“The virtue that leads to enduring happiness is not a quid pro quo goodness. (I’ll be good “in order to” get something.) Goodness in and of itself is the practice and the reward.”
I put this quote from Epictetus as I truly believe it can teach us something about ourselves and more importantly about how we should behave in this world??
It’s not my place to tell anyone how to behave and how to be virtuous but I can comment on the rise of ‘virtue signalling’ in life and in particular social media
It’s not the fault of the current generation that a lot of their lives are spent on social media, conversations, arguments, advice, relationships, life and death are all shared instantly and with hundreds or maybe thousands of friends?
I also, don’t really have too much of an issue with this either, technology has advanced from my childhood and there are more advantages to technology than there are disadvantages.
However, the use of social media for ‘SHOUTING FROM THE ROOFTOPS” has become a thing that you see in every timeline/feed no matter what social media platform you use or browse.
Look at your timeline now and see how long it takes you to find a story, a post a tiktok or a photograph of someone showing you the wonderful thing they have done.
It might be an MP saying how they are taking in a Ukrainian family, a tweet about how I saved this cat from terrible death, how I drove 200 miles for a toilet roll for a stranger or how I did this good deed for someone.
Now all of these things may well be genuine, heartfelt, appreciated and valuable. During Covid, the fact we could see kindness everywhere across social media whilst locked in, quite possibly gave us hope in the world and community. But if we look deeply at these things should we ask who the message is really for?
Stoics taught us to be in the world but not of the world, be in the crowd but not part of the crowd. As you know Stoics tried to live a virtuous life by following the 4 virtues of wisdom, courage, justice and moderation. What would they have made of the modern approach to virtue signalling? Would they be asking us our reasoning behind the need to tweet, post, video our kindness? Or would they question if this is really the path to living a virtuous life?
Maybe that’s something we can ask ourselves?
There are some very positive uses of social media for showing your good deeds. We cannot underestimate how much additional charity money has been raised from just giving pages, viral Instagram posts or tweets showing what people are up to or raising awareness of charities, support groups etc.
But every time I see a “virtue signal” I have to ask myself who it is for? Was it posted for a response, was it to try and get “enduring happiness” from a “quid pro quo”
We all hopefully do good and virtuous things and we all will get a nice feeling from this, a feeling that we are helping in this world.
So go out and do something good today, not for a response, not for a thank you or a like or a thumbs up, but because it’s what you do.
You can stand out from the crowd by being the one that doesn’t stand out from the crowd.
You can tread the path of good and virtue by doing your own thing silently, quietly and because it’s what you want to do not what you think others want you to do.
“Content yourself with being a lover of wisdom, a seeker of the truth. Return and return again to what is essential and worthy. Do not try to seem wise to others. If you want to live a wise life, live it on your own terms and in your own eyes.” Epictetus
Leading into the fire 