Now, we as professing Christians, can smirk about this hedonistic view of happiness but the author sums up his conclusion saying, the only possible way the notion of happiness can be reclaimed from manipulation and self-indulgence is to recast it as the possession of a virtuous character and the performance of virtuous action. He ends by agreeing with Bertrand Russell, Spinoza, and Aristotle that the happy life is to an extraordinary extent the same as a good life. Surely virtue is a word that covers the traits that are recommended to us in the passage from Ephesians but virtue as used here seems a very self-reliant word. There is no mention of religion in this whole review no reference in this supposedly most religious nation to the joy that comes from the spiritual life, from the assurance that Christ loved us and gave up his life for us. Let s end our morning review of current headlines with a final one.
British doctors prescribe bibliotherapy for the stressed-out and depressed.
As a compulsive reader myself, I was curious to see how the doctors would use the gift of books to comfort troubled souls though the subhead A spoonful of Dickens wasn t very reassuring. The article talks about people who have found help by reading about others more miserable than I am and it spoke of the usefulness of catharsis. Not a single mention of the Bible. No reference to any of the great spiritual books that have provided strength through the years. No thought of the volumes of meditations that have guided people for centuries.