“It was about this time I conceived
a bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection. I wished to live without committing any fault
at any time. I would conquer all that
either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into. As I knew, or thought I knew what was right
or wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the
other. But I soon found out that I had
undertaken a task more difficult than I could imagine. While my care was employed in guarding
against one fault, I was often surprised by another.
Habit took the advantage of
inattention, inclination was sometimes too strong for reason. I concluded at length that the mere
speculative conviction, that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was
not sufficient to prevent our slipping.
And that contrary habits must be broken and good ones acquired and
established before we can have any dependence on a steady uniform rectitude of
conduct. For this purpose I then
contrived the following method…” (An Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin)
One of the free
aps available for a smart phone is “LibriVox”, which provides audio books read
by volunteers as a service to LibriVox users.
Most of the free books are old, available through the public
domain. My son Paul directed me to LibriVox
over Thanksgiving and I set out to download a few books including An
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin quoted above.
Ben
Franklin was not a believer by the standard of believers. Ben Franklin believed in God, but did not
belong to a denomination and disdained the “dogma” he found in the few churches
he attended. Nevertheless, he believed
in God and even proposed a statement of faith, which he thought could be universally
adopted by all denominations of the Christian faith.
“There is one God Who made all
things. He governs the world by His
providence. He ought to be worshiped by
adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving, but the most acceptable service of God is
doing good to our fellow man. The soul
is immortal and God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here
or hereafter.”
Although not a believer, Franklin espoused many of
the principles of belief, including the certainty that God will reward virtue and punishment vice. To this
end, Franklin thought it was beneficial to pursue virtue and that moral perfection
was possible in his own life.
Franklin quickly
found out that intellectual reasoning about moral perfection was insufficient
to gain measurable results, i.e., the Greek approach was not sufficient. “I concluded at length that the mere
speculative conviction, that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was
not sufficient to prevent our slipping.”
In Franklin’s life, as in our lives, “Habit took the advantage of
inattention, and inclination was sometimes too strong for reason.”
After his
initial failure, Franklin determined to employ a more structured approach. He developed a list of thirteen areas, which
he referred to as “virtues”, that he hoped to address singularly. Franklin defined these virtues as:
(1) Temperance: Eat not to dullness, drink not to
elevation. (2) Silence: Speak only of what might benefit others or
yourself. Avoid trifling
conversation. (3) Order: Let all your
things have their place. Let each part of your business have its time. (4) Resolution: Resolve
to perform what you ought. Perform
without fail what you resolve. (5) Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or
yourself, i.e., waste nothing.(6) Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut
off all unnecessary actions. (7) Sincerity: Use no hurtful
deceit. Think innocently and justly. If you speak, speak accordingly. (8) Justice: Do no wrong by doing injuries or omitting the
benefits that are your duty. (9) Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forbear presenting injury so
much as you think they deserve. (10) Cleanliness: Tolerate no
uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation. (11) Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles or accidents common
or unavoidable. (12) Chastity.(13) Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
Franklin began by dedicating one week to each
virtue for thirteen consecutive weeks and then repeated the process four times each
year. Each day began with a remembrance
of the virtue in focus, while each day concluded with an assessment of
successes and failures to correct in the coming days. Franklin recorded his shortcomings on a board
with seven columns corresponding to the seven days, and thirteen rows
corresponding to the thirteen virtues. To
encourage this endeavor, Franklin formulated the following prayer to daily solicit
the assistance of God, which he affixed to his examination table.
“Oh powerful goodness, Bountiful
Father, Merciful guide. Increase in me
that wisdom which discovers my truest interest.
Strengthen my resolution to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children
as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me.”
Whether
Franklin gained his approach from his extensive reading or simply stumbled onto
his strategy, is not offered. His
endeavor closely paralleled the Jewish Mussar movement that occurred a century
later. The Hebrew term “musar” is taken
from Proverbs 1:2, “To know wisdom and instruction (musar), to discern
the sayings of understanding.” The
most common translation of “musar” is “discipline”, as in “My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD” (Prov 3:11), as Paul spoke to the
Corinthians,
“I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached
to others, I myself will not be disqualified,” (1 Cor 9:27).
Musar is a structured approach to break down and
minimize our bad habits, while elevating the good habits we are called to
perform. From the believer’s
perspective, it is a technique to enable a believer, “To walk in the same manner as He (Jesus) walked,” (1 John 2:6).
As we would
expect, Franklin found his faults much greater than he expected, Yet, he did
not give up on his effort. Franklin
started the process sometime in his thirties and continued throughout his
entire life. At the end of his life, he
recorded the following.
“On the whole I never arrived at the
perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it. Yet, I was by the endeavor, a better and
happier man, than I otherwise should have been if I not attempted it. As those who aim at perfect writing by
imitating the engraved copies. Though
they never reach the wished for excellence of those copies, their hand is
mended by the endeavor.”
To this end, Franklin offered a parable about his
efforts, as a common depiction of the persons who chose a
path of improvement as he had chosen.
“After frequent relapses, I was
almost ready to give up the attempt and content myself with my faults. Like the man who in buying an ax from the
blacksmith desired to have the whole of its surfaces bright as the edge. The smith consented to grind it bright for
him if he would turn the wheel. He
turned while the smith pressed the broad face of the ax hard and heavily on the
stone, which made the turning of it very fatiguing. The man came every now and then from the
wheel to see how the work was going. At
length, the man would take the ax as it was without further grinding. “No,” says the smith. “Turn on and turn on. We will have it bright by and by. As yet, it is only speckled.” “Yes,” says the man. “But I think I like a speckled ax the
best.” And I believe this may have been
the case with many who employed such means as I employed and found the
difficulty of obtaining good and breaking bad habits in points of vice and
virtue and have given up the struggle and concluded that a speckled ax is best…After
all, a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself to keep his friends in
countenance.”
By his own reckoning, Franklin never achieved the
perfection he desired. Yet, Franklin saw
benefit in the struggle, “I was by the endeavor, a better and happier
man”.
Believers
are called to a similar struggle to “discipline
my body and make it my slave.” In
our endeavor, we are given one great advantage over Franklin. Believers have the Spirit who enables us to
walk in obedience just as Jesus walked, as it is written,
“I
will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will
be careful to observe My commandments.” (Ezek 36:27)
Hi From Austin = Scott
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