Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of EthicsDrake, Durant
Philosophy
Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of Ethics
Drake, Durant
Ethics
there are in it and will yet be-why we cannot tell and need not know;
the only alternative we have is to take them cheerfully or gloomily,
to rebel or to accept the situation. Our duty then is clear. To face
the events of life as they come to us, without discouragement or dismay,
to laugh at them a little and learn to carry on our lives through them
with steadfast heart and smiling face- surely that is the part of wisdom
and of true manliness. The ugly things in life seem much less formidable
when thus boldly faced than when we try to shut our eyes to them,
with the consequent disillusion at their continual reappearance.
Confess frankly the faults of life and it becomes tolerable, is even
in a fair way to become lovable. For after all, when its obvious
imperfections do not blind us to its good points, it is a dear old
world we live in, and the healthy minded man loves it, as he
loves his friends in spite of their faults loves it, and finds it a
world gloriously worth living in.
III.
HEARTY APPRECIATION OF THE WONDER AND BEAUTY IN LIFE.
Finally, when we have our great purpose in life, and have overcome
the fear of pain and loss, we must learn to see and appreciate the
beauty of the world we live in. The man who refuses to be downed by
trouble is in a condition to enjoy each bit of good fortune that comes
to him, to welcome each as a pure gift or addition to life, and to
know that gifts of some sort or other will always come. Holding all
things with that looser grasp that is ready to let them go if go they
must, he can relish the good things of life the more freely for not
having counted on them, as he can the more freely admire the virtues
of his friends for not having expected them to be perfect. He can feel
the beauty of the world without being dependent upon it, not looking
for mortal things to be immortal or human things to be ideal, but
whole-heartedly enjoying today what he has today and tomorrow what
he shall have to-morrow. The things he cannot have at all, instead
of spoiling his happiness in what he has, will rather add to it by
forming another dimension of the actual, full of beautiful visions
and glorious possibilities. And meantime the real world, of events
that actually occur, will not fail, in spite of its flaws and rebuffs,
to bring him ever-fresh delights. Let no one minimize these delights.
There is more beauty, more interest here in this mundane existence
of ours, more inspiration, more inexhaustible possibility of enjoyment
than the keenest of us has dreamed of. We need some sort of shaking
up to rouse us to the beauty of common things- the freshness of the air
we breathe, the warmth of sunshine, the green of trees and fields and
the blue of the sky, the joy in exercise of brain and muscle, in reading
and talking and sharing in the life of the world; and in such daily
things as eating at the family table when we are hungry, or a good
night's sleep when we are tired. We need some teacher like Whitman
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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