Morality for its own sake.

I am going to attempt to approach this delicately, as it is an issue that seems to cause great emotional response from both sides. I think, however, that it is an important issue, and so will forge on. I also think that any issue that causes others to try to shout you down, shut you up, and intimidate you into submission is one that needs to be spotlighted, defined, and addressed.

Morality is the most important staple of any society. More so, I believe, than religion, more than politics, and more than any other issue I can think of. Why? Because Morality is the culmination of personal philosophy, and personal philosophy i what guides us in every aspect of our lives, every decision that we make, every action we take any every word we speak.

Morality is that personal code that each has, but that so few understand. I have been told that making every issue black and white is an impossibility in a world so full of color. While a beautiful sentiment, I feel it is an ultimately unsustainable one. Shades of gray, splashes of color, difficult moral quandaries only confuse us when we lack moral clarity. Having the courage to face those masking distractions, having the sharpness of mind to separate and remove them as such, is only possible when we choose reason over reactivism, when we choose truth over hopes, and truly seek to quantify that which is before us.

I have argued for years against the coupling of religion with morality. Fusing these two things, to me, seems the quintessence of paradox. Religion, spirituality, are the realm of mysticism. We each approach, embrace or reject mysticism on our own terms, in our own ways, and live our lived accordingly. Morality, IMO, cannot be relegated to this quarter.

Morality, integrity, are the personal code under which a man must live regardless of his relationship with any God or Gods. Clearly defining that code within ourselves is one of the most noble endeavors a man can undertake, and should not be limited to his willingness or ability to accept a religious doctrine.

There are many argument for a clearly understood and defined morality. Without religion, this code still serves the most important of functions within a society; the effort to create the greatest possibility that our children will enter a world better than the one we entered. Without a moral code, a man is no more than a detached animal moving through an unnatural environment. Society is, therefore morality must be, else that society will degenerate into chaos. Chaos leads to anarchy, death, despair, and hopelessness; these deaths of reason. Reason, this is what must be. A man’s morality is an extension of that reason. Without reason, we are nothing.

Chaos is no gift to our children, but a legacy of struggle that our children must undertake in order that their children be provided for. Chaos is the result of weak or absent morality. It is the antithesis to Morality, the antithesis to Reason, and as such should be resisted at all costs if we are to leave health and hope for our progeny.

I hope that I have been able to present this for discussion in a manner that doesn’t polarize the religious and the emotional.

Comments Welcome