in the outer. Thus he consciously works from cause to effect.

The real elements of success are not so much in one's environment as in one's own mind. A man must look there, then, for the real cause of success in life, and not to chance, luck, environment, or any external thing.

To sum up, the elements of success might be enumerated as follows: a study of the inner law of life, and a study of the expression of that law in the outer world. The results flowing from such knowledge would be integrity, honor, clear insight, courage, perseverance, concentration of mind, and, over and above all, the great soul-qualities, faith, hope, and love, that can not be pictured by mind nor exprest by words, but which all may feel and all may give expression to if they will do so. For they are latent as living force and power in the lives of all men: faith in God, faith in the power given us which comes from God, faith in our fellow men, faith, in fact, that everything is working together for our good, and the good of all; hope that will fill the mind with brightness, that will cause us to turn away from the gloom and despondency of life, that will bring gladness to our hearts, making our very faces radiate with the truest joy. Thus, our hope and faith may find abiding places in the minds of many. And a love receiving God in the soul, knowing God in the inmost, will bring us in vital touch with God in the lives of others; a love so wise and all embracing that kindness will flow to every living and moving thing; a love that will tend to bring God's kingdom here and now that His will may be done on earth even as it is done in heaven.

The individual who realizes the truth contained in these things will be the one who is the most eminently successful in life, whose life will become one unending joy.