ExploreTruth

My dad called it the society of the mind.  He said he got it from the title of a book he read.  And its always stuck with me.

It depicts the range of personalities that exist within a single human being.  And I’m not talking crazy now.  Only you and I know the full range of what we are capable of. We alone must wrestle with the sharp truth of our better angelic moments, and the deepest vices that arrest at a moments notice.  At a whispers call.  Challenging the myth that we are in full control.

For some, living in vice land is embraced with relish.

For others the hunt of the lust filled Centaur depicted in Andrea Mantegna‘s painting(Triumph of the virtues) breeds constant anxiety, and escape attempts.

For our deep truth is that we, at any moment, are a temptation away from slavery.  And where do we turn when our religious bandages do not work?  To whom do we run to rescue us from the inevitable psychic damage of guilt, shame, and defeat?

For me, here at explore truth and in my personal life, these questions bring me to a larger question. What exactly is virtue, and how does one arrive at what he/she considers to be good or bad? Right or wrong?

Should I subscribe to the vibe of moral absolutism, where one says that there are objective things that are right and wrong, despite the context, or motivations behind them?  A black and white way of looking at the world?

Is the 9 yr old who grew up parent-less, and in abject poverty, judged the same for her resorting to shop lifting, in order to feed herself?

“Virtue is a pattern of thought and behavior based on high moral standards.”

And what do we do about these voices in our heads?  Wait…you know what I mean.

The voices that whisper what you should do, versus what you want to do.  What do we make of these?  What do we do where sustained tension exists between the voice that repeats our definitions of virtue, and its arch enemy that threatens to choke us with its vice grip.  Ignoring our best, gut instincts for the peace of full congruency.  That state…where what we say, and believe, is what springs forth in our every step.

“Let us be what it is we speak, and speak what we yearn to be…” – Sunni Patterson

***I actually stumbled on an old Dateline Special that tackled this, and related topics in a debate.  Check it out.  The title: Does Satan Exist? ***