I’m posting this in part as an introduction to some language that’s been rattling around in my head. I think it’s a useful distinction to make. I’ll be using it later. I probably wouldn’t have lost anyone, but it never hurts to be sure.
Watching Constantine a couple weekends ago, right before mid-semester craziness, I was forcibly reminded of one of my big criticisms of religion, or at least of the christian religion. So, in the catholic doctrine, suicide is an instant ticket to hell. Probably in alot of other judeochristian sects as well, but I’m only talking about the one I know well.
And, in fact, the catholic doctrine seems to be full of non-refundable tickets to hell. The 10 commandments are mostly about things one shouldn’t be doing, “thou shalt not” being the order of the day. Other than “honor thy father and thy mother” and “keep holy the sabbath” it’s all about bad stuff. 80% about avoidance. See also, I think it’s Leviticus, in general. No mixed fabrics, no seeding the kid in the milk of the mother or whatever. All sorts of thou shalt nots.
Interestingly, the stuff Jesus says in the gospels is more about how to respond to things, and treat people. Love your enemies, do good to those who hurt you. Turn the other cheek. Love your neighbor. He was actually a pretty damn bossy guy.
But there’s a distinct tonal constrast here. The first set is all about not doing, or what I’d call abstinent virtue. The second set is about appropriate responses, or what I’ll call reactive virtue. The final set is about moral imperatives, actions that one is supposed to take, which I’ll call active virtue. My dad actually wrote a paper in his seminarian days where he talked about the “thou shalt not” of the old testament v “the thou shalt” of the new testament. He says that he was writing something to the effect of “It is time to cast off the old testament morality of ‘thou shalt not’ and embrace the new testament morality of ‘thou shalt'”, and right at that moment an earthquake struck southern illinois, to which he reacted by running outside yelling apologies and repentence. =)
Humor value aside, I think he was really onto something there.
Applying this perspective to myself, I see myself as highest on abstinent virtues. Not so high as I used to be, but no murder, no worshipping false gods (I don’t worship real gods either, but that’s okay), nearly straight edge, vegan, low oil consumption, etc, etc. Sex is another story, but even there I’m pretty careful about what I do, and who I do it with. Clearly not careful enough, but so it goes.
In terms of reactive virtues, I mostly worry about overreaction (arguably avoiding overreaction is an abstinent virtue, but we’ll leave that aside for the moment). Eg, responding to verbal taunts with physical violence, etc, etc. And on that front, I’ll give myself a pretty good ranking as well. In terms of reactive virtue there’s also consoling the hurt, guiding the lost, helping little old ladies across the street, tutoring the calculus clueless, blah, blah, blah. Once again, I do pretty well there.
Then we get into what I like to call true active virtues, or generally taking the initiative to do good things. Calling one’s parents. Studying independently. Working on a problem without being told to. Entrepreneurial virtue. Creating value in the world. This is undoubtedly my weak point. Working out, hell, working in general, be it for money or self-improvement is not a strong suit. Selectively, but enthusiastically, responsive passivity is a major part of my character in terms of meaningful activity. I make few decisions. But I have all these goals. Hmmmm. Problem.
The further one goes in life, the less it seems to be about doing what others tell you, and the more it seems to be about not just figuring out what to do, but then going out & doing it. I could cite reasons why I’m the way I am until I’m blue in the face. Generally getting smacked down for taking the initiative, or receiving little reward for doing so, particularly in childhood. But where does that get me? Unless I use that idea as inspiration for a way to encourage myself to develop some more active virtues.
Discuss. =)
I learned in my religion class in college that the New Testament was to replace the Old Testament. Somewhere in there, Jesus plainly says (in all of the gospels—at least the important ones [snicker, snicker]) that his coming is the end of the vengeful “thou shalt not” and the beginning of the kingdom of Christ, where thou shalt love thy neighbor instead (…which could interestingly be at odds with “thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife).
So, yeah, that’s all I have to say. Basically, anyone believing in Christ should therefore treat the Old Testament as history only, and be living by the principles of Christ. He replaced the old covenant with God and brought about a new order. (There’s something in there about his sacrifice being the completion of the old covenent, blah blah blah, but I was never one for religion, so I just liked the fact that most of the Bible-Beating-Belters have it all fucked up.)
I have nothing against religion—I have everything against “organized” religion.
I vaguely recalled jesus saying that he came not to overturn the law of moses, but to complete it or something like that. I started searching the online gospels for the relevant quotes, then realized I didn’t care. =)
I think jesus also made a violent pronouncement or two, though I wouldn’t swear to that. I love how the people who like to shout “Jesus!” the loudest would much rather quote Paul than Jesus 😉
But… without Leviticus, how would we know what behavioral pecularities really chap the Lord’s backside? 😀