The Gods Must Be Envious

I watched the movie “Troy” today. I’ve seen it before and my impression now is much the same as it was: a good movie. There are some hokey production errors, and a little too much hair spray and the costumes were designed just a little too pretty. Brad Pitt is good, but a bit too over-the-top choreographed (which actually fits right in with the rest of the movie), but Eric Bana as Hector is spectacular and kind of saves it for me (plus: the Trojan horse looks really cool). But this isn’t a movie review, this is an observation of a life philosophy.

At one point Achilles was speaking with Briseis, who asked him if he had no fear at all of the gods.

Achilles replied: “I’ll tell you a secret. Something they don’t teach you in your temple. The Gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.”

That was the line of lines in a movie with a lot of memorable quotes. It makes me think of the old “Live every day as if it’s your last” axiom. But how do you do that? How do you really achieve enjoying every moment, in a manner that would make the old Greek gods envious of our mortality? I can think of a lot of ways to truly live life to the fullest, but I don’t have that kind of money. Within the margins of living a fully appreciated life–being happy with your marriage, kids, home and job, having a hobby that you enjoy, feeding your soul–this is the path to spiritual fulfillment. The seven cardinal virtues: faith, hope, charity, temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice. These, too, will lead to spiritual fulfillment. And all of this can be achieved if we, as a people, might start every day repeating and living by one ancient, overused word: honor. Remember that life is not the most important thing; living is the most important thing.

If all men lived honorably, then the gods might indeed be jealous of us.