Magnificent Moral Beauty: The Trait of Engagement with Moral Beauty

Abstract

Traits are patterns of behavior, and the trait of engaging with moral beauty involves noticing the patterns of behavior that symbolize the moral beauty of the virtues; these patterns may be characterized as unity-in-diversity. Elevation is the emotion experienced when engaging with moral beauty; when experiencing elevation one desires to become a better person and is more likely to commit prosocial acts. Elevation, in experimentally designed studies, has been shown to cause volunteering; charitable donations; better mentoring; intentions to register as organ donor; increased cooperative behavior; reduction in prejudice against race or sexual orientation; increased belief in life as meaningful and in the benevolence of others; increase positive affect and prosociality (affiliation and compassionate goals) and decrease self-image goals; and increase in interest in the Paralympics, and a positive effect on the destigmatization of persons with disabilities in general. Longitudinal research has shown that experiences of elevation led to a decrease in anxiety and depression and improved interpersonal functioning in a clinical population. Moral beauty may be related to spiritual beauty. Will moral beauty save the world? Moral beauty level is unrelated to political persuasion (conservatives are just as likely to notice the moral beauty of others as are liberals).

Beauty Interlude Six

Aphrodite Angry

Eros went home to Mommy to nurse his wound; but Aphrodite was not sympathetic. She berated him for hooking up with Psyche and declared their child in her womb to be a bastard. After ranting and raving at Eros, she stormed out of her palace and ran into the goddesses Ceres and Hera. She then ranted at them, and told them if they knew where Psyche was, they must let her know immediately so she could punish her for hurting her son.

Psyche’s Selfless Service and Prayers

Psyche began wandering and searching for Eros everywhere, to beg his forgiveness, and to get back together. She spied a beautiful temple, and thought it might be his home. When she got to the temple, it was messy, with sheaves of corn piled haphazardly and harvesting equipment lying about randomly. She took it upon herself to clean the whole mess up in and around the temple, and put it all in order. Seeing the selfless service of Psyche in her temple, Ceres manifested herself and gave Psyche some sympathy. Psyche then asked if she could hide out in the temple for a few days, but Ceres was too afraid of Aphrodite’s rage to allow that. Ceres sent Psyche on her way, saying the best she could do was not tell Aphrodite that she had seen her.

Check out this wonderful painting of Ceres by the great American artist Alice Pike Barney (Fig. 7.1):

Fig. 7.1

Ceres (c.1910, pastel on canvas, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian) Alice Pike Barney (1857–1931) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alice-Pike_Barney-Art-Ceres-1901.jpg

Psyche again wandered in search of Eros, but soon came upon a very richly appointed temple; it was so magnificent she realized it was Hera’s temple, the queen of the gods. She approached the altar and began a deeply heartfelt prayer, begging Hera to save her, relieve her sufferings, and to grant mercy unto her unborn child. Hera than appeared to her and told her that she would love to grant her wishes, but that she could not, due to her loyalty to Aphrodite.

Psyche then decided she must give herself up to Aphrodite and accept whatever punishment would be meted out to her. In the meantime, Aphrodite went to Zeus to ask permission to borrow Hermes, the messenger god, to spread a message that whatever mortal informed on Psyche’s whereabouts, that Aphrodite would gift the informer with “seven sweet kisses and an extra one deeply honeyed with the sweetness of her thrusting tongue” (Kenney, 1990, p. 95). Men across Greece then actively searched for Psyche, but they didn’t get the reward, as Psyche decided to present herself at the door of Aphrodite’s palace. When she did so, the minor goddess Habit, who was attending the door, called Psyche a slut, and grabbed her by the hair and dragged her inside the palace. When Aphrodite saw her, she laughed in rage, and asked her handmaids, the minor goddesses Care and Sorrow, to torment Psyche. Those two then whipped and tortured her relentlessly. Aphrodite then told her not to hope for mercy just because she was carrying Eros’s bastard child in her belly; indeed, Aphrodite bemoaned becoming a grandmother and threatened to abort the baby. She then beat Psyche herself, ripping off Psyche’s clothes and tearing out some of her hair (Fig. 7.2).

Fig. 7.2

Sorrow and Pain (Care) Punishing Psyche by Aphrodite’s Order (Engraving, 19.9 × 23 cm [image] inches pl. 23 from the series the Fable of Psyche, After drawings by Michiel Coxcie, after Raphael, sixteenth century) Bernardo Daddi (Italian engraver, 1512–, Worked in Rome from 1532 to 1550). (Etching owned by, and photo credit to, Rhett Diessner)

The First Test of Love

Aphrodite decides to challenge Psyche’s devotion to Eros by testing her stamina with an impossible trial. Aphrodite mixes a massive amount of seeds: millet, lentils, beans, barley, wheat, chickpeas, and poppy seeds. She then tells Psyche that she is off to an afternoon wedding party, and that Psyche must sort the grains into their respective kinds before she returns in the evening. Psyche stares at the mighty pile of grains and legumes and realizes there is no possible way for her to do this in a month, much less a night. But, inspired by their love for Eros, an ant army sees her plight and comes to her rescue. The ants have all the piles properly sorted by the time Aphrodite returns. Aphrodite flies into a bit of a rage, and exclaims to Psyche that she is a worthless wretch and that her lover Eros must have helped her. She then tosses Psyche a crust of bread for dinner and goes off to her own bedchamber for the night.

Check out Giulio Romano’s (perhaps Raphael’s greatest student) depiction of this trial here: http://www.alaaddin.it/img/n_Psiche.jpg.