Journal Entry: 12/11/18
Let me say this about Goodness.
It may be that in goodness we may see, not a reason for life nor an explanation of it, but an extenuation. In this indifferent universe, with its inevitable evils that surround us from the cradle to the grave, it may serve, not as a challenge or a reply, but as an affirmation of our own independence. It is the retort that humour makes to the tragic absurdity of fate.
Unlike beauty, it can be perfect without being tedious, and, greater than love, time does not wither its delight. But goodness is shown in right action and who can tell in this meaningless world what right action is? It is not action that aims at happiness; it is a happy chance if happiness results.
Plato, as I best understand it, enjoined upon the wise men of his day, to abandon the serene life of contemplation for the turmoil of practical affairs and thereby set the claim of duty above the desire for happiness; and all of us, I suppose, on occasion we all have adopted a certain course because we thought it right even though we well knew that it may never bring us happiness, neither then nor in the future.
What then is right action? For my own part the best answer I know is that one given by Fray Luis de Leon. ”To follow it does not look so difficult that human weakness quails before it as beyond its strength. With it I can end my book.” The beauty of life, he says, is nothing but this, that each should act in conformity with his nature and his business.
As I ponder it today, it seems that way to me...Doc
Let me say this about Goodness.
It may be that in goodness we may see, not a reason for life nor an explanation of it, but an extenuation. In this indifferent universe, with its inevitable evils that surround us from the cradle to the grave, it may serve, not as a challenge or a reply, but as an affirmation of our own independence. It is the retort that humour makes to the tragic absurdity of fate.
Unlike beauty, it can be perfect without being tedious, and, greater than love, time does not wither its delight. But goodness is shown in right action and who can tell in this meaningless world what right action is? It is not action that aims at happiness; it is a happy chance if happiness results.
Plato, as I best understand it, enjoined upon the wise men of his day, to abandon the serene life of contemplation for the turmoil of practical affairs and thereby set the claim of duty above the desire for happiness; and all of us, I suppose, on occasion we all have adopted a certain course because we thought it right even though we well knew that it may never bring us happiness, neither then nor in the future.
What then is right action? For my own part the best answer I know is that one given by Fray Luis de Leon. ”To follow it does not look so difficult that human weakness quails before it as beyond its strength. With it I can end my book.” The beauty of life, he says, is nothing but this, that each should act in conformity with his nature and his business.
As I ponder it today, it seems that way to me...Doc
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