When the proud suffer misfortune, The Mechanics of Virtue, Matt Berry, aphorism 81

81
When the proud suffer misfortune: Grace and peace of mind are nearly impossible for one who places a high value on self-sufficiency but who is suddenly found in a dependent position. Consequently, it is our own complacency and is not a truly magnanimous gesture to throw upon the unfortunate the burden of having to accept our generosity, for he cannot be both polite and refuse us – that is, if he places the same value on magnanimous and self-reliant behavior as we do ourselves.  He now is in the excruciating predicament of having to forgive us magnanimously – yet from a position which has already precluded natural magnanimity.  His conduct is the result of a calculated gesture, not a behavioral response.  Our behavior, on the other hand, lacked accurate calculation.  That is, where he is in the nervous position of being forced into the heartless gesture of magnanimity, we indulge naturally, but crudely.  

If we were skillfully magnanimous, we would not have been so obvious with our generosity.  We must understand that this singular knot has two ends, the one of rational calculation and the other of behavioral response, and we should only attempt it with an ironic twist ... a denouement of his predicament ... anything but our immodest and thoughtless generosity.




A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism



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