The bottom line – how you live your life

I’m fascinated by how easily opinions of ethics students are swayed with the reading of each new assigned research paper.  It makes me wonder how many of us have actually taken the time to ask ourselves not only what we believe, but why.

I enjoy asking people what they believe about, oh, say – ethical relativism versus a universal standard of right and wrong, and then ask for reasons.  The response I usually get is a lot of hemming and hawing, and very little in the way of a coherent thought.

As they stammer around, I begin wondering whether they’ve gone through the exercise of reconciling their new-found belief with its practical application.  We all (with few exceptions) live within a society, and within that society, within any number of cultural groups (work, religious community, family, social).  I’m struck by how much of our activity is the result of our understanding of expectations within those groups rather than any deeply held convictions.  Within those groups we act certain ways – sometimes (maybe often) – dramatically differently than we do in other groups.

It’s one matter to gush about the latest study results which suggest this or that ‘truth’ about ethics.  It’s quite another to live consistently.  Do you know what you believe?  Do you know why?  How well can you ‘defend’ your point of view – or do you prefer to believe that the professionals (clergy, psychiatrists, anthropologists, sociologists) will come to the rescue, and save you the trouble.

More importantly, how consistently do you live your life with the theories you espouse?  In other words, how well do you practice what you preach?  It’s far easier to blow with the latest breeze than to set a deliberate course and commit to it.  The world is full of followers, and always in need of leaders (good ones, that is).