Character “Character is what you do when no one is looking” The Picture of Dorian Gray

Character Moral: The word ‘morality’ is from the Latin mores: character. Character is one’s moral identity: the kind of person you have made yourself to be by the moral choices that you make. Note: Your choice of university is not a ‘moral choice’, your choice of toothpaste brand is not a ‘moral choice’. The choice to lie is a ‘moral choice’. Morality is not about choices that promise to bring about an external state of affairs most conducive to the quality of life one desires for oneself or others. 

Rather, it is about the making of character.  We determine our character, our moral identity, by the free choices that we make, and our very destiny (eternal life) is determined by the kind of persons we’ve made ourselves to be.   Your character is more intimately yours than anything else you may have.

Character vs. Personality Character is not the same as personality. You can have a great personality, but depraved character, like serial killer Ted Bundy on the left. You can also have a grumpy, or bland personality, but saintly character.   Much of our personality is determined, either inherited or environmental. But character is entirely ours. Ted Bundy- serial killer

Choice (the relationship between what I choose and what I am) doing & being Moral Choice Character I choose to lie I become a liar (even a nice liar with a great personality) I choose to steal I become a thief (even a nice thief) I choose to kill I become a killer (even a nice killer) I choose to gossip I become a gossip (yes, even a nice gossip)

Man is an artist who sculpts his own moral identity, the kind of person he is or is becoming. By my own choice, I become either a good person, fully orientated towards “the good” (God, who is the Supreme Good), or an evil person, that is, a person deficient in my relationship to the entire spectrum of human goods.

Myers-Briggs Personality Test You did not shape your own personality. Much of it is determined by our genes and environment. Each human being is unique, and no personality test can fully express who you are. But they can tell us a great deal about ourselves, help us to become aware of things we might not be explicitly aware of, and they are often useful. Try the following test: the Myers-Briggs, and record your type. http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

Character Strengths 1. Try the Via Signature Strengths Questionnaire at www.authentichappiness.org 2. Print out your results that show your character strengths. 3. Take a look at all 24 strengths in the pdf entitled 24 Character Strengths. Consider what the test ranks as your top five. 4. Answer the following questions:   a. What are your top five character strengths? b. In terms of the four cardinal virtues, is your top strength under prudence, or justice, or temperance, or fortitude? Explain. c. What have you learned about yourself in doing the survey?