More Desire More Chastity Part 2
Virtues come in pairs in a virtue set, and in some sense opposite pairs. Boldness and prudence. Thrift and magnanimity. Risk and restraint. Mercy and judgment. Time and eternity.
By proving contraries, truth is made manifest
-thus Joseph Smith
But the truest virtues seem to be the union of the pair.
Virility and Chastity combine in achievement, marriage, offspring, family.
So does the womanly version. It is fitting that the highest expressions of male and female sexuality are in combination with each other.
Except Achievement isn’t exactly the right word or meaning for women, though I insist that there is a feminine version of it, its just that we lack the word and even the concept. Spitballin’, I might say its something like keeping up the infrastructure of daily life but also adding light and grace to it, but this is just off the top of my head. I am by no means a feminist and not going to be, but it is odd and I think a bit damning that American culture and Western civilization lack a clear concept to correspond to virility and achievement.
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Eric
January 16, 2026
Here’s a set worth exploring: patriarchy and matrimony.
Eric
January 16, 2026
Just to clarify, these should be seen as complimentary to each other, not in opposition.
John Mansfield
January 16, 2026
Fulfillment?
As Elder Wirthlin said in General Conference, “Our goal should be to fill the measure of our creation as sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.”
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January 16, 2026
Accomplishment
E. C.
January 16, 2026
Homemaking? Nurturing? Beautifying?
Zen
January 17, 2026
Acheivement isn’t exactly right, though we do want our women to be intelligent and accomplished. I just don’t think Masculine Efforts are the same as Feminine Efforts. Both can get you results, but there is a difference, even if a great deal of overlap.
But I suspect that most of us are so weakly Masculine or Feminine that it might be hard to distinguish.
In a sense, this is a problem of role models. We have a vague feeling of what we need to do, but we struggle to enunciate what we are intuiting.