The Effect of Order on the Life of the Individual and Society

Order is the fixed law of existence, without which nothing goes as it should and as is desired. It is the shining sun of life, which lights for the traveler its twisting roads and reveals its unknown stretches and its turnings.

Among the errors common in our conduct, individual and collective, is the lack of order and the poor shouldering of its responsibilities, which leads to chaos and confusion in every kind of work.

And among the chief causes of corruption are improvisation, the disregard of rules, and the mocking of laws. It is no secret that order, in any society, is the proof of the measure of its progress and its civilization, for it is the scale of justice, security, and stability, and the mark of an established life of the mind.

The smallest and humblest of tasks demands an order of its own; and many orders, above all the cosmic ones, are permanent and enduring: the individual is required to follow them, and they cannot be changed. The soil, for instance, does not grant the crop before the tilling and the sowing of the seed; yet many demand the fruit before the planting, and demand the profit before the work; and many desire to reach the summit while they flounder in a valley of muddle and neglect, or they want the goal though they have turned their backs upon it and set off walking in the opposite direction.

Everything in nature moves according to a fine and wondrous order, resting upon fixed scientific foundations; without it the universe would quake and sway — and man is but a part of this universe which order completes.

In the matters of the health of the individual and of society, in the questions of their livelihood and their culture, in the forming of qualities and inclinations, personal and public, in them both, the orders that are drawn up and followed have the deepest effect: they set the boundaries, they mark out the outlets, and they direct toward the goals.

Indifference to these orders, and neglect in valuing them, delays the course of work and casts a dark shadow of confusion over its results.

And among our errors is that every person throws the blame upon another, without settling his own share of this shortcoming and his own portion of this muddle. I once attended a meeting of a certain association over which much disorder reigned; every person criticized the prevailing confusion and blamed everyone but himself, though he had himself been one of the causes of that mischief.

This meeting of which I speak is nothing but a miniature picture of the lack of organization we see in the rest of our doings.

And this goes back to what we have grown used to: the inability to control the self and to call it to account, to bind it to the rules of order, to bear its responsibilities, and to face its difficulties in the various fields.

Thus we see the woman, in many of her household affairs, lay the blame, when a mistake occurs, upon the husband or the children or the servants. And we see the man likewise fail to analyze the matters that arise, in their proper times, and set down no rules to guard him from crises, so that disorder rules his unknown road. And with all that, he brings the blame down upon his workmen or his wife or others. How many a time has this led to the loosening of the bonds of the family, and to the lasting misery of its members.

And we hear everyone, for example, criticize the cleanliness of the country; then we see each one of this crowd — save a few — fail to observe the rules necessary for cleanliness to exist and for its means to be preserved, whether at home or at work or on the road; so the harmful filth spreads, injuring taste and mind and body.

And when a pupil fails, the parents do not look at the neglect they have committed against the boy, nor at the indifference the pupil has shown; they direct their criticism only at the school and its system, forgetting each his own duty toward the rules of study and teaching; so muddle occurs and shortcoming follows.

Order in our work is indispensable; the individual must follow it, so that the group may follow him; then all learn to face the responsibilities which breed dignity in the soul, whet resolve in work, and create firmness in the will.

There is then no cause for casting burdens upon those to whom they do not belong, for evasion and fear grow only where there is no management and no organization, and they bequeath weakness, humiliation, and servility — and this is far indeed from removing error and setting matters right.

Rather it is courage and honesty in judging conditions, personal and collective, and true discernment in the cause of order, that remove muddle and bewilderment from our minds and from our society.

The many centuries in which woman lived fettered and ignorant were among the causes of this bewilderment; she did not rise to responsibilities, did not think of the consequences that means bring in their train, and gave no weight to systems; and the effects of all this were grievous upon the individual, and thence upon society.

And this is what usually happens in every primitive society over which ignorance reigns and which civilization has not reached.

Among the marks of shortcoming with us is that everyone who wants to be rid of the wrong or hardship that besets him — and sometimes of defeats dragged upon him by bad thinking and bad organization — turns ill-tempered: his shouting rises and his clamor multiplies, to avenge himself upon the weakness of his own soul, which was unable to know the good because it never knew the drawing of plans, which are the foundations of success.

Everyone who has neglected a duty invents excuses for himself, to quench in his soul the revolt of truth, and to lull to sleep the dignity that cannot abide shortcoming. If every person accustomed himself to do what he demands that others do — were he in their place — following the ways of refined order, without indulgence toward his whims or deception of his conscience, every condition of the individual and of society would be set right.

Criticism without firm action on the part of the individual has become a hateful thing; and this will not disappear until order is made a habit from the very beginning, from childhood, in the home and the school and the street, under the guardianship of woman and with her participation, in mind and in practice, inside the home and outside it. And whoever grows used to order acquires in full the virtue of justice: he knows his own duty as he knows the duty of others, and knows his own error as he knows the error of others, because he is able to put matters back in their proper place.

And facing one's own soul frankly with its error is the first step of reform: the reform of the individual and the reform of society.

I once entered the house of one of my acquaintances, and found the lady in a state of great agitation and stormy anger. Before I could ask her what the matter was, she recounted to me the mistakes the servant had committed — enormous, in her eyes — and the consequences they had dragged upon the house and the children. I looked and I reflected, and I saw that the greater fault came back upon the lady, and that the servant's sin dwindled beside her own; and that had she been fair and just, she would have passed judgment on herself first; and had she paused and thought, she would have set things right, and would have known that the raging whirlwind

breaks the branches, uproots the trees, tears out the windows and the doors, and pulls down the tottering walls — it wrecks and does not mend. Indeed it is the wellspring of fear, anxiety, and aversion; while the calm breezes grant joy and refreshment; and a wise will, sound guidance, and balanced conduct set right the hidden places of souls and put in order the outward faces of things and their inward ones.

The responsibility of the housewife can never be equal to the responsibility of the servant; and the laying down of the family's order, and its protection, falls upon her shoulders before those of any other member of the household.

And when the household budget deteriorates, ill temper rules its members: the man begins to brand the woman with extravagance, and the woman begins to trace the fault back to the man, to his squandering or his negligence — and thence a discord without end. Yet the setting of a system for the budget, in which expenditure balances income, prevents the deterioration, keeps discord away, and preserves dignities.

And let no one suppose that haste in snatching a benefit, before thinking of the good or ill that surrounds it, makes matters go straight. Rather, the near benefit that rests upon recklessness is short of life, and sometimes grievous in its outcome, above all if it carries harm within its skin. The wise man is he who forgoes it for the sake of a comprehensive benefit, one that proceeds upon a firm order of justice which the whirlwinds of passions cannot shake.

The gift of criticism among us is lively and rebellious upon every lip and tongue, which points to awareness and wakefulness. But everything that revolts without order perishes before it prospers and builds. With criticism, then, must march the task of organization, and the task of confessing the pure truth, that plain right may prevail.

Yes, criticism is no evil omen; it is a sign of understanding, of development, and of life — on condition that knowledge and sincerity accompany it; that it be supported by the criticism of one's own errors before the errors of others; that it be aided by the desire for reform, not the lust for defamation and the love of revenge; and that justice attend it, and a tolerance built upon knowledge of man and of the qualities and inclinations he harbors within him.

And behold, the world today is like a raging volcano: shall not every man set his affairs in order, making himself ready for the events to come? And shall not woman rise and take her part in this ordering, showing worthiness and experience, and a readiness to draw plans and to carry responsibilities?

For order, though it may take hold of man with a certain severity and bluntness at times, is a guarantee of ease, of rest, of peace of mind, and of a dignified life, because it is the child of sound and mature thinking.