Amidst the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas, the classic Christmas carol It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year can be heard just about anywhere. Its lighthearted tune and cheerful lyrics, “With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings. When friends come to call. It’s the hap-happiest season of all” it is easy to become entranced with the song (Williams). It is true Christmas is the happiest season for a Savior was born. However, the happiness of Jesus does not last just season but a lifetime. Christmas provides a perfect opportunity for parish leaders to engage parishioners in conversations about virtues for without them own cannot obtain the happiness of a lifetime, but only for a season. The hustle and bustle of …show more content…
Authentic happiness is long lasting and is the fruit of one pursuing the good life. The good life, according to Seneca, “is in harmony with its own nature” (Seneca, p.87). This is achieved through a wise mind that “is brave and vigorous, and capable of endurance, adapting to every new situation, attentive[ness] to the body and to all that affects it” (Seneca, p. 87). In doing so, one grows in the wisdom and detaches him or her self from material possessions and pleasures, while still being able to engage them without succumbing to lust. “For one pleasures and pains have been scorned…we experience a great joy that is steadfast and constant [and] peace and harmony of mind” and “’possessed of much kindness and concern for those with whom it has dealings’” (Seneca p. 88). The wise one draws upon his or her wisdom witnessing to the freedom of detachment and assists others in purifying themselves in pursuit of the good life. Seneca’s understanding of virtue and the good life, though it does not include the Christian God, are applicable to today’s church community’s struggles. Taken in the context of today’s promise of “If it feels good, do it”, people fall into the traps of pleasure. Many parish communities struggle with lukewarm followers who easily succumb to the pleasure of a warm bed and sleep rather than fulfilling their Sunday obligation. These parishioners have not searched for what “is solid, balanced and more beautiful”: …show more content…
Throughout time, humility has been one of the most disliked and discarded virtues for it forces one to recognize one’s nothingness and inabilities. However, in humbling oneself, one gains grace, justice and wisdom, which are “the way, the truth and the life” of Jesus (Bonaventure, p.40). Grace in humility gives one “the way of the truth of justice that consists in the performance action” (Bonaventure, p.40). Humility, while is an interior movement of the heart, is reflected exteriorly through just acts and poverty. Justice “leads to a taste for wisdom upon which rests the solace of contemplation” of one’s nothingness in light of God’s greatness (Bonaventure, p.41). Sprung from the root of humility, the foundation of all virtue, one ascends in knowledge and love of God and
The title to the novella 'A Christmas Carol' this suggests that the story will be a joyful Christian message. 'Christmas' is a time for celebration and togetherness. It is the time for forgiveness, kindness and charity. 'Carol' is a chant which a group of people sing Christmas and Christian songs, so this is meant to be a time where people have fun and are united with family and friends.
Simply defined, happiness is the state of being happy. But, what exactly does it mean to “be happy?” Repeatedly, many philosophers and ideologists have proposed ideas about what happiness means and how one attains happiness. In this paper, I will argue that Aristotle’s conception of happiness is driven more in the eye of ethics than John Stuart Mill. First, looking at Mill’s unprincipled version of happiness, I will criticize the imperfections of his definition in relation to ethics. Next, I plan to identify Aristotle’s core values for happiness. According to Aristotle, happiness comes from virtue, whereas Mill believes happiness comes from pleasure and the absence of pain. Ethics are the moral principles that govern a person’s behavior which are driven by virtues - good traits of character. Thus, Aristotle focuses on three things, which I will outline in order to answer the question, “what does it mean to live a good life?” The first of which is the number one good in life is happiness. Secondly, there is a difference between moral virtues and intellectual virtues and lastly, leading a good life is a state of character. Personally and widely accepted, happiness is believed to be a true defining factor on leading a well intentioned, rational, and satisfactory life. However, it is important to note the ways in which one achieves their happiness, through the people and experiences to reach that state of being. In consequence, Aristotle’s focus on happiness presents a more arguable notion of “good character” and “rational.”
Contrary to Aristotle’s view that supreme happiness is related to earthly living, Augustine argues that supreme happiness is not truly found until one seeks eternal life with God. While both mostly agree on the definitions of the virtues, differences arise when one looks at their views on the ends that those virtues should be directed towards. In this essay, I will discuss both Aristotle and Augustine’s ideas of virtues and what each thinks humans should do in order to truly find and achieve the supreme good of happiness.
Epicurus provides some great ideas towards what constitutes happiness and ‘the good life’ that can be applied to many facets of life, however I believe some aspects must be further contemplated to find a more infallible theory. The view that one can only feel pleasure in the absence of pain seems to be one that is very black and white and does not seem to take in the intricacies of modern society. Fundamentally, the pursuit of certain pleasures and the minimisation of pain would likely result in happiness, however a mild dosing of the contrary could also contribute to ‘happiness and the good life’.
A pill bug is an insect that forms a hard shell around its soft flesh whenever startled or scared. Just like this pill bug, humans guard themselves from anything that hurts them without realizing that they are shutting out the most precious moments of their lives. Ebenezer Scrooge, the main character of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, is a cold man. He finds what he defines as true happiness in the form of money and wealth. At first he only seems to be a machine living in a human form, but as Scrooge's true journey and hardships are revealed, it becomes difficult to blame only Scrooge for his independence. It is inevitable that Scrooge's rudeness and impudent ferocity towards people led to the mistreatment of his dead body, but Scrooge's walls were not built for nothing. As the story progresses, and his true story from start to finish is revealed. There is no one person to blame, for it was the wrong of everyone. As Blaise Pascal once said, “All of humanity's problems stem from a man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
Christianity has its challenges. It places demands on us that set us apart from the rest of our world. The bible calls us a peculiar people, who navigate the challenge of living IN the world, without being OF the world. When we say ‘no’ to temptations that are enjoyed by the masses, we are labeled as self-righteous snobs, religious weirdoes, or worse. But we persevere, and we press toward that invisible line the Apostle Paul drew in the sands of time…for the high calling in Christ Jesus.
Sometimes, we faith followers make jokes about shame in our religions. Shame in the church is a common experience for many church members. Though, not every church has this sort of approach in discipleship and behavioral training. Shame has long been a pronounced interest to me. Most church leaders want the church to be a place of hope and inspiration, but some of us have experienced a tremendous amount of shame, also. Growing up within a very conservative John Wesley style holiness church taught me some life-giving valuable faith lessons. We were taught incredible lessons of living one?s life in a way that reflects one?s values and belief system and being empowered to express such values to others. Great lessons in humility and giving all glory to God abound. The church taught a person is best when honoring a holy lifestyle as best able on Earth, including prayer,
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens A Christmas carol was written in 1843, by Charles Dickens, who was born in 1812 at Portsea, in Hampshire. A Christmas Carol as a great success. In its text, were many social issues that concerned Dickens. He wanted to highlight the plight of bad working conditions, child labour and the poor education system, at the time of writing. Dickens knew that the poor could be helped by the rich upper class.
...le relates that the healthy exercise of virtuous function in a well-rounded life exploring personal interests and friendships is the cause of which happiness is the unavoidable and fitting effect. In other words, if you pursue the cause you will create the effect, but if you pursue only the effect circumventing the cause, you will miss both effect and cause entirely. “Aristotle rejects the Epicurean principle of pleasure; because, though a proof that isolated tendencies are satisfied, it is no adequate criterion of the satisfaction of the self as a whole. He rejects the Stoic principle of conformity to law; because it fails to recognize the supreme worth of individuality”(Hyde, 175).
... of sainthood requires an excess of self-restraint that makes it impossible to attain the moral mean. The saint may tell himself that the denial of worldly pleasures will bring him true happiness, but in fact he is pursuing a kind of perverse pleasure in self-restraint. Saint Augustine is looking for happiness from beyond life; but happiness, as Aristotle says, comes from achieving the moral mean in life. If we aspire to the moral mean, we must consider moral martyrdom to be like any other excess. In this view, the denial of worldly pleasures is not a virtue; rather, it is a vice that leads us away from the balance that we seek in our lives.
The comparison between the views of Seneca and St. Augustine on the topics of friendship, social class, and death provided an analyst that better proved why early Christians found his philosophy attractive. While they did not disagree or necessarily agree, the text indicates that they contributed to each other’s views, ultimately leading to the enticement of early Christian theologians. As shown above the views of Seneca such as choosing friends wisely, practicing humility for lower-class citizens, and accepting death were before his time. He was a philosopher but he demonstrated faith, which early Christians could and did get behind. Both of them in Letters to a Stoic and Confessions were writing to the reader to help share their experiences that helped better their lives, resulting bettering many early Christian’s lives.
classes, and so he knew what it was like. It was very hard for the
The pursuit for happiness has been a quest for man throughout the ages. In his ethics, Aristotle argues that happiness is the only thing that the rational man desires for its own sake, thus, making it good and natural. Although he lists three types of life for man, enjoyment, statesman, and contemplative, it is the philosopher whom is happiest of all due to his understanding and appreciation of reason. Aristotle’s version of happiness is not perceived to include wealth, honor, or trivial
The study of ethics has for many years divided the philosophy community into competing schools of thought. Two of these schools, Stoicism and Epicureanism, have wrestled with the specific question “How can I be happy?” While the answer may appear obvious at first, the two schools have developed competing theories of happiness that prove it is not such an easy question to answer. The Stoics argue that the way to a happy life is through pursuing virtue. In comparison, the Epicureans argue that a happy life is one free of pain. To clarify, neither school is declaring specific actions right or wrong; rather each is prescribing their own way of life in which happiness can be obtained (Sharples 82). In this paper, I will argue that the Stoic School succeeds because it accounts for the human desire to purse certain virtues without regard to pleasure or pain which is essential to happiness.
Society has identified happiness to be a necessity that consist of wealth and pleasure and materials in order to feel satisfied. Therefore, people feel satisfied with the materials that they obtain and can become dissatisfied with their self. The good life focuses on obtaining intellectual virtues and the fundamental truths. Also, to live a good life they must obtain character virtues For example, a person must become virtuous by improving their character and obtaining reason. Also, the person must know the difference between good and bad actions. To be happy we must acquire the excellence of character and the mean between excess and