Goodness is where the fun--and hard work--move into high gear. Goodness is our chance to get wholeheartedly involved, to link up with great projects, to fight the good fight in love, to enact our destiny. A life devoted to goodness, enthralled by goodness, dominated by goodness, crowns the vision of our philosophy of living.
Our experience of goodness begins with our mother's love and care. It grows through the rules of play, chores at home, responsibilities at school, trustworthiness at work and on volunteer teams and as a citizen. Our supreme experience of goodness comes from looking to goodness itself. Then we can find goodness as a divinely personal quality expressing love.
Religiously speaking, goodness is first and foremost a quality of God. The ascent through the quest for truth and the delight in beauty leads us to an invitation: "Taste and see that the Lord is good." The goodness of God is a trustworthiness that sustains us everlastingly (so it feels, and so we are promised). "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever." God's mercy forgives us, cleanses us of sin, and revives us to take up the adventure of doing his will, becoming like him. If we worship a God who asks us to love his children, we make that worship real through loving service to others. The circuit of goodness begins in God and continues through the exercise of creature freedom.
Philosophically speaking, action shares the dynamism of goodness when it enacts a full realization of truth. Let me explain. The truth of a situation contains indications of what is to be done. Potentials of value wait to be actualized. A morally active life directs freedom toward what one ought to do, one's duty. Conventional social standards often channel us in the direction of our duty, but duty here has the wider meaning of what one ought to do, all things considered. All the realms of fact, meaning, and value stream into the mind as it integrates these perspectives in its decisions. When a situation arises calling for reflection, a responsible person goes into a reasonably scientific consideration of facts, philosophic interpretation of meanings, and spiritual quest for illumination. Moral judgment integrates the full range of considerations.
The coming chapters begin with a look at morality--first, how to move
from a sense of duty to the motivation of love, and, second, how to deal with
difficult interpersonal situations. Finally
we consider the grandeur of genuine character achievement that we glimpse in our
best heroes and in ourselves at our best.
When our energies are up, we enjoy doing the right thing. Temptations do not waylay our motivation, and obstacles do not deter. Morality is not an affair of saying "No" to wrong things but of saying "YES" to goodness for oneself and others.
Despite its wonderfulness, morality has a bad name. Moralism discredits morality. Moralism is a negative, repressive, fearful, defensive, hostile, angry, obsessive reaction against people whose behavior does not conform to social expectations. When preaching occupies itself mainly with condemning evil and exhorting righteous conduct, truth and beauty are put aside, and goodness cannot flourish. When religious authority aligns with moralism, the result disheartens children and repels those who might otherwise heed religion. Anger, covertly murderous, threatens the wrongdoer for trespassing against parental or other demands. There are much better responses to wrongdoing--as we see in the next chapter.
The second reason morality has a bad name is the diabolical idea of false freedom: that I have the right to do whatever I damn well please. From early childhood we all develop a strong and legitimate and sometimes exaggerated interest in satisfying our own self-centered desires. But to claim a right to assert our own interests without regard to the interests of others is social suicide. The half-way house between false freedom and goodness is the principle, sufficient for some political purposes, that each person can do as he or she chooses, so long as these choices do not infringe the equal liberty of others. Goodness, however, offers a progressive concept of freedom.
The coming sections aim to whet our appetite for morally active living by clearing away obstacles to discovering and living our best moral insights. First we name some factors that limit us and think and some that liberate us. Next we explore the use of moral intuition, survey the complexity of moral reason, and reflect on the import of religion for moral living. These sections set the stage for the conclusion, an unforgettable story.
True freedom
The way forward involves liberation from both false freedom and moralism. Moral action is possible only for a being who is free. Freedom lets the will choose, gives space for creativity, and implies release from determining factors. Genes, early childhood experience, environment, acquired habits, personal emotion, and the power of others who may dominate psychologically, socially, economically, politically, or militarily--all have the capacity to determine behavior before a person takes advantage of the precious opportunity to reflect and choose and decide. Tyrants who suppress political meetings, religious worship, and expression of opinion violate human liberty in a clear and obvious way. Those who manipulate persons infringe freedom in a more subtle way.
Nevertheless, true freedom implies not only the power of self-chosen action but also the proper orientation of power. Liberation from constraint is part of the story, but freedom is not only freedom from but also freedom to. The power to do whatever one wants is not yet true freedom, because true freedom is oriented to goodness. To direct one's energies into the channels of goodness is to experience the truth of liberation. Of course freedom includes the power to choose evil, but freedom is fulfilled and enhanced and sustained only by choosing the good. Abusing liberty leads to losing it. Those who use their freedom to take advantage of others rouse the moral indignation of those around them and subvert the very system of opportunity that they enjoy.
The path to liberation begins by acknowledging the factors that condition human actions. Physical creatures are biologically conditioned by genetic factors and by current physical conditions affecting the nervous system--as beings who are refreshed or exhausted, well nourished or hungry, breathing fresh or polluted air. Social creatures are conditioned by influences from others. We are also conditioned by the personal effects of our own past decisions.
In varying degrees we may achieve control over these biological, social, and personal factors. Research may find ethical ways to liberate future generations from gross genetic defects; social progress may liberate early childhood development; political evolution may liberate all peoples from tyranny and the threat of geocidal war. It is possible, however, that the progress in these areas depends to a surprising degree on progress in another dimension.
Social theorists and philosophers neglect a key factor in liberation. Faith increases human freedom. Faith amplifies the power to walk in the way of goodness even when there are strong incentives to do otherwise. Faith gives the ability to let go of our cherished ideas about how to respond in a particular situation and to open the mind to higher input. Since faith rouses our spiritual side, it allows a person to decide in full freedom. No matter how subject we may be to physical and social determinants, everyone can choose an overall direction in life. Each of us can choose or refuse the way of goodness.
Moral intuition
As with other basic intuitions, the lesson applies again. First, you have a basic intuition about what is morally right. Second, your intuitive grasp of moral matters can improve. The first affirmation encourages you that you can play the game. You do not have to feel intimidated by complex dilemmas where there are strong reasons on opposite sides of an issue. Nor do you need to defer to whatever "experts" say. The second affirmation keeps you humble and open to progress in moral reason and wisdom.
Let us begin with an exercise in thinking in the light of the golden rule--Treat others as you want others to treat you. Take a few minutes to think of how you have been well treated. Think of the people who have treated you well. How have they related with you? What have they done for you? How did it feel? What were the qualities they expressed in treating you well? Include parents and other family members, relatives and friends, strangers, teachers, political leaders, soldiers whose names you will never know, religious leaders past and present, men and women in every walk of life who have blessed you in some way. If you believe in God, think how God has treated you well. Now you are ready to answer a great question: How do you like to be treated?
You intuitively know when you are well treated, and you intuitively know when you are relating well with others. I asked my brother-in-law, Charlie Hoeveler, one of the best parents I know, for advice on being a father and he said, "You know when you're doing a good job and when you're not." It was surprisingly helpful to be thrown back on my own intuitive sense. I did know, and it was only by wholehearted involvement that I could satisfy the standard. I had not raised a specific question, and I did not need one more bit of specific advice of the sort I had read in books. This is not to criticize a careful study of parenting; it is to say that we often underutilize good intuition.
The first thing the golden rule does for us is to open us up when we are cruising along in a self-centered way. That moment of opening is long enough to allow the inner spirit some input and long enough to take account of the other person's perspective (as we imagine it--and we can go well beyond imagining). The secret of the golden rule lies in its ability to take the sincere doer on a journey. The journey begins with sympathy. On a most basic interpretation, the golden rule reminds us, "Treat others with sympathy and consideration for their feelings, as you want others to do for you." The next stage of the journey engages moral reason. When we reflect, we realize that when others treat us well they often do not simply gratify our immediate desires. They do what's best for us. Sympathy, we conclude, is not the pinnacle of moral reason, since sympathy can lead to foolish indulgence. When we start thinking about what's really best for the other, we have already put moral reason in gear. "Treat others in accord with moral reason, as you want others to do to you." The last stage of the journey is spiritual. As we shall see, moral reason does not have all the answers either, and the golden rule has a religious dimension. The golden rule is the principle of the practice of the family of God. "Treat others as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of God, as you want others to treat you." The golden rule, thus conceived, becomes a symbol bringing together emotional, rational, and spiritual dimensions of relating.
Moral reason
The more carefully you think through your great decisions, the more spontaneous you will be in the host of situations covered by those decisions. Though few have an appetite for studying and discussing difficult moral cases, the intellectual dimension to morality is nonetheless essential. When actions are not governed by our best thinking, we are usually in the current of emotions whose guidance is less reliable.
Moral intuition suffices for many cases, but intuition is imperfect. Moral intuition needs sharpening, and it is the business of moral reason to sharpen it. If reason has the task of sharpening something, it should first have some idea about what it is working on. What is morality? What is duty?
Duty is too basic to define, but we can say some things about it. Duty is what one ought to do, all things considered. The idea of duty implies that obligation takes precedence over opportunity. In case of conflict between duty and what we feel like doing, we must do what's right. We sometimes feel duty as a constraint. In the happy case, there is no struggle with competing desires. When moral decision effectively integrates all levels of personality motivation, conflict has passed. You are not merely performing your duty. You are expressing your desire to do good to the others involved. The performance of duty becomes a joy. You move beyond duty consciousness to acting spontaneously from the impulse of friendship.
We can understand duty better through some reflections on evolution and psychological development. Evolutionary precursors to morality among animals include conformity to established group practices and cooperation and care. Once a social hierarchy is established, perhaps by a struggle among males for dominance, the nonconformist is made to pay. Animals, however, spend more time in reconciliation behaviors than they do in fighting. Mammalian mother love, the devotion of mates to one another, and cooperation in getting food are animal activities that form a biological foundation for human morality. A dog is moved by sympathy to lick its crying master, giving full attention until the master feels better.
Children as young as eighteen months old manifest sympathy. Those who regard morality as involving universal moral principles rarely observe such advanced moral thinking among children. Rather, what they observe is conformity due to fear of a parent or authority figure, desire to please a parent or authority figure, desire to conform to group expectations, or determination to uphold the social order. Even though children by the age of six are capable, I believe, of genuinely intelligent moral decisions, it is difficult or impossible to observe the inner dynamics of their moral growth. What we can observe is the establishment in early childhood of habits of conduct that form the runway for genuine morality to take off later in life.
The complexity of moral reason is indicated by the variety of ethical theories. Here are some sample ways in which different philosophers have attempted to make a grand, summary statement of the essence of morality. Right action is predicated on intellectual insight into eternal patterns of goodness. Right action is based on keen judgment of the circumstances. Right action imitates the conduct of a person of exemplary character. Right action accords with universal laws inherent in the mind of each person. Right action satisfies common human sentiments of benevolence. Right action is based on principles that the agent is prepared for everyone to act on. Right action respects each person's dignity as a rational being capable of moral decision. Right action conduces to the good of the whole. Right action promotes the achievement of an advanced civilization on our planet. Right action is especially attuned to the need to redress injustice based on sex, race, class, and other pretexts for discrimination. Right action expresses a relationship of caring. Each of the considerations highlighted in these theories may well enter into a complex process of moral thinking.
Moral reason demands consistency. If I allow myself to do something, how can I criticize someone else for doing the same thing? If I criticize someone else, how can I allow myself to do the same sort of thing?
Moral reason functions on the basis of two great realizations. The first is the realization of the brotherhood of man, the equal dignity of each person. Why should I care about treating people fairly if the differences between people are so fundamental as make basic respect an illusion? The second realization is that actions are meaningful in a special way. Actions are not merely momentary responses to passing circumstances, for they carry implications beyond the present. A correct moral decision is valid for similar situations. If it were not so, every situation would demand a new moral decision process, and life could never achieve spontaneity without betraying moral responsibility. For all the diversity of circumstance, there are recurring situations in human experience. For example, the common prohibitions against murder, adultery, and theft imply that there kinds of action that are wrong. There are not only the ineffable, unrepeatable aspects of a situation. There are also types of situation and types of response. Inquiry into the meaning of an action probes features that may conceivably recur.
The realization of human equality requires extra attention because of the differences within the human family. On the one hand, each human being merits profound respect. Each of us has the priceless capacity to exercise moral freedom, to determine our actions in accord with moral principles of reason. There are additional religious reasons for respecting each person. These reasons establish a basic symmetry in human relating. We relate to others as brothers and sisters. Where basic respect is violated, people complain of not being treated as human beings. The infinite worth of the individual is the first and last word of ethics.
On the other hand, in addition to this first and last word of equality and brotherhood, there are middle words, because of the inequalities and asymmetries in relationships. One person functions more as a leader, the other as a team-member. One proposes an initiative, the other responds. One is the care-giver; the other, the recipient. Of course roles in a relationship may change; and a person who is directive in one area may respond to another's direction in another area. Traditional Chinese ethics made the norms of asymmetrical relating into pillars of society: show adequate respect for superiors and consideration for subordinates. To blend scientific realism about inequalities with philosophic and or spiritual idealism about equality takes moral wisdom.
Moral wisdom
Moral questions that demand seasoned experience and a mature sense of proportion call for moral wisdom. In a complex situation different principles are relevant, and each one, taken by itself, indicates a different course of action. Which issues are central and which are peripheral? Should students be graded based sincere effort or based on performance? Sometimes secondary factors should be dismissed from consideration, while at other times there is a way to do justice to multiple considerations.
One of the greatest issues requiring moral wisdom is how to think about human equality and inequality. Sexism, racism, and nationalism are symptoms of our inability to live these complexities well. Issues of equality and inequality will intensify with increases in world population, materialism, AIDS, and knowledge of genetics. Moral wisdom has the task of integrating a lucid recognition of the facts of inequalities and asymmetries together with an uplifting philosophic and spiritual affirmation of equality and brotherhood. Considering questions of diversity, wisdom teaches a balance:
· Affirm our common humanity.
· Seek to understand differences.
· Appreciate the wonderful uniqueness of each personality.
Past attempts to say what we have in common as human beings by "defining human nature" often failed to take into account that to be human also means to be a man or a woman, to be of a particular racial composition, in a particular historical, socio-economic, and political economic situation, and so on. To ignore human variables impoverishes the concept of the human being.
Present attempts to "affirm diversity," however, often miss the mark by placing so much emphasis on differences between sexes, races, or cultures that our common humanity and our unique individuality get obscured. They miss the mark, too, when they imply that every difference equally merits respect. Hate groups are different, but they do not merit respect as such.
Ideologies of inequality and ideologies of equality have distorted science and history in support of their own stories. Philosophy as a voice of the intellect lacks the power to address these issues effectively in today's public media. True religion, however, does have the power to play a key role. When religion effectively safeguards the dignity of individual personality, humankind will be able to tackle the great issues facing the society and our planet.
Morality and religion
If morality is about treating people well, what need is there for religion? A critic may protest a role for religion in ethics with the following argument. Since religion sometimes does terrible things and sometimes does good things, what matters is goodness, and we should rely on moral reason, not religion, to make sure things come out right. In other words, religion either commands what agrees with moral reason or not. If not, we should reject the voice of religion. If the voice of religion does agree with moral reason, then we don't need religion after all, anyway.
A religionist can reply as follows.
1. The "voice of religion" may not be the voice of true religion. Evolutionary religion has done some terrible things, but the real religion of love and service has a glorious history, not a scandalous past.
2. Moral and ethical critique of religious traditions has indeed promoted progress, and that critique is still needed today.
3. Our capacity for moral consciousness comes from God and to exercise it well fulfills God's purpose. There is no split, conflict, or alienation between religion and moral reason.
4. Moral reason requires a profound respect for persons, but we so often act out of weakness or worse that to uphold human dignity takes faith that each person is a divinely created, spiritually indwelt, infinitely beloved, evolutionary, free-will son or daughter of God.
5. Sometimes moral reason does not suffice to uncover the best and right thing to do.
6. Even when moral reason indicates what to do, moral reason by itself cannot generate the proper motivation and the gracious way to do it. It is a duty to love, to desire to do good to the other, but duty-consciousness cannot produce love if it is not already flowing. All you can do is to turn within to the source where love pours forth spontaneously.
In a crisis, it takes more than reason to find your way. I remember the September of 1989 when my wife told me she was pregnant. I had previously thought about the ethics of abortion and had come to a personal position that the child's potentials usually outweigh other considerations. But I was then in my mid-forties, late to begin rearing a child. I had only a part-time job and no prospect of full time work where we were living as visitors in Canada. I was planning to get back on the tough philosophy job market in America, but success was uncertain. Despite these conditions there was nothing that to me would have justified an abortion. Of course Hagiko would have a major voice in our decision, but I had to determine what I would bring to the conversation. For three days I spun in confusion. What put an end to my quandry was recovering my deepest sense of purpose in life. I wanted my life to count for the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and the only decision that felt consistent with that mission was to welcome the child that we thought was on the way. There is no strict logical connection between that supreme life commitment and that particular decision; and as it turned out, no pregnancy developed. But I learned a lesson about the foundations of moral reason and the need to go to those foundations when moral reason itself is not enough.
"Religious ethics" of course can mean many things. It ranges from obedience to hundreds of commandments to the cultivation of spiritual spontaneity. It involves attunement with the Way understood as cosmic integration or as a link to a Creator who transcends the cosmos. Sometimes the emphasis is on what the human being must do, sometimes on what only God can do. One may follow a God incarnate in human form or devote oneself to the study of a holy book. And it is possible for a single tradition to find a place for each of these possibilities.
Although the quest for the will of God is a personal search beyond books and codes, there remains an important role for commandments as general statements of the requirements of righteousness. Commandments demarcate a floor and a ceiling to righteousness. The floor, the basic prohibitions, demarcates the line beneath which one must not go. Immature will sets up structures that cannot survive in a progressive universe, and the universe will recycle what does not adapt. Commandments also indicate a ceiling, the ideal of loving relationships with God and the neighbor. Even if religious living is not primarily an affair of obeying commandments, there is still a beneficial role that commandments can play. Their tone reminds us that our actions matter, that the way we live makes a difference. Prohibitions stabilize morality in an age of confusion, and positive commandments serve as sturdy general statements of priorities.
The core of religious ethics can, I believe, be simply put. Morality calls us to relate well with persons, and our number one personal relationship is with God. Our moral decisions enable us to become like God, and they enable the brotherhood of man to become a reality on a practical level. Morality in the highest sense is the adventure of seeking and finding and choosing and doing the will of God. Doing the will of God involves, first, the supreme desire to do what is good and right; second, accurate discernment of what to do; and, third, a gracious way of action. When you satisfy the first condition, you have much less trouble with the other two.
Is your purpose pure?
Many projects stumble because of failure to clarify the purpose. A clear and strong purpose orients the full course of action. Therefore it is sometimes worthwhile to perfect our purpose as much we can. Here is a thoroughness exercise that I have found helpful in this regard. If overused, the exercise can lead to a bad habit of self-examination, the opposite of the joyous process of self-forgetting service and growth.
This exercise
unfolds the concept of purpose into a list--in which the first is purpose!
We will look at purpose, motive, ideal, ambition, method, and goal of
attainment. I
assume for this exercise that your project--what you have chosen to do-- is
fine.
Consider your purpose. Normally human beings have a mix of purposes. What's the dominant purpose? Is that the best purpose? Find the best purpose. Now make that dominant. You don't need to combat inferior purposes, but make sure that you would be committed to this project even if this purpose were to be the only one and all secondary purposes were to fall away.
Consider your motive. What is really getting you into action on this project? Mixed motives are very common, but look for the motive that most involves truth, beauty, and goodness. Look for the motive that most expresses the movement of the divine spirit.
Consider your ideal. When the project is religious, the ideal should be spiritual in a direct sense. When the project is other than religious, the ideal is more complex, but it can still be transparent to the spiritual ideal, like a light shining through a lovely surrounding crystal.
Consider your ambition. Is your supreme ambition to become like God and to serve others?
Consider your method. Are you distorting truth, inartistic, and manipulating persons? Or does love pervade your way of working?
Consider your goal of attainment. The basic choice is between the will of self and the will of God. In the happy case, you can say, "It is my will to do Your will."
This exercise is useful as a diagnostic test to explain failure, and it is useful in preparing a great decision. Religious and non-religious people may of course generate many variations.
A story of doing the will of God
Sometimes a complex process of refining moral intuition with reason and synthesizing a wisdom perspective misses the point. Something far more direct and simple is possible and necessary. I have a friend who has for decades focused on seeking and finding and choosing and doing the will of God. Nick Scalzo shared this story with me and gave me permission to include it here. The rest of the section is his story.
"One hot summer morning, in August, 1975, after dedication, consecration and consciously experiencing the indwelling spirit of God for four years, I was now 33 years old. I was working as a structural design engineer on a thirteen-story federal, state, and city elderly housing project in downtown New Haven, Connecticut, when one hot summer's morning I chanced to visit the construction site. It was a beautiful day, and I thanked God for it and for my family. God was on my mind the entire morning. I recall praying earlier, "Father, If I may be of service to you or Jesus, I am ready as always to serve." It has always been my wish, and I made it plain to my indwelling spirit, that I wanted to be able to discern his will anytime of day or night, as I passed by, when it was noisy, or in the mist of a crisis. It was not good enough for me to sit in a quiet place and meditate and commune with God; I wanted to experience the Father as Jesus did, moment by moment, in any and every situation. I wanted Him as part of my daily life. Well, watch out what you pray for, you may get it sooner than you think!
"It was nearly 9:00 a.m. when I arrived, and the temperature had already hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit. This usually did not happen so early in the morning. It was indeed hot. The day's plan was to place close to 300 cubic yards of concrete on a steel-reinforced floor deck. This floor deck was at street level and was the base floor of thirteen floors and the roof, all of which were to be placed one on top of the other on the ground, and eventually lifted up individually thirteen stories. This deck, the second floor, was about the size of a small football field. The method chosen by the concrete contractor was to place this concrete floor deck by getting twenty or more concrete trucks to back up to two big pump trucks. These pump trucks would then pump the concrete through aluminum pipes to its destination. Then with hoses on the ends of the pipes the concrete men would aim it to where it had to go, while concrete laborers smoothed it out. The contractor expected the job to take about five hours, and he told the union shop steward to tell his concrete laborers to expect to work through morning break and lunch.
"Well, it was a great plan, and flowed smoothly, until about 9:30 AM, when the heat made the flowing concrete 'freeze up' or solidify in the pipes, and both pump trucks broke down. This happened shortly after I inspected the reinforcement on the job, and greeted the site inspector, another engineer. It was now a disaster. Not only were the pipes stuck with concrete, which now needed to be cleaned out, but the floor deck was only ten percent filled with concrete. Good practice did not allow any cold joints in the concrete floor. Cold joints occur when only a part of the eight-inch thick floor is placed, and before the remaining concrete is placed against that which was already poured, the edges cure and become cold. This would prevent the new concrete from bonding properly with the older concrete. This meant that they had to continuously feed concrete so that each placement would mix homogeneously with the next. But, this continuous placement was now not happening. It meant the concrete already placed might need to come out if something was not done quickly.
"To add to the problem, the waiting concrete truck drivers began to panic. After all, if the concrete in their trucks got hard, they could just about throw their trucks away. Concrete after 80 minutes of mixing in the hot sunshine gets hard quickly. Some of these trucks were already waiting that long and time was a wasting. Men argued about what to do. The 500 feet of pipes were not easy to take apart and clean. Some men argued it was not their job to do by union rules. Others yelled at the concrete laborers to hurry and clean them. The concrete laborers said it was the pump sub-contractors job not theirs. Arguments were occurring all over the site. It was not only hot weather-wise, but these very strong and tough construction men were getting hot too. Then, after receiving notice over their radios from their truck dispatchers at the concrete plant, the concrete truck drivers, twenty in all, began to drive around to all sides of the deck. They pulled their concrete trucks up to the formed deck and began to dump all twelve cubic yards of concrete from each of the trucks onto the reinforcing at the edges of the 100 feet wide by 300 feet long floor deck. Panic ensued. There was no way to move this concrete to its proper place. After all, we are talking here about 300 cubic yards, weighing more than 600 tons. This was all sitting now in fifteen piles, each about six feet high. And the trucks drove away.
"The foreman of the concrete crew, seeing these piles of concrete and knowing they had to be moved, decided to move the concrete by placing a concrete vibrator in the middle of the pile. Usually a vibrator is used to consolidate concrete and remove air pockets, if used correctly. But using it this way caused the shimmering pile to move laterally and go down. The trouble with that was that, while it seem to work on the surface, what it really did was segregate the ingredients. As you know, concrete is a mixture of water, cement, sand, and small stones
called aggregate. When it's vibrated in this fashion, so as to move it, the ingredients segregate. The stones--being the heaviest particles--sink to the bottom. The sand flows side ways and the cement rises to the top like cream. Such a mess, when cured or hardened would hardly be called concrete with its weak unmixed ingredients. This would be very dangerous as a structural floor, especially one which needed to support twelve floors and a roof above it as it is lifted up to its future second floor place.
"The site inspector first saw the foreman moving the concrete improperly, but this engineer, rather then himself saying anything to the foreman directly, and since I was the design engineer, said to me, "Hey look, he's moving the concrete with the vibrator!" I looked at the inspector, and he looked at me as if to say, "Hey, this is your job." With that, I turned and walked to this big bearded guy with the concrete vibrator in his hand, an object the size of a soup can but two feet long with a heavy electric cord behind it. I told him that he had to stop what he was doing, since that it was the incorrect way to move concrete, and to find a proper method. With my instructions, he said some choice words that I'll not repeat here. He threw the vibrator down and walked away still cursing. As I also walked away, I could hear the General Contractor's Job Superintendent, the man responsible for the job, seeing this, say to this foreman of the concrete contractor, "You (blank and blank), get your (blank) back to work. Move that concrete now!" Tempers arose, words were yelled back, bad words! "No way you (blank and blank), move it yourself!" said the foreman.
"The superintendent ran up to the foreman; then fists flew. Before you knew it, all of the general contractor's men ran on the dangerous deck to support their boss against the concrete men. Eventually even the electricians and plumbers got into the melee. The deck was dangerous. It was full of sharp reinforcing bars and tie wires, placed in a six-inch grid with nowhere to place your feet. They had 2' x 4' wood boards with them, and began hitting the concrete workers. The concrete workers picked up shovels and reinforcing rods, and in defending themselves, began to beat the general contractor's crew. All was becoming a bloody mess in a short time. And the concrete was getting harder.
"It was now close to 10:00 a.m. By this time, newspaper reporters of the New Haven Register, whose offices were across the street, after seeing what was happening, called the mayor, state and federal agents, and police. The police arrived in minutes, their station house being a few blocks away. But when they arrived, for fear, they did not go on the deck to stop the fighting; they only held the perimeter. Within a short time, the federal agents came with the state and city officials, for their offices too were within a couple of blocks of this downtown site. With the shop steward yelling that he was going to pull all his men of the job, and also off every other job in the city, they finally all went with the just arrived architect, developer, City mayor, and my boss, the chief engineer into the construction trailer. You can hear them all screaming and yelling inside there, as the fighting, cursing, and wailing continued on the floor deck.
"As I stood there, with my back at this moment to the deck, looking away, up to the sky, saying, 'God, what a mess--all because of me,' the site inspected said to me, "'on't turn around Nick. That concrete foreman is looking straight at you, and if looks could kill, you will soon be dead!' Now at this point, I had many thoughts in my mind, and with the increasingly fearful look on that inspector's face, and after seeing him quickly turn and rapidly leave, I too thought,
'Run Nick!'
"You know it does not take long to forget God even if you are thinking about him all morning. Now in this moment of crisis he was nowhere on my mind. I was alone. But just then, that little still small Voice within me, that I've come to know so well, said, 'Seek ye first the Father's will.' Afraid for my life at this point, I said, "Sure, Right, I have no time. I've got to go!' Then it dawned on me that God does. I mean, have time, that is. This was His test. Crisis time, I asked for, and what will I do? All this was happening in a flash. But, I girded myself, gave Him that Holy Instant, and searched my mind for his Thoughts, and at first found these:
'OK, I won't turn around and look.'
'Walk away Nick, before you get killed.'
'Who does that foreman think he is anyway, I'll turn around if I want. He don't scare me.'
'What's around here that I might pick up to use as a weapon first?'
'Nobody threatens me. I don't care how big you are, black mustache or not.'
"But then in searching my mind I realized that none of these thoughts of fear could possibly be the Father's, so I prayed, 'Father, if you were living my life at this moment, what would you do? For that is what I would do.' And then, this still small Voice within me, that I knew so well, said again, 'Seek ye first the Father's will.' I knew that I needed to curb my fears and still my mind, which I really had not done until this point. I recalled how Jesus got control of his mind. Then I searched for God's will among my thoughts, to find it and then do it. But still I was afraid and thought, among other things, 'Too late, got to go! Get out of here!' These fearful, animalistic thoughts, coming up from the deepest recesses of my mind were hard to lose.
But that Voice I knew so well said again, 'Seek ye first the Father's will.' I stood there, wondering what to do, when I yielded and thought, 'OK Father, what would you have me do. It is my will to do your will.'
"And with this a picture, as clear as day, arose in my mind, with five small words attached, almost like a cartoon, and I knew what to do. This thought-picture was adjudged by me to be the essence of goodness. It contained truth, it showed friendship-brotherhood, but it scared the daylights out of me. I mean the thought of actually doing it. Seeking God's will was exciting even in the mist of this catastrophe, with men beating each other, and me about to get smashed. Finding his will in all this clamoring was exhilarating, but doing it was something else.
"So, I said to Him who indwells my soul, 'God, If I do that, I surely will get hammered.' But then, mustering the courage, from where I do not know, I then said, 'OK, I'll do it,' but I added as always, 'GOD, I HOPE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!'
"So I gathered the courage, with trust in Him that he indeed knew what He was doing. I turned toward this big muscular six feet, six inches, black-bearded foreman, and with shaking knees and trembling hands walked over to him. As pictured, I put out my right trembling hand out to him. He stood there with his shovel upraised, higher and higher as I got closer and reached for his hand. Then with my hand out, I said those five words as directed, 'Hi, my name is Nick.' That was it. That's all I had to do and say. Not much, was it? As I did this, that shovel in this big man's hands got higher and higher. As I approached, I remember saying over and over again in my mind that, 'I trust you God. But, GOD, I HOPE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!'
"To my shock, as I reached with my right hand, and after I said my name, and as that shovel reached so high it seemed to touch the sun, and shade it from my eyes, he dropped it behind him. He then reached to mine, and shaking it with a firm grip of his right hand, stammered, 'Hi! My name is Brutus.' My knees nearly buckled when then he said, 'I know, you are right, I should have never tried to move the concrete with the vibrator. It just segregates it, and we would have to remove the bad concrete anyway, and do the concrete work all over again. It's just too damn hot, you know, the pumps broken down and all, and I should know better. Sorry Nick!'
"And with that, he rolled a wheel-barrel close to the pile, picked up his shovel, and began to shovel the concrete into it. He then rolled the concrete over to its final location and placed it properly. Meanwhile everyone else was still fighting as he shoveled alone. It seemed there was more blood on the deck than concrete, a literal war zone. But as these fighting men saw him work, saw him shoveling, they all, one by one, stopped their combat, picked up their shovels and began moving the concrete also. Even the carpenters, ironworkers, plumbers and electrician pitched-in as well, against union rules. Even I helped. Less than three minutes transpired since I said 'OK' to my Father's will. Before we knew it, all the concrete was being placed on the deck, the police left with the fighting now over, and the concrete finishers came on the concrete deck to float and smooth it out. All this took only a half hour to move the tons of concrete. Of course there were about fifty men working, not just the original ten or so concrete laborers. They even cleaned the pipes with the stuck concrete in them.
"The work was done. It was only 10:45 a.m.! They all looked at one another in
amazement. Never was so much concrete moved by hand so quickly. These guys had nothing to do now. They were finished more than two hours ahead of schedule. The foremen of all the crews, seeing them all finished, yelled, 'OK guys, take a break,' then added, 'until after lunch!' And then to God's glory, I saw each man, even to he whom he was just beating, say things like, 'You OK? Hey come with me, I'll buy you a cup of coffee, or even breakfast.' Another could be heard saying, 'Hey fellows, want some lunch? Come with me, I'm buying.' And one said, as he put his arm over the shoulder of a man he had just been fighting with, 'I see you sometimes as you're driving home each night. You must live in Branford too. Why don't you bring your family over to my house tonight? We are having a barbecue, and you're invited.'
"More things were said in this friendly way. Big, tough guys with bruises and cuts they already forgot, were shaking hands and walking off together--totally awed by what had happened, knowing something special just transpired, but they did not know exactly what. They all did that which was good in their heart to do, and it was really good, really, really good, and they knew it.
"Meanwhile, back in the trailer, one could still hear the tempers rise and the angry voices blast through the open trailer windows. And after reaching an apex, then after a very brief silence, one could here the union shop steward yell, 'Well then. We quit! We are getting off the job, and out of this city! No more concrete for you!' With that announcement, the trailer door flew open. The officials all poured out of the trailer, only to see the job finished and the men already gone.
"They had no idea what happened and where everyone was. Bewildered, they all quietly left and went to their place. Not another word was ever mentioned of this incident. Even the newspaper reporters were baffled, and had no idea of how this was resolved. Nothing of this massive fight, with fifty men, was ever reported. But only I knew the truth. And I had no one to share it with, until was able to share it with my spiritual brothers and sisters like you.
"Now after that experience, I was on a high that I can't put into words, a feeling like I was back with God on Paradise. But WOW! I thought. 'What an experience. Amazing!' I went back to my truck, shut the doors and screamed so loud I thought I could be heard through the closed glass windows, all over the city, 'God,' I cried, 'You're the greatest. You knew exactly what should be done. You knew perfectly what was in the mind of each man, and what was best
for them. You adjusted their thoughts, and knew what it would take to
motivate each of them to be in peace, and be good to and actually love one
another. You knew exactly the
perfect thing to do. And you allowed me to share this with you and do it.
God you're great! I love you God! You're the best!
I love you! I love you!'
And more did I say in my heart, praising God, and this moment of
perfection that I encountered with Him. For
I had experienced PERFECTION IN ACTION, and it spurred me on to greater
experiences with Him in the coming years."
Conclusion
In sum, morality springs from the commitment to use our freedom of thought and action in the service of goodness. We know that some things are commanded, some things permitted, some things discouraged, and some things forbidden. Philosophically, we can question, doubt, and undermine that insight or uphold and sharpen and exercise it. We can live the golden rule as a reminder to be sympathetic, as an idea to start moral thinking, and as the principle of the practice of the family of God.
Our capacity for moral insight has three levels:
1. Moral intuition, providing an immediate sense of right and wrong.
2. Moral reason, sharpening intuition, exploring complexities, drawing inferences, and testing consistency.
3. Moral wisdom, synthesizing truth, beauty, and goodness inputs from a variety of sources, including an awareness of history, summed up in a sense of proportion.
At its best, developing a philosophy of living teaches a sane and well-balanced approach to discovering the divine way. However, all this labor of thoroughness and thoughtfulness can be a way of protecting oneself from spiritual encounter, an attempt to domesticate something greater than any philosophy. All the careful labor with moral reason, all the work of piling up concepts can play into a strategy of avoiding the simple act of turning to God and seeking his will sincerely. To make the universal family into a practical reality takes not so much a mind filled with ideals as deeds saturated with goodness.