The first and best victory is to conquer self. To be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile. One secret act of self-denial, one sacrifice of inclination to do is worth all of the good thoughts, warm feelings, and passionate prayers in which idle men indulge themselves.
“The discipline,” repeated Jubal. “That’s what I like. The faith I was reared in didn’t require anybody to know anything. Just confess and be saved, and there you were, safe in the arms of Jesus. A man might be too stupid to count sheep… yet conclusively presumed to be one of God’s elect, guaranteed an eternity of bliss, because he had been 'converted.’ he might not even be a Bible student and certainly didn’t have to know anything else. This church doesn’t accept 'conversion’ as I grok it-”
“You grok correctly.”
“A person must start with a willingness to learn and follow it with long, hard study. I grok that is salutary.”
“More than salutary,” agreed Sam. “Indispensable. The concepts can’t be thought about without the language, and the discipline that results in this horn-of-plenty of benefits – from how to live without fighting to how to please your wife – all derive from conceptual logic… understanding who you are, why you’re here, how you tick – and behaving accordingly. Happiness is functioning the way a being is organized to function.”