What's Right

A man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous.

Nicccolo Machiavelli
**********************
Hello Arlene
*********************
Virtue is a tough one. Don't start putting on airs, patting yourself on the back or wearing a hat that's too small for your head. Philosophers have been puzzling over this issue for centuries and leading a lot of horses to water, but most of the time, in most of the pages I've read, it is easier to coax the horses to drink than it is to tell them what the water is made of.

Let's see. Virtue is doing good. Right? Virtue is doing the best you can under the circumstances. OK? Virtue is making the right choice when faced with an ethical dilemma. Well. Is it virtuous to lie to someone in order to spare their feelings? Is it virtuous to steal in order to feed your starving family? Is torture a virtue if it is in order to obtain information that might save lives? I read somewhere that in ancient Rome there was a time when a slave's testimony could only be accepted as truth if it was obtained under torture. Is the soldier who blows the brains out of an enemy soldier being virtuous.

Here's an interesting ethical dilemma and test of virtue. A famous journalist from one country is given the privilege of reporting on the war for the International News, from behind the enemies lines. He finds out about a surprise attack the enemy is planning to make on the other army, the army of his homeland. What does he do?

Does he continue to objectively report what he sees and what happens in his capacity as trusted international journalist? Or does he warn his countrymen thereby losing his reputation, his credentials, his privilege and possibly his life? Where are his loyalties, to his profession or to his country? It's certain his respectability will be in jeopardy whichever choice he makes. But which choice is the virtuous one?

Most of us are never put into such an ethical vice, at least not on that level of severity. But it does bring up the subject of ethical choices and how they are made. Since no two human beings are alike I think it is safe to say that such choices reflect a person's individuality, point of view and life experiences. Thus one man's choice would not be another's. And in that case wouldn't it be just to say that one man's choice is going to be considered without virtue by another man, meaning that the virtuous man is living at the same water hole as the not virtuous man and yet both horses are drinking from the same stream., both justified in their choices.

Have I obfuscated the subject enough? What is or is not virtue is a complicated problem and that's why philosophers have been spending centuries on the topic. And I only spent six paragraphs.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never Give Up

Kindle One

The sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.

Carl Jung
*******************
Hello Lora
*********************
One of the great mysteries about human beings is that so many people don't believe or understand that goodness, virtue, honesty and excellence are really the most important qualities in life to be strived for. Oh, you can call me an innocent fool of you wish, but too many thinkers of the present and past have agreed that we survive only because we shun the self destroying evils that grow in the swamps of ignorance. I often wonder what dangerous weed it is that people suck on to make them oblivious to any wrong doing. Cheating, lying, stealing, infidelity, crime and revenge are justified up and down the stairways of our lives and they leave behind a small but loving group of stunned victims.

I read a lot of philosophy, and the best thinkers have agreed through the centuries that the pursuit of virtue is man's greatest responsibility and when achieved his greatest reward. While hedonism, egotism, nihilism and a false sense of entitlement have been liberally handed out to the unsuspecting non-thinkers. Where do those come from? A talking serpent? ("You shall not surely die.")

When I read the comments iI get about what I've written I always think I'm preaching to the choir and trying to convert the converted. Do the people who really need to read this read it? How much light can one man shine in the darkness and how much compassion can he show for the people living in it.?

People who live in the dark don't care about themselves, even as they appear the most self-concerned, self-righteous and self-important. People who live in the dark are squeamish about true courage, the courage it takes to be good. People who live in the dark are morally corrupt and they don't' know it.

The darkness is always around wherever there are shadows and it's ready to entrap any one of us, even saints. And that is why the light must always be lit, as the ancient Hebrews learned. One match can't do that much, but it can light another and that can light a candle and the candle light can set some rolled up paper on fire which will get the wood stove going. Twigs form the wood stove will light the lamps. So there is heat and light.

If you have one match, one good idea, one simple desire to help, one chance "to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being," there is no telling what can come of it for the benefit of those who aren't listening to my sermon.

DB - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
********************

Inventing Virtue

A virtue needs to be our own invention, our own most personal need and self-defense: in any other sense,a virtue is just dangerous.

Nietzsche
****************
For many hundreds of years philosophers have been trying to define virtue, to describe it and to answer the question "What is the virtuous life?" The arguments raged on over issues of war and peach, social and anti-social behavior, religious and nonreligious issues. As time went by revolutions took place, common people gained the courage to claim their rights. Those rights were subsequently squashed by the aristocracy. Revolutions were put down and martyrs of change were hung or burned and the whole process began again.

But the emergence of the common man as a strong, important element of the world is inevitable and that emergence is still going on. Modern day tyrants may not be kings and dictators, but they do exist in some area of too much power. This nation doesn't have a ruling class, but it definitely has one that thinks it is. And they show up in strange places. Ideologies masquerade as natural law and opinions as truth. Most of humanity is held to a standard of behavior by some system of thinking which may or may not be viruous.

The problem becomes confused when we are faced with the possibility of doing things we would never do according to our assumed code of conduct. "Thou shalt not kill." Is there ever a time when killing is a virtue? Ask the soldier in mortal combat with the enemy. "Thou shalt not steal." Is there ever a time when stealing is a virtue? Robin Hood thought so. Most of the human race is being perpetually plundered by some of the rich and powerful. Is it a virtue, for the sake of our fellow humans, to try to get it back, even by theft? Can certain crimes be justified by the name of virtue?

Most thinking people consider a virtuous life one of compassion, reason, respect, sociability, honesty, community, courage, conscientiousness, duty, order, righteousness and a long line of other qualities that go to make up a good person. But we all slip up on certain things. We're basically good but....

There are some humans, barely human, for whom those words have no meaning. Even the idea of virtue itself is a totally foreign concept that does not ever enter their thinking. Those are the true killers, torturers and thieves of the world. When faced as we are daily with the good, the sometimes good and the evil, what do we do?

There are times when any agreed upon ethic does not effectively apply. As a result I've spent many hours trying to come up with a plan of ethical behavior that can cover every situation I face. I often thought I was definitely doing the right thing and ended up suffering and having regrets about it. That caused me to question my own sense of right and wrong and discard some earnestly held beliefs I had been taught. Then I looked behind the veil and found that what I had assumed were true facts about virtue were the problem. What is a virtue to one man is a vice to another. Not only that but what is virtuous under one circumstance is vicious under another. Given the limited and delayed resources how do the doctors in Haiti decide who lives and who dies? Is suicide, assisted or otherwise, a virtuous option for one living in perpetual agony with no hope of release or for someone sentenced to be executed by some unspeakable means as is practiced in some countries? Is it ever virtuous to torture a prisoner of war to extract information or an animal in a medical lab to obtain scientific knowledge? Is it ever permissible to take someone's property away from him? Is the pursuit of pleasure a virtue? If so and you can justify the actions as stated above, what about the man who kills, tortures and robs for the joy of it? What happens if you rebel against doing something you've been ordered to do that you know is wrong? How do you live with the punishment of refusing to do it, or how do you live the with regret if you do it?

Governments are passing and instituting laws all the time to influence and control human behavior and doing it under the assumption of virtue. And why should there be laws to prevent one group from doing what another group considers wrong. I think one of the worst vices is trying to force your own morality on someone else.

With the rise of the common man comes the freedom of individual choice. People can think for themselves, even if many don't., Nietzsche was very concerned with getting people to think for themselves. He knew that virtue did not come from religion, laws or doing what others do just because they do it.

In this confusing life it is difficult, near impassible, to define virtue. It is easier to define what it is not. In the long run it is up to the individual to examine his conscience, his heart, his intuition and his reason and decide for himself what is right, what is wrong, choose the right and stick with it. That's as near as anyone can come to a virtuous life. At the end, can I be pleased and satisfied with myself for how I lived?

DB - The Vagabond
**********************