The meaning of ethics. The journey of ethics.
October 11th, 2010
What if the journey to find the meaning of ethics is more important than the actual meaning of ethics? What if the true value of the question lies within the question itself and not within the answer? When I embark on an expedition I am often confronted with more questions than answers—more paths than I am able to travel. This disturbs some people; it excites me. Unanswered questions and untraveled paths are opportunities for my mind to wander, to diverge, and to know that I know only a mere fragment of what there is to know. For every question, there lies a myriad of answers. Some will comfort me; some will confront me. I choose a trail that does not contest or I choose a trail that will test my will. I traverse the landscape and find meaning around each bend. I absorb the air and derive meaning with every breath I consume while adding to the world and changing the landscape with each exhale. All answers lead to new paths, new corridors to meaning. Past and present meaning informs future meaning. I continue to travel.
Do we all see the world through the same lens? If the answer is “no” and this seems to be the answer; does this mean that we see each other as unethical and immoral? If so, is this fair? Does fairness have a place in ethics and morality? Does justness? Does justice? What makes something just? Who decides when actions and behaviors are just? What makes actions ethical? What makes actions moral? These are some of the questions I am challenged with as I consider the meaning of ethics—as I travel over unfamiliar terrain. When do we decide that these things are the way they are? Are we born with an understanding of what is “right” and what is “wrong”? Or do we learn right from wrong? Is right and wrong like hot and cold? Do we understand it once we get close enough to touch, experience, recoil from, and recover from it? Do we ever fully recover from a decision that turns out to be unethical or immoral? If our wounds heal and we recover internally, does the world allow for us to recover publicly? Or are scarred for a lifetime? For those who weave ethics and morality with religion does the mark live beyond a lifetime, must eternity also be considered? I continue to ask.
Travel directs us to opportunities for reflection. Bodies of water force us to stop and contemplate our movements—to determine our course ahead. We often see these moments as inconveniences. We do not like to remain still—we are on a journey, after all. We must progress. We must keep moving. However, in the stillness we are able to see ourselves, where we are, and who we have become. We can see the toll of our excursion. If we are truly still we even can see the shape of things to come. Indeed, in the stillness we progress the most. I continue to wonder.
If I stand still and search the stillness for answers, will I understand the meaning of ethics? Will the universe open up to me and instill such knowledge? If it does would this be an ethical way of finding the answer to the question? I have embraced the stillness, listened to the universe, and to many, I will have failed, as I do not have the answer. There is no simple statement that I can make, no essay that I can write, that succinctly and sufficiently answers such a question. Not because there is no answer but because the answer is not where the value lies. The true value is in the journey to find the answer not within the answer itself. I continue to wander.
I will continue to ask the questions, continue to traverse the paths. I will travel the corridors searching for meaning and understanding. Letting each moment inform the next. I will stop and embrace the stillness—knowing this is where the essence of truth lives. I will seek out the meaning of ethics and morality and hope to never quite feel comfortable with the paths that I choose. As soon as I believe that I know the meaning of ethics it will be time to journey beyond what I think I know. Through the unfamiliar environment I will continue to travel, to ask, to wonder, and to wander.
Categories UTC, Education, Doctorate, Leadership, Ethics
