PRUDENT BRAVERY
We must consider briefly the virtue of prudence, the virtue whereby we are able to differentiate between what is to be desired and what to be shunned. Without this virtue, other virtuous actions (those we have already spoken of) cannot be performed. It is the function of prudence to vigilantly watch lest any evil influence tarnish our action. This is what the Lord warned about when he commanded his disciples to "Watch!" (Matt 24.42) and when he told them, "Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you." (John 12.35) And perhaps there is no more powerful warning against the spiritual stupor which makes us blind to the destructive forces impinging on us little by little than the words of the prophet, "He who despises small things shall fall by degrees." (Ecclus, 19.1)
On The Morals of the Catholic Church and of the Manichees, 1.24.45.
Prudence is the virtue whereby we are able to identify and then pursue proper goals through the best means to achieve them. The fact that we need prudence as we go through life testifies to the fact of evil, the fact that things can sometimes go terribly wrong. Our present world is one in which evil needs to be dealt with and good pursued. Augustine certainly recognized this need in his own times. Commenting on the disruption in the world he asked:
Is not the virtue of prudence constantly on the lookout to distinguish what is good from what is evil, so that there may be no mistake made in seeing the one and avoiding the other? The need for prudence bears witness to the fact that we are surrounded by evil and have evil within us.
City of God, 19.4.4
Prudence holds a central position in the list of virtues that the good person must try to develop. Like all of the virtues, it flows from love since it only because we love or desire something that we are concerned about choosing the prudent way to achieve it. As Augustine writes, prudence as a moral or practical virtue is:
... love choosing wisely between that which helps it and that which hinders it.
and, as a virtue of the intellect prudence is:
... is love discriminating rightly between those things which aid it in reaching God and those things which might hinder it.
The Morals of the Catholic Church and the Manicheans, 1.15.25
Prudence is also the precondition for all other moral virtues. (On The Morals of the Catholic Church and of the Manichees, 1.24.45.) We must be prudently temperate, brave, and just, doing what we can do to combat evil but not acting foolishly by ...
... starving ourselves to death out of misplaced temperance
... trying to prove our fortitude by fighting wars that cannot be won.
... destroying ourselves psychologically in trying to correct injustice over which we have no control.
One thing is certain: in our search for the good and in our dealing with the evil in this life, the way is not always clear. The uncertainty is not about goals. For all humans the goal is happiness and for Christians (and others of like faith) there is conviction that such perfect happiness will come only when the infinite God of love is perfectly and permanently possessed. The only question is about the means that must be used to reach that happy state.
Augustine differentiates between two forms of prudence. He writes:
Prudence is usually described as being the seeking of good things and the avoidance of bad things. Prudence of the flesh is that form of prudence whereby we seek to gain temporal goods and to avoid temporal evils. Prudence of the spirit is that form of prudence whereby we do not put our hope in temporal goods, nor do we fear temporal evils.
Exposition of Certain Propositions from the Epistle to the Romans, 49
Having prudence of the spirit means that individuals are able to perceive that the only important thing in life is to reach heaven and indeed that their eternal salvation is (with help from God) the only thing that is truly within their control. They are ready and even willing (though perhaps reluctantly) to give up everything which is not in their control. Our human loves, our careers, the honor that is sometimes bestowed on us, good health, even life itself ... all of these are ultimately beyond our control. All will someday pass away despite all our best efforts to make them stay. For Augustine, to be prudent in this life comes down to this:
... to recognize the things that we should desire and things we should avoid and to have the strength, composure (and bravery) to put up with ill fortune and to give up things which are not in our control.
On Free Will, 1.13.27; On Music, 6.13.37
The first step in developing such prudence is to understand the particular situation we face. Any course of action must be based on a realistic evaluation of the possible goods to be sought and possible evils to be avoided as well as an honest recognition of our own strengths and weaknesses. Only when we have such understanding can we intelligently take the next step and do what needs to be done and can be done to achieve the desired good or avoid the perceived evil.
Perhaps the most important aspect of the understanding that prudence requires, is the understanding of our own selves. We must be ready to recognize and accept our proper place in the universe. (On Music, 6.16.51). We must come to understand that we are neither beast nor God. We are free. We are able to make choices. We are not predetermined in our actions as are our fellow animals. We are able to some extent change things. In our own modest way we are sometimes able to do something about the evil we see around us and in us. But, at the same, time, our powers are not infinite. We do not have the divine power to cure every evil, to hold back the flooding river, to avoid the on-coming storm, to cure a dying loved one, to "straighten out" a wandering child.
With such knowledge in hand we must then make a choice of what to do. If our choice is guided by prudence, we will neither be too timid nor too reckless. There is an element of truth in the old saying:
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
(despite the obvious fact that angels have nothing to fear and the more obvious fact that they have nothing to tread with). It is not prudent bravery to rush in as a savior against an evil we have not understood or cannot control. It is foolishness. It is not prudence but cowardice that makes us cringe in a corner when we are able to DO something to pursue a true good or combat a true evil in ourselves or in the world.
Although Augustine maintained that the most important form of prudence is the prudence of the spirit, at the same time he did not deny the goodness and need for that prudence of the flesh which gets us through our day by day life. He himself exercised such prudence throughout his long life. Thus, he chose prudently to give up formal teaching for a career in the imperial court when he found that students either did not pay attention or did not pay. He subsequently chose prudently to change his job from imperial speech-writer to Christian monk. He prudently realized that, although marriage was a great good, it would not have been good for him. In his life-long conflicts with those who stood in opposition to the Catholic faith, he constantly searched with the most prudent way to work for their conversion while at the same time protecting the faith of the simple folk who depended on him.
It is through the prudence of the flesh in our temporal affairs that we will finally achieve the heavenly happiness promoted as the ideal by the prudence of the spirit. The brave decisions that we make here and now trying to conquer evil and promote the good are the means whereby we will gain eternal salvation. And (as Augustine observed), such day by day prudence has application to all of the "times of our lives": our past, our present, and our future. (83 Diverse Questions, 31.1; The Trinity, 14.11.14)
We must be prudent with respect to the past by "letting it go". We can perhaps learn from our past mistakes but we should not let them dominate our present. We should fight against the temptation to scrupulosity (perhaps the most damaging of psychological maladies) where we have doubts that past sins can ever be forgiven. The wounds we have caused in others and in ourselves are now scarred over. Going back to make amends again may only open up the wound once more. As a general rule, trying to "relive the past" is just foolishness. Speaking from experience, for me in my eighth decade to act like I was 20 (once again rushing the net, partying all night, flirting with young maidens) would not only be foolish and pitiful. It would be downright painful.
Prudence applied to our present means that we do not try to confront and overcome every present evil, only those which we can do something about, situations where we have the power and reserves of strength to make a contribution and then go on with our life.
It is imprudent (but understandable) to believe that we can always make the lives of those we love somehow better and to feel that it is our fault when they go wrong. Sometimes grown children must be left to go their own way. All the talking in the world will not change them. They must be left (and sometimes forced) to take responsibility for their lives, hoping that a memory of their loving upbringing will eventually help them straighten out their lives. The Prodigal Son came back to the father only when the money ran out. Augustine was converted only after 20 or more years seeking happiness an any way other than dedication to Jesus Christ.
It is imprudent to believe that we can still do a job which is (and perhaps always has been) beyond our capacities, struggling into work (when we do not need to) day after day when we are long "past it" in terms of making a worthwhile contribution. One of the graceful events in Augustine's life was when, as an old man of 71, he retired from the active ministry realizing that someone else could do its better. As he humbly confessed to his congregation:
I have talked at length. Please excuse the gabbiness of my old age and the weakness of my ill-health. As you have seen, ill-health made me an old man long ago. Now I have grown old in years. Pray for me, that as long as there is a soul and any strength in this body, I will be able to serve you preaching the word of God as best I can.
Sermon 355, 7.
It is foolishly imprudent to believe that we can control ourselves easily when we are embroiled in a passionate but improper love affair, that we can meet the object of our obsession in a romantic situation and still be able to say "NO" to our rising emotion. It is the height of imprudence to be believe that we can control any of our addictions (be it to sex or alcohol or drugs or anger or a perverse fetish) by just saying "No" while not at the same time not taking the common sense steps to avoid situations where we are likely to be tempted to give in.
Prudence with respect to the future means we should make realistic plans based on our true abilities and opportunities. It was the prudence shown by a fellow Augustinian who, when he was still young, proclaimed:
If they send me to the foreign missions, I will certainly go. I will DIE, but I will go.
His honest analysis of his capabilities was accepted by his superiors and he was able to live a long a fruitful life in teaching school and serving it parishes.
His realistic view of life was not shared by a young geometry student of mine who, on the day before the exam, spent his time kicking a football out on the field. When questioned why he was spending his study-time that way, he responded:
Because I want to go to Notre Dame!
His goal was noble but the means he chose to achieve it was absurd. He did not see that passing a geometry exam was more important for accomplishing his ambition than kicking a football 30 yards (the limit of his powers at the time).
To sum up, prudence is the virtue whereby we can bravely take action against evils we can control and promote good as far as we can. It begins with a healthy awareness of our own limitations and with a healthy hope that God will see our "pretty good" efforts and judge that "pretty good" is for us good enough. He is, after all, a God of love who not only does not want anyone to go to hell but also does not want anyone to "burn themselves out" in pursuit of a good beyond their capabilities.