VIRTUE — Leads to Thriving

“Truth leads to virtue, which leads to happiness.”
— Aristotle

Agriculture has given us time to stay put and build civilization. Industry has amplified our power to make things which both improve our quality of life and threaten our very existence. Computers, the Internet, and now AI optimize efficiency and give us access to most of the informational knowledge and computational power of all human history.

None of these vast improvements can ultimately make our lives more peaceful, more secure, and more happy, unless we use our organic consciousness — our brain antenna connected to our metaphysical mind, tapping the infinite potential of the unified field — to clarify for ourselves the difference between right and wrong in how we treat life and each other.

Every story told by a campfire, every poem or play, every puppet show, novel, short story and film, presents a quest for virtue. We enter into a story and immediately search for actions with integrity, for heroes with a moral compass with whom we can identify and from whom we can learn how to be better, more effective, more loving human beings.

As I grew into adulthood, I learned that I would inherit some money from my grandparents. Not a huge amount, but enough that if I managed it carefully, I could choose quite freely what I wanted to do with my life. I came to realize that one of the most valuable things that this money could buy me was the time that most people don’t have to really explore what is in the way of human thriving and what we can do about it.

In prior films and blogs, I have extensively explored the corruption and deception that has taken over our civilization, and to which only recently vast numbers of people are beginning to awaken. I have written a lot about the dire human need for a Universal Morality, and about the Non-Aggression Principle as the only serious candidate for that compass. At the core of the human drama is our pull toward virtuous individuals and ultimately toward becoming more and more virtuous ourselves.

This is the quest by which we can inform AI to operate ethically and to monitor itself for ethical flaws. The logic, the intuition, and the behavior of virtue is probably the most powerful force in the conscious universe, only after survival, procreation and protection of our loved ones.

So what is this mysterious quality or condition we call “virtue?”

Dictionary.com tells us that virtue is:

1. moral excellence; goodness; righteousness.
   Antonyms:
   vice
2. conformity of one’s life and conduct to moral and ethical principles; uprightness; rectitude.
   Synonyms:
   integrity, probity

Philosopher Stefan Molyneux declares that “Love is the involuntary response to virtue… if you are virtuous.”

I suggest virtue is first and foremost, initiating no harm to our self or others. Secondly, it is the protection of our sovereignty, our loved ones, the truth and responsible freedom for all.

Think of one of your favorite heroes in a novel, movie or TV series. Are they not the one with the most courage to stand up for what is true and what is right? Are they not the one most likely to risk their status, their resources, and even their life to stand up to evil — which I define as “the conscious violation of the non-aggression principle”?

Think of a time in your life when you were faced with such a challenge and did not rise to it. What did it feel like? What did you learn?

Now think of a time when you had another challenge to your character and conviction, and you did take a stand for your sense of what was true, clear, fair and free.

Once while traveling with my head of security, Billy Taylor, who is as close to a genuine James Bond hero as I’ve ever encountered, I asked him, “Billy, what’s your moral code? When your gut conflicts with laws, orders, or the group, what do you do?”

Billy is a man a few words, who simply gave me a deep look with knowing, shining eyes, and said, “I just do what’s right.” Billy’s dedication to protecting the innocent — from civilians in Viet Nam, to victims of Wounded Knee, the KKK, Karen Silkwood and many more — including Kimberly and me — gives whole new meaning to the often misunderstood term “righteous.”

The Non-Aggression Principle calls out assault, theft, rape, and murder as core violations from which we are justified to protect ourselves and others — even with violence if necessary. Fraud fits well in that category as well, because it is simply covert theft. I find it very useful to distinguish between this code of core moral protection — and another category that I refer to as “values.” These are qualities that we can admire, encourage and strive for… but not coerce others into. Examples are generosity, punctuality, sense of humor, gratitude, compassion, and friendliness. These are desirable qualities of an excellent human being, but they are secondary derivatives of the core virtues of “tell the truth,” “don’t hit,” “don’t steal.”

Finally, think of who you most like to spend time with, who you would most like to have with you by your deathbed, who you would trust most to represent you in your absence…

My guess is that people who came to mind for you tend to look you straight in the eye, express themselves authentically, even when they disagree with you, and truly listen from who they are to who you truly are… which, at our core, is virtue.

What Virtue Is

• Fundamentally: Refraining from initiating force, except in self-defense.
• Secondarily: Voluntarily sharing care, compassion, resources and wisdom with other beings. Protecting oneself and others from aggression whenever possible.

What Virtue Isn’t

• Hiring people (government) to take other people’s money against their will (taxation) and using it for one’s own special interests.
• Kidnapping other people’s sons and daughters (conscription, draft) and sending them to steal other people’s resources (war).
• DEI / Affirmative Action (racism).
• Deceptive UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) that intend to impose communist totalitarianism under the guise of the “good of the whole.”
• Assassinating innocents: JFK, MLK, RFK, Charlie Kirk, killing of African leaders who refused to inflict mandatory toxic COVID vaccines, etc.
• “Virtue-signaling” support for censorship, lockdowns, confiscation of private property, genocide, etc.

To me it’s a sign of a benevolent universe that the most caring and virtuous treatment of others is, in the long run, what builds trusting relationships, strong businesses, and sustainable civilizations.

If humanity survives our current self-created threats to our own existence, I believe it will be because we learn to organize our lives and our communities not around the myth of authority with its kings, dictators, presidents and premieres, claiming the right to rule over the rest of us… but around the first moral principle of existence itself — that we each own ourselves and the fruits of our labors, and have no right to violate the person or property of another. With this we can transcend force and align with the true power of life itself. Then we can thrive as a planetary family and be welcomed into a cosmic community of caring.

Please share your insights and inquiries about virtue in the comments below…