On Thursday I, the
Amorella, stated: "You are not alone, boy. You are enwrapped in your
heartansoulanmind. Let that be a lesson to you," after you had said, "You
leave me alone, wordless." It has
taken you a day and your thought is:
[0859 hours.] "I have taken transcendentalism as far as it goes at
least in the personal microcosm. I have no idea how far transcendentalism goes
in the macrocosm." That's an opinion of course; that's as it appears to
me. I have no idea.
Late morning. You did your
exercises, that's four days this week. You are thinking that transcendentalism
carries you so far, but out where you are, existentialism has a brighter look
to it. You think that you cannot 'be' existential while in a
semi-transcendental state. Your idea of being existential is while driving your
car as a professional driver would even at slower speeds, but more so as faster
where the danger to life and limb is more exact. This concept includes not
overusing your brakes; that is, not
using your brakes unless it is a necessity . . . coasting where plausible and
when reasonable . . . eyes on the road and knowing your surrounding environment
at any given time . . . always ready for an alternative so there is no accident
solely or with another car not adhering to the practical rules of the road. -
Amorella
1126 hours. That's how I see driving -- always anticipating the
environment of the car on the road. I err from time to time; like when I tapped
the back bumper of a fellow who started turning right on Tylersville from I-75
then stopped while answering his phone. I had glanced west as Tylersville had
the green light (it can be a busy road) and in the time I looked forward the
fellow had stopped. I wasn't going very fast but didn't stop on time. My fault.
The last speeding ticket I got (going north on Rt. 315 near OSU in Columbus)
was deserved but I was in control of the situation and more concerned about the
woman on my tail as she was too close). Traffic was traveling at 68 to 72 mph
in a 55 mph zone. Today I stay in the middle lane rather than the outside in
that location -- traffic still goes about that same speed as long as there is
not too much traffic at once or a slowdown getting off at OSU. I love driving. I
like being alert to the approaching circumstance.
1218 hours. Carol just picked out her next book to read, The Brethren
by John Grisham. Jadah disappeared back under the bed for a continuing nap
interrupted to nibble some dry food in a small bowl on the top of my dresser and/or
a larger water bowl next to the bathtub. We are having a very pleasant lazy day
while outside it is partly cloudy (it rained last night) with the temperature
rising from the present 85 up to 90 later this afternoon. Carol is reading
while standing. This reminds me of Aunt Pasty who used to read standing while
the book sat on a podium. Sometimes she used a stick sort of apparatus that
allowed her to turn the pages without actually touching them. I always admired
her spunk and individuality; Uncle Ernie too. I do miss them.
And, you wonder if they
miss you too. - Amorella
1231 hours. That was a fleeting thought. Why is it important to bring
up here?
Because it is a real
thought and you were consciously dismissing it. - Amorella
1233 hours. The paraphrasing line 'the better angels of our nature'
comes to mind. Are you as one of the better angels of our human nature?
This adds a dimension to
your thought on the concept of angels. - Amorella
1239 hours. The quotation is from Lincoln . . .
[** **
Selected from the concluding
lines of Lincoln's first inaugural address on Monday, March 4, 1861:
“We
are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have
strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory
will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of
our nature.”
Abraham Lincoln
** **]
. . . but there is a connection to Dickens according to Gene
Griessman author of Lincoln and Obama.
** **
A
Quotation You Can Use In Writing: Charles Dickens and Abraham Lincoln
Posted on February 18, 2012 by admin
“The Better Angels Of Our Nature” How Charles Dickens
Influenced Abraham Lincoln
by Gene Griessman, Ph.D.
Here’s the story of an obscure
but beautiful quotation from Charles Dickens that found its way into the First
Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln.
In 1861, before his
inauguration, Lincoln showed a draft of what he intended to say to
William Seward, his Secretary of State. Seward recommended that Lincoln
conclude with conciliatory words, and sketched out a few sentences for Lincoln
to consider.
Seward’s rough draft, which has
been preserved, contains the expression “better angel.” Twenty years
earlier, in 1841, Charles Dickens had used “our better angels” in his novel
“Barnaby Rudge.” There is no evidence that Lincoln read Dickens, but Seward
did.
Lincoln read Seward’s rough
draft in which Seward had scratched out the words ”better angel” and
substituted in their place “guardian angel of the nation.” Lincoln then turned
Seward’s discarded two words into the memorable expression “better angels of
our nature.”
The quotation from Dickens is
below. I like the entire quotation very much, not just because it contains
the germ of a concept that Abraham Lincoln immortalized, but because of its
wise and spiritual insight.
“The thoughts of worldly men
are forever regulated by a moral law of gravitation, which, like the physical
one, holds them down to earth. The bright glory of day, and the silent wonders
of a starlit night, appeal to their minds in vain. There are no signs in the
sun, or in the moon, or in the stars, for their reading. They are like some
wise men, who, learning to know each planet by its Latin name, have quite
forgotten such small heavenly constellations as Charity, Forbearance, Universal
Love, and Mercy, although they shine by night and day so brightly that the
blind may see them; and who, looking upward at the spangled sky, see nothing
there but the reflection of their own great wisdom and book-learning…
“It is curious to imagine these
people of the world, busy in thought, turning their eyes towards the countless
spheres that shine above us, and making them reflect the only images their
minds contain…So do the shadows of our own desires stand between us and our
better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed. (italics added)
One final comment.
Shakespeare used the words “better angel” in “Othello,” and we know for certain
that Lincoln had read “Othello.” The expression is used in a remark made by
Gratiano, a nobleman from Venice, after the death of Desdemona to describe
enlightened and restrained human impulses. Gratiano speaks of pushing
away the ‘better angel” which would hold him back from taking bloody revenge on
Othello.
Selected from http://what you say dot com/a-quotation-you-can-use-in-writing-charles-dickens-and-abraham-lincoln/
** **
Post.
Amorella
You had Egg McMuffins and
Cokes for lunch and Graeter's double chocolate chip and chunky, chunky hippo
for dessert. - Amorella
1633 hours. I enjoyed the
hippo; it has a lighter flavor, a subtle
taste of a turtle sundae, particularly if you don't eat any included peanuts or
less than half a peanut in the bite. DCC is always one of Carol's favorites.
Although you cannot
articulate this, to you, "the better angels of our nature" include an
Angelic female-like form dressed in an invisible gown of the Seven Cardinal Virtues. - Amorella
1645 hours. This works for me. Though she is quite naked I envision her
'fully dressed'.
Really orndorff? I don't
think so. You see her as a faery, sprite-like, but fully functional and
human-like in appearance and naked in your mind. In your heart you see the
invisible modest clothing that are the virtues you know and understand. Your
soul senses something in the room, so to speak but sees nothing; she denies
nothing either. This is how you would have it. - Amorella
1654 hours. You treat me more kindly and forgivingly than you know,
Amorella
You treat yourself less
kindly and less forgivingly than you know, orndorff. Now drop in the Wikipedia
definitions I select. - Amorella
** **
Cardinal virtues
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Four cardinal virtues were recognized in Classical Antiquity
and in traditional Christian theology:
·
Prudence (φρόνησις, phronēsis;
Latin: prudentia): also described as wisdom, the ability to
judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time
·
Courage (ἀνδρεία, andreia;
Latin: fortitudo): also termed fortitude, forbearance,
strength, endurance, and the ability to confront fear, uncertainty, and
intimidation
·
Temperance (σωφροσύνη, sōphrosynē;
Latin: temperantia): also known as restraint, the practice of
self-control, abstention, discretion, and moderation tempering the appetition;
especially sexually, hence the meaning chastity
·
Justice (δικαιοσύνη, dikaiosynē;
Latin: iustitia): also considered as fairness, the most
extensive and most important virtue; the
Greek word also having the meaning righteousness
These
virtues derive initially from Plato's scheme, discussed in Republic Book IV,
426–435 (and see Protagoras 330b, which also includes piety (hosiotes)). Cicero expanded on
them, and Saint Ambrose, Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquina adapted them while adding a set of
theological virtues.
The
term "cardinal" comes from the Latin cardo (hinge); the cardinal virtues are so called
because they are regarded as the basic virtues required for a virtuous life.
They also relate to the Quadrivium.
In Classical Antiquity
The
four cardinal virtues appear as a group (sometimes included in larger lists)
long before they are later given this title.
Plato
identified the four cardinal virtues with the classes of the city described in The Republic, and with the faculties of
man. Plato narrates a discussion of the character of a good city where the
following is agreed upon. “Clearly, then, it will be wise, brave, temperate
[literally: healthy-minded], and just.” Temperance was common to all classes, but
primarily associated with the producing classes, the farmers and craftsmen, and
with the animal appetites, to whom no special virtue was assigned; fortitude was assigned to the warrior class and
to the spirited element in man; prudence to
the rulers and to reason. Justice stands
outside the class system and divisions of man, and rules the proper
relationship among the three of them.
In
Aristotle's Rhetoric we read: “The forms of Virtue are
justice, courage, temperance, magnificence, magnanimity, liberality,
gentleness, prudence, wisdom.” (Rhetoric 1366b1)
The
Roman philosopher and statesman Cicero (106–43 BC), like Plato, limits the list
to four virtues:
“Virtue
may be defined as a habit of mind (animi) in harmony with reason and the
order of nature. It has four parts: wisdom (prudentiam), justice,
courage, temperance.” (De Inventione, II, LIII)
Cicero
discusses these further in De Officiis (I, V and following).
The
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius discusses
these in Book V:12 of Meditations and
views them as the "goods" that a person should identify in one's own
mind, as opposed to "wealth or things which conduce to luxury or
prestige."
The
cardinal virtues are listed in the Bible. The deuterocanonical book Wisdom of
Solomon 8:7 reads, "She
[Wisdom] teaches temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which
are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life."
They
are also found in the Biblical apocrypha. 4
Maccabees 1:18–19 relates: “Now the kinds of wisdom are right judgment,
justice, courage, and self-control. Right judgment is supreme over all of these
since by means of it reason rules over the emotions.”
Catholic
moral philosophy drew from all of
these sources when developing its reflections on the virtues.
***
Theological
virtues
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theological virtues are
virtues associated in Christian theology and philosophy with salvation
resulting from the grace of God. Virtues are traits or qualities which dispose
one to conduct oneself in a morally good manner. Traditionally they have been
named faith, hope and charity and can trace their importance in Christian
theology to Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 13, who also pointed out charity
is the most important.
The
medieval Catholic philosopher Thomas Aquinas explained
that these virtues are called theological virtues "because they have God for their object, both in so far as by
them we are properly directed to Him, and because they are infused into our
souls by God alone, as also, finally, because we come to know of them only by
Divine revelation in the Sacred Scriptures".
Moral
theology
A person receives the theological virtues by their being
"infused"—through Divine grace—into the person. The theological
virtues are so named because their object is the divine being (theos).
Faith is the infused virtue, by which the intellect, by a movement of
the will, assents to the supernatural truths of Revelation, not on the motive
of intrinsic evidence, but on the sole ground of the infallible authority of
God revealing. According to Hugh Pope "What God says is supremely
credible, though not necessarily supremely intelligible for us." The First
Vatican Council (III, iii;) stated that "faith is a supernatural virtue by
which we with the inspiration and assistance of God's grace, believe those
things to be true which He has revealed...although the assent of faith is in no
sense blind, yet no one can assent to the Gospel teaching in the way necessary
for salvation without the illumination of the Holy Spirit..." It is a
gratuitous gift of God.
Hope is defined as a Divinely infused virtue, acts upon the will, by
which one trusts, with confidence grounded on the Divine assistance, to attain
life everlasting. Its opposite is the sin of despair.
Charity is a divinely infused
virtue, inclining the human will to cherish God for his own sake above all
things, and man for the sake of God. To love God is to wish Him all honour and
glory and every good, and to endeavour, as far as one can, to obtain it for
Him. John 14:23 notes a unique feature of reciprocity which makes charity a
veritable friendship of man with God. "Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with
him." Lack of love may give place to hatred, wrath or indifference.
1 Corinthians 13
The
first mention in Christian literature of the three theological virtues is in
St. Paul's first letter to the
Thessalonians 1:3, "...calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope..." He
later refers to this triad of virtues again, "But since we are of the day,
let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet
that is hope for salvation."
In
1 Corinthians 13, Paul places the greater emphasis on Charity (Love). "So
faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
First, because it informs the other two: "It bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Secondly, from a temporal
perspective, love lasts, while "Hope isn't hope if its object is
seen", and faith gives way to possession.
Aquinas
Aquinas
found an interconnection of practical wisdom (prudentia) and moral
virtue (e.g. courage without prudence risks becoming mere foolhardiness). This
is frequently termed "the Unity of the Virtues."
Aquinas
stated that theological virtues are so called "because they have God for
their object, both in so far as by them we are properly directed to Him, and
because they are infused into our souls by God alone, as also, finally, because
we come to know of them only by Divine revelation in the Sacred
Scriptures"
In
his treatment of the virtues, Aquinas viewed
the theological virtues as being the product of habitual grace. According to
Aquinas, this grace, through the theological virtues, allows humanity to become
agents in meritorious action that is beyond their own natural ability. In this
way it is supernatural.
Aquinas
says "Faith has the character of a virtue, not because of the things it
believes, for faith is of things that appear not, but because it adheres to the
testimony of one in whom truth is infallibly found". (De Veritate, xiv, 8)
Aquinas
further connected the theological virtues with the cardinal virtues. He views
the supernatural inclinations of the theological virtues, caused by habitual
grace, to find their fulfillment in being acted upon in the cardinal virtues.
Comparison of Cardinal and Theological Virtues
The
moral virtues are acquired by practice and habit. Catholic moral theology holds
that the theological virtues differ from the cardinal virtues in that they
cannot be obtained by human effort, but are infused by God into a person. Like
the cardinal virtues, an individual who exercises these virtues strengthens and
increases them, i.e., they are more disposed to practice them.
Following
St. Augustine, Aquinas also recognized a separate but related type of moral
virtue which is also infused by God. The distinction lies both in their source
and end. The moral virtue of temperance recognizes food as a good that sustains
life, but guards against the sin of gluttony. The infused virtue of temperance disposes the
individual to practice fasting and abstinence. The infused moral virtues are
connected to the theological virtue of Charity.
Pope Benedict XVI wrote
three encyclicals about the theological virtues: Deus caritas est (about
love), Spe salvi (about hope), and Lumen
fidei (about faith: this encyclical was written both by Pope Benedict XVI
and by Pope Francis.
Selected and edited from Wikipedia (Cardinal and
Theological Virtues.
** **
The Seven Virtues [below] as seen as contrary to The Seven Deadly
Sins taken from the site: 'changing minds dot org'.
·
Humility against pride,
·
Kindness against envy,
·
Abstinence against gluttony,
·
Chastity against lust,
·
Patience against anger,
·
Liberality against greed, and
· Diligence against
sloth.
** **
1724 hours. I will have to clean up the above to place in the
blog. I am glad you are including this as a definition of sorts as to the virtues.
This make it more tidy in my mind as a place to reason from first.
Post once you have the
definitions edited for use in your notes. - Amorella
2259 hours. I took time out to watch the fourth installment of "Midsomer
Murders" in its first season on Netflix while Carol read upstairs. And, I
finished editing the above material for today's posting. It has been a
satisfying day having imaginatively re-witnessed a 'Better Angel' of our nature'
in fully invisible virtuous dress. It is easy to see between the horizontal
lines.
That
it is, boy. Such is the distance between the human eye and the virtually
printed word.
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