[rough notes pulled from an old note in my email]

I now see why, as a person progresses in virtue, they become subject to increasingly subtle temptations.

Actually it isn’t about virtue per se, but about achieving any great task.  There is a series of increasingly convincing counterfeits to the goal, and accepting any of them, or giving up, leads to losing the goal…

Why does Aristole think virtue is a noble and rare thing?  Almost anyone, who isn’t unlucky in their temperament, can achieve the “mean” along some trait, if this simply means being nearish the center of a normal distribution.

The difficulty arises when you need to get through a very tiny, and hard to find, door.  The only way, other than astonishing luck, is feedback from reality.  Something must tell you when you are getting “warmer” or “colder”.  Virtue is paying attention to this feedback, and adjusting your search accordingly.  (Actually the process can tolerate quite a bit of error as long as you keep checking which direction you need to go from here!)

Inventing a lightbulb.  First you have to want something weird that doesn’t yet exist.  Then you have to try a bunch of things that don’t work.  Because they don’t work, you have to eventually give up on ALL of these attempts, until you find the thing that does work.  But you can’t give up too early, or too late.

Failures (fatal errors):

– giving up on the task entirely
– never attempting a concretely testable idea
– NOT eventually giving up on any specific implementation that can’t work.

Failures (recoverable):

– spending too much time on a bad idea, or too little time on a good one.
– walking past the right idea without noticing it, as long as you don’t reject it forever.

This also operates on the meta level.  Feedback loops surrounding and regulating feedback loops.  You have to detect if you are trying an infinite series of ideas that can’t work, to break out of the cycle.  (But not too soon!)  You have to detect if your way of doing feedback is itself subtly wrong.

In general the opposite vices are: clinging to unreal greatness, vs settling for mediocrity.

Presumption vs Despair.

Need to have obstinacy with respect to the goal, but not with respect to the specific means to the goal.

Not everybody can invent a lightbulb.  Most people should give up!  (But not on whatever task they eventually find to do instead.)

Physics.  Crackpots cling to a “revolutionary” idea that doesn’t work.  Incremental researchers never try to do the great thing.  Genius will try out a sequence of increasingly promising ideas, right on the edge of being “crackpot”, but without clinging to any of them, and continually testing and refining their intuition about what works.  Until finally they get “lucky”.  It really happens because they tried a thousand things.  But the luck never finds those without skill in defeating temptation.  Again, natural talent is also required.

Those who never stop being students (in bad ways).

Those who never stop being students (in good ways).

Once an obviously great thing is discovered, things open up a bit.  Feedback from reality is still needed, but becomes much easier when the overall contours of what is correct have become clear.  Eventually the great inventor leaves the task to others and looks for a new project…

Does this also apply to other, more obvious temptations?  Avarice collects, but fails to appreciate the increasing pile of dead desires.  In contrast, a no longer desired lust raises questions about its purpose much more quickly…  phantasy vs biology.  We want different things in different ways.  Complete mental unity is not possible, only a dynamic search.  If your ideal of being virtuous is inherently impossible, don’t be surprised if you find yourself choosing vice instead.

Necessarily, religion is subject to similar temptations, as there are an enormous number of superstitious counterfeits to an authentic faith in God.

The agnostic who gives up on the search, but also the hypocrite who wants their concept of God to flatter their own ego.  The anxious fundamentalist who just wants a list of rules and safe beliefs, not seeing that God wants a change of heart that could never be accomplished by those means.  The sellout to worldly ambition, with a charade once a week, to appease the religious instinct.

In fact we are told salvation would be impossible, but for the fact that it is actually God who is seeking us.

To enter into any spiritual ministry is to increase the number of temptations.  This happens, not just because of opposition, but because of the nature of the task itself.  It simply is not enough to have an overall intention to seek the will of God, as if putting yourself on the right “team” suffices.  It is also needed for both character and methods to reflect the gospel of Christ.  In this case, loyalty requires obstinacy with respect to Christ’s chosen means as well as Christ’s ends.  (But, in a way that is still modulated to some degree by feedback.)

Those who confuse lust for the supernatural as love for God.  The fanatic with a persecution complex, who interprets himself being found annoying, as positive feedback that he is doing God’s will.  But also, the worldling who can’t bear to be unpopular.  The visionary, with a “message” from God, that might well be coming from their own brain noise.  The caring pastor, who comes to conflate success in ministry, with the will of God.  The pastor who thinks of “faith” as making reckless decisions about the congregation’s money and buildings, in light of a future “revival” that will justify his ministry (to the glory of God of course).

The pastor who only tells people what they want to hear.  The pastor who only tells people what they don’t want to hear.  The pastor who speaks the word when he should be listening for it.  The pastor who assumes everyone experiences temptation in the exact same way he does.

The three temptations of Christ.  (Or, the temptation of not trying to be like Christ at all.)  Mixing any political agenda whatsoever with the Gospel (except in rare cases, with fear and trembling).

To reject a path that includes temptation—thinking that this danger is the most important feature of the path—can itself be a serious temptation.  Because the goal of seeking the path is not to avoid temptation altogether.  The goal isn’t even to never succumb to temptation—as long as we are able to recover from it.  (Remember: feedback.)  The goal is to reach the goal.