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Home › Forum Online Discussion › Philosophy › thoughts on virtue
nothing new here, just something I wrote in an email to a friend but decided to post it for discussion.
By the idea of “virtue”, what I mean is a persons true emotional feeling, a pure virtue quality of integrity or wisdom or acceptance, not the victorian notion of being “virtuous”. On the same track, I think that “being good” is important most in the sense of someone being good to themselves, or being true to their innermost needs. This may seem selfish in the short run, but in a larger sense, if someone can truly complete their physical and spiritual life then all humanity will benefit from it in the long run, it will ripple out energetically like the waves from a stone dropping into a still pond.
There is never a clear cut rule for maintaining balance and harmony in the personal self and the collective human self, which is why if that is a goal for someone, their actions may sometimes seem amoral to others.
Nice summary of the confusing distinction made betweeen morality and virtue by the Taoists. They would also give virtue some ontological existence, i.e. having its own essence/jing, not mrerely appearing as a transitory emotion or feeling but a real substance that generates those feelings.
michael
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