One does not have to be religious to know that moral sensibility and ethical consciousness are a prerequisite for the good life. – Ralph Jemmott
This week’s column is triggered by my friend and colleague Ralph Jemmott’s article entitled The Church Of Christ. It is not intended to be a critique of his well written commentary but I thought I would engage in some discourse on the notion that has concerned him for many years: “The Good Life”.
The whole concept of “the good life” is steeped in Western society’s crass materialism and our unstinting drive and thirst to acquire the temporal luxuries of this life, often to the neglect of our souls. Man is not just mind and body but man has a soul and a spirit and is unfortunately preoccupied with activities that often rob him of the full enjoyment of his purpose and destiny. Someone has said that the Creator is not ready for us until we achieve the purpose that He has for our lives. I was reflecting that so many of us literally drift through life without ever knowing or pursuing or achieving our purpose. It has also been said that the two most important days in one’s life are the day one is born and the day one discovers why.
Many philosophers and scholars have advanced their own concepts of “the good life”. In Plato’s conceptualisation, he describes a society that is completely rational, based on this concept. His Republic describes a society developed to create and protect “the good life” within the context of a civil state. Plato’s reference to notions like “the perfect life”, and “the ideal state” remain within the recesses of his imagination, in that for it to be practical it would have to ignore human nature, with all its flaws, and would have to be made up of perfect people. I could engage his notion that “the happy life for a man is a life of the conscious following of a rule”.
Another philosopher whose ideas have had a tremendous impact on modern thinking and civilisation is Aristotle. He locates luck at the centre of his concept of “the good life”. He argues that “the good life” is self-sufficient but communally so. His critics challenged the inherent contradiction in “the good life” being based on luck and at the same time being self-sufficient. This respected philosopher opines that reason is the unique quality that we possess and that reasoning well might very well be the pinion on which “the good life” rides. In the final analysis for Aristotle, “the good life” then is defined as the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue. I part ways with this esteemed philosopher who excludes women, slaves and the lower classes from being able to lead “the good life” and the notion that it is external from one’s own choosing.
I cannot engage in a discourse on “the good life” without affirming my Christian ethic and my deep-seated belief in God. I contend that the concept of “the good life” is “to have God in your inner self . . . and automatically one’s life would be good”. (www.sikhphilosophy.net./spiritual-articles)
The Bible does not conceive of the notion of “the good life” in the same way that philosophers do, but it is very clear about how to find purpose in life. Our Lord Himself assures us that He is “come” that we “may have life and have it more abundantly”. Not just “the good life” but “more abundant life”. The “good life” principles as espoused by these philosophers that emphasize man’s self-sufficiency, reason and intellect do nothing but blur any pursuit of purpose that leads to happiness, fulfilment and genuine satisfaction. It is these notions that see men trusting in themselves without acknowledging the existence of God. The Bible itself cautions against the danger of “leaning to our own understanding”.
Wealth, money and possessions, though integral to “the good life” are not indispensable to it. The Master Himself, in His discourse on the value of life, cautions us in Luke 12:15: “For a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.” Solomon, the wisest man to have lived, describes it all “as vanity” and speaks to the conclusion of the whole matter: “Fear God, keep His commandments, for this the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13) The “good life” will continue to elude the world’s atheists, and agnostics and all those who have no place for God in their lives.
In conclusion, I verily believe that any pursuit of “the good life” outside of a personal relationship with God leads to alienation, emptiness, disillusionment and a worrisome sense of futility that are all anathema to our souls and what our Creator intended for us.
Matthew Farley is a retired secondary school principal, chairman of the National Forum on Education and a social commentator. Email [email protected].
