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In Praise of Virtue
Skull:
--- Quote ---I have not brought misery upon my fellows. I have not made the beginning of every day laborious in the sight of him who worked for me.
--- End quote ---
Ancient Egyptian - Confession of the Righteous Soul.
Skull:
Can virtue be taught? Russell Kirk says not from "ideological preaching" for sure:
https://kirkcenter.org/kirk-essays/virtue-can-it-be-taught/
Absalom:
--- Quote from: Skull on April 26, 2021, 05:35:00 pm ---Indeed; yet such wisdom can be found in many times & climes, for example:Laws of Manu
--- End quote ---
---------------------------
Agreed, because Man embraced his Spiritual Sensibilities from Eden till the French Enlightenment.
Then, in my judgement, a fateful turn occurred from which Mankind has never recovered.
Secular revolutionaries, such as Rousseau, St. Just, Voltaire, among dozens, promoted the
nostrum that Man's 'material betterment in this life' was an equally noble calling and purpose,
worthy of his efforts and focus.
The impact of this pernicious idea gave Man pause, turning his head while sewing the seeds
for the Material Rot that has engulfed the World during the past 300 years.
Two realities reinforce my conclusion:
* Materialism has been the spawn of the deadliest isms ever inflicted on Mankind.
* What we moderns label "Art" in any form, is an abject embarrassment when compared
to that which preceded it.
Skull:
--- Quote from: Absalom on April 26, 2021, 08:49:55 pm ------------------------------
Agreed, because Man embraced his Spiritual Sensibilities from Eden till the French Enlightenment.
Then, in my judgement, a fateful turn occurred from which Mankind has never recovered.
Secular revolutionaries, such as Rousseau, St. Just, Voltaire, among dozens, promoted the
nostrum that Man's 'material betterment in this life' was an equally noble calling and purpose,
worthy of his efforts and focus.
The impact of this pernicious idea gave Man pause, turning his head while sewing the seeds
for the Material Rot that has engulfed the World during the past 300 years.
Two realities reinforce my conclusion:
* Materialism has been the spawn of the deadliest isms ever inflicted on Mankind.
* What we moderns label "Art" in any form, is an abject embarrassment when compared
to that which preceded it.
--- End quote ---
True, yet Sages have always know about our dual attractions - toward selfishness & matter and also attraction toward selflessness and spirit. The Occident began to ignore that ever present duality and foster mainly the lower material parts of our awareness.
As James (and Buddha & Krishna) put it - seek and live from the higher true wisdom, not the lower sensate cravings.
--- Quote ---3:14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
--- End quote ---
Skull:
Pascal also knew the importance of 'knowing thyself':
--- Quote ---It is of dangerous consequence to represent to man how near he is to the level of beasts, without showing him at the same time his greatness. It is likewise dangerous to let him see his greatness without his meanness. It is more dangerous yet to leave him ignorant of either; but very beneficial that he should be made sensible of both.
--- End quote ---
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