Because we live in a land that has been blessed with good governance, material abundance, and freedoms never before attained by so many, we tend to forget that civilization is a recent development in our species' existence, and is terribly fragile. Nowhere is it written that because our country has survived and thrived for the last 230 years, that it has to continue for another 230 years, or 230 days, for that matter. I have been concerned that the pillars that hold up our civilization are being seriously eroded; I also believe there are now enough people also worried about this, with the advantage of the blogosphere to increase everyone's sources of information and facilitate the discussion, that the redress that has been underway since Reagan's Presidency, is now picking up steam. It is likely that in the next few years our ship of state will overshoot and tack too far to the right, but this is probably unavoidable, and luckily, correctable.
In thinking about the "pillars" of civilization, it comes down to people behaving well. Which leads to some questions: Why do people behave well? What stops a person from doing whatever he or she wants whenever they want?
By definition, psychologically healthy people are able to control their desires in the service of reality and their long term wishes. They treat other people well, as they wish to be treated; they pay their taxes, don't cheat or steal, love and treasure their significant other, and work hard to inculcate these same attributes their children. It would be ideal if everyone could be just as I describe. We wouldn't need government, courts, laws, or any other of the encumbrances of modern life. This state of affairs strikes me as being more than a little unlikely in my lifetime.
Without self restraint, what is left to support our good behavior?
In my last post, I wrote about the impact of Religion and religious belief on our society. Religious people tend to have more children than secular people and they also tend to be more focused on the future. If you believe there is no God and no judgment coming your way, it is much easier to live in the moment and not worry too much about the long term consequences of your behavior. Morality then becomes whatever you are most comfortable with; since human beings are quite adept at convincing themselves that what they want is absolutely appropriate and reasonable, morality based only on human beings will, of necessity, always be a rather conditional morality; as an example, a morality that has as one of its core tenets the "sinfulness" of making moral judgments will be very plastic indeed.
[It is important here to recognize that for my argument it is does not matter if you think a Deity has given us his commandments in our holy books, or if you believe that men have written holy books based on their desire for an idealized all powerful and all knowing (constructed) God; in both cases we believe there is a higher power who wants us to behave in certain ways and not in other ways. One who believes this has much more incentive to behave than one who believes that human beings are as good as it gets. A society that removes God from its moral sphere of action is a society that has lost one of the important anchors of good behavior.]
Laws and the police who enforce them are another pillar of good behavior. A red light at 3AM without another car in sight is a very different matter than a red light at 3AM with a police car parked on the corner. When we cannot rely on people's Consciences to behave, we use the apparatus of the state to increase the likelihood of good behavior. I will not spend too much time talking about the need for external buttresses to help us control our impulses. The Conscience, for too many people, has too many convenient lacunae (holes), often large enough to drive an Enron through. Furthermore, even the best of Consciences is subject to fraying under the influence of the rationalizing mind. People are very good at self justification and when they are not terribly aware of their own unconscious desires, a troublesome outcome is almost assured.
A third, extremely important pillar, though much maligned, and under attack, is Shame. I will return to this tomorrow.
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