Good Action (a Postcard from Ulysses to Telemachus)
Good action comes to your way of living, your way of being in the presence of the gods. Your walk tells the gods everything they need to know about your understanding of Life and how you feel about being alive. The rhythm of your movement, the clarity of your heart-mind, the reverence blossoming from the core of you. They can see it in every action, hear it in every word, your fundamental affirmation or refusal of Life. It is the quality and depth of your relationship to Life. You cannot hide your way, the how of your life.
Ours is a world of speaking, and walking, and eating. There I, too, can pick out the best of men from those of little use. Getting up and sitting down, speaking and breathing, these tell you all you need to know about how a man will run to face danger. Honest inquiry forces you to examine it, too, my son. How are you being with the gods as they appear in the form of birds, rocks, stars, men, a piece of bread? To look carefully at any of this expresses a profound love of Life.
People too often restrict the question of good action. They wonder whether or not they should lie to a friend to spare his feelings, whether or not a woman has been faithful to her husband, whether or not a person should return a certain gift. In some ways, how one gets out of a chair has more to do with loving Life than any of those other things. The small acts–walking, sitting, standing–these are the glances and whispers of love . . . the sighs and embraces, the bites and kisses of a passionate life.
Ours is a world of speaking, and walking, and eating. There I, too, can pick out the best of men from those of little use. Getting up and sitting down, speaking and breathing, these tell you all you need to know about how a man will run to face danger. Honest inquiry forces you to examine it, too, my son. How are you being with the gods as they appear in the form of birds, rocks, stars, men, a piece of bread? To look carefully at any of this expresses a profound love of Life.
People too often restrict the question of good action. They wonder whether or not they should lie to a friend to spare his feelings, whether or not a woman has been faithful to her husband, whether or not a person should return a certain gift. In some ways, how one gets out of a chair has more to do with loving Life than any of those other things. The small acts–walking, sitting, standing–these are the glances and whispers of love . . . the sighs and embraces, the bites and kisses of a passionate life.