MORALITY…

The Missing, Vital Component

While the word Morality is not in our Founding Documents,
its inference is unquestionable.

Consider the following points:

• • Morality epitomized the most unique aspect of our Founders’ focus when they were contemplating the organization, foundation and operation of their fledgling Republic.
  • Morality was the key energetic component that drove these British subjects (colonists), to stand up for their rights before the most powerful social and military force on earth, the British Monarchy.
  • The Declaration of Independence is an itemized list of amoral actions precipitated against the colonists in a blatant attempt to subdue them into a limited, industrial component of the British Empire.
  • A lack of morality caused the Crown to view the colonies predominately as an economic unit that produced goods and tax revenues which supplied and funded the Monarchy’s continual wars.

 

Definition of Morality

In perusing the various definitions of the word Morality, I was struck by how the more modern versions use the word to define itself… as if they are avoiding its true origin and identification.  The Webster 1828 dictionary is the only one I found that eludes to the true origin and meaning of the word.

Morality

MORAL’ITY, noun   The doctrine or system of moral duties, or the duties of men in their social character: ethics.

The system of morality to be gathered from the writings of ancient sages, falls very short of that delivered in the gospel.

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. The practice of the moral duties; virtue.  We often admire the politeness of men whose morality we question.

            2. The quality of an action which renders it good; the conformity of an act to the divine law, or to the principles of rectitude.  This conformity implies that the act must be performed by a free agent, and from a motive of obedience to the divine will.  This is the strict theological and scriptural sense of morality…BUT we often apply the word to actions which accord with justice and human laws, without reference to the motives from which they proceed.

The last sentence defines our current plight.  Our current society (4 active generations) has abandoned its moral roots and no longer associates or connects with the core energies that foster this most basic and necessary component for successful human organization, collaboration, and advancement.

 

Morality – My Comprehensivist View (The Long View)

Looking back at ancient texts, it’s obvious to me that the core topic then was the same as it is today… moral lessons on how and why people treat each other the way they do… and in my humble opinion (IMHO), our situation has not changed much –if at all– from our early relatives… and why should it?  After all, the driving forces are the same now as they were then… the infinite Spiritual/God energy and our finite human energy either competing or collaborating… with each scenario having dramatically different outcomes.

Morality stems from our most basic uniqueness and oneness,
as we are all imbued with the ‘breath of life’… it is our commonality. 

It CAN BE a vibrant part of us…  IF… we purposefully choose to incorporate this most powerful Spiritual/God energy into our consciousness to balance our limited, finite intellectual processes… processes normally directed by our innate survival mechanisms, which are predicated on survival… and ultimately based in fear.

Simply put, morality is the infinite Spirit-God energy exuding Faith to overcome the limited minds’ fears… thus creating a balance of these two energies, which we identify as an unexplainable sense of knowing calm… BUT only IF we choose and accept it.

 

Morality – The Innate Desire for Advancement

Remember that none of us comes into this existence in a vacuum.  We are all subject to –and influenced by– many collective and continuing energies which ultimately manifest into an overall sense of morality.  This happens through a series of faith or fear-driven choices… which when followed long enough, becomes the pattern of our lives.

Looking at the period since our inception as an independent nation –a scant 230 years or 15 generations– we see a decided shift away from the founder’s guiding moral precepts and patterns.  A look at several prominent Founders’ quotes shows their deeply held and common views regarding the subject of morality or virtue.

John Adams said, “Public virtue cannot exist in a Nation without private Virtue, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics.”  He also said, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.  Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our constitution as a whale goes through a net.  Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

George Washington said: “Virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government,” and “Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people.”

Benjamin Franklin said: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”

James Madison said: “To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical [imaginary] idea.”

Thomas Jefferson wrote, “No government can continue good but under the control of the people; and … their minds are to be informed by education, what is right and what wrong [sic]; to be encouraged in habits of virtue and to be deterred from those of vice… These are the inculcations necessary to render the people a sure basis for the structure and order of government.”

Samuel Adams said: “Neither the wisest constitution, nor the wisest laws, will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.  He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue.”

Patrick Henry said: “A vitiated [impure] state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom.”

 

Comprehensivist Viewpoint of the Present

Continuing on with my comprehensivist viewpoint, we see that this shift correlates with a corresponding increase in intellectual focus and technologically derived distractions… which all contribute toward our current unhealthy energy imbalance.  Our collective human curiosity and subsequent increase in intellectual processing capability (what I call evolutionary educational advancements) have resulted in exponential, intellectual growth of both discoveries and distractions in a variety of social and technological areas… to the point where today, we are demonstrating a decided intellectual focus, and fixation… which results in energetic imbalance.

We ‘seem to have conquered the world’… my euphemism that displays mankind’s arrogance and blatant disregard and dangerous disconnection from the natural processes and delicate balance that have sustained us for millennia.  These disconnections have been subtle… and cumulative.  They’ve also become so common and accepted in our technologically dominated environment and world that they’ve become the new ‘normal’… beyond questioning if you will.  Germ Theory, Nuclear Proliferation, Artificial Intelligence, and Gene Manipulation come to mind as unbridled, intellectually unbalanced pursuits that fly in the face of a balanced understanding and approach to a moral, sustainable, and healthy lifestyle.

Yet… all the while… the natural law consequence of our imbalanced choices are accumulating… and have brought us to an unprecedented place in human history… the place where the totality of our actions are overtly affecting our planet… and by extension… our environment… the very same environment that is critical to our sustenance and survival… hence the predictable viral activity increase.

 

A Critical Tipping Point

Just looking at the current 4 generations, I see exponential growth in self-aggrandizements in our lives and lifestyles.  Again –IMHO– our egoically-centered, myopic choices have focused on immediate egoic desires and gratifications with little or no regard for the intermediate or long-term cumulative effects and consequences, which have been mounting steadily.

Our exponentially increasing population and activities, coupled with our steadily decreasing moral tone, have created an unhealthy and unsustainable situation.  In short, this combination is responsible for the toxic and dangerous circumstances we currently find ourselves immersed in… one which will change only when we recognize and rectify the patterns that stem from our moral deficiencies.  Moral grounding was a key component that created our Founder’s harmonious, responsible, and sustainable way of life… one that advanced their lives and society… and can advance ours –if we once again choose to embrace it.

Interestingly…

• • • Today, we find ourselves in virtually the same situation as the Founders…
    • Immersed in an intellectually and rigidly regulated industrialized society…
    • Whose primary focus is centralized business…
    • Which disregards the essential soul/Spirit-moral component associated with
      individual choice and a family-centered way of life.

 

Void of Moral Leadership

I contend that a lack of Moral Leadership is the critical missing component.  Moral Leadership was the single most galvanizing component of the founding period… as evidenced by the quotes listed above.  The moral component of the Leader–Follower relationship cannot be overemphasized.  Without it, the majority of the population –the Followers– find themselves in disarray… because the very nature of Followers is that they are not problem solvers… they look to Leadership for their answers.  (See SH Leader-Follower Article)

Human history is replete with periods marked by moral or amoral leadership, with predictable outcomes.  Morality is a reliable benchmark of humanity’s progress toward harmony, growth, and advancement… toward actualizing  The Golden Rule.

How would you answer the following questions?  As a society…

• • Are we closer or farther than the Founders were from embracing and practicing The Golden Rule?
  • Do our technological advances help or hinder our progress toward it?

 

What Is Morality?

Morality is the energy that connects us without constricting us… it is our ‘covalent bond’.  Morality is our soul’s energy in action.  Morality causes us to do what we know to be true at our core… at our soul level… whereas fear many times inhibits and/or discourages it.  Morality is demonstrated through Stewardship… through caring about ourselves and our environment.

When our actions are soul/Spirit-based, then trust, hope, kindness, empathy, and respect are demonstrated.  When our actions are egoic-mind/fear-based, then mistrust, hopelessness, selfishness, intolerance and even violence are demonstrated.  Fear is the mind’s ultimate survival tool… and fear can ONLY be calmed by the more/most powerful energy force, the soul/Spirit energy, which is grounded in the omnipotent, yet unexplainable God energy.

 

Morality’s Influence on Courage, Discipline and Leadership

While courage and discipline are laudable traits, they can be counterproductive if not tied to the positive energetic attributes associated with Morality.  Fear-bound courage and discipline create more defensive results.  This energetic direction takes us away from our goal of benefitting humanity… much like a person going away from the light toward darkness.

Discernable change would happen IF a consensus of leadership across all 4 current generations would actively and visibly promote a non-partisan, Spirit-led, morally guided agenda.  Anything short of that will produce more of what we currently have… an intellectually dominated series of egoic-led, fear-based partisan choices that invite disarray and chaos and result in inter-generational regression.

Consider these questions to help create positive perspectives…

• • • Do you acknowledge that we’re in a period of steep moral and social decline?
    • Do partisan leaders wielding increasingly onerous fear-based edicts stifle
      your thoughts, freedoms, and responsibilities?
    • Is your silence allowing others to overlay your Faith with their fears?

Quite frankly, I’m amazed at how far it’s gone… and wonder how much more the 4 current generations will tolerate?  And when they hit their limits –a matter of when not if– will the responses be reactionary and chaotic… or rational and productive?

Remember Benjamin Franklin’s prophetic statement…
“Those who would give up essential Liberty,
to purchase a little temporary Safety,
deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

His words still demonstrate the natural law of Choice/Consequence…
Choosing temporary Safety still causes the consequence of lost Liberty.

What’s important for the 4 current generations to recognize is that we’re still unwittingly choosing this untenable choice of severe Liberty losses by opting for ‘a little temporary safety’… and PLEASE RECOGNIZE that these ‘liberty losses’ always occur during Crises!

• • • • • Crises provide the ultimate distractions…
        • Crises prey on our innate fear-driven survival instincts…
        • Crises can weaken us and make us vulnerable to our fears.

 

Sovereigns Must Act

What’s important now is recognizing that ‘We the People’ –the Sovereign Owners– are the only legitimate, legal entity who can make the changes necessary to regain our liberties.  How do we do that?

The simple version –and answer– is to return to an internally derived place of soul/Spirit energetic balance, demonstrated through moral practices. 

A place where daily spiritual input and actions balance out the fear-based intellectual processes…
A method that the Founders used to their benefit…
To RECREATE the most unique form of human collaboration and self-government in human history…  Our Constitutional Republic.

The ultimate question is…  Do we 4 current generations have the humility, awareness, courage, and resolve to re-establish and regain our morally derived sovereign birthright of individual choice and freedom as outlined in our Founding Documents?

I hope and pray that we do…
that we CHOOSE individually nurtured Morality…
that unites us to assert the Liberties and Freedoms we hold dear…
the way the Founders did…
the way we need to.

So now…

It’s YOUR CHOICE…

Do YOU CHOOSE to follow our Founders’ Example?

…and Reconstitute our Constitutional Republic?