Virtues to Live By
When I played college football, one of our traditions was for each player to choose one word that would keep him focused and accountable throughout the season. Our team (Endicott gulls 2020-2024) went on to win three consecutive DIII CCC championships, so there must have been something to our "one word" tradition. I have found this tradition to be so effective that I keep it with me to this day, and have expanded it to a list of multiple words, or virtues, that I do my best to live by.
Throughout history, different cultures have established various philosophies, codes of conduct, and religions that served to guide their adherents through life. The Samurai developed Bushido code, the Ancient Greeks founded Stoicism, Medieval Knights abided by Chivalry, and Christianity produced the 10 commandments, just to name a few.
Each of these ideologies manifested in different forms (i.e. texts, rituals, practices, ways of life, etc), but they all served similar functions: to provide a set of rules to live by, to discern between what one should and should not value, and to act as a moral compass to differentiate right from wrong.
In the past century or so, we seem to have lost our sense of direction in this regard. The two primary systems that once served the purpose of life guidance, philosophy and religion, are no longer central to day to day living in modern culture.
As a result, we have a cultural blindspot regarding how to live wisely and morally. Nearly all the chaos in people's lives, from needless petty dramas to life altering blunders like drunk driving, is borne of their own mental misbehavior. The same applies beyond the individual to society at large. This is evidenced by issues like the political mania dividing our country, the rise of mental heath conditions, mass shootings, climbing divorce rates, career dissatisfaction, and so on. While all of these problems are multi-faceted, I am of the conviction that a lack of life guidance is at the core of them all.
Imagine a world where living virtuously received half as much praise as having 100,000 followers, or driving a Lamborghini. Many of the celebrities and internet personalties we worship shamelessly embody the antithesis of virtue. These are the examples our children look up to. What we pay attention to and what we value is reflective of our character. We ought to shift our focus to things that are more conducive to living good lives and fostering a societal cohesion. Reintegrating virtues into our culture would galvanize moral clarity and ethical orientation, reduce unnecessary suffering, and streamline human relations without the necessity of belief in a supernatural higher power required by religion.
If any of this resonates with you, come up with a handful of virtues that suit you. Don't overthink it. If 130 of my hard-nosed college football teammates could pick a virtue to live by, so can you. If you need inspiration, take a look at my virtues below, which I'll expand upon in subsequent blogs to prevent this one from becoming a book, so stay tuned. Or you can use pre-existing virtues from past traditions. I would recommend virtues derived from Stoicism, Bushido code, Chivalry, and Buddhism, none of which require faith in a higher power.
Once you choose one or more virtues, define them, and live by them. Hold yourself accountable by reflecting each night on how well you lived up to your virtues that day and instances where you could have applied them, but missed. Having your own set of virtues and living by them will make you a better person, bring you more success, help you find purpose, improve your relationships, and make you more resilient, all off which will help you lead a happier and more satisfying life.
These are my virtues:
- Discipline
- Courage
- Stoic
- Wisdom
- Temperance
- Love
- Gratitude
- Confidence
- Integrity
- Consistency