Consequent Ideas

The man who shuns and fears everything and stands up to nothing becomes a coward; the man who is afraid of nothing at all, but marches up to every danger becomes foolhardy. Similarly the man who indulges in pleasure and refrains from none becomes licentious; but if a man behaves like a boor and turns his back on every pleasure, he is a case of insensibility. Thus temperance and courage are destroyed by excess and deficiency and preserved by the mean.

– Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

Balance: The Name of the Game

Balance is key to bearing fruit. Too much rain and the roots rot, too little and the tree withers and dies. The same is true with almost everything else: courage (foolhardy to coward), pleasure (hedonist to killjoy), stress (lack of motivation to burn out), workouts (muscle atrophy to chronic fatigue), sleep (which has many of the same consequences on both sides of the spectrum of oversleeping to undersleeping).

I include the modifier “almost” because of one thing: love. Is there such a thing as too much love? Honest, legitimate, kind, true, steadfast love?

Notwithstanding, moderation is a key to living life well. But then we have the logistical question: what is too little or too much?

Where to Begin Finding the Zenith

For several centuries, … it was considered natural to experience pleasure when eating… [yet] essential to control one’s appetite and behaviour at the table, and to make meals a time for conviviality. Codifying table manners allowed for a managed fondness for food to be acceptable.

– Alimentarium

One of the reasons I enjoy this quote is because it explains the arena rather well, despite that it references the past in a way connoting that things are different now. I see little evidence of the connoted change; we’re certainly encouraged to enjoy our meals, but I can’t recall the last time it was acceptable, for example, to lick remnants of a meal off a plate at a restaurant. Taking a less extreme example, it’s not proper to eat extremely rapidly or with such flourish that it distracts other patrons. This is part of why some restaurants are adults only, despite the division the topic causes.

How do we know we’re in the right place with moderation?

Relationships

Many of us enjoy not only good food but sharing good food with good company. I prefer to not eat alone at restaurants because I feel like there’s something integral to the experience missing. Some people feel self-conscious about going out to eat alone; I don’t, I just don’t understand the point of it. There are exceptions (traveling, for example, or clearing your head may be greatly aided by a restaurant stop), but going to a restaurant just for the sake of going sounds to me like work.

Like many experiences, eating is best when accompanied by people we want to share our lives with. We pass the broccoli because we want to see the face someone makes when they try it blanched because they’ve only ever had it steamed. We break bread with friends because we want to share the experience with them.

Conviviality – the quality of being friendly and lively; friendliness.

– Oxford dictionary

One day, my Mom and I were off on a short road trip. I was in the driver’s seat, and she climbed in, talking as she was buckling. As I pulled out of the driveway, she victoriously held up two strawberry Pop-Tarts treats, perfectly toasted. Delighted, she bit into one hungrily and offered me the other. I politely declined, she attempted to politely insist, and I admitted to disliking strawberry flavoring. Her face fell: she’d been looking forward to sharing the experience with me. “It doesn’t taste that good anymore.”

If I’d known my refusal was going to cause that crestfallen experience, I’d’ve eaten it. Why? Because she turned from childlike giddiness to a host of negative emotions in under a second. Her excitement wasn’t over the pastry, rather, it was over sharing a pleasant experience with me.

This is good. This is right on target. We should look forward to pleasure not for our own sake, but for sharing the experience with others. Our focus should not be on the experience itself, but on the experience of those we’re with and on our growth with them.

Table Manners

This is a manifestation of the relationships discussion. Table manners are the result of people getting together to figure out a set of rules to encourage the fostering of relationships with people while also allowing us to enjoy our food. The basic principle is whether doing something will foster relationships with the others sharing your table or entice them to pull away.

For example, it’s impolite to speak while simultaneously chewing food. It’s better to wait until the morsel is swallowed, or, if small enough, tucked into the cheek. Why? Because the sound of chewing while talking can gross people out, as can the view of half-chewed food. Similarly, we may ask for something to be passed from the other end of the table to prevent the need to disturb another person’s personal space. It boils down to fostering our relationships with others by showing them consideration and kindness.

Tacking to Temperance

So how to we get there from here?

Again, it’s not about giving up pleasure entirely, but training ourselves to not be slaves to our passions. God wants us to experience pleasure, but He doesn’t want it to draw us away from Him. God gave pleasure to us in the first place; He wants it to bring us nearer to Him.

Jesus Provides an Example

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.

– Jesus in Matthew 11:18-19

This was part of our Gospel reading this morning. (Right on time.) The priest pointed out in the homily that Jesus was known for sitting down to eat with people: his first miracle was the wedding at Cana, fed thousands with five loaves and two fish (and then again with seven loaves), and even turned His Last Supper into an event to never be forgotten.

Jesus connects with His people with food. He was so well known for it that they called Him a glutton! Thankfully, we know better than those jealous of Him; He’s a perfect example for us, so connecting to people with food is good.

Now we can take the time to reflect:
Why is the Eucharist the perfect meal to share fellowship with God on Earth?

– Homily on the Solemnity of Saint Lucy (today)

Goldilocks Zone

So we know there’s too much, and we know there’s too little, but how do we know what’s just right?

Tacking.

It’s a sailing term used when you’re traveling against the wind. Basically, you have a target, but you have to go back and forth to reach it. While backwards in theory (in sailing, you know where you’re going but you have to use an indirect route to get there), it’s a great analogy. First, you go hard to starboard to find your best wind, then hard to port, and you work back from the two extremes.

In other words, once you’ve had one Thanksgiving meal where you ate so much you felt sick, you probably veered back and didn’t indulge quite so much the following year. It’s not that the food was any less delicious, but that you didn’t like the consequences. You found a boundary. Tack away.

Similarly, you’ve probably swung the other direction at some point. How long have you gone between meals before your stomach pitched a tantrum that left you doubled over? That’s also a not fun situation – another boundary. Tack back.

It can be the same with other things – personally going too far or not far enough – or we can accept guidance and not have to hit those railings ourselves. Regardless, we can get (back) on track wherever we are. Remember that you are loved, and let God help swing you back toward Him.

Summary

Gluttony is an extreme over-indulgence in something. There’s an extreme other end, never accepting pleasure, which is also dangerous. Temperance is in the middle there – our target – and allows us to enjoy ourselves by loving other people.

What do you think? What are your tips on fighting off gluttony, be it of food, shows, or other indulgences? How has temperance impacted you?

Temperance – abstinence from alcoholic drink; Middle English from Anglo-Norman French temperaunce, from Latin temperantia ‘moderation,’ from temperare ‘restrain.’

– Oxford dictionary

Look, look! We have a cardinal virtue with a name that looks like the name of the principal virtue! There is exactly one on the list, and we’re here. Jackpot! We can explore this concept a little deeper than we had a chance to yesterday.

I’m so tempted to use my beautiful stick figure Paint-ing painting from yesterday, but I’ll spare you the repetition.

Diving Into Temperance

Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable.

– Catechism of the Catholic Church

Temperance is a key ingredient in honor. Well, that’s an interesting way to put it. It’s true, though it’s not among the first connections I’d make. So why is temperance honorable?

Sometimes, what we want is good and noble and right. Sometimes. Other times, it may not be. And still other times, what we want is fine, but we may want it in a way or amount that isn’t proper.

Temperance means that we can control our appetites.

– Fr. Ben Bradshaw

Let’s take an example.

The Case of Pumpkin Delight

For Thanksgiving, we got together with friends for a potluck. My brother made a pumpkin roll (seen below). He invited my mother and I to have slices off the ends for breakfast because the ends make the confection appear unfinished. It still tastes wonderful, but the frosting and the folding doesn’t appear as aesthetically impressive with the ends on it.

Knowing that he was planning to bring this treat to share at the big Thanksgiving meal, I sliced off the end as little as possible while still removing the frosting dips and any other un-evenness. It was delicious. I wanted more but I didn’t have more because it is good to share yummy delights: I wanted others to be able to experience it as well. I tempered my want because I wanted others to experience that excitement of a bite of the treat. Sharing delight is a good, noble, and kind thing to do. But as great as sharing is in and of itself is, I wanted to share because I wanted our family and friends to share in this experience of delight.

Controlling our appetites can mean inviting others to share joy with us.

It is not a fault to feel pleasure in eating: for it is, generally speaking, impossible to eat without experiencing the delight which food naturally produces. But it is a defect to eat, like beasts, through the sole motive of sensual gratification, and without any reasonable object. Hence, the most delicious meats may be eaten without sin, if the motive be good and worthy of a rational creature; and, in taking the coarsest food through attachment to pleasure, there may be a fault.

Saint Alphonsus Liguori, The True Spouse of Jesus Christ, Or, The Nun Sanctified by the Virtues of Her State

Warmth of the Blaze

Here’s another example.

Waking up Thanksgiving day, the power lines were down and the electricity was out. The heating system doesn’t work without electricity, and we had no generator to pick up the slack. I rolled into the living room to find a fire going to keep the climate inside relatively temperate.

Wood is the fuel of the fire, and it generates heat by burning up. I noticed that the fire was getting low and fetched more logs. Opening up the screen, the whoosh of hot air greeted me wholesomely: it felt so good! (People had been in and out cleaning off vehicles and shoveling, so the temperature inside was around 50-55°F, or 10-13°C.) That gush of warmth was definitely welcome.

I did feel chilled, and I wanted more of the fire. I marveled at how much heat the screen blocked, but I still closed it after adding the logs. Cold though I may have been, I tempered the desire to put my toes right up close to the fire, or stick my hands in the fireplace to warm up. Why? Because there’s a good chance that if I stick my hands in the fire, I’m going to get burned literally.

That was temperance. I stilled my inner desire to basically jump into the fire. I controlled that appetite because I didn’t want to deal with the consequences of burning myself.

Moderation is the key of lasting enjoyment.

– Hosea Ballou, Treatise on Atonement

Aside

Bless the workers who went out to repair all the lines on Thanksgiving day! Those conditions were awful, it was no doubt dangerous, and they were giving up family time to help us stay warm. God bless them for all that they do!

Summary

Temperance is our ability to control ourselves regardless of emotions or hormones or any desires. Temperance helps us fend off our most ignoble desires and decide to be whom we are called to be, our best version of ourselves.

What do you think? What does temperance mean to you? Does temperance bring to mind quelling a stomach’s demand for food, or a certain activity, or alcohol? (The tee-totaling definition threw me for a loop; is that a common usage of the term now?) Let me know in the comments!

Temperantia – restraint; temperance, temperature; moderation; self-control

– WordHippo

Between my flaky internet connection and my exhaustion, this is going to be a relatively short post. Thankfully, this virtue is easily understood once its vice is in hand.

So What is Restraint?

Restraint – a measure or condition that keeps someone or something under control or within limits; the action of keeping someone or something under control; unemotional, dispassionate, or moderate behavior; self-control

– Oxford dictionary (emphasis added)

So, simply, it’s not going bonkers. Why not? Isn’t going a little crazy fun?

But that’s just it: going a little crazy can be fun, but going a lot crazy isn’t. At all. And it’s likely to have consequences that are very far from the realm of fundom.

Let’s Break This Down

The fundamental division in the soul or psyche is at the root of our need for moderation.

– Harry Clor, On Moderation: Defending an Ancient Virtue in a Modern World

Let’s take an example, shall we? (We shall.) Water is essential to all life as we know it. Humans are recommended to drink water above any other beverage, and going without water for an extended period of time can prove lethal. (Estimate three days of zero consumption until fatal dehydration.)

But that doesn’t mean you should go try to drink an entire lake. The body can only process so much water. Drinking too much results in hypoatremia, also known as water poisoning, water intoxication, or, as most of us would say in a fatal case, drowning. (Keep your consumption under a liter per hour to stay on the safe side.)

So we can’t just quit water, but we can definitely go overboard, too.

Too Little, Too Much, Then Goldilocks

Our outer boundaries are basically to not die, but we can do better than that. So, as for water, it’s best to aim to drink a cup or two (8-16 ounces) per hour: that’s well within our bounds and is generally associated with good health.

But what about other stuff? How do I know when it’s too much or too little?

There are no hard and fast rules. The question you have to ask yourself – and honestly answer – is whether your relationship with that thing – food, exercise, the new board game parlor on Elm street, or whatever – is negatively impacting your life. It’s the same mental inquiry used for checking for addiction: is your relationship with this thing hurting you?

Every time we give of ourselves in some way, we necessarily can’t give ourselves that same way. Think of experiencing time: when you spend a moment doing something, you can’t spend that same moment doing something else. There’s no way to get that moment back. (So why waste a moment on a whine when you could instead use it for a laugh?)

But sometimes these moments are well spent. For example, how many hours does America spend traveling for Thanksgiving festivities? A lot. I spent days (about 33 hours) on travel time this year just getting to and from regions. That doesn’t include going to any events upon arrival, just my town to the target town and back on either side of visitations.

And yet I wouldn’t trade any of it. The five days with my brother, his wife, and my niece? Priceless. Worth every headache. Worth the middle seat on the plane both directions. It balanced out.

And that’s the trick: balance.

So What are We to Do About Gluttony?

The rule of fasting is this: to remain in God with mind and heart, relinquishing all else, cutting off all pandering to self, in the spiritual as well as in the physical sense. We must do everything for the glory of God and for the good of our neighbor, bearing willingly and with love the labours of the fast and privations in food, sleep, and relaxation, and foregoing the solace of other people’s company. All these privations should be moderate so as not to attract attention and not to deprive us of strength to fulfill the rule of prayer.

– Theophan the Recluse, The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology

We are called to cling to love. Love may make demands on us for ourselves or for others, and we should respond lovingly to those demands. Enjoy whatever it is that suits your fancy – so long as it isn’t hindering your ability to love yourself or others.

Summary

Temperantia isn’t about giving something up entirely; it’s the notion of balance in our lives. Just as there can be too much of something, there can also be too little of it. We neither want to drown nor die from dehydration, but rather, we want to flourish by indulging the right amount in water.

What do you think? Do you have any tips on moderation? Let us know in the comments!

Song of the Day

• Run Devil Run by Crowder
  This dose of “caffeine for your ears” helped me to get through tonight. (It’s been a long few days.) It’s a fun little ditty, definitely worth a 3minute-and-45second listen!

Gula – gluttony; throat; appetite; gullet; palate; engorgement

– WordHippo

Well that certainly sets the stage, doesn’t it? The Latin gula covers everything we think of when we traditionally think of gluttony and then some. (Of course there’s more to it than we immediately think of; this is life, mind you!)

So what exactly does it mean?

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An Aside: It’s Complicated – Gluttony, That Is

In my research, I’m finding that I’m not the only person confused by gluttony. (Thank you, God!) Some sources seem to conflict, and at least one appears to self-conflict, so sorting through this stuff is interesting to say the least. Given the nature of the contradictions, I’ll use the always-reliable sources sources – the Bible, the Catechism, Saint Thomas Aquinas – and sources that neither conflict with these nor with themselves (nor muddy the waters). I’m sifting, but please forgive me if I miss a mark, and if you spot something, please help me out by letting me know what’s off base; I’m trying to better my understanding.

(I literally ex-nayed a source because it said to not add salt, butter, “or anything that enhances the flavor of food.” And then, if you get light-headed because you skip lunch, “tell yourself that you will be eating again” later. Are you kidding me? If I get light headed, the next stop tends to be dizziness, and I’m not driving home from work with my head spinning because that’s dangerous. Don’t hurt anyone – yourself or others – because an ill-planned thought would rather have you endangering lives than to be tempting gluttony. More on this tomorrow.)

Anyway, here’s to God making my efforts worth something!

Gula = Gluttony

Why is Gluttony so Confusing?

Gluttony – habitual greed or excess in eating

– Oxford dictionary

This seems simple enough… except that many standard definitions are preoccupied with food. Gluttony is much more akin to greed than these definitions recognize because it’s not specific to food. I rather struggle with the idea of separating the two except for thoughts of Parker from Leverage: she’s firmly in the greed realm because she wants money not for things, not to use it to get other stuff, but rather like a collection that she insatiably wants to add more and more to. In contrast, someone with gluttony would use what they have to excess – either by buying stuff or by swimming in their fortune like Scrooge McDuck.

It’s easiest to dive into the gluttony topic with food, though, because that’s the way we understand it. So, let’s start there with the understanding that it’s a starting point, not the whole of the sin.

How long could we allow this beast
To gorge and guzzle, feed and feast
On everything he wanted to?
Great Scott! It simply wouldn’t do!
However long this pig might live,
We’re positive he’d never give
Even the smallest bit of fun
Or happiness to anyone.

– Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl shows his talent for simplifying making the topic accessible, identifying the crux of the issue for us: indulging such that it detracts from our relationships with others as well as with ourselves because the only thing that matters is the indulgence. Let’s return to our definition of sin.

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Review: What is Sin, Again?

Here are our working definitions:
– Theist: sin is intentionally acting against the will of God.
– Secular: sin is intentionally doing wrong.

– 1.0.2: What Is Sin?

Stress on “working definition;” I made these up as a baseline. It’s nice to know there’s a foundation for the base, though, so for those so inclined to more thorough explanation and explained thought, I’m also popping the Catechism’s definition here:

Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods.

– Catechism of the Catholic Church

Generally speaking, it’s sinful to do draw ourselves away from love – love of God, love of others, and love of ourselves. Yes, ourselves, too – and we may need to use tough love on ourselves by trying, trying again. Regardless of the form it takes, we are called to love, and anything that we allow to interfere with that is sinful.

So what does this have to do with gluttony?

What Makes Gluttony Sinful?

Gluttony turns us away from love of people by expending all of that love instead on stuff, often food. It’s not necessarily the love of, but the excessive interest in. It’s okay to enjoy or dislike your meal, but it shouldn’t be all-consuming either for or against the food. Food exists to nourish us, and we should use it as a tool to that end.

Gluttony is a disordered use of food and of the pleasure that eating and drinking gives us.

– Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC, When Does Eating Become Gluttony?

Think of it like a hammer. If you’re building something and you use a hammer, it’s nice to have a nice hammer: good, sturdy, a pliable grip on a firm handle. Maybe you can appreciate its balance, its beauty, and the tone it makes when it strikes the nail – or maybe it makes no difference to you to use a rock. Either way, it gets the job done, and once the job is done, you put the tool away for the next time you need it.

Hopefully you’re not obsessing about the hammer: is it trendy enough, pretty enough, the best available, something your friends will admire – or something they’ll judge you negatively for using. The question is whether or not it got the job done. Yes? Good. No? Put a new hammer on your Christmas wishlist for Santa and move on. Or maybe you have a hammer on your wishlist and like your friend’s, so you ask where you can get one. But the internal conversation ends here.

It’s the same with food: we shouldn’t spend unnecessary time or energy on obsessing over it. Maybe you enjoyed an experience; that’s great! Maybe you didn’t; it’s something to learn from, at least. The problem is the refusal to let it go. In common vernacular, we are called to live to eat, not to eat to live.

Again, this can go to the other extreme as well. Specifically, we can loathe food and the pleasure it brings. This can be for a number of reasons: our struggles with our relationships with food, or with others, or with ourselves, for example. If food has such a negative connotation that it preoccupies the mind, that, too, tends toward a form of gluttony.

It’s Not Just Food

Food is the most well-recognized offender of gluttony, but there are other venues as well. Gluttony is the excessive interest or indulgence in something, and that can take many forms. An example Father Mike Schmitz gives is with television.

Do you enjoy television? What are your favorite shows? Have you been sucked into anything lately? Maybe you discovered an awesome new series accidentally when taking a break from writing your term paper… and suddenly it’s been six hours and that term paper isn’t nearly as complete as the season you’re working through.

That’s gluttony. It’s the preoccupation with or indulgence in something that sucks you away from (tough) love of yourself, the work you have to do. That’s why many parents limit the screen time of their kids: to teach them to control just such urges (and improve overall health).

Habits that are generally recognized as healthy can also be avenues for gluttony, too. A solid workout each day is stellar, but if your workout routine starts taking over the rest of your life, it might be time to re-think it. An hour run in the morning, a long lunch for a gym break, and then a full evening on the machines may cross the line from overkill to gluttony depending on your mental state.

Does Gluttony Hurt Anyone?

Yes. First of all, it hurts you: this preoccupation with food – or other stuff – squanders your resources. It’s probably pretty unhealthy, too – even if it’s healthy. (Your muscles need rest, too.)

Second of all, it detracts from your relationships with others. Where would that energy go if instead of spending it on indulgence you spent it on loved ones? If you watched one fewer episode, who would you spend those forty-two minutes with? If you took back your nights from the extra workouts, which friends would you reconnect with? If you weren’t waiting on the restaurant to get that crème fraîche dessert perfect, how would you spend that half-hour with the person across the table?

Again, it’s not the thing itself that’s sinful, it’s the giving into its draw away from love.

For many… live as enemies of the cross of Christ: their end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

– Philippians 3:18-19

Summary

Gluttony is an inordinate or unhealthy interest in indulgence that detracts from our lives. Food is often cited, but it can come in many forms. We should enjoy things, but we cross the line into gluttony when something gets obsessive and damages our relationships with ourselves and others. Gluttony is the love of an indulgence more than the love of love.

Further Investigations

This section must be renamed! At least for today, “reading” doesn’t apply to everything: we have a video/podcast on the list. :-}

• Father Mike Schmitz: What is the Sin of Gluttony?
  Everything Father Mike does is gold; I highly recommend checking out his work with Ascension Presents or Bulldog Catholic. This is a six-minute video explaining gluttony simply yet in ways I’d never thought of, and his presentation style is fun and relatable. And addictive – it’s difficult to watch just one. (Also available on podcast with an extra 30 seconds – but you miss the epic “humph!” face about halfway through the video.)
• Alimentarium is a foundation dedicated to the history of the human relationship with food. It fittingly offers a fascinating article about gluttony, presenting a feast of information citing to sources throughout the ages, compiling it in a short and interesting read. It even leaves a sort of cliffhanger as we don’t know what tomorrow will bring! (And, of course, the cool name has a meaning, too: it’s taken from the system that makes food absorbable into the body.)

I have been young, and now am old;
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or His children begging bread.
He is ever giving liberally and lending,
and His children become a blessing.
Depart from evil, and do good;
so shall you abide for ever.
For the Lord loves justice;
He will not forsake his saints.
The righteous shall be preserved for ever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall possess the land,
and dwell upon it for ever.
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not slip.

– Psalm 37:25-31

I once heard that the Psalms are the most tear-soaked pages of the Bible. This wouldn’t surprise me in the least: the Psalms are the most approachable content in the Bible (meaning more people have probably read them) and the content is rawly relatable (in many of them, David is lamenting – expressing sorrow over both his sins and the situation they placed him in – which cradles the grief-stricken reader). Point being, if you’re looking for a place to non-committally dip your toes in the water with the Bible, the book of Psalms is your best bet.

With my ogling over King David’s writing out of the way, let’s begin.

Justice Calls Upon Humility

Fairness requires having and understanding all of the facts available. It also does well to understand that there are going to be missing pieces, however small, and that those missing pieces may form the metaphorical grain of rice that tips the scale.

In other words, we have to accept that even doing our very best, we might very well get the verdict very wrong.

Still, justice mandates that we try. We must try, and we must try to compensate for the information we don’t know. In order to do that, we need to accept that there is information we don’t know, and from there we can assess the best way to compensate for the shortfall. The process can only start when we have the humility to be honest about the situation so that we can properly address it.

Previous understandings of humility may still pose a stumbling block. In lieu of returning to the post on humility, here’s a summary: humility is recognizing that humans are both great and greatly flawed, none better than another, and each with amazing talents as well as shortfalls. It’s seeing reality in its proper perspective.

Humility means nothing other than complete honesty about yourself. A genuinely humble person will be able to see both good and bad, both virtues and faults, both gifts and failings in herself. Since God loves you anyway, there is no virtue in making yourself out to be better than you are – and none in making yourself out to be worse.

– L. William Countryman, Good News of Jesus

In short, we need humility to properly assess fairness. Without gauging whether or not we’re on the right track, we can’t know if we’re on any track at all. Stay grounded; it gives us the baseline to walk uprightly forward.

Humility Slays Pride

Pride is another sin of excess. (I’m sensing a theme here.) In proper amounts, confidence is a good thing. When we are properly confident in our abilities, we can use them to help others. However, if we claim confidence in our abilities but wrongly so, it can lead to ruin.

That’s where humility and justice come in.

Humility calls for an honest assessment of ourselves, and justice demands fairness in the assessment. Using these virtues as tools, we can accurately determine our skills – strengths and weaknesses alike – and figure out the best path forward. In figuring out the best path forward, we not only choose our path, but we also prepare ourselves for what we are going to face – making it more likely that we will succeed.

By Defeating Pride, Humility Aids Success

Simple example from daily life (which I only recognized because I stopped to look around for it, even though it has been visible for reflection for a few years at this point). Are you an artist? A budding artist? A totally non-artist willing to have fun with art?

With respect to visual art, I absolutely fall into that final category. (Reference: slayer picture above.) Now the fun question: have you ever done one of those painting classes?

I have. I’ve gone with friends a couple of times. They’re a lot of fun! I highly recommend them if you like to have fun and can be light-hearted about the experience.

The first time I went, for that first half-hour, I painstakingly attempted to copy the teacher verbatim, stroke for stroke, breath for breath. I wanted the picture to be perfect. After about half an hour, I noticed that I wasn’t having much fun, that I was practically ignoring my friends in my efforts, and that I was getting flustered and frustrated and was only a hair away from seriously upset.

We had only painted a few strokes, but because I follow directions well, I thought that meant I could paint it perfectly the first time. What an ego! And, as I mentioned, it got in the way of everything else.

I let go of perfection, and the rest of the event was fun, playful, and friend-filled.

I took the lesson to my second round. Good thing, too: we were painting Starry Night, and there’s no way I’m Van Gogh. I realized as we were getting our paints that I didn’t want to be: I wanted to use different colors. And to try something slightly different with the moon. And to include more blatantly what I saw in the original painting as a ship stuck on top of the mountain.

We not only had a lot of fun, but I enjoy the painting I walked away with. It’s not a Van Gogh; it was never really intended to be. Because I knew I couldn’t precisely copy the master, I took what he did, learned from it, and made it my own and to better suit my tastes. I still like the painting for both the memories and as well as the image itself. It still tickles me to see the ship on the top of the mountain and the beautiful orange swirls in the night.

Humility let me accept my skills and style and adapt them to make something worth smiling at while it hangs on the wall.

Some ask if swallowing your pride is conceding defeat. I don’t think so. Humility is a sign of inner strength and wisdom.

– Haemin Sunim, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down

Humility helped me to win on all fronts: great experience, playful time with friends, more fun with the painting itself, and a painting that I actually enjoy. (Meanwhile, the one I kept trying to get “perfect” is nowhere to be found.)

Know Thyself – Conquer Pride

Pride essentially breaks down into not knowing who we are in the grand scheme of things. We’re imperfect – that’s part of the nature of our humanity. Our imperfections are part of what make us beautiful. We are able to choose right or wrong, and every time we choose right is an enormous victory. Meanwhile, any time we choose wrong is an opportunity and prompting to lean on God because we were never meant to do this without Him.

Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.

– Aristotle, Politics

We are fallible, we are flawed – but we are also God’s beloved creation. There is balance in this truth. Humility helps us to know that we are but specks of sand in a desert compared to time, the absolute, and the Almighty. Simultaneously, there is no despair when we know God’s love for us.

Summary

Humility and justice travel hand-in-hand. Justice relies on humility to use correct data to arrive at an accurate result. Meanwhile, a rational perspective on an absolute scale – such as comparing oneself to Jesus during his years on Earth – has justice feeding into humility. Who are we, in all fairness, compared to the King of Kings?

Pride doesn’t stand a chance against humility and justice. When we’re honest with ourselves about our strengths and our weaknesses, we can properly assess a way forward and not get caught up in our own self-perceived grandiosity because, on a universal scale, we are dust. Talented, thoughtful dust, but dust nonetheless.

Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy each to his brother.

– Zechariah 7:9

Further Reading

• From Pride to Humility: A Biblical Perspective by Dr. Stuart Scott
• Father Casey wrote a great article that is both approachable and helps us reflect on our individual struggles with pride. Maybe you forgive easily but you gossip just as easily. This article explains the problem of pride backed with various Bible verses and gives a list of several questions we can use to help us identify our strengths and weaknesses with respect to pride. Home run!
• Derek Prince also investigated pride and humility in this article with a more theological angle. I shrunk the text to read it (because it automatically loads at about 150% the size of other pages), but it was worth the effort as it to read about the seven self-humblings and seven exaltations of Jesus.
• Psalm 37 – the chapter in full. It’s a quick read, and I find it uplifting on days I find myself stewing on the unfairness of the world.
• Interested in learning more about the Psalms? Among Swords_into_ploughshares many offerings is an in-depth analysis of the Psalms. It’s definitely worth a skim or a thorough readthrough if you are studying the Psalms in depth.

Αλλ’ η Δίκη γαρ και κατά σκότον βλέπει.
(The eye of Justice sees even in the dark.)

– Sophocles, Oedipus

What is Justice?

Justice – the condition of being morally correct or fair

– Cambridge dictionary

It’s pretty simple: justice is fairness, and doing justice is doing the right thing in the circumstances. Sometimes it’s easy to figure out what’s right, fair, and just, like finding the way home when there’s only one road and it’s a straight shot to a visible structure. Sometimes, though, the best you can do is just the next right thing. Even figuring that out can be difficult, but there are resources to help us get better at determining the next right thing.

Trying to do what is right is important, both for us individually and for society at large. Can you imagine a country running well if more people were in prison than were free? What would happen if we could no longer trust the judicial system? This is what would happen: the country would crumble.

A republic cannot succeed, till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.

– Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle

Justice is Absolute With Absolutely All of the Facts

In a lot of ways, justice is black-and-white: something is either just, or it’s not. However, we live in a pretty grey world; it can seem just to take a certain action one moment, but then more information comes in and that exact same action is clearly unjust and maybe even immoral.

For example, let’s say you’re in charge of a child who is outside playing. The kid comes inside and is covered in dirt and debris with grit under every fingernail. Generally, the reaction is to run some warm water, add bubbles, and scrub-a-dub-dub in the tub. That makes sense – unless that child is allergic to water. In that case, it would certainly be better to go the Elphaba route and wash with oils instead.

The same can be said for justice. Maybe we have a defendant who admits to being at the scene of the crime at the time of a murder, who was found holding the murder weapon, and who had a motive for wanting the victim dead. This scenario is as close to a slam dunk as most prosecutors can hope for! The jury is sent away to deliberate, everyone expecting to quickly move into sentencing, when someone bursts into the courtroom yelling at the defendant for trying to steal the glory for the kill. (Criminals aren’t generally known for their smarts.)

Justice in Everyday Life

Justice means that we appreciate and respect both God and other people, whether that’s honoring the Sabbath or honoring the dignity of the human person in all of its stages.

– Fr. Ben Bradshaw

Just like in court (probably even moreso), it’s not always easy to figure out what is right. However, there are a few guiding principles that can help us when we’re struggling with that question. It boils down to one big question: how can we respect everyone involved?

Ο αδικών του αδικουμένου κακοδαιμονέστερος.
(He who commits an act of injustice is in worse condition than he who suffers it.)

– Democritus

Justice and fairness is ultimately respecting the dignity of all persons involved and allowing them to accept the consequences of their actions. (Sidenote: consequences has a generally negative connotation, but the consequences of baking well are delicious baked goods – it can be positive or negative.) As a result, justice is not only fair, it is also loving: justice permits people to choose according to their will, to decide their own destiny rather than determine it for them.

In the same vein, we must also grant a quick mention to mercy: sometimes it is easier for all parties for mercy to be granted than for the full brunt force of justice to swing hard. Mercy deserves its own post, but it is worth mentioning here because sometimes mercy helps everyone involved to heal.

Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.

– Saint Thomas Aquinas

Summary

Justice is fairness, doing the right thing even though it may not be the popular thing. To properly know how to proceed justly, we must have all of the facts. It’s also important to consider mercy to respect the dignity of people because mercy itself is sometimes justified.

What do you think? How have you handled being the hand of justice? Have you struggled with justice, either that which you imposed or that which was imposed upon you? How do you work mercy into the equation? Let us know in the comments!

He has showed you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

– Micah 6:8

Further Reading

• Medical XPress discusses a fascinating study by Harvard University in its article The Impossibility of Immorality: Study Suggests the Brain Views Immoral Acts as if they are Impossible. The study report itself is entitled Morality Constrains the Default Representation of What is Possible.
• The Next Right Thing: A Simple, Soulful Practice for Making Life Decisions by Emily P. Freeman

Humilitas – humbleness; humility (Bee); lowness (position/rank); shortness; submissiveness

– Latin-Dictionary.net

Sidenote: Does anyone know what the “Bee” reference is up there next to humility? I couldn’t figure it out, so please let me know your thoughts on that annotation!

Other translations include humble, grounded, and “from the earth” as it is a derivative of the word humus which translates to earth, ground, or soil.

But What Does It Mean to Be Humble? What is Humility?

Humility – quality of having a modest or low view of one’s importance

– Lexico

The word “low” here carries with it a negative connotation, but it’s not meant that way. Rather, the intent is to demolish the pedestal one may put oneself on – the pedestal for better or worse effect – to gather a realistic picture. Modesty isn’t about demeaning the self but about recognizing the value of others.

Humility… centers on low self-preoccupation.

– Wikipedia

So humility isn’t about depreciating yourself or thinking that you’re not enough. Rather, it’s about knowing that others have value. Or, as one evangelical puts it:

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.

– Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life

How Is Humility Implemented?

The general notion is recognizing the inherent value in all humans regardless of who they are. Regardless of whether it’s one of the cool kids, someone you know in passing, or someone you prefer to avoid, every person inherently has dignity and should be treated with respect.

I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university.

Albert Einstein
As attributed by his colleague Leopold Infeld in Quest: and Autobiography

To reiterate, this means you, too. We are called to not only treat others with respect, but ourselves as well. We human beings, created in the image and likeness of God, are worthy of dignity. As a result, we are called to treat others and ourselves well.

What Humility Is Not

Humility is an outward expression of an appropriate inner, or self regard, and is contrasted with humiliation which is an imposition… of shame upon a person.

– Wikipedia

We are not called to humiliate anyone – ourselves included. God doesn’t want any of His beloved children living in shame – including you, your obnoxious coworker, or even your grade school bully. (Yeah, that’s right – even them!) Instead, humility is to recognize that we’re all on equal footing as people, that God loves all of us equally, and that God wants all of us to play kindly with each other and return to Him.

Short Story on Humility

New England (and most of the United States) was treated to a hefty snow storm the past few days. In some parts of the country, the getting-to part of Thanksgiving feasts was delayed; in my region, the returning-to-normalcy was delayed. And it’s the first snow of the season that we expect to stick!

I drove back from my visit a day and a half early, then hunkered down in my room for the next… erhm, approximately 50 hours. (I left in short spurts, basically restroom and kitchen runs.) Last night, I decided that I was going to wake up early to clean the driveway. And then, it hit me: I’ll clean off all of the cars! I’ll make life so much easier on my housemates!

We got eighteen inches of powder. I was in the driveway within fifteen minutes of waking up – just enough time to make tea for when I came back inside – and shoveling away. Shovel, shovel, shovel. It’s a great work out and, other than the bending, I was enjoying it thoroughly.

I finish the driveway and run in for some water – not tea as my workout demands I consume something cool – and hear someone clearly concerned: she needs help. Nothing major on my part, just time consuming – driving her to an appointment. I help out with that, then get back to shoveling, working on the path to the driveway and a space for house pups. Just as I remembered that I had another car to clean off, I straighten my back, and it rebels.

Oooooof.

Nothing else is happening without a shower. So I break for a shower and breakfast, but I’m physically exhausted, so as much as the shower helped my back, my body still wants nothing to do with moving. The last car isn’t happening.

I keep thinking that it’s happening, but it’s clearly not. And that car, it just so happens, belonged to the person I asked to help with the pick-up of the person I dropped off because the appointment ran much longer than expected. And even when I was frustrated at having to ask for help, I forgot. And even if I hadn’t, I physically wouldn’t have been able to: I’d spent myself on everything else without the forethought of cleaning off the cars is probably more important than making sure the dogs have room to roam.

My friend didn’t expect me to clean off her car for her, but I expected it of myself. So when she was telling me that she forgot to account for time to clean off her car, I felt my ears droop because I should have done that. I spent two solid hours shoveling, and instead of being content with what I was able to do, I was thinking I should have done more.

Why? I’m not a super hero. Why didn’t I set a more realistic expectation of what I should have been able to do? Probably a mix of enthusiasm, the desire for a lofty goal, and pride. Thankfully, unbeknownst to her, my friend put it back in perspective in the way she relayed the situation as part of a larger scene with several moving variables.

Regardless, I’d have saved myself from a fair bit of self-frustration if I’d had the humility to simply set a more manageable goal, or even just to plan out the order of the work flow so the critical parts would still be complete even if I had to stop early.

Summary

Humility is about recognizing the value of others, not by demeaning ourselves, but by seeing each one of us as creatures of the Divine Creator, a beloved child of God. We are all worth dignity and respect, and we should take the time to recognize the value of others.

[A humble man] will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

– C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

What do you think? How have you seen humility in yourself or others? Let us know in the comments!

Further Reading

• Humility: The Beauty of Holiness by Andrew Murray
  (The Kindle edition is free as of the time of this writing!)
• Confident Humility: Becoming Your Full Self Without Becoming Full of Yourself by Dan Kent
• Humility Rules: Saint Benedict’s Twelve-Step Guide to Genuine Self-Esteem by J. Augustine Wetta O.S.B.
• Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership by John Dickson

Superbia – pride; insolence; arrogance; haughtiness

– WordHippo

Pride is often considered the most dangerous of the deadly sins because it easily leads to any (or all) of the others. But what is it? Can we have good, fuzzy feelings about our accomplishments without being sinful?

What Constitutes the Deadly Sin of Pride?

Pride is the excessive love of one’s own excellence.

– New Advent

Just as we discussed earlier with respect to lust, pride is sinful when it’s in excess. Appreciating your own self-worth is fine, but it should be done in moderation and with due respect to the One who made you. You are extraordinarily valuable and loved; so is everyone else God created. Recognize your own worth, but keep it in check.

Most of us have met these people or those who won’t say it aloud but they make you feel like you’re lesser because they’re greater. Some people do mean it. Heuristically, however, I’ve found that eager confidence often comes off as hubris, so reminder: we should reflect on our own actions, or help friends understand how they come across if they ask, but it’s improper to condemn the actions of others because we don’t know their minds.

Pride: the Gateway Sin

Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.

– Proverbs 16:18

– Wait Up: If It’s the Worst Sin, Why’s It In the Middle?

Good question! Pride falls in the middle of this series because I ordered it based on the virtues, not on the sins. Oddly enough, the baddest sins aren’t directly tied to the goodest virtues. I hypothesize that this is because even the slightest virtue can handle the gravest depravity because virtue is with God – the same way it only takes the faith of a mustard seed to move mountains.

– How Does Hubris Lead to Destruction?

Pride is a gateway to the other sins. By thinking so much of ourselves, we may think ourselves invincible. In thinking that nothing can harm us, we may do things we shouldn’t do – like sin. It goes back to original sin entering the world in Genesis: Eve ate the apple because she thought she knew better than God.

– Line Drawn Between Hubris and Reason

We may think that we know what’s best for ourselves, better than our friends, our family, our wisest advisors, and even God Himself.

Sometimes we do know better than the advice offered; people know about different things based on the experiences they’ve had. For example, I have a dear friend whom I would delightedly take investment advice from as he’s an enthusiastic hobbyist who does rather well for himself; however, I probably wouldn’t ask for marriage advice as he’s not married. That’s not pride; that’s a reasoned assessment of skill.

A clear maneuver of pride would be dismissing his investment wisdom out of hand because I know better simply because I’m me. He’s done extensive research over years; I’ve read Little Book of Bull Moves circa 2010. The book was a great introduction, but it’s an introduction, and it’s almost a decade old. (This is quite dated for investment advice when considering milliseconds matter to the point one author wrote a novel about it.) Suffice to say, I’m no expert.

But if I’m all about myself and I can’t be wrong, that won’t matter. I could lose every penny I ever had investing poorly and it wouldn’t be my fault, it’d be the fault of the market, or bad luck, or malfeasance. If I’m proud, the problem can’t be me – perish the thought! – because I’m too awesome to make a mistake. But I lost so much! Someone must be to blame!

… And then anger sets in. And probably envy aimed at whomever got away with my money. And greed was likely in the mix when making the original decision.

Oh. Look: that’s easily three more deadly sins.

Is Self-Harm the Only Problem with Pride?

– No Room at the Inn

Unfortunately not.

Therein lies the problem, doesn’t it? We’re called to love God and to love His creation, but pride prevents us from doing just that because there’s no more room – because we don’t make space and time in our lives to love others. Pride is a problem because there’s no love left for God or neighbor.

This harkens back to our discussion on envy. God is a jealous god, and He wants our love both for Himself and for His creatures. Sinful pride prevents us from loving others, and loving others constitutes the first and second new commands Jesus gave to us (as recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

– Where is Pride in the Bible?

Pride prevents us from doing what we are called to do – to love God and love each other. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the Bible has a few choice things to say about the topic. Specifically, God calls us to cast off our pride and return to Him. Check it out:

God abases the proud,
but he saves the lowly.

– Job 22:29

Again:

Toward the scorners he is scornful,
but to the humble he shows favor.

– Proverbs 3:34

And again:

He gives more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

– James 4:6-7, 10

– Ray of Hope

If we accept that pride is a problem, how do we identify it in our own lives? If pride has been the way we’ve been operating for years, how can we even tell what it is? We can ask friends for help, but even they won’t know for certain.

Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down, below the surface of the average conscience, a still, small voice says to us, “Something is out of tune. ”

– Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss Analytical Psychologist

While others may be able to lend a helping hand to get you started, they can’t determine anything for you. Self-reflection and listening to your inner guiding tuning fork is the only (non-divine interventionist) way of figuring out if pride is getting in the way.

Summary

Pride is self-love excessive to the point of blocking others out. It isn’t being content with work we completed or being excited at executing a great performance; rather, pride is a problem when it hinders our lives, our relationships with others, and our obligations. Like anger, it can trigger other sins and set off a chain of events.

Have you had any run-ins with pride recently? How to you keep yourself in check, or reign yourself back in once you’ve realized you overstepped? Let me know in the comments!

Further Reading

• New Advent explains pride; the entry is both helpful, albeit rather difficult to read through (mostly for lack of paragraphing).
• Another, simpler resource is the Got Questions article about pride.