.
. . Then she answered: “Yes, it would be most terrible, monstrous, and
infinitely amazing if it were as you think. It would be as though in a
well-ordered house of a good master, the vilest vessels were cared for while
the precious were left defiled.
“But
it is not so. If our former conclusions are unshaken, God Himself, of whose
government we speak, will teach you that the good are always powerful, the evil
are always the lowest and weakest; vice never goes unpunished; virtue never
goes without its own reward; happiness comes to the good, misfortune to the
wicked: and when your complaints are set at rest, many such things would most
firmly strengthen you in this opinion.
“You
have seen now from my teaching the form of true happiness; you know now its
place. Let us go quickly through all that must be lightly passed over, and let
me show you the road which shall lead you to your home. I will give wings to
your mind, by which it shall raise itself aloft: so shall disquiet be driven
away, and you may return safe to your home by my guidance, by the path I shall
show you, even by myself carrying you there.”
—from
Book 4, Prose 1
I have
come across too many places in this world that are horribly mismanaged. They
may well look quite prim and proper on the outside, even as they are rotting
away on the inside. They may give off a fine appearance, and yet there is no
rhyme or reason in how things are run.
So many
schools, hospitals, churches, offices, shops, or worksites are like this. Could
it be that the whole world is the same? Everything just falls apart, while the
boss is looking the other way?
Maybe the
universe operates according to the twisted logic of a DMV branch?
It has
sometimes felt this way. The scales of justice may seem to be imbalanced, where
virtue leads only to loss, and vice leads only to gain. The right people
suffer, while the wrong people flourish. Pleasure, and wealth, and honor go to
wicked, just as pain, poverty, and derision go to the decent.
Has God
fallen asleep on the watch, or does He just not care enough to do anything
about it?
Lady
Philosophy makes quite a claim here. The world may seem quite unfair, but it is
actually quite fair. Rewards and punishments have been rightly meted out. I
still do not understand the justice of Providence, since I am still trapped in a
mistaken view of what is truly right and good in life. I am complaining that I
am not getting what I deserve, but that is because I don’t really know it is
that I need to be happy.
I need
to modify the measure and standard by which I distinguish benefit from harm, if
I am ever to see that life gives all of us exactly what we deserve. Why am I
assuming that pleasure or pain, wealth or poverty, and honor or derision are
somehow in and of themselves good or bad? Will one always help me, while the
other always hurts me? I begin to see that my distinctions have been rather
shallow and incomplete.
Way back
in high school, I had one friend who was quite the young entrepreneur, and
admired material success in the world of business as the mark of a successful
life. Another friend was far more rebellious and free-spirited, and was highly
critical of living life within the confines of an accounting ledger. Needless
to say, I was there for many lively and intriguing debates.
One day,
a story in the newspaper caught our attention. It was a lengthy account of the
life and times of one of the current heroes of Wall Street, discussing the
man’s remarkable rise to power and prestige.
“I don’t
care what anyone says,” the first friend insisted. “He deserves everything he
gets. It takes smarts, and guts, and a knack for influencing people to become
a man like that.”
“You’re
right,” replied the second friend. ”He deserves everything he gets. It takes a
special kind of man to end up in a life like that.”
Others
were in shock, because it looked like these two very different fellows were
actually agreeing. I had to smile a little, however, because I knew that they
weren’t agreeing at all.
Written in 10/2015
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