Sir Godfrey Gregg OHPM, ROMC

HONOUR

Hono​u​r is one of those words that people use more than they seem to actually understand. We accept it as a virtue, but often confuse it with the word pride.
When ​The Mystical Court refers to hono​u​r, it has something very specific in mind. It is not referring to pride, which wraps itself in ego and lends itself to conceit. Hono​u​r is a certain level of achievement in reflecting ​Mystical principles. One might call it having a reputation for moral integrity, but it is more than even that. It is a living commitment to right action, a commitment so strong that it shapes a person’s conscience. It is a dedication of self to something greater than oneself. Not another being, or human authority, although that​ ​sometimes comes with it, but to human ideals. It is the fusion of the soul with virtue, and therefore the epitome of manliness.

A man who has hono​u​r is a man people can trust: honest, well-intentioned, and strongly committed to good. He is an oasis in a desert wasteland, worthy of praise, yet avoiding it at the same time. In other words he has the inner qualities of a hero.
His concern with reputation goes to the extent that reputation provides a measure of success. A man who willfully earns a poor reputation has little hono​u​r indeed.

When pride enhances a commitment to hono​u​r, it provides something good. This is not to be confused with ego-pride, for which reputation becomes the end-all in itself. It is human-pride, an inner motivation to do the right and moral action, not for show or credit, but out of love and respect for human nature.
Integrity is natural to a man of hono​u​r. So it concern for others.

To clarify this definition, let us examine what it is not.

There is no hono​u​r in boasting or belittling other people.
There is no hono​u​r in dulling one’s mind and judgment with alcohol or drugs, for doing so detracts from your completeness and response to the moment.
There is no hono​u​r in harming innocent people, in victimizing or controlling women, or in delighting in gossip.
There is no hono​u​r in making false promises, or misleading people from the truth.
There is no hono​u​r in smearing a political opponent with lies or half-truths.
There is no honor in in cheating or breaking a vow.
There is no hono​u​r in not rising to the cause of justice when the opportunity calls for it.
There is no hono​u​r in winning at all cost, when that cost compromises the integrity of your soul.
There is no hono​u​r in being false in matters of love.

To this I add that only the man of hono​u​r is really a man in the eyes of ​The Mystical Court, the Code of Male Virtue. For here we find truth and beauty and human value, and the wellspring of our soul.