The aim of this reflection is not one of producing scholarly definitions or legal tenets, but rather to create practical images and imagery of the working of morality and ethicality – two critical, distinctive, but complementary processes of any healthy working community or society. The emphasis on practical (that is, being able to be practiced or carried out) comes from the belief and recognition that ultimately the decisions and behaviors of our daily living and working determine the depth and nature of morality and ethicality of a society. The people – the people’s way of living and way of working – are the final determinant. The foundational phrase, the cornerstone of our country, “we the people,” is what is required to be called upon and made operational, acknowledging the responsibility and accountability that lies within we the people, ourselves. Thus it falls upon us to develop the capacity for understanding and managing morality and ethicality. The ability to effectively deal with the realms of virtue and vice, and right and good societal system behavior is critical – both in terms of providing a stable platform for our daily living and working, and as a means for realizing the potential that lies within and before us.
Both of these processes – morality and ethicality – deal with being and becoming. They work to provide intellectual, emotional, behavioral and spiritual guidance for what we want to be, need to be, or could become. We can see and experience the capacity of both to be an uplifting force within ourselves and our society. At the same time, we can witness the degeneration and erosion of greatness and potential within ourselves and our society as ethicality and morality become less present, less of a force in our daily living and working. Both seem to have the character of truth in that appreciation for and understanding of the processes of ethicality and morality can be deepened and broadened through reflection, contemplation, dialogue and experience. As we as a people develop and evolve our capacity to understand and live to higher ideals, so too must morality and ethicality develop and evolve. As we pursue and work to bring about higher value and more meaningful planes of existence (life platforms that allow, demand and enable us to be more fully human and to bring forth and realize our human potential), morality and ethicality must not only accompany us on the journey, but also must grow and develop accordingly. Woven into an essential aspect of the intent and intended way of working of the human are the processes of morality and ethicality. It is intended and required that we be both moral and ethical. Without these characteristics, our humanness – the truth of our humanity – disappears.
Morality seems to be innerly centered. It is an intrinsic process. Its work appears to be character building. Morality is the inner struggle and processing in which we engage to develop command over the qualities essential to the character we are trying to be and the virtues we are trying to manifest and use as a guide for living. We experience the struggle as we deal with the temptations and vices that work to distract us from our aim, from our effort to become a more virtuous, truer self. This struggle is a common and ongoing experience for each and all of us – if not in the forefront of our mind, at least in the form of a lingering echo. This struggle, this process, seems to be innate – an essential part of our being created living beings – and perhaps it is the process by which we become dignified human beings. Because it is such an intrinsic aspect of our selves, we can readily relate to and empathize with the trials, the tribulations, and the failings of our fellow humans. As such, the idea or notion of forgiveness (of ourselves and others) for non-moral actions and transgressions becomes integrated into human processes and interactions. Forgiveness recognizes the reality of failure, but neither honors nor condones the act itself. In a sense, forgiveness suspends judgment and works to relieve and dissipate negative energy – be it within one’s self or towards one another.
As a community, as a society, we enter into this personal and usually private struggle when someone’s behavior so affects the community that the community is unable to live from its desired moral character or moral plane. Most often, this occurs when individuals are engaging in behaviors that are anchored in the lesser aspects of ourselves. As a community, we seem to understand the necessity for encouraging and demanding behaviors that emanate from and call forth the higher aspects of ourselves, those aspects that more truly reflect our humanness, thus we give honor and esteem to those who have developed and are demonstrating the capacity to live and work from virtue. Through reflection and experience, we can see that the American commitment to elevating human dignity and realizing the open-ended potential of each and all, requires continuous development of character; there is an ongoing and critical need for us to be moral and for morality to be present and at work.
Ethicality seems to be more of an extrinsic or externally generated process. Its realm appears to be related to the systems and processes of one’s community or society. In particular, it deals with societal roles and the behavioral expectations that society holds for the particular role. The focus of its effort, its work, is ensuring predictable behavior. Society recognizes that the integrity, the trustworthiness, and the sustainability of its systems, is directly dependent upon the ethics and the ethical behavior of those who fill the roles within the system – the systems being all those that have been developed to support, sustain, and advance the core processes of human life and work (for example, educating our children, maintaining our health, governing community life, producing food, clothing and shelter, etc.). Within these systems, essential to the effective operation of these systems, are roles. Roles have both a being and doing character. They require not only a particular level of skill and knowledge, but also particular characteristics and qualities – thus a way of doing, an expected behavior. Roles commonly include accountability for resources and a responsibility for sustaining the integrity of the process.
In a real sense, society is entrusting an individual with the conscious and conscientious carrying out of a systemic role critical to the vitality and viability of society. Ethicality, then, comes forth to determine the appropriate – the right and the good – behavior of the person in the role relative to other individuals within the system, the effective working of the system, and the sustaining and advancement of the processes of the system the role is there to serve. Whereas morality seems to be concerned about ideals, ethicality seems to be more concerned with standards. Whereas forgiveness enters when one misses the mark relative to an ideal, consequences spring to life relative to non-ethical behavior. The need to enforce and experience consequences appears to be related to the depth of trust that accompanies these societal roles.
Morality – the process we engage in for character development and for the perfecting of our society and ourselves – reacts differently to offenses and failures than does ethicality. Morality seems to be a more individualized, patient, and through-time process – except when it threatens the character development of society as a whole.
Ethicality seems to have a more immediate concern or reaction; it seems to be responding to that which is threatening the health, vitality and viability of the whole. Ethicality understands the essential nature of a system where the behavior of one element (one role) affects the working and behavior of all the elements (all the roles). It understands the devastating nature of the consequences of un-checked non-ethical behavior. It clearly sees the consequences that inevitably occur to us as a people, to our children, and to humanity, as systemic role integrity degrades, and as confidence, credibility and trust disappear. It knows only too well that proliferation of non-ethical behavior ultimately destroys our capacity for accessing the most fundamental building blocks of humanity – faith, hope and compassion. For when a society – particularly the youth of a society – loses faith in its critical systems, and experiences hopelessness in and through these systems, the society loses its capacity for compassion, turns, and consumes itself. Given this understanding, it is not surprising that ethicality acts more swiftly and harshly when ethical standards of behavior are violated; removal or restriction of the individual in the role is common and deemed appropriate. The elimination of an intolerant risk is predominating. Concern for the preservation of the whole, its potential, and its possibilities, out-weighs the concern for the individual. Ethicality works to be vigilant, to guard against the all too common ego driven illusion that the ends justify the means. It continually battles the force that enters into and influences us in a way that we believe our ideas are so noble and right that any means are justifiable. It seems to recognize and understand that if love is not in our process – in our means – it will not be present in the ends we pursue. This vigilance, this commitment to sustain the integrity of critical human systems, is the true gift of ethicality.
It is intended and necessary that both of these processes – morality and ethicality – operate at a level above the laws of society. Morality and ethicality are being and becoming processes. They are what we engage in to go beyond… to be more than what we currently are, and to reflect the quality and strength of character to which we aspire. Social law or legality, by nature, does not evoke the spirit and willfulness possible through the envisionment of a more virtuous life or way of living – particularly as it relates to future generations. The work of legality seems to be more in the realm of keeping us on track, or perhaps keeping us from slipping backwards. Morality and ethicality are truly distinctive, but complementary processes. How these processes operate and how they react to transgressions is unique to each. Both are critical to the sustaining and development of our humanness and human potential. Because of their uniqueness and criticalness, it is important that we as a people can differentiate and discern issues arising in our society as to whether they are issues of morality or issues of ethicality. Confusing the two and responding inappropriately can have grave and lasting consequences. On the other hand, the right and good working of these processes produces a base from which America and all of America’s people can pursue and experience elevated dignity, realize open-ended potential, and create a greater future for life as a whole and for the whole of life.
