Virtue vs. Vice | Themes (Part 4.3)

Feb 6

This is part 4 of the series “The Place Where Conviction and Insecurity Collide”. See original post here.

COLLISION: Themes

Virtue vs. Vice

With no mention to his naming, Book 3 greatly plays with the Freudian assertion that humans are merely animals trying to resist their baser impulses.

The statistics seemingly support Freud’s claim, along with those who preach it in his stead. During the last year, 22% of males and 17% of females used illegal drugs or misused prescriptions. Sadder, 50% of people 12yrs or older have admitted to using illegal substances at least once. Overall, Americans are seeing a year-over-year usership increase of 3.8%. That’s just the drugs. Not any other destructive vice.

10% of the population self-admits to having a sex addiction, for example. Not surprising, considering that 1 in 5 browser searches pertain to pornography, which is being watched by 28,258 users every single second. A hefty pay day for the industry, which rakes in $97 billion per year. The average child being exposed to their product at the age of 12.

Even the writing of this blog can be abused…as 210 million people suffer from addiction to social media and the internet, Americans comprising the largest data set per capita. With 86% of people utilizing apps like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok daily, it’s no wonder users experience up to a 66% increase in major symptoms of depression and a 20% rise in anxiety. The social media impact on mental health appears to be roughly double the magnitude of what is experienced by someone who loses their job. We are a ubiquitously worrisome people. Unable to feel happiness as readily, we’ve all but robbed our dopamine receptors. And we are not okay.

But we only want our vices that much more.

So why are we like this? Why do we hurt ourselves for momentary, and superficial, gain?

Ira would tell you that no pleasure is superficial when it leaves a big enough dent in one’s pocketbook. Yet sobriety might agree more with C.S. Lewis’ explanation in that we, as humans, “are far too easily pleased.”

We’ve all seen the marshmallow experiment. The one where kids are sat in a room and told that if they wait, they’ll get two treats instead of the one placed directly before them. As expected, the majority of children cannot wait. They eat the single marshmallow. And it all sounds a bit silly, but those children eventually grow up. They become leaders, lovers, and laymen. Like our beloved libertine, Ira Hastings, they become people who live for the here and now.

But the here and now is just that…it’s focused on right now.

We need more than one marshmallow to build a future. The Quadren requires all their marshmallows to win a war.

Luscia, Zaethan, and even Dmitri have to wrestle with their demons—those vices, those immediate hits of satisfaction—to drive Orynthia toward the dawn. They need principle. They need grit, yes. Yet more than anything, they need self-control. The one who cannot govern himself is the easiest to imprison. In indulging every impulse, he isn’t free, but a slave. The Quadren needs free thinkers, not slaves to the present—to the lone marshmallow shining up from their temporary plates. They cannot live for today. Were that the case, Orynthia forgoes its tomorrow.

Thus each character has something they must give up. In order to shift their opposing perspectives to the long-term, they must develop impulse control. This wrestle manifests inside each character differently. Even to the opposite extreme, for during the figure’s flashbacks in Book 3, we get to see how a lack of self-control poisoned him, even as he satiated himself on what he loved most.

According to a recent study, unlike grit, self-control is rated among the least prevalent of 24 character strengths by adults across 54 nations.

It’s our weakest quality. We choose vice almost every time. More alarming is in the panoramic, when stepping back we admit that vice embodies a multitude of mediums. Vice can take the form of greed; pride; selfishness; envy; anger; and so on. Vice, essentially, is gratification, gain, or release without responsibility. Be it something hedonistic or something more culturally accepted, such as indulging in road rage while stuck in traffic. Not all addictions are chemical. Some are of the soul.

Addictions are rampant nonetheless.

In line with the previous theme, this is the danger of identifying with our impulses. When we try to master them, when we reject the vice, it’s as if we are rejecting our very being. That’s a false dilemma. We are not what we crave. Though for better or worse, we become whatever we choose.

The good news is that there’s another option. Virtue can be chosen as well.

“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”
~Aristotle

The even better news? Virtue is good for us. Those who exhibit self control report to being remarkably happier, enjoy better health, and the most amazing fruit of all: they develop greater tolerance to their vices.

Freud was wrong. We are not animals because animals cannot reason. They cannot tell themselves “no”. But Luscia can. So can Zaeth. The adventure lies in what they will choose to say “yes” to instead.

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