Ten Virtues

Rational discussions on metaphysical and abstract topics.

What is the virtue you think you'd need to put more attention in?

Aspiration (spiritual Working)
2
6%
Loving-kindness
3
8%
Truthfulness
4
11%
Patience
5
14%
Creativity
4
11%
Self-discipline
4
11%
Courage
4
11%
Self-reflection
1
3%
Ability to know when there is need to invert a virtue
5
14%
Ability to know what virtue to emphasise in a situation
4
11%
 
Total votes: 36
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Nefastos
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Ten Virtues

Post by Nefastos »

I'd like to encourage discussion (or the reader's personal pondering) concerning the Ten Virtues model of the Star of Azazel. While all our brotherhood members are familiar with the Triple Key that consists of the three most important of these, the secondary and tertiary virtues are a new thing, and not often spoken. Finnish readers might know of them from Azazelin Avain page 174.

If you consider this set of ten virtues and see them meaningful in your work, what is the one in which you'd need to put special attention? Either in your life as a whole or right now in this phase of your occult working.

Since there are three grades present in this list (the first three and the last two belonging to different categories than the rest) you may choose up to three answers.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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Insanus
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Location: Helsinki

Re: Ten Virtues

Post by Insanus »

Lack of self-discipline is certainly my weakest point. I tend to be a quitter, way too critical of available possibilities and prone to "well if the solution is not perfect, there's no point in doing anything at all" - kind of lazy bias. It's some sort of defensive perfectionism.
Jumalan synnit ovat kourallinen hiekkaa ihmisen valtameressä
Angolmois

Re: Ten Virtues

Post by Angolmois »

I chose truthfulness, patience and the ability to know when to invert a virtue.

Truthfulness: I have a very bad tendency to slip out white lies now and then in a situation where there would be confrontation with someone - to escape the situation easier and to avoid conflict.

Patience: A virtue I need to practice daily. I have a tendency to haste.

Ability to know when to invert a virtue: I have a tendency to get stuck in some virtue and not look out for nuances in a practical situation.
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Cerastes
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Re: Ten Virtues

Post by Cerastes »

An interesting concept, especially the last two points.
I picked loving kindness because in the last weeks I had a lot of „I shouldn't have said that“ moments and I have the tendency to be a little rough with other people and also with myself. It’s not my intention to hurt anyone feelings but diplomacy is not exactly my strength and
biting my tongue for the sake of being kind feels dishonest. Therefore I'm trying to realize if the person next to me is sensitive by nature and be more considerate. Let's see if it works out.
“Granny Weatherwax was not lost. She wasn't the kind of person who ever became lost. It was just that, at the moment, while she knew exactly where SHE was, she didn't know the position of anywhere else.”
(Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters)
Wyrmfang
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Re: Ten Virtues

Post by Wyrmfang »

Loving-kindness is an obvious one. That´s something I recognize very well myself and what I often hear from others. It is something that simply needs to be consciously worked on constantly. I guess this kind of asperger type of temperament is fairly typical for people who naturally emphasize intellectual understanding and reflection.

I also chose courage, though I´m not that sure about it. Almost all of the worst choices in my life stem from something that seem like lack of courage, but when I have thought the issue more, I have a feeling that there has been some other confusion behind it instead of lack of courage per se.

First thought about aspiration too but I dropped it out. I have had for years the idea that it would be beneficial if I could activate a more explicitly spiritual and esoteric approach to life, but lately I have come to the conclusion that I would then lose what is relatively unique in my virtues, that is, the ability to mediate rational philosophy and esotericism.
obnoxion
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Re: Ten Virtues

Post by obnoxion »

I only chose one, truthfulness. It is a big one for me.

Despite certain openess, I am a very private person, always partly hidden. I have a natural aversion to violence, but I have lived in some very violent surroundings, which has thaught me to often resort to cunning. I still sometimes tell selfish lies when I feel overwhelmed by difficult circumstances.
One day of Brahma has 14 Indras; his life has 54 000 Indras. One day of Vishnu is the lifetime of Brahma. The lifetime of Vishnu is one day of Shiva.
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Smaragd
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Re: Ten Virtues

Post by Smaragd »

Reading your answers I started to wonder how much our choices to live in certain kind of environments, having certain kind of jobs etc. matters quite a bit because they create the challenges for certain virtues.

I was thinking about my patience which is almost too good, but then on certain kind of things it is almost inevitable I will loose it. Those situations are more likely to come from my challenges emphasizing some other virtue the situation would ask, and I’m not realizing it. And when I’m unable to emphasize the proper virtue for the situation, the pressure becomes so high that eventually my patience is gone and off goes the cork.

With both loving-kindness and courage I have some sort of half there situation going on. The former I’ve tried to find ways to incorporate in natural and flowing way without it being forced in a way that would contaminate for example truthfulness. Sometimes I find the way there, while other times I’m struggling. Courage I’ve had tons of considering how drenched in fear I’ve been, but the courage isn’t always strong enough to get me to the finish line. I have the courage to take up the challenges, but am often overwhelmed by the challenger.

The problems with loving-kindness are still quite calm and not as big a question as creativity to me, which I’ll instead pick as my third option. It is a thing that fascinates me alot and discussions on it here (for example the music topic) has been very interesting. I feel like it has been one of the most challenging and central things for almost my whole life. I’ve come far inspecting it and it feels like I have still a long road ahead. I’m always facing a mystery clearly when I’m at it and trying to find ways to do the things I’ve learned in a balanced way, but I’m often failing.
"Would to God that all the Lord's people were Prophets”, Numbers 11:29 as echoed by William Blake
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Polyhymnia
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Re: Ten Virtues

Post by Polyhymnia »

This was a difficult choice, since I feel I should put special attention into all of them. I ended up picking truthfulness, courage, and the ability to know when there is a need to invert a virtue.

I speak so many harmful non-truths to myself about my worth, and have for as long as I can remember, and I struggled between picking truthfulness or loving kindness for this very reason. But the non-truths I speak directly affect the amount of loving kindness I have for myself, so I felt truthfulness needed more attention. If truthfulness is the highest of spiritual obligations, I must first learn to be honest with myself.

I picked courage because many things make me afraid, and not always in ways that keep me safe.

Ability to know when there is need to invert a virtue because I am often quite manic, for lack of a better term, and get stuck in a certain way of applying myself to something. I, too, would benefit from looking for nuance.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
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Polyhymnia
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Re: Ten Virtues

Post by Polyhymnia »

Even now, upon my third reflection on this topic, I think I would change one of my answers to spiritual aspiration. I feel the pull with every fibre of my being to live a more spiritual life, but it just feels impossible at the moment to do so with my life situation.
"Limited love asks for possession of the beloved, but the unlimited asks only for itself." -Kahlil Gibran
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Nefastos
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Re: Ten Virtues

Post by Nefastos »

Thank you, it's great to hear about your thoughts!

Personally I chose the two last ones, the "meta-virtues", because those belong to a Graal grade I will be guiding when it has been installed, so I must learn to understand well how those processes work. It is so characteristical to me to put my emphasis on self-reflection and patience in many cases where it should be put to courage, for example. That creates a magic circle of self that can easily become a trap for one's energies.

The third choice of mine was a temporal one, and for that I chose creativity: right now I must learn to keep the balance of the Work even while trying to fly more freely than I have been able before. So it is creativity that has the air of courage under its wings. In the ethico-magical process, I take Creativity to mean the ability to not only think but also work & feel outside the box; an ability to make "weird" decisions when those are needed to keep the Work alive & beautiful. So it becomes quite a tantric virtue taken together with Courage.

Polyhymnia wrote: Sat Aug 08, 2020 8:53 amEven now, upon my third reflection on this topic, I think I would change one of my answers to spiritual aspiration.

I find it interesting that the two options that I think are the most fundamental to be able to even enter to the occult life, and which must be kept with one at every moment, had't been chosen at all: Aspiration & Self-reflection. But it must be that these are so vital and thus so used that we all have had some training in them already.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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