The narrow path of true virtue.

Ecclesiastes 7: 16-17 16 Do not be over righteous,

    neither be overwise—

    why destroy yourself?

17 Do not be overwicked,

    and do not be a fool—

    why die before your time?

18 It is good to grasp the one

    and not let go of the other.

    Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes

That verse has mulled in my mind for over twenty years.  (What can I say? I’m a slow learner, but I don’t give up.)  In the books of the Tanach, Ecclesiastes is my favorite, so it’s no mystery why I would cling to this little verse until I understood.  First, let me explain what I mean by “understood”.  Upon reading this, the surface of what it means is obvious and simple.  “Don’t go to extremes.”  What is not so obvious is just exactly how one does that.  If we are honest as a people then we must accept we are people of extremes.  There are extremists in every walk of life and in every genre you can imagine.  From the vegan who believes all meat eaters should be cursed with cancer, to the religious zealot who would see everyone cursed with hell that isn’t a part of their ideology-and everything in between, from the ridiculous to the sublime.  We are people of the pendulum that often gets stuck on one side or another.

The virtue continuum picture is something I found a few years ago while studying stoic philosophy.  (Don’t judge me, St. Paul had a good working knowledge of it too.)  Yet, I still didn’t make the connection until a couple of weeks ago when I was praying vespers and doing some of my own readings.  Then I had an “AHA!” moment.  This verse fits with the Seven Virtues of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and then obviously what Jesus was teaching.  Since we tend to be all or nothing people, our lives swing from one extreme to the other, but what we are called to be are people of temperance, the narrow path, which is where the Godly life is found.  It’s also in 2 Peter 1:5-7, one of the places we actually get the seven virtues and can extrapolate the seven vices. 

St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 gives us the three theological virtues: Faith, Hope, and Love (the greatest of these is Love), none of which are possible on the extremes of the spectrum.  In fact, none of the virtues we seek are found in the extremes. Ecclesiastes told us that to begin with, but like me, so many people are slow learners and need more detail. 

We need to walk the narrow path between darkness and false light.  The darkness may be easier to spot and avoid, since many times it leads to the more obvious spiritual and physical harm.  The left side of the extreme has its’ charms in that it is easy, takes not a lot of effort, offers temporary pleasure/comfort, and does not challenge us to do much.  The right side is a bit more insidious, because it can SEEM so RIGHT.  We are DOING things.  We are clinging to our correctness!  In the end though, it’s just as destructive as the left.  Only in the middle, that balance, do we find a true and holy path. 

Jesus calls us to love, and we cannot love outside the middle ground.  Jesus calls us to serve, and we can’t do that outside the centered path. We are called to Love God above all, and we can’t do that on either side of this pendulum, because both the right and the left aren’t about God, they are about us.  That’s the crux of it all in a nut shell, that is what I discovered in this verse from Ecclesiastes.   I guess that’s part of why it tripped me up for so long, I couldn’t understand half of it.  How can being too righteous be a bad thing? Aren’t we all wanting to be saints? Aren’t we all in need of holiness?  Ahhh, yes, but over righteousness isn’t about Him, it’s about us. (1 Corinthians 13 talks about that. If we can speak God’s word with power, but don’t love we’ve gotten nowhere…and so on.)  Over righteousness isn’t about the heart and spirit of the law, it’s about the letter of the law and the human power we perceive it gives us over lesser mortals.  (See the example of Jesus’s interaction with the religious ruling class of his time.) 

Now I think I have the foundation of the understanding of this very simple scripture.  How do I begin to truly embrace this path in my everyday life?  I am reminded of Rabbi Hillel’s famous statement to a potential convert, “That which is hateful to you do not do to others, the rest is just commentary. Now go and study.”  The same is true in this, I believe.  That which is good and guides us to God can be summed up. “Put the love of God about all things and you’ve found the narrow path, the rest is just commentary…now go and study.” 

Just some food for thought and prayer.

Heavenly Father, I pray today that I find the narrow path that leads me to you in all my ways, and in all things.  Let me be neither too righteous nor too wicked, but always obedient to You who gives life. In Jesus precious name, AMEN!

Here I am, Lord, send me!

Lisa Brandel