Toward the Sunny Shore: A Guide to Living Joyfully by Norbert F. Čapek—Preface to the Third Edition & Chapter One: About the Correct Attitude

To read a little more about why I’ve begun this translation project, please lick on THIS link. Corrections/alternative suggestions to the translated text from Czech readers/speakers will be most welcomed. Either add them in the comments section below or be in touch with me via the contact form on this blog. I need all the help I can get!

Also, please remember that this book was written between 1925-1939 when attitudes and ideas about all kinds of things were different to many of those we hold today. Also, our scientific understandings of how the human body and mind works has also undergone many changes. So, although I have little doubt that we will find in Čapek’s book much that is useful, relevant and positive, we’ll also likely find a few things that jar along with some that seem simply wrong; but this is always the case whenever we deal with a text from a different age to our own.

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Source Czech language PDF for this post can be found here.

Norbert F. Čapek
K slunnému brehu
Prúvodce do radostného Zivota

Toward the Sunny Shore

A Guide to Living Joyfully

Nakladatel Edv. Fastr, Praha (1939)

Preface to the Third Edition

Although the previous edition, judging from many letters of thanks, was well received and the second edition has long been sold out, I could not bring myself to prepare a new one until I had reworked the entire book and organised it better. That this has now happened is due not only to my efforts but also to those of the publisher. Regarding content, several new chapters have been added, and important changes have been made to sections that were retained. The order has been revised to highlight the continuity of the whole. Following the general introduction, the first chapters discuss in a more detailed and unified way what one needs to know about the inner life, especially the subconscious. These are little-known matters, yet they are they are vital for for readers if they are to better understand the mysterious depths of their inner self, and approach the mastery of their moods with greater self-confidence. Most chapters are devoted to feelings and their related aspects, as it is mainly from these that all our moods, joyful and undesirable, grow. I have tried to write in a vivid style and have included ample examples and comparisons from life, so even the most challenging parts may be read with lively interest and understanding.

From the preface to the second edition, I’d like to share the following:

The purpose of the book is practical. Just as food serves to nourish the hungry, this book on mood is meant to shape mood. What good is mere knowledge of mood! Reading the book and setting it aside is as pointless as reading and setting aside a menu.

My book on mood is a form of mental nourishment – a way to create, savour, and internalise thoughts on mood, giving us strength. Thoughts are like rays of sunshine. We read one chapter here, another there, and let ourselves be mentally sunlit. Not everything is for everyone, but each will find something special for themselves. They will mark these pages and revisit them often to soak up their warmth.

I worked on this edition during a particularly difficult time for the Czech nation. May it be a remedy for many and balm for wounded hearts! May it be sunshine that brightens and lightens the lives of many! May it serve the Czech people, as this was its sole intention!

Dr. Norbert F. Čapek

1 — About the Correct Attitude

Mood can be controlled/managed. – Three types of people. – The most famous black man. – Dual attitude. – Epictetus. – Moods of the rich and the poor. – Sensitivity to offence. – Laughter. – Child and adult. – A professor’s obsession. – People’s quirks. – Changeable individuals. – The heroic doctor. – If you encounter failure. – The lion who thought he was a sheep.

Emerson wrote: “I would like to forbid all people from having a bad mood. Even if you haven’t slept well or have a headache, no matter what befalls you, I implore you, by all that is sacred to you, stay calm and don’t spoil the beautiful morning for yourself or others! Try to forget yourself and look up to the azure sky and greet the day being born!”

A person’s contentment, happiness, good mood, inner peace, and harmony belong to the realm of emotions. Approximately 90% of all human activity is controlled by emotion. Emotions are like water, which are capable of causing floods or driving mills. They can be cold or hot. They can be sweetened, salted, or poisoned. They quench thirst. A person can wash in them or drown in them. If someone doesn’t know how to swim and finds themselves in water, the water becomes their master. But a good swimmer can swim on the water, under the water, on their back, on their side, stay in the water for a whole day if needed, and remain the master of the water.

Just as ancient people didn’t know that fire and water could be harnessed, that these two elements could be combined to power the largest machines, so many today don’t know that emotions can be controlled and directed, and mood can be chosen and deliberately created.

Just as a tree grows from the soil, a good or bad mood grows from emotions. Emotions, and thus moods, can be cultivated, allowing us to graft joy onto the wild branches of undesirable moods.

What’s important is how we choose to walk through life; whether with humour and good cheer, or with grumpiness and complaint?

From an emotional perspective, we can distinguish three types of people. There are those who are affected by everything. They know how to fully savour each feeling. If they have sorrow, they immerse themselves in it fully and for a long time and have a hard time letting it go. If they have a worry, they grasp it tightly and feed it thoughts from all sides, so it lives on and does not depart.

On the other hand there are those who look at everything with indifference. Everything happening around them is supposedly just madness or a comedy. Even if they change something today, tomorrow it will be different again, so why bother?

Such people help no one and harm many. They boast of their philosophy, claiming it is clever, but in reality, it is nothing but laziness, apathy, decline, weakness, disdain for human dignity, and the divine spark in people.

The third type consists of people who adopt the attitude we recommend. They are not for heartlessness or the indifference of a spectator who looks at the world with contempt. Their emotions are like a controlled fire that serves their needs and makes life more pleasant.

There was a time when people thought that a person was born either a master or a slave, and that whoever was born a slave must remain one for life. Thus, today many remain slaves to their moods, even though they could strive toward mastery over them.

Life, rather than mere existence, and joy in life lie on the path to mastery. This path leads from reliance on others’ opinions to independent thought, from moods that impose themselves to the conscious creation and control of one’s chosen mood.

There are moments when a person neither has the time nor the inclination to analyse, dwell on, or lament over any kind of sorrow. Instead they might take it with them to comfort someone who is even sadder, or store it on ice if it is absolutely necessary to preserve it for later, and turn their mind toward the valuable work of a significant, succesful life.

Imagine someone finding themselves in a difficult situation. They have a choice: either they will say to themselves that they are not up to it, sit in a corner, and think about how to justify their cowardice to themselves, or they will look at the matter more clearly and from all sides to see if there might still be something that can be done. Then they will say to themselves: “Others have done it; why not me? Even if I fail, at least I have measured my strength against something truly significant.”

The determination to maintain a good mood and a determined attitude toward life saves a person from many unpleasant experiences. Let us take inspiration from the example of the great educator and social worker Booker T. Washington. He proved that a black man, through education and a high level of accomplishment, can equal any white man. He was the most educated of American black people and a source of pride for black people around the world. Beyond this, he held the correct attitude toward life, as demonstrated by the following event: 

One day, he was wandering through the streets of a city where black people were looked down upon to such an extent that no white person would sit next to a black person anywhere. A glance at his watch reminded him that it was almost time for his train and that he could not reach it in time by walking. He approached the nearest white chauffeur and asked him to take him to the station. The chauffeur hesitated, saying that he had never driven a black person and never would.

What would someone else have done in such a situation? How much bitterness would they have had to endure? But this was Booker T. Washington. With his characteristic wit, he said to the white chauffeur: “All right, my friend, there need not be any misunderstanding between us. Sit in the back as a passenger, and I will take the wheel and drive you!”

And that’s exactly what happened. Booker T. Washington, in good spirits, caught his train, and the white chauffeur was paid for having been driven by the most famous black man in America.

For every situation, it is possible to take one of two attitudes: an angry and upset one, or the attitude of a smiling philosopher. I recall a friend who was walking along the pavement when a passing car splashed mud on his clothes and face. He said to himself: “This is annoying, but what can I do? In a while, it will dry, I’ll brush it off, and my nerves will settle.” Behind him was another man who was not even hit by the mud, but he was fuming with rage at the thoughtlessness of the driver.

When we observe certain people, we get the impression that being angry or troubled is part of their daily needs. It’s as if they had written on their foreheads: “There is no life with a good mood, and if there is life, then it must be filled with trouble.”

Let us strive to remain calm in all circumstances, even if we cannot achieve the perfection of Epictetus, the famous philosopher of ancient Greece. When his master broke his leg, he calmly said to him: “Didn’t I tell you that you’d break my leg?” To this, Masaryk adds: “A person can train themselves to maintain a kind of sovereign calm or at least to not showing agitation in their facial expressions or movements. By nature, I am not a calm person, but I soon accustomed myself to calmness in dealing with others.”

It is strange that a bad mood can also be found among people who have everything they need, and a good mood among those living in poverty. A very wealthy lady once said: “When I think through all my acquaintances, none of them was happy. The only truly happy person I ever knew was our housekeeper. She had a hard life. From the age of 13, she had to rely on herself, a widow with four children. She looked at everything with optimism. She often laughed, loved everyone, and was always willing to help.”

Some people seem to take everything as if it were handed to them “from the hands of fate.” They argue over trivialities and formalities at which, within a week, they would themselves laugh. They can blow a lighthearted comment completely out of proportion and turn a mere sideways glance into a full-blown tragedy.

A chronic sensitivity to offence ruins the mood for many people. It is necessary to develop a sense of magnanimity so that one is not easily offended and can occasionally laugh at oneself.

It’s not necessary to take things lightly and laugh at everything, but it is also true, as Thomas Carlyle said: “A person who has laughed, even just once in their life, cannot be irredeemably bad. What a difference laughter can make! It is the key that opens the door to the soul of another person.” Carlyle also said: “A person who cannot laugh is not only capable of falsehood and deceit, but it can be said that their entire life has been one great lie and deception.”

It is a good rule, then, to tune oneself more often into humour and to take with humour those things that are unnecessarily taken with deadly seriousness.

When a child is in a bad mood and crying, people shake a rattle in front of them; if that doesn’t help, they give it a dummy. And if even that doesn’t work, they find a teddy bear or call for daddy who starts whistling, and in the end, mummy smacks the child. But what can be done with an adult? A rattle wouldn’t help, nor would whistling. A truly mature person should say to themselves: “Oh, it’ll pass!” And then they move on.

It is possible to look at nature and be upset that it’s raining or not raining, freezing or thawing. It is possible to listen to music and either enjoy it or get angry that it’s too modern or too old, too sad or too cheerful. One can go through life without finding anything that doesn’t provoke anger, sadness, or at least disdain. But equally, if our attitude toward life is approriate, we can see and hear many things that inspire joy.

It is like the human body. If it is healthy, it transforms every kind of food into something beneficial. What serves it is turned into blood; what doesn’t, it easily disposes of. It’s different with a sick body. In cases of dropsy, excess water accumulates. In diabetes, everything is turned into sugar that should have been transformed into healthy blood. It is the same with moods. If a person adopts a pessimist’s stance, their dark glasses make them see the entire world as dark. An optimist, on the other hand, sees even mud in a rosy light. When my grandmother lost her teeth, she was pleased that her gums were hardening and that she could still chew crusts if she soaked them in coffee. Back then, not much was known about dentures. I knew an old woman who was upset because her third set of teeth wasn’t growing in. In one businessman’s family, they were distressed because, over the last year, they had only managed to save about 150,000 crowns instead of the quarter-million they had expected.

There are two distinct ways in which a person can seek a good mood and avoid a bad one. These are principles that apply in other areas as well.

Someone feels tired in their body and concludes that they should move less. The less they move, the less desire they have for movement. If they carry something heavy in their hand, their hand hurts. They tell themselves: “I’ll only carry lighter things from now on.” In the end, even a walking stick feels heavy in their hand. However, those who can easily manage a heavy burden are usually the ones who gradually trained themselves to carry increasingly heavier loads.

Similarly, someone may try to ensure a good mood by avoiding anything that might upset them. That’s how one old professor lived. He couldn’t stand his wife, with whom he had lived for many years, so they lived apart. He couldn’t stand the noise of children, so he only looked at his grandchildren in photographs. He couldn’t tolerate a fly buzzing around the room and would get very upset if one appeared. One day, there was quite a commotion; I was there as a student. The professor claimed that there was some kind of bug in his room—something was crawling and buzzing. First, one person searched, then two, and finally there were five of us, but we found nothing. The bug existed only in the professor’s imagination.

It’s a a mistake to fear a bad mood. A little sadness, a bit of trouble and worry, does no harm. Only someone who has been hungry can appreciate a good meal; only someone who has been tired praises rest and sleep. A little sadness and worry cast a good mood in a better light.

A bad mood always indicates a certain inner tension. A person senses this instinctively and tries to get rid of it. Some turn to photography, others fish or catch butterflies; one Count collected fleas, and a well-known Archduke had a museum dedicated to Saint Florian.

There are thousands of ways in which a person can release tension, as long as they think of it straight away. If someone is angry, they can chop wood, carry coal, or lift something heavy. If someone is afraid, they may recall how in a dream they were also afraid, to the point of sweating, and in the morning, they were happy that it was just a dream. Whatever it is, it too will one day be no more than a dream. The most natural and effective way to rid oneself of tension is, of course, through relaxation.

Some people care about their health above all else, while others are less concerned about physical health as long as they are inwardly happy. We want both, and both are based on the same foundations. If the body is to be healed, it must not be poisoned from the outside. It is the same with moods. If someone is troubled, it is usually caused by troubling impressions from outside to which they have surrendered. Just as we live in an atmosphere of radio waves, we also live in an atmosphere of human thoughts and moods. The brain is an antenna and a receiver. A person who is angry has tuned their mental antenna to the wavelength of anger.

Let us not forget that it is within our power to create, change, and improve the mental atmosphere. Some people live only in the mental atmosphere of others and do not create their own. They are good, bad, sad, or cheerful depending on what is happening around them.

In difficult times, we come to understand just how many people are independent and just how many are dependent on the moods of others. When the situation changes, people are surprised by how their neighbors seem to have changed. But they haven’t changed—it’s their surroundings that have changed, and they remain as they were: “Where the wind blows, there goes the cloak.”

To create one’s own independent atmosphere, faith, clarity, decisiveness, and strong will are necessary. In this way, a mental fortress is built, and we allow into the castle of our heart only those we choose.

Here, it is fitting for me to mention the story and attitude of the physician G. Peabody, as told by my friend and his, Dr. Lathrop. Peabody was an exceptionally outstanding doctor. He made several groundbreaking discoveries. He lived in a happy marriage and had two delightful young sons. At the age of 46, he became the victim of a terrible disease, which he had been studying for the benefit of humanity in an effort to overcome it. He himself became infected. He gradually lost his vitality, yet he continued to study the disease on himself, lectured to students, worked in his laboratory, and wrote. When he could no longer work in the laboratory, he wrote from his bed, every day, until the day of his death. Here was the determination to master the burden of life.

Friends came and were greatly surprised at how he bore his tragedy and how he used it for the benefit of humanity. He told them: “A little illness, wisely used, can bring great joy.” He called the last year of his life one of his happiest.

Of course, the greatest factor and also the greatest gain was the kind of spiritual life he attained during his illness. Instead of complaining about a cruel universe that destroys his efforts at the very time when he was serving humanity at the height of his powers, he wrote: “There are realms of the human spirit where the physical world does not reach. In its longing for God, the soul grows and finds the fulfilment of its highest and innermost desires.”

Dr. Lathrop commented on this: “Perhaps I could say that the highest thing in this is to make the best of the fate given to you. It is better to accept it than to oppose it. But there is much more to it. If you can rise to the understanding that you are related to God and that your deepest mission here is to express what is truly divine within you, then you have truly fulfilled your purpose.”

Then, whether it is joy or suffering, everything becomes invaluable material for further growth. The tragedy in the life of this young man became an opportunity for the expression of the greatest nobility within him.

Religious understanding awakens in us the ability to look beyond this earthly life and its contradictions. Faith in an afterlife greatly helps to overcome, transform, and reshape even the most terrifying misfortunes.

One of the best means for controlling mood is to delve deeply into oneself as often as possible. Quiet yourself within. Don’t know what to do next? Are you uncertain? Sit down, quiet yourself, stop the frantic search, tune your mind to a calm wavelength, and look toward the mountains you wish to climb! Feeling down? Turn your thoughts away from everything outside, everything beyond you, for outside are all the causes of your despondency! Have you encountered failure? Start again!

Každý den je nové začínání,
každým jitrem den se rodí zas;
přes zármutek všechen, přes zklamání,
přes záhady, které matou nás,
vzmuž se s novým dnem a začni zas !

Each day is a new beginning,
Every morning, the day is born anew;
Despite all sorrow, despite all disappointment,
Despite mysteries that confuse us,
Take courage with the new day and begin again!

In the vast realm of our soul, there is so much wealth and strength that it cannot be fully used in a lifetime. People imagine God to be too poor and distant. People pray: “Lord God, give me this, give me that!” How can the Lord God give to them when they leave unused what He has already given them? Let us abandon a beggar’s mindset and complaints, and instead test the powers with which our soul abounds!

To acknowledge humanity and to believe in humanity is not to go against the Lord God. People imagine God to be so small, weak, and distant only because they have not discovered themselves. However, the more we recognise the might and wealth of our own soul, the better we understand God’s greatness, and the more easily we can maintain a good mood.

 We walk around weak, miserable, and joyless, where we could, with humour and good spirits, carve out new paths to happiness. Some people are like young lions raised among sheep. When they grow up, they believe they are sheep, moving timidly and powerlessly with the flock. But one day, for the first time, they hear the mighty roar of an older lion in the forest, and their hidden nature suddenly awakens with strength. They respond with the roar of a lion. From that moment, they know they are not sheep, but lions. In this way, we come to understand the correct attitude toward life.