Ethics: Some Food for Thought from Robin Wood

Here's an excerpt from "When, Why...If," by Robin Wood:

"When you were small, you were taught a certain world view by your parents, your peers, and the people around you. Your mind was primed then, and ready to accept those things that would enable you to adapt in this society. You eagerly learned the concepts that your parents taught you, and by the time you were two, your basic view of the world was in place.

"As you grew, you learned to fit the things you heard and saw into that basic view of the world. You learned what behavior was acceptable to the people who ruled your life, and what was not. You learned how much latitude there was in the rules, and when 'no' really meant 'no.'

"And you also learned how to work around the rules to get what you thought you wanted.

"If your upbringing had been perfect, you would have perfectly understood the reasoning behind the rules, and you would easily have developed perfect ethics.

"The trouble is that we are all raised by mortals; by people who have problems of their own, who were raised by other people with problems and so on. And the problems tend to get passed down from generation to generation, right along with all the other attitudes and beliefs that your parents so carefully instilled in you.

"You, however, have decided that at least some of those things are not the things that you want to make up the pieces of your world view. That's great! I think that adults need to create their own world views. We are not the same individuals that our parents are, and we are not living on the same planet they were raised on. The world is changing too quickly. Population has probably more than doubled since they were young; societal values are shifting; technology has flown far beyond the science fiction of my own youth, let alone theirs; incurable diseases have cropped up, and forced a change in attitude about a great many things. Future Shock, they called it twenty years ago. But I look at my own kids now, and they aren't the least bit shocky. I think they are depending on the speed of change, counting on it to give them swell new things they barely dreamed of before. Just last night at dinner my youngest told me that 1993 stuff is way out of fashion now. As I write this, it is January 4, 1994! (Not everything, he admitted, but lots of it.)

"And as you create your own world view, and put together the things you need to take this path, you will discover that some of the stuff you learned as a youngster is still valid for you now, that some things no longer apply to the world you find yourself in, and that some things were invalid from the beginning.

"In order for you to become an ethical being, you need to make these decisions and determinations yourself. No one else can do it for you. If you allow someone else to make your ethical decisions, you are giving away your own personal power, and you are not behaving ethically at all. You are behaving obediently. In my opinion, obedience is for children who do not yet have enough experience under their belts to make cause and effect correlations, and therefore can't be expected to make wise ethical decisions. If you are not a child, you should not be obedient. You are the only person living your life, and therefore, you are the only one qualified to make your life decisions.

"Yes, I know that means that you will have to think a great deal.

"I warned you about that... Get used to it.

"It isn't like you have to start from a vacuum.

"Begin with what you were taught as a kid. Chances are that the rules and standards drummed into you had a lot in common with the basic law of the craft, although the reasons for following them were different. You were probably taught the golden rule: 'Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.' Fine as far as it goes. Good for children. But I think we can do better than that. We can 'Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.'

"I told you in the beginning that this was the hard path, not the easy one. And the farther along you go, the more your own ethics will cause you to think, and then do things that you know are right, even if you don't want to do them.

"... It is my sincere desire that you will realize that rules and reflexive reactions have little place in a world that changes every nanosecond; where every situation is unique, and every individual you deal with is unlike any other. In such a world, each case is a special case, and must be met with a special answer. It is my goal to help you discover how to reach those answers; honestly and non-judgementally, with a heart filled with love, understanding, wisdom and joy.

"I want you to be able to steer your way through your life, and find your heart's desire, without harming anyone.

"I hope that you realize that if you do harm someone, you must make restitution. There is no 'forgiveness' on this path. Your 'sins' are not 'wiped clean' with little or no effort on your part. Here, 'sins' are not part of the question. Here we have only responsibility. You are responsible for your own actions, and only for your own actions. And if you break something with your actions, you are required to attempt to mend it with your actions, as well.

"We all make mistakes, try as we might not to. The trick is to realize that we have, forgive ourselves, do our best to correct our mistake, and go on.

"Sometimes, our ethics will cause us to change our entire lives. This takes great courage....

"When you become ethical, when you begin to see the cause of your actions, when you truly take responsibility for everything you do, the easy way ceases to serve. It no longer works to say 'Mea culpa' and be absolved, because deep inside you know perfectly well that is not enough.

"When you look within, and can find the answers there, you are beginning to arrive.

"When you can shine the bright light of honesty on the dusty corners of your soul, and like what you see, you are well on your way.

"When everything you look at, you look at with love and honesty, with a judgement unclouded by any sort of fear or prejudice, and you can decide clearly and wisely what you should do in each situation as it arises, you are there.

"I, personally, am not there yet.

"But I'm working on it!

"The thinking and reasoning become easier all the time.

"My prejudices are fading.

"But in order for your prejudices to fade, you first have to know what they are.... So examine your prejudices... Cast the bright light of honesty on them until they dissipate like fog in the sun.

"Keep working, and thinking, and trying to be better; and I assure you that you will be.

"Let your appetites and habits rule you, have a pat answer for everything, and your ethics will slip away until you have none left.

"Having ethics is like driving a car. Remember when you first learned to drive? You had to think about all of the mechanics of it, all the time. Hands go here, feet go there. Oh no! I'm turning the wheel too far! Ack! That's too far in the other direction! Where is that brake pedal? I know it has to be here somewhere!

"Then, gradually, you learned how to do it, and it became easier. ... By now, you can probably drive without much trouble. You may even have an 'autopilot' that will take you straight to work without any conscious effort on your part at all.

"But if you don't keep at least some of your mind on the road, you will wind up in a pileup.

"In just the same way, using your mind instead of a set of rules is hard at first. Every question is completely different than anything you have had to think through before. Correlating the cause and effect, and thinking through the ripples may seem almost paralyzing at first. Correcting for an error may result in an over-correction that harms someone else. You may need to find the brakes, and use the old rules for a little while to get your breath back. (If so, go ahead. Most of the ones that don't judge other people are not bad, as far as they go. I just think they don't go very far.)

"As you become more familiar with ethical living, you will find that certain questions follow certain patterns, and that you have thought a lot of this out before. Some things will become reflexive. You don't have to consider whether to use magic to cause someone to fall in love with you, for instance. You will just know that is wrong. The mechanics of having your brain with you at all times will be less and less of a problem. Eventually, you will be able to make rapid judgments for most things, and life will go pretty smoothly.

"But don't make the mistake of letting your mind wander completely away, or you will end up in an ethical pileup.

"Just as in driving, you may have only seconds to make the really important ethical decisions. Emergencies of all kinds are like that. And again as in driving, the more experience you have, the more likely you are to make a good decision in time.

"Without the ability to drive, your freedom would be seriously curtailed. Without the ability to make good ethical choices, your freedom may need to be seriously curtailed.

"So become a good ethical driver!

"Go forth joyfully, with honesty and love and laughter and wisdom and all that good stuff. Steer carefully, enjoy your freedom, and write if you get work!"