Meditations on Virtue

'We do not discover purpose through virtue, we discover virtue through purpose.'

The purpose of a sword is to cut through resistant materials. A 'virtuous' sword is one with a sharp edge. The purpose of a cup of green tea is to fill the body with intoxicants, stabilize metabolism and act as a stimulant. A 'virtuous' cup of green tea is one with the appropriate minerals. The purpose of a tap is to allow water to be drawn whenever one needs it. A 'virtuous' tap is one which does not leak and allows the free flow of water.

The purpose of a human being...is much trickier. In the above examples we can identify 'virtues', or qualities, which enable a thing to fulfil it's purpose. This is largely because we - human beings - have designed these things for specific purposes. Sometimes they can have alternative purposes - a broken sink painted green with pink spots would probably be considered virtuous in a modern art gallery - but generally speaking we know the primary use of a tool or technology.

But what is the purpose for we human beings? Our origins, the dreams of our ancestors, our place in nature , where we are going, is far more complex than the destiny of a tap! It may seem like it is hard for philosophers to come up with answers. Nonetheless, we must not yield the question of what purpose is to politicians, to scientists, to theologians or psychologists. The question of the good life was asked in great detail by ancient philosophers, and with philosophers it had best remain.

I believe human purpose to be related to more than just our own personal flourishing and emotional well-being. To place too much emphasis on personal emotion and our immediate surroundings is to lose out on principles which can be universalized. To live the good life for oneself is part of our purpose, but the same conditions which allow us to flourish ought to be available to all. Why shouldn't they be? If we have benefited from living in certain conditions, and it is possible to share such conditions elsewhere, it only makes sense that we should be as fair as possible. Thus, the perfect 'soil' for human flourishing lies not only in individual character building, but also in the way we order society, and the world at large.

The ultimate society which allows us to fulfil our creative purpose is a meritocracy. Under such circumstances a person may succeed or fail based on their own efforts and not on their place in an unequal society (as in our current false-meritocracy). But never should anyone be doomed to failure, or locked into stagnant success. It must remain a fluid meritocracy - for ideas grow old, and systems grow obsolete. Everything must be held up to scrutiny and change. The foundation of such a meritocracy is, perhaps paradoxically, egalitarianism. We cannot have fair and honourable meritocracy without equality preceding it, and in a too-competitive environment we risk permanently stratifying people into classes, thus destroying the notion of society, and therefore meritocracy. Of course, this ideal 'soil' for us to flourish is far from realization; we live in a world of hierarchical politics, entrenched obsolete institutions and growing inequality. Against this tide I present seven virtues I consider the most important in our struggle to fulfil our purpose - the flourishing of an individual's creativity to make the world a better place.

- Self-Awareness: The ability to realize one's own consciousness is the first virtue. This I believe is the key to wisdom, and thus the discoverer of human purpose. Through self-awareness we can know what it is we want for ourselves. Without such direction, we can be easily manipulated. Without such direction, we are void. Such a void can be filled by any authority, or remain empty and be glossed over by rampant desire-fulfilment. Self-awareness must fill the void through its perpetual searching, it must find direction within ourselves, and ready us for the inevitable changes we will need to make. Only through such daring reflection can we distinguish where our ideas have come from: did we accept them ourselves after conscious deliberation or were they imposed upon us from the outside? How much of our personality traits have we chosen, and how much have we absorbed through habit and soaking in our environment? What do we want to keep, and what 'demons' do we want to exorcise?

By examining our actions we become sceptical. Once we habituate to this scepticism, we have an automatic shield which can filter out falsehood. Self-awareness is thus the first step into wisdom. It is also important for self-control, and can provide us with recognition of what we are capable of. It is the most important virtue, but not the cardinal virtue; self-awareness is like the necessary soil in which the ultimate virtue may take seed.

- Humility: One who has humility is not competitive in a win-at-all costs way. Whilst competition can be a good driving force, without humility it is bound to become destructive and create a world of egotists and show-offs; as per our own consumerist dystopia. As so many problems of unequal wealth distribution and competition for status pervade our age, humility may well be one of the most powerful virtues which bring about a fairer situation - if only the powerful and boisterous could be convinced to embrace it!

Humility can be the source of a great sense of humour. Laughing at ourselves makes life bearable, and prevents us from taking everything too seriously. The 'seriousness' and pretense of society is the veil hiding many evils which lurk beneath. A sneering maxim against this pretentious evil could be: Polite lies trump vulgar truths. Laughter must wash away this arrogance, exposing the flesh of our hypocrisy to scrutiny.

- Courage: The first two virtues of self-awareness and humility must come before courage. Courage can be a vice if one is courageous for the wrong reasons. Yet without courage, we cannot defend that which we hold dear. As we must fight to create any form of change in ourselves, and in society, we need courage. We can discover the best of all possible options through wisdom, but courage is to put ideas into action. Daring to speak out and be wrong is also a massively courageous act. To this end, the following maxim can be useful: Action without thought is stupidity. Thought without action is cowardice. Cleverness is not enough - we must be daring!

- Compassion: We have to concern ourselves with the journeys of others, as others will concern themselves with us. It is a simple, mutual exchange at the heart of it. We should recognise that compassion for others is compassion for ourselves, for it is impossible to be truly satisfied in a world of inequality and suffering. As the virtues should be qualities leading us to create the ideal society, we recognise that our character is influenced by the culture which created us. Without compassion, we can love only those who are immediately around us, and this is a form of 'loving tyranny', where anyone outside of our immediate sphere ceases to exist.

Compassion, blossoming out of our natural connection to all things, is to be spread as far as the mind might reach. The true test of the heart lies as much in caring for a stranger than it does a loved one. If we need a more direct stimulus to be compassionate, let our own suffering lead us to empathy, and it need not be an abstract idea.

However, we cannot always be compassionate, especially not to those who would destroy us. Nor can we allow it to be the sole, blanket response to whatever problem may arise. Compassion could be insulting, and threaten our virtue of humility. An easy maxim to remember this can be as thus: Respecting others is as important as loving them, as we shall see in the next virtue.

- Dignity: We must tread softly with compassion. To be too willing to help can be patronising. Worse yet, to be compassionate to someone can accustom them to dependency, especially if we do not recognise their ability to be self-aware. Creating such dependency is not a virtue.

Dignity is the ability to decide for oneself what one will do, or not do. It is freedom; especially freedom from harm or coercion. Dignity is the virtue which arises from the sum total of all our individuality; it is the sacred pride which rests around an individual's character like an aura, protecting them from any injustice. It promises us our own space to grow and develop, and prevents people from dominating our lives and trampling our individual privacy.

The dignity of the individual relates to the actual physical and mental person: who they are, not what they possess. A person's private property, therefore, is not their dignity, though it may be their means toward it - I am not defined by the house I happen to live in, but without it I have a much harder struggle to find any dignity, privacy, safety, and so forth. Dignity, rediscovered in what we do and not what we have, is the anchor of virtuous character; if we are dignified then we might treat others with the respect they deserve. When we place the dignity of private property over the dignity of individuals, we end up with absurd acts of waste, such as having more vacant houses than homeless persons.

- Patience: All things good take time. There is nothing of value that is instant, and little of value that is given. We must be able to wait. So many 'evils' come not from malice, but impatience. At great speed it becomes hard to consider those in our way. Patience is not a virtue in the consumerist value system. Far from it, it is an obstacle which needs to be torn down! Patience is eroded away by convenience and withered to nothing by instant gratification.

Willingness to suffer through bad periods is essential in our struggle as individuals and world-savers! Knowing when to strike is more important than the strike itself. We must have nerve. We must be prepared to wait generations. Revolution is impatience taken to extremes. At the same time, we must not allow patience to give us an excuse to do nothing. Nor must we hide from the world and allow ourselves to become lax.

- Creativity is the 'cardinal' virtue. It is creativity that makes life bearable and presents us with progress, in creating new technologies, works of art, great philosophy, and so forth. The self-generative principle inside each of us must be given the opportunity to flourish, for the incredible results it will produce.

Creativity gives us a form of purpose, but certainly not a linear one; for we never know what will emerge from us. Rather than aiming for a horizon, which, when reached leaves us feeling disappointed, creativity is spontaneous, and perhaps a little more unpredictable. It could almost be called a divine gift, if only there was such a celestial realm.  Yet there need not be any transcendent planes of existence to explain human creativity; it is what it is, a gift of Nature, and it is all that we need to be bathed in eternal wonder. It is we who created the gods, not the gods who created us. Creativity is all the magic and divinity a humanist needs.

With creativity as the primary virtue, there is less need for temperance and moderation. For it is not restraint and harsh discipline that leads to blessedness, but blessedness that leads to restraint. And the way we become blessed is by harnessing our own individual creativity. Frugality also follows creativity, as the creator-artist is more concerned with their project than any hoard of wealth.

Through creativity we can complete ourselves, and rarely grow bored. To overcome soul-dampening consumerism (a lack of creativity, an unsatisfying void-filler) we need this virtue. It enables us to do much with little. Resourcefulness is also a virtue enshrined within creativity. Doing something new with what is already there is the pinnacle of human ingenuity - we don't always need to create something new! It is creative use of our resources that will enable us to to be environmental world-savers, not more resources.

So much hinges on this virtue becoming cardinal, though never an end in and of itself. Art for art's sake is creativity as an end in itself, and is as contrived as it is pretentious. One last dangerously catchy maxim for the road!: Creativity without justice is trivia.

I do think that creativity is massively political. What will tear down the grey walls of inhuman bureaucracy and flatten the towering pyramids of unequal class and status? My answer is simply to transcend these things and imagine something better. And this 'transcendence' follows from the recognition of oneself as the pinnacle of human evolution - an artist – and to be an artist one must possess the cardinal virtue of creativity.

Selim 'Selim' Talat