The year of living virtuously (weekends off) : one woman's search for meaning in an ordinary life

Title:

Author:

Jordan, Teresa.

ISBN:

9781619024274

Personal Author:

Jordan, Teresa.

Publication Information:

Berkeley : Counterpoint, 2014.

Physical Description:

xxi, 310 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Contents:

Resolution: on the eve of a new year -- Temperance: please pass the peppermints -- Cleanliness: cleanliness and its caveats -- Silence: making space for conversation -- Courage: the truth of the land -- Pride: the pride of work, the work of pride -- Sloth: everything I need to know about sloth I learned from critters -- Industry: The hard work of staying still -- Listening: listening to the devil's trill -- Order: a pomegranate of impossible tasks -- Habit: some thoughts on in-habitation -- frugality: stepping off the hedonic treadmill -- Homecoming: rethinking nostalgia -- Governance: what George might say -- Sincerity: giving voice to untold stories -- Greed: is it greed or is it gravity? -- Empathy: the aftermath -- Justice: for the horses -- Wrath: coming back to ourselves -- Love: traveling at the speed of love -- Gluttony: a re-enchantment with food -- Chastity and lust: a psychology of sex -- Creativity: why we need art (and why we make it or we don't) -- Envy: envy and its discontents -- Resolution (and vanity): becoming Helenka -- Humility: the listener -- Jealousy (and other trials of love): Cupid, the soap opera -- Tranquility: introduction -- Tranquility: the long road, Terry Waite's story -- Tranquility: the long road, Brooke Hopkins's story -- Self-reliance: Ben Franklin, Ayn Rand, and the American spirit -- Curiosity: growing pains -- Procrastination: do it...next -- Grumpiness: the grouch settles in -- Stubbornness: holding on for dear life -- Trust: Will Rogers, where are you now? -- Defensiveness and faith: choosing our battles -- Gladness: the mysterious lightness of being -- Punctuality: the gift of time -- Gratitude: Thanksgiving, a Christmas story -- Forgiveness: the heroic choice -- Control (and faith): the green bean testament -- Balance: on the high wire -- Manners: the good hand -- Moderation: all I want for Christmas...is a truce in the war on Christmas.

Abstract:

Collects essays describing the author's attempts to live according to a list of traditional virtues compiled by Benjamin Franklin, one week at a time, and one virtue at a time.

Language:

English

Personal Subject:

Jordan, Teresa.

Subject Term:

Conduct of life -- Biography.

Virtues -- Miscellanea.

Life -- Miscellanea.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Call Number	Status
Searching... Downtown Branch at Slover	Hardback Book	0118612896324	179.9 JOR	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Benjamin Franklin was in his early twenties when he embarked on a "bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection," intending to master the virtues of temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility. He soon gave up on perfection but continued to believe that these virtues, coupled with a generous heart and a bemused acceptance of human frailty, laid the foundation for not only a good life but also a workable society.

Writer and visual artist Teresa Jordan wondered if Franklin's perhaps antiquated notions of virtue might offer guidance to a nation increasingly divided by angry righteousness. She decided to try to live his list for a year, focusing on each virtue for a week at a time and taking weekends off to attend to the seven deadly sins.

The journal she kept became this collection of beautifully illustrated essays, weaving personal anecdotes with the views of theologians, philosophers, ethicists, evolutionary biologists, and a whole range of scholars and scientists within the emerging field of consciousness studies.

Teresa Jordan offers a wry and intimate journey into a year in midlife devoted to the challenge of trying to live authentically.

Excerpts

In the beginning I said that I didn't expect the year to change me. Certainly I wanted to protect myself from any expectation that I was or could become a paragon of virtue, and I can safely say that I am no more virtuous now than I have ever been. But the year has changed me -- that's the gift of mindfulness. After writing about the poet William Stafford's habit of clearing his desk each day so he could meet a new poem fresh each morning, I somehow abandoned a lifetime habit of clutter to find myself tidying my workspace each night before I go to bed. After exploring the new frugality, my husband I decided to downsize, selling our big old house and sorting through decades of accumulation to cut our footprint in half. Other bad habits still plague me. No matter how insightfully I have considered wrath and procrastination, I am still quick to temper and slow to get things done. Excerpted from Year of Living Virtuously by Teresa Jordan All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.