What is the Virtue you Respect Most?

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Admittedly I'm not coming at this from a religious direction but rather a philosophic and experiential one.

I have to put integrity at the top of the list because, as far as I can tell, its the queen of virtues. What I mean by that is any virtue you gain without integrity tends to be brittle and circumstantial. Integrity (ie. the quality to which you're self-integrated, which takes and involves as well as evolves/refines honesty, desire for truth whether convenient or inconvenient, etc.) is in a place where most of the other virtues are a pretty close jump and most just find themselves within its broadening domain.

So yeah, for practical intents and purposes I see integrity as the gateway drug to the rest of the virtues.

While I certainly agree, I think many virtues, such as honesty, honor, or generosity more or less all fit under the umbrella of integrity. I didn't mean to undermine your point by the way, integrity is after all the innate basis of pretty much all virtue, just wanted to point it out!

Oh Snap! Just looked at the last sentence which explains everything I've already stated. Well guess that serves me right for not reading ahead... just ignore that previous paragraph then.

And I'm so happy that someone agrees!



Wow, that seems like something I could only hope to experience in full. I think I can somewhat relate to it, however. Have you ever perhaps watched Cosmos by Neil deGrasse Tyson? The only reason I ask is because that "pale blue dot" thing reminds me of its finale. One of the only times I can remember experiencing anything like that Overview effect is when watching that series. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in science, space, and the existential questions involved with both.



It's so sickening isn't it? And yet it happens time and time again. Anyways, I totally agree with that and everything else stated following it. It seems as if all humans, and I'm not totally exempt from this either, have a primal need to separate people between US vs. THEM, when it is the best to realize that we should all be US, and no differences between us should be gigantic enough to change that. I feel that the most noble thing a man can do is to try their very best to weaken that gap between us and them, to bring people together instead of fervently trying to tear us apart, to focus on that which makes us all alike and truly human rather than those thin lines that separate us.

Most valued: self reliance

Most respected: wisdom

One who is self reliant will become humble and then wise.

Be aware that self reliance is decidedly not selfishness, humility has little to do with self effacement or meekness, and wisdom has little to do with knowledge or intelligence.

I was going to make a longer post, then I decided to leave it to your self reliance to fill in the blanks.

I haven't watched the entire "Cosmos" series... I presume what you're referring to is a speech by Carl Sagan called "Pale Blue Dot", and I have seen that speech, and it was amazing... I couldn't have a clear conscious without recommending you another amazing and moving speech, that will produce another existential crisis. That would be Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator Speech. Look it up on youtube by that name! Or you can find it if you simply type in "The Greatest Speech of All Time".



I agree, it is sickening... And I completely agree with your sentiment, I feel that the most noble thing a man can do is to try their very best to weaken that gap between us and them, to bring people together instead of fervently trying to tear us apart. Just out of curiosity, in your opinion, what could somebody do to do just that? I'd definitely like to help with mitigating that problem in this life, and am wondering where to start. Of course, I have my own ideas, but I'd like to hear yours. Thanks in advance for the reply

Yep! I'm glad you know of it, truly a life changing speech, and I have also just watched that speech you mentioned by Charlie Chaplin. Dang, I have to thank you for recommending it, its message, to stand in the way of intolerance and foster progression, kindness, and reason is something I dare say anyone who values humanity should stand behind.



Why I shall thank you instead for providing a mutually interesting conversation! Indeed just the thing I wished for when first posting on these forums. Anyways, that question is certainly complex, but after mulling over it for the better part of a day, I think I will be able to form a suitable answer, if perhaps an incredibly rambling and overly grandiose one, sorry in advance! The solution, to unite instead of divide, on an individual basis of course, is simply to think more, especially about what you believe in. Something I find useful to do is to write off in my head those immaterial things that are most important to you, day and night, to remind you of why you continue to live on, why you get up out of bed each morning. For me, it is Honor, Truth, Open-mindedness, and, on a more personal note, To Experience Emotion and Beauty. Then simply do whatever you feel is right, and live by those values which you hold dear. It strikes me that the easiest course of action is almost never that which is most satisfying, and that which you truly think back on as right. So set goals, learn from your faults, try your best to act the same, virtuous, no matter what social situation you may come across, and simply live through life happily and experience the brilliance of the human condition. Now, I can guess your puzzlement since I seemingly just explained why and how you should live life rather than the question I originally set out to answer. That was somewhat deliberate. After much thought it simply seems that the best one can do to weaken that gap between us and them is simply to be a good person and to stand for what you believe in, to be able to analyze yourself and your mistakes, and then to be able to alter how you live your very own life in order to better fit your views. For if you can do that, then you can also learn to outpace those base urges and primal instincts that is the cause of so much division and suffering among humankind. I certainly cannot do the things that I speak of in full yet, I fear and doubt and take the easy path often still, but I can hope to learn, and to try.

P.S.: Yep, my predictions were most definitely correct. Well I hope at least that proves as an answer to your question, and I hope that any others who read this may find it somewhat useful.