Clyde Kilby's 10 Resolutions
Today I re-read Clyde Kilby's 10 Resolutions, especially appreciating resolutions 1, 5, 6, and 7.1. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky andremember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planettraveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and aboutme.2. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endlessevolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shallsuppose the universe guided by an Intelligence which, as Aristotle saidof Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. I thinkthis will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russellbefore his death when he said: "There is darkness without, and when Idie there will be darkness within. There is no splendor, no vastnessanywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing."3. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, ismerely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather aunique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shallnot be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evilparentheses in my existence, but just as likely ladders to be climbedtoward moral and spiritual manhood.4. I shall not turn my life into a thin, straight line which prefersabstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract,which of course I shall often have to do.5. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shallstop boring into myself to discover what psychological or socialcategories I might belong to. Mostly I shall simply forget about myselfand do my work.6. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simplystare at a tree, a flower, a cloud, or a person. I shall not then beconcerned at all to ask what they are but simply be glad that they are.I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their"divine, magical, terrifying and ecstatic" existence.7. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had inchildhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words ofLewis Carroll, the "child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyesof wonder."8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginativethings such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewissuggests, an old book and timeless music.9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurpall my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested,"fulfill the moment as the moment." I shall try to live well just nowbecause the only time that exists is now.10. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on theassumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absenteelandlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added tothe cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as astroke made by the architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.