Delphic Maxim 30: Exercise nobility of character

I’ve set myself the challenge of responding to each Delphic Maxim for 15 minutes a day.

30. Exercise nobility of character

This morning I am sitting on my balcony, soaking up the fresh air and bright light of Sydney on the first day or Autumn, reflecting on the idea of a noble character. Do I wander down a path that compares the idea of nobility with the idea of honour? Or do I try to unpack this expression ‘nobility of character’ more directly. Por que no los dos?

Nobility derives from a particular, classed understanding of social relations. To be a part of the nobility means that you were not only born into the aristocracy — the richest segment of society — but that you were inherently noble. Your personal qualities — your character — was elevated and ennobled by birth. In the past, a noble person was likely educated into this position of social status as well, since only the wealthiest would receive this kind of education.

We have a broader understanding of nobility today, but I think in part it still reflects those aristocratic, classed origins. Nobility is a particular way of carrying yourself in the world, a greatness of character whereby you aren’t inordinately phased by circumstance, and where you strive to rise above the petty worries of human life and daily grind. Perhaps. The more I try to contain and qualify the idea of nobility, the more it slips away from me! But that’s often the case with these sorts of qualities we ascribe to class and disposition — we see what impermanent, shifting constructs they often are!

Nobility, like grace and dignity, attaches to people who comport themselves in a kind of unaffected, respectful fashion. I think where honour gives regard to your relationship with other people and duty within a social context, nobility refers to the way you carry yourself within a given circumstance. Nobility doesn’t have that dimension of reciprocity that you find with other characteristics, instead it is a quality of the self we project into the world.

So why would we do this today? If it’s such a classed construct, isn’t it exclusive and discriminatory to suggest that we should all exercise nobility of character? I don’t think so. Just because something derives from the aristocracy doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad (actually, I am so bourgeois I generally find a lot of those ‘rich people’ things to have quite a bit of value). Conducting ourselves with dignity and calm and grace is a good thing to do, regardless of our social station. And nobility seems to me to describe an inclination towards what Aristotle described as greatness of character (magnanimity), and also a general disposition towards goodness and grace.

We seek ways to ennoble ourselves all the time, not because we aspire to be a part of some social class, but because our sense of self is enhanced by it — we bring a little bit of daily greatness into our lives.

Balconies really are a lovely place to spend a morning in Sydney.