Cardinal Virtues: Temperance

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, temperance is moderation in one’s actions, thoughts, or feelings, or the implementation of restraining oneself. And this is also a virtue. Let’s take a deeper dive into this small word. 

The Catholic Education Resource Center (CERC) says that temperance is a virtue that teaches people how to act & act well. It teaches us how to how act from within ourselves. It further describes temperance as being a virtue bringing order to chaos, to our appetite, to our emotions, our behaviors. It describes it as consuming what we need, taking life & its glorious & greatest pleasures in moderation. 

Stoicism also teaches about temperance. They embrace the ideology of self-control. As a result of practicing and implementing self-control, one is able to live in or strive for a life of balance. Both Catholicism and Stoicism remind me of what Confucius taught about when he taught mindfulness & self-control. He emphasized the idea of living life simply and that no extremes in life should be indulged or carried to excess. 

Living a modest life does not mean living in poverty or living without things in our lives. Living a life of temperance does not mean we cannot enjoy life or life has to be a glum lot. It means the opposite. It means that we can enjoy what we need in life. It means that in order to enjoy what we need in life, this also takes some work on our end. This idea of living a life of modesty means that we are to live a life of self-evaluation & self-regulation. Of course, this is not an overnight matter. 

My challenge to you is to live a life of modesty. Enjoy the things you need, but don’t overdo it. Too much good can be bad, & yet the opposite is true – too much bad can be good. 

Peace & love to all 

~ KO