CELEBRATION PHILOSOPHY

"For though a man have sorrow and grief in his newly-troubled soul and live in dread because his heart is distressed…at once he forgets his heaviness and remembers not his sorrows at all…"

- (from Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica. THE THEOGONY)

In light of the New Year and my 19^th birthday, I have decided to dedicate this first post to the discussion of renewal and hopes. I hope that it will make for an important landmark in my life. Yesterday, as I celebrated growing older amidst friends and family I found that this year holds a certain level of significance for me. First of all, it will be the crossing over from the teenage life into the teen-less years. I also realize that I have been in conversation with so many important issues of a life in such a transition. Christianity, family, friends, love, relationships, the pursuit of wisdom and the inter dependence of all these. "For though a man have sorrow and grief in his newly-troubled soul and live in dread because his heart is distressed…at once he forgets his heaviness and remembers not his sorrows at all…" I chose this phrase from The Theogony, because at the moment it captures my thoughts and mood exactly. One minute a man could be happy and perfectly content and the next he's uneasy and at a loss of grace. Not a very complex thought, but then how do you suppose one is to know just what his true state is? This will surely affect what he thinks of the life and the world. That…is my life in one sentence. Trying to strike a balance between what has been, what is and what's to come. So we can't keep our hearts from swaying back and forth, but we can do what's possible to make sure we learn and grow from our condition. For when you make a hasty judgment because of a "newly-troubled soul", you quickly learn to avoid such fleeting thoughts in the future. I think that I've done a good job so far of evaluating the situation, the influences and the state of the heart in everyday life. It helps…to understand that the nature of the human heart is to oscillate between reality and the unknown. When you feel a certain way but you don't know why. It helps to know that your heart will scarcely feel a certain way just because it should. So, I say all of this to suggest that maybe, it is possible to use your heart's condition to advance spiritually, rationally and emotionally as philosopher. If you can keep still your soul still long enough then maybe you can achieve ultimate freedom of thought. Every time you recognize that your condition is the result of a soul that at a whim feels heavy or light, you can learn to overcome it and act according to pure reason. Good Luck.

-Steve

All thoughts and comments are welcome.

This post was originally meant to go up on January 16^th, 2009.

"Old habits are relinquished only with difficulty, and no one wants to be led any further than he can see in front of him." – Thomas A Kempis, The Imitation of Christ.