Too Much or Too Little

Virtue is the best application of the deep seated passions our souls experience. Each passion and the resulting actions will have extremes. Finding the target, this best application, takes a combination of practice and wisdom in the same way that hitting a target requires a marksman to join his natural talent with practice. Now there are some passions that we would prefer there to be as little as possible; things such as spite, being obnoxious or envious. Some actions are the same way. There is no extreme to being a murderer, an adulterer or a thief. To present these as having a good application is difficult if not impossible. Injustice, cowardly acts and obnoxious behavior are extremes themselves and so they are undesirable at any level. We can also say that discipline and courage are targets and don’t really have degrees by themselves.

But in all of this we still need to avoid judgment because each individual case and the facts surrounding it will vary. Conduct is a personal thing and the observer really never knows all of the facts. This study isn’t about finding fault but examining behaviors in general to give ourselves more understanding. We must avoid the tendency of applying this toward others without facts and also condemning ourselves. 

When we talk about fear, we consider courage the target. Extreme courage has no word for it. It would be like hitting the bull’s-eye’s bull’s-eye. But to have too much confidence is called rash and too little confidence is cowardly. When we talk about pleasures and pains we would call the target temperance and the excess self-indulgence. A person who doesn’t like pleasure is hard to find and we could call them insensible. Even a prude or dull person is after a pleasure that is different from the object they avoid.

This is where the fun begins as we sort passions and actions out according to the extremes and the right applications; When we talk about transactions with money, we consider a liberal person correct and the extreme to the defect as being a prodigal and stingy. A prodigal falls short because he gives out more than he takes in. A stingy person does the opposite and takes in without caring or giving. There are also other dispositions; A great man will have great means and treat a lot of people well as will a liberal man with less. (everyone can be liberal but not everyone has great means). But being great in this way can be spoiled if that person is tasteless and blows money or is vulgar and uses it to ruin himself and others. The deficiency of course would be abusive and selfish. These are different to prodigal or stingy states but we will study this further at a later time.

When we talk about honor, it is right to have proper pride in what we do. The excess would be vanity and the deficiency would be undue humility. Of course in application, we shouldn’t seek more honor than what we ought to. That is where details come in and we shouldn’t seek honor or get credit for things we have a small part in or have no talent. There are dispositions to this. Someone who goes above and beyond is considered ambitious while someone who neglects his gifts would be unambitious. A person who is diligent is considered the right application.

It is hard to get the proper words that describe the concepts mentioned and I hope these ones are working. If you get this, feel free to insert a word of your own…