Virtue as a Necessity

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Today’s Blog Post


Virtue as a Necessity
Following my post of yesterday on Forgiveness… this is a perfect subject to look at.

While carving in my workshop at 5 PM on January 15th I caught Jordan Peterson, a Clinical Psychologist speaking on “Virtue as a Necessity” on TVO – the Ontario Public TV Station. (The Link below will get you to his lecture – you need to listen or see it – you can do both.)

I doubt that I have been as deeply challenged on any topic in a long while. He pressed my thinking to why we need to – or I need to - be virtuous – or have virtue as part of my life qualities.

Wikipedia states of Virtue…
Virtue (Latin: virtus, Greek: ἀρετή "arete") is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being.

Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual and collective well being. The opposite of virtue is vice.

To have “Virtue” you have placed limits on yourself. The personal limits have a work toward producing Virtue producing “a foundation of principle and good moral being.”

An athlete like my nephew Zach Bell has placed limits on his life in almost every area so that he will be the best in his International Cycling competitions around the world. Placing limits on his life and then a strong discipline to do his best – he is achieving some sort of virtue toward his Cycling. He is a consistent winner because of this.

Now that is a stretch. Most of us think that this is a spiritual characteristic.

You don’t have to be spiritual to exhibit virtue.

In fact another thought that is powerful, some spiritual people I know are not very virtuous – they do not have virtue.

It is a human thing to have to work at virtue. You are not born with it. You are born with an ability to be Virtuous or develop Virtue. But it must be worked on. It is cultivated and nurtured by personal discipline.

To develop Virtue you must take responsibility for your self discipline… your development of your virtue.

Jordan Peterson retells the story of Cain and Able. (Please note here that it is always said or told as “Cain and Able” – not Able and Cain.)

The issue that Cain faced personally was that of being resentful. It was his moral pitfall. He tried hard, worked hard and did not seem to succeed. This took him into a conversation with God who explains Cain’s problem and tells him he is responsible.

Cain saw that Able was doing much better. His sacrifice was accepted – Cain’s wasn’t.

Cain would not take responsibility and accept what he had to do to change. Instead he struck out of his resentfulness – and killed the one that was weaker and seemed successful. He sunk into the ease of his moral pitfall.

In the Bible, Cain acted on his own… and it was a personal moral failure. His action took another’s life.

Jordan Peterson points to 1939 when a popular teaching on a possible Utopia was there for the German people. The man that brought this “teaching” or idea was named Hitler. And the odd thing is that almost everyone went along with him to bring this Utopian State. In doing so people that were deemed to hold back the mass would have to be eliminated.

As I listened to Jordan I thought of Hitler’s virtue. Was there any at all? I am sure that he thought there was. And he likely believed that he was the most virtuous.

The fact that he sunk to perhaps the lowest moral deficiency possible and was resentful of the Jews, it led to his destruction of every Jew that he could get his hands on. That resentfulness destroyed Millions upon millions of people.

Worse yet at that time, the world accepted that resentfulness as a norm. The world was in the clutch of moral problems that were so deep that they could not see how bad it was. In fact the world as a whole could really care less. Their lack of any response or their act of agreeing with the atrocity being committed in Germany and Europe, led them to let Hitler do what he did.

Soldiers in Canada and the USA finally joined the British folk to stop Germany’s advance of its Utopia. They did not join to stop the killing of the Jews.

In fact, when an old steamship came to Canada’s shores in 1939 filled with Jews trying to escape from the Holocaust in their home land… Canada turned them away… so did the USA. The final events that happened were terrible. There were 900 on board that ship. When they were turned away, about 300 died in the Holocaust.

Hitler was not the only one that was resentful. The whole world at that time took some part in the resentfulness.

This past week Canada had a new Monument dedicated in Halifax to the memory of these folks that were turned away. The Jews in Canada built it. It says we are sorry.

You would never do that – you are a Christian.

In 1939 there were good Halifax Christian People attended church regularly – when that steamship tried to land in Halifax – and no one did anything. As good Christians they also believed the worst of the Jews. After all the Jews were the ones that had killed their Jesus. Hating a Jew was okay.

The fact that Jesus was also one of them was lost. We could love Him but hate Them.

Selective Virtue – a turn on and turn off of your virtue is perhaps the worst kind.

This kind of virtue is no virtue at all. The opposite of Virtue is Vice.

Our best modern example is the Mafia – wouldn’t you think?

The next best one that we all have witnessed is the way that Protestants hate Catholics… and Pentecostals resent Baptists and you resent your neighbour… and he you.

Ooops – sorry about that – you and I are the only Virtue Filled people in the world now. Right?

Nope that is not right! I have to work at developing, building, keeping, struggling with my Virtue all the time.

Oh Boy!

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/

Resource
TVO – Big Ideas
Hart House Lecturer – Jordan Peterson
http://www.tvo.org/TVOsites/WebObjects/TvoMicrosite.woa?bi?1295128800000
You can select “Audio” or “Video”

Jews Turned Away
http://www.vosizneias.com/73937/2011/01/20/canada-memorial-for-jews-turned-away-from-canada-to-be-unveiled-in-halifax