Good News / The Four Precepts

Love and Do What You Will
by Wayne Ferguson 25.04.2004, changed 10.02.2006

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Augustine wrote, "My love is my weight. Whithersoever I am moved, I am moved there by love. By thy gift, O Lord, we are set on fire, and are borne aloft: we burn, and we are on the way. We climb the ascents that are in the heart....With thy fire, with thy good fire, we burn and go on, for we go up to the peace of Jerusalem" (Confessions XIII, 9).

He also wrote, "Love and do what you will."

These lines capture one important facet of the multifaceted expression, "Follow your Bliss"—an expression coined, or at least popularized, by Joseph Campbell. Another important facet is articulated by Richard Bach in his first book, Jonathan Livingson Seagull. Jonathan is torn between following his bliss or pursuing activities that would meet with the approval of his flock. In real life the two are usually quite compatible, but when there is a conflict, both you and your flock will be better off if you mindfully follow your bliss.



Follow Your Bliss

If you do follow your bliss,
you put yourself on a kind of track
that has been there all the while waiting for you,
and the life you ought to be living
is the one you are living.
When you can see that,
you begin to meet people
who are in the field of your bliss,
and they open the doors to you.
I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid,
and doors will open
where you didn't know they were going to be.

~ Joseph Campbell


Related Articles:
  • Discovering Your Bliss
  • With Reference to the Good
  • The Function Of Authentic Desire