THOUGHT OF THE WEEK – February 11, 2022
Morality; how do you define it and what would be the basic tenets for creating a moral and just society?
Personally, I choose to put God at the top of my list. Yet, even if you don’t, I see each and every one of us as part of God, created in the image of God, and God’s representatives in this world. Therefore, morality is as much about man as it is about God.
The first tenet is harm; if my actions cause you direct harm, or conversely if your actions cause me harm, they are unjust and therefore immoral. If we are free to kill, steal, and take freely with no repercussions, the world would quickly descend into chaos.
The next tenet is fairness; which to me is simply, ‘what is good for me is good for you’. I can’t give you absolute privileges that aren’t also offered to me. This isn’t to mean I must share with you my money, etc., these are just basic human rights such as freedom of speech, voting rights, religious rights, etc.
I would like to add two more tenets to the list: one is respect, and the other is loyalty.
Respect for each other and our basic rights is simple, yet respect for authority is also really important, yet the most difficult for me. How do we establish leaders that are unbiased and fair to all?
Growing up, I had huge issues with authority. I wanted to understand, and it felt like they didn’t want to explain.
I ask you, my readers, what qualities make someone a good leader? What makes someone a good arbiter of authority and capable of maintaining respect?
I would suggest that the basic, most important quality in a leader is humility. I define humility as: I’m no greater than, nor less than. Additionally, a leader must be someone above reproach and unsusceptible to bribery.
Ultimately, I think we all need to be our own sense of authority. We must hold ourselves to a higher standard so that we create the world and society we so desperately want and need, and not the chaos we often exist in.
This week, let’s spend some time and write down the things that are most important to us when it comes to creating a moral and just society, and most importantly, how we can stay accountable to the morals we have established.
Accountability, Community, Unconditional Love
Asher
I want to remind all of you that you can hear more on my podcast, Showing Up. We have lots of amazing shows with interesting guests on a variety of personal development topics. It would be great if you could also rate 5 stars, review and subscribe to the show. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/showing-up-with-asher-gottesman/id1489856285y