What Does Temperance Mean
We explain what temperance is and the excesses to avoid in order to live with this virtue. Also, what is temperance according to religion.
What is Temperance?
Temperance is a virtue that advises us to measure ourselves with pleasures and tries to ensure that our life has a balance between what, being a good, causes us some pleasure and spiritual life, which offers us another type of well-being, a superior one.
This virtue can be reached by mastering our instincts and desires. Temperance is synonymous with the words moderation, sobriety, and continence .
The term temperance comes from the Latin language, "temperantia", which means the moderation of temperature , but in another sense the adjective temperate is applied to refer to the middle ground between hot and cold, and in the same way to everything that keeps some kind of balance or inner, spiritual harmony.
Hence also the adjective temperate , as decomposed or unkempt, without moderation or balance. On the other hand, and contrary to what is usually believed, the word has no etymological relationship with the word temple .
Having the virtue of temperance means that we will be sober, identifying what the needs of our body and our being are, but the really necessary ones, those that will give us well-being and help us develop as people (such as health or education ) .
On the other hand we must also identify imaginary needs, because these are simple products of our desire and ego, these second needs are inexhaustible. Therefore we must contain them with all our strength and learn to live only with what is necessary to have temperance , although this does not mean living in lack.
The human being has a natural tendency to abuse the joy that goods grant, it is also true that we have within us a small part that is rebellious and opposes the correct act.
The so-called sensitive realities are as important in man's life as the subtle ones, but he must learn to differentiate the importance that each one has because the obsession of staying in the joy of the material distracts him, keeping him floating among illusions that do not contribute anything. good to your life and also away from true knowledge .
If the human being acted as his instincts dictate, he could never find his perfection of being, he could not achieve what he is destined for.
It is also said that not acting with temperance is an act of selfishness , since one as a person cannot contribute good things to the world and the society in which he lives by just spending time thinking about the material and its vices, neither can he appreciate reality in a correct way to be able to act in this way according to it.
See also: Humility
Samples of excesses
Some examples of the things that we must avoid in excess to live with temperance are:
- The meals (as we would be sinful of gluttony)
- Alcoholic beverages
- Sex too much, since these things cause situations in which the energies of the being get disordered and thus become destructive acts.
For example, drinking alcohol in excess can damage our liver , having too many sexual partners can lead to us contracting a sexually transmitted disease, and so on.
Temperance in religion
Sobriety is what opens the doors to a spiritual life, excesses poison the soul. From a religious point of view, temperance is a cardinal virtue and when it is perfected by the work and grace of the Holy Spirit.
Temperance is also what makes us stop our low instincts , it conquers some of the capital sins of Catholicism. No good work will save us if we do not have constancy, because our soul remains blind because prudence has been corrupted.
The person who enjoys temperance will always direct his sensitive appetites towards the good , knows how to act with discretion and does not allow himself to be influenced by the passion of his heart.
It is said that when someone acts according to his spirituality, he is being true to himself . When the soul is surrendered to the sensible world, the ability to decide and act in the right way is annihilated later on.
It is said that the human being who works in his life according to spiritual laws is in communion with God, thus assimilates the truth , which is the highest good to which we must aspire, and finally performs all his acts properly. If we have this virtue, we will live in a balanced way , avoiding all excesses, both good and bad.
Those who dedicate their lives to living it with all possible virtues and according to the commandments of the church are the priests or nuns, who decide to follow the path of spiritual elevation above pleasures and goods.