Virtue and Vice
Many years ago I was a self-centered, egotistical, judgmental know-it-all. Needless to say, I was not very well-liked or respected. I chalked this behavior off to: “This is just who I am; take it or leave it. It's not as if I can change or anything!”
It wasn't until I started reading self-improvement books in the mid-90s that I discovered that change is possible(see Inner-Genius post for details). I also realized that if I was just a little bit nicer, less arrogant, egotistical and judgmental, people would start to like and respect me a little bit more.
These realizations led to a relentless 10-year reading frenzy. During this time, I created a list of all the positive attributes that each author consistently mentioned, and then went through years of my notes and tabulated which ones showed up most often. Twelve of these attributes stood out head and shoulders above the rest, and I sensed that the term virtue was the best way to classify these sacred words. These virtues are understanding, honesty, humility, forgiveness, acceptance, patience, tolerance, gratitude, graciousness, benevolence, compassion and integrity.
Intentionally moving toward the light starts with the intention to practice and embody these virtues. When our behavior is virtuous, we are moving toward the light, and when our behavior is vice-centered, we are moving toward the dark. Virtues and vices exemplify either fear (dark) or love (light). It's important to recognize and acknowledge the physical sensations we experience when either the light or the dark present themselves. Notice that whenever love arises, the Soul feels nourished and the person feels light and at ease, and whenever fear arises, the Soul feels malnourished and the person feels dark and diseased.
The virtues and vices listed below are guideposts along the path. May we have the intention to embrace the virtues and the inner-joy that arises, but also give attention to the sorrow that ensues when we exhibit the vices.
Understanding: Wisdom, awareness, perspective and intuition; mindfulness; the ability to comprehend one's own and other's feelings, attitude and points of view; empathy.
-Obliviousness, Apathy
The embodiment of understanding develops through awareness and intuition. The evolution of consciousness starts with the understanding that spiritual maturity is possible. Understanding resides at the core of mindfulness. Attempting to evolve without understanding is like trying to drive a car without gas. Understanding enables us to shift from the emotional participant or experiencer of life to the emotionless witness-observer. And most importantly, understanding leads us back to the Divine realization that we are not a transitory person and that we are the eternal Soul.
Honesty: Truthfulness, sincerity and self-knowledge; communicating and acting authentically with oneself and others.
-Dishonesty, Inauthenticity
The practice of self-honesty is to fearlessly face our perceived inadequacies by tenaciously digging through our own rubble to uncover our innate perfection and completeness. Self-honesty reveals all of the obstacles that are obscuring our true worth, and these opinions, beliefs, preconceived notions and conditioned thoughts limit our spiritual maturity.
Humility: Freedom from false pride or arrogance; having an awareness of one's own shortcomings and others' strengths; exhibiting a modest, humble aura; belieflessness.
-Arrogance, False pride, Entitlement
The practice of humility is to intentionally travel down the path of belieflessness by surrendering all opinions, beliefs, preconceived notions and conditioned thoughts and starting with a blank slate. On this humble path of belieflessness, aversions and attractions no longer exist. Declarations of should have, must be, definitely, obviously, incontestably and certainly won’t be found here. Alternatively, speculations like seems to, might be, could have and possibly, depict the communication style of its travelers.
Humility is also the understanding that our Souls are no better or worse than any other Souls. We all possess a mosaic of attributes that make us different from one another, but not greater or less than.
Forgiveness: A letting go or releasing of resentments; the willingness to move beyond past events, perhaps to reconcile and restore.
-Accusation, Blame, Resentment
The practice of self-forgiveness helps to create the blank slate by lessening the burdens of guilt and remorse and dissolving self-inflicted grudges and harsh criticisms. Self-forgiveness unlocks the door and allows the essence of our wonderful Soul to shine forth. Once our goodness is brought into the light, the darkness of our negative energy is overshadowed. To forgive ourselves is the greatest gift that we can ever bestow.
Acceptance: Acknowledgement of the truth regarding a situation or condition; appreciation and validation of one's own and others' human personalities (even traits we may wish to change); letting go of resistance and denial; absolute cooperation with the inevitable.
-Denial, Resistance, Rejection
The embodiment of self-acceptance enables us to have a complete absence of resistance to our person’s human traits including the personality and the characteristics of the body.
Patience: Calm endurance of hardship, pain or delay; demonstrating perseverance, restraint and determination.
-Impatience, Agitation, Striving, Frustration
The embodiment of patience is restraint and determination; a calm endurance of the delay required for spiritual maturity to gradually unfold. Patience is at the heart of our ability to pause and gives us the opportunity to practice The Letting Go Mechanism each time an uncomfortable feeling arises. Patience helps us to build and save relationships, become great partners, parents, sons or daughters, friends and co-workers.
Tolerance: Open-mindedness to ideas, opinions and practices that differ from one's own; the absence of prejudice and a live-and-let-live attitude; the embracing and celebrating of diversity by recognizing, acknowledging and honoring the innate brilliance, vibrancy and radiance in others; reverence.
-Intolerance, Narrow-mindedness, Prejudice
The embodiment of tolerance is reverence and the honoring of diversity in others. Tolerance reminds us that we are all on this journey together, to individually and collectively evolve. Everything that we do or say has profound implications on all humanity. As we evolve, all of the people in the world evolve simultaneously. We truly are one human race. We are humans being…together.
Gratitude: Thankful appreciation for what one has received; showing gratefulness and recognition to others.
-Ingratitude, Desire
The embodiment of gratitude is seeing the beauty in everything, and thoroughly appreciating the simple things in life. Gratitude is not possible until self-forgiveness is practiced and self-acceptance is embodied. The inclination to be gracious, benevolent and compassionate originates as a result of the embodiment of gratitude. Gratitude truly does unlock the fullness of life!
Graciousness: The attribute of being kind to all; politeness, cordiality and good-natured disposition.
-Impoliteness, Pompousness
The practice of graciousness is going out of our way to show our kindness to everyone. Graciousness is the acknowledgement that everybody is perfect and complete and worthy and deserving of our kindness and generosity.
Benevolence: Friendliness, kindness, selflessness and the inclination to be generous; having a love of humankind accompanied by a desire to encourage the happiness of others.
-Selfishness, Greediness, Unkindness
The practice of benevolence is the quiet expression of our generosity, and the greatest gift that we can give others is ourselves, our time and undivided attention and appreciation. Benevolence specifically directed toward those who are suffering could be viewed as compassion.
Compassion: A deep empathy that gives rise to an active desire to alleviate the suffering of others by wrapping them in a safe, nurturing blanket of unconditional love; the fostering of an environment that is conducive for self-validation of others’ innate beauty, perfection and worthiness.
-Cruelty, Hatred, Indifference
The practice of compassion involves actively seeking out those in need and promptly and gently reaching out to them in an effort to lessen their burdens. We know that we have reached a different level of spiritual maturity once we notice our sense of compassion. Through understanding, patience, forgiveness and graciousness, we became the loving people that we always aspired to be. This leads to our new found ability to benevolently reach out to others. Compassion takes benevolence to a whole new level.
Integrity: Moral consistency of actions, values and principles; honesty in regard to the motivations of one’s actions.
-Hypocrisy, Immorality, Inconsistency
The practice of integrity is the consistent expression and embodiment of all virtues.
These 12 virtues methodically woven together form the Divine fabric of unconditional love. Furthermore, they facilitate the evolution of consciousness and the recognition and acknowledgment of our Inner-Genius.
It wasn't until I started reading self-improvement books in the mid-90s that I discovered that change is possible(see Inner-Genius post for details). I also realized that if I was just a little bit nicer, less arrogant, egotistical and judgmental, people would start to like and respect me a little bit more.
These realizations led to a relentless 10-year reading frenzy. During this time, I created a list of all the positive attributes that each author consistently mentioned, and then went through years of my notes and tabulated which ones showed up most often. Twelve of these attributes stood out head and shoulders above the rest, and I sensed that the term virtue was the best way to classify these sacred words. These virtues are understanding, honesty, humility, forgiveness, acceptance, patience, tolerance, gratitude, graciousness, benevolence, compassion and integrity.
Intentionally moving toward the light starts with the intention to practice and embody these virtues. When our behavior is virtuous, we are moving toward the light, and when our behavior is vice-centered, we are moving toward the dark. Virtues and vices exemplify either fear (dark) or love (light). It's important to recognize and acknowledge the physical sensations we experience when either the light or the dark present themselves. Notice that whenever love arises, the Soul feels nourished and the person feels light and at ease, and whenever fear arises, the Soul feels malnourished and the person feels dark and diseased.
The virtues and vices listed below are guideposts along the path. May we have the intention to embrace the virtues and the inner-joy that arises, but also give attention to the sorrow that ensues when we exhibit the vices.
Understanding: Wisdom, awareness, perspective and intuition; mindfulness; the ability to comprehend one's own and other's feelings, attitude and points of view; empathy.
-Obliviousness, Apathy
The embodiment of understanding develops through awareness and intuition. The evolution of consciousness starts with the understanding that spiritual maturity is possible. Understanding resides at the core of mindfulness. Attempting to evolve without understanding is like trying to drive a car without gas. Understanding enables us to shift from the emotional participant or experiencer of life to the emotionless witness-observer. And most importantly, understanding leads us back to the Divine realization that we are not a transitory person and that we are the eternal Soul.
Honesty: Truthfulness, sincerity and self-knowledge; communicating and acting authentically with oneself and others.
-Dishonesty, Inauthenticity
The practice of self-honesty is to fearlessly face our perceived inadequacies by tenaciously digging through our own rubble to uncover our innate perfection and completeness. Self-honesty reveals all of the obstacles that are obscuring our true worth, and these opinions, beliefs, preconceived notions and conditioned thoughts limit our spiritual maturity.
Humility: Freedom from false pride or arrogance; having an awareness of one's own shortcomings and others' strengths; exhibiting a modest, humble aura; belieflessness.
-Arrogance, False pride, Entitlement
The practice of humility is to intentionally travel down the path of belieflessness by surrendering all opinions, beliefs, preconceived notions and conditioned thoughts and starting with a blank slate. On this humble path of belieflessness, aversions and attractions no longer exist. Declarations of should have, must be, definitely, obviously, incontestably and certainly won’t be found here. Alternatively, speculations like seems to, might be, could have and possibly, depict the communication style of its travelers.
Humility is also the understanding that our Souls are no better or worse than any other Souls. We all possess a mosaic of attributes that make us different from one another, but not greater or less than.
Forgiveness: A letting go or releasing of resentments; the willingness to move beyond past events, perhaps to reconcile and restore.
-Accusation, Blame, Resentment
The practice of self-forgiveness helps to create the blank slate by lessening the burdens of guilt and remorse and dissolving self-inflicted grudges and harsh criticisms. Self-forgiveness unlocks the door and allows the essence of our wonderful Soul to shine forth. Once our goodness is brought into the light, the darkness of our negative energy is overshadowed. To forgive ourselves is the greatest gift that we can ever bestow.
Acceptance: Acknowledgement of the truth regarding a situation or condition; appreciation and validation of one's own and others' human personalities (even traits we may wish to change); letting go of resistance and denial; absolute cooperation with the inevitable.
-Denial, Resistance, Rejection
The embodiment of self-acceptance enables us to have a complete absence of resistance to our person’s human traits including the personality and the characteristics of the body.
Patience: Calm endurance of hardship, pain or delay; demonstrating perseverance, restraint and determination.
-Impatience, Agitation, Striving, Frustration
The embodiment of patience is restraint and determination; a calm endurance of the delay required for spiritual maturity to gradually unfold. Patience is at the heart of our ability to pause and gives us the opportunity to practice The Letting Go Mechanism each time an uncomfortable feeling arises. Patience helps us to build and save relationships, become great partners, parents, sons or daughters, friends and co-workers.
Tolerance: Open-mindedness to ideas, opinions and practices that differ from one's own; the absence of prejudice and a live-and-let-live attitude; the embracing and celebrating of diversity by recognizing, acknowledging and honoring the innate brilliance, vibrancy and radiance in others; reverence.
-Intolerance, Narrow-mindedness, Prejudice
The embodiment of tolerance is reverence and the honoring of diversity in others. Tolerance reminds us that we are all on this journey together, to individually and collectively evolve. Everything that we do or say has profound implications on all humanity. As we evolve, all of the people in the world evolve simultaneously. We truly are one human race. We are humans being…together.
Gratitude: Thankful appreciation for what one has received; showing gratefulness and recognition to others.
-Ingratitude, Desire
The embodiment of gratitude is seeing the beauty in everything, and thoroughly appreciating the simple things in life. Gratitude is not possible until self-forgiveness is practiced and self-acceptance is embodied. The inclination to be gracious, benevolent and compassionate originates as a result of the embodiment of gratitude. Gratitude truly does unlock the fullness of life!
Graciousness: The attribute of being kind to all; politeness, cordiality and good-natured disposition.
-Impoliteness, Pompousness
The practice of graciousness is going out of our way to show our kindness to everyone. Graciousness is the acknowledgement that everybody is perfect and complete and worthy and deserving of our kindness and generosity.
Benevolence: Friendliness, kindness, selflessness and the inclination to be generous; having a love of humankind accompanied by a desire to encourage the happiness of others.
-Selfishness, Greediness, Unkindness
The practice of benevolence is the quiet expression of our generosity, and the greatest gift that we can give others is ourselves, our time and undivided attention and appreciation. Benevolence specifically directed toward those who are suffering could be viewed as compassion.
Compassion: A deep empathy that gives rise to an active desire to alleviate the suffering of others by wrapping them in a safe, nurturing blanket of unconditional love; the fostering of an environment that is conducive for self-validation of others’ innate beauty, perfection and worthiness.
-Cruelty, Hatred, Indifference
The practice of compassion involves actively seeking out those in need and promptly and gently reaching out to them in an effort to lessen their burdens. We know that we have reached a different level of spiritual maturity once we notice our sense of compassion. Through understanding, patience, forgiveness and graciousness, we became the loving people that we always aspired to be. This leads to our new found ability to benevolently reach out to others. Compassion takes benevolence to a whole new level.
Integrity: Moral consistency of actions, values and principles; honesty in regard to the motivations of one’s actions.
-Hypocrisy, Immorality, Inconsistency
The practice of integrity is the consistent expression and embodiment of all virtues.
These 12 virtues methodically woven together form the Divine fabric of unconditional love. Furthermore, they facilitate the evolution of consciousness and the recognition and acknowledgment of our Inner-Genius.
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