This weekend was a good one for reading things I could nod along with, or better.
Kate Muir took potshots at modern coffee houses no longer being places for debate and politicking, but being more about a load of hot milk. (I had been thinking of writing something about feeling excluded from seasonal Starbuck products because they all seem to be latte-based. Kate redressed the balance with reference to thick black coffee in the earlier cafes that started the trend for heated beverages being a viable alternative.)
Even better though was the article on duty versus pleasure. Now I can see you rolling your eyes already at this. But in terms of ‘someone’s thinking like me’, it was a good one to read.
Basic concept: previous philosophers have suggested that we have to choose between duty and pleasure. Various others, church fathers included, have rushed in after to agree that we must choose. In fact, let us say, many say there isn’t even a choice, becasue we know what we should do.
The struggle is that duty alone gets wearing. We know that ‘all work and no play…’ but it gets harder to hold to that when work moves ever faster.
The church has also had something of a struggle with pleasure as a concept, certainly in its early days. ‘The devil finds tasks for idle hands’ will certainly keep you in homemade socks, if you take its precept literally while at home of an evening. In fact, I’m sure I can claim I got the laptop in order to keep my hands busy while watching television, but that does stray dangerously close to pleasure too…
Anyway, thankfully the writer, philosopher A C Grayling, confirms that the best option for us all is a mix of the two. Which sounds very simple and obvious, I know. But as someone who’s felt that following duty is the way to please people, and God, it’s a newer prospect to stray towards little things like going home on time – or early.
Thing is, when you start looking out for pleasure, you find that God’s provided plenty of that too. You know that I can rhapsodise for ages on the delights of food alone. Add in sunsets, birdsong, smiles of friends, those kind of things, there are lots of gentle pleasures tucked away behind all that duty. They even allow you to enter work with a smile on your face. And duty gets a lot better when you enjoy it too…