In the last newsletter, I introduced our current virtue of the month: Temperance. 

We talked about the fundamentals of temperance and how temperance empowers teachers and scientists to temper their frustrations in the long pursuit of truth. Here are some classic definitions again:

From Plato: Temperance is "order and mastery over the passions… letting the simple and moderate desires, pleasures and pains be accompanied by intelligence and right opinion." (Republic, Book IV, 430e + 431c)

From Thomas Aquinas: Temperance is "pursuing the correct loves, and avoiding the correct evils." (Summa Theologica, II-II, Q141, A3)

In this newsletter, I want to continue our ode to temperance by looking for it in the "Book of Nature”. Let’s look at how creation models this virtue. 

Personally, I find the most striking examples of temperance are in nature. I’m fascinated by animals that show temperance by fasting. Now, there are a couple of things about animals I know for certain as a teacher:

1. Animals are great to study and care for (that’s why we have fables, and pets, and the sciences of biology and ecology)

2. People, especially children and students, love animals.

So given these two things, a great way to teach is by introducing animals into the curriculum. After all, each animal is a living metaphor; they tell us something about God and reality, if we’re willing to listen. We can learn a lot from animals. Sometimes they even model virtues that people ought to have, too. 

When I think about temperance, I often think about the following three animals:

I learned about the Ball Python’s great temperance through my pet snake, Sweet Potato. Twice now, in 2019 and 2025, he’s gone entire Lenten seasons without eating a single meal.

And he was offered meals, he just rejected all of them! 

Such fasts aren’t uncommon for pythons. While the average human burns about 2000 calories a day, the average Ball Python burns only about 12 calories per day. What would be supernatural for us humans is just another season for them.

On the days I was struggling with the traditional Lenten fasts, it was both humbling and encouraging to see Sweet Potato peacefully basking, unbothered after fasting for months straight. 

Ball Pythons are also known as Royal Pythons because of their neat connection to the classical world. Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, apparently wore her pet Ball Pythons around her wrists, like living bracelets. 

So Ball Pythons have been a symbol of royalty since ancient times, hence their alternative name, Royal Pythons. They are gentle creatures, and perhaps the most popular pet reptile on Earth today, so this story about Cleopatra doesn’t surprise me. 

Classroom reflection: Study the amazing metabolism of pythons, and the harsh conditions they can thrive in because of their metabolism. Then, reflect on the joy of existing. Observe the ball python’s immense capacity for stillness, their contentment in a quiet existence. What does that tell us about God’s ongoing gift of Creation? Can you see and feel the good of existing in your own life? Can your students see the good of existence in their own lives?

Squirrels are a familiar example of temperance. It’s common knowledge that squirrels spend the bountiful months caching excess nuts and seeds for the months of winter scarcity. Their nature allows them to prepare for the future by exercising temperance in the present. 

The squirrel’s temperance is a perennial blessing for forests and woodlands. Many caches go unretrieved, either from the squirrel forgetting about it, or not needing it after all. Whatever the reason, these unsalvaged nuts and seeds just so happen to be in the perfect places to sprout into the forest’s next generation of plants. 

So we see here an illustration of temperance benefiting both the one who practices it, and those around them. Individual temperance is a communal good.

Classroom Reflection: Check out the studies on squirrel memory with your students. Perhaps even give them a relevant scholarly article, and show them how to navigate academic reading!

Then, reflect morally on the communal good squirrels do for their forests. Is a good deed still good if it goes unnoticed?

If you’re from the Deep South like I am, you have the loud Cicada trill burned into your memory. You hear these little bugs screaming constantly. That sound is caused by the males contracting their tymbals—a specialized part of the Cicada’s exoskeleton—in search of mates. 

Cicadas are models of temperance when they’re in their juvenile stages, the “instar” stages. Cicadas spend almost their entire life buried underground. The different Cicada species are distinguished by just how long they spend growing underground. 

Some Cicada species emerge every year, but the 2 species of the Magicicada genus spend a staggering 13 and 17 years underground! 

During their underground years as nymphs, they live off xylem sap from the surrounding trees and plants, watery sap that has about as much nutritional value as mineral water. And while extremely large broods of Cicadas can damage young roots, the average population does negligible harm to the plants they feed off of.

Cicadas are like little cave monastics. They subsist on the simplest diet, in the humblest home, taking only what they absolutely need from the world around them. Nothing like a screaming insect on a hot day to remind you that peace is often found in living simply, tempering ourselves against material excess. 

Classroom Reflection: Make a lesson on the Cicada’s life cycle. Have students research whether there’s a local brood growing in the ground, and when they’ll emerge. Then reflect on the goodness of a quiet life, as modeled by the young Cicadas. This is the perfect time to introduce your students to a teaching in The Philokalia, or a Saying from one of the Desert Fathers, who lived as humbly as young Cicadas.

In short, the Ball Python, the Squirrel, and the Cicada are all living illustrations of temperance. As creations of God, they display certain things about Him, and about the way He intended Creation to work. We can learn from them if we see them with gratitude and study them intently.

Question for you: When you look into the “Book of Nature” can you see the “little words” of God, as St. Maximus the Confessor did? Or do you struggle to see God at work around us? 

I hope this exploration of temperance through the Book of Nature inspires you and your school! 

☦️❤️🐍

The Orthodox Snake is made possible by our most-temperate patrons, the Serpent Squad!

Special thanks to:

• MakeItClaire