there are two ways of meditating on
death
one is the morbid way which is a kind of
avoidance of life and a sense that
nothing is worthwhile because it's all
going to come to an end and the other is
the creative way of recognizing that
that your mortality is a fundamental
part of all that you hope for you know
when we fall in love with another when I
when one falls in love with another
person one is consciously taking under
one's care a mortal being and it's the
sense of her fragility and her mortality
which is fundamental to the so their
love that one feels towards her in my
view and if you try and exclude the
thought of death then that love is
weakened and the set the sense that you
have that she is absolutely dependent on
that love and of course will one day
escape from it and through death that is
absolutely a part of what the love is
and why we find in erotic love a kind of
redemption that's um that's what I would
say attempt I would say as well that
it's an it's an aid to concentration and
focus you don't have much time and
there's plenty of problems and so you
and and and it's going to be a hard road
no matter what and so get at it you know
for years when I was in my 20s the first
thought I had when I woke up in the
morning was life is short and really
literally it happened to me for years
and I thought no time to waste then
there's there's there's things to be
done there's things that need doing get
the hell up make yourself efficient aim
at something that makes the transience
of life worthwhile because such things
exist and then and then do everything
you can to manifest everything you can
within that mortal frame and and it adds
to life of a seriousness that would
otherwise be absent
you
I'll tell you my plumbers story because
that makes it concrete I've done a lot
of home renovation I've worked with lots
of workmen and on very creative projects
as a matter of fact and so that was very
entertaining because with carpenters for
example we built a quite strange and
unique third floor on my house in
Toronto and I invited the carpenters to
contribute I told them what the overall
view was and what we were trying to
produce but if they had creative ideas
then I was welcoming them because I
wanted them to I didn't want to tell
them what to do I wanted to produce
something beautiful with them fully on
board so that it was likely to manifest
itself in the best possible manner and
so that competence that that I described
rather you in a you rather utilitarian
manner is almost immediately transcended
by something that's that's more potent
and more valuable in the actuality of it
and if you're participating in a project
like that and you invite people into a
reciprocal relationship then the
relationship begins to transcend the
particular these of the of the project
and then the project goes wonderfully
well so and that is a reflection of
something that's deeper in and it
touches on something that sir Roger
mentioned the statement by christ that
if two or three people are gathered
together in his name then he's there and
you can you can infuse every
relationship you have with precisely
that spirit if you're cognizant of it
and careful I mean it's unfortunate and
and and far more than that it's a thing
to strive for and you won't manifest
itself perfectly but that can be there
and all the particularity and so that
way you have the the singularity of the
project itself the practicality of it
there's a reason that Christ was also a
carpenter right that's the particular
because a house that's not built on
truth does not stand you know and so you
those particular relationships should
partake of that divine the divinity of
ultimate reciprocity and then both are
both are elevated and and so so it the
the narrowness of say capitalist trade
is insufficient but it's embedded in
something that when it's not a zero-sum
game
it's it's embedded in something that's
far deeper than that and far more
gratifying and if and if you're careful
about such things then the projects that
you involve yourself with that or even
somewhat mundane can take on a much more
much much more beautiful and productive
nature and then that's well it's not
frustrating it's it's it's compelling
and it works so yeah I would just add to
that that what Jordan has said really is
that in a job rightly done the divine is
imminent
in some way you know what George Herbert
said in whose sweets of rumors for thy
laws makes that and the action fine okay
we leave out these days that drug makes
drudgery divine bit but you know the
Herbert was absolutely right about that
that if you ask a question where does
God enter the ordinary life it is in
that sense of doing something for its
own sake and and acquiring the habit of
doing so and not wanting a reward beyond
the thing which is connects with
Aristotle's conception what a virtue is
as well so one shouldn't despair that
there is a moral education available to
us even in a world where there isn't a
formalized and shared religion that will
bring that aspect of things to bear on
human life
you
what I what I would say is that
happiness means ultimately the full your
fulfillment as a person and that that
that isn't the same as gratification of
your desires it is it means the kind of
transformation of your you're being such
that you can look on what you are and
say for all my faults
I accept that thing and that and when
there an occasion comes to rejoice you
accept it and enter it rather than the
is say asking yourself do I deserve it
you know those yeah that's that
avoidance of joy which many people have
is actually itself a kind of narcissism
the happy person goes out and embraces
the the occasion for for rejoicing and
he does so because his own nature is at
ease with itself and you can incorporate
this into it of course there's a lot
more to it there one has to have as
Aristotle says you know happiness is an
activity of the soul in accordance with
virtue what he meant was that that if
you don't have the virtues you're
treading always on thin ground that you
will fall through you know that that
wonderful moment when it at last she is
going to say yes you know you you turn
out you your your nature as a predator
is revealed to use them Jordans image
and you fall irrecoverably but anyway
that's brief discourse on unhappiness
well and I mean for me like I find a
tremendous first of all there's an
alliance between happiness and gratitude
and you touched on that if you're going
to accept the tragic reality of life
let's say then it's also reasonable to
accept happiness when it comes your way
and to be grateful for it and to be
grateful for it is to accept it and to
enjoy it well it makes its presence felt
it's something that visits I would
say and you can invite that visitation I
would say I do that primarily by playing
I was very playful with my kids and my
wife and still am I mean most of the
time with my kids it was non-stop jokes
of one form or another my daughter can
barely say anything that that isn't a
joke of some sort you know and I hang
around with comedians all the time and I
usually have my best discussions with
them and my best friends when I grew up
especially when I was a young young man
were people who were inveterate IRA
nests and joke tellers and mostly what
we did was competitive humor the whole
goal of a social gathering was to see
who could say the most outrageously
funny thing and and that was
unbelievably entertaining and so that's
if that comes along and you can
participate in it and you can play so
much the better
and so it's even useful to touch things
that are difficult with a playful and
light hand which is partly why I travel
with Dave Rubin in my lecture series
because Dave's a professional stand-up
comedian as well as a serious person in
his own right but all of the very
disturbing lectures that I put forward
because I think they are disturbing are
lavend with with humor and and that that
there's purpose that's that's purposeful
it's necessary and desirable so but it's
but that doesn't mean that I think that
short-term happiness is a goal it's
which I certainly don't think that it is