Developing Your Character and Morality (Virtues for Self-Mastery)

How does one develop character? 

As you become more self-aware, it is natural to find more awareness of what we like and don’t like about ourselves. I think one of the central purposes of this life is to evolve and develop self-mastery. There are many virtue systems out there to study, but perhaps one of the most universally familiar is to look at the example of Christ. Christ was supposed to embody perfection, and therefore all of the desirable attributes of character and self-mastery. We can refer to these virtues as Christ-like Attributes. Some might also refer to these as Victorian values. In fact, they are universal character values which are recognized and touched upon in many religions and philosophies. I consider them a good foundational starting point. 


They include virtues such as: 

  • Hope (A perfect brightness)

  • Faith

  • Charity (Brotherly Kindness or Pure, Altruistic Love)

  • Virtue (Purity, Truthfulness)

  • Knowledge

  • Patience

  • Humility (Meekness is not weakness)

  • Diligence

  • Obedience

  • Temperance

  • Godliness


On the flip side of each of these virtues, is a competing vice: 

  • Fear

  • Doubt

  • Apathy (Senselessness/ Disconnect/ Selfishness)

  • Corruption

  • Ignorance

  • Intolerance

  • Pride

  • Sloth

  • Rebellion

  • Over-indulgence

  • Baseness


There is a scripture I am fond of in the New Testament, which reflects on the connective nature of vices to virtues. It reads:

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”  (1 John 4:18)

The point I would like to underscore is that no two incompatible (or conflicting) things can truly occupy the same space. This applies to physical objects and physical space, but it also applies to mental, emotional and spiritual (energy) things and space. Of course, they can be in close proximity and in conflict, such as, one can feel the battle of love versus hate. But, it’s pretty much impossible to feel both love and apathy at the same time. This is because love and apathy are pretty mutually exclusive, as in, one cancels the other out. The virtues and vices I’ve listed are ones which I believe (to the best of my limited understanding) are antonyms or antidotes to each other:  

  • hope versus fear

  • faith versus doubt

  • love versus apathy

  • meekness versus stiffneckedness

  • diligence versus sloth

  • purity versus corruption

  • knowledge versus ignorance

  • patience versus intolerance

  • obedience versus pridefulness

  • temperance versus over-indulgence

  • and godliness versus baseness. 


By understanding this relationship, we can then choose to invest in the appropriate antidote for whatever vices we may struggle with. And we will learn the important truth that it is not in eliminating the negative that we grow, but instead in replacing it with the positive. Have you ever tried to just simply stop a bad habit? It’s hard. It seems like the more you try to eliminate it, the more you can’t stop focusing on it. That’s why many self-help enthusiasts proclaim that the best way to overcome a bad habit is to replace it with a good one. It is truly so much easier to focus on something positive than on something negative. 


Perhaps if we consider the physics of light, this might make even more sense. When you walk into a dark room, you don’t try to banish the darkness directly. Instead, you turn on a light and the light fills the room. Positive and negative forces and energy work much the same. Positive forces fill us and negative forces empty us. So, the best way to eliminate darkness in the soul, is also to “turn on a light”. Love is healing, and loving ourselves and filling ourselves with goodness and light is how we become strong enough to conquer any weakness; not by hating ourselves for the weakness. 


We’ll study in more depth and discuss how to attain and work on these virtues later, but first, we need to prepare ourselves to recognize and accept our vices.


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