Temperance can be associated with balanced behavior.
From the Latin temperantia , temperance is related to sobriety or moderation of character . A person with temperance reacts in a balanced way since they have considerable control over their emotions and are able to dominate their impulses.
Christianity considers temperance as one of the four cardinal virtues . It is a moral virtue that consists of the moderation of appetites and the attraction exerted by pleasures based on reason.
Temperance in Christianity
According to this religious doctrine, temperance reflects the dominance of the human will and allows limits to desires (generally linked to sin ). Temperance allows the person to be balanced and balance their natural tendency towards sense pleasures and spiritual recollection.
The Christian religion explains that the energies intended to satisfy the desires of the senses can become destructive, and that it is thanks to the virtue of temperance that people can recognize what their real needs are (those that collaborate with their development and well-being). ) and what are the needs created from the inexhaustible desires that arise from the ego and that, therefore, harm the individual.
In this sense, temperance gives human beings freedom, since it prevents the emergence of vices or submission to impulses .
In the field of painting , temperance is the harmony and good arrangement of colors . The concept, once again, appears associated with balance .
Temperance is linked to moderation of character.
temperance movement
It is known by the name of the Temperance Movement or Temperance Movement, a social movement against alcohol consumption, which spread in Anglo-Saxon countries, such as the United States, England, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and Canada. Among its objectives was to end alcoholism, and it sought to do so through campaigns promoting abstinence, as well as supporting law proposals that opposed the consumption of excessive alcoholic beverages.
At the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century, the first temperance associations or leagues were born on North American soil, more precisely in New York, Virginia and Connecticut. They moved based on the damage , both physical and psychological, that alcohol produces. Over time they spread: before 1830, the initiative was reflected in eight other states.
Specifically, in 1826, the North American Temperance Society was created, which enjoyed great popularity thanks to the respect that North American society felt for morality and religious precepts at that time. In just over a decade they managed to surpass 8,000 local offices and a million and a half members, and it was not long before they managed to publish their ideas on paper in almost two dozen print media.
Its members found a strong relationship between the excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages and gender violence against women, which is why they frequently collaborated with organizations in favor of women's rights. A character who undoubtedly stood out among the movement's followers was Carrie Nation, a woman who left indelible marks through her "unexpected visits" to bars and taverns with an ax, which she used to smash bottles.
Some of the religions that supported the development of this movement, both directly and indirectly, are Methodism and Mormonism. Its best moment was thanks to Prohibition , although the people soon came to the conclusion that prohibition generated more problems than freedom.