Ordo Amoris

While reading a biography of C.S. Lewis, I ran across something that he wrote about St. Augustine and virtue. St. Augustine defines the idea of virtue as ordo amoris, or the proper condition of one's emotions and desires "in which every object is accorded that kind of degree of love which is appropriate to it." In other words, virtue is to love and desire everything at an appropriate and healthy level in accordance with it's actual value and worth.

that's good. and difficult. all at the same time.felt

That's a big leap, right? How does one evaluate the proper worth and value of something, and then how does one measure what level of love or affection is appropriate to the worth ascribed to the object (Object in this context can be anything i.e. person, place, thing, idea, feeling, philosophy, etc.). But throughout philosophy and history, there is this sense that some things are worthy of praise and honor and to be highly valued. Aristotle and Plato thought that the purpose of educating children should be to teach them what is good and bad, right and wrong.

so it's not a Christian notion. or religious notion. it's an idea that has been constant throughout history. some attributes or characteristics of people have been thought to be more noble or more desirable than others. certain characteristics of object have been thought to be more valuable, useful, etc. and of course there have been changes depending on the context and time period.

Aristotle said that virtue is the middle point between deficiency and excess of a certain characteristic. He used this is the context of the virtuous characteristics that are found in individuals. But we can apply this to certain items as well. For example, when looking for a material to build tall buildings, the characteristic of strength would be considered one that is very important. Depending on the height, some pliability is also needed in order for it to not stand too rigid in high winds. These same characteristics when discussing a wedding cake are not needed in the same proportion nor to be valued at the same level as compared to steel.

what I mean by all of this is quite simple.

Oftentimes, we put a much higher value on things that what their intrinsic worth is. And a much higher value on characteristics of people and things than what is appropriate.

Who or what have you overvalued in your life? What do you see in other people that you overvalue? Who or what have you undervalued in your life? What do you see in other people that you undervalue?

Just some questions...