On habit

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On habit

What we are as an individual, the character traits that define us, is closely related to that thing called “habit”. Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” When we repeatedly act in a certain manner, it becomes a personality trait. If we have the habit of always acting selfishly towards others, then selfishness becomes a personality trait. If we have the habit of always avoiding work, then laziness becomes a personality trait. See Cause of Character Traits — According to Aristotle.

Def. Habit. 1. An act or practice so frequently repeated as to become relatively fixed in character and almost automatic in performance. 2. A tendency or disposition to act consistently in a certain matter or to repeat frequently a certain action. Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary

Consider the following quotations:

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We first make our habits then our habits make us.

Habit is the deepest law of human nature.

Carlyle

Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters.

Emmons

We are all the time following the influences which will

presently be our rulers; We are making our own destiny. We

are choosing our habits, our associates, our traits, our homes.

In time these acquire a power over us which enslaves our will,

and from them we neither will nor can break loose.

H. L. Wayland

Habit is the child of impulse. There is in human life the

period of impulse, when habit is nothing; and there is the

period of habit, when impulse is nothing. Young persons are

creatures of impulse; old persons are creatures of habit.

Almost every thing is impulse with a small child, and nothing

can be called habit; almost everything is habit in the second

childhood of old age, and there is very little that can be

called impulse.

G. B. Cheever

Sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a

character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.

G. D. Boardman

A large part of Christian virtue consists in good habits.

Paley

If we would know who is the most degraded and wretched of human

beings, look for a man who has practiced a vice so long that he

curses it and yet clings to it; that he pursues it because he

feels a great law of his nature driving him on toward it; but

reaching it, knows that it will gnaw his heart, and make him

roll himself in the dust with anguish. Habit, to which all of

us are more or less slaves.

Fontaine

Habits are to the soul what the veins and arteries are to the

blood, the courses in which it moves.

Horace Bushnell

Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.

Augustine

I trust everything, under God, to habit, upon which, in all

ages, the lawgiver as well as the schoolmaster has mainly

placed his reliance; habit which makes everything easy, and

casts all difficulties upon the deviation from the wonted

course. Make sobriety a habit, and intemperence will be

hateful and hard; make prudence a habit, and reckless

profligacy will be as contrary to the nature of a child, grown

to an adult, as the most atrocious crimes are to your

lordships. Give a child the habit of sacredly regarding the

truth, of carefully respecting the property of others, of

scrupulously abstaining from all acts of improvidence which can

involve him in distress, and he will just as likely think of

rushing into an element in which he cannot breathe, as of

lying, or cheating, or stealing.

Brougham

The habit of virtue cannot be formed in a closet; good habits

are formed by acts of reason in a persevering struggle with

temptation.

B. Gilpin

In a majority of things habit is a greater plague than ever

afflicted Egypt. In religious character it is a grand

felicity.

John Foster

In early childhood you may lay the foundation of poverty or

riches, industry or idleness, good or evil, by the habits to

which you train your children. Teach them right habits then

and their future life is safe.

Habits, though in their commencement like the filmy line of the

spider, trembling at every breeze, may in the end, prove as

links of tempered steel, binding a deathless being to eternal

felicity or woe.

Lydia H. Sigourney

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In my article Principles for Living I list the following principles for living:

1. honesty, integrity

2. justness, fairness

3. friendliness, kindness, warmth, consideration for

others, concern for others, politeness, courtesy

towards others

4. chastity, decency, modesty; chastity in speech,

conduct, manner and dress (no coarse, impure or

profane language or humor)

5. peaceableness, avoidance of argument

6. frugality, economy, thrift

7. simplicity

8. diligence, industriousness, hard work

9. humility

10. faithfulness to God and his principles, obedience to

God, reverence for God

11. proper goals, priorities and values for life

12. slowness to judge; avoid criticizing others

13. harbor no anger

14. harbor no envy

15. speak evil of no one (nor make fun of anyone)

16. courage (courage to do the right thing)

17. self-denial, abstinence, self-discipline

18. patience

19. self-reliance (depending on one's own efforts,

judgment, common sense, etc.)

20. temperance

21. pursuit of understanding, wisdom and spiritual truth

22. reflection, thought, questioning, examination of ideas

23. avoid the occult, stay strictly away from it

24. contentment with little

25. avoid immoral conduct (fornication, adultery, etc.) and

the morally impure in all forms

26. avoid alcohol, drugs, tobacco, etc.

I suggest that every one of these principles is all about habit. They are all about establishing and following the right habits. For example, if we have the habit of always acting honestly, then we are an honest person; if we have the habit of always acting justly, we are a just person; etc. And the opposite of all of the above is also about habit. If we have the habit of acting dishonestly, we are a dishonest person; if we have the habit of acting unjustly, we are an unjust person, etc.

A particular habit will shape our mind, the way we think, everything we do. For example, the habit of laziness exhibits itself in essentially everything one does, from how we do dishes to how we manage our financial affairs. It rules us even to the point of one being too lazy to think and figure something out. Similarly the habit of diligence affects a person in all he does. He is diligent in everything, even in his thinking and solving of problems. Another example: frugality. Frugality in a personality affects a person not just in one way or a few ways, but in a thousand ways. It affects almost everything he does. His mind is always ruled by his habit of frugality. If he makes a sandwich for himself he won’t just pile all kinds of delicious things into the sandwich. Instead he will act with restraint and moderation and put in just enough ingredients to make the sandwich adequate and good, with a mind of saving ingredients for more sandwiches. When he buys things he will first ask himself if he really needs them and if he decides to buy he will carefully try to get the most value for his money. He will shop around, consider options, compare prices, observe what stores have the best prices. The habits of frugality and efficiency are closely related. An efficient person will try to do all things in the most efficient way (with respect to time, effort, and money). If he is doing anything for the first time he will ask himself what the most efficient, intelligent, best way of doing it is, give the problem some thought, and then do it in the way he has come up with. Then the next time he has to do the same task he will do it the same way and develop the habit of always doing that task that way.

Some people, by habit, are very self-disciplined. They will exercise self-denial, abstinence, self-discipline in all they do. Other people habitually exercise no self-discipline in anything. They are creatures of self-indulgence and follow impulse, fantasy, desire, and base appetite in all things. They live for food, pleasure, sex, money. They have no concept of self-control and restraint. They just do whatever they want. Something makes them angry and they just say or do whatever comes to their mind. No principles. No restraints. Ugly, nasty words; profanity, vulgarity. Whatever comes to mind. They are animals who just follow their animal instincts. High pride, envy, jealousy, malice, selfishness rules all. If they grew up in a profane, vulgar home they carry their vulgar outlooks, attitudes, values, and habits throughout their entire life. They never change, never learn. They are just foolish people who never learn how to live life.

There are some people who are given to the habit of thought and reflection, to the quest for understanding and wisdom. And as they think and reflect their understanding increases, they see the mistakes and foolishness of others, and they see their own mistakes, errors and bad habits. They are people who learn from their own mistakes and those of others and, in response, they change their ways, change their habits. They get rid of bad habits and initiate new, good habits. They read serious books like the Bible and learn from them. The understanding and wisdom shown to them by Thought, Reason, Observation and Self-examination informs them of the importance of many things:

● It informs them of the central importance of self-discipline and self-control in life. Consequently they embrace discipline as a way of life and become disciplined people who exercise control over their actions, their tongue, over the kind of things they listen to or read, over how they live life.

● It informs them of the importance of temperance, moderation, self-reliance, frugality, simplicity, being content with little, upright living, obedience to God, humility, peacefulness, politeness, kindness, patience, diligence, industriousness, persistence, caution, chastity, and the avoidance of things like alcohol, drugs and gambling. And, as a consequence, they change in accordance with this understanding they have received. They become temperate, frugal, upright, chaste, good, God-fearing people.

See Origin of habits

May 2019