Greetings friends! Some years ago Stephen King wrote a most amazing apocalyptic novel, "The Stand", in which he explored the concept of righteousness. The book was a gripping read that was later made into a not so gripping mini-series for American television ;) In the book, the hero was a quite ordinary 70's kind of guy who used all the drugs he could put his hands on, ignored his aged Mother, had to leave a few towns fairly quickly, failed to demonstrate proper manners with a number of women, and was a rock singer with a hit song called, of course, "The Righteous Man". Due to an unfortunate accident in a military biological research lab, the whole country was quickly depopulated down to about 2% of its former size. Our righteous man, along with a smattering of other fascinating characters, began the odyssey of a lifetime in search of truth and goodness. Joseph Campbell could well have appreciated this novel. Who knows? Perhaps he did. According to the American Heritage dictionary, righteousness is defined as "Morally upright; just". I think someone might have already mentioned this during last month's debate, but the dictionary has several things to say about the word "moral". Moral adj; 1) Of or concerned with the judgment or instruction of goodness or badness of character and behavior. 2) Conforming to established standards of good behavior. 3) Arising from conscience. 4) Having psychological rather than tangible effects. 5) Based on likelihood rather than evidence. Moral noun; The principle taught by a story or event. Rules or habits of conduct, esp. of sexual conduct. from the Latin moralis - conduct. As I understand its customary use, to be moral infers a large component of self-sacrifice. The more often one does that which is the right thing as opposed to the thing one wants to do, the more moral the person. To be moral is to live in a state of denial of normal desires; to act for the betterment of others to the point of self-detriment. Jesus Christ, of course, readily comes to mind. In literature the personal odyssey toward moral fulfillment is seen always as a struggle against "baser instincts" (the biological level), conceit, and egoism. This quandary between the opposing forces of righteousness and egoism have consistently posed a problem for Western Civilization. On the one hand, self-sacrifice is revered - or at least paid lip service, while on the other, egoism, the belief that self-interest is the just and proper motive for all human conduct, is at the absolute foundation of Capitalism. What's a good Western Citizen to do? Got to go now, Mary MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
