Empathy begins the process of connecting us with others, as we share their emotions. Our own life experience enables us to understand something of the life experience of others. That emotional understanding is the distinction we call empathy: “. . . the capacity to share the feelings of others . . .” “Empathy is a complex capability enabling individuals to…
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Value for Tuesday of Week 52 in the season of Harvest and Celebration
Living with Good Orderly Direction
When we know what we want, and what it means to us, we are best served knowing how to get/achieve it.
- . . . effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. [John F. Kennedy]
- Today we are engaged in a deadly global struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction. [attributed to Barack Obama]
The intellectual component of our holy trinity is direction: the rules by which we live, and the means and methods we use to achieve our goals. Many people unwisely omit this from their conception of the sacred or religious life, mentioning only meaning and purpose: the intellectual component, direction, is essential. It may not be as satisfying emotionally as the other elements, which probably explains why many people overlook or ignore it. Yet without it, we cannot use reason, much less wisdom, to chart an intelligent course that is likely to produce a good and productive life. We may know what we wish to accomplish (meaning) but we will not know, or will not follow, the proper steps to achieve our ends. The exclusion of direction from the holy Trinity may be as much, or more, a product of choice as of oversight.
“Holy trinity?”, you may ask. In the Christian Trinity, the analog to direction is the Word, or Father; the analog to meaning is the Spirit, represented by the invisible feminine principle (unfortunately, the mother is absent, replaced by a formless “Holy Spirit”); the analog to purpose is the Son, the product of the parents, the Word made flesh and expressed as action. Perhaps this is why the Christian narrative is so enduring: it reaches deep into the psyche, straight to the mother lode of meaning, through a metaphor that brilliantly reflects a robust approach to life.
Applied to ethics, morality, spirituality, and religion, we could say that we seek to operate in good orderly direction, a term used in Alcoholics Anonymous. The reader may have surmised long ago that I had a Christian upbringing. Roman Catholics in particular may have grinned with memories of recognition. No doubt, my early life experiences have influenced this model, as they influenced J. Calvin (John Calvin) Chatlos, my friend and mentor in this model, who grew up the son of a Christian minister. I do not propose that this model is the only one but considering especially that it has its genesis in someone else’s work, I feel at some liberty to say that I have not seen anything better, or as complete, as solid and as sound. There may be other methods of spiritual and religious practice that will be more successful for some people, perhaps for most people; to my eye, this one offers the most complete and inclusive explanation of ethics, and religious and spiritual life.
We need a plan – a set of directions for accomplishing any task. “Having direction allows you to maintain mental resilience during transitions by facilitating a sense of underlying purpose . . .” Planning is essential in most purposeful activities, including (as only a few examples) scientific investigation and experimentation, architecture, urban planning, agriculture, education, personal health management, sports, music, meal planning and preparation, and organizational management. Plan-making enhances follow-through.
In addition to having a plan, or direction, we are best advised to evaluate how our plan is working as we execute it. Both in the physical world and in our abstract and symbolic undertakings (writing, learning a piece on the piano, etc.): “Our ability to keep track of where we are going relative to where we have been requires knowledge of our ongoing location and orientation.” This requires self-evaluation in achieving our goals: “. . . self-evaluation of sense of direction is associated with evaluation of one’s familiarity with features of particular environments, as well as memories of successes and failures in recent wayfinding efforts.” To an extent, this probably applies “with or without intentional application.” It includes an “emotional sense of direction”.
Real
True Narratives
Technical and Analytical Readings
All of our values are part of living a well-directed life. Below are books explicitly on the subject.
- Megan Hellerer, Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life (Viking, 2024).
- Jamie Hillman, 7 Signposts: Find Your Direction in Life's Foundational Decisions (Hill Flower Publishing, 2022).
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Poetry
Poems:
- Robert Frost, “The Death of the Hired Man” (analysis)
- Edgar Lee Masters, “George Gray”
- John Keats, “Lines Written in the Highlands After a Visit to Burns’ Country”
- Wallace Stevens, “Table Talk”
From the dark side:
- Edgar Lee Masters, “Hildrup Tubbs”
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Johannes Brahms, Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 (1878) (approx. 36-46’) (list of recorded performances), is a virtuoso work that takes a more calculated tone than the other great violin concerti. “. . . Brahms was serious, no doubt about it. His Violin Concerto might display a lyricism that sounds spontaneous, but this composer sweated over every bar.” “The fact that this violin concerto was written for a most famed and virtuoso violinist of that time suggests its difficulty. The concerto requires tremendous technique from the violinist performing the work.” “As the conductor and scholar Leon Botstein notes: ‘[Brahms] wanted to find a way to reconcile the most serious aspirations of instrumental music with the visceral power associated with the display of virtuoso technique.'” “Brahms intended Opus 77 to be a truly symphonic concerto; that is, a concerto that fully integrates the orchestra, rather than a showy piece designed to display the soloist’s virtuosity, in which the orchestra is relegated to mere accompaniment.” Those may have been Brahms’ intentions but the listening experience is one of hearing a brilliantly constructed concerto. Brahms’ efforts paid off brilliantly. Best recorded performances are by: Kreisler (Barbirolli) in 1936; Busch (Steinberg) in 1943; Huberman (Rodzinski) in 1944; Neveu (Schmidt-Isserstedt) in 1948; Menuhin (Furtwängler) in 1949; Martzy (Kletzki) in 1954; Szeryng (Monteux) in 1958; Francescatti (Bernstein) in 1961; Little (Handley) in 1991; Bell (Dohnányi) in 1994; Rachlin (Jansons) in 2004; Faust (Harding) in 2010; Capuçon (Harding) in 2011; Batiashvili (Thielemann) in 2012 ***; and Shaham (Jacobsen) in 2019.
Music: songs and other short pieces
Visual Arts
- Francis Picabia, The Moret Canal, Autumn Effect (1909)
- James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Little Blue Girl (1894)
- James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Red: Lamplight (1886)
- James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Fawn Color and Purple: Portrait of Miss Milly Finch (1885)
- James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Yellow and Gold: The Gold Girl Connie Giilchrist (1872-73)
- James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Blue and Silver: Trouville (1865)
- James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room (1860-61)
