The Method of Holiness and the Method of Hedonism
Holiness and happiness, purity and pleasure, benevolence and blessedness, advantage and vivaciousness, faithfulness and success, character and contentment: what do these seemingly contradictory ideas have in widespread? What do these concepts—usually pitted towards one another as mutually unique—must do with each other? Is that this some sort of paradox?
There are some Wesleyan rules that I’ll take with me wherever I’m going, and considered one of these is the concept holiness is the way in which to happiness.
Imagine it or not, the concept the ethical life is the nice life dominates historical considering. Holiness and happiness, particularly, are woven collectively in classical Christian thought. Augustine acknowledged that the pursuit of happiness reaches its finish in God, and Aquinas emphasised the happiness of the saints in his Summa Theologica. However the connection between holiness and happiness might be most clear within the theology of John Wesley—the founder, although maybe unwittingly, of Methodism.
I went to a seminary that was closely entrenched within the Anglican, Methodist, and Wesleyan traditions. For higher or worse, I realized so much concerning the life, ministry, and teachings of John Wesley whereas I used to be there. Although I don’t see eye-to-eye with Wesley on every little thing, there are some Wesleyan rules that I’ll take with me wherever I’m going, and considered one of these is the concept holiness is the way in which to happiness.
This classical perspective is kind of overseas to our fashionable sensibilities. Within the modern panorama, most of us have developed a destructive view of conventional morals, classical virtues, and non secular teachings on “proper and mistaken.” We are inclined to assume that such issues oppose private creativity and curb self-expression, robbing us of enjoyment, happiness, and life. In distinction to the Wesleyan path, many people are inclined to take the opposing path, which might be summed up right here as the way in which of hedonism—the way in which of licentiousness, prompt gratification, private indulgence, and bodily pleasure.
Isaac Brock: Good Information for Individuals Who Love Dangerous Information
This well-traveled path is portrayed somewhat positively in a lot of our present artwork and media. The music and prose of the enduring indie rock band Modest Mouse serves as an excellent instance. Modest Mouse has been round for the reason that early ‘90s. They began writing and taking part in music throughout the heyday of the grunge period. Hailing from the good state of Washington and rising up within the shadows of Seattle, they didn’t earn the sort of consideration and acclaim that neighboring bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam had earned.
In life, if I’m offered with two various paths—one simple and one tough—why wouldn’t I select the simple one?
Modest Mouse is taken into account to be one of many first indie bands of the fashionable period. Often called true “street warriors,” they didn’t achieve a ton of recognition till 2004, the 12 months they launched their most accessible album so far: the critically-acclaimed Good Information for Individuals Who Love Dangerous Information. After taking part in reveals in small golf equipment and dive bars throughout the nation for greater than a decade, Modest Mouse had lastly made it.
Their lead singer and first songwriter is Isaac Brock, an open and self-designated atheist. He’s written a number of songs which might be consultant of an atheistic perspective. A few of these songs operate as express critiques of religion and faith. As an example, on a monitor entitled “Bukowski,” Brock refers to God as an “Indian giver,” a “management freak,” and even—in a roundabout approach—an “a**gap.”
Within the tune “Ocean Breathes Salty,” which was one of many hit singles off of Good Information for Individuals Who Love Dangerous Information, Brock expresses the prevailing hedonistic sentiments of the day, sentiments which might be attribute of a youthful—and possibly even juvenile—mindset. On the monitor, Brock sings:
I hope heaven and hell are actually there,
However I wouldn’t maintain my breath.
You wasted life, why wouldn’t you waste dying?
You wasted life, why wouldn’t you waste dying?
On the finish of the tune, Brock rewords these ultimate strains, proclaiming: “You wasted life, why wouldn’t you waste the afterlife?”
Brock is actually saying what many in our tradition would say: that the spiritual life is a wasted life. The consensus at this time, no less than amongst younger individuals, appears to be that to reside in keeping with classical conceptions of piety, of conventional morals and non secular values, is to throw one’s life away.
As they are saying, “You solely reside as soon as!” “We wish to have enjoyable!” “We wish to take pleasure in this fleeting life as a lot as we will earlier than we die.” “What a waste of a life—to observe the foundations, to make sacrifices for a God that will not even exist, to pursue advantage, to be disciplined, to keep away from extra and abstain from sure pleasures and indulgences, to take the tough path, the street much less traveled.”
In life, if I’m offered with two various paths—one simple and one tough—why wouldn’t I select the simple one? That’s an excellent query! Perhaps the rationale why we shouldn’t select the simple path is as a result of it gained’t really take us the place we wish to go. Perhaps the simple path is just not the trail to happiness. Perhaps it’s true that nothing good, rewarding, and actually worthwhile, is straightforward.
Is the Spiritual Life Actually a Wasted Life?
Based mostly on private expertise, I’d push again somewhat onerous on the notion that the ethical life or the spiritual life is a wasted life. I imagine the precise reverse to be true, primarily based on first-hand expertise. I feel it’s necessary to problem a few of these societal assumptions. It’s significantly necessary if we genuinely care about individuals.
Opposite to in style perception, it’s really the impious life that may be a wasted life.
I imagine that one could make a really robust argument—primarily based primarily on shared human expertise—that, opposite to in style perception, it’s really the impious life that may be a wasted life. I feel we misinform ourselves; we misinform different individuals. The world round us lies to us—and all of us are consuming it up! I’ve eaten it up! I’m nonetheless consuming it up! It’s such a human factor to do; it’s pure. It’s so easy and simple, however it’s additionally so flimsy and hole.
When individuals say {that a} spiritual life or an ethical life is a wasted life, they usually have three historically prohibited behaviors in thoughts. Isaac Brock nearly definitely had these three issues in thoughts when he wrote the lyrics to “Ocean Breathes Salty”—heavy drug use, extreme alcohol use, and informal intercourse.
However do this stuff actually make us happier and more healthy? Do they actually make us extra full? Are they good for {our relationships}, friendships, and marriages? Do they make us really feel higher about ourselves and result in private success? Do they make us really feel cherished and at peace?
Quite the opposite, don’t this stuff drain us (and others) of emotional, bodily, psychological, and non secular well-being? Don’t these very issues damage and hamper us greater than they assist us? By and huge, doesn’t the presence of such habits trigger extra guilt and disgrace, extra melancholy and despair, extra numbness and vacancy, extra insecurity and stress, extra brokenness and bondage, extra angst and weak spot, extra laziness and impotence, than their absence does?
In the long term and for probably the most half, do these behaviors not add to our discontentment somewhat than subtract from our discontentment? Don’t individuals sometimes observe these habits for the very objective of masking and avoiding their deep-seated points—points which might be usually straight tied to non-public ache and trauma—as an alternative of coping with them, which might possible end in a greater life? We often don’t wish to take into consideration this stuff, partly as a result of it doesn’t appear to be very… a lot… enjoyable….
The Method of Happiness
I can’t reply these questions for different individuals. I can’t reply them for you, however just for myself—and I feel I do know what the reply is… I feel I’ve come to know what the reply is, though typically I nonetheless don’t wish to imagine it—though typically, like a toddler, I plug my ears, shake my head, and scream on the high of my lungs with a purpose to keep away from the reality, that inconvenient reality that part of me—a really actual a part of me—doesn’t wish to be true. “Evil… me, oh yeah, I do know…” Brock sings in “Bukowski”—maybe probably the most self-aware factor that he sings all through all the tune, possibly much more trustworthy than the title of the ultimate monitor on the album: “The Good Instances Are Killing Me.” In the event that they’re killing you, then are they actually good?
Wesley was proper: we had been made for happiness, and happiness can solely be present in our joyful Creator—the God of everlasting happiness, the God of Holy Love.
Thomas Oden, a theologian within the Methodist custom, wrote an 859-page systematic theology known as Traditional Christianity. On the finish of his part on the “Character of God,” he talks concerning the doctrine of divine happiness, a dogma that we merely don’t hear sufficient about within the church at this time—if we hear about it in any respect. God is eternally joyful; He’s eternally fulfilled and joyful. This God of happiness, this God of felicity and blessedness, needs us to be like him—not primarily for his personal sake, however for our sake! He needs us to be joyful. He needs us to share in his blessedness. He needs us to expertise “life and life abundantly.”
However this God of everlasting happiness can be the God of holiness and righteousness. The God of eternal pleasure is the God of “Holy Love.” The holiness of God is an integral a part of the happiness of God. The righteousness of God straight contributes to the joyfulness of God. In and thru God, we see that the holy life is the joyful life, and vice versa.
That is what John Wesley helped carry to my consideration as a younger seminary scholar, one thing that I now know to be true by way of expertise. Like most individuals, I’ve had my seasons of immorality—unholy seasons. However, once I look again on these seasons, I can’t assist however assume that they had been all a waste! What did I achieve? Greater than that, what did I lose? These had been wasted seasons, wasted potential, wasted life. My waywardness robbed me of the that means, the sweetness, the enjoyment, the peace, and the success of the nice life. It prevented me from experiencing the blessedness of God. Wesley was proper: we had been made for happiness, and happiness can solely be present in our joyful Creator—the God of everlasting happiness, the God of Holy Love.
