I've had some excellent conversations with @dflo regarding The Virtue Circle and I applaud her for approaching the issue with maturity, grace and peace. She raised an excellent point which I had not considered when choosing the name for "The Virtue Circle".
The word 'virtue' has been used for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years to justify violence against others in the name of righteousness. As a result, words like virtue and righteousness take on a negative connotation and portray violent meanings.
This brings up a core issue that I think we all must confront and George Orwell talked about it brilliantly in his book '1984' when he used terms like 'newspeak' and 'doublethink'. In that book he raised the issue where doublespeak can flip the meanings of words and he demonstrated that when he wrote; war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength.
1949 original book cover
There are people on this planet that work hard to flip the meanings of words so that they can control and manipulate others. The feudal system has done the same when they tell us that their job is to maintain the peace. What kind of peace specifically? Freedom from civil commotion; public order and security OR are they talking about freedom from disturbances, perturbations, quiet, tranquility?
The state is interested in public order and they will use violence and coercion to obtain that order. THAT IS NOT PEACE!!! The church has engaged in murder, conquest and genocide, all in the name of righteousness and virtue. THEIR ACTIONS DO NOT REFLECT VIRTUE OR RIGHTEOUSNESS. We must stop accepting the doublespeak and use words that accurately describe their actions.
So why do people use positive words to mask evil acts? Is it possible that people need to do that to justify their evil actions? Perhaps it is an attempt to hoodwink others to get their support. I believe that people are fundamentally good and the only way to work around our inherent goodness is to engage in doublespeak and lie to ourselves and others in order to justify evil and violent actions. Otherwise, we must confront our own guilt and shame! What ever the reasons, we need to engage some critical thinking and not let those who engage in this doublespeak manipulate or control us through their words.
We witness people going to war to protect others or their interests. They justify it because it is righteous! Bull shit! This is not an act of virtue or righteousness, it is an act of war. There is no glory or virtue in that action! It is murder, theft and violence.
The feudal state actually interprets the word 'peace' as: to be silent, keep silence. After all, that is what people who were commanded to be obedient should be doing. Words in the English language has many meanings and it is up to us to ask questions to clarify what the author REALLY meant when they use specific words.
"When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom." Confucius
We have a lot of work to do in order to erase all the trauma, misconceptions, lies and deceit that has been used over the last few thousand generations, especially through the colonization process. Our actions define what we are doing, not our words. It is up to us to find the correct words to describe our actions and not lie to ourselves by finding words to cover it all up. We need to be blunt and call a spade a spade!
War is war. Peace is peace. Slavery is slavery. Freedom is freedom. Ignorance is ignorance. Strength is Strength. George Orwell was trying to warn us in his book that he wrote in 1949.
By using the word 'virtue' in the 'The Virtue Circle', I am attempting to set a standard of behaviour and it is up to each individual to meet or exceed that standard of virtue if they want to participate with this movement. To be clear, virtue is defined as:
Virtue: 2. Conformity of life and conduct with the principles of morality; voluntary observance of the recognized moral laws or standards of right conduct. - Oxford Unabridged Dictionary (1958)
Moral: 1. Of or pertaining to character or disposition; of or pertaining to the distinction between right and wrong, or good and evil, in relation to actions volition, or character; ethical. - Oxford Unabridged Dictionary (1958)
While we may have impressions of what words mean, we cannot trust that others are using them in the proper way. As such, it is our duty to build a healthy relationship with our words so that we can express ourselves properly in our communication with other people. The state, violent offenders and even the church have been engaged in doublespeak for far too long. We cannot trust any words that they say. We must see their actions, not their words. Actions speak louder than words.
There are a lot of liars out there and it is our duty to call them on their lies. They love doublespeak and use it constantly. I bring these ideas to my blog as this is a critical component to freedom and prosperity. When dealing with the state and corporations, this is a constant battle trying to figure out what they are REALLY saying. Words are now a weapon as well and it is our duty to disarm them and hold them accountable to their actions. Doublespeak is a forked tongue language used to manipulate and control people. Time for that language to become extinct.
If you wonder why I use the words 'violence', 'coercion' and 'force' so often, it is because I don't fall for doublespeak any more. I don't want to lie to myself or others. Uncomfortable as it may be, it is what I see and only by being honest with ourselves will we turn the tide and find true peace and freedom, not the lies we have been sold.
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