“Morality, like art, really does come down to where you draw the line.” Oscar Wilde
Ethical Wisdom: What Makes Us Good – A Review… A book by Mark Matousek
Mark Matousek, best selling author of “When You’re Falling, Dive”, “ The Boy He Left Behind”, and “Sex Death Enlightenment”, presents in his latest book; Ethical Wisdom, an inspiring and thought-provoking examination of what makes us good (an evil) and provides insights to the question – How ought we to live? His book suggests that emotions not logic enable morality, and proceeds to deliver a thoroughly researched and beautifully written analysis based on what Matousek terms our five primary moral foundations or moral receptors; innate principles or universal receptors that guide our moral judgments and factor into how we respond/react to events in our lives; both good and evil.
The five principles which divide the book into a literary symphony of five parts are: 1) Harm and Care – we are sensitive to pain (ours and others), have keen emotions around threats and nurturing and this factors in our acts of kindness and our propensity for acts of emotional support and protection. 2) Justice and fairness – we depend on laws and rights to stop offensive acts and our belief in reciprocity and just punishment help us live harmoniously as individuals in groups while mitigating our inclination to vigilante behavior. 3) In-Group Loyalty – Our reliance on our group affiliations, patriotism, tribal pride and support of our community is crucial to ethics and shapes our reactions to “others” with not always positive outcomes.
4) Authority and Respect – we are attracted to codes of conduct and leadership figures that maintain our traditions and ways of life; a positive when we have good leadership as such become examples of expected ethical behavior. And 5) Purity and Sacredness – this key moral precept turns us toward the divine and is a key to our yearning for goodness/purity and our proclivity for religious fervor. In exploring these principles, the author uses powerful stories, research, intellectual rigor and humor to help us answer the key question: How Ought I to Live? I read this book closely and was impressed by the insights and stories which helped elucidate and explore the notion of good and evil… More below. Have a restful Memorial Day!
“There is a power at the center of our being, at the heart of all things living. But only in man does it assume a spiritual character. And only through spirit does life continue by decision.” Terrence Des Pres
Each of the five principles, forms a heading, followed by a subset of supporting chapters in the book and the topics are examined closely with supporting research, engaging and quite fascinating real life stories that elucidate the points the author makes about how and what influences our moral decision-making and ethics. He shares a powerful and poignant story of how the widows of two South African men who were murdered by Eugene de Krok met with him, at his request, in jail. He was remorseful and crying, asking for their forgiveness and in that moment, one woman reached out and touched his hand (the trigger hand), and experienced a moment of sacredness; a recognition that as she put it, “I learned that good and evil exits in all our lives and that evil, like good, is always a possibility. And that is what frightened me.”
The book offers lots of food for thought and aha moments to keep us interested and engaged in reading it. The author is careful in establishing the impact of these principles in the lives of ordinary, everyday people without presuming it is everyone’s experience. As he points out early in Ethical Wisdom,
“By keeping my nose out of religion, academia and politics, my hope has been to create a secular, dogma free, prejudice free, politically incorrect overview of what we know about our innate ethical sense, with as little cultural quibbling as possible.”
He has accomplished that in the book and more. Plus, you won’t want to miss the brilliant – Tests, Games, & Challenges – he adds at the end. They are worth exploring and are quite enlightening for each of us. Come back and I will add links to a few (Updated). This book gets an A and is recommended reading. Try these Tests and surprise yourself … or not: How honest are you? How logical are you? and Where do you locate your center of power? (click cancel when the name box appears)
What are your thoughts? In what way do you decide on how to act in situations? What ethical wisdom has shaped your thinking, beliefs? flaws do you see in your body? How do view the notion of man being inherently good and equally evil? Do share! Thank you. 
Positive Motivation Tip: Our propensity for good and evil is ever present. We can choose the path of goodness or not; but we owe it to ourselves to consider our ethical stance on issues.
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: Photo of Ethical Wisdom via Amazon.com
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
I kind of always wondered if it was actually possible for a person go be “Good.” The Master Philosopher of Christianity (Jesus) is said to have uttered a rebuke to someone who had called Him “Good.” He said something to the effect of: “Why do you call me good? There is only One Good and that is The Father who is in Heaven.” Now, aside from what Jesus said, I think the biggest thing in life that has made me anywhere near “Good” is the horrible fear I have of punishment here or in the hereafter. I enjoyed this post because it makes one reflect and think seriously for awhile. Very refreshing writer.
Thank you John! Mark has written a book that gives lots of food for thought. he forces us to not only look at the prescribed behaviors around the subject, but also our own attitudes and the hypocrisy that we sometimes see when dealing with such a topic. I’m glad you enjoyed it and yes, like you, I’m always concerned about the laws of Karma and my Christian/Catholic guilt…