I have been enjoying an online course about C. S. Lewis and the path that led him to Christianity. He was professionally schooled in philosophy and teated heavily on Aristotle's works. One of his earliest essays was titled "Good." A study on morality.
Morality exists and always will, whether I decide to acknowledge it or not. To paraphrase Lewis, "To refuse the objectivity of morality is to differentiate myself as a human species."
It is impossible not to confront morality on a daily basis. Morality moves the chess pieces of my days; The decision whether to curse the rude counter clerk or pay and walk away, the decision to open a door for a person in a wheelchair or shut the door and watch them struggle with it, and it is the decision to respect a persons voice or choice without berating them. I try (and fail) to use these morality chess pieces to either address or walk away from daily life occurrences, spurned by the conviction of what I believe to be right or wrong — morality.
I don't believe I did anything to acquire morality, I do think it was tweaked here and there as I confronted this or that over the years, but I find that mostly it is innate and exist as a truth. If I don't feel good about myself, it is usually that I have strayed from my center, my core beliefs. I had my ear tickled by this or that. My center is the cross.
I find the simplest things, the least complicated to be the most rewarding. "The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal, or two friends talking over a pint of beer, or a man alone reading a book that interests him," C.S. Lewis.
Cloud spotting every situation in politics, armies and institutions, (although collective necessary activities, he says) prolongs immorality, and Lewis calls these, "a meaningless vanity and vexation of spirit."
Nope, no vexation in the pines this morning. None, nada. Happy Sunday y'all.
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