Which is the most difficult virtue to acquire?

[RestlessSoul]

I say otherwise.

I thought you might have got the reference? Perhaps not; fair enough then.

Pride is not to be confused with self esteem. Self esteem is important; humility, in my opinion, is a far better route to self esteem than pride can ever be.

We live in a world where pride is valued, while humility, as has been observed by others on this thread, is devalued, and seen as weakness. So everywhere we see people puffed up with their own self importance, obsessed with their own rightness, determined to prove themselves at the expense of others. This is pride in action, and everywhere it causes conflict and pain, not least to the prideful themselves; humility is necessary to burst that prideful bubble.

True humility does not necessitate humiliation (pride does that). Humility is the willingness to recognise our own shortcomings, and to respect and forgive the shortcomings in others. To place ourselves neither above nor below our fellows, but to accept our position as an equal among fallible equals.

 

[RestlessSoul]

 

[Shadow Wolf]

We live in a world where pride is valued,

Where? All I hear is it being attacked and humility praised.

We live in a world where pride is valued, while humility, as has been observed by others on this thread, is devalued, and seen as weakness.

Sure of this?
Here is the summary:

Humility because some think it shows weakness when to me its shows the person doesn't think they are better or above others.

So humility attracts where pride repels.

But rather a healthy pride that comes with self esteem and confidence and knowing you, or your group, can do something and do it well.

So wisdom also takes humility, and a lot of other virtues.

Pride never helps. It only hurts.

Real humility, not thinking of self as superior or inferior is the hardest in my view.

When one has painfully low self esteem, some kind of pride in self can be helpful. Anything to boost a person a bit...

 

[RestlessSoul]

Where? All I hear is it being attacked and humility praised.

Sure of this?
Here is the summary:

Ha, okay you win.

Not sure this forum is really indicative of contemporary culture, but still...

 

[TransmutingSoul]

For myself I would say wisdom and patience. We can learn much about wisdom from parables and sayings in Holy Books.

Great question Loverofhumanity.

I would have to offer it could be truthfulness and trustworthiness, as if you acquire those virtues, the others are already manifested.

Regards Tony

 

[loverofhumanity]

How about resilience. Sometimes I can bounce back easily from a bad experience, other times I get stuck on the event and can’t move on. Usually what helps is gratefulness but when that fails which is not often then a distraction or something good happening gets my mindfulness back.

But life’s a struggle within.

 

[loverofhumanity]

Great question Loverofhumanity.

I would have to offer it truthfulness and trustworthiness, as if you acquire those virtues, the others are already manifested.

Regards Tony

Thanks for reminding me of that Tony.

Often I get vain imaginings about how I’m not as good as others but that may very well be me being dishonest with myself. I think the mind is such that we can deceive ourselves into believing anything?

 

[Spirit of Light]

For myself I would say wisdom and patience. We can learn much about wisdom from parables and sayings in Holy Books.

Oh this is a difficult question to answer
For me the most difficult virtue is not just one, but aspects of them all.
Sometimes I can be a good person according to virtue, but other times i suck, and let my own lack of understanding of other people lead to hurtful comments, or speech about their "faults" and when I look in the mirror i see my self in the comment about others.

 

[loverofhumanity]

A question for everyone. I don’t know the answer to this.

If the mind can deceive and fool even ourselves how do we know what we believe is true?

Is there a part of us that instinctively just ‘knows’ when it comes across truth?

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Thanks for reminding me of that Tony.

Often I get vain imaginings about how I’m not as good as others but that may very well be me being dishonest with myself. I think the mind is such that we can deceive ourselves into believing anything?

David, great to hear from you. I say we all struggle in this world, so you are never alone in those thoughts.

The Key may be to bring ourselves into account each day, before we are summond to a reckoning.

Regards Tony

 

[Clara Tea]

For myself I would say wisdom and patience. We can learn much about wisdom from parables and sayings in Holy Books.

Those lacking wisdom can't recognize the rest of the virtues.

Nazis believed that they were doing the world a favor by torturing to death millions of Jews, and making unprovoked wars against other nations. All the while, their arrogance made them think that they were the "master race." Yet, weren't the Jews superior to have kept their faith under torture and many even forgave their captures.

Nazis pretended to have died during WW II, and instead fled to South America. Many nations were glad to have their pilfered money (from museums in France, from Jews, etc). What unspeakable medical experiments were they running in South America once they got there? We know that Dr. Mengele lived to a ripe old age, despite the Nazi hunters noting his presence and trying in vain to deport him.

Notice that Hitler started out Christian, but, with greed and pride was able to turn an entire nation against Jews, and against their own Christian faith.

I haven't seen anything that frightening since...except that President George W. Bush made wars in wrong places (Iraq, Afghanistan, and tried to make war in Niger--look up Wilson and Plame for more info). The Taliban had captured bin Laden and offered to turn him over to the US, but W. Bush preferred war against his own Taliban allies who had been working closely with his father to repel Soviet incursions. Like Hitler, W. Bush made torture camps...some of the few torture camps of the 20th century.

Again, W. Bush (who had been elected president of the Religious Right shortly after his US presidency began) turned his nation against Christ. Wars (especially against the innocent) and torture camps, along with damage of God's environment, certainly are antiChristian.

By looking at the horrible decisions that lead to the horrible state that the United States (and world) is currently in, we can deduce which virtues are more important.

Arrogance, endowed W. Bush with the God-like power to decide who lives and who dies.

Lack of sympathy or empathy led to deaths and torture camps....diplomacy was the last option that was never tried.

President W. Bush used to brag that he was humble. This is because humility is a mandatory virtue for Christians. Yet, no one can brag that they are humble. Being humble means that one does not brag. How can one brag that they don't brag? How can one brag that they are more humble than another person? How can a person have the hubris to run for the presidency of the United States and have the power to command others, and still maintain that they are humble? W. Bush was elected in his own nation....he was not elected to be king of the world and decide to alter elections in Iraq and kill Iraqis.

 

[Clara Tea]

A question for everyone. I don’t know the answer to this.

If the mind can deceive and fool even ourselves how do we know what we believe is true?

Is there a part of us that instinctively just ‘knows’ when it comes across truth?

One theist rolls on the floor, writhing, and babbling incoherently in God's language (talking in tongues)(klkjdl;kjslkfj). He claims that God told him to kill another human being. Such communication can't be checked, unless God talks to another person.

Should we allow free religion to a person who insists that God wants them to murder? Some would try to lock them in a rubber room with a straight jacket for having delusions of grandeur, hearing voices, and having murderous ideas.

Yet, the question remains....how can we tell that they heard the truth from God?

Should we have interfered with the Waco cult when it was learned that they had multiple wives and were having sex with kids? Maybe they were following what they perceived as God's orders?

Should we have interfered with the Jonestown massacre? Should we have interfered with Reverend Applewhite's Heaven's Gate cult that killed its own members so their souls could fly around and around the solar system on a passing comet?

At some point, we have to ask if a cult is legal, and who will be hurt or killed if they practice their religion freely.

Are they indoctrinating people who give all of their money because of brain washing?

Are they offering sex (like Scientology) to entice new members?

Since it is very difficult to prove the existence of God, many would have difficulty proving their religion. Should society intervene?

 

[Brian2]

For myself I would say wisdom and patience. We can learn much about wisdom from parables and sayings in Holy Books.

The Bible says that the hardest part of a human to control is our tongue.
What virtue would that be aligned with? I don't know, but I would say that different people have different problems with different virtues and so the answer would vary from person to person as to which is the hardest to acquire.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Looking back over the last 50+ years, I would say temperance was the most challenging virtue for me to acquire.

 

[ChristineM]

For myself I would say wisdom and patience. We can learn much about wisdom from parables and sayings in Holy Books.

Courage, without it you cannot practice any other virtual consistently - Maya Angelou

Courage is the first of all human virtues because it makes all others possible - Aristot

 

[Vinayaka]

For myself I would say wisdom and patience. We can learn much about wisdom from parables and sayings in Holy Books.

You have a list to choose from? I taught virtues in our school in 'Health' class, and we had a list.

 

[Revoltingest]

For myself I would say wisdom and patience. We can learn much about wisdom from parables and sayings in Holy Books.

It would be modesty.
Already having all the other virtues
makes this one difficult to maintain.

 

[Wandering Monk]

For myself I would say wisdom and patience. We can learn much about wisdom from parables and sayings in Holy Books.

Silence

 

[loverofhumanity]

You have a list to choose from? I taught virtues in our school in 'Health' class, and we had a list.

Not any list in particular but if you have a list to share with everyone that would be great.

There are so many lists on the internet also.

List of the Virtues

 

[loverofhumanity]

One theist rolls on the floor, writhing, and babbling incoherently in God's language (talking in tongues)(klkjdl;kjslkfj). He claims that God told him to kill another human being. Such communication can't be checked, unless God talks to another person.

Should we allow free religion to a person who insists that God wants them to murder? Some would try to lock them in a rubber room with a straight jacket for having delusions of grandeur, hearing voices, and having murderous ideas.

Yet, the question remains....how can we tell that they heard the truth from God?

Should we have interfered with the Waco cult when it was learned that they had multiple wives and were having sex with kids? Maybe they were following what they perceived as God's orders?

Should we have interfered with the Jonestown massacre? Should we have interfered with Reverend Applewhite's Heaven's Gate cult that killed its own members so their souls could fly around and around the solar system on a passing comet?

At some point, we have to ask if a cult is legal, and who will be hurt or killed if they practice their religion freely.

Are they indoctrinating people who give all of their money because of brain washing?

Are they offering sex (like Scientology) to entice new members?

Since it is very difficult to prove the existence of God, many would have difficulty proving their religion. Should society intervene?

My belief is that anything which is harmful is not true religion as true religion is supposed to create brotherhood and peace not war bloodshed and hatred.

But having said that I think we need to distinguish between what the Prophets taught and what leaders of religion have promulgated which often has been the very opposite.