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Miyamoto Musashi, one of the greatest samurai to have ever lived, believed that protecting our honour was more important than protecting our lives.
In his Dokkodo, a collection of 21 principles for living a good life that he dedicated to one of his disciples, he wrote, "You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honor." And this quote places Musashi among a long list of sages who claim the very same thing.
In Apology, a record of his public trial in Athens as written by Plato, Socrates said, "…a man who is good for anything ought not to calculate the chance of living or dying; he ought only to consider whether in doing anything he is doing right or wrong — acting the part of a good man or of a bad." And Epictetus, a great stoic sage, echoed this claim when, in his Discourses, he said, "…it isn't death or pain that is frightening, but the fear that we feel in the face of death or pain.
That is why we praise the man who said, To die is not dreadful, but to die with dishonour." And in his Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, the last of the five good emperors of Rome wrote, "If there were anything harmful on the other side of death, they would have made sure that the ability to avoid it was within you.
If it doesn't harm your character, how can it harm your life?" And Seneca, the great Roman philosopher and statesman, in his Letters, wrote, "…life is never incomplete if it is an honourable one.
At whatever point you leave life, if you leave it in the right way, it is a whole." The reason that the sages, such as Miyamoto Musashi, tell us to value our honour above our own survival is because it preserves our conscience, and keeping our conscience healthy is the only way to live a free and peaceful life.
If we want to know what happens when a human lacks a healthy conscience, there's no better subject to study than the psychopath.
In Without Conscience, Dr. Robert Hare, a professional on psychopathology wrote, Their hallmark is a stunning lack of conscience; their game is self-gratification at the other person's expense.
Many spend time in prison, but many do not. All take far more than they give.
