On My Mind – Principiis – Live A Good Life – 7/31/2018

Live A Good Life

If there are Gods and they are just, they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by.

If there are Gods but unjust, then you should not want to worship them.

If there are no Gods, then you will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.

Marcus Aurelius

This is the second of my pillars but before I go too far, I thought I’d link to the post that started this series:

http://booksofbrian.com/on-my-mind-principiis-7-28-2018/

I followed that post with some thoughts on my 1st Pillar – IF by Rudyard Kipling:

http://booksofbrian.com/on-my-mind-principiis-if-7-28-2018/

I’ll start by saying that this one may not land well with some.  It may lead some to see me in a negative light.  Faith in God is – for many – a defining characteristic that is simply not negotiable.  I can accept and understand that belief.  I’m just not able to unconditionally accept it.

This one actually came to me from my Father – a second, critically important person in my life.  So much of who I am today can be traced back to both Dad and Grandpop – the two of them modeled the roles that I’ve tried very hard to emulate – the two people who have always helped me define the man and person I want to be.  When I look around for heroes, I never feel the need to look much further than my family.

My father has always been a collector of wisdom – he finds and keeps quotes and sayings that speak to him – that capture some element of his personal philosophy or world view.  He has a three ring binder where he keeps his copies of these things.  I can’t remember when I picked this one up from him but it stuck with me because it reflected so perfectly something I’ve always admired about him.  My father has never been a religious man – he’s never really spent much time in a church – we’ve never discussed this but I don’t think he spends much time thinking about God or Religion.  When we were growing up, the Sunday paper was far more important to my Dad than Church or the Bible.

I’ve never seen that as a negative or a shortcoming, however; because what my Dad does spend an enormous amount of time thinking about is right and wrong – honesty and fairness and personal responsibility and honorable behavior – that and baseball – and he does his best to make sure that the principles he’s chosen as a result are reflected in his daily life.  Like my Grandpop, he’s not a perfect man – none of us are – but he’s one of the two best I’ve ever known – and he manages to be a very good man without feeling the need to serve anyone’s code but his own.  It’s all him and his belief in the need to live a virtuous life.

For me, the quote captures this part of him – something that I’ve come to believe as well – that the ability to live a good and just life can be independent of everything but a personal and very imperfect, human commitment to doing so.  This doesn’t in any way devalue or delegitimize any person’s belief in God or the goodness that I’ve seen flow from that commitment on the part of so many people I’ve known over the years.  Virtuous and just behavior can just as easily find its source in that type of devotion.  For me, though, I prefer to do my very best – knowing that I’ll often fail – to find it in myself – independent of any higher power or any promise of eternal reward.  That’s the foundation upon which I’ve tried to build a life and this quote has always served to reinforce my commitment.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not always worked for me.  I’ve made plenty of mistakes and I’m just as capable of slipping below the line as any man.  I can remember plenty of times in my life when I’ve behaved in a selfish or unkind or or dishonest or unethical manner – but keeping this principle in front of me every day does – I believe – help me to stay on the high side of the bar far more often than not.  What’s more, the commitment to doing so is one I can completely own – just as I try to completely own and make amends for my failures.  At the end of the day – for me – this is an internal process based on my own code – and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Short to long – this principle doesn’t help me with specific choices.  It doesn’t lay down any ground rules  Instead, it reminds me every day of the need – to the very best of my imperfect abilities – to live a good life – for no reason other than a belief in the importance of doing so.

Now – time to get back to “Autumn In The Heavenly Kingdom”.  I have a review to write this weekend. 🙂