The Habit of Living

The Habit of Living

            “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”- Jeremiah 17:10 If I were at my church, we would likely hear the pastor end with saying ‘the word of God for the people of God’ then the congregation would respond saying ‘thanks be to God’. This could be categorized as a habit, just as when we remain standing confusedly if the speaker forgets to say you may be seated. Habit certainly has a place in Methodist church services, and it also arises in many facets of our lives. Often times, the word habit can be used as an excuse for our actions or as an explanation for why an American would automatically want to drive on the right side of the rode in Europe. However, as Robert Dewey contends in the Habit and Will the essence of a habit should not be ignored as our daily lives are impacted due to it. Recognizing our choices created our habits and taking responsibility for them not only teaches us more about ourselves but also helps us to take accountability for our sinful actions instead of denouncing them as merely habitual. 

We learn more about ourselves through our habits. It is important to realize that habits are not merely “like tools in a box,” (18) rather “they are something more than that” (18). A habit can be anything from procrastination to daily dishwashing. Habits often affect our day as procrastination can prolong our tasks and daily dishwashing always keeps us with a supply of clean dishes. They are always “active means, means that project themselves, energetic and dominating ways of acting” (18). Habits are like a compass to our heart, pointing to our highest priorities and wishes. The choices directing us towards good or evil become our habits as well. If we examine our habits, we will see that “the distinction between non-moral and moral activities” is not, “strictly within a private, immaterial realm. But in fact, formation of ideas, as well as their execution, depends upon habit” (21). Choosing between right and wrong is directly related to our habits. When we make a choice between the two opposites, our habitual nature influences that decision as “Each habit operates all the time of waking life; though like a member of a crew taking his turn at the wheel, its operation becomes the dominantly characteristic trait of an act only occasionally or rarely” (25). Every day the results of our work, or lack thereof, results from habits. Observing those habits for the good or bad within them can reveal what our desires and goals are as they direct the unique ways each of lives our lives. These ways are the habits which are evidenced from the way we drive to the respectfulness with which we interact with others.

            In observing our habits, it is also important to recognize the formation of habits as the result of our own choices. Creating habits, specifically bad ones such as being quick to anger in varying situations, cannot be blamed on anyone other than ourselves. The impact of outside influences can be a factor, but those influences did not form the habit. Rather, a habit is a “predisposition formed by a number of specific acts” which “furnish our working capacities” (18). Choosing to become angry then acting in hurried or insensible ways is a choice and the continued action of doing so makes it a habit. This habit can then determine how we perform our ‘work’ as an angered approach to working could cause sloppy results. We might realize our actions are wrong, however, blaming it on habit is a way of assuaging guilt or simply conscience which objects towards our habitual reaction. Even though it is something “we tell ourselves we prefer not to do… our self-love [and] refusal to face facts… leads us to eject the habit from the thought of ourselves and conceive it as an evil power which has somehow overcome us” (17). If we have not realized our culpability in forming a bad habit, then there is little incentive to change it despite the negative effects caused for ourselves and others. Those bad habits are not the controlling force though; it is our choices which create the habit, and we are the ones responsible for them. 

Realizing we are the one at fault for our bad habits also reveals that we have the power to change them. Habits themselves have a “projectile power” which “are demands for certain kinds of activity” (18). The realization being we gave those habits the power over our daily lives by continually choosing their proffered paths. Almost always though there is another path, which in a metaphorical sense, leads us in the opposite direction. When the paths are a choice between right and wrong and out of habit, we are inclined towards the latter, but also desire the former. It becomes a contradiction of will for “in any intelligible sense of the word will, they (habits) are will” (18). To support our desire for what is good and suppress our desire for a bad habit, we must shift our focus to another area entirely. Focusing on not being angry still keeps our thoughts on anger and its symptoms. If we are to “reach an end, we must take our mind off from it” (23). Changing a habit, such as responding with spiteful words to responding with kind ones, can be accomplished through a “flank movement” (23). This practice is where we remove thoughts of the old habit and focus solely on something completely different. If we habitually choose embittered speech, we could choose to only “attend to the act which is next to be performed” by “find[ing] some act which is different from the usual one” (23). This new act then becomes “the end” which can eventually lead us to a new habit. Focusing on the spiteful words we should not say only produces in our minds the “stimulus to… [a] habit” (23). Focusing on the patient words or simply the common practice of picturing a soothing scene can day by day create a course where we form a new, and, in this case, more patient habit.  

Habits are not apart from us but are actions which mesh with our daily lives. They are something we form ourselves and whether good or bad are our responsibility. We have a choice to change them as well. The habits we choose to create can positively and negatively impact our lives but are always utilizing some part of ourselves to complete a process to produce desired outcome. Our habits can also teach us the reasons we act the way we do because, after all, every action from walking to speaking is a habit of living. 

The Essence of Learning

The Essence of Learning

Learning can be absorbed in different ways, and for me, I love to engage with learning through an actual paper-and-ink book with a real spine. My education has mostly consisted of putting pencil to paper from notetaking to test taking, and that is still how I like to learn. As to the content of the books themselves, I enjoy learning any new concepts, whether mathematics, literature, or something else, though I favor English courses above the math ones. However, if I do not understand the reasoning behind what I am learning, I generally feel dissatisfied with my work. In essence, I seek to understand the truths (or untruths) and reasoning behind everything I learn and to experience the joy of learning it all.

            Through learning I have discovered truths and wisdom which endure through generations. Many of my courses in high school covered ancient and biblical history, and those subjects became two of my favorite to study. I remember being surprised by the verity of an observation or declaration an author such as Livy would strike upon in his writings. As Schall notes, “Students who read Plato, Aristotle, St. Paul, and St. Augustine often are struck to find themselves brought more up to date, in a way, than when they read the New York Times or the latest textbook” (27). The wisdom displayed by ancient authors often brings forth a deeper understanding of the present world because in the texts they wrote hundreds of years prior, “the Greeks and Romans regarded themselves as addressing mankind … [m]etaphysics was not  ‘Greek’ metaphysics, but ‘metaphysics’ … [the principles of ‘oratory’ were not Roman, but universal” (30). The manuscripts we have today detailing the many aspects, theories, and concepts of life in the ancient world are truths which have been observed of mankind and the world and a constant throughout history. Learning these truths has helped expand my understanding of life today and the life which came before me. When I realize I can relate to those who lived hundreds of years ago, it is an incredible feeling. I remember reading Proverbs and finding a verse that stated there is nothing new under the sun. As I have studied ancient works, that verse continually enters my mind, for “the initial sources were enriched by the later ones. The end did not forget the beginning, nor did the beginning remain sterile to the end” (31). Schall goes on to show how authors such as Cicero and Augustine have been inspired by texts written before their time to author works themselves. These works have been preserved so that we may study and learn those things which their authors pondered and strived to understand in their lifetime. I believe that learning from the past has helped me to engage with my present life with a greater understanding and hopefully more wisdom towards the world around me. 

            Another aspect of learning is the joy it offers. I have not always loved what I am learning, but there is joy from having learned it. That joy is compounded when I am studying what I love though, and that feeling drives me to learn even more. Even if the knowledge does not have practical application, like how far away earth is from the sun, “just to ‘know’ something is itself a pleasure” (27) Knowledge is not something to be had. Rather, it is something to be known, and that in itself is satisfying. Putting the know in a new piece of knowledge certainly gives me joy. Experiencing something can be enhanced by knowing about it as well. I remember learning and sometimes still puzzling over the ability to see colors. How light hits my eyes to give off a certain color fascinates me as much as seeing those colors. Learning can often help to “experience the proper pleasure due to knowing, according to what they are, all the things that are– seeing, tasting, listening, touching, smelling, remembering, imagining, knowing, thinking, and believing” (33). Simply put, knowing can enhance the pleasure of doing. I feel joy in learning and understanding the world in which I live, which makes doing the living in it an even more enjoyable experience.

            Learning has also enabled me to gain the knowledge to think for myself. Often I hear that phrase and cringe. The mental image I picture of is as Schall describes Athens: “A disordered city, a democracy wherein freedom simply meant doing and saying whatever one wanted with no concern about its truth or effect” (25). However, being able to think for myself I have learned can mean not believing what someone says simply because they said it. Having the knowledge to form an argument for or against a concept or theory is important. Learning can be the path to discerning the true nature of things, “for when we do know something, ‘for its own sake,’ we also know its truth or falsity; otherwise, we do not really know it” (24). Having knowledge about something often reveals the trueness or falseness of something. Growing up I learned the seven days of creation, while I was ignorant to all but the titles applied to atheistic views of life’s origins: evolution, the big bang, ect. As a Christian, I opposed any theories associated with these atheistic theories. However, one day my biology textbook, which was a Christian course, introduced and taught what those theories were. The author soon explained that he did so so we could see upon what the theories were based and then the arguments against each. Seeing those two particular sides is important to me, as “the knowledge of error–even great error–is not something that we should reject knowing,” for one ‘must, however, not only state the true view,’ as Aristotle observed, ‘but also explain the false views, since an explanation of that promotes confidence. For when we have an apparently reasonable explanation of why a false view appears true, that makes us more confident of the true view” (Ethics II54a23-26). Studying what we believe or know to be false only strengthens my stance in what I believe or know to be true. Learning two contrasting viewpoints can not only help to strengthen our beliefs but also to see past the false fronts of certain claims or beliefs we know to be false. I have learned the importance of having the ability to defend my stance based on knowledge of both sides and having chosen based on that understanding.

            Learning has given me insight into many areas. The joy-filled moments when I finally understand or learn a new concept are reminders of how important learning is in my life. In “Artes Liberales,” James Schall emphasizes the importance of learning and how much it impacts our daily life. For me those impacts have been the independence, joy, and wisdom it has instilled in me.

Introductory Post

           Hey, y’all my name is Jessica, but I like to go by Jess. (I promise the “word” y’all will be my only intrusion upon correct grammar.) Just a y’all, though, I feel encompasses my southern life from perfectly seasoned frying pans to my gravel drive. A glimpse into my life would also be largely made up by my faith, my family, and Sooner softball. Just as importantly, my bookshelves are made up by Jane Austen, L.M. Montgomery, Charlotte Bronte, Livy, and if you want the rest of the list, you’ll have to ask me about it sometime. One of my dreams is to have my own writing join those already published authors. In many of my notebooks are scribblings of poetry and the beginnings and outlines of stories. My writing is riddled throughout various pages because often times inspiration or intense emotions push for an outlet, so out they come on whatever paper is nearest. That is why I titled my blog Scribblings Cordis Mei which is a blend of English and Latin meaning the scribblings of my heart. 

            In the fall, I will be entering my freshman year at Faulkner, and my current major is English. I may not know where God is leading me in the long run, which right now appears to be four years of college, but I am reassured by the incredible knowledge of God’s promise “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’” — Jeremiah 29:11 Trusting in His plan and His timing can leave me restless. What I have learned, though, is that living my life in His way, truth, and life makes each day fulfilling even though doing so is sometimes a struggle. This is one reason why I am so excited that I will be encouraged to worship and give myself to God each day at Faulkner through coursework and daily devotion. I suppose I can wait for my first semester, but it is going to be difficult. 

See y’all soon!

               Jess