[ordinaryguy]

A lot of what's posted on these boards is devoted to assigning blame for vices that we committ. But sometimes, we actually practice and embody some truly great virtues. When we do that, who (if anyone) deserves credit for it?

[excon]

Hello:

Virtues, me?? Bwa, ha ha ha.

I'm not wonderful when I give good advice, and I'm not to blame when I give bad advice. I just type. Someone likes it - or doesn't. I don't give it any more thought than that.

excon

[RubyPitbull]

LOL OG. Isn't it human nature to blame others for our own faults/defects/actions that have a negative effect, but when we do something good/virtuous, we are the first one's in line to blow our own horns?

[magprob]

The charity that hastens to proclaim its good deeds, ceases to be charity, and is only pride and ostentation.
William Hutton

[magprob]

The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.
G. K. Chesterton

[ordinaryguy]

LOL OG. Isn't it human nature to blame others for our own faults/defects/actions that have a negative effect, but when we do something good/virtuous, we are the first one's in line to blow our own horns?

The charity that hastens to proclaim its good deeds, ceases to be charity, and is only pride and ostentation.
William Hutton

Sure, ostentatiously proclaiming our own "virtue" is a vice (pride), but I'm talking about real virtue. Can we, within ourselves, honestly take any credit for it? Or should we give God, our parents, or the tooth fairy at least part of the credit? What exactly is this "credit" we're taking and giving, anyway?

I posted the question here before I saw this piece about recent research suggesting that virtue is hardwired in our brain like hunger and sex. If it holds up, this conclusion seems like bad news for the doctrine of original sin. I'm not sure what we'd do without it.

A couple of excerpts:

The results were showing that when the volunteers placed the interests of others before their own, the generosity activated a primitive part of the brain that usually lights up in response to food or sex. Altruism, the experiment suggested, was not a superior moral faculty that suppresses basic selfish urges but rather was basic to the brain, hard-wired and pleasurable.

The research enterprise has been viewed with interest by philosophers and theologians, but already some worry that it raises troubling questions. Reducing morality and immorality to brain chemistry -- rather than free will -- might diminish the importance of personal responsibility. Even more important, some wonder whether the very idea of morality is somehow degraded if it turns out to be just another evolutionary tool that nature uses to help species survive and propagate.

He said his research has found that people all over the world process moral questions in the same way, suggesting that moral thinking is intrinsic to the human brain, rather than a product of culture. It may be useful to think about morality much like language, in that its basic features are hard-wired, Hauser said. Different cultures and religions build on that framework in much the way children in different cultures learn different languages using the same neural machinery.

[magprob]

Saint Francis of Assisi, who said, "For it is in giving that we receive."
In my own opinion, and keep in mind I am not trying to start an argument nor am I trying to push my beliefs onto anyone, there are natural laws in the universe, that are always in action. When we give, as Saint Francis said, we automatically receive. Be it a blessing from the Angels or from GOD or whatever, we are just naturally enriched within our spirit. It just feels good. There are people that react to that as if they were one of Pavlovs dogs and have to give and give and give but, even people locked up in prisons give to someone, sometime. Even if it is just a camel. They feel the same good feeling or blessing but just on a different level.
Most people that come here under the guise of needing "help" for a personal problem, probably already know the answer. There is another law of the universe that is always in action. That is the small voice deep within us all that will guide us... if we care to listen.
That is just my opinion and my opinion only. If you do not agree I don't care, just move along.