No one need be afraid of losing all backbone and becoming a “mush of concession” through the process of dropping useless resistance, for the strength of will required to free ourselves from the habit of pitting one’s own will against that of another is much greater than the strength we use when we indulge the habit.  The two kinds of strength can no more be compared than the power of natural law can be compared to the lawless efforts of human waywardness.  For the will that is pitted against the will of another degenerates into obstinacy, and weakens the character; whereas the will that is used truly to refuse useless resistance increases steadily in strength, and develops power and beauty of character.  Again, the man who insists upon pitting his will against that of another is constantly blinded as to the true qualities of his opponent.  He sees neither his virtues nor his vices clearly; whereas he who declines the merely personal contest becomes constantly clarified in his views, and so helped toward a loving charity for his opponent,—­whatever his faults or difficulties may be,—­and to an understanding and love of the good in him, which does not identify him with his faults.

When we resent and resist, and are personally wilful, there is a great big beam in our eye, which we cannot see through, or under, or over,—­but, as we gain our freedom from all such resistance, the beam is removed, and we are permitted to see things as they really are, and with a truer sense of proportion, our power of use increases.

When a person is arguing with all the force of personal wilfulness, it is both pleasant and surprising to observe the effect upon him if he begins to feel your perfect willingness that he should believe in his own way, and your willingness to go with him, too, if his way should prove to be right.  His violence melts to quietness because you give him nothing to resist.  The same happy effect comes from facing any one in anger, without resistance, but with a quiet mind and a loving heart.  If the anger does not melt—­as it often does—­it is modified and weakened, and—­as far as we are concerned—­it cannot touch or hurt us.

We must remember always that it is not the repression or concealment of resentment and resistance, and forbearing to express them, that can free us from bondage to others; it is overcoming any trace of resentment or resistance within our own hearts and minds.  If the resistance is in us, we are just as much in bondage as if we expressed it in our words and actions.  If it is in us at all, it must express itself in one way or another,—­either in ill-health, or in unhappy states of mind, or in the tension of our bodies.  We must also remember that, when we are on the way to freedom from such habits of resistance, we may suffer from them for a long time after we have ceased to act from them.  When we are turning steadily away from them, the uncomfortable effects of past resistance may linger for a long while before every