How Do We Know

4

RIGHTEOUSNESS LEADS TO HAPPINESS

Happiness consists in the attainment of our desires, and in having only right desires.

—SAINT AUGUSTINE

Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, wrote his autobiography entitled Confessions about 16 centuries ago. I am reliably informed that this gem has been and still is the most widely read autobiography ever written. People respond to excellence in another.

Here, in this exemplary man’s story, we see how the law of attraction works its wonders. The lesson for those of us who work for liberty? Get so excellent in understanding and explaining the freedom philosophy that others will seek one’s tutorship. Anyone out front in any field, be it golf, astronomy or whatever, exerts an attractive force. A noted astronomer, Anthony Standen, wrote this enlightening statement:

All the phenomena of astronomy, which had baffled the acutest minds since the dawn of history, the movement of the heavens, of the sun and the moon, the very complex movement of the planets, suddenly tumble together and become intelligible in terms of the one staggering assumption, this mysterious “attractive force.” And not only the movements of heavenly bodies, far more than that, the movement of earthly bodies, too, are seen to be subject to the same mathematically definable law, instead of being, as they were for all previous philosophers, mere unpredictable happen-so’s.1

It is my contention that the same law applies to human bodies as to the astronomical “earthly bodies,” the law of gravitation being one of many examples. Standen may have meant this; in any event, I believe he would agree.

True, happiness comes from having only right desires. But first, it is important to reflect on the despondency that results from wrong desires: indifference, covetousness, lust, fame.

Indifference never wrote great works, nor thought out striking inventions, nor reared the solemn architecture that awes the soul, nor breathed sublime music, nor painted glorious pictures, nor undertook heroic philanthropies. All of these and other grandeurs are never born of indifference.

The English divine, Robert South, wrote this on covetousness: “The covetous person lives as if the world were made altogether for him, and not he for the world; to take in everything and part with nothing.”

While many people deplore covetousness, few will compare it to murder, theft, adultery as an evil. Nor will they think of it as having any bearing on our current politico-economic problem. This wrong assessment may be due to the fact that “Thou shalt not covet” brings up the rear of the Mosaic thou-shalt-nots.

I suspect that the ordering of the Commandments had nothing to do with a sin-grading plan. Only one of the ten has obvious priority and it became the First Commandment. The next eight Commandments deal with conduct; they enjoin certain overt actions and forbid others. The Tenth Commandment deals with an inner attitude, a state of mind; it is more subtle than the other nine. But if we reflect on the matter, we realize that covetousness is just as deadly as the other sins—indeed, it is a spiritual defect that tends to induce the others.

Covetousness or envy generates a destructive radiation with ill effect on all it touches; it is a canker of the soul. Psychosomatic illness can be traced as much to envy as to hate, anger, worry, despondency.

But consider the social implications, the effects of envy on others. At first blush, the rich man appears not to be harmed because another covets his wealth. Envy, however, is not a benign, dormant element of the psyche; it has the same intensive force as rage, and a great deal of wisdom is required to put it down. Where understanding and self-control are lacking, the weakling will resort to thievery, embezzlement, piracy, even murder, to gratify his envy and “get his share.”

The English Quaker and American Colonist and founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn (1644-1718) grasped the point: “Covetousness is the greatest of Monsters, as well as the root of all Evil.”

When it is clear that covetousness thwarts Creation’s purpose and, thus, man’s destiny—that among the cardinal sins none is more dangerous—it surely behooves each of us to find a way to rid his or her self of this evil. I believe the way is simple to proclaim: Count your blessings! There is no room for covetousness in the heart filled with gratitude.

Now to lust, a vice akin to covetousness—“greed . . . piggishness.” Wrote the Roman naturalist, Pliny The Elder (23-79): “Lust is an enemy of the purse, a canker to the mind, a corrosive to the conscience, a weakness of the wit, a besotter [a stupefier] of the senses and, finally, a mortal bane of all the body.”

Lust stifles reason and puts passions on the rampage; the irrationality it begets is an enemy of the free and unfettered market. The victims seldom seek counsel from those who have some truth to share. Lust is, indeed, a hellish malady of the mind.

While there are ever so many derogatory habits, I shall conclude the negative phase of this commentary with fame—a passion for notoriety at the expense of righteousness. Wrote the Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94): “It is for fame that men do brave actions; They are only silly fellows after all.”

Anyone who seeks fame by doing harm to his fellow men, by robbing Peter to pay Paul, or by countless other infractions of righteousness, is ignoble. Such actors fall into the “silly fellows” category. The antonym for bravery is “craven or cowardly;” traits which are infamous.

Finally, to “Happiness consists of having only right desires.” Wrote the English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679): “Our nature is inseparable from desires, and the mere word desire—the craving for something not possessed—implies that our present felicity is not complete.”

What are the right desires? There are many answers to this question, and each person must draw up his own list. Here is part of mine:

• A desire to grow, day-in-and-day-out, in consciousness, that is, in the perfection of self.

• A desire to know our countless blessings.

• A desire to recognize the mystery of Creation at the Heavenly and earthly levels.

• A desire to better understand and explain the freedom way of life.

• A desire to share one’s ideas with all who care to listen.

• A desire to recognize that no matter how far we advance, our felicity is never complete.

Happiness can be built only on virtue, and must of necessity have truth for its foundation.

• 1See Science Is a Sacred Cow by Anthony Standen (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1950), pp. 63-64.