How to Live the "Good Life"

What is the key to living the good life? Here is a quote to ponder:

"Precisely those who avoid anything unpleasant and hedonistically take advantage of every opportunity to enjoy some pleasure will seldom consciously feel their own life processes, which make themselves noticeable only to those who strive against difficulty." Vittorio Hosle, Morality and Politics, at 281.

It follows that to live life one must struggle against, rather than give in to, the possibilities that confront us. The cardinal virtues (Joseph Pieper names them Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance) are the archetypical expression and result of living this truth, for virtue, from the latin vir or strength, arises from exercise/practice for the good, and the habits or settled modes of acting and reacting that this exercise/practice brings about.

Courage or fortitude is related to temperance in a peculiar way, says Hosle. "On one hand, temperance and courage both involve an overcmoing of immediate vital instincts; on the other, the instincts that are overcome are very different: In the case of temperance it is a matter of pleasure, and in that of courage it is a matter of fear -- in its early forms, the fear of disadvantages in general and, in its most advanced form, fear of death; courage is the actual advancing toward death" (285).

"We should distinguish between several forms of courage, depending on whether they are directed against natural forces, enemies of the group, or one's own group. The battle against nature demands, given similar risks, less self-renunciation than does conflict with foreign conspecifics; but the most difficult thing is to oppose those to whom one is bound by collective identity, even when doing so is not connected with any risk to body and life, but only with social isolation. It is this form of courage that is called 'the courage of one's convictions. . ." (286).

I saw a very good depiction of this type of courage in the film Conspirator, directed by Robert Redford, which tells the story of Mary Surratt, the (Catholic) operator of the boarding house where the conspirators who killed President Lincoln gathered to plot their perfidy. The film is actually the story of her trial, and its outcome, and the growth in courage shown by the attorney who represented her. He definitely had to struggle against his own prejudices and emotions, and pay the price of fighting against the common prejudice that flamed up in our country with the assassination of our beloved Lincoln. I highly recommend it as a true story showing the vital importance of our civic freedoms and the indispensable need for citizens to stand up for them in the face of social pressure and emotion that would readily sacrifice them. You can learn about it here.

At lunch yesterday my mom related that she heard an excellent homily at mass last Sunday at St. Mary's, Downers Grove. She was impressed because the homilist exhorted the congregation to stand up for our Catholic convictions. The homily got a good reception; the congregation applauded when it was over. I can remember a few similar instances at St. Michael's where I was moved to applaud a homily. Invariably it raised up threatened principles or values that needed our active and courageous involvement to combat.

That is why I was happy to read that our bishops are trying to do the same. Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport urged Congress yesterday to act now to protect religious liberty in our country, where rights of conscience more and more are under active attack by politically correct elements who "know better" than "religious bigots."

How to live the good life? Not by hedonism, but by struggling against what our faith teaches is injustice, so that we can do our part to help ensure a just future for ourselves, our children and our children's children.

End of homily!