The Moral Impostors

To fully appreciate the ideals of Chivalry-Now, it helps to compare them to today's values. Many of these values are presented to us as virtues, while contending with the very foundation of what we believe. Whether we view them as fallen virtues or elevated vice, their deceptive influence on society needs to be recognized. People too easily accept these moral impostors as matters-of-fact.
     For example, we are told we have to love ourselves before we can love anyone else. It has a nice, reassuring ring to it that people easily accept.
     But is it possible to love yourself? The very idea suggests a separation of who you are, creating an target toward which you direct your love. Who, then, receives this love? An image that has no substance, yet is somehow you? This illusion does nothing but create a fiction that is "other than oneself." It is totally misleading.
     There are a host of other impostors as well:

• When wisdom is replaced by cleverness, it is cheapened beyond recognition.
  
• When dignity is supplanted by pride we become shallow and arrogant people.
  
• When the cause of truth is reduced to expediency, the depth of meaning is lost.
  
• When character is regarded the same as ego.
  
• When the personal wonder of life is replaced by a need for constant, meaningless distraction.
  
• When the Quest is superseded by a search for fame and fortune.
  
• When beauty is disconnected from its essential value.
  
• When reputation is measured by wealth, fame or success, and not personal integrity.
  
• When loyalty to a cause blinds one to the value of the cause.
  
• When "what's in it for me?" becomes an acceptable maxim rather than a source of dishonor.
  
• When benevolence is tainted by the need for acclaim.
  
• When the search for love becomes the search to be loved.
  
• When individuality is measured by purposeful differences and idiosyncrasies, rather than being oneself.
  
• Add your own insights. The comparisons are legion.

These are the moral enemies that have seeped into our culture and taken their toll. They continually interject greed and selfishness into our best intentions, political, secular and religious. They are false virtues that appeal to our basest instincts.
     For men, to whom Chivalry calls, they are the apostates of manly virtues. They twist the way things should be at every level, and set the field for an inconclusive battle between good and evil.
     Chivalry-Now calls us to see things as they really are. That is where the battle begins. Looking upon things as if for the first time. Questioning them. Judging their value. Honoring what is true while rejecting what is false. Forging your own code of honor and then bringing it to life.
     We cannot create a better world if we cling to false assumptions, or pay homage to false ideals. Examining them, rejecting what is false, introduces us to the full importance of the Quest.

Top

Special Features: