Chivalry and scouting morals II

There are few people who would disagree with the statement that moral relativism is rampant these days. “The standards are not fixed”.

For most people this is not so much of a problem. To the Catholic however it is a major point of concern. If you want to really “twist the knife” in a Catholic moral relativist, one just has to bring up the teaching of the Church on the matter. It can be quite amazing seeing them wriggle and squirm and justify to themselves how the rules don’t apply to them. There’s just no sense of penalty at flaunting the teachings any more.

Looking at Scouting for Boys, Lord Baden Powell proposes a fixed moral system, penalties and all, not necessarily based on Christianity, rather on a system of honour. Chivalry.

One can scout about on the net and find plenty of feminist and their opposing “maleist” websites. But the “maleism” tend to sound more like a documentary on Gorillas than human society. I think Lord Baden Powell had something important to say; true manhood is expressed through chivalry.

To be a man is to be chivalrous. It means honouring and respecting womanhood. Which gives rise to chastity (inside and outside of marriage) and respect (one for the other and vice versa). It means being just. Infact the whole book is about it; boys becoming men (and the principles can also be applied to girls becoming women, though I can’t comment much on that, though I hope to at some point).

When everything is tending to the lowest common denominator (our basic instincts, which are the social, security and sexual instincts, more on those another time), it is time for the few to rise, to stand up; for respect, for honour and for the dignity of mankind as a whole. Not as some animal slave to it’s instincts, but as a higher order of being graced with intellect and dignity.

Chivalry and scouting morals

Catholic Scout?!

Catholic scout? Why? Well, it’s a perfect tag line for my two favourite subjects; Roman Catholicism and Lord Baden Powells’ Scouting.

Why? Well, that is a long story. Regarding Roman Catholicism, my decision was based upon my own free will and my experiences. One day I may recount those.

It is based upon the foundation of willingness, the cornerstone of belief, (which gave birth to Faith) and the keystone of the simple idea of letting God be my Director.

But why? I believe because I became willing to believe. I became willing to open my eyes and He was there.

G. “Where is God?! I can’t find God!”

C. “But G. God isn’t lost…”

Then there is the story of the three wisest men:

“There were the three wise men of the east, and they took from man the crown of life. The thing that would make us the happiest and took it away from them. And having taken it away from them, they asked “What are we going to do with it?”

The first responded “I know what to do, we take it to the highest crevace of the highest mountain on earth and we’ll hide it there and he’ll never find it there.”

The other two responded “Yes but you know how he is, he will hunt, he’ll search and he will eventually find it.”

The second said “I know what we will do, we’ll take it to the deepest trench of the deepest ocean on earth and we’ll hide it there and he will never think about finding it there.”

The last responded “Yes, but you know how he is, he will hunt, he’ll search and he will eventually find it”.

“No,” he said “I know what we’ll do, we’ll hide it within himself, and he’ll never look for it there.”

Regarding Lord Baden Powell’s Scouting, just read Scouting for Boys, one can buy it off Amazon. I believe it should be basic reading material for every school kid in the world. Admittedly it needs some updating… So I am one for how it is written in the book, good old tradition and Tradition.