Virtue of Truthfulness – Virtuous life as meditation
(Continued from Virtue of Truthfulness – Invisible realities)
What is a virtue? Virtue (Greek Arete, lat. Virtus) means the most complete realization of the heart and soul of a good. It may also be defined to mean ethically and morally valuable traits. Virtue was a central concept in ancient moral philosophy or ethics. Virtues are skills, not information or knowledge. Especially this side got me initially interested about virtues. Information overload caused by the collection of information and endless series of open questions made me finally think about the relationship between knowledge and truth. Can I know the truth without having a skill to manifest it?
Cardinal virtues are the best-known ancient virtues that have moved to the doctrine of seven virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas. These are: wisdom, justice, courage and prudence. In addition to these virtues Aquinas counted theological virtues along, i.e. faith, hope and love. I do not know very well the meaning of these three virtues by St. Aquinas, but in my opinion they are not formally part of the virtues, if virtues are thought as a valuable traits and properties under development. They are something even deeper spiritual qualities reflected in the various virtues, or through virtues. For instance in courage there is faith, in patience there is hope and in compassion there is love included. Perhaps one might think theological virtues as a triangle, which descends to the square, i.e. trinity, which descends to the fourfold world saturating virtues with the best features and qualities.
Virtues may be listed in the dozens, or even hundreds so you can get a good meditation theme for every week of year if you wish. Here are some for chewing:
…diligence, generosity, openness, empathy, selflessness, sensitivity, thoroughness, piety, benevolence, enthusiasm, flexibility, beauty, gratitude, courtesy, respect, obedience, patience, compassion, integrity, sobriety, compassion, determination, humility, willingness to service, cleanliness, impartiality, determination, sobriety, peace, honesty, courage, perseverance, endurance, morality, depth, subtlety, discernment, balance, fairness, truthfulness, loyalty, modesty, prudence, responsibility, innocence, hospitality, sincerity, intensity, non-violence, kindness,…
Truth, truthfulness and love of truth has been said to be a basis of all virtues. Deep longing of truth drives human through all kind of mazes and hazards and one cannot get through them if the other virtues have not developed in person and become true in practice.
I could keep a lecture of each virtue but now I would highlight one of those, namely honesty. Honesty with oneself and other people is one of the most important virtues, but also the largest afflicter in self-education. “Spirits” are fighting in us. Other side knows what is good and the other half wants to do something else like enjoy, relax, not necessarily to do evil, but also not good in a sense that it desires to abandon own delights and actively directs life for the highest virtues and implementation of the highest goals. Sacrificial life seem only way to prevent karmic relations. I don’t believe that great teachers have said without reason and urged us to forget ourselves, so that we can find ourselves. In people that accomplish fairness, it will raise the battle that can last and last for long periods of time and torment the soul. As a seeker of truth, I can easily see that the only one who carries out the will of God from the sweet beginning to the salty end is finally free, in other words rescued and saved from that internal battle.
You cannot really forget vices because we understand things through the opposites. While my point in this lecture is in virtues I can mention only shortly some examples like the traditional seven deadly sins: pride, envy, greed, anger, gluttony, adultery and falsehood. In addition selfishness, indifference, grain, indiscretions, cowardice, etc. belongs to vices, but is it all so black and white, only good and evil? And what is it in virtues so special, that all the great religions and persons constantly speak of them. Probably not without a reason, or what you think? I have collected a few quotes for my aid and defense:
- A superior man always thinks of virtue; common man thinks of comfort. -Confucius
- Rise up the hill is a virtue. Running down is a vice. -Chinese proverb
- A noble man is not aware of the virtue with, and in this way, he really has a great virtue. Lower-ranking man never loses virtue from his eyes, and in this way, he loses a virtue. -Lao Tzu
- To walk safely in a maze of human life man needs wisdom of light and guidance of virtue. -Buddha
- Purity creates wisdom, lust creates stinginess and ignorance creates madness and darkness. -Bhagavad-Gita
- Our virtues and vices will rise from the same source. -Goethe
- Virtue is like health of soul, beauty and a good manner. -Plato
- Virtue is the beauty of the soul and vices the deformity of the soul. -Socrates
- A man who is not virtuous, can never be happy. -Epicurus
- Great adepts always practice the highest virtues. -Blavatsky
- In human being, there can be no more truth than she’s got grace. -Swedenborg
- Smile is a half virtue. -Eino Leino
The list could go on forever. Purpose of virtuous life in short is: glorification of the thought life + purifying the feelings + awakening of intuition, which together vitalizes material and the physical body until ultimate perfection. As a by-product, it can really bring happiness and relief from ignorance.
Next analogies illustrate meditation exercises and the relationship with virtues. As previously mentioned, meditation is traditionally divided into the three main states that are:
- Concentration -> Calculation of breath
- Meditation -> Monitoring breath
- Contemplation -> Being
Each step may take years to achieve. Meditation is usually done in small time and space. Often the problem is: how to the results of meditation or contemplation may be moved to the presence in everyday life? Let’s assume we are not living monastic life or in retreat. I think that MOMENT can be extended to LIFE by exercising virtues. Let me show similar analogies here:
- Concentration -> Electing one virtue as a theme of the day or week and keeping it in mind
- Meditation -> Going deeper into the virtue and retrieving more information
- Contemplation -> Being one with the virtue, becoming virtuous
There are two different translations and usage for the word contemplation. Here I use it as a third state of the process referring to Samadhi, but it can be also interchanged with 2nd state so that contemplation comes the 2nd and meditation the 3rd state.
Virtuous life changes all parts of the human essence and opens your senses to see the truths, both psychological and invisible. An interesting view to the implications of ethical life and the spiritual growth can be read from the book of The Esoteric school of Jesus by Pekka Ervast. It sheds light on the fivefold guide spoken on the Sermon on the Mount, how implementing five ethical instructions leads to the wisdom. Temperlessness, purity, swearlessness, unoffeding of the evil and love are a special blend of old traditional virtues, but also a modern or should we call new age virtues. This part of the teachings of Ervast was greatly influenced by Leo Tolstoy.
When MOMENT becomes LIFE, there is still one analog to go, where LIFE becomes WAY. WAY refers to initiation path where a chain of human lives perfects, mankind’s goal will be achieved, the individual will create a new body, “better rod from the old one” by editing a bit of an old Finnish dictum. Since the ordination of these issues will go more to talk about category of invisible realities, I will confine myself to just quoting Pekka Ervast, what he said in a lecture about the initiation path in 1926:
This way, we can briefly describe that initiation is a kind of threefold mystery. The first man will be received in some brotherhood. Second, the initiation is a certificate and the stamp that the knowledge was obtained, and thirdly that consciousness is expanded and the expansion of consciousness will continue.
This raises a specific question about the nature of the truth: is it obtainable alone by ones own merits? When we need assistance from the others, either brethren or higher facets that already has found the truth?
I leave that question open and finally want to present the musical structure of my album that presents the truth seeker path through the elements and principles by cultivating corresponding virtues. It is certainly not intended to provide any absolute equivalence between elements and virtues, but rather showing the naturally arising associations on my mind, which are nice to meditate on everyday life.
| # | Track | Element |
| —————————————————- | ||
| 1 | Myrrh | Intro to elements |
| 2 | Patience | Earth |
| 3 | Purity | Fire |
| 4 | Courage | Water |
| 5 | Gratitude | Air |
| 6 | Respect | Emptiness, void |
| 7 | Truthfulness | Intro to principles |
| 8 | Wisdom | Manas |
| 9 | Devotion | Buddhi |
| 10 | Leniency | Aatma |
| 11 | Beauty / Joy | 1 extra couple of virtue |
| 12 | Generosity / Surrender | 2 extra couple of virtue |
Mirha
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(The end)
Please see also these informative websites of science of virtues:
http://scienceofvirtues.org
http://arete.uchicago.edu
And my article about virtues in business:
48 virtues for business and joyful life
- Virtue of Truthfulness – Invisible realities
- Virtue of Truthfulness – Psychological truths
- The only path to a tranquil life is through virtue
- 48 Virtues for Business and Joyful Life
- Virtue is beauty -Shakespeare
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