"When one ceases from conflict, whether because he has won,
because he has lost, or because he cares no more for the
game, the virtue passes out of him." -- Charles Horton
Cooley

There are three concepts here that represent an unusual
juxtaposition: "conflict," "the game," and "virtue." Robert
Lynd said, "No doubt there are other important things in
life besides conflict, but there are not many other things
so inevitably interesting. The very saints interest us most
when we think of them as engaged in a conflict with the
Devil." Conflict can certainly be interesting either as a
participant or as an observer; but "the game" and its
relationship to "virtue" may be even more interesting.

The game must first offer real and present, win/lose
possibilities. If it doesn't, the virtue passes out of you.
More to the point, an immediate possibility of losing is
the key to virtue. Here, "virtue" is doing what is right
and avoiding what is wrong.

The virtuous person pursues winning while doing only what
is right. "Conflict" is, then, not the tension between
winning and losing. Rather, it's the responsibility of
"right" vs. the risk of "wrong." The truly fatal risk is
not losing. It's succumbing to the temptation to sacrifice
one's virtue on the altar of success.

It's tempting to put forth a few moral pronouncements about
right and wrong; but it's your call. The take home point is
simply that, if you are a virtuous person, you know what's
right and understand what's wrong. "The game," for you, is
doing what's right and avoiding what's wrong, while playing
to win, every time. To do otherwise is to let the virtue
pass out of you.

Perfect Virtue

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We
do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence,
but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We
are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act
but a habit." -- Aristotle

The idea that excellence is a product of training isn't
surprising. Athletes, musicians, and those who achieve
preeminence in other areas requiring superior personal
performance are well-aware of the necessity and value of
continuous training. The point that may not be as obvious
is that training and habituation are prerequisites for
areas of excellence beyond developing physical skills and
individual talents. They are necessary for emotional
excellence, moral excellence, interpersonal excellence, as
well as intellectual excellence. The point that may be even
less obvious is that Aristotle also said that training and
habituation are prerequisite to virtue. People have the
capacity to be virtuous but become virtuous people only
through training and habitually acting rightly. One becomes
virtuous by acting virtuously.

How does one act virtuously? Cicero advised, "It is our
special duty, that if anyone needs our help, we should give
him such help to the utmost of our power." Confucius said,
"To be able to practice five things everywhere under heaven
constitutes perfect virtue… gravity, generosity of soul,
sincerity, earnestness, and kindness." Although how one
practices "gravity" is less than obvious, the other four
requirements need no explanation. John Wesley was even
clearer when he said, "Do all the good you can. By all the
means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places
you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you
can. As long as ever you can." Now that leaves little room
for doubt or negotiation.

The message has not changed over the millennia. Dante said,
"He who sees a need and waits to be asked for help is as
unkind as if he had refused it." Gandhi said, "We must be
the change we wish to see in the world." Is virtue the path
to personal joy and fulfillment? Probably not. George
Bernard Shaw said, "Just do what must be done. This may not
be happiness, but it is greatness." Why? As George Eliot
put it, "Our deeds determine us as much as we determine our
deeds." Remember Aristotle's message, "We are what we
repeatedly do." The choice is to habitually act rightly or
to act wrongly. At that level, it's not much of a choice.
The key is remembering that acting virtuously is an
essential part of one's ongoing excellence training.

Now you know and there you go.

About the Author:

For more from Gary Crow, visit http://www.SooooSmart.com
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