What's All the Buzz about Self-Control

About a month ago while attending an outdoor event at a brewery, I noticed something strange. I found myself staring at a glass of hard cider with a bunch of dead bees floating in it. There were additional bees (not dead) trying to get a taste of the cider. Through this process some of them became fully submerged in it. It was as if they were so caught up eating the sweetness from the cider, that they failed to realize they were actually in the liquid. And sadly this killed them. What started as a simple indulgence turned into something deadly. The longer the bees were in the liquid, the more they were suffocating and slowly killing themselves.

Temperance: What It Is and Why We Need It

Observing this scene, I found myself reflecting on temperance. As humans we have a desire to seek pleasure, while avoiding pain and suffering as much as possible. It's part of our self-preservation instincts. Temperance is defined in the dictionary as "moderation or voluntary self-restraint." Notice the word voluntary in there. To exercise temperance requires choosing to limit oneself. And this often contradicts what we feel in the moment, but is ultimately ordered towards a higher good. Temperance is also a virtue. A virtue is only a virtue because there is an excess and deficiency on a scale of things, where virtue falls right in the middle. For example: consider the virtue of confidence. Having too much pride equals arrogance, having too little pride equals self-deprecation, but somewhere in the middle lies a humble confidence. Likewise with temperance, it's about acknowledging the indulgence of pleasurable things in moderation. It's okay to indulge in pleasure at times ( so long as it is not hurting you), but too much of a good thing can actually be bad for you. Just like with the bees. They had no temperance. If the bees had stayed outside of the cider glass, then they would have been able to taste the sweetness without drowning themselves. But then couldn't. Their instinct was to eat the cider.

The Intellect

Now bees (and other creatures) lack something that we have as humans, which is an intellect and a will. We are cognitive beings, which means we have the ability to reason and to use logic. To think about things, to learn things, and to seek to understand them. Whereas animals act out of instinct. We as humans can search for the higher meaning of things in life. We can ponder things at a greater level because of our intellect and will. So let's back up then, what is an intellect? According to Cambridge dictionary, it's "the ability to understand and to think in an intelligent way." What is intelligence? It's "the ability to understand and learn well, to form judgements, and opinions based on reason." The word intellect comes from the Latin words intellectus and intelligere, the former meaning understanding and the latter meaning to understand or reason. Taken a step further, if you break the word interlligere down, inter means between or among, while legere means to choose, to gather, or to read. So put together, interlligere means to understand by choosing or gathering information. Intellectus then refers to the Latin noun meaning understanding or discernment.

So why does this matter? It matters because we have the ability to learn and grow in knowledge of things (reading for instance is one way we gather info and learn more). And we can use reason to come to conclusions about specific topics or areas of interest. Best of all, we can teach others about the knowledge we've learned, so that they can learn about it too. A bee can't read the Bible. A bee can't give a lecture on the molecular structure of a cell. We as humans who have learned how to read or studied that topic can. And it is from the use of our intellect, that dialogue takes place. The sharing and exchanging of our ideas and opinions. That is at the core of human conversations. It's also how we come to know and have a better understanding of things.

The Will

Okay so that's the intellect. Now what is the will? The will is the driving force behind our actions. It's the faculty of choice or decision, by which we determine which actions we shall perform. Maybe you've heard the term will power before. The will is informed by the intellect. Here's an example: the intellect tells us that it would be smart to get out of bed when our alarm goes off in the morning so that we are not late for work. The will however is the decision to actually get out of bed. The will pursues what it desires. The will is where we chose something based on what we think is good for us; however we are not always correct in our judgement of this. Meaning that we might think the thing we chose is good for us, but in reality it is not. Let's say you're on a diet and trying to cut down on eating sugary foods. The intellect says that we should stay away from the bakery section at the grocery store, so as to not tempt ourselves into buying sugary foods. But the will might decide to buy a baked good anyway, because of the immediate pleasure we experience eating it. The will does not consider how consuming the baked good will go against our goal of trying to limit our sugar intake. The intellect does consider these things, but ultimately the will takes the action. St Thomas Aquinas wrote that the will desires to know and to love. He argued that you can not love what you do not know. That is another topic that entire books have been written on, by people and saints far more versed and intelligent than me.

So then you might be wondering what is the difference between instinct and will. Great question. Instinct is innate, which is to say its automatic. You don't think about about it or voluntarily choose it. It's hard-wired into your genetic code. An example of instinct is how birds build a nest using specific materials. They don't reason or think about it, they just do it. And they are do it with a similar pattern. It's not something they learn or need to be taught. They just instinctually know how to do it. Another example is how sea turtles "just know" that when they hatch from their egg, they need to get to the ocean. How do they know that? They don't read a book while they are still in the egg that prepares them for life once they are hatched. They just know. It's an instinctual thing.

Why We Need Intellect and Will

So bringing it back to the bees and the cider, bees don't have an intellect or a will.They can't reason something as good or bad. They just go with their instinct. Which is why I observed a number of bees drowning in the cider in an attempt to eat it. They didn't realize they were killing themselves in the process of going after what was desirable and instinctual to them. But we as humans do have that ability. Because we have an intellect and a will. We can reason. So we are able to see how bees can die if they submerge themselves in a liquid. And yet, even though we as humans have the ability to reason, understand and learn, sometimes we also act as stupid as these bees. Because if we recognize that something (or too much of something) is not good for us, and we choose it anyway, then we are voluntarily killing a part of ourselves, or rather a part of our soul. And this here is the key. The soul. Christianity teaches that our soul is made up of our intellect, and will, along with emotions. A note on emotions,  St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that "an emotion doesn’t belong to the intellective part of the soul (the intellect and will) but to the sensitive part (the part of the soul that animates our bodily powers)".

Exercising temperance gives us the ability to pull ourselves back from indulging in too much of a good thing. To have self control. To stop ourselves from engaging in something that is hurtful to us. To exercise temperance requires the will choosing it, which often goes against what is pleasurable to us. For example, why do we engage in physical activity? For most people, it's not because we enjoy it. Rather it's because we understand that exercising over time helps to keep our physical bodies in shape, which is more favorable for being healthy and not having health issues. Let's be honest, exercising is not fun. It's a form of suffering that we endure for the sake of the long term benefits it produces, such as being healthy longer and getting to spend time with the people we love. Hopefully you get the idea.

Why This Matters

Maybe you're thinking, how did we get from bees in a cider glass to discussion of the intellect and will? And all I can say is, that's how my brain works. But that's not the point. The point here is we as humans are cognitive beings. We can learn things, grow in virtue, and take actions that are ordered towards our best self. That are good for our souls. We can reason, form opinions, and share them with others. Those are all beautiful things that bees can't do. My challenge to you though is learn from the bees. Do not indulge in pleasures to the point where it becomes deadly or hurtful to you ( I know this is easier said than done, and I too struggle with this). Slowly grow in temperance, even though it's hard. And above all else, I challenge you to look into things that point you toward a higher good. Explore what you believe and challenge yourself on why you believe it. Try reading the Bible, even if you don't believe in God or have never considered God before. Look at creation. See how it is ordered perfectly. Look at the human body. See how intricate and intentional the design of a single cell is. And ask yourself how did that come to be? I want you to find the answers for yourselves. I will tell you that I have come to know and believe that God is at the center of it all. That we were created and put on this earth to know, to love, and to serve God. I encourage you, use the intellect and a will you have been given, and discover what you were put on this earth to do. The world is in desperate need of what you have to offer. I will leave you with this, St. Catherine of Sienna said "be who you are meant to be, and you will set the world on fire."

If you are curious, here is what the Bible says about temperance.

*I do not have advanced degrees in any of these topics, nor do I claim to be an expert. I just felt inspired to share my insights in the hopes that it will be beneficial to you, the readers.