FREEDOM AND VIRTUE
“Sensible Frya. The first thing she taught her children was self-control, the second was the love of virtue and when they were grown, she taught them the value of freedom…”
The Book of Adela’s Followers (The Oera Linda Book)
American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin once stated:
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
The above statement naturally begs the question, “what makes a people virtuous?”
The obvious answer is that they both collectively and individually express “virtue”, which is behavior that shows high moral standards.
Now, while there are many lists of virtues; I am going to focus on the Four Cardinal Virtues from Greco-Roman philosophy, as they tend to form the core of what is and has been considered “virtue” the world over:
Prudence– the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason; to discern the appropriate course of action to be taken in a given situation at the appropriate time, with consideration of potential consequences; cautiousness.
Justice- aka “fairness”, which is the moderation or compromise between selfishness and selflessness — between having more and having less than one’s fair share.
Courage– forbearance, strength, endurance, fortitude (patience and perseverance), dedication and the ability to confront fear, uncertainty, and intimidation (bravery, boldness, valor, daring).
Temperance- also known as restraint, the practice of self-control, abstention, discretion, and moderation tempering the appetites.
One virtue I have some experience working towards is the virtue of temperance. As someone who is in recovery for behavioral and substance addictions, I know the value of temperance and how difficult it can be to acquire it. To be sober and stay sober, I have needed to purposefully commit to things like community, accountability, rigorous honesty, regular prayer, moral inventories and making amends for wrongs I have done.
Beyond that, I have found it helpful to embrace asceticism through regular periods of fasting and other intentional discomfort-seeking practices like cold showers and intense exercise. These things help to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, instead of remaining habituated to toxic comfort-seeking which lies at the heart of addiction and compulsive overconsumption.
Fasting in particular is a tried-and-true practice of ascetic traditions and monastics the world over. There is of course, like anything, varying degrees of length and intensity one can and should choose when it comes to these things, as prudence is also a virtue.
No one living their lives constantly in search of their next dopamine hit, be it from alcohol, drugs, sex, food, gambling shopping, social media, or anything else, is “free”- despite what the modern world may tell us. They may have the “freedom” to indulge in that addiction or compulsion, but the person themselves are completely enslaved to their compulsive desires and appetites.
To make matters worse, the view of “freedom” in modern America has come to mean the freedom to chase pleasure without being held accountable or facing consequences. Moreover, many of us feel that if anyone attempts to obstruct our “freedom” to selfishly indulge, they are “oppressing” us and taking away our “freedom”.
Saint Paul of Tarsus wrote in his letter to the Church in Galatia:
“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love…
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God“
America and the “Americanized” West have fallen into a such a state of self-indulgent degeneration that we are “free” in the same sense that child pounding a toy hammer on a bench next to his father is “helping”.
Americans believe they are free because they have been told they are, not because they actually are.
We as a society are so driven and guided by emotion, self-indulgence and self-seeking behavior that we are easily manipulated by anyone who “pushes the right buttons” in our psyche, that how could we honestly be trusted with freedom in the first place?
Of course, I could also argue that Americans through both intentional and circumstantial social engineering, have been lulled into a state of helplessness, childishness and moral degeneracy.
The old values and virtues of its founding generations have slowly eroded and been stamped out, mercilessly at times, all in the name of “progress”, which essentially equates to the will of the capitalist oligarchy that owns the State.
If I’m being honest, I don’t have a great deal of hope for America as it exists now.
But at the same time, I do have hope for the good people I see and meet in my daily life who strive to live a virtuous life despite of the crumbling degeneracy and flood of temptation and distraction that surrounds them.
In his letter to the Celtic inhabitants of Galatia, St. Paul goes on to state that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
The “fruit of the Spirit is virtue.
So how can we be free?
We can stop living for vice and strive to live a life of virtue, becoming living examples for others.
We can “crucify” the “flesh”; that is, our self-destructive pleasure-seeking tendencies; and choose to live and walk in the Spirit.
We can surrender to the Will of the ALLFATHER and pray for Him to show us what that Will is and give us the power, the strength, the courage, the patience and the wisdom to carry it out.