“…patience is not something a person does, but something he refrains from doing.”
Here’s how I see it. Through the etymology of patience, a somewhat different meaning is arrived at. From “patio” - to suffer, to bear, to remain in a state of pain - patience is endurance. It’s the ability to - against discomfort of some sort - sustain a certain activity, or lack thereof, in view of a later-to-come good. As such, it stems from a skillful intuitive orientation in time, able to expand the now, and to infuse with awareness time-scales larger than the instinctive now-scale, dimensioned to the temporal order of magnitude of our vorstellungen - thought-pictures. So I agree it’s more similar to floating than to thrashing in the time flow, in the sense that patience demonstrates an ability to extend the instant, now-like, intuitive grasp of the process of reality to portions of its flow that are larger than the instinctive ones.
With zero patience, the soul is condemned to drifting instinctively and without any resistance - thus amorally - in complete submission to the necessity of instinctive desire and pleasure. Conversely, with patience, the soul is allowed to strike a virtuous balance through time, between set goals and opposing temptations, continuously manifesting throughout the flow. The intuitive grasp can seize larger and larger time-scales. Therefore I would say that patience, like courage, expresses a definite posture of the will, taken against giving in to short-term, vain pleasure, for the attainment of a good further ahead.
For example, consistent study and work to pass an examination can’t be successful exclusively on grounds of determination and focus, pointed to the prospect of getting a pass. If patience is absent, vector-like determination alone fails, because the soul traverses a manifold, voluminous (not vector-like) flow of becoming that incessantly challenges it from all sides, with all sorts of distracting thought-pictures (desires, feelings, sensations) and patience is needed to endure these constant pressure and wisely keep the temptations at bay, so that determination can have a chance to lead the will to its objective.
Perhaps it can be said that, in the strategy of virtuous becoming, patience is like the cavalry units on the sides, covering the thrust of the legion in the center, without which the legion would be decimated by the enemy.
You may be right, but the fact remains that the presence of real patience feels like nothing at all, and is recognized by the absence of ordinary tensions and anticipations. I can simulate how I would act from that state through willful suppression of these tensions and anticipations, but this is exactly the distinction I was trying to draw.
This is true. We work to achieve real patience by willful suppression of tension and anticipation which can feel like an inner battle. Yet once patience is actually achieved, it's as if something flat lined inside of us. In this way, patience can feel more like a loss than a victory at times. However, we still gain strength.
interesting perspective. since i always value the origin of words, i can only see patience as 'knowing how to suffer', but having said that, the key really is in the knowing as much as in the suffering. the indifferent isn't patient, he's just numb.
I don't think we disagree, John. As I said in the footnote, I'm not really interested in haggling over the definition of virtue and whether a given thing is a virtue or not will of course hinge on the definition of the term. All things considered, I would probably hold to Aristotle's definition as the golden mean between excess and deficiency. But Aristotle's definition did not allow me to convey the point and the experience I wanted to illustrate in this case. Temperamentally, impatience is probably my cardinal sin so I have been working with it for a long time and I have observed that patience, when it is attained, manifests as an absence and not a presence.
“…patience is not something a person does, but something he refrains from doing.”
Here’s how I see it. Through the etymology of patience, a somewhat different meaning is arrived at. From “patio” - to suffer, to bear, to remain in a state of pain - patience is endurance. It’s the ability to - against discomfort of some sort - sustain a certain activity, or lack thereof, in view of a later-to-come good. As such, it stems from a skillful intuitive orientation in time, able to expand the now, and to infuse with awareness time-scales larger than the instinctive now-scale, dimensioned to the temporal order of magnitude of our vorstellungen - thought-pictures. So I agree it’s more similar to floating than to thrashing in the time flow, in the sense that patience demonstrates an ability to extend the instant, now-like, intuitive grasp of the process of reality to portions of its flow that are larger than the instinctive ones.
With zero patience, the soul is condemned to drifting instinctively and without any resistance - thus amorally - in complete submission to the necessity of instinctive desire and pleasure. Conversely, with patience, the soul is allowed to strike a virtuous balance through time, between set goals and opposing temptations, continuously manifesting throughout the flow. The intuitive grasp can seize larger and larger time-scales. Therefore I would say that patience, like courage, expresses a definite posture of the will, taken against giving in to short-term, vain pleasure, for the attainment of a good further ahead.
For example, consistent study and work to pass an examination can’t be successful exclusively on grounds of determination and focus, pointed to the prospect of getting a pass. If patience is absent, vector-like determination alone fails, because the soul traverses a manifold, voluminous (not vector-like) flow of becoming that incessantly challenges it from all sides, with all sorts of distracting thought-pictures (desires, feelings, sensations) and patience is needed to endure these constant pressure and wisely keep the temptations at bay, so that determination can have a chance to lead the will to its objective.
Perhaps it can be said that, in the strategy of virtuous becoming, patience is like the cavalry units on the sides, covering the thrust of the legion in the center, without which the legion would be decimated by the enemy.
You may be right, but the fact remains that the presence of real patience feels like nothing at all, and is recognized by the absence of ordinary tensions and anticipations. I can simulate how I would act from that state through willful suppression of these tensions and anticipations, but this is exactly the distinction I was trying to draw.
This is true. We work to achieve real patience by willful suppression of tension and anticipation which can feel like an inner battle. Yet once patience is actually achieved, it's as if something flat lined inside of us. In this way, patience can feel more like a loss than a victory at times. However, we still gain strength.
interesting perspective. since i always value the origin of words, i can only see patience as 'knowing how to suffer', but having said that, the key really is in the knowing as much as in the suffering. the indifferent isn't patient, he's just numb.
very well said, thank you
Interesting question, Max
I didn't find an explicit definition of "virtue" however
But I thought I discerned your examples being "active" -- are virtues "active" for you?
I had thought of "virtue" as something that creates capacity in the soul
Courage not the bold action but the overcoming of fear -- an exercise of that capacity
Same for the other virtues you mention: temperance, prudence, faith, kindness
Temperance overcoming appetite
Prudence overcoming impulse
Faith overcoming skepsis
Kindness overcoming irritability and/or aversion
For me, patience overcome reactivity
Hillel, was it, knowing he was being played with, would not be reactive, kept his patience
For the Romans, virtues made them strong
Nice thinking about all this
I don't think we disagree, John. As I said in the footnote, I'm not really interested in haggling over the definition of virtue and whether a given thing is a virtue or not will of course hinge on the definition of the term. All things considered, I would probably hold to Aristotle's definition as the golden mean between excess and deficiency. But Aristotle's definition did not allow me to convey the point and the experience I wanted to illustrate in this case. Temperamentally, impatience is probably my cardinal sin so I have been working with it for a long time and I have observed that patience, when it is attained, manifests as an absence and not a presence.