Virtues
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These pages will discuss ideas how virtues can be used as a path to follow for the good for one self and others. Please correct grammar and add your own thoughts by pressing the "Ändra" button above ( "Ändra" is the swedish word for edit ) or add new pages for discussing different topics.
Introduction
When I was young I played a series of games by Richard Garriott and was fascinated by two of his games, namely Ultima IV and Ultima V. The two games are primitive in todays view of technical aspects but had something many games are missing in that they describe ways of life. In this case, a life based upon following virtues. I have scanned one page from the Book of Lore that comes bundled with Ultima V.
Note! this page of the book have been retouched to fit outside the game.
In between Ultima IV and Ultima V Lord British the Ruler of Brittania created a Government based on these virtues. But virtues can be misinterpreted and working against themself, and so did also happen in Ultima V when the ways of the virtues got placed in the wrong hands.
Principles behind virtues
Something that is special about mankind is that one can have a virtue as a leader and thus it is important to choose the right leader. Therefore i would like to state some principles aiming as a goal for the virtues one chooses to follow.
Principles mentioned before are:
- Truth : The search for absolute truth
- Love : The element of what all living things are based of and i would like to define all living as matter that strives to keep itself togeather. By this defenition i would call gravity a living force, our earth a living thing and that all liquids are living.
- Courage : The power behind all living.
A principles that i would like to archive but cant get close to are:
- Balance : In order to understand my ideal principle of balance i have to look into its components Peace and War or Order and Chaos as one might call them. I have not yet found a way of arciving balance but by living i belive im keeping the balance whitout being aware of it. I will live and i will die and my waves of life will rise and live again.
- Peace: To have perfect universal peace is something i cant see how it can be done since all living things would have to be perfect alligned and thus a living entity without energy cant live. This is nothing i would like to archive as a living individual.
- War: The ultimate chaos where life forces is everywhere in universe but is such large quantities that no order can be found anywhere. This is nothing i would like to archive as a living induvidual.
Virtues based on the principles of Truth, Love and Courage.
- Honesty: The will of giving out your own truth.
- Compassion: Love, endless empathy for all living.
- Valor: The courage to focus my own will.
- Honor: The courage fo upholding of truth.
- Justice: You have to have Love in order to make the Truth decision.
- Sacrifice: Your courage to express your love and give of yourself.
- Spirituality: for me this is Balance or fullfillment in all of truth, love and courage. (order?)
last and for me most important
- Humility: You need the courage to see the truth abouth your own love. This tells you who you are. And will lead you to Spirituality.
Counter principles and counter virtues
If one would take the opposites of Truth, Love and Courage one would get:
and make the counter virtues of
- Wrong
- Deceit
- Covetous
- Despise
- Dastard
- Shame
- Pride : Since pride is not based on truth or love it will ultimately lead you to
- Doom : if you are here.. Life as we know it.. is over.. (chaos?)
Since the only of these eight counter virtues that might be of worth is Pride and since Pride is the opposite of Humility i would advice you to not follow any of these counter principles how thempting they might be.. Since by following them you will lose your Truth, Love and Courage, and replace them by different kinds of fear. You will likely be unhappy reguadless of what fysical whealth you are in.
Conclusions
The meaning of life as i see it is to uphold the balance of order and chaos. If the universe would collapse it would be due to order .. the university becomes one and thus it is not more than one just one unit of one and all would be in order and peace (but without living and breathing life). If the university would allow all life to survive due to extreme caution it would end in one inferno where life is everywhere the university is filled with infinitie life and no life can tell its different from another or make any difference. This would be chaos where nothing matters. If one masters the balance one might live a endless life filled with both joy and sorrow along the way.. and that is the price of life.
The path of balance to not go into gas or get solid. Balance is like liquid. Balance is infact nothing or eternity depending how you see it. It is perfect in sence it upholds itself without influence of thinking living beeings.
And since life itself is in balance one sould not have to care about why one are living but start caring of what virtues one follows since the choice of virtues reflects directly on the happyness on ones life.
I will present a list of virtues gathered from many sources. Some claim that one sould follow over 50 different virtues. I dont see this practically possible and i am happy as long as i can define my own values. Perhaps since i have encountered the virtues pressented in the games of Ultima at early age might be the reason why i hold them close to heart.
Note! these texts should not be counted as the absolute truth. it is up to one and other to define what is true for them and express their own findings.
.. note from author, i have changed my own principles to follow from truth love and courage to curiosity love and patience. I am currently recearching my own life philosophy xerxianismen.
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