No one who knows anything of the world and
of life can pretend to think or say that suffering always results
from, or is at all proportioned to, moral faults; and if we are
tempted to regard all our disasters as penal consequences, then we
are tempted to endure them with gloomy and morbid immobility.
It is far more wholesome and encouraging to look upon many
disasters that befall us as opportunities to show a little spirit,
to evoke the courage which does not come by indolent prosperity, to
increase our sympathy, to enlarge our experience, to make things
clearer to us, to develop our mind and heart, to free us from
material temptations. Past suffering is not always an evil, it is
often an exciting reminiscence. It is good to take life
adventurously, like Odysseus of old. What would one feel about
Odysseus if, instead of contriving a way out of the Cyclops' cave,
he had set himself to consider of what forgotten sin his danger was
the consequence? Suffering and disaster come to us to develop our
inventiveness and our courage, not to daunt and dismay us; and we
ought therefore to approach experience with a sense of humour, if
possible, and with a lively curiosity.
Pages:
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208