On Reverence

Reverence was a very important virtue among the ancients in both the western and eastern cultures.  However, it seems to have lost its value in the current western world.  The importance of reverence is detailed in Paul Woodruff's excellent book Reverence -- Renewing a Forgotten Virtue.  Woodruff is a philosophy and humanities professor at the University of Texas in Austin.  He is an expert on the ancient Greek philosophers and their writings.

Of high importance with reverence is a realization of human limitations.  Associated with this is the ability to be in awe of all that lies beyond our control.  To the ancient Greeks, reverence was the virtue that prevents people from acting like gods.  Human arrogance (hubris) is the opposite of reverence.  Such a person is unable to have feelings of awe regarding things higher than himself or feel respect for those things lower than himself. These two feelings, of course, result in a very limited personal microparadigm.

Reverence, being a virtue, is a component of a virtuous person's excellence of character.  A virtuous person has a much higher strength of character than a non-virtuous person.  Virtues are central to good thinking and action.  A virtuous person does the right thing because it "feels" good to do so.  Paul Woodruff believes the importance of reverence should qualify it as a cardinal virtue, along with practical wisdom, courage, justice, and moderation.  People of different religions may disagree about matters of belief and faith, but reverence is non-debatable and admired by all religions.  As long as those of other religions demonstrate reverence, it is not important that they share anther person's beliefs.

Reverence is a capacity for certain feelings.  The ancient Greeks and Chinese thought that everyone has a natural capacity for virtue, but virtue is not inherent.  It must be developed through teaching or emulation of a highly virtuous exemplar.  Virtue must be cultivated.  All of this, of course, applies to reverence.

Associated with the capacity for a range of feelings with reverence is the continual realization that there is something larger than the person.  This results in feelings of awe, shame, and respect.  Often these feelings are expressed by some sort of ceremony or ritual.  Reverence reminds us of our human limitations.  This "something larger" might include God, nature, the universe, value systems, etc.  It is something one feels, not a particular feeling in itself.Reverence is not limited to theists.  Atheists and agnostics can also be reverent.

As I said, reverence is an ancient virtue and was highly important to the ancients.  However, it seems to have become forgotten (as a virtue) over the years.  This does not mean there are no reverent people living today.  As a virtue, it is simply not cultivated by many.  This is somewhat ironic, as it is essential for any highly functional society or organization.

I have only scratched the tip of the iceberg regarding reverence.  In his excellent book, Paul Woodruff goes into detail with many examples and much interesting documentation.  Highly recommended.

Comments

[Barry]

Two points that stand out from your post. "Human arrogance is the opposite of reverence." and "[Reverence] seems to have become forgotten (as a virtue) over the years." I think it has become more than forgotten, it has been pushed out by a culture of arrogance in our society. We have been taught that there are no human limitations. We can do anything when we put our mind to it. We are also very competitive in all areas of life. We expect to win in sports, business, technology, war, values, etc... This can be valuable when it leads to human accomplishments, but it also creates a culture of arrogance where we believe that we are always right. It seems to leave little room for reverence.

[Mark]

This caught my attention...
"However, it seems to have lost its value in the current western world."

Last week in my ethics class we (50+ students) compiled a list of desireable virtues that we recognized in our personal spiritual directors. We came up with 43 as a group then we had to pick 5 that we wanted to work to develop in our personal lives. As I look back at the list it was interesting that reverence didn't make the cut. I wonder why that is. Why has it lost value? Why did we not even recognize it? Who are the reverent among us us? we need more here Dr. Ed. How do we pursue this in the context of our culture?

[Ed]

Barry mentioned that reverance may not have become forgotten, but displaced by the striving toward excellence and self sufficiency which are such priorities in the American culture today. There is nothing wrong with seeking excellence in itself. It is when it leads to arrogance that the problems arise. As I said, arrogance is the antithesis of reverance -- the two are opposites and are incompatible. There are those who strive toward excellence and maintain the humility necessary to possess the virtue of reverance. In most cases, such individuals are highly virtuous in the general sense.

I am somewhat surprised that a seminary ethics class of over 50 students did not happen to mention reverance as a virtue. This is the setting where one might expect it to be considered. It is possible that the students listed one or more virtues they considered to be synonomous with reverance, such as piety, etc. If not, I believe this confirms that reverance as a virtue simply has become forgotten.

As I mentioned in previous posts, virtues are not innate. They must be learned and practiced until they become habits. This goes back to Aristotle and is true today. If an individual has not been taught that reverance is a virtue, they will not learn it and it is doomed from the beginning.

Mark asked the question -- "who are the reverent among us?". If a person lives a life of reverance, we will have no trouble recognizing it. A reverent person recognizes that he is not the greatest and will have deep respect for that greater than himself. He also will have deep respect for all within the universe, even thought it might seem to be much "lower" than himself.

In a nutshell, a reverant person will be a pleasure to know and a joy to have as a friend, mentor, or any relationship.

[Mark]

Awesome!!!