Happiness

A statement that really stuck out to me is when Vailliant refers to William Blake and his words about how "Joy and woe are woven fine...The bright side of pain- how adaptations can allow us to turn dross into gold...the dark side of pleasure and connection - or at least, the way that our most profound yearnings can arise from our most basic fears." Dove states "to connect to the outside with an interior presence one must absorb the mysterious into the tangle of contradictions and longings that form each one of us." I find these words very intriguing and relatable. The "contradictions" and paradoxes of our hearts must be acknowledged. I agree that people go though awful, woeful times so that they can appreciate the good times and that happiness is the acceptance that life sucks sometimes, shitty things happen and all we can do is chose which defense mechanism, how mature about it we want to be. 

I honestly didn't really like Rita Dove's The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians. Maybe I'm just ignorant of the real point, but I found her doubt in Paul and God kind of...immature? Maybe that's not the right word, but when she states that, ''To hold the mind accountable-surely this wasn't what God had meant." Analyzing the carefree thinking of adolescence compared to the orderly conformed actions of adults in their everyday routine. Dove rejected the truth that God does indeed hold us accountable for not only our actions but our thoughts as well. We are to live faithful to the commandments of God in every part of our life, be it, physical or mental. "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;" (2 Corinthians 10:5 KJV). Thus, bringing honor and glory to our Majesty the Lord Most High. When we fail to keep our thoughts pure and glorifying to God we hinder our walk with Him. Surely someone who has been going to church for such a long time would have came to this same conclusion and if she did in fact why didn't she mention that? I feel that faith and religion is a direct root to happiness. No one is perfect and we all think and even do things that God wouldn't approve of, but in the end all we have to do is ask for forgiveness; happiness because of God's grace and mercy on us is where I find real joy.