This chapter succinctly summarizes the work of the last three chapters that explained in detail the progression from Values to “The Graces of Expressed Ethics”.
Seven Values ➔ Moral Definitions ➔ Ethics Statement
➔ Expressed Ethics ➔ The Graces of Expressed Ethics
A Brief Review
Life is the Ultimate Value.
Equality, Growth, and Quality of Life are the values that sustain the survival of our species.
Empathy, Compassion, and the “Love” for humanity are the values that make it possible to sustain social existence.
The “rules” for social existence are the morality and ethics that develop out of the logical relationship of the seven values and their mutual characteristics.
- Values underlie the decisions responsible for the survival of our species;
- Moral Definitions provide the rules that guide human decisions and actions to prevent destructive life-altering behavior of human interaction;
- Ethics Statements tell us HOW TO fulfill Moral Definitions;
- Expressed Ethics tell us WHAT TO DO to fulfill Ethics Statements;
- The Graces of Expressed Ethics are the states of being that smooth social interaction.
Values
Life
Proactive Moral Definition: Assign value in all of your decisions to protect and value life.
Ethics Statement: Protect and give value to all life (Buddhist). Take the life of other species only for your meals. Do not to take the life of species for sport, or to sell protected species.
Expressed Ethics: Acceptance, validation, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, and vulnerability, for example, are necessary to support the social existence of families, communities, and societies.
NOTE: The Graces of Expressed Ethics (TGoEE) apply to all values and are closely associated with Expressed Ethics. They take the form of being kind, considerate, caring, confident, generous, meek, mild, modest, strong but humble, thoughtful, patient, tolerant, positive, and friendly for only a very few of many possible examples. These are not necessary to be moral or ethical, but provide a “grace” to ethical living.
Equality
Proactive Moral Definition: Make decisions and take action for improving the quality of life and unleashing the potential of others as you do for your self.
Ethics Statement: Treat others as you do yourself means that you do not treat others less than your self; and it also means that you do not treat yourself less than you would treat others. The value of others is equal to that of your self, and your value is equal to that of others – act accordingly. The importance of this value is that others are not excluded from consideration, and from opportunities to grow and to improve their quality of life; and neither are you.
Expressed Ethics: To appreciate Equality at the roots of our humanity that emanate from our DNA, Expressed Ethics tell us “what to do” at the most basic level to fulfill “Equality.” When we see the expression of fairness, integrity, transparency, acceptance, appreciation, validation, worthiness, deservingness, honesty, authenticity, faithfulness, discretion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, nurturance, and vulnerability we are seeing the expression of our humanness at its very best that supports the equality of others, and our self.
Growth
Proactive Moral Definition: Make decisions and take action that create opportunities for you to develop your innate potential; and, whenever possible develop opportunities for others, and assist them to grow into their innate potential to improve their quality of life as you do for your self.
Ethics Statement: Assist others to grow into their innate potential just as you do for your self. Show others, as you are able, to recognize the opportunities that may be of assistance to them to grow and improve their quality of life.
Expressed Ethics: Fairness, integrity, transparency, acceptance, appreciation, validation, worthiness, deservingness, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, nurturance, and vulnerability are a few that support the growth of others.
Quality of Life
Proactive Moral Definition: Make decisions for yourself and others that improve the quality of your lives.
Ethics Statement: See others as an equal of your own life to know how to support your efforts to develop their innate potential to grow to improve their quality of life as you would for yourself. When making decisions or writing policies and laws put yourself on the receiving end to see how you would react, and adjust the parameters of your decisions according to the seven values.
Expressed Ethics: Fairness, integrity, transparency, acceptance, appreciation, validation, worthiness, deservingness, honesty, authenticity, faithfulness, discretion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, and vulnerability support the quality of life of others, and our self.
* Empathy (* = Secondary Value)
Proactive Moral Definition: Extend your awareness past your own life to that of others.
Proactive Ethics Statement: Extend your awareness past your own life to that of others to sense their situation in the seven spheres of human existence: physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, social, cultural, and spiritual.
Expressed Ethics: Extend your awareness past your own life to that of others to sense their situation in the seven spheres of human existence: physical, mental, emotional, intellectual, social, cultural, and spiritual. Reflect on what you sense and compare that to your own awareness(es) of your own seven spheres of human existence.
All Expressed Ethics demonstrate “other-interest” contrasted to self-interest. “Other-interest” Expressed Ethics are typical of the secondary value-emotions. Self-interest is much more typical of primary values. We see the prevalence of this in the US culture with its great “me-ism” of self-centered arrogance manifested as authority, power, and control. Yes, primary values do have Expressed Ethics attached to them, but as we have seen, it is always a matter of personal choice of expressing self- interest, a little of both, or predominately other-interest. Neither is “good” or “bad.” “Other- interest” works toward social sustainability while self-interest works predominately against it, at least at the local, tactical scale of social existence.
* Compassion
Proactive Moral Definition: Based on our developed sense of empathy we choose to support the improvement of other’s quality of life and to grow into their innate potential, as we do for our self.
Proactive Ethics Statement: Based on your developed sense of empathy, take action to come to the aid of others, to support the improvement of their quality of life, and to grow into their innate potential equally as you do for your self.
Expressed Ethics apply equally to the three Secondary Value - emotions because those Secondary Values act together. All Expressed Ethics demonstrate “other-interest” contrasted to self-interest that we see all too often.
* “Love”
Proactive Moral Definition: Love (noun) in the context of proactive morality is defined as the combined energies of empathy and compassion toward others, as you have for your self. This is truly the most developed definition of equality — to see and value others as you do for your self.
Proactive Ethics Statement: Love (verb), in the context of proactive morality, is defined as projecting the combined energies of empathy and compassion toward others. This is truly the most evolved definition of equality — to see and value others as you do for your self, and choose to act accordingly.
Expressed Ethics apply equally to the three Secondary Value-emotions because those Secondary Values act together. All Expressed Ethics demonstrate “other-interest” contrasted to self-interest that we see all too often.
The Graces of Expressed Ethics
The Graces of Expressed Ethics apply equally to all Expressed Ethics because they are the natural outgrowth of Expressed Ethics as their name indicates. They are not necessary to be moral or ethical, but provide a “grace” to Expressed Ethics.
For example, Growth is a primary value. Proactive Moral Definitions tell us to make decisions and take action for improving the quality of life and unleashing the potential of others as you would for your self. The Ethics Statement tell us how to “Assist others to grow into their innate potential just as you would for your self.” The Expressed Ethics tell us what to do: Be fair, have integrity, acceptance and appreciation for that person. The Graces of Expressed Ethics add a qualitative “texture” to our personal interaction with others. The Graces suggest that being kind, considerate, caring, confident, generous, meek, mild, modest, strong but humble, thoughtful, patient, tolerant, positive, and friendly will go a long way to make that person feel comfortable with the challenges that growth always provides.
The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. Dietrich Bonhoeffer