Blended In Measure
“There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure." (JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit). I really like this description of Bilbo because it shows us that virtues only unlock their true power when they work together. To have courage without wisdom is to be brash and foolhardy, charging in with no thought to the consequences, often causing us to harm ourselves or others. And wisdom without courage leads to analysis paralysis, trapped in our own heads, always weighing the costs of our actions so carefully that we never act. But blended together, wisdom ensures that courage does not cause us to get in completely over our heads, and courage frees us from getting trapped up in our heads. When blended together, courage and wisdom amplify each other's strengths while dampening their weaknesses. We can see how this blending together is always for the better. Action without faith is uninspired drudgery, and faith without action is little better than daydreaming, but when blended together we have real power. Mercy without justice would lead to anarchy and chaos, since mercy would never put any limits on anything. And justice without mercy would lead to brutal, even genocidal despotism, since we all have sinned and fallen short of perfection and justice would condemn us all. But blended together, justice and mercy combine loving kindness with loving correction, letting us be forgiven for our mistakes but always seeking to improve ourselves. If we are struggling to be good, maybe we haven't found the right mixture of virtues yet. If we are trying to be kind, we must also be firm. If we are trying to be firm, we must also be kind. If we are trying to be optimistic, we must also be practical. If we are trying to be practical, we must also be optimistic. No virtue should be cultivated in isolation. We must blend together faith and knowledge and temperance and godliness and humility and diligence and hope and charity and love. Each virtue draws strength from and enhances each other, just like each of us can draw strength from and enhance each other.
