After reading both Thomas Merton’s essay, “Being and Doing,” along with Naguib Mahfouz’ “Respected Sir,” I can see some similarities between the two on many things. Some of the similarities that I will be discussing include, what is happiness and its significance for human life, how can the pursuit of something transcendent affect, positively and/or negatively, one’s own moral and spiritual decision-making, and lastly, what it means to live virtuously. The first point that both stories show is what happiness is and its significance to human life. In “Being and Doing,” I find the quote “we cannot be happy if we expect to live all the time at the highest peak of intensity. Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and
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This can have either a positive or negative effect on someone’s moral and spiritual decision making. With Othman, I would say that his pursuit came with a negative effect. He was always worried about his next promotion, stressing over if he would ever get married and have children, and that’s all his life consisted of. Not only was he not happy, it affected his morals and spiritual decision making. The only way he could get promoted in his job was if he worked hard and earned it over the years, or if that person who has that job died. He would think to himself sometimes that he would hope a sickness would overtake the next person above him, or something happen to that person so he could get promoted. Othman would always say to himself after that he should not be thinking these things, but he still does. All he thought of was being the General, and not the wellbeing of others, which is considered a moral. A great quote from “Being and Doing” that would tie in well with Othman would be “It is useless to try to make peace with ourselves by being pleased with everything we have done (Being and Doing pg.121).”
The same question mentioned above can be answered through “Being and Doing” as well. “A man who fails well is greater than one who succeeds badly (Being and Doing pg.127).” I find this quote the answer because as long as you try your best, and even if you do fail, you did the best you could possibly do. You did it yourself, and it is your work, but if you succeed, and succeeded in a bad way, that is not
This can have either a positive or negative effect on someone’s moral and spiritual decision making. With Othman, I would say that his pursuit came with a negative effect. He was always worried about his next promotion, stressing over if he would ever get married and have children, and that’s all his life consisted of. Not only was he not happy, it affected his morals and spiritual decision making. The only way he could get promoted in his job was if he worked hard and earned it over the years, or if that person who has that job died. He would think to himself sometimes that he would hope a sickness would overtake the next person above him, or something happen to that person so he could get promoted. Othman would always say to himself after that he should not be thinking these things, but he still does. All he thought of was being the General, and not the wellbeing of others, which is considered a moral. A great quote from “Being and Doing” that would tie in well with Othman would be “It is useless to try to make peace with ourselves by being pleased with everything we have done (Being and Doing pg.121).”
The same question mentioned above can be answered through “Being and Doing” as well. “A man who fails well is greater than one who succeeds badly (Being and Doing pg.127).” I find this quote the answer because as long as you try your best, and even if you do fail, you did the best you could possibly do. You did it yourself, and it is your work, but if you succeed, and succeeded in a bad way, that is not