Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings

By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

Virtue of Truthfulness – Virtuous life as

meditation
(Continued from Virtue of Truthfulness – Invisible realities)

What is a virtue? Virtue (Greek Arete, lat. Virtus) means the most complete
realization of the heart and soul of a good. It may also be defined to mean
ethically and morally valuable traits. Virtue was a central concept in ancient
moral philosophy or ethics. Virtues are skills, not information or knowledge.
Especially this side got me initially interested about virtues. Information
overload caused by the collection of information and endless series of open
questions made me finally think about the relationship between knowledge
and truth. Can I know the truth without having a skill to manifest it?

Cardinal virtues are the best-known ancient

virtues that have moved to the doctrine of seven
virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas. These are:
wisdom, justice, courage and prudence. In
addition to these virtues Aquinas counted
theological virtues along, i.e. faith, hope and
love. I do not know very well the meaning of
these three virtues by St. Aquinas, but in my
opinion they are not formally part of the virtues,
if virtues are thought as a valuable traits and
properties under development. They are
something even deeper spiritual qualities
reflected in the various virtues, or through virtues. For instance in courage
there is faith, in patience there is hope and in compassion there is love
included. Perhaps one might think theological virtues as a triangle, which
descends to the square, i.e. trinity, which descends to the fourfold world
saturating virtues with the best features and qualities.

Virtues may be listed in the dozens, or even hundreds so you can get a good
meditation theme for every week of year if you wish. Here are some for
chewing:

…diligence, generosity, openness, empathy, selflessness,

sensitivity, thoroughness, piety, benevolence, enthusiasm,
Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings
By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

flexibility, beauty, gratitude, courtesy, respect, obedience,

patience, compassion, integrity, sobriety, compassion,
determination, humility, willingness to service, cleanliness,
impartiality, determination, sobriety, peace, honesty,
courage, perseverance, endurance, morality, depth, subtlety,
discernment, balance, fairness, truthfulness, loyalty,
modesty, prudence, responsibility, innocence, hospitality,
sincerity, intensity, non-violence, kindness,…

Truth, truthfulness and love of truth has been said to be a basis of all virtues.
Deep longing of truth drives human through all kind of mazes and hazards
and one cannot get through them if the other virtues have not developed in
person and become true in practice.

I could keep a lecture of each virtue but now I would highlight one of those,
namely honesty. Honesty with oneself and other people is one of the most
important virtues, but also the largest afflicter in self-education. “Spirits” are
fighting in us. Other side knows what is good and the other half wants to do
something else like enjoy, relax, not necessarily to do evil, but also not good
in a sense that it desires to abandon own delights and actively directs life for
the highest virtues and implementation of the highest goals. Sacrificial life
seem only way to prevent karmic relations. I don’t believe that great teachers
have said without reason and urged us to forget ourselves, so that we can find
ourselves. In people that accomplish fairness, it will raise the battle that can
last and last for long periods of time and torment the soul. As a seeker of
truth, I can easily see that the only one who carries out the will of God from
the sweet beginning to the salty end is finally free, in other words rescued and
saved from that internal battle.

You cannot really forget vices because we understand things through the
opposites. While my point in this lecture is in virtues I can mention only shortly
some examples like the traditional seven deadly sins: pride, envy, greed,
anger, gluttony, adultery and falsehood. In addition selfishness, indifference,
grain, indiscretions, cowardice, etc. belongs to vices, but is it all so black and
white, only good and evil? And what is it in virtues so special, that all the great
religions and persons constantly speak of them. Probably not without a
reason, or what you think? I have collected a few quotes for my aid and
defense:
Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings
By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

I. A superior man always thinks of virtue; common man thinks of

comfort. -Confucius
II. Rise up the hill is a virtue. Running down is a vice. -Chinese
proverb
III. A noble man is not aware of the virtue with, and in this way, he
really has a great virtue. Lower-ranking man never loses virtue from his
eyes, and in this way, he loses a virtue. -Lao Tzu
IV. To walk safely in a maze of human life man needs wisdom of
light and guidance of virtue. -Buddha
V. Purity creates wisdom, lust creates stinginess and ignorance
creates madness and darkness. -Bhagavad-Gita
VI. Our virtues and vices will rise from the same source. -Goethe
VII. Virtue is like health of soul, beauty and a good manner. -Plato
VIII. Virtue is the beauty of the soul and vices the deformity of the
soul. -Socrates
IX. A man who is not virtuous, can never be happy. -Epicurus
X. Great adepts always practice the highest virtues. -Blavatsky
XI. In human being, there can be no more truth than she’s got
grace. -Swedenborg
XII. Smile is a half virtue. -Eino Leino

The list could go on forever. Purpose of virtuous life in short is: glorification of
the thought life + purifying the feelings + awakening of intuition, which
together vitalizes material and the physical body until ultimate perfection. As a
by-product, it can really bring happiness and relief from ignorance.

Next analogies illustrate meditation exercises and the relationship with virtues.
As previously mentioned, meditation is traditionally divided into the three main
states that are:

1. Concentration -> Calculation of breath

2. Meditation -> Monitoring breath
3. Contemplation -> Being
Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings
By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

Each step may take years to achieve. Meditation is usually done in small time
and space. Often the problem is: how to the results of meditation or
contemplation may be moved to the presence in everyday life? Let’s assume
we are not living monastic life or in retreat. I think that MOMENT can be
extended to LIFE by exercising virtues. Let me show similar analogies here:

1. Concentration -> Electing one virtue as a theme of the day or

week and keeping it in mind
2. Meditation -> Going deeper into the virtue and retrieving
more information
3. Contemplation -> Being one with the virtue, becoming
virtuous

There are two different translations and usage for the word contemplation.
Here I use it as a third state of the process referring to Samadhi, but it can be
also interchanged with 2nd state so that contemplation comes the 2nd and
meditation the 3rd state.

Virtuous life changes all parts of the human essence and opens your senses
to see the truths, both psychological and invisible. An interesting view to the
implications of ethical life and the spiritual growth can be read from the book
The Esoteric school of Jesus by Pekka Ervast. It sheds light on the fivefold
guide spoken on the Sermon on the Mount, how implementing five ethical
instructions leads to the wisdom. Temperlessness, purity, swearlessness,
unoffeding of the evil and love are a special blend of old traditional virtues, but
also a modern or should we call new age virtues. This part of the teachings of
Ervast was greatly influenced by Leo Tolstoy.

When MOMENT becomes LIFE, there is still one analog to go, where LIFE
becomes WAY. WAY refers to initiation path where a chain of human lives
perfects, mankind’s goal will be achieved, the individual will create a new
body, “better rod from the old one” by editing a bit of an old Finnish dictum.
Since the ordination of these issues will go more to talk about category of
invisible realities, I will confine myself to just quoting Pekka Ervast, what he
said in a lecture about the initiation path in 1926:
Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings
By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

This way, we can briefly describe that initiation is a kind of

threefold mystery. The first man will be received in some
brotherhood. Second, the initiation is a certificate and the
stamp that the knowledge was obtained, and thirdly that
consciousness is expanded and the expansion of
consciousness will continue.

This raises a specific question about the

nature of the truth: is it obtainable alone by
ones own merits? When we need assistance
from the others, either brethren or higher
facets that already has found the truth?

I leave that question open and finally want to

present the musical structure of my album
that presents the truth seeker path through
the elements and principles by cultivating
corresponding virtues. It is certainly not
intended to provide any absolute equivalence
between elements and virtues, but rather showing the naturally arising
associations on my mind, which are nice to meditate on everyday life.

# Track Element
1 Myrrh Intro to elements
2 Patience Earth
3 Purity Fire
4 Courage Water
5 Gratitude Air
6 Respect Emptiness, void
7 Truthfulness Intro to principles
8 Wisdom Manas
9 Devotion Buddhi
10 Leniency Aatma
1. extra couple of
11 Beauty / Joy
virtues
Virtue of truthfulness – described by thoughts and strings
By: Marko Manninen, November 2009

Generosity / 2. extra couple of

12
Surrender virtues

(The End)

Please see also these informative websites of science of virtues:

http://scienceofvirtues.org
http://arete.uchicago.edu

And my article about virtues in business:

48 virtues for business and joyful life