(After reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, Chapters 12-20)
Dorian Gray lived his life doing whatever he wanted with no negative effects on his body. The negative effects were transferred to a certain painting of him instead.
Dorian was a beautiful man. His body did not age beyond the youthful beauty of his early adulthood. When he committed evil deeds, the cruel look that a man's mouth and eyes might begin to acquire through such deeds did not come upon him. Worry lines and the mocking look that he deserved to carry did not touch him. The burden of all those effects was placed on the painting. Dorian would look at the painting of himself turned ugly by his thoughts and deeds, with a twisted sense of pleasure, seeing what he deserved but did not have to account for. His own face retained a peaceful look of youthful innocence and uprightness.
As a result, Dorian did whatever he wanted to do. He had no fear of consequences. He fed all his appetites freely and was cruel to people if it did not suit him to be kind. He lived a life of extravagance and worldly pleasure. He took what he wanted and escaped from reality whenever he wanted and however he wanted. And yet...
He was not happy. Those temporary pleasures ceased to please him. He got bored with them. He became bored with life. His self-indulgence grew worse in an attempt to find satisfaction, but that emptiness could not be satisfied with worldly things. He committed wicked acts, because the only person he ever thought about was himself. His wickedness grew until it was perverse and dangerous. He committed murder, even, and felt justified in it because the other person made him angry by telling him the truth.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a study on what it would be like to live for worldly pleasures. The results of such an experience, lived through Dorian Gray, were completely unsatisfactory, an utter failure. Dorian Gray shows us that living for pleasure cannot bring happiness. Having everything we want cannot bring happiness.
Earthly things and pleasures will not give us fulfillment. For fulfillment, we must look beyond instant gratification, beyond earthly pleasures, beyond what we think we want, beyond living only for ourselves.
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Monday, November 26, 2012
Friday, November 23, 2012
Staying Aware That We Don't Know Everything
(After reading Madeleine L'Engle's Walking on Water, pp. 129-169, Chapters 7 and 8)
As soon as we think we know it all, we have made ourselves entirely ignorant. It is ignorant to think that we know everything. It is ignorant to think that we've got it all figured out. It is ignorant to think there is nothing more to learn.
There is so much more about life, about ourselves, about creation, about God, about the world we can see, and about the world we can't see, that we don't know. There is always more that we don't know than that which we know. We are always functioning on just knowing a tiny bit of the whole picture, with the whole picture being millions of times, infinitely as many times, as big as what we know. What we know is just the tip of the iceberg, the single cell compared to the entire body, a freckle compared to the universe.
When we know that we don't know much, then we also know that there is so much more to find out. Life is exciting! It can never grow old, for there is always so much new! There are questions we can ask, and we may or may not ever discover the answer, but just asking the question is an adventure.
As we observe the world and life, as long as we stay aware that we don't know much at all compared to what we don't know, we are ready to learn more, we are ready to gain wisdom. But if that wisdom causes us to feel pride, our pride makes us become ignorant again. It is well to remain aware that there is more that we don't know than what we do know.
Since we realize we know so little, we certainly cannot judge someone else and consider them ignorant compared to us. It would be ridiculous to think that we have it all right and they have it all wrong, since we certainly don't own the big picture, either. We can give other people full respect, knowing they are in the same boat with us, going for the same exciting ride on this planet as we are. If their opinions differ from ours, that's great, and it doesn't have to come between us. We can love them no matter what they think. We are all still learning.
As soon as we think we know it all, we have made ourselves entirely ignorant. It is ignorant to think that we know everything. It is ignorant to think that we've got it all figured out. It is ignorant to think there is nothing more to learn.
There is so much more about life, about ourselves, about creation, about God, about the world we can see, and about the world we can't see, that we don't know. There is always more that we don't know than that which we know. We are always functioning on just knowing a tiny bit of the whole picture, with the whole picture being millions of times, infinitely as many times, as big as what we know. What we know is just the tip of the iceberg, the single cell compared to the entire body, a freckle compared to the universe.
When we know that we don't know much, then we also know that there is so much more to find out. Life is exciting! It can never grow old, for there is always so much new! There are questions we can ask, and we may or may not ever discover the answer, but just asking the question is an adventure.
As we observe the world and life, as long as we stay aware that we don't know much at all compared to what we don't know, we are ready to learn more, we are ready to gain wisdom. But if that wisdom causes us to feel pride, our pride makes us become ignorant again. It is well to remain aware that there is more that we don't know than what we do know.
Since we realize we know so little, we certainly cannot judge someone else and consider them ignorant compared to us. It would be ridiculous to think that we have it all right and they have it all wrong, since we certainly don't own the big picture, either. We can give other people full respect, knowing they are in the same boat with us, going for the same exciting ride on this planet as we are. If their opinions differ from ours, that's great, and it doesn't have to come between us. We can love them no matter what they think. We are all still learning.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Consequences Make Us Wiser
(After reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, Chapter 11)
It is a good thing there are consequences for what we do. Consequences are a second chance to learn something. Our first chance to learn something is to listen to our conscience. When we ignore or push aside the warning of the conscience and do something our conscience urges us not to do, negative consequences, usually painful in some way, teach us the same lesson again. Hopefully, the consequences will prevent us from going down that same path or a similar path later. The consequences can also teach us to pay more attention to our conscience and obey it in the future to avoid similar consequences.
Painful consequences include being marred physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. Sometimes consequences are experienced as loss--loss of friendship, loss of money, loss of health, loss of time, loss of integrity, loss of trust, loss of a clear conscience. All these things are meant to bring us to admit that it was wrong to do that, and not to go that route again--for our own good and for the good of others.
If there were no consequences, then it would far too easy for someone who begins down a wrong path to continue going down that path, onto worse and worse things, things that hurt other people or even take lives, because the person never learns to tame their passions or question their urges. If this pattern continues, devastation, desolation, and death will eventually be the result--and then there are eternal consequences to consider. It it better to be corrected, albeit painfully, but sooner, to keep from going too far down that treacherous path.
* * *
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It is a good thing there are consequences for what we do. Consequences are a second chance to learn something. Our first chance to learn something is to listen to our conscience. When we ignore or push aside the warning of the conscience and do something our conscience urges us not to do, negative consequences, usually painful in some way, teach us the same lesson again. Hopefully, the consequences will prevent us from going down that same path or a similar path later. The consequences can also teach us to pay more attention to our conscience and obey it in the future to avoid similar consequences.
Painful consequences include being marred physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. Sometimes consequences are experienced as loss--loss of friendship, loss of money, loss of health, loss of time, loss of integrity, loss of trust, loss of a clear conscience. All these things are meant to bring us to admit that it was wrong to do that, and not to go that route again--for our own good and for the good of others.
If there were no consequences, then it would far too easy for someone who begins down a wrong path to continue going down that path, onto worse and worse things, things that hurt other people or even take lives, because the person never learns to tame their passions or question their urges. If this pattern continues, devastation, desolation, and death will eventually be the result--and then there are eternal consequences to consider. It it better to be corrected, albeit painfully, but sooner, to keep from going too far down that treacherous path.
* * *
If you know someone you'd like to share this blog post with, please use a share button below or towards the top right hand side of the page.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Do the circumstances of life determine who a person is?
(After reading Daniel Deronda, by George Eliot, Book 3, chapters 21-27)
George Eliot looks deeply into the thought life of her characters. She looks at motives, those that are obvious and those that run deeper. To test the motives of a character, she has the character experience hardship. Will the character stand on his former convictions even when it is painful to do so? Will the character maintain her integrity when life seems hopeless? Will this character change his mind when the outlook changes from what he first thought it would be? Will the character sacrifice her morals to ease the burdens of life? And can she be blamed if she does so? Will the cheerful character stay cheerful when there's not much to be cheerful about?
And, really, was that the real motive, or was it just the most attractive one to allow himself to be aware of? One way to find out true motive is to test him. Does that motive stand even when it causes him hardship and when other motives come into play? What about when one's motives conflict? Which motive is strongest?
The trials of life test the personalities and character, integrity and morals of the characters in Daniel Deronda. George Eliot's book is a character study, and the characters are studied through the looking glass of various life events and circumstances. A deeply ringing theme seems to be, "How much do the circumstances of life determine who a person is? Or do those circumstances only reveal who the person is?"
Hardship seems to bring out the good in some people and the bad in other people. Temptation brings out strength in some and weakness in others. Success brings out gratitude in some people and pride in other people. Prosperity brings out generosity in some and selfishness in others. In many people, a mix of responses is aroused. There are inconsistencies.
People are complex. We cannot put Jack or Susie in a box and predict how they will respond in this or that situation. Jack and Susie are still developing. None of us is finished yet.
However, since all situations have the potential for helping us change for the better, let's go down that better path. There are always choices to make. Let's choose what is true, honest, and just. Let us choose that which is loving and honorable, faithful and good.
Let us choose that which will improve us and bless others.
George Eliot looks deeply into the thought life of her characters. She looks at motives, those that are obvious and those that run deeper. To test the motives of a character, she has the character experience hardship. Will the character stand on his former convictions even when it is painful to do so? Will the character maintain her integrity when life seems hopeless? Will this character change his mind when the outlook changes from what he first thought it would be? Will the character sacrifice her morals to ease the burdens of life? And can she be blamed if she does so? Will the cheerful character stay cheerful when there's not much to be cheerful about?
And, really, was that the real motive, or was it just the most attractive one to allow himself to be aware of? One way to find out true motive is to test him. Does that motive stand even when it causes him hardship and when other motives come into play? What about when one's motives conflict? Which motive is strongest?
The trials of life test the personalities and character, integrity and morals of the characters in Daniel Deronda. George Eliot's book is a character study, and the characters are studied through the looking glass of various life events and circumstances. A deeply ringing theme seems to be, "How much do the circumstances of life determine who a person is? Or do those circumstances only reveal who the person is?"
Hardship seems to bring out the good in some people and the bad in other people. Temptation brings out strength in some and weakness in others. Success brings out gratitude in some people and pride in other people. Prosperity brings out generosity in some and selfishness in others. In many people, a mix of responses is aroused. There are inconsistencies.
People are complex. We cannot put Jack or Susie in a box and predict how they will respond in this or that situation. Jack and Susie are still developing. None of us is finished yet.
However, since all situations have the potential for helping us change for the better, let's go down that better path. There are always choices to make. Let's choose what is true, honest, and just. Let us choose that which is loving and honorable, faithful and good.
Let us choose that which will improve us and bless others.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
THE BUSINESS OF HEAVEN, by C. S. Lewis, entries for June 8-23
Friendship is a precious privilege of life. People sometimes overlook the value of friendship. Romantic love is recognized and glorified. Natural love, as between mother and child, is greatly praised and admired. However, friendship is often passed by.
Friendship is not a necessary thing, but it is a precious thing. Friendship is a choice, not a compulsion; hence, friendship might be considered all the more meaningful. When two people choose to spend time together in friendship, they have an opportunity to double their perspective. What one views in life is from one point of view. What the other views in life is from another point of view. When the two share their views, they suddenly have a better understanding of life, because they have the opportunity to share two points of view. When a third person enters the picture, then not only is there a third point of view, which provides more of a three-dimensional picture of life, but another viewpoint of the first two friends becomes available. The third person might bring out qualities in the other two, which the first two might not have brought out in each other. The three friends all contribute to revealing, discovering, and appreciating the depth and beauty of one another.
Friendship increases our ability to recognize beauty in others. It also increases the beauty in us. Friendship provides the opportunity for the unknown best to come forth from each of us. Once that unknown best is made known, a new level of unknown best comes to the queue and waits its turn to be brought out.
Friendship is not a necessary thing, but it is a precious thing. Friendship is a choice, not a compulsion; hence, friendship might be considered all the more meaningful. When two people choose to spend time together in friendship, they have an opportunity to double their perspective. What one views in life is from one point of view. What the other views in life is from another point of view. When the two share their views, they suddenly have a better understanding of life, because they have the opportunity to share two points of view. When a third person enters the picture, then not only is there a third point of view, which provides more of a three-dimensional picture of life, but another viewpoint of the first two friends becomes available. The third person might bring out qualities in the other two, which the first two might not have brought out in each other. The three friends all contribute to revealing, discovering, and appreciating the depth and beauty of one another.
Friendship increases our ability to recognize beauty in others. It also increases the beauty in us. Friendship provides the opportunity for the unknown best to come forth from each of us. Once that unknown best is made known, a new level of unknown best comes to the queue and waits its turn to be brought out.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, by Oscar Wilde, chapter 10
We are all given a conscience to guide us in doing what is right. When we go to do something that is not right, our conscience sends us a warning, a knowing that it is not the right thing to do. We are given the choice whether to give heed to our conscience or not, but if we refuse our conscience, it is wounded and damaged, and then if we persist in going the wrong way, our conscience becomes hardened, numbed. After our conscience has been numbed, we don't notice the messages our conscience would give us to warn us that something is not a good thing for us to do. This is not a good place to be, because the conscience is there for our own good and protection, as well as for the good of others. If we walk without a conscience, only doing as we please, the dangerous path leads to suffering, devastation, and death.
The good news is that it is not too late. Right now, if you listen, you will hear your conscience guiding you, showing you the right way, warning you not to go the wrong way. As you give heed to the very quiet voice, it will grow stronger, it will take up its place again, and you will begin to walk in right paths, where you will find increasing wisdom, truth, and peace. Keep walking in the right and true paths, keep listening for what is right, and you will find those most important things you have been separated from.
Seek, and you shall find.
The good news is that it is not too late. Right now, if you listen, you will hear your conscience guiding you, showing you the right way, warning you not to go the wrong way. As you give heed to the very quiet voice, it will grow stronger, it will take up its place again, and you will begin to walk in right paths, where you will find increasing wisdom, truth, and peace. Keep walking in the right and true paths, keep listening for what is right, and you will find those most important things you have been separated from.
Seek, and you shall find.
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