COOPERATION 809cooperative effort) as all who have attained high places in the world have
discovered.
Wherever people are engaged in unfriendly combat, no matter
what may be its nature or its cause, one may observe the nearness of
one of these maelstroms that awaits the combatants.
Success in life cannot be attained except through peaceful, har-
monious cooperative effort. Nor can success be attained single-handedly
or independently. Even a person who lives as a hermit in the wilder-
ness, far from all signs of civilization, is nevertheless dependent on
forces outside of themself for an existence. The more one becomes a
part of civilization, the more dependent on cooperative effort they be-
come. Whether they earn their living by working, or from the interest
on the fortune they have amassed, they will earn it with less opposi-
tion through friendly Cooperation with others. Moreover, the person
whose philosophy is based on Cooperation instead of competition will
not only acquire the necessities and the luxuries of life with less effort,
but they will also enj~y an extra reward in happiness such as others will
never feel.
Fortunes that are ~cquired through cooperative effort inflict no scars
on the hearts of their owners, which is more than can be said of for-
tunes that are acquired through conflict and competitive methods that
border on extortion.
The accumulation of material wealth, whether the object is that
of bare existence or of luxury, consumes most of the time that we
put into this earthly struggle. If we cannot change this materialistic
tendency of human nature, we can, at least, change the method of pur-
suing it by adopting Cooperation as the basis of the pursuit.
Cooperation offers the twofold reward of providing one with both
the necessities and the luxuries of life and the peace of mind that the
greedy never know. The avaricious and covetous person may amass a
great fortune in material wealth, there is no denying this, but they will
have sold their soul in the bargain.