From the Karen Cate: Personal Effects Blog
 

11-12-03    Pondering Self Virtue

"Virtue, in comparison to what?"  : This question has moderately quirked my mind since a passing Saturday evening conversation.

"Virtue, then, is a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, i.e. the mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principle, and by that principle by which the man (or woman) of practical wisdom would determine it.  Now it is a mean between two vices, that which depends on excess, and that which depends on defect; and again it is a mean because the vices respectively fall short of or exceed what is right in both passions and actions, while virtue both finds and chooses that which is intermediate."          ~Aristotle [Virtue and Moral Character]

So by that definition (as it is always a matter or interpretation) I guess I'm pretty virtuous.  I just live in a world that is morally warped, and have to deal with it. 

The real problem, is that everyone seems to have forgotten the ancient virtues, and have instead opted for the Christian propaganda type virtues (which throw in chastity.... whoa watch out Nellie!  Faith, which is in their eyes all about devotion to "god".  By those terms I guess that makes me a sinner like you wouldn't believe!).  Each vice will propel you into a different level of hell in which you would either boil in hot oil, be thrown into a snake pit, or be suspended in freezing water.  Also, by being a sinner, you also run the risk of being dismembered alive.  Fuck- who in this hell wants to be a Christian after reading that!!??  I'm opting for moderation instead.

It's pretty reasonable to assume that a person would not be perfect or show complete virtue all the time.  Even the gods are not infallible to irrationality.  It's to act, learn, and then teach and guide others that I feel the real virtue is found.  To find peace in the struggle between the extremes.  But, philosophically speaking, you wouldn't know that peace had you not been to both extremes.

As I huff and puff I feel much more validated in my reasoning than ever before.  I'm just chalking everything up to the fact that 80 percent of humans just have warped moral perspective- to make the assumption that I am not virtuous, leaves you highly misguided- mislead by your own vices.

I disagree with the Christian conception of pride being a deadly sin.  To have pride is to believe in yourself- and you know, you just have to do that.  Too much pride (on the extreme is considered arrogance, and that should be the sin).  How can you teach something like non-pride in a world that preys on vulnerability?  Defeat lies in the redemption of another blasting your self esteem and confidence into a million pieces.  So if you have to fight for one thing in this world, self preservation is at the top of the list.

I say this as I sit in a concrete jungle- even when I feel that I'm feeling the actual earth beneath my feet, it is actually a facade.  What lies beneath the obvious?  Okay so I'm living in stinking Florida and there isn't all that much earth separating me and the aquifers!!  I must try and humor myself for a moment.  I just find it amazing that so much of the world operates on surface appearance and so much of what lies beneath or above is taken for granted- and there is still so much to know.

They are going to lock me up in a sanitarium one day, I can see it coming.....


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