Delphic Maxim 100: Act without repenting
I’ve set myself the challenge of responding to each Delphic Maxim for 15 minutes a day.
100. Act without repenting
Repenting is such a strong word for today’s maxim — it’s obviously heavily loaded with religious meaning. A more contemporary understanding might be something like ‘regretting’, or making apologies and amends for a regrettable act. All of which are reasonable things to do when you have done something wrong or regrettable — so is this a maxim that I am going to disagree with (it happens from time to time).
Not necessarily. The key here is to think about the word ‘act’ — do things without repenting. I actually interpret this as a kind of call to ‘own’ the things that you do. Don’t recant or resile from them, and definitely find no need to repent. This is pretty dangerous territory to wander into in the era of that kind of incel-driven, Jordan Peterson fanbase, so what do I mean exactly?
This maxim isn’t about not regretting or apologising for the things that you do. It’s about making sure that the things that you do aren’t going to cause regrets in the first place. It’s about being virtuous, having good character, and allowing your actions to flow from that.
Yesterday at work I got into a good chat with some colleagues about Jordan Peterson’s popularity. I struggle to understand why so many disenfranchised, alienated young men find him so compelling. I theorised that perhaps it’s because he offers clarity and certainty. The advice he offers is all about self-improvement and steeling ourselves for life’s inevitable disappointments. He talks a lot about suffering, and leans into the Stoic philosophy about preparing ourselves for loss, and strengthening our characters in a fairly old-fashioned, individual way.
On the surface there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s fairly obvious and anodyne, so that’s probably why I find its popularity incomprehensible — but Peterson aggressively argues against political correctness and movements for social justice and equality, so I suppose a simple message coupled with easy attacks on ‘the PC Left’ helps build an audience. But it’s a thin view of what builds character.
And it’s virtually silent on what good character actually is.
I’ve written enough previously about the virtues, so I won’t go into them again here. I will say, though, that they give a substantive content to our understanding of character. They help us to understand what it might mean to be a good person, and most important of all: they don’t forget that we depend on others and our participation in communal practices for our development as good people.
The reason I detour via discussion of Peterson is that I think there’s a culture amongst his followers, and definitely in those sort of alt-right, incel and sad male spheres, that would interpret this maxim as a call to ‘act without apologising’. They might read this as a justification for being an arsehole — the most crucial thing is to never back down.
I disagree, obviously. Owning your actions is an important element of good character, but the the quality of those actions is just as vital. To act without repenting means that you have considered a situation, the people around you, and what would be the most virtuous course of action. It means you follow through with those convictions, and make decisions that you can be proud of. And if you do that, then there’s no need to repent: virtuous character is a reward in itself.
