The White Badger Inn

A Random Post

Mortimer J. Adler, in Ten Philosophical Mistakes, makes the astute observation that “people generally espouse the mistake made by most modern philosophers—that happiness is a psychological state rather than an ethical state, i.e., the quality of a morally good life.”
Psalm 1, in its presentation of an ethically upright lifestyle, has much to say about the nature of true happiness.
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

Francis Schaeffer deals with this issue of worldview in his work: How Should We Then Live? The idea of the Christian Worldview, he says, can be directly linked to certain attributes of society. i.e., not only individual lifestyles, but societies as a whole: their art, their philosophy, their educational systems, economical infrastructure, etc.
What if we took the first psalm and applied it personally, and universally?
In otherwords; what if we said, "Look, we all want to be blessed. We all want to be happy. How can we achieve this state?" And then acted on it...
According to the psalm, we would be blessed.
As Dr. John Gill says, when explaining Psalm 1:1a, "O the blessedness of that man!"