Virtues don’t develop in a vacuum.
Living the virtuous lifestyle means being a positive force in the world.
You’ll see that this week as we concentrate on the virtue of generosity (also known as liberality.)
Generosity, or liberality, is the mean when it comes to wealth, which is defined as anything that has its value measured by money.
The excesses and defects are prodigality (wasteful spending, lavishness, extravagance) and meanness (being stingy).
Being mean or stingy is bad when it comes to money because it shows you’re putting more emphasis on wealth than you should.
But being wasteful is even worse because it combines several vices (like self-indulgence, which we tried to combat last week).
Many young university-educated liberally-minded people have a narrow, even immature, view of money. They believe this worn-out Bible quote:
Money is the root of all evil.
It’s a shame that the worn-out version is misquoted.
Take a look at the passage from 1 Timothy 6:10 and you’ll see the quote actually says this:
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
It’s not money itself that is evil.
But the love of money is what leads one into temptation.
Love of money means you place too much emphasis on wealth and will lead to the vices – hoarding money, being stingy, or splashing out unnecessarily as a way of showing off or over-indulging.
I can’t understand why so many who identify as liberal wouldn’t see the value of money.
Look at the etymology of the word.
Liberal means the quality of spending or giving freely.
It has roots in the Old French ‘liberalité’, which means generosity.
And liberality or generosity is the virtue we’re concentrating on this week.
Capitalism has its flaws but it gives you the freedom to amass as much money as you want.
The virtuous man or woman who has great riches is a powerful force for good in the world.
Aristotle says this:
things that have a use may be used either well or badly; and riches are a useful thing; and everything is used best by the man who has the virtue concerned with it; riches, therefore, will be used best by the man who has the virtue concerned with wealth; and this is the liberal man.
You are a liberal person when you “give to the right people, the right amounts, and at the right time”.
You give for the sake of noble reasons, you give righteously, and you give with pleasure or without pain.
After the first two weeks following this virtue program, you’re beginning to see a pattern.
If you’re temperate, you crave the things you should, as you should, when you should.
If you’re liberal or generous, you give to the right people, the right amount, and at the right time.
The virtue of generosity really hammers home the fact that action is king.
You can’t be generous just by having generous thoughts.
You have to actually give to people.
The art comes in with figuring out who you’re supposed to give to, how much you’re supposed to give, and when you’re supposed to give.
Just because you give to one person doesn’t mean you’re generous.
We’re not aiming to give indiscriminately here.
You absolutely can give to the wrong people.
The action of giving itself is not enough.
Even if you give to the right person, if you give for some ulterior motive, you are not generous.
Your acts of giving must be detached from any other desired outcome.
For example, one who gives in the hope that they will be repaid in kind cannot be said to be generous.
One who gives because they believe it will help them get ahead in the world cannot be said to be generous (I’d consider that conniving and manipulative, not generous).
Think of the man who turns up to a first date with flowers. Why do we find him repulsive?
Because he’s trying to give in order to receive. And we all know what he wants to receive.
Compare that to the man who buys his wife flowers randomly one day. Not because he’s done something wrong and wants to make amends. Not because it’s Valentine’s Day or her birthday and he’s expected to give something. Not because he’s looking to get on later that evening. But just because he loves her, is grateful for her in his life, and believes it’s the right time to express that.
The liberal man “will refrain from giving to anybody and everybody, that he may have something to give to the right people, at the right time, and where it is noble to do so”.
If you give to anybody and everybody, you spread yourself way too thin.
When it comes to giving to those who you really should be giving too, you won’t be able to do it justice.
Liberality as a virtue is also not just concerned with giving to the right sources. The liberal person is also concerned with taking from the right sources.
no more will the liberal man take from wrong sources; for such taking is not characteristic of the man who sets no store by wealth. Nor will he be a ready asker; for it is not characteristic of a man who confers benefits to accept them lightly. But he will take from the right sources, e.g. from his own possessions, not as something noble but as a necessity, that he may have something to give.
There is such a thing as dirty money.
Some of the most giving people cannot be said to be generous because they are taking from the wrong sources.
Think of how giving gangsters are with their money.
It’s a lot easier to be giving when the money’s not yours or you have so much of it because it’s been ill-gotten through drugs and prostitution.
And taking money knowingly from these people is a vice too.
You could try to rationalise it and say that the money’s going to be spent anyway so you might as well take it, but that’s a rationalisation for indulging in vice.
Now maybe you’re thinking you don’t have that much to give.
Maybe you’re struggling to pay rent month-to-month.
Maybe you’re working two jobs and have tons of student debt.
Maybe a tragedy in your life has left you hurting financially.
It doesn’t matter what your situation is, you can still acquire the virtue of generosity or liberality.
Aristotle has this to say:
The term ‘liberality’ is used relatively to a man’s substance; for liberality resides not in the multitude of the gifts but in the state of character of the giver, and this is relative to the giver’s substance. There is therefore nothing to prevent the man who gives less from being the more liberal man, if he has less to give.
This is a philosophy to guide your life and has been taught as a lesson in all the major religious traditions.
Remember the Bible parable of the widow’s offering?
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.
Liberality or generosity is relative to what you have.
There are virtues that are difficult to attain for those with less wealth (such as magnificence, which we’ll address next week), but generosity is not one of them.
We all have the capacity to be generous right now.
the liberal man will both give and spend the right amounts and on the right objects, alike in small things and in great, and that with pleasure; he will also take the right amounts and from the right sources.
Liberality comes down to making your money the right way and spending it the right way.
Don’t be wasteful.
Don’t be stingy.
And give with pleasure or at least without pain.
Now let’s get into the virtue assignment for this week.
Virtue Assignment for Liberality:
THIS WEEK:
– You are going to track what you spend to make sure you’re not being lavish and also to get a handle on where your expenses are at.
What gets measured gets tracked.
Each day fire up your notes app and track everything you spend – put them in categories (you can also use spreadsheets or online tools like Mint) that are broken down into essentials, food, gifts, etc.
– Have a gift-giving budget.
Tracking what you spend will also show you what you can cut out.
These virtues work in harmony.
You want to be less indulgent, so maybe you can cut out those candy bars you buy during your lunch break.
If you save a few bucks a week on that, what would your monthly gift giving budget look like?
We’re not talking huge gifts here, but you might be able to spare even $50 per month to give small gifts to those who are important to you.
Gifts can be anything from a random protein shake for your buddy, a single flower for your wife, a new pen for your brother.
It’s the thought that counts and everyone’s gifts will be proportionate to what they can spend.
Aim to empty your gift-giving budget each month. That money is there to be given away.
If you want to do charity too, do so. Have some change on you that you aim to give to homeless or other charities.
– Also have people in mind that regularly get gifts.
You’ll have a list of people who are the “right people” to give to.
Make it a habit to let people know they’ve got a surprise coming and deliver it to them next time you see them, but also experiment with springing gifts or surprises on people.
– Develop rituals of giving.
For example, get your girlfriend flowers every week – it’s a weekly act of giving and generosity!
Or if you don’t normally cook for your family, make them a meal weekly – or have extended family members that you invite to cook for on a weekly or monthly basis.
– Brainstorm nice things you can do for people – acts of giving that don’t cost money.
Come up with 10 ideas a day every day of this week.
By the end of the week you’ll have 70 ideas of how to be more generous.
Really stretch yourself, but each idea doesn’t have to be perfect.
Following the 80/20 rule, 14 of these ideas will be really good viable ideas that people will appreciate.
Each day, circle one and make sure you do it. Plan these in advance too.
– Make sure you are “taking from the right sources”.
That means, if you’re in a shitty industry you might need to rethink your career or company.
It might also mean that you figure out you’ve been coasting at work and just turning up for the paycheck – how can you really deliver value to the company so your receiving their money is correct?
– And, as with the previous weeks, make sure you use your wristband to monitor when you’re being stingy or wasteful.
And make sure you keep up your daily journaling habit.
READING HOMEWORK:
Next week, we’re learning about the virtue of magnificence.