In this chapter, we explore the idea of seeing the virtues as “ethics of aspiration” rather than “ethics of obligation.” Developing the virtues is not a burden: we need to reframe our perception if we see it as such. Seeking satisfaction of our own desires goes hand in hand with seeking a virtuous life, not against it.
Self-Control and Aspirations
C. S. Lewis suggests that:
… there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, … We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what ...
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