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On virtue, vice, and being in accordance with Nature

accordance


What is virtue? A will which is in accordance with Nature, externally & internally.
What is vice? A will which is not in accordance with Nature.
What is happiness? To continually fulfill one’s potentialities in accordance with Nature.*

*(A reference both to Nietzschean and to Stoic philosophy… further, it is: “virtue in the Renaissance sense, virtu, virtue free of moral acid,” as Nietzsche writes ).

What can cause Nature to be in a state of discord with itself? Nothing. There can merely arise the perception of a state of disharmony. Certainly in a practical sense there arises a need for discrimination, and the virtue of this discrimination is in its ability to find the cause of discord and make the necessary changes to bring the organism back to a state of being “in accordance with Nature, externally & internally.”

Although no true discord can occur in the eyes of Nature, a man may perceive discord in Nature, external or internal, and the very perception of this discord is evidence of the need of compensation. Although Nature knows no discord, man is but a facet of Nature and therefore needs to redress balance as is suited to his particular nature. Though Nature sees no discord in the disturbance of water, it is the Nature of this water to react to this disturbance and ripple outwards – the water “perceives” discord and accordingly redresses the balance in terms of its own nature. Therefore if man perceives discord and a means to reestablish harmony, let him bring his nature back into accord with Nature.

Further, this harmony is not static but ever-changing. The will must therefore be a continual dynamism just as one would keep one's balance on a bicycle by constant interchange of complementary forces on either pedal. This continual interplay results in a steady forward motion, even as happiness is "to continually fulfill one’s potentialities in accordance with Nature."

* * *

"In our holiest Book it is written: 'Thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay.' Write it also in your heart and in your brain: for this is the key of the whole matter. Here Nature herself be your preacher: for in every phenomenon of force and motion doth she proclaim aloud this truth."
-Aleister Crowley, "De Lege Libellum
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