Ethics
So I've been doing a lot of thinking and a lot of reading lately and I'm pretty sure I'm redefining what I once thought of ethics. To start, we have to understand the causality of the universe. From every action there is a reaction. This boils down from the most complex to the simplest of actions. Drop a rock, it falls.
We have developed physical laws that explain how some of these things happen, but for my purpose its more important to notice that it happens. Most of science tries to tie the cause to effect or the effect to the cause -which is how we end up with these laws- but there are plenty of causes to which we might not see the immediate effects. Don't brush your teeth for a year and you will develop cavities. I don't need to know the science of cavities to understand I will have them if I don't brush my teeth.
There are many people that have a hard time connecting the cause to the effect in life. More frequently, I think we have a harder time taking ownership of the effects in which we cause. Working at two separate mental institutions I've seen much of this. In many instances these patients just need to learn to take responsibility for their actions -connecting the effect to the cause. You don't need to go through the mental health system; however, to have a hard time doing this.
Children spend most of their development learning cause and effect, put your hand in the fire, you get burned. It takes some of us longer to get these ideas down than others but ultimately we can learn to view all our actions in such a way that clarifies the effects of those actions.
Now lets take this a step further and say there are not only physical laws that we are bound by, but spiritual laws as well. I'm not going to claim to know much of these laws but I will say that I have certainly experienced the effects of them. My walk with Christ has waxed or waned with the increase or decrease in prayer, reading my Bible, tithing, etc. The more I flat out sin, the more I feel it pull my heart.
It can be very easy for us to live our Christian lives according to the laws we have read about and studied. We know the Absolute Truth and do everything we can to stay within this circle of righteousness. I know this path all too well.
I have spent a good portion of my Christian walk studying right from wrong, how to live according to Christ, where the boundaries of this circle of righteousness fall and in the end I've come up lacking. For me it became much more about my being right, or someone else being wrong that I allowed righteousness to be my god. I focused too much on who was in the circle and who was out of the circle. I spent a long time learning the rights and wrongs of God instead of entering into a relationship with God, instead of entering into relationship with people.
I saw many of my relationships with people become increasingly important based on how right I was, the actual relationship with that person didn't matter very much.
Sounds a lot like those Biblical folks who studied the laws, and considered themselves highly religious people...Pharisees.
The way I see it, right and wrong are not as important as I've made them out to be. Instead of focusing on the line that separates black from white, I needed to focus on the center. Jesus is my center, with him being my focus that circle of righteousness doesn't matter very much.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this as a means to justify anything I feel. This is not to say that stealing, lying or cheating aren't bad. With Jesus as the center my focus on life is to live a life a close to that of Christ's as I can. Jesus wouldn't steal, or lie, or cheat so naturally it wouldn't be difficult to avoid those things for him -which is how I now am striving to live.
That being said, as soon as we start to focus on the center Jesus moves that center closer to us. And while we operate under these laws of absolute truth in the physical and the spiritual, the Christian life life is lived out relative to each person and their walk with Christ.
It is not either Absolute Truth or Relativity, its both-and.
Yes, we are still responsible for the effects that we cause, but Christ is there to offer us the grace to learn to live life more like him. Christ brings the center closer to us the more we focus on him.
Because of this my relationship with Christ matters so much more than following the laws of righteousness. Similarly, my relationships with my friends truly turned into loving relationships where I care and desire to grow the relationship not because I'm right or they are wrong, but because I love them. Even people I don't know I care so much more for now than ever. I care so much more about the person, and so little about the drug habit, the sexual orientation, the foul language, or whatever other baggage they carry.
I think that's how Jesus wants us all to live.
We have developed physical laws that explain how some of these things happen, but for my purpose its more important to notice that it happens. Most of science tries to tie the cause to effect or the effect to the cause -which is how we end up with these laws- but there are plenty of causes to which we might not see the immediate effects. Don't brush your teeth for a year and you will develop cavities. I don't need to know the science of cavities to understand I will have them if I don't brush my teeth.
There are many people that have a hard time connecting the cause to the effect in life. More frequently, I think we have a harder time taking ownership of the effects in which we cause. Working at two separate mental institutions I've seen much of this. In many instances these patients just need to learn to take responsibility for their actions -connecting the effect to the cause. You don't need to go through the mental health system; however, to have a hard time doing this.
Children spend most of their development learning cause and effect, put your hand in the fire, you get burned. It takes some of us longer to get these ideas down than others but ultimately we can learn to view all our actions in such a way that clarifies the effects of those actions.
Now lets take this a step further and say there are not only physical laws that we are bound by, but spiritual laws as well. I'm not going to claim to know much of these laws but I will say that I have certainly experienced the effects of them. My walk with Christ has waxed or waned with the increase or decrease in prayer, reading my Bible, tithing, etc. The more I flat out sin, the more I feel it pull my heart.
It can be very easy for us to live our Christian lives according to the laws we have read about and studied. We know the Absolute Truth and do everything we can to stay within this circle of righteousness. I know this path all too well.
I have spent a good portion of my Christian walk studying right from wrong, how to live according to Christ, where the boundaries of this circle of righteousness fall and in the end I've come up lacking. For me it became much more about my being right, or someone else being wrong that I allowed righteousness to be my god. I focused too much on who was in the circle and who was out of the circle. I spent a long time learning the rights and wrongs of God instead of entering into a relationship with God, instead of entering into relationship with people.
I saw many of my relationships with people become increasingly important based on how right I was, the actual relationship with that person didn't matter very much.
Sounds a lot like those Biblical folks who studied the laws, and considered themselves highly religious people...Pharisees.
The way I see it, right and wrong are not as important as I've made them out to be. Instead of focusing on the line that separates black from white, I needed to focus on the center. Jesus is my center, with him being my focus that circle of righteousness doesn't matter very much.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this as a means to justify anything I feel. This is not to say that stealing, lying or cheating aren't bad. With Jesus as the center my focus on life is to live a life a close to that of Christ's as I can. Jesus wouldn't steal, or lie, or cheat so naturally it wouldn't be difficult to avoid those things for him -which is how I now am striving to live.
That being said, as soon as we start to focus on the center Jesus moves that center closer to us. And while we operate under these laws of absolute truth in the physical and the spiritual, the Christian life life is lived out relative to each person and their walk with Christ.
It is not either Absolute Truth or Relativity, its both-and.
Yes, we are still responsible for the effects that we cause, but Christ is there to offer us the grace to learn to live life more like him. Christ brings the center closer to us the more we focus on him.
Because of this my relationship with Christ matters so much more than following the laws of righteousness. Similarly, my relationships with my friends truly turned into loving relationships where I care and desire to grow the relationship not because I'm right or they are wrong, but because I love them. Even people I don't know I care so much more for now than ever. I care so much more about the person, and so little about the drug habit, the sexual orientation, the foul language, or whatever other baggage they carry.
I think that's how Jesus wants us all to live.
posted by Its not about Perfection, Its about Progress at 9:53 PM
1 Comments:
You should read Kant...he has some ideas on cause and effect that i think you will find interesting
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