Thus, "The gods do not punish the pursuit of happiness but the ambition to forge it with our own hands." Clearly there is a danger in the implicit assumption that we are the source of our own happiness. Therefore, "the only licit desire is for something that does not depend on us at all."
This is one of the things that contributes to my own feverish lack of ambition. Succeeding on my terms would be no success at all! Besides, virtually everything worthwhile in my life came as a surprise, not a plan. I didn't plan my wife, my career, my child, my new friend. Not even the internet. Those things just came to me while I wasn't paying attention.
Ambition combined with education -- or indoctrination -- is responsible for most human ills, at least in the modern west. Therefore, "After seeing work exploit and demolish the world, laziness seems like the mother of the virtues." How much more *progress* can we take before the ambitious eggheads of the left succeed in destroying civilization?
Two symmetrical aphorisms: "The only man who should speak of wealth or power is the one who did not extend his hand when they were within his reach." I don't know that it was ever in reach, but let's just say I've kept my hands to mysoph. And "To learn that the most valuable goods are the least rare requires a long apprenticeship." Quite true. It took me half (I hope!) my life.
Taken to its logical extreme, "God is the name of the sole enigma that, if it were deciphered, would not be a disappointment." Which is to say, everything short of God is going to be a little disappointing. Or maybe not, so long as we don't try to wring more out of it than there is in it. A little perspective goes a long way, and a sense of Cosmic Irony is not a bad thing.
You often see parents -- especially where I live -- essentially rob children of their childhood because of an insane ambition, which, if fulfilled, would result in the children being as happy as those reflexively ambitious parents. Which is to say, not very happy at all -- in fact, so unfulfilled that they have to project it into the child, and then imagine that they will finally be fulfilled if only their child achieves an arbitrary level of success defined by someone else! In short, they simply punt their spiritual emptiness to the next generation.
I had an insight into this dynamic long ago, on the occasion of snatching my BA degree. My parents were quite thrilled, no doubt partly due to the element of surprise at the unexpected accomplishment of a wayward child. Me? Couldn't care less, except that it was one less hoop to jump through.
One of the happiest days of my life -- I still get chills thinking about it -- was my last day of high school. Because of the accomplishment? Please. It was all about having the conspiracy off my back after thirteen years of torture enhanced indoctrination!
Back to my shattering insight upon becoming a confirmed bachelor: while it was obvious that my parents were far more excited than I was, this went to a more general principle that the success of our children means much more to us than does our own success (at least if we aren't pathological narcissists). First word, first step, first sleepover, first chapter book, whatever. My own firsts are matters of complete indifference to me, whereas my son's firsts never fail to bang the naches button.
Ah, here is the exact aphorism I was looking for: "Only the unexpected fully satisfies. Nothing that satisfies our expectations fulfills our hopes." This is why I so enjoy this medium of expression. If someone were to offer me money to write a commentary on Don Colacho's Aphorisms, I would be miserable. Blogging is only fulfilling -- and it is, very -- because there is absolutely No Plan. Every morning, I can't wait to wake up and accomplish nothing, only maybe a little more deeply this time!
Here is another: "The man who wants to avoid grotesque collapses should not look for anything to fulfill him in space or time." This I wholeheartedly and wholeheadedly believe. I have never been under any delusion that I will be fulfilled after X. Rather, to the extent that fulfillment is possible, it is only possible now. Everything else is a dodge, a mortgage you will never pay off. ¡"There are only instants"!
Has your team ever won the World Series or Super Bowl? Talk about a letdown! The whole point is to live in the tension of that impossible future. Should it actually arrive, the only way to top it is to burn down the city.
As to the surprise-myself blogging, this also goes to why I would never want to be considered an "expert," because that would mean game over. Let others bear the burden of expertise! It's too much fun being an absolute beginner.
Besides, "The prophet is not God's confidante, but a rag blown by sacred squalls." And "There is no spiritual victory that need not be won anew each day" -- or each post. Got another game tomorrow, and the season never ends. Yes, we may dream of winning the World Series, but God forbid we should ever make it there!
For "whoever celebrates future harmonies sells himself to the devil." Rather, "One must live for the moment and for eternity. Not for the disloyalty of time." Live now and for (and in) eternity, not the future, and certainly not the past!
Because "religious thought does not go forward, like scientific thought, but rather goes deeper" -- into the now and therefore eternal. Don't wait until you are sick or old to appreciate your poverty and dependence! For "Wisdom comes down to not showing God how things should be done." And "True talent consists in not making oneself independent from God."
Hey, sorry about all the exclamation marks! It just happened. I'm not trying to go all breathy adolescent on you.
66 comments:
Which is to say, everything short of God is going to be a little disappointing.
I can think of a few times where I actually expected, and possibly even hoped to be disappointed. Then when the opposite happens, one hardly knows what to think.
In a certain sense, surprise is a hallmark of reality, or at least a seal of authenticity.
Yes, that's a good way to put it.
"To learn that the most valuable goods are the least rare requires a long apprenticeship."
This is an interesting one. I think maybe I understand - it's like the way that someone can shell out a small fortune paying for expensive equipment to support whatever their hobby is, but still manages to be terrible at it, while conversely another person can take the simplest, cheapest materials and create something wonderful.
Blogging is only fulfilling -- and it is, very -- because there is absolutely No Plan.
Exactly, one of the few things I get to do that isn't work.
Cubs fans are the happiest people on earth.
My first year as a fan, the Dodgers won the World Series. Thus, this became normative for me, heightening the Pain.
And Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, was always happy to play -- to see what would happen.
I went to my first Cards game in 1963 then came '64, so I know what you mean.
For me it was '65, then they made the Series again in '66. But then Koufax retired and darkness descended.
I grew up in NY, so I was a cradle Yankees fan (I know, I know!) I even came of age as a fan in the late '70's for crying out loud! Three World Series wins in a row. I was even at a '78 (I think) World Series game were Craig Nettles was en fuego at third base.
Fast forward to World Series 2003. I didn't have a TV to watch the Yankees play the Marlins. I actually listened to the last game on the radio. The reception I was getting was horrible. Mariano Rivera came into pitch with a Yankees lead. I decided that I didn't have to listen because the game was all sewn up. Mariano Rivera, people!
It's never been the same.
"The man who wants to avoid grotesque collapses should not look for anything to fulfill him in space or time."
Or from the other side of the coin:
Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.
I will add a bit of counterpoint, though, that sometimes there must be a reward. A life that's all buildup and no climax must necessarily be fruitless. If we didn't hope to attain something, eventually, there would be no point in striving for anything; we play for love of the game, but few would love the game if the points didn't ever matter.
Or consider marriage: if you're one of those unfortunate idiots who live for the wedding, then of course the rest of your life can only be a letdown. But if the wedding is what it ought to be, then it is both a reward, and a beginning of something much bigger and hopefully better.
"Not even the internet."
Bob, that's why ALGore is famous -- he not only planned it, he invented it.
Oh, and JimmyCarter has recognized Hamas.
Jack:
I well remember '77 and '78, especially Nettles' wicked glove and Reggie Jackson's obnoxious hip. 1981 helped, but I'd still like to bean Jackson with a 100 mph fastball.
You wanna get hit in the hip? Here, try some of this!
In re. the post, see also The Magician.
Applied non-doodling.
GB- Jackson was indeed obnoxious. Seeing him and Billy Martin go at it was something else.
But my young eyes saw Reggie Jackson hit some truly MONSTROUS home runs. Yikes.
Question re: living in the now.
What if--hypothetically speaking, of course-- a person who was "living in the now" was more likely to leave a trail of mindless destruction in his wake than to find that which can't be found by searching for it.
Or rather: what's the difference between the divine slack of, say, a Tai Chi master (or whomever) and that of the neurotic or even the sociopath?
I recently read "How Not to Try: The Science and Spirituality of Spontaneity". I found the book interesting but it never really answered the central question it posed.
I studied comedy improv (though who could tell!?) for a couple of years. I studied Aikido and Tai Chi. And yet!
Jack said "Or rather: what's the difference between the divine slack of, say, a Tai Chi master (or whomever) and that of the neurotic or even the sociopath?"
Er... the wacks goes on but it never comes off?
I have had this week off from work for my annual slackfest. Truly a beautiful experience of being alone in silence.
At the beginning of the week I came across a quote from Cicero (quoted in "The Common MInd"):
"Never less idle than when completely idle, never less alone than when completely alone".
So true.
In response to the 12:07 query, verticality: God has many mansions, not all on the same storey.
Ciceroooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!
One of my best buddies.
Going back to the one about the most valuable goods being the least rare, it occurred to me to remember what was most valuable to my family when I was a kid and we were struggling, at least as far as material goods went. There were points when the answer was probably "a loaf from the discount Wonder Bread store." Or more simply, food and a roof. And a library card. None of those rare, but they meant everything.
Conversely, even when we lost the roof, it was a strange sort of blessing.
Jack:
"What if--hypothetically speaking, of course-- a person who was "living in the now" was more likely to leave a trail of mindless destruction in his wake than to find that which can't be found by searching for it."
In my experience, people like that often aren't really living in the now, anyway. They are desperately trying to escape from a past that never lets them go, and to the extent they look to the future, it is a nihil that they both long for and dread.
There is a kind of hopelessness born of utter trust in the Divine; it elevates, even in the worst of circumstances. Then there is the hopelessness born of utter despair. It destroys, especially in the best of times.
julie said:
Conversely, even when we lost the roof, it was a strange sort of blessing.
Me too, losing my hair has been a blessing.
(Gave my vanity a swirly.)
Julie said: "In my experience, people like that often aren't really living in the now, anyway. They are desperately trying to escape from a past that never lets them go, and to the extent they look to the future, it is a nihil that they both long for and dread.
I think this captures a lot of what I see around me when people talk of "living in the now". When they do, I tend to start backing away slow to get outside of blast radius. No. Sudden. Moves.
Sometimes I think some good ol' fashioned repression might be in order for a lot of people I see around me. What's the good of getting in touch with your emotions if doing so makes you even crazier?
Or maybe that goes too far in the opposite direction. Maybe reading some Epictetus, Seneca and Marcus Aurelius is in order!
Ha - yes, watch out for the blast radius. Living in the now means nobody else is ever allowed to hold them accountable for their outbursts. Because that was so five minutes ago, and any minute, they're going to change! But God help you if you expect them to ever forget your misdeeds...
I have always been lousy at NOW.
I have to be doing something intense that soaks up all my focus.
I have a friend who, when people are struggling with a situation, says: just do whatever you want!
Which I believe to be monumentally bad advice. I once asked him about child molesters--whether *they* should simply "do what they want". Eventually he just blurted out, "you're not going to change anyone's mind!!".
Okay then.
This same friend stated that this was to be his attitude for his son who was, at the time, approaching puberty. I asked would he allow his son to wear a swastika t-shirt (my friend was raised Jewish) and he paused for a good long while before stating that he probably would have a problem with that.
So there is a line!
"something intense that soaks up all my focus."
A good working definition of the now.
"To learn that the most valuable goods are the least rare requires a long apprenticeship."
Appreciate what you have.
Good point, EbonyRaptor!
This blog is like a vertical feast, and the comments are the tasty deserts.
Plus, I never hafta return the steak here.
Definitely a treasure trove of wisdom, truth, beauty and humor here. A rare surprise on the net that only raccoons can see!
Petey, I saw a book recently titled The Zen Of Doodling.
Someone should write the Zen Of Noodling too, as a companion piece.
John, ha ha! My vanity has been through a woodchipper.
It was the only way to be sure.
Yep, the best blog on the subject of what matters. Enlightenment, entertainment and (healthy) escapism ... what's not to like!
One Cosmos is like a giant box of metaphysical cracker jacks with surprisingly good prizes.
"To learn that the most valuable goods are the least rare requires a long apprenticeship."
'Reality, Truth, Virtue, Love, Possibilities...' they are unlimited and truly priceless, and they are made rare only by our choosing to blind ourselves to them.
Oh, indeed - also Grace, Beauty, and Goodness...
Man, I'd hit the tip jar, but I'm afraid of ruining all this!
It's the best, "How I Spent My Lifetime Vacation" post of the season. :)
On the road to happiness, a pleasant surprise beats a sure thing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/08/08/on-the-road-to-happiness-a-pleasant-surprise-beats-a-sure-thing/
Yes, but, what the wapo's study is talking about is how the unexpected results in pleasurable sensations, but calling That happiness is expected, boring and wrong. What's in a (misused) name? Deception, propaganda... and the wacademic MSM.
Imagine if one could know ahead of time exactly what would happen, i.e., if there were no Surprises. This wouldn't be heaven but hell. It is one more factor that inclines me to the Hartshornean idea that God surprises even himself, i.e., that his Creativity is irreducible.
In fairness to Van, when I first read that article last week I had essentially the same reaction. The kind of surprise they are talking about would seem to make, for instance, the satisfaction one gets from steadfastly doing one's job each day and thereby supporting oneself and one's family, no expression of happiness at all. Or rather, it equates "happiness" with mere instances of pleasure. Kind of like the reward mechanism that makes gambling so addictive.
For surprise to be effective requires that there be some baseline "normal" from which it (positively) deviates. I was surprised when water started pouring out of my wall a few weeks ago, but it certainly didn't make me happy. Fixing it myself, however, brought its own kind of reward. Would have been nicer if the two professionals I had out to take a look had handled it first, though, and if I never have that kind of surprise again I could hardly call this life hell.
Anyway. I guess my point is surprise requires stability, or some degree of predictability.
Or looked at another way, these posts wouldn't happen without some kind of routine that clears the space so that the daily surprise is possible.
Shorter version: To say "surprise" is to say "routine;" happiness is having the kind of routine that leaves room for good surprises.
Gagdad said "if there were no Surprises. This wouldn't be heaven but hell"
Agreed. My problem with the study is that it tries to equate physical sensations - a reaction to concrete events - with actual happiness. Can't go along with that. Pleasure yes, does it happen that way? Yes. Must it happen in that surprising way in order to be pleasurable? Yep. Are there varying levels of pleasure, from pure sensory stimulation to satisfaction with how events turned out? Definitely. Is that the same thing as Happiness? Nope.
However I don't think that in any way goes against the necessity, requirement even (I suspect there is a kind of corollary between 'Free Will' and something like 'Free Result'), in some sense, of surprise to your being able to feel a true and abiding sense of Happiness.
Even if (and maybe especially if) you manage to lead your life according to a conceptual plan, honestly, virtuously; while such a person might succeed in foreseeing the high level plot of their lives, the particulars cannot not be mostly unforeseeable. We live not in our minds but in the world and in the world with others, seen and unseen, and each has a role in contributing to the Surprise!.
Thank God.
RE: Happiness and Surprise. I have wondered about this a lot lately. The Stoics say, "only the virtuous man is happy".
Which I read as: only one who lives according to his nature as a rational/imaginative creature, and all that implies morally and spiritually etc will be happy.
Imagine a man that lives a fairly routine life. Over large stretches of this person's life, there have been little to no surprises. Let's postulate that, at least in his youth, it wasn't for a lack of putting himself out there. He is fairly introverted, with an increasing aversion to drama as he get older. He gets up, goes to work, comes home, reads a book, goes to sleep...then repeats. No wife; no kids; no real career to speak of, simply a job; many hobbies, but no real overriding passion. He does this for years, decades even.
I have to believe (and maybe it is just that, a belief) that if this man were never surprised once in his life, but nonetheless lived according to the best of his nature to the best of his ability, he could still be happy.
Sounds like monastic life, though one might hope that such a man would have an overriding passion for the Absolute.
The problem with the stoics, I think, is that they defined happiness more in negative terms, i.e., the absence of pain and turbulence as opposed to the presence of joy. Nor, to my knowledge, did they orient themselves to a source of joy beyond the self.
Sounds like monastic life, though one might hope that such a man would have an overriding passion for the Absolute.
Let's assume that this man did have a yearning for O, but that no great insights ever came.
Yes, the God of the Stoics is quite unlike the Judeo-Christian God. To the degree that this God is pantheistic or simply the material universe.
But
The major difference between the two philosophies is Stoicism's pantheism, in which God is never fully transcendent but always immanent. God as the world-creating entity is personalized in Christian thought, but Stoicism equates God with the totality of the universe, which was deeply contrary to Christianity. The only incarnation in Stoicism is that each person has part of the logos within. Stoicism, unlike Christianity, does not posit a beginning or end to the universe.[33]
Stoicism was later regarded by the Fathers of the Church as a "pagan philosophy";[3][4] nonetheless, some of the central philosophical concepts of Stoicism were employed by the early Christian writers. Examples include the terms "logos", "virtue", "Spirit", and "conscience".[33] But the parallels go well beyond the sharing and borrowing of terminology. Both Stoicism and Christianity assert an inner freedom in the face of the external world, a belief in human kinship with Nature or God, a sense of the innate depravity—or "persistent evil"—of humankind,[33] and the futility and temporarity of worldly possessions and attachments. Both encourage Ascesis with respect to the passions and inferior emotions such as lust, envy and anger, so that the higher possibilities of one's humanity can be awakened and developed.
Stoic writings such as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius have been highly regarded by many Christians throughout the centuries. The Stoic ideal of dispassion is accepted to this day as the perfect moral state by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Saint Ambrose of Milan was known for applying Stoic philosophy to his theology.
In the abstract, I can only assume it is possible for such a man to be content and even happy. And yet, the idea of any life having such a complete lack of surprise is essentially unthinkable.
Would he not find surprises in the books he reads? Or are all the plots completely predictable, and if so why read them? Amongst his hobbies, does he never make new discoveries? I don't know if I can think of any hobby at all that isn't centered around either creativity, discovery or mastery, all of which depend on the element of surprise in some form.
I have come late to the Samuel Johnson party -- reading a big biography at the moment -- but he certainly addressed all of these questions, for example, in The History of Rasselas.
Rassellas is one of my favorites! A real tonic to the relatively shallow 'Candide', by Voltaire. Similar plots, written at a similar time, and with ...surprisingly different results.
I've got a volume of his letters, Unfortunately only the first of two or three, but it's one of those you can pick up and start reading anywhere and get the unexpected out of it.
One of his later letters on education, especially regards to Geometry, goes an indication of how impoverished or conception of education is today.
Just ordered this baby. Like Davila, he's eminently quotable.
Julie said,
"Shorter version: To say "surprise" is to say "routine;" happiness is having the kind of routine that leaves room for good surprises."
I have been missing my mother this summer. For years and years, my kids spent the summer afternoons, swimming in her pool, then we would all play cards; Uno, or North Dakota Poker, or Hearts.. Every day, same time, same people. It was very routine. The surprises were the hilarity that would take over, or the competition between the kids and the adults..pure happiness in hindsight.
Jack, regarding your bookish fellow, I think we need to distinguish between being content and happiness, but also between surprise and startling. You can feel a great deal of surprise between reading one word and the one that follows it, and the thoughts it sets bursting within you, without the outside world being able to detect any sign that a revolution just occurred in your life.
Also, is he choosing such a sedate life in order to avoid anything that might cause turmoil in his life? Or because that path truly reflects a life that to him is thoroughly worth living? The first would be a fairly benign failure, the second could be surprisingly successful.
In the abstract, I can only assume it is possible for such a man to be content and even happy. And yet, the idea of any life having such a complete lack of surprise is essentially unthinkable.
Yes, my portrait of this stoic monastic is probably much too stringent. There are always surprises, perhaps "only" very small ones. If the doors of perception were cleansed, as it were.
Van-
Well said, and well taken.
Ooh! I didn't know that was available, click, bought, done.
After a little research, it was clear that that one is the obvious choice. Good for dipping.
Leslie,
Every day, same time, same people. It was very routine. The surprises were the hilarity that would take over, or the competition between the kids and the adults..pure happiness in hindsight.
Yes, just so.
Happiness would also depend on how thankful we are.
John and Peter were overjoyed to have an opportunity to be imprisoned and beaten for Christ.
You might not set out to do it Bob but in my world of spiritual progress not perfection you accomplish a lot...and I am extremely grateful for what you write.
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