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The Virtue? Consistency
The Virtue? Consistency
Consistency comes a little closer than relevance to being a real virtue, but not by much. It is associated with more typically virtuous characteristics such as reliability and trustworthiness. A thing about consistency is that its absence can be devastating. This has been nightmarishly depicted in movies ever since the original British psycho-thriller titled "Gaslight," based on a 1938 play of the same name. It seems to me that more and more films feature elements of this psychological strategy. I'm talking not just the outlandish, super-villain type of gaslighting, but its everyday cousin, committed by people who are supposed to know what's best for us and on whom we depend to keep us safe from harm.
The Real Expert Witnesses
My deep dive into the study of media literacy, which started in 2024 with an excellent introductory book titled "What the Fact!? Finding the Truth in all the Noise," by Dr. Seema Yasmin, taught me about the logical fallacy of the 'false authority' or 'fake expert.' The Grammarly page on logical fallacies describes this phenomenon well.
"The appeal to authority fallacy is the logical fallacy of saying a claim is true simply because an authority figure made it. This authority figure could be anyone: an instructor, a politician, a well-known academic, an author, or even an individual with experience related to the claim’s subject."
Source: Appeal to Authority Fallacy: Definition and Examples (grammarly.com)
The child growing up in the shelter of her family's love (if she's lucky to have at least one reliable parent or guardian) does well to heed the advice of her elders, but what happens when she is grown and needs to make decisions of her own? How does she learn to be consistent herself, when apparently credible sources around her are locked in an us-and-them battle with no truce in sight?
Could being be the key?
In the United States during the 60s and 70s, Buddhism and Eastern spirituality started to become popular in certain circles; "mindfulness" became a thing. I was introduced to a form of mindfulness in the 1990s. A Black married couple from South America (I forget which country, possibly Colombia) started giving free (or cheap) classes on Gnosticism. I persuaded a friend to accompany me.
One of the core concepts that stuck with me was the idea that it is possible to observe oneself. This idea has profound and very practical applications. As a budding writer (at the time, I was attending poetry workshops with the Trinidadian writer and columnist Wayne Brown), I was advised to observe other people and to write my stories or poems based on my observations of them. But, I found myself more interested in observing myself as I reacted to the actions of my friends and family. It was a powerful notion indeed that people (without physical coercion) are not capable of 'making' someone who is mindful do or say, or even FEEL something unwillingly. In this light, and with the foresight of knowing the fallacies we are subject to, it is possible to become your own expert witness.
This simple clue to being more in control of your emotions (and by extension, of your life itself) is grounded in a realization that 'you' are not your body or your mind (or even some combination of the two). Funnily, being mindful doesn't mean your mind is any more advanced or "pure" than anyone else's mind, at least to my personal understanding. It's more like a decoupling of the body-mind complex (as my mother would call the physical reality of a human being) from the source of being or the "mover" of that particular mind-body complex.
I think this is kind of what was being explored in the 2024 movie "Love Me," in which two AI entities (voiced and played by Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun) become human and have a romantic relationship. The following three testimonials to the movie, which appear in the trailer below, will give you an idea of what people thought about it.
Caption: "A joyful examination of the nature of consciousness and the meaning of life."
Caption: "Makes you consider your place in the universe."
Caption: "A multilayered love story about what humanity's legacy could be."
Back to what this has to do with consistency
I digressed! (Or did I?) What I am exploring here is the idea that the foundation of human consistency has to do with the essence of human beings, not their reactions to the changing circumstances of life. So it is that the Bible speaks of how chaff is blown away by the wind (see Psalm 1), and how someone who hears the Word of God is "like a wise man who built his house on the rock" (see Matthew 7).
Psalm 1:1-5 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
Matthew 7:24-27 Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
Close-up of a section of a wall hanging/installation/artwork at The Alexander Hotel in Indianapolis.
From Urgency to Harmony
In other words, actions and systems that last are those that are not 'reactionary' but consistent with spiritual standards. I believe those spiritual standards are, in some sense, inherent in us as spiritual beings living in a physical world. Exercising our spiritual beingness--through prayer, meditation, yoga, or acts of service, for example--can perhaps help us strengthen that intangible, impalpable side of us to a consistency that can outlast life in the mind-body complex.
A quote from Shoghi Effendi, the leader of the Bahá'í Faith from 1922 until his death in 1957, comes to my mind often. You can find the original quote at the end of the text here. It starts "There is no time to lose." This note was written in 1939, in Shoghi Effendi's handwriting, appended to a letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada. In other words:
The woman who deliberates is lost. [from Joseph Addison's play Cato (1712)]
Procrastination is the thief of time. [from a poem by Edward Young called Night-Thoughts, published in 9 parts in the 1740s]
People everywhere are hungry for the spiritual sustenance Jesus promised would be theirs when He returns. [my interpretation.]
All the world's a stage for the unfolding of the Plan of God, which is coming to fruition through the agency of God's peoples. [my interpretation, with apologies to Shakespeare]
Once, we saw through a glass, darkly; but now face to face: then I knew in part; but now shall I know even as also I am known. [a restatement in time of Corinthians 13, verse 12]
The powers of heaven and earth mysteriously assist in its execution. [no change made--"it" refers to "God's own Plan"]
This is your chance to participate in the Plan, a chance that might not come again. [my interpretation]
If you are skeptical, I invite you to do your own independent research to see if I speak the truth or not. [my interpretation]
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. [Jeremiah 29:13, New International Version]
The thoughts above have me thinking of consistency not so much as a quantitative thing, a counting up of all the times you managed to abide by standards set by yourself or others, but as a harmonic relationship between you and other souls. After all, the two most important commandments Moses received on the mountain (according to Jesus) were to "‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind," and to "Love your neighbor as yourself." One without the other is inconsistent.
Similarly, in Matthew 25 verse 43, Jesus says, "I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me." (New International Version) In other words, to serve others is to serve God. Conversely, perhaps to suffer (through pain, sickness, or grief) is an opportunity for others to serve you by providing relief, healing, and support.
So, whatever your situation might be, think of the opportunities you have in the moment to harmonize with those "powers of heaven and earth" mentioned by Shoghi Effendi. I wish I had a powerful personal testimony to illustrate this idea. A moment of epiphany when I recognized my calling, or something like that. But everything I think of seems like a mere coincidence or wishful thinking. The closest I've come to that is with my music. I've always loved singing, but I have terrible stage fright when I have to sing or perform in front of people. The only time I have been able to express myself through song without fear has been with songs based on spiritual themes or texts.
There's an example below, called "The Handmaid's Song." The lyrics for this song are taken from the writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who was the son of Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith. 'Abdu'l-Bahá is one of my heroes. He was Christ-like in nature, with a humorous streak. You can find the text of the passage here.
I don't know if I've made it any clearer to readers of the blog what I mean by consistency, but putting my thoughts into sentences has helped me understand it better. Like relevance, not your typical virtue, so definitely odd. I have the odd feeling that my thoughts could be stated with more clarity, and I welcome the chance to hear what y'all are thinking about this.
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