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" I don't know how folks managed 50 years ago, 100 years, 500+ years, it was just our ability to keep pushing through the mud, the cold nights, the loneliness, sometimes letting a glimpse of a beautiful day or sparkling night be enough to keep going." You can get a glimpse of this in Tolkein's "The Monsters and the Critics"[1]:
"in a little circle of light about their halls, men with courage as
their stay went forward to that battle with the hostile world and the offspring of the dark which ends for all, even the kings and champions, in defeat. " The idea that courage, or any virtue, will be rewarded - and its (less theologically correct) corollary so that if you are not rewarded, your courage or virtue must be suspect - is a Christian one[2], flowing from the idea that the universe is just. Indomitability, and unyielding will were valorised in earlier times, and given respect even if the only result were defeat. For are not even the gods part of time, doomed to be defeated at its end by the ice giants? "the gods, who are defeated, think that defeat no refutation.". So thought the pagans. I'm not presenting this as a model for the OP, or anyone else. By all means look for success in a different way! But perhaps the idea that defeat does not invalidate your effort and courage is of some comfort. [1]https://jenniferjsnow.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/11790039-j... |