Sobriety Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels or effects from alcohol or drugs. Sobriety is also considered to be the natural state of a human being at birth. A person in a state of sobriety is considered sober. Organizations of the temperance movement have encouraged sobriety as being normative in society. In a treatment setting, sobriety...
Self-denial Self-denial (related but different from self-abnegation or self-sacrifice) is an act of letting go of the self as with altruistic abstinence – the willingness to forgo personal pleasures or undergo personal trials in the pursuit of the increased good of another. Various religions and cultures take differing views of self-denial, some considering it a positive trait and...
Meekness (Virtue) Why do I say that the virtue of meekness brings life? Consider the difference between someone who is ready to cavil at the least perception of a wrong done to him, and one who is, as God is, “slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy” (Ps. 103:8). We...
Chastity Is A Virtue Chastity is a virtue concerning the state of purity of the mind and body. Chastity includes abstinence from sexual intimacy for the unmarried, and faithfulness to a marriage partner. Pre-marital virginity (abstinence) is the form of chastity expected of young people. Sexually active married couples are also considered to practice chastity if they remain faithful...
What Is Altruism? Altruism is a concern for the welfare of others. It is a traditional virtue in many cultures, and a core aspect of various religious traditions, though the concept of ‘others’ toward whom concern should be directed can vary among cultures and religions. Altruism is the opposite of...
The Virtue Of Decency In the 1937 film Gone With the Wind, Clark Gable shocked a nation of moviegoers when he said to Vivien Leigh, Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a dam. In retrospect, the shock is particularly difficult to fathom because the word dam (not damn) refers to...
Continence Continence may be defined as abstinence from even the licit gratifications of marriage. It is a form of the virtue of temperance, though Aristotle did not accord it this high character since it involved a conflict with wrong desires–an element, in the mind of the philosopher, foreign to the content of a...
The Virtue of Meekness The Virtue of Meekness is more synonymous with empowerment than it is with weakness because, as St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, meekness makes a man self-possessed. My electric typewriter has a built-in dictionary of 60,000 words. Whenever my typing of any of these words is incorrect, an...
Meekness Meekness is an attribute of human nature and behavior. It has been defined several ways: righteous, humble, teachable, and patient under suffering, long suffering willing to follow gospel teachings; an attribute of a true disciple. Meekness has been contrasted with humility as referring to behavior towards others, whereas humility refers...
Faqr And Ghina (Poverty and Richness) This article covers Faqr And Ghina (Poverty and Richness). For Sufis, poverty means that an initiate claims possession of nothing and is freed from all kinds of attachment toward worldly things, and that one feels total neediness and destitution before God in one’s relationship...
Riyada (Austerity) Riyada (austerity), which we can describe as disciplining life, appetite and thirst, and sleeping and waking only in order to develop the feelings of praise for and thankfulness to God and balancing these by keeping them within the limits of needs, has been used in the terminology of...
Ren (Confucianism) Ren (仁) is the Confucian virtue denoting the good feeling a virtuous human experiences when being altruistic. Ren is exemplified by a normal adult’s protective feelings for children. It is considered the outward expression of Confucian ideals. Yan Hui, one of the Four Sages, once asked his master to describe the rules of ren....
What Is Altruism? A term formed by Auguste Comte in 1851, on the Italian adjective altrui, and employed by him to denote the benevolent, as contrasted with the selfish propensities. It was introduced into English by George H. Lewes in 1853 (Comte’s Philosophy of the Sciences, 1, xxi), and popularized thereafter by expounders...
The Virtue Of Temperance Temperance is the first virtue that perfects man’s ability to act well with one’s self from within one’s self. For it brings order to the concupiscible appetite, and thus to the emotions of love, hate, sensible satisfaction, desire, aversion and sorrow as they bear upon a...
What Is Temperance? Temperance is here considered as one of the four cardinal virtues. It may be defined as the righteous habit which makes a man govern his natural appetite for pleasures of the senses in accordance with the norm prescribed by reason. In one sense temperance may be regarded...
Temperance And The Art Of Eating Temperance is the virtue that moderates our desire for pleasure – especially the pleasure attached to food, drink, and sex. St. Paul once likened the Christian way to a race for which athletes discipline themselves in order to win a prize: “Do you not...
Chastity In Prophet Muhammad’s Words This article provides information about Chastity In Prophet Muhammad’s Words. Narrated by the humble servant of One Islam, whose name means al-Haqq from Allah’s Apostle in vision, saying: “All that a pure believer needs is within the True and Holy Qur’an. This is the first. Honor...
What Is Chastity? Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is chaste refrains either from sexual activity considered immoral or any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for example when making a vow of chastity, chastity would mean the same as celibacy. Etymology The words chaste and chastity stem from the Latin adjective castus (“cut off”, “separated”, “pure”). The words...
Chastity In this article chastity is considered as a virtue; its consideration as an evangelical counsel will be found in the articles on CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY, CONTINENCY, and VIRGINITY. As a vow, chastity is discussed in the article VOW. As a virtue Chastity is the virtue which excludes or...
Man Of Service Man of service must, for the sake of the cause he has given his heart to, be resolved to cross over seas of filth. When he has attained his object, he must be so mature that he will attribute everything to its Rightful Owner, and be respectful...