How, indeed, could a person
immediately become temperate if he only knew that one must not be overcome by
pleasures, but was quite unpracticed in withstanding pleasures?
How could one become just when he
had learned that one must love fairness but had never exercised himself in
avoidance of selfishness and greed?
How could we acquire courage if
we had merely learned that the things that seem dreadful to the average person
are not to be feared, but had no experience in showing courage in the face of
such things?
How could we become prudent if we
had come to recognize what things are truly good and what evil, but had never
had practice in despising things that only seem good?
I become
a little wary when I hear people using one of the popular phrases of the
moment, that the key to fixing a problem is about “raising awareness”. Yes, we
can hardly do anything if we don’t first understand the right and the wrong of
it, but being aware alone won’t cut it. It begins with reflection, and it is
then only completed in action.
How
easily I might be drawn to pondering and pontificating about the big things,
precisely because it requires so little effort to do so. How much more I should commit to practicing
the little things, precisely because the effort required is what produces the
reward of character. What is merely hypothetical becomes actual once I break a
sweat.
Musonius
here shares a principle in common with Aristotle, that we become virtuous by
doing the good, not by just thinking about the good. As parents like to tell their
children, “Wishing won’t make it so!” An act is the exercise of an intention,
and the repetition of acts leads to the building of habits. Right habits improve
moral strength, and are the true sign of the virtuous man.
My own
greatest failings have come when there is something decent in my head, or in my
heart, or even on my lips, but I don’t do anything about it with my hands. I
have been in possession of things I have not used, and I have then foolishly
wondered why a noble ideal or sentiment wasn’t making me any better or happier.
Nor has
it helped me when I am impressed by others who do much the same, who tell me
much, while not showing me much at all. I have wondered why people are always
letting me down, but of course they aren’t doing that all; they are exactly
what they appear to be, smoke without fire, and I am only deceiving myself.
Just as
the law will only be binding when it is enforced, so a sense of right and wrong
will only help me when I bother to live it out.
Temperance?
Give me the man who fights fiercely against his own worst desires, not the man
who only preaches fine words about moderation from his pulpit.
Justice?
I will listen to the politician lecture me on the need for a fair society, but
I will only start paying attention when I see him sharing his own winnings.
Courage?
How easy it is for the armchair hero to tell others to be strong, when all his
entitlements mean that he has never faced hardship, and so he has never had
anything to fear.
Prudence?
The number of books a scholar may have read, or referenced, or written are
hardly as important as his ability to distinguish between decency and chicanery.
Written in 7/1999
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