All That is Gold does not Glitter

Lesson 1. Good, Bad and Indifferent

Part B. Same Indifference

In answering the question "What makes you happy?" the answer is frequently "stuff". Sometimes I think it is HAVING something, but it is as often BEING somewhere. It is my home, my wife, my kids, etc. My relationships. But, as Socrates points out, it isnt the things themselves that are good, that make us happy, but rather our relationship to them. How we see them.

For example, if I think of the home, it is not a static thing. It is changing all the time. Things break down (like the phone lines recently). Things get dirty. Things grow wild, like the grass and trees which are always in need of trimming. Things get old, like the roof on the gazebo. Depending on how you look at it, the home could be a practical example of Newton's second law of thermodynamics.

But, by the same token, it is a challenge to my creativity and deductive reasoning to discover and repair sources of problem. I am brought back into contact with the work I do when I care for the things that work has purchased. I am guiding and channelling the growth of nature in my suburban setting. I am planning, organizing and resourcing to fund and execute future projects. Depending on how you look at it, this home could be a practical example of Newton's fourth law of thermodynamics.

In other words, things, and this includes some states of being, are not good or bad. It is all in how you look at it, in your relationship to it.

Goodness = right relationships.