The Moral Imagination, plus Spew

Never underestimate the role of your imagination in your every experience. Your imagination is more than just the author of fancies. It is the faculty that connects events in your experience. Consider the draft theory of colds. It was an imaginative process that linked the event of the draft and the infirmed catching the cold. That one's easy.

But consider now the germ theory of colds. While it is true (according to our best medical science) that those germs cause colds, is that in any way your experience of the event? Not in the least. Just like the draft leads to colds notion, the germs leads to colds notion is an imaginative event, connecting two events (like the sharing of a drink with a person with a cold and catching the cold).

When considering what is real, keep in mind that any causal picture of the world relies on authoring imaginative connections between events otherwise simply correlated in time and space. Just because they are accurate does not mean they are any less a function of the mind. The goal, then, becomes striving to create useful and realistic imaginations. People who wouldn't share a strangers drink for fear of germs but would have sex with them without a condom don't really have their heads in the right place.

The imagination also highlights and obfuscates aspects of reality. By letting you mind play to one aspect of an experience or another shapes your attitude toward that event. No one cheats while imagining their partner heartbroken, sobbing in the corner. Rather, they imagine the awesome sex they aren't having. Do they ever imagine awkward or bad sex? Nope.

Even subconsciously humans use their imaginations to guide their actions. Be conscious about it. If you find your mind painting one part of reality in great detail, and leaving another unrendered, beware. You are about to fall prey to a self deception.

You can even use your imagination strategically to motivate moral action. When tempted by something, systematically envision the negative or undesirable aspects of that path. When trying to achieve a difficult end, be vivid about your conception of the good end.

Imagine true things. People with vivid imaginations are more likely to respond to distant moral issues. Nearly everyone helps the family member suffering in front of them. But as more distant comes between the actor and the suffering, be that distance be physical or emotional, people stop helping. Foster an intense imaginative world, and use it to create the realities that are not immediately imposing themselves on your world. In this way, you can broaden the scope of your compassion.

Pay attention to the words you use to create categories, for they direct the tenor of your thinking. Few would say, "Cook that flesh medium rare," when ordering a steak, or, "Ouch, there's a piece of meat hanging from my scrape!" when recently suffering from a wound. By creating separate categories through language we create the ability to judge those categories differently even when perhaps they should be treated the same.

Seek to increase the range of your compassion. Consider more than yourself. Consider more than your family. Consider more than your friends and neighbors. Consider more than your country. Consider more than your race. Consider more than your species. Consider everything. Look hard at absolutely everything and ask honestly what its good is. You will soon find that it is very difficult to achieve all goods, but you may start seeing ways where you can dramatically increase the good of something else without too much cost to other important things.

Admit that you can be wrong. Many people defend the unfounded morality of their actions because they don't want to be wrong. While it may be hard to admit that you have been doing ill for your entire life, bullheadedly defending your error and continuing to do ill for the remainder of your life is much worse.

Trust in the learning curb. It is difficult to acquire new moral lifestyles. Acquiring any lifestyle involves learning. Trust me, it gets easier. As you start to get used to it, you pick up tricks, you share other ideas, you get into the groove. While it may be impossible to instantaneously alter every behavior you have to become a beacon of moral perfection, you can start with one or two things. As they become automatic parts of your life, pick one or two more. A lot of us have a while in this life.

You can become a saint. Saints are people. People who didn't let the difficulties of their time pass unaddressed. Do not underestimate your moral potential, or the impact you have on other people.

Respect the role of you mood in determining the manifestation of your altruism. You are more likely to give to others in a moment of gratitude concerning the abundance in you life than you are in a fit of curmudgenliness. Knowing this, be mindful of you mood, and foster activities and relationships that put you in your best moods.

Unlock your gifts. Each of us has bestowed upon us talents and abilities. Develop yours. Focus it through training. Supplement it with skills. Apply it with passion. You will soon find that you have amazing potential. Great works of goodness are still works of greatness. Train.

Put yourself in an ideal environment. Our personalities and spirits need particular influences. Figure out what you need, then seek the people, places, and activities that feed you.

Develop your personal convictions. Even if all your intentional actions aren't toward a moral end, defending a belief or becoming a particular thing against in the face of struggle develops your fortitude.

Personally, I abstain completely from recreational drugs and alcohol. It isn't because I think that using them is bad, or that the people who do them are evil. There are certainly bad uses, but many people I know participate in reasonable usage. Rather, abstainance is a source of personal power, a tribute to self control, and a challenge to be intentional with my attitude. I thrive as a better me, even as others thrive better with drinking and drug use. It has also been like a moral training program, helping prepare me do better choose in the future. Having that control of my lifestyle has helped me change other aspects of my life.

A bad act is one that upsets the right state of the universe. An evil act is a bad act done with maliciousness. While most would agree that an evil act is worse, as it does signify a disordered understanding of the world and a disordered appreciation of the world, bad things are still bad, and should be avoided. Just because you are destroying the environment without maliciousness does not make everything ok. The distinction between bad and evil is about the actor, and not the severity of the act.

Do not take pride in your moral success. Just because you behave in a more moral way than another does not make you better. Remember, doing good is about the world being better, not about you being better. Besides, as any runner will tell you, the desire to look behind you and see the people you are beating only slows you down. It arises out of the desire to stop working so hard if you are substantially ahead. Keep you eye on the goal, and don't focus on where you are concerning the rest of the runners. If you do anything, help them finish the race.

When trying to motivate moral action in others, proceed with care.

People do not react well to bullying. They tend to fight back, and you can often inoculate them to further persuasion. Even if your browbeating is successful, they are probably not oriented aesthetically in the right kind of way.

We can change other people. In fact, we can't help changing other people. Just by being part of their life changes them. What we cannot do is conform them to our particular desires.

If you want someone to behave differently, consider the economy of his or her human energy. No one can invent energy to worry about a problem or act in order to solve it. Any change necessitates an alteration of priorities, and likely a cessation of another activity or worry. If you can make it easier to change, or if you can give them support while the change is made, you will see your proddings more likely to succeed.

Chances are, you probably underestimate your potential. In fact, your estimation of your potential can be your single greatest obstacle. The most powerful times in my life were catalyzed by rejecting my limitations.

Take very seriously the power of a spiritual life in acting rightly. Being spiritual involves creating a relationship with the universe. Spirituality also often exposes otherwise unobserved blessings. Taken within the context of the power of gratitude, imagine what feeling universally grateful might to to someones ability to serve strangers.

Take very seriously the power of a prayer life in acting rightly. Being prayerful involves humility. It also evokes divine power. Consider the transformative power of becoming vulnerable in the face of divinity. Small wonder those with intense prayer lives serve in intense ways.

Signs have power. They communicate the details of a calling and motivate devotion to a cause. Be careful, however. A sign is only a sign if it comes to you. If you spend all your time looking for a sign its going to be an imaginative act whereby you attach significance to an otherwise uneventful event. While this isn't bad in itself, many bad actions have been "justified" by these false signs. Do not arbitrarily invent divine agreement with your desires.

You are not in control. Neither am I. At best, we are gardeners, tending to the world with careful hands, trying to create a healthy environment for that which is to grow. There is another force that causes the actual thriving of the plants, and that is beyond our control. Don't be discouraged by this. Rather, take great comfort in the fact that you aren't responsible for the functioning of all creation, and focus on doing the good you can actually do.

Seek enlightenment. Ecstatic experiences are the pinnacle of beauty, and are often the moments of most perfect clarity. Great truths far and wide have been revealed in moments of fruitful seeking. Enlightenment is also a powerful motivator, serving as a bottomless well of patience and compassion.

Appreciate the beauty of sublime moments. They will end. Ultimately, you are not in control of you enlightenment either. It will come and go by the devices of something greater than you. Best you can do is cultivate in yourself a way of being that makes you vulnerable to the subtle movements of the universe.