"Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence." (D&C 4:6)
When we hear the word "temperance," we often think of the temperance
movement, which advocated total abstinence from alcohol. While, indeed,
abstinence is a component of temperance, focusing on this narrow aspect
limits our understanding of the richness of the concept of temperance.
Temperance is "the practice or habit of restraining oneself in
provocation, passion, desire; the suppression of any tendency to
passionate action. It is self-restraint in the indulgence of any
natural affection; moderation in the pursuit of gratification" (Oxford
English Dictionary). In its early use, temperance was a synonym for
chastity. Central to the idea of temperance is the notion of rational
self-restraint.
In the King James Version of the Bible, temperance is the
translation of the Greek word that means "self-mastery or restraint,
especially of certain sensual impulses" (OED). One commentator notes
that "'self-control' is the preferable rendering of temperance (since)
the various powers bestowed by God upon man are capable of abuse (and)
the right use demands the controlling power of the will under the
operation of the Spirit of God" (Vine's Expository Dictionary of New
Testament Words).
The central idea of temperance is rational self-control. Since the
beginning there has been a war within us between right behavior and our
natural inclination to indulge in our passions and gratify our desires.
In recent decades it seems that there has been a ferocious increase in
our culture of giving way to our passions and appetites. This is due,
at least in part, to a radical change in the aims and methods of much
of our modern education.
Recently, Princeton professor Robert P. George spoke at Brigham
Young University. He commented on this modern reversal of the historic
aims of liberal-arts education. "The classical understanding of the
goal of liberal-arts learning is not to liberate us to act on our
desires, but rather, and precisely, to liberate us from slavery to
them. Personal authenticity (consists) in placing reason in control of
desire. Learning promises liberation, not liberation from demanding
moral ideas and social norms, rather, liberation from slavery to self."
In the revisionist world of today, the idea is that reason "is not, and
cannot be, the master of desire, but only its servant. As David Hume
articulated the claim, 'Reason is and ought only to be the slave of the
passions and may pretend to no office other than to serve and obey
them.' "
In order to arrest and reverse the societal slide into hedonism and
return to virtue, we must re-enthrone the idea of temperance, or
rational self-control where our appetites and passions are restrained
and governed by our better and more rational natures.