1.4.5 – Luxuria, Castitas, and Prudence

O simple ones, learn prudence;
O foolish men, pay attention.
I, wisdom, dwell in prudence,
and I find knowledge and discretion.
…
The wise of heart is called a man of discernment,
and pleasant speech increases persuasiveness.
Wisdom is a fountain of life to him who has it,
but folly is the chastisement of fools.
The mind of the wise makes his speech judicious,
and adds persuasiveness to his lips.
– Proverbs 8:5, 12 and Proverbs 16:21-23

Prudence Renders Wisdom

What did we learn this week?

I learned a lot, least of which neither being the close relationship between prudence and the other cardinal virtues nor the difficulty in writing research posts over a holiday week spent with family. (Pro tip: working when staying in a hotel is easier than when staying on site. Also, TIL: my Dad is still learning because he doesn’t know everything. … Yup, stunned silence – that shocked me, too.)

Returning to the topic at hand, we discussed lust, chastity, and prudence.

Lust is unbridled desire. It’s a deadly sin because lust is necessarily excessive, harming people and our relationships both with people and with God when we surrender to it. Desire itself is good and natural, but anything in excess is necessarily bad.

Chastity is for all stages of life. Why? Because it adapts to our stage in life: single persons are chaste if they refrain from sex entirely whereas married persons are chaste if they are faithful to their spouses both by not having extramarital sex as well as having marital sex. Chastity fends off lust by recognizing the respect due ourselves and others and holding on to hope.

Prudence is forethinking, reasoning the best course of action based on goals. It requires knowledge of what we want in the long term and assessing the best routes to achieve those priorities. Prudence is the charioteer of the virtues because it enables us to make the right decision regardless of which sin we’re dealing with.

Wisdom Renders Prudence

It’s a feedforward cycle. Parallel to the one referenced earlier when discussing hope, prudence renders wisdom, and that wisdom in turn renders prudence. Each gives rise to the other, and using either strengthens its partner.

Partner?

Yes, the two are partners. Prudence is a tool that is best used when well equipped with the proper informtion. Given the right information, you can assess when it’s worth it to take a risk and when the dice aren’t in your favor and the payout isn’t good enough to chance it. The more wisdom one has, the more prudence one is able to exercise in determining the best decision.

Prudence is not the same thing as caution. Caution is a helpful strategy when you’re crossing a minefield; it’s a disaster when you’re in a gold rush. … Prudence is foresight and far-sightedness. It’s the ability to make immediate decisions on the basis of their longer-range effects.
– Randy Traeger

Prudence is weighing the scales and thoughtfully reasoning which way is best with respect to the long term goals. Simply taking the safest road isn’t always best, sometimes that’ll put you three days late for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but risks need to be calculated, it’s better to arrive three days late than not make it at all.

What Does Prudence Have to do with Chastity?

Remember my comment about prudence having a lot to do with the other virtues? In particular, it has a close relationship with temperance. Prudence especially is a tool I use with respect to fending off a number of different sins, including lust. When anything ever gets heated, I ask myself if I’m willing to deal with the consequences, particularly if a child results and the person I made that child with doesn’t want a kid. I’ve also pondered a metric I heard recently: only go so far as you’d want your future spouse to go. What would I want to tell my future spouse? What would I worry would be too far to speak?

Prudence guides the answer to these questions. For some, sex may seem to be nothing special. However, science says otherwise: sex bonds people together chemically, resulting in emotional attachment which grows with each session of intimacy. There’s a lot of data on the topic; check it out!

Chemically, sex builds and maintains a permanent bond. How many people other than your spouse do you want to have a permanent bond to? Do you want your spouse thinking about someone else when you’re together? These questions go back to the risk-benefit analysis: what you give up and what you stand to gain by waiting is part of the pre-decision assessment.

I wish I had died before I ever loved anyone but her.
– Ernest Hemmingway

Is it prudent to have sex with anyone other than one’s spouse? The data tends toward no, but given the nature of the question, it’s technically inconclusive. (Will we ever get straight answers about who is the favorite child? I totally win, for the record – but I’m waiting on the science to back it up.) As for me, I don’t enjoy gambling; I’d much rather stack the deck in my favor.

Prudence Recommends Chastity, and Chastity Counters Lust

That’s the run down: the cardinal virtue suggests the principal virtue which counters the deadly sin. Don’t die by sin; set goals and prudently search them out!

Prudence directs theoretical activity (whose end is truth) toward the investigation of certain truths; however, prudence cannot tell theory what to find.
– Cambridge dictionary

Pro tip: when driving, look a fair distance up the road, specifically into the lane you’re driving in. Your eyes can see more beneath your target zone than above it – much more than most people realize – and having that spot to aim for helps you get there… just like in other real life scenarios.

Summary

Think ahead! Know what your aims are, and take care to reach them. Don’t let the short term trip you up; instead, know where you’re going and make decisions to help you get there.

What do you think? Have tips on prudence, chastity, or dealing with lust? Let me know in the comments!

He who keeps his mouth and his tongue
keeps himself out of trouble.
– Proverbs 21:23