Being Virtuous

Greetings everyone. Today, I would like to share with you an issue that I have focused on intensely for the last 6 months. I think the most meaningful pursuit of man is a virtue.

Virtue is the state of man’s moral orientation towards good and reaching spiritual perfection. Virtue is the concept that a person should seek and achieve most in this life. I reached this consciousness when I acquired the Stoic philosophy.

There are many factors in our lives that make life meaningful. Our family, the people we love, the materials we have, and most importantly, our faith makes life meaningful. To open the concept of belief, it is necessary to evaluate our worldview and world truths together with a religious belief.

While social norms define being a virtuous person as being truthful, helpful, valiant and wise, although I agree with most of them, I think that the phenomenon of virtue should be determined by one’s own experiences and truths.

The following point should be emphasised here. One can define the virtues in one’s own life. For example, if we talk about Islamic virtues, no one can put adultery in it. Because Islam is a body of belief and clearly sees adultery as an evil. Likewise, if we are going to talk about hedonistic virtues, patience for the sake of a belief can never be a hedonistic virtue.

A person acquires certain beliefs by being influenced by his family, his experiences, and what he reads and watches. For me, it may be Stoicism, theism, or nationalism, while for others it may be communism etc. (You can be apolitical, of course, I’m just saying this for an example.)

These virtues also change over time, but at the age of 25–30, the values and character that people believe in begin to settle. Of course, an 80-year-old person can find the Buddha, the Jesus old by Christians or Mohammed change his life, but when we look at sociological studies, we see that these rates are very low. Mostly, people adapt to the environment in which they were born and live a similar life under different conditions until the end of their lives.

Now that we have defined virtue and reviewed what our virtues might be, let’s talk about being virtuous. Being virtuous is living in accordance with the values of virtue you believe in. One of the best examples of this is that a Muslim can live a life of faith free from sins.

For me, being a good software guy, staying away from things that will affect my sports life, going to sports regularly, always being honest with people, ensuring that my family and especially my brother live a good life are my life virtues, and every effort I make for these are factors that increase me to be a virtuous person.

Virtues are parallel to your goals at one point. After you discover and determine your life virtues, you shape your life goals. Being virtuous therefore requires discipline and sacrifice.

But be sure that every effort you make for your own virtues, and every price you pay will make you happier in the long run. Although some of my virtues have changed over time, I do not regret the price I paid for my old virtues. I want to remind you that we are together on this path that you will take to find your own virtues and reach them.