A beacon of Virtue - a new era of Virtue

A beacon of Virtue ... a new era of Virtue

A beacon of Virtue ... A new era of Virtue

[September 20th 2022]

The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II celebrated a life devoted to virtue, duty and service. Indeed Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II redefined the meaning of duty and at the same time demonstrated to entire world the value / importance of living a life of service ... as Andy Street [Mayor, West Midlands] so eloquently made clear, and highlighted in my post on the day of the Queen's passing, we thank Her Majesty from the bottom of our hearts for a her long and virtuous life and a life dedicated to service ...

Looking forward, upholding Her Majesty the Queen's dutiful dedication to Virtue is in my humble opinion now our collective responsibility to ensure the beacon of light/hope Queen Elizabeth II so majestically provided continues to shine brightly in Her Majesty's honor.

Virtue has been the fundamental bedrock/foundations of ethical teaching, spirituality, philosophy and psychology across the globe and for thousands of years. For instance, Aristotle's teachings from more than 2000 years ago [e.g. Nicomachean Ethics] defined virtue and the practical manifestation, embodiment and demonstration of Virtue. Aristotle, in his work on Ethics, actively moving away from a world contemplating about good living ... to a world aimed at creating good living.

And Aristotle is renowned for many many more things too, including his practical work in 'Politics', which similarly aims at people becoming 'good'. Ethics is about how individuals should best live, while the study of politics is from the perspective of a law-giver, looking at the 'good of a whole community'.

As a point of language it's an insightful footnote that the term 'Politics' is derived from Aristotle's work and from the Greek term 'Polis' ('city-states', 'affairs of cities' i.e. administrative and religious centre / city / state) ... and that when referring to ethics, virtue and well-being, Aristotle also refers to 'Eudaimonia', another Greek Term (with no perfect/direct translation into English), best referred to as 'human flourishing' and, most meaningfully, 'the highest form of good'.

We will talk about this a lot more in the future ... as today we remember, and offer our thanks to, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for shining a light and showing us the way ...

David Clift, Founder of the Good Turns Foundation