Ben Frank's 13 Virtues

Benjamin Franklin's virtues were obviously highly respected and noticed by everyone.  He was one of the wisest men of his time, and didn't boast about it at all.  He was respected by everyone mostly for his good virtues which is significant since this blog is on those virtues.  These virtues were a way to live by and helped you to better yourself if chosen to be followed.  Some of these virtues are Temperance, Silence, Order, etc.  In the instructions we are required to relate these virtues to the philosophies of deism.  This was found from an online source talking about and explaining what Deism actually is in more depth, "Do not accept the belief of most religions that God revealed himself to humanity through the writings of the Bible, the Qur'an or other religious texts." (Robinson)  This means that most Deists don't accept religions involving physical belief, they don't accept religions that say God revealed himself to us through writing the Bible.

Benjamin Franklin's first virtue was, "Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation." (McKay)  This can kind of be related to Deism practices because Deist don't want to allow for the belief in these things and if you drink too much you can lose control of what you are saying and thinking and quite possibly go against your religion until you sober up.  It is the same concept if you don't eat any food, it is a known fact that if you don't eat food you become very weak very quickly and quite possibly could die.  Our bodies require us to eat a significant amount of food a day to stay healthy and get all the nutrients needed for ones self.  If you don't eat enough food you wouldn't be able to spread your religion, which is a main goal of most religions practiced.  Eating too much food and not enough food are opposites and are bad for you either way, yet they still have the same outcome.  If you eat too much junk food, you can become fat and overweight.  when that happens, it is a struggle to get back in shape and most over weight people cannot walk, run, or exert too much energy for long periods of time.  This is mostly because they dont have the will power since it is hard to do.  When this happens it means the religion being practiced by that person cannot be spread in an efficient way and therefore goes against the religion of that person.  That is why we should follow all 13 of Benjamin Franklins virtues, including this one on Temperance, so we can stay healthy and active, and have a happy outlook on our lives.  Ever since I first read these virtues, I have tried to live out my life as closely as possible to them, because I want to live a health, happy life.  I also want to live a long time to see my grandchildrens children, so I want to start healthy young and stay that way throughout my entire liftime.

Robinson, B. A. "Deism: Its History, Beliefs and Practices." ReligiousTolerance.org. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, 1999. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.


McKay, Brett and Kate. "Being Virtuous: Benjamin Franklin’s 13 Virtues of Life | The Art of Manliness." The Art of Manliness | Men’s Interests and Lifestyle. The Art of Manliness, 1 June 2008. Web. 27 Oct. 2011.