Sunday, December 11, 2005

My Philosophy of Life 1

Paraphrasing St. Francis (I think):

Lord, help me accept what I cannot change,
give me courage to change the things I can,
and give me the wisdom to know the difference.

A college friend onced summarized my operating principle quite in contrast to this proverb: "Ken, sometimes you look, sometimes you leap, but you never do them at the same time." I hope that isn't so true any more.

I would side with Aristotle on the use of emotions and passions in life: be moderate (metriopatheia). The Stoics are logically correct: if you cannot change something, it is pointless to try. But we are humans, and it is good to laugh and cry, to feel pain and joy deeply... and then move on. So the Stoics' (and Buddhist) sense of abandoning passions is unnecessary and unhuman. Feel and then move on.

Moderation in all things... Aristotle's Golden Mean. Obviously there are some things you shouldn't ever do (murder, marital affairs).

There is no point to bitterness, but there is to anger at times.

With regard to inculcating virtue and diminishing vices, Aristotle comes through with his sense that virtue is a habit. I do not thereby decline the importance of prayer and meditation. But it is simply the case that as hard as the first correct act is, the second is easier, and the third easier still.

Be realistic--rarely do people change all at once. An inch is an inch closer: one day without this week, two days without next. One footstep a day will wear down a concrete stair in a few hundred years.

Whenever someone asks if I need anything, I always think, "How can I need anything, when my very existence in this world is not needed?"

4 comments:

::athada:: said...

How do you balance a life of moderation (whose virtues have been proved o'er adn o'er) and a life of "extremism" or being "radical" ("take up your cross" "sell all you have" "hate you mother and father" "forgive 7*70")???

Ken Schenck said...

I think it is part of the richness of human life to feel deeply, to feel the pain of suffering and loss deeply, to love deeply. I think it is virtuous to strive with the greatest courage to change the things we can for the better. God is the standard for what that better is.

By moderation I do not mean that we are to be moderate in everything (I mentioned murder, for example). I had in mind more mundane things like food, hobbies, etc... To me balance is related to this idea. "Add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, endurance; and to endurance, godliness; and to godliness, kindness toward your fellow humans; and to that kindness, add love" (2 Pet. 1:5-7).

Are there areas where we are to be excessive? To address an imbalanced world, certainly. There are things worth fighting to the death over. There are things worth sacrificing your life for.

On the other hand, while passion is part of the richness of being human, I suspect that most of those whose lives are distinctive enough to label as "passionate" are often individuals who are imbalanced, who need therapy or medication. And to head off the next question, most of our portraits of Jesus do not portray him as passionate. In Luke in particular, he is very even keel. It is mostly in Mark's gospel that we get the unpredictable Jesus. Jesus does not die fighting; he dies surrendering to the earth.

James, when I say I am not needed I simply mean that I am not a necessary being. I believe that I have great value in God's eyes. But I do not think God needs me (which would imply that God wasn't God--He would then be incomplete without something beyond Himself).

I find great virtue in self-controlled passion and in selfless courage for what is right. I find no virtue in irrational passion.

But these are my musings.

::athada:: said...

But Dr. Schenck! I thought Christians were supposed to be passionate! Passionate for the lost, passionate for the poor, passionate for ministry, passionate about Test-a-mints...

See Jarod Osbourne's passion-doubts: http://gardenofimagination.blogspot.com/2005/11/confessions-of-confusion-maybe-some.html

Ken Schenck said...

Who said this: "Mornings are for writing, afternoons for reading, and evenings are for enjoyment. Exquisite foods punctuate the day, while wine washes down the night"? P.S. It wasn't a Wesleyan.