Virtue: Moderation
The Dedicant Handbook defines moderation as follows: “Cultivating one's appetites so that one is neither a slave to them nor driven to ill health (mental or physical), through excess or deficiency.” Collins English dictionary breaks down the definition into three parts:
“1. a moderating, or bringing within bounds, 2. avoidance of excesses or extremes, 3. absence of violence; calmness.”
Exercise 1: Who and What Is Moderate? When I think of moderate people, I tend to think of politics. Moderates are people who can see and understand both sides of an issue and believe both have some merits. They balance the needs and desires of people across the spectrum of people they govern. Moderate politicians are hard to find nowadays but I have seen a few local congressional representatives who campaign for cross-party platforms and sincerely hope to tame the political discourse.
Exercise 2: Examining Definitions: The Dedicant Handbook definition seems concise but maybe it is a bit too short to cover the span of what moderation entails. Collins dictionary does not focus on food but incorporates the “bringing within bounds,” and “calmness” to the definition. Moderation spans across many subjects and clearly involves bounds that one should seek. A better definition for our purposes might be “cultivating one’s appetites and behaviors to bring and keep them within bounds. Avoiding extremes and balancing needs and wants against desires of excess or deficiency.”
Exercise 3: Seeking the Mythology and History: It seems easier to find examples of those lacking moderation than those who are moderating their behavior through history. I always believed my parents displayed great moderation in my discipline. They tried to give me some freedoms and limits, and the punishment was designed to teach and not just penalize. I can think of a USAF officer who was greatly moderate in his decisions when others might have gone extremely to either side. The moderate leader tends to garner respect from those he or she leads in my experience.
Exercise 4: The Virtue and the Self: Like everyone, I have expressed both moderate behavior and extreme behavior. Most commonly, I can recall feasts in which I have overeaten and failed to moderate my indulgence. I can also think of times my reactions to other drivers were not moderate when they should have been. Occasionally I can get quite irate when someone negligently threatens the safety of my family. On the other hand, I found my political activities and stances quite moderate as I seek to balance what people want and need on both sides of the debates.
Exercise 5: Your Understanding of the Virtue: Moderation is a virtue worthy of special mention. Every behavior a person exhibits needs to be analyzed and balanced against extremes. Very rarely does any extreme produce good results. Whether food and drink, or politics and war, a person needs to look at all angles and solutions to choose a solution with moderation in mind. Moderation is a virtue, especially when one’s actions can be unhealthy for one’s self or others’. As a society, we need to seek moderation in order to main good order and peace.
Dumezil understood that most people were producers and those who focus on nourishment. Moderation is important to all of the functions Dumezil recognized but the producer function would cease being productive if they routinely failed at being moderate. Their jobs required a focus on fertility and harvests, goods and services, and providing the needs of the community. Failure to moderate would have disruptive effects on life and could even cause the collapse of the society if it was significant enough.
Works Cited
https://www.adf.org/members/training/dp/dp-manual-web/index.html
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/moderation