Active Ethical Thinking

Perhaps we've all had the experience of being in an unpleasant, distasteful and messy situation which demanded that we make an ethical choice among undesirable options. In the midst of the anguish, we yearned for the problem to be a clear-cut, "black or white" no-brainer. But, it didn't happen! Reality has a way of not going away whether we deny it or wish it away!

But, happily, we got through those trying times. And, here we are, to live another day, and to engage in more of those very messy life situations. In fact, every life has them. We can avoid them sometimes, but not completely. In fact, such challenges can bring out the best from within us. But, what were we doing? And how did we do it?

WHAT were we doing? We were engaging life fully, as thoughtfully and intuitively as we could, with our abilities. We were actually working hard at "active ethical thinking," i.e., grappling with the messiness of life using the various values, hopes and realities of which life is made. Among the first principles of engaging reality is the acknowledgment that life is messy. One's willingness to engage that complexity in noble and virtuous ways is what makes life a thoughtfully ethical endeavor.

But, HOW did we do it? There were a number of dynamic tools we used even if we were not aware of them.

The Accurate Perception of Reality: Whether the situation developed slowly or suddenly, whether we liked it or not, we had to figure out what was going on with sufficient truth so as to be able to engage realistically and appreciate what was happening. Naming the problem truthfully is the first step in coping with reality. Inaccurate labeling is always destructive.

Thoughtful Consideration: One must have thought about what was happening and what might be the possible ways of responding. We had to be realistic, intelligent and wise all at the same time. Some of this effort was intellectual (i.e., reasoned out) and some was intuitive (i.e., more instinctively felt). This might have happened very fast because some issues are nearly instantaneous in their demands and require quick response.

Engagement with Reality: Dealing with the truth and applying genuine abilities to the situation is the real business of life. This might have included everything from philosophical insights to the survival instinct. But, all our human intelligence and intuition worked together to allow us to engage the situation well enough to be effective.

An Ethical Frame of Reference: In other words, the contexts and perspectives from which we worked -- our background experiences and memories, the information we possessed and our abilities to process all that information applying the ethical principles and lessons we have learned - determined much of how we approached the issue. From such a frame of reference we engaged the problem applying wisdom and taking risks all at the same time.

Once I had to compose a definition of "being moral" in order to teach a class of gifted high school students. It is quite challenging to put a huge concept into a few words, but here is the definition I crafted: To be moral means to freely do the truth in justice and in love.

By elaborating on those four components (freedom, truth, justice and love) I was able to describe and nuance the messiness of life from the perspective of active ethical thinking. Active ethical thinking is not merely about avoiding the wrong and embracing the right. (Believe it or not, one can arguably avoid breaking any of the famous 10 Commandments by merely doing nothing at all!) Active ethical thinking is about engaging life as fully, intelligently and wisely as possible so as to be good and do well all at the same time. Active ethical thinking is possibly the most effective approach to making good sense a way of life!

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