Physical Health & Moral Virtue
Most Catholics do not associate physical health and moral virtue. This is a large part of the virtue of Temperance. I think part of the reason we don’t make this connection is that it has been commandeered by New Age movements such as Yoga. A very large part is also that we don’t make the connections of
- The integration between our body and our soul
- The role of virtue in shaping our character
- The translation of self-discipline in one area of life to self-discipline in all areas of life.
The Integration Between our Body and Our Spirit
Temperance is a moral virtue exactly because there is no separation between our body and our spirit. Whenever I ask Catholics why God gave us a body, I hear answers like, “to house our soul.” I don’t think most people who give this kind of answer are consciously coming from a life philosophy that separates the body from the soul. I just think there’s a lot of ignorance out there about what it means to be human.
The body is not a container for the soul. This perception of the human body assumes that it is disposable. We use it on earth, but it’s not really important. Once we die we leave our bodies and our spirits go to Heaven without the need to be incarnated. In essence, this would mean that we become angels. You hear this a lot too, don’t you? Somebody dies and we say things like, “They’re our angels in Heaven!”
The truth about human nature is that we are an integration of body and soul. Our body and soul are united in one nature. In fact the separation of our body and our spirit is the very definition of death. It’s not natural to us. The greatest tragedy of death is that it rips asunder the human person. The glory of our salvation includes the resurrection and perfection of our bodies. In heaven our bodies and our spirits will eventually be reunited and we will be made whole.
In this life we need to live this integration even when it’s not obvious to us. Temperance helps us to remember and honor our full human nature.
The Role of Moral Virtue in Shaping Our Character
It’s exactly because of this integration that temperance and taking care of our bodies can actually affect our entire character.
I learned this personally when I finally decided to take control of my health. I started eating right and exercising every day. As I write this, I’m still at the beginning of this experiment. I’ve lost six pounds. But more importantly, I am strengthening my character and becoming a better person. You see, as long as I was making the choice to commit myself in the area of physical health I decided I might as well make commitments in other areas as well.
Taking care of your body is part of your spirituality – there is no separation between the body and the spirit
The Translation of Self-Discipline in One Area of Life to Self-Discipline in All Areas of Life
And this is a great secret of the Cardinal Virtues. Choosing to apply the cardinal virtues in one area of your life will strengthen you to apply them to other areas. So, I decided to apply self-discipline to my time management. Here’s what I’m discovering. I stink at time management. I always have. But as I grow in self-discipline with diet and exercise, I am getting better and better at disciplining myself with my time. So, right now I’m writing this article and doing nothing else until it is done. I am writing this article as part of a content creation plan that I sat down and put together for you. Whereas before I’d sit in front of a blank screen and ask, “What should I write about now,” I disciplined myself to create a plan for what I will write for the next six months. My time management is not perfect yet, but I’m already 2-3 times more productive than I used to be.
And the great thing about using our physical health as the beginning point for developing self-discipline is that it is so concrete! Exercise doesn’t come easy for me. Diet is really hard for my entire family. We all love our chips, bread and ice cream. But I can feel my effort when I diet and exercise. I concretely know when I am on track and when I’m drifting. And I can see the results on the scale and (eventually, I hope) in my body. Time management is a lot less concrete. So it’s not a good place to start training myself in self-discipline.
Are you following me? Can you see how taking control of your physical health can make you a more disciplined, directed, focused person? Can you see how embracing physical goodness can lead to spiritual goodness? Taking control of your health is a direct application of the virtue of temperance. Developing the moral virtue of temperance in one area of your life will lead to self-discipline in other areas of your life. And this frees you to be more prudent – to focus your life on getting the greatest possible good.
Is that awesome or what!
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Virtue lies in the middle between the extremes of excess and defect. The mean is not measured by material standards; it is not mediocrity. Rather, it must correspond to the spiritual values of the dignity and the exalted goal of the human life. Thus, the conditions of life or a special purpose may call for a stricter standard. Fasting, for example, demands that we temporarily renounce the necessary quantity of food and drink to do penance or to attain to the dominion over the soul’s lower faculties. And holy chastity demands from those not married perfect continence.Man’s most basic needs, physically speaking, deal with nourishment and the conservation of the human race. Temperance helps man regulate and integrate the pleasure of food and drink in such a way that one does not deviate from right reason, from self-dominion or from the service of God. Temperance helps restrain and regulate the sexual drive, so that it always serves the common good of humanity, whether by its proper use within marriage or by its virtuous renunciation for those not married, be they single or consecrated persons. The right measure of the cardinal virtue of temperance need not be sought in the least common denominator. Temperance does not demand that we live on bread and water, nor that we limit ourselves merely to the bare essentials. If this were true, temperance would not be a virtue of the middle, of moderation, but tend radically to an extreme. Such a defective position smacks of a certain Manichean rejection of the true goodness of the body together with its proportionate pleasures.
Virtue lies in the middle between the extremes of excess and defect. The mean is not measured by material standards; it is not mediocrity. Rather, it must correspond to the spiritual values of the dignity and the exalted goal of the human life. Thus, the conditions of life or a special purpose may call for a stricter standard. Fasting, for example, demands that we temporarily renounce the necessary quantity of food and drink to do penance or to attain to the dominion over the soul’s lower faculties. And holy chastity demands from those not married perfect continence.Man’s most basic needs, physically speaking, deal with nourishment and the conservation of the human race. Temperance helps man regulate and integrate the pleasure of food and drink in such a way that one does not deviate from right reason, from self-dominion or from the service of God. Temperance helps restrain and regulate the sexual drive, so that it always serves the common good of humanity, whether by its proper use within marriage or by its virtuous renunciation for those not married, be they single or consecrated persons. The right measure of the cardinal virtue of temperance need not be sought in the least common denominator. Temperance does not demand that we live on bread and water, nor that we limit ourselves merely to the bare essentials. If this were true, temperance would not be a virtue of the middle, of moderation, but tend radically to an extreme. Such a defective position smacks of a certain Manichean rejection of the true goodness of the body together with its proportionate pleasures.
Sheena you are absolutely correct! I hope you did not see anything Manichean in what I wrote in this post.
Sheena you are absolutely correct! I hope you did not see anything Manichean in what I wrote in this post.