The Virtue of Detachment (Contemptus Saeculi) a Part of Temperance

Descripción

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to swing between two extremes? On one side, you’re tempted to chase the things of this world. Money, Comfort, Recognition, Power, Success, Possessions, and the satisfaction of carnal desires. You know they won’t ultimately satisfy you, but you still find yourself pursuing them as though they will. On the other side, you look at the world around you and grow frustrated. You see corruption, vanity, vice. You see people making the same mistakes over and over again. And before long, your frustration turns into contempt. You stop seeing souls. and start seeing problems. You stop seeing neighbors. and start seeing enemies. Every Christian eventually faces this tension. Will you love the world too much? Or will you become so disgusted by it that you cease loving your brothers and sisters that Christ came to save? The saints show us a better path. A path of freedom and detachment which recognizes that the world cannot satisfy the human heart, but that isn’t a reason to stop loving every person God places in our lives. And that’s why Detachment matters. Intro Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to. I’m your host, Jethro Higgins. Today we’re discussing Detachment or Contemptus Mundi, literally Contempt of the World, a virtue found on the branch of Temperance. This virtue has been misunderstood throughout history. Many people hear the phrase “Contempt of the World” and imagine a person who hates creation, avoids people, rejects beauty, and spends his life hiding from society. But that is not what this virtue means. Contempt of the World is not hatred of creation. It is freedom from attachment to creation. It is the ability to enjoy God’s gifts without allowing those gifts to become your master. It is the ability to live in the world without belonging to the world. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To access the VirTrue App and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Virtue Description Contempt of the World is the virtue by which a person properly orders temporal goods beneath eternal goods. The person who possesses this virtue recognizes that all created things are good because they come from God. Yet he also recognizes that none of them can satisfy the deepest desires of the human heart. Money cannot save you. Success cannot save you. Comfort cannot save you. Pleasure cannot save you. Status cannot save you. Only God can do that. This virtue does not reject the world because the world is evil. It rejects the temptation to treat the world as though it were God. Jesus repeatedly warns His followers about attachment to worldly things. “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Mark 8:36, NABRE) The danger arises when we cling to the gift and forget the Giver. St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that no created good can satisfy the deepest desires of the human heart because every created good is finite. Commenting on Christ’s words, “Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again,” Aquinas explains that temporal goods leave us unsatisfied because they are imperfect goods. The more we pursue them as our ultimate happiness, the more their limitations become apparent. This is why wealth, pleasure, honor, power, and success can never bring lasting fulfillment. They are real goods, but they are not the highest good. Detachment begins when we recognize this truth. The person who possesses this virtue no longer expects temporary things to provide eternal satisfaction. The saints understood that every created thing is meant to point beyond itself toward God. St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.” No lesser goods will ever satisfy the restlessness of our heart. Detachment therefore creates freedom. The person who possesses this virtue can enjoy material blessings without becoming enslaved by them. He can suffer their loss without despair. He can hold them loosely because his ultimate treasure lies elsewhere. This virtue is not pessimism. It is perspective. It allows us to see worldly things for what they truly are: good gifts, but temporary gifts. Vice of Deficiency: Worldliness What It Is Worldliness is excessive attachment to temporal goods. The worldly person treats earthly success, comfort, pleasure, reputation, wealth, or power as though they were ultimate goods. His life becomes ordered around acquiring, protecting, and increasing things that cannot satisfy the human soul. Why It Fits Contempt of the World recognizes that temporal goods are temporary. Worldliness treats temporal goods as ultimate. The virtuous person uses the world as a means toward God. The worldly person uses God as a means toward the world. What It Looks Like * obsession with wealth * pursuit of status * excessive concern for reputation * constant desire for comfort * envy of worldly success * measuring personal worth by possessions The worldly person rarely asks: “What does God want?” Instead he asks: “What do I want?” Vice of Excess: Scorn What It Is Scorn is the improper contempt of people because of the world’s corruption. The scornful person loses the distinction between the world and the people living within it. He begins by rejecting worldly values and eventually begins rejecting the very people Christ came to save. Why It Fits Contempt of the World rejects worldly attachments. Scorn rejects worldly people. The virtuous person understands that vice should be opposed but souls should be loved. The scornful person treats people as enemies rather than neighbors. He sees condemnation where God sees opportunity for conversion. What It Looks Like * contempt for ordinary people * constant criticism * spiritual superiority * hostility toward unbelievers * inability to evangelize effectively * viewing sinners as enemies rather than neighbors The scornful person forgets that he was once in need of mercy as well. My Life It’s probably true for all people that we naturally lean on the worldly side in our youth and can lean more to the scornful side when age and experience have made us bitter and jaded. As a general path, this is true for me, but there is a mixture too. While it can feel easy at times to swear off recognition, power, and worldly success, including the possessions that come with that success. It can be more difficult to find the balance with money, comfort, possessions, and desires of the flesh, like food and drink. It’s easy to say I don’t need a billion dollars, but it’s hard to say I don’t need my house paid off. It’s easy to say I don’t need a private jet, but it’s harder to say I don’t need a car that I like. It’s easy to say I don’t need to run a powerful company, but it’s harder to say I don’t need to have a job that is self-directed where I set my own hours. It seems easier to avoid those other temptations because we don’t imagine ourselves reaching the wealth and power necessary to be presented with the challenge of how to spend a billion dollars or feeling like you have a need for a private jet. On the other side I really do need to fight the temptation to be scornful. We can dehumanize people so easily. The media would like to focus on people beig scornful other races and cultures, but the more common scorn is the scorn for people who “deserve it” pedophiles, rapists, Scammers, people who have failed to control their urges to overpower you, take your money, rob you of possessions and comforts, and steal your recognition. These people we fall into scorn for so easily, and it feels righteous, but it is not the path of virtue. I struggle with this on a daily basis, and I bet if you are honest with yourself, you do too. Sometimes the world can feel like an evil place, but we have to remember that God created it good, and he calls us to love it and care for it, especially the people in it who injure us the most. The Secular Perspective The modern world rarely promotes Detachment. Instead, it encourages attachment. Advertising tells us happiness is one purchase away. Social media tells us that significance is one viral post away. Career culture tells us fulfillment is one promotion away. Politics tells us salvation is one election away. The world constantly promises what it cannot deliver. Yet many Christians react to this environment by moving toward the opposite extreme. Instead of becoming detached, they become cynical. Instead of becoming free, they become angry. Instead of loving the world less, they begin loving people less. Both responses miss the mark. The Christian is called to live in the world without being mastered by it. We are called to engage culture without worshiping it. We are called to love people without adopting their errors. Contempt of the World allows us to maintain that balance. Example Saint: St. John of the Cross Lived 1542-1591 From Fontiveros, Spain Mission Carmelite reformer, mystic, priest, and Doctor of the Church Why He Fits Few saints have written more deeply about detachment than St. John of the Cross. His entire spiritual theology centers on freeing the soul from attachments that prevent union with God. John understood that the problem is not created things themselves. The problem is our attachment to them. He never taught that creation was evil. He never taught that beauty was evil. He never taught that possessions were evil. Instead, he taught that anything can become an obstacle when it occupies a place in the heart that belongs to God alone. His writings continually guide the soul away from worldly attachment while preserving love for God, neighbor, and creation. This balance makes him a perfect example of Contempt of the World. He avoided Worldliness because he refused to allow created things to become his master. He avoided Scorn because he never stopped loving the people God desired to save. One of his most famous teachings summarizes the virtue perfectly: “To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing.” John’s life reminds us that detachment is not about losing everything. It is about gaining the freedom to love God above everything. Tell Us What You Think Please like, comment, and share wherever you are experiencing this podcast to help us spread the cultivation of virtue. Act of Detachment Lord, You alone are my highest good. Free me from every attachment that keeps me from loving You fully. Teach me to use the things of this world without becoming enslaved by them. Keep me from chasing wealth, comfort, status, or pleasure as though they could satisfy my heart. Protect me also from scorn. Help me never confuse rejection of worldly values with rejection of the people You love. Grant that I may see every person as a soul for whom Christ died. May my heart remain detached from worldly things and deeply attached to You. Let me seek first Your Kingdom and trust You with everything else. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the blood of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. Go out and fill the world with virtue, Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Virtue of Alacrity (Alacritas) a Part of Prudence - VirTrue Episode 34

You already know what you should be doing. That’s the uncomfortable part. Most people are not suffering from a total lack of knowledge. They are resisting moving toward those goods. You know you should: * pray * repent * apologize * begin * finish * commit * speak * act * obey And yet your soul drags itself toward those goods like a teenager being asked to unload the dishwasher. Not because the good is unclear. But because you feel like you are going to lose something if you act. Modern culture has made this even worse. We live in a civilization simultaneously addicted to frantic motion and allergic to meaningful action. People will spend six hours consuming: * productivity content * educational resources * self-improvement podcasts * motivational videos * immersive learning systems * personalized learning platforms * endless intellectual commentary to avoid thirty minutes of actual obedience or diligence to a task. We move constantly. But we rarely move toward what is truly important. And that is why the virtue of Alacrity matters. 🎧 Intro Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice, and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to. I’m your host, Jethro Higgins. Today on VirTrue we’re going to talk about Alacrity, or Alacritas, which Hugh of St. Victor includes on the Prudence branch of his virtue tree, while St. Thomas Aquinas helps us understand the relationship between promptness, prudence, obedience, charity, and movement toward the good. This episode continues the Prudence branch we have already begun cultivating: * Memory * Intelligence * Foresight * Counsel * Deliberation Because once prudence has: * remembered rightly * understood clearly * considered the repercussions * sought wisdom * weighed the matter well to reach a judgment one final question remains: Will you move? Alacrity is the soul’s joyful readiness to act once truth is known. And unlike the emotionally sterile definitions found in dictionary entries, the Christian understanding of Alacrity is not merely about quickness or cheerfulness. It is about moral movement. It is about becoming the kind of person who eagerly moves toward what is good, true, and beautiful once prudence has judged rightly. Quick reminder, the VirTrue app BETA testing is underway. Paid subscribers will receive early access and help shape the platform's direction as we continue building tools that cultivate virtue, uproot vice, and strengthen every branch of your VirTrue tree. Visit The Social Catholic [https://socialcatholic.substack.com] to support this work and help us continue building resources ordered toward wisdom, moral excellence, practical reasoning, virtue ethics, and rightly ordered love. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. 📖 Virtue Description The virtue of Alacrity is promptness and joyful readiness in the pursuit of the good. It is the soul moving quickly because it loves what is right. This is important: Alacrity is not recklessness. It is not hyperactivity. It is not impulsiveness. The alacritous person does not move quickly because they are emotionally reactive. They move quickly because prudence has already done its work. St. Thomas Aquinas repeatedly speaks about promptness in relation to virtue, obedience, and charity. The virtuous soul does not merely obey eventually. It becomes ready to move toward the good with eagerness. That is why Alacrity belongs on the Prudence branch. Because prudence without movement eventually becomes sterile. You can: * seek counsel forever * deliberate endlessly * gather information continuously * consume theology content constantly and still never obey. At some point: * judgment ends * movement begins This is why Alacrity follows Deliberation so naturally. Deliberation asks: “What is the right thing to do?” Alacrity responds: “Let’ss begin.” The truly prudent person doesn’t just arrive at right conclusions. He acts upon them with readiness of soul. Aristotle speaks repeatedly in Nicomachean Ethics about virtue as a golden mean between opposing extremes. And Alacrity fits beautifully within the moral virtue tradition because it governs how the soul moves toward the good once prudence has judged rightly. Because virtue is not merely knowing the good. Virtue is becoming the kind of person who enthusiastically and consistently moves toward the good. This becomes painfully visible in modern life. Many people today possess enormous amounts of: * information * opinions * educational content * theological knowledge * intellectual formation but remain spiritually immobile. The modern world mistakes awareness for transformation. But the Christian life is not merely about recognizing truth. It is about conforming yourself to it through action. ⚠️ Vice of Deficiency: Torpor Definition Torpor is sluggishness of soul that resists prompt movement toward the good. Why it fits The torpid person often knows exactly what should be done. That is what makes this vice so dangerous. This is not ignorance. This is resistance. The torpid soul: * delays obedience * postpones action * drags itself toward duty * hesitates after judgment * waits endlessly for perfect conditions Torpor often disguises itself as: * exhaustion * caution * preparation * “Not being ready yet.” But underneath it is usually an unwillingness to move. The torpid person says: “Eventually.” The alacritous person says: “Now.” Not because he is reckless. But because he loves the good more than comfort. What it looks like * delaying repentance * procrastinating difficult conversations * avoiding vocation * postponing prayer * endless preparation without beginning * spiritual hesitation * failure to act once the truth is clear And honestly, modern culture almost trains us into torpor. We consume: * productivity systems * educational resources * personalized learning * immersive learning tools * self-improvement content without ever allowing truth to become action. The soul becomes spiritually sedentary. Not because it lacks information. But because it resists movement. 🔥 Vice of Excess: Impetuosity (Impetuositas) Definition Impetuosity is excessive or ungoverned eagerness that outruns prudence. Why it fits The impetuous person moves before the soul is fully governed. Unlike the torpid person who refuses movement, the impetuous person cannot remain measured. He: * rushes into action * confuses urgency with wisdom * mistakes emotional intensity for conviction * treats movement itself as virtue This vice is especially common in modern activist culture. Everything becomes: * immediate * urgent * emotionally charged * performative The impetuous person believes: “If I feel strongly, I must act immediately.” But prudence governs action. The alacritous soul moves promptly AFTER wisdom has judged rightly. The impetuous soul moves because movement itself feels emotionally satisfying. What it looks like * emotional overreaction * reckless activism * impulsive decision making * burnout cycles * dramatic commitments without endurance * treating busyness as holiness * constant urgency without stability The impetuous person often appears energetic. But energy and virtue are not the same thing. A wildfire also moves quickly. That does not make it ordered. 🧍 My Life [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life] I often mention my ADHD in the “my life [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life]” section mostly because it has been and occasionally still is a significant struggle for me to overcome, but it is also often times a benefit as well. That is the case with Alacrity. There are two common behaviors with ADHD that interact with the virtue of alacrity, and the dependency on whether you act virtuously or with sluggish vice is enthusiasm. ADHD minds are actually capable of prompt, joyful action when the question of why is sufficiently answered. That is where last week’s virtue of deliberation comes into play. In order to motivate myself to act with alacrity, I have to deliberate well on why this is an important course of action. If I can see the broader picture and realize how my work will advance something of true value, I can hotwire my brain to jump into action. But if the outcome is obscured or delayed and the result is technically right but not immediately impactful to the “big picture,” it can be incredibly difficult to summon the proper motivation to respond to the task with alacrity. I use other strategies when I’m not really feeling the motivational energy. I can make the task a game, I can give myself some kind of reward for achieving success, but oftentimes I resort to the sure-fire way to generate the appropriate motivation, last-minute panic. Nothing sparks action like the surge of adrenaline and dopamine that comes from the last minute. I may have had some impetuous tendencies as a youth, and those tendencies may rear their head on occasion, but my struggle lies in managing my motivation and hacking my brain out of the sluggishness of torpor, and into the virtue of alacrity. 🌍 The Secular Perspective Modern culture lives at both extremes simultaneously. We saw some of this in earlier virtues this season. On the one side, we behave very torpidly. People endlessly delay: * marriage * children * vocation * commitment * conversion * responsibility We talked about this from the standpoint of deliberation and foresight as the belief that there is always a slightly better option waiting around the corner. But at a deeper level, our culture isn’t moved by what is good, true and beautiful anymore. We want cheap, powerful, and satisfying instead, and when we fail to see those kinds of motivations, we are sluggish in our response. Consumer culture has turned commitment into a threat. People fear closing doors on opportunities more than they fear wasting their lives. At the same time, modern culture glorifies impetuosity. Everything is: * urgent * immediate * reactionary * emotionally amplified Social media rewards immediate engagement, not prudence. The first to act wins, and from a media standpoint, there really isn’t a downside to acting impulsively. The same 5 news agencies are still driving our public discourse, regardless of the fact that their information is always fast and wrong. Modern media forms souls that either: * never move * or: * move constantly without direction The prudent man does neither. He: * seeks wisdom * deliberates honestly * judges rightly * and then acts with joyful readiness Alacrity is not frantic movement. It is disciplined eagerness toward the good. Areas in US government that could use some alacrity: * The Powerful people caught up in the Jeffery Epstein scandal. * The UAP/UFO release of information * Term limits for Congress * 82% of Americans support the requirement to show ID when voting, but that statistic is over a year old, and nothing has changed. * Insider trading in Congress. We’ve known for decades that they are doing it and that it is wrong, but no one is taking action. * Nigeria, Christians have been systematically executed for years, and no one is doing anything about it. 🌟 Example Saint: St. Francis Xavier Lived: 1506–1552 From: Navarre, Spain Mission: Missionary to India, Japan, and Southeast Asia If there is a saint who embodies the virtue of Alacrity ordered toward God, it is St. Francis Xavier. Francis Xavier’s life was defined by joyful readiness in the service of Christ. When called to mission, he went. Not eventually. Not once conditions became comfortable. Not after securing stability and certainty. He moved. Francis Xavier traveled across: * India * Malacca * the Moluccas * Japan enduring: * disease * exhaustion * poverty * persecution * danger * and isolation because the love of God had made his soul ready for movement. What makes Francis Xavier such a perfect example of Alacrity is that his energy was not chaotic. It was governed by obedience and charity. He was not merely busy. He was ready. Why he fits Promptness toward the good Francis Xavier responded immediately when God placed mission before him. Resistance to torpor He did not delay obedience waiting for comfort or certainty. Resistance to impetuosity His zeal remained governed by obedience, prudence, and mission. Love in motion His life demonstrates that true love moves toward sacrifice willingly. Missionary readiness Francis Xavier reminds us that holiness is not merely knowing what God asks. It is becoming eager to do it. As St. Francis Xavier wrote: “I am more and more convinced that the earth belongs to those who suffer.” St. Francis Xavier reminds us that prudence is not complete when truth is merely understood. Prudence reaches completion when the soul joyfully moves toward the good. 💬 Tell Me What You Think Do you struggle more with: * Torpor * or: * Impetuosity? Do you resist movement toward the good? Or do you rush ahead faster than prudence can govern you? Share your thoughts with me in the comments and continue the conversation. Like, share, and subscribe. Help us continue to spread virtue by doing all the things the search and social algorithms like! The Social Catholic is a listener-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. 🙏 Act of Alacrity O my God, You have revealed what is good, true, and beautiful, and I resolve to move toward it with readiness of soul. I reject spiritual sluggishness, hesitation, and the false comfort that delays obedience. I reject reckless zeal and movement ungoverned by wisdom. I choose to act promptly when prudence has judged rightly, and to pursue Your will with eagerness rather than reluctance. I resolve not merely to admire the good, but to move toward it courageously and without delay. Grant me the grace to accomplish what I now will before You. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 🙏 Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the blood of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. ⚔️ Go out and fill the world with virtue, Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

2 de jun de 202648 min

The Virtue of Deliberation (Deliberatio) a Part of Prudence - VirTrue Episode 33

🎧 Intro You are being trained every single day to stop deliberating. Not accidentally. Systematically. You open your phone, and within seconds, you are absorbing: * outrage * headlines * political tribalism * AI assistant summaries * clips without context * emotionally charged commentary * strangers speaking with absolute certainty about things they learned six minutes ago And slowly, almost imperceptibly, your soul begins losing the ability to weigh things carefully. You begin reacting before understanding. Or maybe you go the opposite direction. Maybe you have become trapped in endless hesitation. You replay conversations in your head at 2:00 AM like your brain is running courtroom footage for a trial nobody else remembers. You overthink decisions. You endlessly research. You seek advice from twelve different people, hoping one of them will finally remove uncertainty completely. Modern people are drowning in information and starving for practical wisdom. And that is exactly why the virtue of Deliberation matters. Welcome to VirTrue where we work together to turn away from vice, and to adopt the virtuous life we’re all called to. I’m your host, Jethro Higgins. Today on VirTrue we’re going to talk about Deliberation, or Deliberatio, which Hugh of St. Victor includes on the Prudence branch of the virtue tree, St. Thomas Aquinas will help us with the precise moral language needed to understand the virtue clearly. This episode continues the Prudence branch we have already begun cultivating: * Memory * Intelligence * Foresight * Counsel Because Deliberation is where all of those virtues begin working together inside the soul. This is where practical reasoning happens. This is where wisdom stops being theoretical and begins preparing for action. And frankly, this is one of the places where modern culture is becoming deeply malformed. Quick reminder, the VirTrue app BETA is underway. Paid subscribers receive early access and help shape the direction of the platform as we continue building tools that help cultivate virtue. Visit socialcatholic.substack.com [http://socialcatholic.substack.com] to support this work and help us continue building resources to help you grow in truth and virtue. The Social Catholic is a listener-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. 📖 Virtue Description Deliberation is the disciplined process of weighing possible actions before making a judgment. It is the interior labor of practical reasoning. Deliberation examines: * motives * duties * circumstances * consequences * competing goods * and possible outcomes before choosing how to act. Remember from last week when we highlighted that St. Thomas Aquinas says: “To take good counsel and to judge well belong to prudence.” (Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q.51, A.3) Prudence is not merely possessing information. It is knowing how to think rightly before acting. And those are not the same thing. You can listen to theology podcasts for ten years, own seventeen books with highlighted passages you never finished, and still make absolutely catastrophic decisions in your marriage, friendships, finances, or spiritual life. Because wisdom is not trivia. Wisdom is rightly ordered action. At first glance, Deliberation can sound almost identical to Counsel, which we discussed in the previous episode. Because Counsel already involved: * inquiry * seeking wisdom * slowing down * avoiding impulsive action But these virtues relate to one another in the same way other virtues throughout VirTrue have related to one another. In the Charity season, we discussed Compassion as the inward movement toward another’s suffering, while Mercy was the outward action that flowed from it. In the Hope season, we discussed Contrition as the interior sorrow for sin, while Confession carried that repentance into concrete action. Counsel and Deliberation relate in much the same way. Counsel opens the soul to inquiry. It recognizes: “I need wisdom before I act.” Deliberation performs the actual work of weighing the matter itself. It asks: “Now that I have sought wisdom, what action is truly right?” This is why the virtues of Prudence build upon one another. Memory recalls the lessons of the past. Intelligence understands the present situation clearly. Foresight sees where possible actions may lead. Counsel opens the soul to guidance and inquiry. And Deliberation weighs all of those realities together before judgment is made. This is the interior courtroom of prudence. This is where practical wisdom is formed. Aristotle discusses this extensively in Nicomachean Ethics, especially in Book VI, where he distinguishes between theoretical reason and practical reasoning. Because moral virtue is not merely about possessing knowledge. It is about acting virtuously within particular circumstances. The virtuous man doesn’t just feel strongly. He reasons rightly. He weighs matters honestly. He seeks the true conclusion. And then he acts. That is why Deliberation belongs not merely to intellectual virtue, but to moral virtue. The purpose is not endless analysis. The purpose is right action ordered toward God. ⚠️ Vice of Deficiency: Inconsideration (Inconsideratio) Definition Inconsideration is the failure to sufficiently weigh what ought to be considered before acting. Why it fits The inconsiderate person does not properly examine: * consequences * motives * circumstances * duties * or moral realities before forming judgment. This vice corrupts practical reasoning itself. Aquinas treats inconsideration as a species of imprudence because prudence requires careful consideration before judgment is formed. The inconsiderate person: * reacts before understanding * judges before examining * condemns before discerning * speaks before thinking And if we are being honest, you have probably experienced this yourself online. You see something outrageous. Your emotions spike immediately. Your brain starts writing the comment before you even finish examining the matter. Modern culture constantly trains you toward inconsideration. Social media rewards immediacy. Outrage spreads faster than truth because outrage does not require deliberation. The algorithm does not reward prudence. It rewards emotional certainty. The inconsiderate person confuses immediacy with wisdom. What it looks like * impulsive moral judgments * reacting from headlines * emotional decision making (not engaging the rational apetite) * refusing reflection * acting before gathering facts * assuming confidence equals competence Or as the internet might put it: “Read zero articles. Saw half a headline. Became an expert immediately.” That is inconsideration. 🔥 Vice of Excess: Vacillation (Vacillatio) Definition Vacillation is the corruption of deliberation through endless instability and inability to settle into judgment. Why it fits The vacillating person endlessly oscillates between possibilities. He: * reopens settled questions * endlessly second-guesses * fears commitment * delays action perpetually Unlike the inconsiderate person who never weighs the matter sufficiently, the vacillating person weighs it forever. You have probably felt this too. You replay decisions repeatedly in your head. You endlessly research. You ask for advice from multiple people, then start over because none of the answers completely removed uncertainty. This vice often disguises itself as intelligence or carefulness. But underneath it is usually fear. Fear of: * responsibility * imperfection * consequences * commitment * failure The vacillating soul desperately wants certainty before action. But prudence rarely operates with absolute certainty. It operates with sufficient judgment. At some point: * inquiry ends * judgment forms * action begins Otherwise, deliberation collapses into paralysis. That’s why next week’s virtue will be alacrity, or promptness. This process of deliberation should lead to prompt action. What it looks like * analysis paralysis * obsessive optimization * constant second-guessing * endless research without commitment * reopening decisions repeatedly * consuming educational content endlessly without transformation The vacillating person remains permanently at the crossroads. 🧍 My Life [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/p/rule-of-life] This podcast is actually a good example of this virtue playing out in real life. I had the idea for both the podcast and the VirTrue app for nearly eight years before I finally acted on it. Part of that delay was prudence. I wanted to fully deliberate on the virtue model I was building from. I wanted to finish my Master’s degree in Theology. I wanted greater clarity. Better structure. More preparation. More certainty. But eventually I realized something uncomfortable. Some of my “deliberation” was no longer prudence. It was fear disguised as preparation. I could always find: * one more thing to study * one more improvement to make * one more conversation to have * one more reason to wait God eventually allowed me to enter a season of profound suffering that forced me to stop endlessly circling the runway and finally take action. And honestly, I think many modern people live there permanently. We have become a culture defined by failure to launch. We deliberate endlessly because commitment feels dangerous. I see myself in the deficiency here too though. Shoot first and ask questions later when I see something that upsets me. I like to jump into debate, and that sometimes overshadows my ability to approach the topic through reason. 🌍 The Secular Perspective Modern culture simultaneously destroys and imitates deliberation. On one side, you are constantly being trained toward inconsideration. Everything around you pushes you toward: * instant commentary * instant outrage * instant tribalism * instant certainty You are expected to react immediately to events you barely understand. People will even shame you for not taking a strong stance the same day something perceived as outrageous happens. And because digital culture moves at incredible speed, thoughtful practical reasoning begins to feel unnatural. Silence feels suspicious. Careful inquiry feels weak. Deliberation itself starts feeling socially dangerous because the crowd demands emotional certainty immediately. At the same time, modern culture also produces endless vacillation. You are drowning in: * ai assistant tools * educational content * podcasts * productivity systems * self-help frameworks * tutorials * commentary * endless competing opinions And yet many people have never felt more incapable of decisive moral action. It’s such a toxic pairing. The demand for immediate responses coupled with a paralyzing incapability to take a decisive moral stance. This pattern is weaponized by people of every ideology. Your hesitation becomes the evidence that you have the “EVIL” opinion. Without deliberation: * courage becomes recklessness * intelligence becomes manipulation * conviction becomes fanaticism * freedom becomes chaos Prudence teaches you to: * deliberate honestly * judge rightly * act courageously * trust God with the outcome 🌟 Example Saint: St. John Henry Newman Lived: 1801–1890 From: London, England Mission: Theologian, preacher, educator, convert, defender of conscience rightly formed by truth If there is a saint who embodies Deliberation ordered toward truth, it is St. John Henry Newman. Newman was not converted through emotional impulse or social pressure. His conversion came through years of disciplined inquiry, practical reasoning, historical study, theological reflection, prayer, and painful honesty. He carefully weighed: * Scripture * Church history * Apostolic succession * doctrine * authority * conscience * and the claims of the Catholic Church before finally concluding that he could no longer remain where he was. What makes Newman extraordinary is that his deliberation did not end in endless analysis. It ended in action. He followed truth even when it cost him: * reputation * career * friendships * status * security * and public approval That is deliberation perfected through prudence. Not reacting emotionally. Not remaining trapped in endless uncertainty. But weighing carefully, judging honestly, and acting courageously once the truth became clear. Why he fits Deliberation ordered toward truth Newman spent years carefully examining competing claims before reaching judgment. Resistance to inconsideration He refused emotional reaction, intellectual tribalism, and shallow certainty. Resistance to vacillation Once his conscience reached judgment, he acted despite enormous personal cost. Practical reasoning rooted in reality His faith was not sentimentality. It was disciplined inquiry ordered toward truth. Conscience formed through deliberation Newman reminds us that conscience is not self-expression. It is the soul’s obligation to conform itself to what is true. As Newman famously said: “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” St. John Henry Newman reminds us that prudence is not merely gathering information. It is honestly seeking the truth, judging rightly, and then having the courage to act when the truth demands change. 💬 Tell Me What You Think Which vice do you struggle with more? Inconsideration? Or vacillation? Do you react too quickly? Or do you endlessly weigh possibilities without ever committing to action? Share your thoughts with me in the comments, and continue the conversation. Like, share, and subscribe. Help us spread virtue. And visit socialcatholic.substack.com [https://socialcatholic.substack.com] to support this work. 🙏 Act of Deliberation O my God, You have given me reason so that I may seek truth and act according to wisdom rather than impulse. I reject haste, emotional reaction, and judgment formed without reflection. I reject fear, endless hesitation, and the paralysis that refuses to act once truth is known. I resolve to deliberate honestly, seek wisdom humbly, judge rightly, and act courageously according to Your will. I choose not merely to gather knowledge, but to conform my mind and will to what is good, true, and beautiful. Grant me the grace to deliberate well. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. 🙏 Prayer Lord, bless us with faith, hope, love, prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice that we may live as you intended man to live, in all virtue and righteousness. Help us to flee from sin, and avoid all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Protect us with a spiritual hedge in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, to our right, and to our left, within us, and all around us, and seal it with the blood of your precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us to keep you in everything that we think, say, and do. Amen. ⚔️ Go out and fill the world with virtue, Deus Vult! Follow Us on Social Media and Popular Podcast Networks: Get full access to The Social Catholic at socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe [https://socialcatholic.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

26 de may de 202651 min

The Virtue of Detachment (Contemptus Saeculi) a Part of Temperance - VirTrue Episode 37

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