Contemplating Moral Laws

Contemplating Moral Laws

All true wisdom and all true faith are clearly expressed in the same moral law.

“The more I dedicate my time to two things: the first is the sky above me, and the second to the moral law within me.

Immanuel Kant

Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men would do to you, do ye even unto them: this is the law and the prophets.

Matthew 7:12 KJV

Moral law is so obvious and clear that even people who do not know the law have no excuse for violating it. They have only one recourse: to deny their intellect, which they do.

Cited as almost a whole page in Tolstoy’s Calendar of Wisdom

What is the highest of all moral laws? The quick, most common, and facile answer is love. Another well considered and rapidly repeated reply would be compassion. What I surmise includes them both would be a law of reciprocity.

If the Biblical truth stands that “[whatever we measure out to others comes back to us full and overflowing]” and that, as they say in the vernacular, “karma is a bitch,” then the basis of all social actions has to be for the common good. For the ongoing progress and prosperity of humankind, it would have to be reciprocity; it would be generosity, and the avoidance of any “boomeranging” actions that would punish us!

I have little doubt that Tolstoy’s take on moral law is infinitely more idealistic than mine; That it would be interlaced with lofty sentiments and urges towards a universal standard for human dignity and self-worth. But I also sense, in his last observation, that he has some element of despair and discouragement. The tendency towards denial of logic and reason for selfish gain, and the abdication of conscience and a stubborn unwillingness to confront lies and falsehoods that serve selfish ends.

Since we humans have an appalling ability to lie to ourselves, the consequences can only be assessed and measured by reciprocity. Loving kindness is an ideal rule for human behavior, however, tough love and dealing with consequences have a more lasting effect…