. . . “Further, there are those who
confuse the aims and the causes of these good things: as those who desire
riches for the sake of power or of pleasure, or those who seek power for the sake
of money or celebrity.
"In these, then, and other things like
to them, lies the aim of men's actions and prayers, such as renown and
popularity, which seem to afford some fame, or wife and children, which are
sought for the pleasure they give.
“On the other hand, the good of
friends, which is the most honorable and holy of all, lies not in Fortune's but
in Virtue's realm. All others are adopted for the sake of power or enjoyment.
“Again, it is plain that the good
things of the body must be accounted to those false causes which we have
mentioned, for bodily strength and stature seem to make men more able and
strong; beauty and swiftness seem to give renown; health seems to give
pleasure.
“By all these happiness alone is
plainly desired. For each man holds that to be the highest good, which he seeks
before all others. But we have defined the highest good to be happiness.
Wherefore what each man desires above all others, he holds to be a state of
happiness.” . . .
—from
Book 3, Prose 2
Many of
us will assume that because people offer different answers to questions, this
means that there are no answers to those questions. This is the relativism of our
time, and as with all trends, it has come and gone in the past, and will
continue to come and go in our future.
It
hardly needs to follow from any sinister motives; I suspect it proceeds largely
from confusion and despair. It is also easier to ignore a problem than to take
the effort to solve it. I take a deep breath, and remind myself that difficulty
is not the same thing as impossibility. I take a moment to reflect, and remind
myself that true and false, right and wrong are not matters of utility or
convenience.
We may
pursue all sorts of priorities, and hold many views on the best means and ends.
There is the struggle. I see that I should never work backwards from a given
conclusion, but that I should use my understanding to work toward a conclusion.
I see that worrying about achieving the means is entirely pointless without
being truly aware of the ends.
So some
people want money to gain pleasure, and some people use pleasure to gain power,
and some people employ power to earn recognition. Each of us will seem to have
our own version of the best path.
Mine
were once twofold: get recognized in public to feel relevant and worthwhile,
and find love in private to feel relevant and worthwhile. Money, of course,
might help with getting that done, but its absence could be just as helpful for
my sense of being relevant and worthwhile. All that mattered was that I somehow
felt that I mattered.
And as
Lady Philosophy would remind me, all of it was about what happened to me as an
end. It was a passive view of life, not an active view of life. I would confuse
what I made of myself with what others made of me.
I often
wondered why people still married and had children, for example, in an age that
was mostly about receiving, and so little about giving. Then I directly saw so many
of my own peers marry and have children as a means for a sense of importance
and self-gratification. The spouse became a tool, and the children became a
tool; they were not loved for their own sake, but for our sake.
What
sadness must follow when we twist friendship and love in that sort of way?
At the
same time, we look at the benefits of physical ability, strength, or
attractiveness, and we glorify the lesser part of us at the expense of the
greater part of us. I am a skilled athlete, or a beauty queen, or talented at
some worldly skill. That could be good for me, but it isn’t the good for me. Means are again
confused with ends.
But
surely, I think it is happiness, so
it must be happiness? Thinking alone
doesn’t make it true. Thinking in conformity with being, and with Nature, makes
it true.
Written in 9/2015
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