Virtues Must Be Practiced

“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”

– Marcus Aurelius

Some may question the value of my quotes about virtues, or the longer posts about them. One could say the same about the numerous books that have been written over the ages on what virtues are, and the ideal of a virtuous person. What’s the point in writing about virtues, especially “warrior virtues” that I often write and speak about? And when I talk about “warrior virtues,” I’m talking about the character traits common among many who have practiced the arts of war throughout history, and more recently those who practice some sort of martial art that also contains a virtuous component, thus leading to advertisements claiming that studying martial arts will help with character development.

The point of many of my posts, quotes and longer passages, along with the teachings of many good martial art instructors who really do help with the character development of their students, is to show ideal virtues so that we can have some sort of description of what ideal virtues are. Seeing the ideal allows us to examine our own personal condition at its current state compared to the ideal. Will they match? Probably not. Many of us falter at times from the ideal we we strive toward. But rather than be frustrated and believe we are woefully lacking in virtues, we continue to strive toward such ideals, thus improving and developing character along the journey.

We must not only read the quotes, articles, and books about virtues and character development, sharing them because we liked the picture or ideal (and I do hope you share my posts and articles), but we must also examine the ideas of great thinkers (such as Marcus Aurelius at the beginning of this post), both historical and current, and then gauge our own actions against the standards presented. Examining philosophical ideas provides a direction, and allows us to believe in our potential to lead more virtuous lives and develop the character we desire.

The key, as French philosopher Comte-Sponville reminds us is that, “thinking about the virtues will not make us virtuous,” so we must not only read the quotes and ideals, but as martial artists, keep the warrior virtues in mind as we go through our daily lives. After all, we strive to be virtuous people in society, not just the training hall. We must continually practice being virtuous, because like physical strength, or our martial art techniques, virtues grow through practice. So practice!