Welcome to my ”Nine Noble Virtues” series here on Steemit. Today the virtue we will be discussing is ”honor” and to me, it is the most important virtue of them all. Honor is the foundation of all virtues and within itself, your honor will last long after you have left from this world.
One example I like to use when explaining honor is that it is similar to acquiring XP the same as you would in a role-playing game. Honor is the sum of our acts and deeds while we progress through our lives. When we do good, when we make the right choices, or when we fulfill our oaths our honor is increased. If you happen to believe in reincarnation, you can think of it as each time you respawn you bring with you the good and bad acts from your past life, the more honor you have the more XP you respawn with.
Now that I have that out of the way, let me talk about honor in this life, and how we can live every day honorably. There are many many aspects to the virtue of honor, but for now I am going to mainly focus on making oaths. In this way, honor ties in a lot with truth and you can check out my truth post here.
You may not realize it, but we make oaths very often in life. We promise to arrive at a certain time, we promise to complete a task, we swear to begin a healthy habit (or abstain from a bad one), we promise to remain loyal and faithful to our spouses for life, we may sign a contract to obtain credit or purchase property, and the list goes on and on.
Each and every time an oath is successfully completed, or adhered to, we gain a little more honor (a little more XP), the more difficult the oath (the quest) the more honor that is gained. The same goes for when an oath is broken. For the greater violations the more honor that is lost, or the more dishonor you will have. For example, if you break an oath to your spouse and leave her you can bet that the dishonor of your actions is going to affect you in a major way, similar to eastern traditions of karma. I am sure you know what it feels like to be dishonorable, it is not a good feeling.
No one is keeping track of your honor however, this is a part of you, and you carry it through life inside of yourself. Whether you feel ashamed or not, each time you commit a dishonorable act you become more detached from your world and those around you. You are out of balance and one way or another, you will pay for it. The good news is that you have the power within YOURSELF to be a more honorable person (no middle eastern God needed).
Honor is a powerful and amazing virtue as it defines the way we live and the way we are perceived, by ourselves and by others. If we live honorable lives we can be certain that our children will strive to be honorble, and their children, and so on. Even if you don't believe in reincarnation, I promise you that the honorable life you have lived will survive long after you are gone surviving through your descendants and their actions.
Please do not be mistaken. There is no dishonor in being proud of your accomplishments in life. It is healthy to take pride in your victories and to share them with others.
Therefore, I am asking you what oaths have you honored? Was there one that was particularly difficult? How did you feel once the oath was honored or how do you feel continuing to honor that oath?
Let's not focus on the negatives today I'm sure everyone knows the shame and disappointment of breaking an oath. Let's take a moment today to be proud of our accomplishments.
My most sacred oath is to that of my wife. Each day I try to remind myself of the vows that I made to her and I am so proud to honor them. We are a family now with three children and I know I will never abandon them and no matter how difficult the circumstances are I will never dishonor them. I am my wife’s husband and my children's father. That, I will always be.
”Cattle die, kinsmen die, all men are mortal. Words of praise will never perish, nor a noble name.” -Hávamál
Thanks for reading and looking forward to your response!
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I appreciate your generosity.
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Howdy sir badger! This is a very good teaching and explanation on honor. I think most of the younger generations aren't familiar with the term and what it means. Not all of them but a good portion of them and it should be taught. The nine virtues should be required teaching in schools too. Oh, my marriage is what I've been honored to uphold and the vows within.
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Somehow the teaching has been lost along the way. My father taught me many characteristics of honor, but I think most of it I picked up along the way. Maybe that's how it should be parents plant the seeds children nurture the sprout.
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Altough honor and truthfulness is not the same but it will go hand in hand. You need to be truthful to honor your word or being honored. Actually all these 9 virtues are interlinked to each other and you cannot have one if you are lacking other.
I remember one of the story from iliad by homer in which before the birth of Achilles ,it was asked whether they have their son having long life with no virtuous deed or a short life with virtuous deeds. Parents choose the virtuous life. Even the life was short but impact is long lasting.
We all should preserve our honor and oath.
Thanks for writing on these qualities.
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Very well said! That's for stopping by and reading my post!
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Honour and integrity are such important values and I can see those who try to stick to it often get tested and its not easy to hold onto your values in times of indecency especially when it comes to interactions online.
I give respect to those who value honour above all
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Yes it is proving ever more difficult. But I hope that new generations will once again embrace an honorable lifestyle.
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To me honor is something you owe yourself. You can hind most things from most people. You can run away from a lot of things. But the one person you can't escape from and the one person you can't lie to is your own self. I think that's where the honor matters the most. When you are all alone you can be terrified of the things you have done or be extremely proud. Whichever it is, it's all yours and you are always going to carry it.
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I couldn't have said it better myself 😏 there is always the discussion of sacrificing ones honor to save those they love. That in itself can be honorable! But everything we do we must come to terms with it. Every action there is a reaction.
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While reading your post I had to think all the time that there can be a lot of wrong decisions in a person's life because of false honor. Everyone has probably a different idea what is honorable. I think there especially of religiously / radically motivated people.
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Yes, I think many people believe their ideology is righteous therefore honorable even though it's not. It can be very complex. I just try to honor my family in my actions. They deserve it 😏
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Wow thank you!!! yesterday i was talking about honor with my work mates, turns out that i get late to work and stay more time after work, working, and some of my work mates ask me why! if the company will not pay my work day why should i stay.
So i told them "Cause its a debt of honor" and its better to fullfill that, feels good for me. But they laught at told me that im crazy, so i think that my generation lost that greater Virtue.
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My only, and also most sacred oath is also to my wife.
None of the recent Presidents of the US, nor even the Queen of England have taken valid oaths!
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If they honored their oaths, as we do the world would look quite different!
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Last week- truth
This week- honor
My view on honor is that honor is a characteristics of your behavior or it is determined by your behaviour, attitudes and all about one self.
You can create a bad or good honor depending on your behaviour.
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I agree! Thank you for reading!
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Thanks.
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Excelent post brother. Honor is evrything
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Thank you very much!
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Often a lost art in this day and age.
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I hope more people will return to an honorable life. Honor never dies.
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I really like the comparison to honor being similar to acquiring XP as in a role-playing game. Its what you do that defines you.
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Time for us to ”level up” 😂
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