In Praise of Virtue

“The Soul Qualities That Make Man Godlike
The Blessed Lord said:
1
Fearlessness, purity of heart, perseverance in acquiring wisdom and in practicing yoga, charity, subjugation of the senses, performance of holy rites, study of the scriptures, self-discipline, straightforwardness;
2
Noninjury, truthfulness, freedom from wrath, renunciation, peacefulness, nonslanderousness, compassion for all creatures, absence of greed, gentleness, modesty, lack of restlessness;
3
Radiance of character, forgiveness, patience, cleanness, freedom from hate, absence of conceit—these qualities are the wealth of a divinely inclined person.”

From: Paramahansa Yogananda. The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita, ch. 16.

Chapter 16 of the Gita continues:

4
Vainglorious pride, arrogance, conceit, wrath, harshness, and ignorance mark the man who is born with the demonic nature.
5
The divine qualities bestow liberation; the demonic qualities lead to bondage. Fear not, O Pandava (Arjuna)! thou art endowed with the divine traits.
6
Two types of men exist in this world: the divine and the demonic. I have told you fully about the divine qualities; now hear about the demonic.
7
The demonic know not the right path of action or when to refrain from action. They lack purity and truth and proper conduct.
8
They say: “The world has no moral foundation, no abiding truth, no God or Ruler; produced not by a systematic causal order, its sole purpose is lustful desire—what else?”
9
With their feeble intellects, such ruined men cling to their erroneous beliefs and commit many atrocities. They are enemies of the world, bent on its destruction.

Excerpt From: Paramahansa Yogananda. Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita

Sometimes thoughts are cut off, and sometimes they do the cutting off. Evil thoughts cut off good thoughts, and in turn are cut off by good thoughts. The Holy Spirit therefore notes to which thought we give priority and condemns or approves us accordingly.

There is scarcely any other virtue which the demons fear as much as gentleness. Moses possessed this virtue, for he was called 'very gentle, above all men' (Num. 12:3). And David showed that it makes men worthy to be remembered by God when he said: 'Lord, remember David and all his gentleness' (Ps. 132:1.LXX). And the Savior Himself also enjoined us to imitate Him in His gentleness, saying: 'Learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart: and you will find rest for your souls' (Matt. 11:29).

Evagrius Ponticus (d. 399)

A good and devout man arranges in his mind the things he has to do, not according to the whims of evil inclination but according to the dictates of right reason. Who is forced to struggle more than he who tries to master himself? This ought to be our purpose, then: to conquer self, to become stronger each day, to advance in virtue.

Every perfection in this life has some imperfection mixed with it and no learning of ours is without some darkness. Humble knowledge of self is a surer path to God than the ardent pursuit of learning. Not that learning is to be considered evil, or knowledge, which is good in itself and so ordained by God; but a clean conscience and virtuous life ought always to be preferred. Many often err and accomplish little or nothing because they try to become learned rather than to live well.

If men used as much care in uprooting vices and implanting virtues as they do in discussing problems, there would not be so much evil and scandal in the world, or such laxity in religious organizations.

Imitation of Christ, Croft-Bolton translation

“Now among the first principles of reality, the Good transcends beauty and the beautiful lies superior to justice. The first is established in inaccessible heights above the intelligibles, whereas the second is situated secretly among the first intelligibles and more evidently is at the lower limit of that order; the third appears unitarily in the most primary rank of intellectual beings, and assumes secondary manifestations at the end of the intellectual procession of the Gods. Again the Good is on the level of the Gods, the beautiful on the level of intellect, the just on the level of souls.”

“So where the just is, there also is the beautiful, and where the beautiful, there also is the good, whether you want to consider the most primary principles, or their irradiations as far as the lowest levels. All things enjoy the good (since it is the principle of all things), but only those things enjoy the beautiful which partake of form, only those things enjoy the just which partake of soul. But at least in the midmost centre of all beings, such as the soul is, all these are united to one another, the good, the beautiful, the just . . .”

Proclus, Commentary on the Alcibiades, 320-21

All persons can change and improve their life through keeping good company and
exercising their innate power of self-control, and through meditation on God, the Source of their being.
Even a little taste of goodness will stimulate one’s spiritual appetite for the Everlasting Sweetness.

Swami Yogananda

Russell Kirk article asks "Virtue: be Can It be Taught?"

Kirk Essay “Virtue: Can It Be Taught?”

"Whenever a person raises himself through good
deeds, through a higher stirring of his yearning for godliness,
for wisdom, justice, beauty and equity, he perfects thereby
the spiritual disposition of all existence. All people become
better in their inwardness through the ascendency of the good
in any one of them. . . . Such virtue in any one person is due
to spread among the general populace, to stir each one, according
to his capacity, toward merit, and thus all existence
thereby becomes ennobled and more exalted."

Rabbi A.I. Kook (d. 1935)

"A bodhisattva maintains a mind of great compassion toward those who are evil."

Nagarjuna

Supernal repentance, which comes from great love and clear understanding, raises the content of all learning to a degree of fecundity and effusion that cannot be found in any learning in and of itself.

Rav Kook, Orot Hatorah 6:3

We are not alone in our suspicions that this restless spirit of frenetic intemperance has long been at work gnawing at the bowels of Western economy.

So clearly does it appear that many have observed the effects of this mysterious drive and tried to
identify it. Pius XI associates it with the force of “disordered passions.”[2] Still others, like Max Weber, refer to activities of an “irrational and speculative character.”[3] Sociologist Robert Nisbet complains of a
“mental feverishness,”[4] while on the other end of the spectrum economist Robert Heilbroner speaks of a “restless and insatiable drive.”[5] Hyman Minsky refers to an “inherent and inescapable” instability.[6]
These are a few of many who have all sought to label this force without naming its cause.
We contend that the cause of this terrible force does have a name: it is called Revolution.[7]
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“[2] Pius XI, encyclical Quadragesimo Anno (1931) in The Papal Encyclicals ed. Claudia Carlen (Raleigh, N.C.: McGrath, 1981), vol. 3, p. 436, no. 132.

[3] Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958), 20-21.

[4] Robert A. Nisbet, Twilight of Authority (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000), 90.

[5] Robert Heilbroner, The Nature and Logic of Capitalism (New York: W. W. Norton, 1985), 42.

[6] Hyman P. Minsky, Stabilizing an Unstable Economy (New York: McGraw Hill Companies, 2008), 134.

[7] See Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Revolution and Counter-Revolution, 3rd ed. (York, Pa.: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, 1993).”

Excerpt From: John Horvat. Return to Order

"Whene’er a noble deed is wrought
Whene’er is spoken a noble thought
Our hearts, in glad surprise,
To higher levels rise.

The tidal wave of deeper souls
Into our inmost being rolls,
And lifts us unawares
Out of all meaner cares.

Honor to those whose words or deeds
Thus help us in our daily needs,
And by their overflow
Raise us from what is low!"

Longfellow

Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs. All individual natures stand in a scale, according to the purity of this element in them. The will of the pure runs down from them into other natures, as water runs down from a higher into a lower vessel; this natural force is no more to be withstood than any other natural force. A healthy soul stands united with the Just and the True, as the magnet arranges itself with the pole, so that he stands to all beholders like a transparent object betwixt them and the sun, and whoso journeys towards the sun, journeys towards that person.

Emerson