Fortitude

According to Aristotle, one possesses the virtue of fortitude if he/she “faces and … fears the right things … from the right motive, in the right way and from the right time, and who feels confidence under the corresponding conditions.” In other words, a brave person is one who prudently decides in certain situations that it is right to endure suffering for the sake of a good, even though he is afraid. Indeed, the brave person endures suffering in cases where he knows that avoiding it would be a greater evil.

Courage+Defiance=Fortitude

Word of the Day: Sublunary

sublunary: of, relating to, or characteristic of the terrestrial world

Many thanks to Julian Barnes for bringing sublunary back into my life, a word I used to use but that somehow, in recent decades, had forgotten all about. And many thanks to the random person on the internet for dropping this beautiful quote from Barnes' Elizabeth Finch, a book that jettisoned up my ToBeRead list. The crux of the quote--that reason may mislead us just as much as passion--is the nugget of so many conversations I had along the way with Larry Becker, who I miss all the time but miss most keenly in late October.

“We must certainly consider, not just in this class, but outside it, in our own turbulent and fretful lives, the element of chance. The number of people we deeply meet is strangely few. Passion may mislead us furiously. Reason may mislead us just as much. Our genetic inheritance might hamstring us. So might previous events in our lives. It is not just soldiers in the field who later suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. It is often the inevitable consequence of a seemingly normal sublunary existence.”

In fact, this whole review brought so many beautiful half-remembered things into my world today, I'm looking forward to an autumnal investigation of each of them, not the least of which is that a "twice or thrice a year lunch, lasting exactly 75 minutes" can be a significant relationship, an idea I know to be true and the truth of which was so compelling that I stopped reading the review and started writing about that (sorry Joanna, maybe I'll go back and read the rest of the review later; I wouldn't bet on it though). 

And there's also the idea of an "exiled soul," and such a thing as "literary travel." 

This was a gem found on the dirt road.

Just For Today

Just for today I will

be happy.

What Abraham Lincoln said is true, that “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.

Just for today I will try to

adjust myself to what is

and not try to adjust everything to my own desires.

I will take my family, my business and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.

Just for today I will

take care of my body.

I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse it, nor neglect it,

so that it will be a perfect machine for my bidding.

Just for today I will try to

strengthen my mind.

I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer.

I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.

Just for today I will

exercise my soul in three ways.

I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out.

I will do at least two things I don’t want to do, as William James suggests, just for exercise.

Just for today I will

be agreeable.

I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise,

criticize not at all, not find fault with anything, and not try to regulate nor improve anyone.

Just for today I will try to

live through this day only.

Not to tackle my whole life problem at once.

I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.

Just for today I will

have a program.

I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it.

It will eliminate two pests, hurry and indecision.

Just for today I will have a

quiet half-hour

all by myself and relax.

In this half -hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective into my life.

Just for today I will

be unafraid.

Especially I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful,

to love, and to believe that those I love, love me.