Home Podcast
Below we explore spiritual questions applied to ethics.
Ethics address the ‘should’ & ‘ought’, questions about what is right. From private matters of conscience to issues of public concern such as business ethics and political judgment. We try to apply spiritual principles to these moral questions.
Posts for example address the dilemma of working parents between work and being at home for the children. What guidelines should be employed when disciplining children within the home? What should be the limits of tolerance, protectiveness, anger or impatience?
Human beings need to economically make use of the physical environment. Where should the balance be between valuing and preserving nature and exploiting it to meet the economic needs of a growing world population?
Can it be right to tell someone something they don’t want to know like their medical condition? What about euthanasia? How far should we go to prolong life? Ought we not take our own life?
Articles, linked to below, tackle how to approach political ethics using spiritual principles. Is it right to have a monarchy? How should we regulate free market capitalism? What are the right and wrong ways to deal with a country’s financial crisis? What about immigration policy and multiculturalism? What stance should we take to the numbers of refugees we take in. Should we be ashamed of the western world values. In relation to violence, how should we respond to the human misery caused by civil wars and lawless rogue states?
Insincerity and hypocrisy are criticised. But arguably white lies and pretence are needed to oil the social cogs of society. When is it fair to criticise those who don’t always practice what they preach? When is it wrong to gossip?
If discrimination and judging others are wrong, just how tolerant should one try to be? Posts below look at attitudes to criminals, layabouts, foul language, litter.
Should we put our needs before those of others? Should one give favours on the understanding we will get them back in return or should we follow the ideal of unconditional love? Do we get our own way too often?
Should we try to tell the difference between right and wrong? How much should one give to charities? How to evaluate one’s own private desires? Why does it matter if we go against our conscience? Are there really any impure thoughts? Is sexual imagery too explicit? Where is the harm in watching pornography. How does one become a better person?
When one is hard up, buying a lottery ticket and thus dreaming of untold wealth has its attractions, even if in one’s heart of hearts one knows there is virtually no chance of winning. A bit of harmless fun. Or is having a pleasing fantasy any different from coming out all guns blazing to make money and lots of it? What are ethics of making money?
David Cameron’s ‘big society’ has caused a lot of comment. Unpaid jobs don’t pay the rent/mortgage or bring food on the table. In this day and age people are obliged to work long hours and have busy lives. An ethical perspective maintains that people should do things for others as well as for self.
But being useful is also a way of self-improvement. With less time to dwell on self we can find unsuspected energy from people around us. This method of spiritual growth involves focusing of what is needed and getting on and doing it.
The question of euthanasia is a political one. Some religious people condemn euthanasia as wrong. However, many reach no final conclusion although seeing several relevant spiritual perspectives. Has one the right to live and thus the right to die. Should the individual choice of those who want assisted suicide be respected? Should one be allowed to die to escape intolerable pain and loss of independence? Is there any point in keeping someone alive past the point he or she can contribute to society?
