To Thine Own Self Be True (take II)

More thoughts on my previous blog.

For 'to thine own self be true' think 'do not deceive yourself.'  Still a challenge, but perhaps less ambiguous.

Reference the bible and 1John 1.8 'If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.'
The problem here in our modern age is that;
1) "I do not say that am without sin.  I know that I am not perfect, but I try hard not to hurt others, and know that from time to time I fail."
2)  Today, the concept of 'sin' has lost it's meaning. It is like referring back to shillings, thrupence and halpennys.

The verse goes on 'But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us form all unrighteousness.'

3) Third problem is God.  Another outmoded concept.  It has little currency in the West (centimes, pfennigs this time.)

For the believer, sin is a cloud that excludes access to the light and warmth of the sun.  Sin is a pollutant in spring water, that renders life impossible.  The 'cloud' and the 'pollutant' are absolute.  The effect is devastating.

For the non-believer, being cut off from God is like being cut off from 'facebook' or 'heavy metal', for the uninitiated.  At best it's perplexing, like questioning, and being given the reply in an unknown language.

To the believer, the presence of God, is analogous to the presence of parents.  I do not need to see my parents to feel their presence, or influence.  I am very clear about what is likely to cut me off from my parents, or my partner.  I guess here is to be found the modern definition of sin; the destruction of relationships.  Perhaps the worse form is violence.  If I live with the presence of my partner, or loved one with me, this perhaps affects my behaviour and priorities.

So to me, 'do not deceive myself' means being aware of the 'cloud of pollution' that damages my relationships.  This includes my creator, who mercifully is also the purifier.

Mr and Mrs Pepys

These are my thoughts...
Analysis
Writing for himself (much as I do), but knowing that he has a readership of one (much as I do), Pepys keeps his diaries in such a good state that he must have known others would be interested in the future. However, one gets the impression that this was Pepys special form of analysis.   


I am reminded of Gwendolen in 'The Importance of being Ernest' when she says "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."


Would Pepys have written a blog today?  I think only a secret blog to be opened after his death.  Would he have been worried about the impact on his immediate family and contacts?  Not one bit.


Psychologists have reflected that good literature is like psychology, though less ugly.  Pepys writes in an age where people just died.  Nothing could be taken for granted.  Perhaps this helped him to live in the present.  Perhaps this is something we should learn from him.  


I recall D.H. Lawrence saying,
"We have lost the art of living; and in the most important science of all, the science of daily life, the science of behavior, we are complete ignoramuses. We have psychology instead." (privilege to meet him.)


But then a quote from Thomas Szasz, (author of the Myth of Mental Illness),
"There is no psychology; there is only biography and autobiography."


Pepys reveals himself as a hypocrite.  He criticises his employer Lord Sandwich for entertaining a mistress, while having extra-marital sex with a number of women.  He also gives such a detailed analysis of his sexual predication as to open himself to the accusation of being a pedophile.  However, he does not use his wife's physical aliment as an excuse for infidelity.  He does not appear to need an excuse, but does experience guilt.


Mr and Mrs Pepsy have a deep, firm commitment to each other. But their relationship is not that characterised in the Victorian era as romantic love.  Elizabeth had a separate and secrete life from Pepys.  They spend long days apart.  Pepys  is a taskmaster in this area.  And yet they are committed to each other to the day Elizabeth dies.  They do not have children, but Pepys does not seem to allow this to affect their relationship, and Elizabeth seems equally strong.


Pepys has a humanist outlook on the whole.  He does not and can not believe in God, though he prays regularly in repentance, and exhibits the benign superstitions of a non-believer. Pepys' positive, accepting and 'present' presepctive on life is an inspiration.