from Addison's Cato Cicero

Transcription

1 he Art of Virtue

2 "ere will hold. f there's a power above us (And that there is all nature cries aloud hro' all her works), e must delight in virtue; And that which he delights in must be happy." from Addison's ato " vitae Philosophia dux! virtutum indagatrix expultrixque vitiorum! Unus dies, bene et ex praeceptis tuis actus, peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus." icero

3 t was about this time conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection... An excerpt from hapter 6 of he Autobiography of Ben ranklin Paraphrased, prepared, and printed in the Philippine slands by Glen Norris, 2005 glen@secretidea.com

4 oward oral Perfection Now that 'm sort of old, and have had some success in my life, a friend of mine sug gested that explain how was able to achieve as much as have. Well to start with, always read as much as possible. read anything can find and don't party too much. must say, did sow my wild oats, but thank Goodness it didn't become a way of life. Anyway, always liked reading. But it really started when decided seriously to try to become perfect. wanted to be perfect. And figured could do it. Yup. knew it might be hard to get there, but if possible, wanted to live without ever doing anything wrong. All over the world the old books and old people say mostly the same things. t seems to me that whenthey say something is bad (lying, cheating, stealing, etc.) they re really saying that according to experience, it's proved after thousands of generations, that you will be happier if you do the right things, and don't do the wrong things. r to put it another way, if God made us then he wants us to be happy. o he would definitely set it up so that if we just do what is right, and don't do anything wrong, then we would be happy. o if already know how to be happy, should try to be as happy as possible. t just seemed kind of obvious.

5 usually did things that were wrong because like them so much, or because everyone else was doing it. But figure since always pretty much knew when did something wrong, no reason why couldn't simply do the right thing instead! Well it turned out to be harder than thought. could guard against a bad habit, but only if paid attention all the time. And if paid attention to one habit all the time, 'd screw up on a different bad habit! Another problem, even though would try really hard, sometimes the temptation was too much and 'd simply fail, even though was trying hard. found that just because thought could always choose the right thing, and then try really hard to do it, it didn't mean would always be successful. o it seemed like the secret was habits. 'd have to break bad habits and make them into good habits. After that, then could tr y to see how close could get to being perfect. o thought up a plan. read a lot of different stuff g rowing up and ran into a lot of different lists and lectures and sermons of what's good and bad. ome were short and general, and some were long and specific. or my project made a list of all the good habits could think of, from all the stuff read, and threw out the duplicates. kept them specific enough to be clear with just a short phrase attached, and it boiled down to 13:

6 Basically hirteen Virtues 1. emperance. enjoy food but 'm not a hog. 'll have a drink but won't get drunk. 2. ilence. don't gossip or say anything bad about other people. 3. rder. keep things straightened up and schedule my time. 4. esolution. do what say will do. 5. rugality. don't spend money on anything unless it does some good. don't waste anything. 6. ndustry. don't waste time. only do things that are useful. 7. incerity. don't lie. think the best about people, but if have to speak my mind for their benefit, then better do it. 8. ustice. don't lie, cheat, or steal, and always do my part. 9. oderation. f am hurt, even intentionally, don t overreact. 10. leanliness. have a clean body, clean clothes, and a clean house. 11. ranquility. don't worry about small stuff, or things can't control. 12. hastity. only use sex for health and babies. have a good reputation. 13. umility. imitate esus and ocrates.

7 he opposite of all these things are bad habits. o my plan was to make each one into my good habit. But there's no way could do them all at once because it takes time and energy to make a new habit. o planned to do them one at a time, and once had one down, then work on the next one, one by one, until had them all. f course, getting certain habits would help with getting certain other ones. o spent a while thinking about the most strategic order to do them in, and finally decided on the order, above. put emperance first, because it helped me think clearly, which is important if always have to keep my guard up against old bad habits and just plain old temptation. nce had emperance, ilence would be easier. Like said, always like reading and learning, and ilence is good for that. thought might as well learn and read at the same time am trying this project of becoming perfect. Plus, was getting into the habit of joking around all the time, being pointlessly clever, and talking about fun silly stuff, and noticed that that just made me hang out with silly people. o that's why put ilence second. y plan was that the combination of rder and ilence would give me more time to concentrate on my project and to study.

8 had to make esolution one of the first ones too, since it obviously would help keep me from giving up on any of the following virtues, or even the whole project! rugality and ndustry, next, would get me out of debt and hopefully help me make some decent money so that incerity and ustice would be easier. Etc. o made a little 13-page calendar book to keep with me and help with my self-examination. Each page had a different virtue listed at the top, along with the little description. hen on every page listed all 13 virtues, and made a column for each day of the week. o whatever page was on, that's the thing would concentrate on for the week. f failed in that habit then 'd pencil a little black dot in the box for whatever day it was. also kept track of the other 12 virtues and put dots in when messed up on those, but the goal for that week was to have a whole clean row for the virtue page was on. hen the next week would concentrate on the next virtue because 'd already be a little better at the previous one. o a course would take 13 weeks. And could do about 4 courses in a year. opefully after a while, would be able to finish a whole 13-week course with no dots, which would prove that was getting near my goal of being perfect.

9 " Powerful Goodness! Bountiful ather! erciful Guide! ncrease in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. trengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me." "ather of light and life, thou Good upreme! teach me what is good; teach me hyself! ave me from folly, vanity, and vice, rom every low pursuit; and fill my soul With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure; acred, substantial, never-fading bliss!

10 knew 'd have to work at it and think about it every single day, so put some quotes in the front of the book to remind me why 'm doing this, what great footsteps 'm following, and sort of keep me on track. And since God likes wisdom, figured he would be happy to help me in my project, so put 2 little prayers in there too. f course to get rder had to have a schedule, so designed a schedule and also put that in. Well, after set up this plan, went for it! ( took a break once in a while.) And was surprised; once started paying attention, had more faults than thought! But, did notice them becoming less, which is a very satisfying feeling. After a while only did one course a year, and then got so busy with stuff only did the course every few years. Eventually had so much going on, business, traveling, projects, etc., didn't even do it anymore, but always had my little book on me. or me, rder was the toughest. t might not be so hard if was a lumberjack and could make my own schedule, but when have to deal with other people and make my schedule around them, it's a lot harder.

11 But also had trouble just keeping stuff org anized. never had to be too organized growing up because have a pretty good memory and could always find stuff even if it was messy. o never really thought about how much better things would work if they were organized. t was so hard for me to try to get the habit of rder! would only make a little progress, and then slide back and get messy again all the time. seriously almost gave up. 'd make excuses like, h well, it's ok, 'll just have one fault. Perfect would be too perfect! t's better to have a couple problems. r Well if 'm too perfect then people will hate me. r, t's not fair to my friends if 'm too perfect. o tell you the truth, was really horrible at rder! Now 'm 79, and my memory is not as good, and wish had tried harder on that one. verall though, the result was, of course, never became perfect even though started out thinking could make it. a! Nowhere near perfect. But 'm definitely happier, and a better man than would have been if didn't even try. did get pretty good at most of the virtues. As an experiment it was a great success. definitely recommend it, and hope my kids will do it. 'm really glad did it. 'm so glad. hanks to emperance 'm still strong and healthy.

12 hanks to ndustry and rugality, made some decent money pretty early in life, which made it easier and easier as lived on, and got a good reputation as a good citizen. think because of those two things, got to hang out with smart and powerful people. hanks to incerity and ustice, made it as a politician and ambassador. And thanks to the combination of all 13, at least as much as had, was cool and confident. People asked me for advice. Even younger people liked talking to me, which is pretty cool since they don't usually like hanging out with old dudes. By the way, notice that there is no religion in the plan! did that on purpose because believed in the plan so much, wanted it to be usable by anyone in any religion. was also going to publish it. planned to write a little comment about the advantages of each of the virtues, and the dangers of having the opposite habit. was going to call it he Art f Virtue because it basically shows you how to become virtuous instead of just telling you to be good (like a lot of preachers). never got around to publishing it, but remember a couple of the main points wanted to put in. ne is, like said before, that doing a bad thing is not bad just because old books say not to do it. t's that old books say not to do it because it's already proved that it will hurt either you or someone else.

13 o if you want to be happy, which everyone does, then everyone in the world should try to be virtuous, because happiness will be the result. was also going to stress to young people that there's a lot of rich and powerful people in the world, and all of them need honest smart people to manage their businesses and projects, and honest smart people are rare, so Nothing so likely to make a man's fortune as virtue. riginally, only had 12 virtues. But a friend of min e let me know that most people thought was sort of conceited and said it was obvious when was talking to people because wasn't satisfied just being right but always had to rub it in. (And he proved it by giving me a few examples!) decided was going to cure that. o th added umility as the 13 virtue. o tell you the truth, 'm not sure was able to get much real umility, but did make it look like did. just made a strict rule for myself to never directly go against anyone's idea, and never insist 'm so right. n fact, made sure never used absolute words like certainly, undoubtedly, etc., and instead said, think, believe, or imagine or at the moment it seems to me. Even if somebody was totally, provably wrong, didn't let myself jump on them. 'd just start saying that in certain cases or circumstances yes, definitely, you'd be right, but in this case it seems to me there's a difference.

14 After started doing this definitely noticed a difference. t was a big advantage. Not only did conversations go better, but my ideas got accepted more because people weren't so eager to prove me wrong. And in an argument, if was right, it was easier to get the other guy to admit it and come on my side. t was tough to convert my speech to this habit, but did get good success with that. bet no one has heard me say anything insulting for 50 years. think this habit, added on top of my integrity (gained from getting better at the virtues) is the main thing that helped me get my plans and proposals past people and committees. And when had to present them by giving a speech, even though 'm not good at speeches, usually got my points across pretty convincingly. n my opinion, umility is probably the hardest virtue to get, because no matter how much you beat down your pride, it's still alive, so it peeks out once in a while. or example, you probably see it in this writing! mean, even if totally became 100% humble 'd be proud of that. Ben

15 emperance. enjoy food but m not a hog. ll have a drink but won t get drunk. W

16 ilence don't gossip or say anything bad about other people. W

17 rder keep things straightened up and schedule my time. W

18 esolution do what say will do. W

19 rugality don't spend money on anything unless it does some good. don't waste anything. W

20 ndustry don't waste time. only do things that are useful. W

21 incerity don't lie. think the best about people, but if have to speak my mind for their benefit, then better do it. W

22 ustice don't lie, cheat, or steal, and always do my part. W

23 oderation f am hurt, even intentionally, don t overreact. W

24 leanliness have a clean body, clean clothes, and a clean house. W

25 ranquility don t worry about small stuff, or things can t control. W

26 hastity only use sex for health and babies. have a good reputation. W

27 umility imitate esus and ocrates. W

28 NNG. Question: What good shall do this day? 5am - 5am 8am 8am 8am - 11am 8am NN. Noon - Noon 2pm 2pm - 2pm 6pm Get up, shower, and Get greet up, Powerful Goodness! shower, Plan the day. and greet Pick a esolution Powerful for the day. Goodness! tudy, and breakfast. Work. ead, pay bills, eat. Work. EVENNG. Question: What good have done today? Put stuff away. Eat. ang out, kick back. 6pm - Put stuff 10pm 6pm away. 10pm Eat. hink about my day. ill in the dots! NG. 10pm - 10pm 5am leep.

29 "Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. er ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." olomon 3:16-17 on wisdom or virtue Never suffer sleep to close thy eyelids, after thy going to bed, ill thou hast examined by thy reason all thy actions of the day. Wherein have done amiss? What ha ve done? What have omitted that ought to have done? f in this examination thou find that thou hast done amiss, reprimand thyself severely for it; And if thou hast done any good, rejoice. Pythagoras, Golden Verses

30 But also had trouble just keeping stuff organized. never had to be too organized growing up because have a pretty good memory and could always find stuff even if it was messy. o never really thought about how much better things would work if they were organized. t was so hard for me to try to get the habit of rder! would only make a little progress, and then slide back and get messy again all the time. seriously almost gave up. 'd make excuses like, h well, it's ok, 'll just have one fault. Perfect would be too perfect! t's better to have a couple problems. r Well if 'm too perfect then people will hate me. r, t's not fair to my friends if 'm too perfect. o tell you the truth, was really horrible at rder! Now 'm 79, and my memory is not as good, and wish had tried harder on that one. verall though, the result was, of course, never became perfect even though started out thinking could make it. a! Nowhere near perfect. But 'm definitely happier, and a better man than would have been if didn't even try. did get pretty good at most of the virtues. As an experiment it was a great success. definitely recommend it, and hope my kids will do it. 'm really glad did it. 'm so glad. hanks to emperance 'm still strong and healthy. oward oral Perfection Now that 'm sort of old, and have had some success in my life, a friend of mine suggested that explain how was able to achieve as much as have. Well to start with, always read as much as possible. read anything can find and don't party too much. must say, did sow my wild oats, but thank Goodness it didn't become a way of life. Anyway, always liked reading. But it really started when decided seriously to try to become perfect. wanted to be perfect. And figured could do it. Yup. knew it might be hard to get there, but if possible, wanted to live without ever doing anything wrong. All over the world the old books and old people say mostly the same things. t seems to me that whenthey say something is bad (lying, cheating, stealing, etc.) they re really saying that according to experience, it's proved after thousands of generations, that you will be happier if you do the right things, and don't do the wrong things. r to put it another way, if God made us then he wants us to be happy. o he would definitely set it up so that if we just do what is right, and don't do anything wrong, then we would be happy. o if already know how to be happy, should try to be as happy as possible. t just seemed kind of obvious. he opposite of all these things are bad habits. o my plan was to make each one into my good habit. But there's no way could do them all at once because it takes time and energy to make a new habit. o planned to do them one at a time, and once had one down, then work on the next one, one by one, until had them all. f course, getting certain habits would help with getting certain other ones. o spent a while thinking about the most strategic order to do them in, and finally decided on the order, above. put emperance first, because it helped me think clearly, which is important if always have to keep my guard up against old bad habits and just plain old temptation. nce had emperance, ilence would be easier. Like said, always like reading and learning, and ilence is good for that. thought might as well learn and read at the same time am trying this project of becoming perfect. Plus, was getting into the habit of joking around all the time, being pointlessly clever, and talking about fun silly stuff, and noticed that that just made me hang out with silly people. o that's why put ilence second. y plan was that the combination of rder and ilence would give me more time to concentrate on my project and to study. had to make esolution one of the first ones too, since it obviously would help keep me from giving up on any of the following virtues, or even the whole project! rugality and ndustry, next, would get me out of debt and hopefully help me make some decent money so that incerity and ustice would be easier. Etc. o made a little 13-page calendar book to keep with me and help with my self-examination. Each page had a different virtue listed at the top, along with the little description. hen on every page listed all 13 virtues, and made a column for each day of the week. o whatever page was on, that's the thing would concentrate on for the week. f failed in that habit then 'd pencil a little black dot in the box for whatever day it was. also kept track of the other 12 virtues and put dots in when messed up on those, but the goal for that week was to have a whole clean row for the virtue page was on. hen the next week would concentrate on the next virtue because 'd already be a little better at the previous one. o a course would take 13 weeks. And could do about 4 courses in a year. opefully after a while, would be able to finish a whole 13-week course with no dots, which would prove that was getting near my goal of being perfect. emperance. enjoy food but m not a hog. ll have a drink but won t get drunk. W he Art of Virtue - NE - hanks to ndustry and rugality, made some decent money pretty early in life, which made it easier and easier as lived on, and got a good reputation as a good citizen. think because of those two things, got to hang out with smart and powerful people. hanks to incerity and ustice, made it as a politician and ambassador. And thanks to the combination of all 13, at least as much as had, was cool and confident. People asked me for advice. Even younger people liked talking to me, which is pretty cool since they don't usually like hanging out with old dudes. By the way, notice that there is no religion in the plan! did that on purpose because believed in the plan so much, wanted it to be usable by anyone in any religion. was also going to publish it. planned to write a little comment about the advantages of each of the virtues, and the dangers of having the opposite habit. was going to call it he Art f Virtue because it basically shows you how to become virtuous instead of just telling you to be good (like a lot of preachers). never got around to publishing it, but remember a couple of the main points wanted to put in. ne is, like said before, that doing a bad thing is not bad just because old books say not to do it. t's that old books say not to do it because it's already proved that it will hurt either you or someone else.

31 " Powerful Goodness! Bountiful ather! erciful Guide! ncrease in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. trengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me." "ather of light and life, thou Good upreme! teach me what is good; teach me hyself! ave me from folly, vanity, and vice, rom every low pursuit; and fill my soul With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure; acred, substantial, never-fading bliss! Basically hirteen Virtues umility. imitate esus and ocrates. about other people. rder. keep things straightened up and schedule my time. esolution. do what say will do. rugality. don't spend money on anything unless it does some good. don't waste anything. ndustry. don't waste time. only do things that are useful. incerity. don't lie. think the best about people, but if have to speak my mind for their benefit, then better do it. ustice. don't lie, cheat, or steal, and always do my part. oderation. f am hurt, even intentionally, don t overreact. leanliness. have a clean body, clean clothes, and a clean house. ranquility. don't worry about small stuff, or things can't control. hastity. only use sex for health and babies. have a good reputation. ilence. don't gossip or say anything bad 'll have a drink but won't get drunk. emperance. enjoy food but 'm not a hog usually did things that were wrong because like them so much, or because everyone else was doing it. But figure since always pretty much knew when did something wrong, no reason why couldn't simply do the right thing instead! Well it turned out to be harder than thought. could guard against a bad habit, but only if paid attention all the time. And if paid attention to one habit all the time, 'd screw up on a different bad habit! Another problem, even though would try really hard, sometimes the temptation was too much and 'd simply fail, even though was trying hard. found that just because thought could always choose the right thing, and then try really hard to do it, it didn't mean would always be successful. o it seemed like the secret was habits. 'd have to break bad habits and make them into good habits. After that, then could try to see how close could get to being perfect. o thought up a plan. read a lot of different stuff growing up and ran into a lot of different lists and lectures and sermons of what's good and bad. ome were short and general, and some were long and specific. or my project made a list of all the good habits could think of, from all the stuff read, and threw out the duplicates. kept them specific enough to be clear with just a short phrase attached, and it boiled down to 13: knew 'd have to work at it and think about it every single day, so put some quotes in the front of the book to remind me why 'm doing this, what great footsteps 'm following, and sort of keep me on track. And since God likes wisdom, figured he would be happy to help me in my project, so put 2 little prayers in there too. f course to get rder had to have a schedule, so designed a schedule and also put that in. Well, after set up this plan, went for it! ( took a break once in a while.) And was surprised; once started paying attention, had more faults than thought! But, did notice them becoming less, which is a very satisfying feeling. After a while only did one course a year, and then got so busy with stuff only did the course every few years. Eventually had so much going on, business, traveling, projects, etc., didn't even do it anymore, but always had my little book on me. or me, rder was the toughest. t might not be so hard if was a lumberjack and could make my own schedule, but when have to deal with other people and make my schedule around them, it's a lot harder. o if you want to be happy, which everyone does, then everyone in the world should try to be virtuous, because happiness will be the result. was also going to stress to young people that there's a lot of rich and powerful people in the world, and all of them need honest smart people to manage their businesses and projects, and honest smart people are rare, so Nothing so likely to make a man's fortune as virtue. riginally, only had 12 virtues. But a friend of mine let me know that most people thought was sort of conceited and said it was obvious when was talking to people because wasn't satisfied just being right but always had to rub it in. (And he proved it by giving me a few examples!) decided was going to cure that. o th added umility as the 13 virtue. o tell you the truth, 'm not sure was able to get much real umility, but did make it look like did. just made a strict rule for myself to never directly go against anyone's idea, and never insist 'm so right. n fact, made sure never used absolute words like certainly, undoubtedly, etc., and instead said, think, believe, or imagine or at the moment it seems to me. Even if somebody was totally, provably wrong, didn't let myself jump on them. 'd just start saying that in certain cases or circumstances yes, definitely, you'd be right, but in this case it seems to me there's a difference. t was about this time conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection... An excerpt from hapter 6 of he Autobiography of Ben ranklin Paraphrased, prepared, and printed in the Philippine slands by Glen Norris, 2005 glen@secretidea.com "ere will hold. f there's a power above us (And that there is all nature cries aloud hro' all her works), e must delight in virtue; And that which he delights in must be happy." from Addison's ato " vitae Philosophia dux! virtutum indagatrix expultrixque vitiorum! Unus dies, bene et ex praeceptis tuis actus, peccanti immortalitati est anteponendus." icero After started doing this definitely noticed a difference. t was a big advantage. Not only did conversations go better, but my ideas got accepted more because people weren't so eager to prove me wrong. And in an argument, if was right, it was easier to get the other guy to admit it and come on my side. t was tough to convert my speech to this habit, but did get good success with that. bet no one has heard me say anything insulting for 50 years. think this habit, added on top of my integrity (gained from getting better at the virtues) is the main thing that helped me get my plans and proposals past people and committees. And when had to present them by giving a speech, even though 'm not good at speeches, usually got my points across pretty convincingly. n my opinion, umility is probably the hardest virtue to get, because no matter how much you beat down your pride, it's still alive, so it peeks out once in a while. or example, you probably see it in this writing! mean, even if totally became 100% humble 'd be proud of that. Ben

32 umility imitate esus and ocrates. W ndustry don't waste time. only do things that are useful. W oderation f am hurt, even intentionally, don t overreact. W ilence don't gossip or say anything bad about other people. W rugality don't spend money on anything unless it does some good. don't waste anything. W - NE - leanliness have a clean body, clean clothes, and a clean house. W

33 ranquility don t worry about small stuff, or things can t control. ustice don't lie, cheat, or steal, and always do my part. incerity don't lie. think the best about people, but if have to speak my mind for their benefit, then better do it. hastity only use sex for health and babies. have a good reputation. W W W W NNG. Question: What good shall do this day? 5am - 5am 8am 8am 8am - 11am 8am NN. Noon - EVENNG. Question: What good have done today? Noon 2pm 2pm - 2pm 6pm NG. 10pm - Get greetup, Powerful Goodness! shower, Plan the day. and greet Pick a esolution Powerful for the day. Goodness! 6pm - Put stuff 10pm 6pm away. 10pm Eat. 10pm 5am Get up, shower, and tudy, and breakfast. Work. ead, pay bills, eat. Work. Put stuff away. Eat. ang out, kick back. hink about my day. ill in the dots! leep. esolution do what say will do. W rder keep things straightened up and schedule my time. W "Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. er ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." olomon 3:16-17 on wisdom or virtue Never suffer sleep to close thy eyelids, after thy going to bed, ill thou hast examined by thy reason all thy actions of the day. Wherein have done amiss? What have done? What have omitted that ought to have done? f in this examination thou find that thou hast done amiss, reprimand thyself severely for it; And if thou hast done any good, rejoice. Pythagoras, Golden Verses