Enthusiasm

I decided to get out and spend time among my fellow human beings this weekend. I did go out to the gallery in Eagle, got the phone number of the owner and met a framer that works there. The gallery had several watercolor artists' work, but only one as good as me and he works in a different style.

The BSU game was a blowout, so Mary Kay and I talked during most of the game and had a nice dinner. We were both yawning by 9 pm when the game was over and I left so she could get some sleep and I could get home while I was awake. Mary Kay has been working a lot and I've never been a night owl.

Sunday was finally anther beautiful clear warm day and I met met my friend who is even newer to Boise than I am, went for a walk around downtown and had some coffee. It was funny that it eventually got too hot for us to sit on the patio. She is here for some temporary contract work and has been otherwise unemployed for 6 months, so one thing we talked about was trying not to be scared of the new, worse unemployment numbers.

So, now it is Monday and I am back to business.

The next enlightenment topic is Enthusiasm, with a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called A Psalm of Life,

What the Heart of the Young Man Said to the Psalmist

TELL me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream ! —
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real ! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal ;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle !
Be a hero in the strife !

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its dead !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God o'erhead !

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time ;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate ;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

The author mentions the Greek origin of the word enthusiasm, and I am now skeptical of the author, so I looked it up. From thefreedictionary.com:

Enthusiasm first appeared in English in 1603 with the meaning "possession by a god." The source of the word is the Greek enthousiasmos, which ultimately comes from the adjective entheos, "having the god within," formed from en, "in, within," and theos, "god." Over time the meaning of enthusiasm became extended to "rapturous inspiration like that caused by a god" to "an overly confident or delusory belief that one is inspired by God," to "ill-regulated religious fervor, religious extremism," and eventually to the familiar sense "craze, excitement, strong liking for something." Now one can have an enthusiasm for almost anything, from water skiing to fast food, without religion entering into it at all.

I had no idea there was any relationship between having enthusiasm and "having the god within." It makes sense though, if I think about both faith and enthusiasm being the opposite of doubt, then there should be some similarity between faith and enthusiasm. I suppose I also think of enthusiasm as positive and confident. There are some other great things in the poem though, don't be complacent, don't brood on the past, be in the present and get busy, but also learn to wait. It is interesting how often living in the present comes up in these enlightenment topics.