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!"

The Promise Of Autumn
The Hope Of Tomorrow

II Peter reads,
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

The Psalmist said, "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day."

I find an inexorable law of the human race (I might well say depraved man), which is that wherever there is depravity, Righteousness is desired.
Now, I do not mean desired in the sense that man is seeking after God. I do not pretend that there is any good in man which would cause him to draw near His Creator. It is only the mercy of God that regenerates the soul.
However; it is true that man is always seeking.
He is always longing for something he does not have, and the thing he is longing for is always exactly what he wants until the moment he gets it. (Google keywords: Sehnsucht Lewis)
But I have found - after many long Autumns of being lost - the secret to this longing, and not having...the secret to Autumn.

Autumn is in itself a sort of Sehnsucht. It embodies that blustery sort of desire which is not perfectly fulfilled (Autumn is a transition), but is not something to be trivialised. We might be tempted to think of Autumn as only a transition, but it does not end there. Autumn is also a destination. It is a longing, but that in itself is a longing for a longing.
It's like longing for Autumn during Spring, or Summer. Even when Autumn comes, you may still find yourself longing.

This is Christianity...mere Christianity, at any rate.
We can try looking to pantheism or occultism for the answers, but we will still be longing for something else.
But what if we were to long for the longing itself? What if that intangible Autumn were to turn out to be - not Autumn - but the desire for Autumn:
That desire that rises from your heart to your throat in the frosty pre-dawn of Summer's last morning, when you stand on the edge of the Worlde and look out at the flat expanse before you, half-revealed in the pale moonlight...

What if we were created with the desire to desire? What if all our longings and wantings were there because He put them there? Not so that we might fulfill them here on earth, but so that we might realise we were not ultimately created for this life...
Just as fish do not yearn the dry land, because they were not created for it...
Lewis remarks: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."