Sunday Musings - August 22, 2021
I would love to be able to say that this week I have remained spiritually centered and continuously appreciative of the fact that I enjoy the many privileges of my gated, middle class, relatively healthy life. I would like to be able to say that I kept all in perspective and did not react as a spoiled white man to minor inconveniences. I would also like to say that I knew my opinions were approximately based on ethical facts; that after a lifetime of listening to spiritual teachers and wise philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, John Locke, Thomas Hobbs, Bertram Russell, Resmaa Mencken, Martin Luther King, Jr., Pema Chodron Ram Dass, and many others I have arrived at a decision-making model which always or nearly always feels moral. The truth is I can make none of these statements.
Today I am not forced to function at the survival level; on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs I am not concerned with basic physical and security needs. That fact alone imposes on me the responsibility to consider the active and passive ways I contribute to the fact that a significant percentage of people continue to be concerned with basic physical and security needs. I cannot excuse my inactivity because I am busy contemplating my navel or writing a new version of the Metaphysics of Morals.
Given our amazing and varied means of communication with each other there is no shortage of the “prods” we daily receive to do something about the social ills and injustices which keep most of the world’s population at level one or two of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Daily, most of us are urged to face the many ways in which we are racist, sexist, homophobic, economically oppressive, or otherwise immoral or even amoral.
We are often implored to listen to “truths” which are diametrically opposed to each other. A minister tells his congregants that they are forbidden to get vaccinated or wear masks in church. A mother whose three-year-old is fighting a life threatening covid19 infection pleads with individuals to do their part to create herd immunity. Many plead with the President of the United States to continue to evacuate United States citizens and their supporters from Afghanistan. Others plead with him to keep troops in that country until the democratic political regime is stronger. Some advocate for more social policies - a more humane and fairer sharing of resources. Some decry such a sharing as a Godless coddling of individuals. Some are thrilled that the FBI can find no proof that President Trump actively conspired to bring about the January 6th insurrection. Others shake their heads when hearing such a conclusion.
Recently I visited an amazing museum complex. Much of the funding or at least a substantial amount comes from an employer who has often been accused of mistreating employees or at least not honoring their basic needs while he and other stockholders have amassed a huge fortune. I love the fact that artists such as Georgia O’Keefe, Mary Cassatt, Thomas Moran, and a host of more recent artists have a place to share their creations thus ensuring that our hearts and souls will be challenged to consider issues affecting the entire universe and especially Mother Earth. Historically blood money has often funded the arts resulting in a duplicity which daily challenge many of us.
If not careful while drafting the next tome purporting to provide a means to make ethical decisions I will become just another pretentious, self-righteous bore who only adds to the problem. I will take myself and my moral dilemmas so seriously that I will forget to laugh and, thus, add to the oppression. Yet one does not want to laugh while Rome burns.
Perhaps the most moral of dances which we humans can share is the ability to simultaneously do our best to support each other in making manifest our most loving, just selves and to accept our roles as “mere humans” whose “intelligence” continually questions and complicates this very brief life journey while the simplest of other creatures reminds us to quietly live our brief life journey in loving community.
Written August 22, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
I would love to be able to say that this week I have remained spiritually centered and continuously appreciative of the fact that I enjoy the many privileges of my gated, middle class, relatively healthy life. I would like to be able to say that I kept all in perspective and did not react as a spoiled white man to minor inconveniences. I would also like to say that I knew my opinions were approximately based on ethical facts; that after a lifetime of listening to spiritual teachers and wise philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham, John Locke, Thomas Hobbs, Bertram Russell, Resmaa Mencken, Martin Luther King, Jr., Pema Chodron Ram Dass, and many others I have arrived at a decision-making model which always or nearly always feels moral. The truth is I can make none of these statements.
Today I am not forced to function at the survival level; on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs I am not concerned with basic physical and security needs. That fact alone imposes on me the responsibility to consider the active and passive ways I contribute to the fact that a significant percentage of people continue to be concerned with basic physical and security needs. I cannot excuse my inactivity because I am busy contemplating my navel or writing a new version of the Metaphysics of Morals.
Given our amazing and varied means of communication with each other there is no shortage of the “prods” we daily receive to do something about the social ills and injustices which keep most of the world’s population at level one or two of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Daily, most of us are urged to face the many ways in which we are racist, sexist, homophobic, economically oppressive, or otherwise immoral or even amoral.
We are often implored to listen to “truths” which are diametrically opposed to each other. A minister tells his congregants that they are forbidden to get vaccinated or wear masks in church. A mother whose three-year-old is fighting a life threatening covid19 infection pleads with individuals to do their part to create herd immunity. Many plead with the President of the United States to continue to evacuate United States citizens and their supporters from Afghanistan. Others plead with him to keep troops in that country until the democratic political regime is stronger. Some advocate for more social policies - a more humane and fairer sharing of resources. Some decry such a sharing as a Godless coddling of individuals. Some are thrilled that the FBI can find no proof that President Trump actively conspired to bring about the January 6th insurrection. Others shake their heads when hearing such a conclusion.
Recently I visited an amazing museum complex. Much of the funding or at least a substantial amount comes from an employer who has often been accused of mistreating employees or at least not honoring their basic needs while he and other stockholders have amassed a huge fortune. I love the fact that artists such as Georgia O’Keefe, Mary Cassatt, Thomas Moran, and a host of more recent artists have a place to share their creations thus ensuring that our hearts and souls will be challenged to consider issues affecting the entire universe and especially Mother Earth. Historically blood money has often funded the arts resulting in a duplicity which daily challenge many of us.
If not careful while drafting the next tome purporting to provide a means to make ethical decisions I will become just another pretentious, self-righteous bore who only adds to the problem. I will take myself and my moral dilemmas so seriously that I will forget to laugh and, thus, add to the oppression. Yet one does not want to laugh while Rome burns.
Perhaps the most moral of dances which we humans can share is the ability to simultaneously do our best to support each other in making manifest our most loving, just selves and to accept our roles as “mere humans” whose “intelligence” continually questions and complicates this very brief life journey while the simplest of other creatures reminds us to quietly live our brief life journey in loving community.
Written August 22, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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