Greetings friends!
Some years ago Stephen King wrote a most amazing apocalyptic novel, "The
Stand", in which he explored the concept of righteousness. The book was
a gripping read that was later made into a not so gripping mini-series
for American television ;)
In the book, the hero was a quite ordinary 70's kind of guy who used all
the drugs he could put his hands on, ignored his aged Mother, had to
leave a few towns fairly quickly, failed to demonstrate proper manners
with a number of women, and was a rock singer with a hit song called, of
course, "The Righteous Man". Due to an unfortunate accident in a
military biological research lab, the whole country was quickly
depopulated down to about 2% of its former size. Our righteous man,
along with a smattering of other fascinating characters, began the
odyssey of a lifetime in search of truth and goodness. Joseph Campbell
could well have appreciated this novel. Who knows? Perhaps he did.
According to the American Heritage dictionary, righteousness is defined
as "Morally upright; just". I think someone might have already
mentioned this during last month's debate, but the dictionary has
several things to say about the word "moral".
Moral adj;
1) Of or concerned with the judgment or instruction of goodness or
badness of character and behavior.
2) Conforming to established standards of good behavior.
3) Arising from conscience.
4) Having psychological rather than tangible effects.
5) Based on likelihood rather than evidence.
Moral noun;
The principle taught by a story or event.
Rules or habits of conduct, esp. of sexual conduct.
from the Latin moralis - conduct.
As I understand its customary use, to be moral infers a large component
of self-sacrifice. The more often one does that which is the right
thing as opposed to the thing one wants to do, the more moral the
person. To be moral is to live in a state of denial of normal desires;
to act for the betterment of others to the point of self-detriment.
Jesus Christ, of course, readily comes to mind. In literature the
personal odyssey toward moral fulfillment is seen always as a struggle
against "baser instincts" (the biological level), conceit, and egoism.
This quandary between the opposing forces of righteousness and egoism
have consistently posed a problem for Western Civilization. On the one
hand, self-sacrifice is revered - or at least paid lip service, while on
the other, egoism, the belief that self-interest is the just and proper
motive for all human conduct, is at the absolute foundation of
Capitalism. What's a good Western Citizen to do?
Got to go now,
Mary
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
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