Montesquieu writes: “In a republican government, the full power of education is needed. Fear in despotic governments arises of itself from threats and chastisements; honor in monarchies is favored by the passions and favors them in turn. But virtue is a renunciation of oneself, which is always a very painful thing.”
He goes on to discuss the ancient Greek city a kind of martial monastery, in which virtue is learning to love the pain. But the Greeks did not see it that way. The ancients saw virtue as a second wind, a point when the pain disappears and we begin to run for the pure joy of it. Aristotle wrote of the virtues becoming second natures by their exercise, of reaching a point where selflessness is not painful but pleasurable.
Happiness through virtue is our nature rejoicing in being made complete. Where Montesquieu viewed training in virtue as the strict and painful stretching and exercising of the soul. But like a man who wonders why anyone would “torture” himself with calisthenics, he misses the point entirely. Virtuous living is not torture but the actualization of our human potential.
Nature gave us minds and hearts and bodies capable of strength, but it is up to us to exercise them until they become strong. So doing, we do not learn to love the pain, but rather to rise beyond it and find the joy.
He goes on to discuss the ancient Greek city a kind of martial monastery, in which virtue is learning to love the pain. But the Greeks did not see it that way. The ancients saw virtue as a second wind, a point when the pain disappears and we begin to run for the pure joy of it. Aristotle wrote of the virtues becoming second natures by their exercise, of reaching a point where selflessness is not painful but pleasurable.
Happiness through virtue is our nature rejoicing in being made complete. Where Montesquieu viewed training in virtue as the strict and painful stretching and exercising of the soul. But like a man who wonders why anyone would “torture” himself with calisthenics, he misses the point entirely. Virtuous living is not torture but the actualization of our human potential.
Nature gave us minds and hearts and bodies capable of strength, but it is up to us to exercise them until they become strong. So doing, we do not learn to love the pain, but rather to rise beyond it and find the joy.
If this were Xanga, you'd get two props.
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