Ethics - Ethics Box

E-mail Subscription

Receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this site:

Ethics - Ethics Box

Love and Hate - Desire and Adversion (LINK)

July 4th 2008 01:06

By Ray Tapajna continuing the study of Personality and Character for the sake of self-improvement. Based on our notes from Father McQuade's JCU outline.
In our last post we explored the effects of love and hate. We continue now talking about desire and adversion. They are related to bodily reactions and there is a difference between desire that is merely felt and desire that has approval of the higher will. With adeversion, there is a difference too between that which is merely experienced and adversion that is recognized and consented to. It is the rejection of that higher will or choice that affects character as we noted in our past study of the power of the will. An important part in character building , we must exercise the indirect control we have over them to the utmost. It is possible to make good progress in long and patient practices through acquired reflexes. This way , we can gradually bring ourselves to desire the true rather than the apparent good and to abhor ther real rather than seeming evil.

We can cultivate the habit of investigating the foundations of our desire and adversions. For example, one who finds they are focusing on goals for esteem of others instead of self esteem, this would tend someone habitually boast about themselves. A person can tame that desire by showing himself that he is overestimating the value of the approval of others.

Prejudices can be studied this way too. If we have an adversion towards someone of another race, we can examine the evidence upon we base that adversion and in most cases will find the evidence does not back up our adversion. Prejudices can be managed by our intellect. They still may be hidden inside us but our intellect can lead us past this void.

This is why in the spritual life, much emphasis is put upon mental and meditative prayer, where fruitful desires and effective aversions are developed. The internal goodness in us rises to the surfaces as we consider the things of a good God in our lives. The objective is to control emotions without eliminating them.

In the next post, we will explore the emotions of joy and grief related to love and hate.

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

Love and Hate distinctions (LINK)

June 30th 2008 18:11

We continue our exploration into personality and character related to self improvment. We do this in an environment of the unnetted in the global economic arena with workers evidently having very little voice in their destinies. We hope our efforts provide a better platform for the unnetted to speak out. One of the greatest men I ever met was a shop foreman in the factory where I worked while going to college full time. I met many others on the way including some of the best Jesuit educators, a General in the Army, top political leaders and presidents of large corporations. The shop foreman influenced me the most. His caring nature in a pressure production environment was unique. He took care of those under his charge and taught me several manual skills never knowing he was teaching me much more. It came down to love. It was a love full of distinctions and this is what we will try to explore now.

We base much of our study on our notes from Father McQuade whose course I took in college and which remained with me my entire life. Father McQuade also had a local TV broadcast in Cleveland Ohio for some time.

The dictionary has many definitions for the word love. It seems there should be more different words to describe all the loves there are. Perhaps this is why we get confused at times about what it is all about. First of all there is the Perfect Love of God. Most spirituality is based on pursuing this perfection that is absent from our own human nature. This Perfect Love is also a logical explanation of supernatural Love outside of ourselves confined to human nature.

Here are some definitions from the dictionary. My shop foreman posess most of these variations based on brotherly love.
Love is an affection based on admiration and benevolence.
Love is a warm attachment, enthusiasm or devotion.
Love is an object of such attachment or devotion.
Love is an unselfish concern that freely accepts another in loyalty.
Love is the fatherly concern of God for man.
Love is the brotherly concern for others.
Love is man's adoration of God.
Love is an attraction based on attraction of sex.
Love is the affection and tenderness felt by lovers.
Love is the cherishing who are the objects of our love.
Love is amorous episode. ( however in our modern times, the quality of love breaks down with the term - "making love". - as in the song title " What does love have to do with it."
In all love implies intense fondness or deep devotion. Love of self also has many new meanings in our times.

There are more distinction to be made about both love and hate. Ususally this distinction is recognized in ordinary diction by the way people use "like" and "love" , "dislike" and "hatred". It is common to hear someone say " I like so and so, but I do not love him" , or " I dislike so and so , but I do not hate him". Evidently, liking a person means we are loving them on the sense level, just as "disliking" means hatred on the sense level. The common usuage of words, then, shows there is an affectve complacency and an affective repugnance that involve the higher facculties of man, and one that does not. Love in this higher sense level implies not only a natural attraction towards an object but also good will. Hatred implies not only a natural adversion, but also ill-will. Obviously, our love is predominately for persons and our hatred, would be irrational to have ill-will toward anything less.

Failure to make this distinction would be a serious obstacle to the work of making love the dominant place in our lives. One who fails to see that he has little or no direct control over his sense loves and sense hatreds will be constantly discouraged at the lack fo success where succes cannot be expected. He will be constantly blaming himself for not loving what is good and experiencing a sense love for what he knows is evil. It must be the object of all training in personality and character to make love the dominant note of life, and a love for the real good, a rational love, which is quite independent of the sense of love of the lower level. Love does not include the possibility of the " devil made me do it ".

Through love we can bury these natural aversions in the benevolence which may characterize our attitude adn that, after all that is true love.
One who hates strongly is likely to be mean, bitter, sour in life, and pessimistic in philosophy and their interpretation of God. Stong emotions overflow into all parts of our lives.

Based on our perception from the notes of Father McQuade - we will continue with our exploration of love and hate bringing in joy and grief in our next post.

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

Emotions can rule the game (LINK)

June 24th 2008 19:02

We continue to explore self improvment of personality and character and how we can pursue our life ideal. Emotions play a big part.

An emotion is a whole experience in perception not only of any given situation but its meaning to us and the bodily reaction to that perception. There is the knowing element by which one becomes aware of a certain situation. Then there is the desire element of attraction or repulsion that comes spontaneously with the perception of the happening; and finally there the bodily response in the corresponding actions of nerves, glands, internal organs and so on.

We usually are cautious in giving into emotions and play down their part in pursuing the life ideal. However, we should find ways to trust our emotional powers. We know that emotions can make us do things we otherwise can not do. For example a person can get out of their sick bed when something serious changes the circumstances. We know self-survival can change the pattern of our emotions. When confronted with a severe danger, we forget about our fatique.

From the nature of such emotional experiences, it is easily seen just what is meant by emotion. Anyone who has had a spiritual conversion, know how the emotions can carry all a bigger load of life's problems. Emotions become an experience or mental state driven by a strong degree of feeling and usually accompanied by motor expression often quite intense. As efficient "movers" our emotions are great helps to good actions. Often one can do things by the aid of emotion which one could never do in a state of calm as many artists will tell you. Laying down on one's life for a good cause is one example of the power of what emotions can do.

The driving powers of these emotions is universally recoginized. We know what anger, envy, greed, revenge, hatred or love can get us going. With emotions being such a large influence in our lives we must study it carefully. The mild emotions are love and hatred, desire and aversion, joy and grief. The emergency group are hope and despair, courage, fear and rage.

Love and hate are of course, opposites. Love is an affective agent which I experience is that which I perceive as good for me. ( However, the real definition of love has to be observed and not to cover actions that really are not truly love- "making love" may be something completely different from real love. ) Hatred is a repugnance which I feel for that which I perceive as bad for me. Both of these play a large part in every life. Both affect our attitudes and have much to do with the expression of our personalities in subsequent actions. And the quality of personality is manifested by the nature of the loves and hatreds possessed.

In judging our own personalities and characters by the nature of our loves and hatreds, we must make a distinction. We can love and hate on two levels. One level is the sense level and the other the rational level. When one experieces delight in the idea of a good cigar or a piece of chocolate, it is love on the sense level. When one experiences delight in a great poem, it is on the rational level.

(We will continue our next post abut the importance of making distinctions about love or hate experiences for the sake of our personality and character in the pursuit of the life ideal.)

Sources: Father McQuade and notes from the Personality and Character course.

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

Can Will Power be trained (LINK)

June 11th 2008 02:59

Continuing our discussion about improving personality and character, we explore the concept of Will Power and if it can be trained.

There is a notion that some people are just born with a strong will and others with a weak will. On the other hand, many consider weakness of will a matter of choice and they will scold others for this weakness. Someone who breaks the law will plead a weak will in self justificaton. The overbearing types will plead a strong will

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

What can your will do for you (LINK)

May 28th 2008 16:42

In exploring personality and character in hope of improving it, we can study what our will can do for us. What can we reasonably expect from our will. One can credit the will with too much power or too little. If we become discouraged with our will to change things, we may have credited the will with too much power. However, if we give the will too little credit , we will never prompt self-improvement.

Find in your will your angels of hope

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

A High Way and a Low (LINK)

May 27th 2008 22:40

It is the will which determines all the real choices in life. The intellect identifies the choices and then the will takes over. One who forms the habit of choosing well and according to moral law is developing a good character and vice versa. It is the will, ultimately, that determines character, and therefore the will should demand considerable attention in any pursuit related to personality and character.

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

Father Jonathan explores suffering (LINK)

April 30th 2008 23:48

"How could anyone every tell you that you are less than beautiful " ( Title to a song, that all should hear. )

Lyrics of the song

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

Happiness is not automatic (LINK)

April 20th 2008 23:26

Human nature calls us to happiness. Happiness is defined as a state of general well being, and it is obvious this state of well being must assume a balanced personality and well ordered character. Education has to include a development of both the body and the soul. Something seriously is missing if the soul is ignored. The lower appetites must be balanced with the soul. A certain amount of sense satisfaction is necessary for well being , but if one forgets the dual nature of man and woman to the extent of neglecting the higher intellectual power that governs choices, true happiness will never be reached.

The true, the good, the beautiful, for example are the three fundamental objects of the higher intellectual appetite nature of mankind. The natural cursiosity of man is a hunger for truth and it will be restless until truth is obtained. The will wants to choose good and the it will be restless until a certain amount of good is obtained. A certain amount of order, harmony and beauty must enlighted every happy life

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Comments (1)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

What is this thing called love (LINK)

April 15th 2008 00:35

It is obvious, human beings have all the basic capacities of lower forms of life and there are two activities that distinquishes them from other life forms. These two activities are intelligence and volition.

We find first of all that man can form abstract ideas, that he can know immaterial things, such as honor, beauty, goodness and the like; he can recognize relations between things; he can make judgements on the affairs of life; he can reason from the unknown; he can become arware of and study his own activity; he has a special kind of knowlege that is beyond the mere sense of knowlege of animals

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Comments (1)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

Pursuing the Life Ideal (LINK)

April 9th 2008 17:50

In any formation of personality and character, we need to identify cause and effect about who we are and who we want to be. Our biological background does play a big part and science is always researching this part. We do see traits in ourselves and others that suggest that we do inherits certain traits but science is still studying this part too . We do know environment plays a big role too but we know that this part can be altered even though the circumstances seem to say it is impossible.

In the global economic arena today, we find we need to quickly decide what ethical road we want to take. Raw Capitalism calls for a gladiator type existence. We need to ask if we want to surrender to this condition or take the higher ground no matter what. Do we do it to others before they do it to us or do we do to others as we would want them to do to us? This is the question of our times. To be or not to be rests on our response

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Comments (1)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

Imagination tune up (LINK)

March 24th 2008 23:46

Here's another exercise for you. View the image and let the imagination take over. Take in the words and imagine growing better and better in everyway.
Imagination Tune Up:

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

Tap the power of imagination (LINK)

March 21st 2008 22:41

This follows our last post about a "friendly imagination".

The imagination is a powerful gift. It is a creative tool you can use in many ways for yourself and others. Children have a great insight into this power and use it in play and story telling. As adults we tend to neglect it. We could use it in a "friendly imagination" way just observing others in those quiet waiting times in dentist or doctor's office or in our commuting back and forth from work on the transit system. You can use it prior to a major sales call or meeting to just relax into the possible sequence of events. The imagination can be supplied with plenty of material and background triggers. The imagination is primarily reproductive and therefore it must have something to reproduce. A person developing a "friendly imagination" must have an awareness of what affects other people and also police what affects oneself. Being aware of the triggers, makes it easier to add a positive spin to most anything. The habit of attention, observation, concentration must be cultivated so that the imagination can draw , either to reproduce or to recreate

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Comments (1)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

A friendly imagination (LINK)

March 13th 2008 23:18

Imagine you and me and what we can do together for the common good
In exploring personality and character, the imagination plays a very important part. Of all the four internal senses, imagination seems to have most to do with personality. Imagination is the faculty that gives us life and color, variety and resource not only in our mental life but in the operation of divine influences. Even our abstract thoughts depend on our imagination. Low intelligence is often the basis of a dull imagination. The good thing about imagination, is that you can stimulate and grow it. In fact it is sometime said that the large part of the science of mental hygiene is connected with the management of the imagination.

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend

Are self improvement and self advancement the same thing. (LINK)

February 23rd 2008 15:41

All anyone wants is to have a feeling of being all together in one place at one time. Time tells us we are here on earth on a temporary basis but still we yearn for more. We want to know where we were and where we are going.

One must know the basic facts of his life's progress in order to direct it. We are the director of our life ideal. We also know we are finite and limited in many ways and look for other entities that are not. We need to trust and cooperate with our creator and hopefully receive grace or something extra we do not have in the process

[ Click here to read more ]

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Tapsearch Com Editor - Category: Ethics

Email this Post to a Friend