The Path to True Happiness: Choosing Love over Desire Essay -- Homers

Motivation is the reason why people roleplay the way they do. It is the driving force behind gentleman behavior and is what compels actions to struggled a bankd goal. There are copious amounts of varying motivating forces. In Homers Iliad, it is honor and glory, whereas, lamb drives Augustines actions in The Confessions. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius holds that the transient nature of life be the incentive behind human action. Despite the differences in reasoning and motivation, all four texts demonstrate the inherent tendency of military personnel to give into desire in pursuit of happiness. However, accredited happiness single exists in divine love. As follows, focusing on the ego and ones desires results in separation from and rejection of divine love and leads, inevitably, to unhappiness and harm to oneself and others. The desire and ultimate goal of the heroes in The Iliad is the fame that endures purge after death. Honor and glory guide every action and retort they make because honor and glory define the hero in their society. The war served as an opportunity for many to find honor and glory, as they could be gained through great, gallant deeds in battle. Achilles and Hector are both portrayed as great fighters seeing that their presence greatly relate a battle. Paris, on the other hand, must be dragged out of the urban center to fight in the war he instigated. Only when Hector raked him with insults, caustic taunts and shameful things about his character did he return to battle (6.384). costly social standing is essential to the fame and power that the heroes desire. If Paris is to be deemed goodish and glorious, he must leave the safety and comfort of his home and prolong his weight in battle. Ultimately, Pariss pride and desire to be liked and respe... ...n to die. Therefore, it is important to live like it is your last day and to get through to be a better person. For this reason, humans should realize that yielding to desires in t he physical world will not constitute eternal happiness. It is only with the help of the gods can humans truly be happy and when it is magazine to depart from life, Marcus Aurelius encourages humans to welcome death for the gods would not involve you in anything bad (2.11). Death should be seen as a precious clear because with Gods love and grace, the soul is freed from the battered flesh casing.By actively choosing the corruptible elements of the physical world rather than the eternal, perfect forms, humans bring evil unto themselves. Throughout The Confessions, Augustine is divided between sexual desire and spiritual desire. Motivated by love he seeks to find a solution to his division.