The Seven Heavenly Virtues – Do You See Them?

Aristotle and Plato first penned what are now known as the four cardinal virtues: temperance, wisdom, justice, and courage. The Christian era added the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The Seven Heavenly Virtues came about around 400 A.D. through the work of Aurelius Clemens Prudentius and has been held through the centuries as the balance against the seven deadly sins. We’ll talk about these in another post.

One could argue successfully that anyone living out these virtues would find a most fulfilling and satisfying life. Let’s look at each.

Diligence (integrity) – Being totally responsibility for one’s time, actions, and beliefs. A person with diligence does his work the best he can, uses his time wisely, and acts with honor and dignity, especially when no one is watching.

Chastity – While often applied to the idea of abstaining from sexual conduct according to one’s state in life;  chastity also includes the practice of courtly love and romantic friendship; cleanliness through cultivated good health and hygiene, and avoiding intoxicants; being universally honest; and embracing  moral wholesomeness and purity of thought-through education.

Kindness – Showing love, compassion and friendship for its own sake; showing empathy and trust without prejudice or resentment; showing unselfish love and voluntary kindness without bias or spite; kindness is having a positive outlook and cheerful demeanor that inspires kindness in others.

Patience – Patience is forbearance and endurance through moderation. It is seeking to resolving conflicts and injustice peacefully, as opposed to resorting to violence. It is showing the grace to forgive others. Patience in one creates a sense of peaceful stability and community rather than suffering, hostility, and antagonism.

Charity is showing generosity, compassion, and self-sacrifice while making the needs of others preeminent.

Love is the sense of an unlimited loving-kindness toward others. It is self-sacrificing. It does not bear grievances. It has a short memory of hurts suffered. It seeks the best for others. It embodies the other virtues of patience, kindness, and humility. Love resides in the will rather than the emotions so it is a choice that is not bound to the passion of emotions.

Humility is modest behavior, selflessness, and the giving of respect. Humility is thinking of yourself less that thinking of others. Humility is the lack of self-promotion at the expense of others. It implies is a spirit of self-examination and our relationships with others. Humility is the courage of the heart necessary to undertake tasks which are difficult, tedious or unglamorous, and to graciously accept the sacrifices involved. Humility gives credit where credit is due.

Temperance is practicing self-control, abstention, moderation, and deferred gratification. Temperance is the prudence to judge between actions to choose which actions are appropriate actions at a given time.

So there they are; the Seven Great Virtues. Do you think that if you could regularly practice those virtues that your life would be remarkably improved over what it might be now? Do you know people who could benefit from practicing these virtues?

So why don’t we all put them into practice in our lives?

Most of us are bombarded with negative thinking that tells us how bad we are; how bad we have it; how somebody is taking advantage of us; how we blew it; and on and on. It’s not hard to see that nothing good can come out of us when so much bad thinking holds us captive.

So the answer is to get rid of the negative thinking. It’s not impossible.

Think about it.

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