Relational Ethics

How others call us to live ethically, as explained by Levinas

[facingthetruthabouttheface]

How can choices be ethical?

When a choice has an ethical or moral dimension it has the possibility to either work in harmony with, or go against, the good. We understand the good to be connected with God and rooted in the responsibility we have to others. It can thus be said that a choice is morally good if it falls inline with God’s message as communicated in the Bible, and fulfills your responsibility to another person at a given time by easing their suffering or by bringing additional comfort, happiness, and/or peace of mind to their life. This concept is best illustrated through real life examples.

Say for instance you are walking down the street after lunch and you see a bakery about a block away. You decide to stop in and get yourself some dessert. On the way, you pass a homeless man on the street. You are then presented with two courses of action: you can ignore the man and continue on your way, or you can stop and speak to him, and sacrifice the money you going to spend on yourself and instead offer to buy the man something to eat at the bakery. God calls us to serve others and live selflessly so God would want us to give up our personal desires to provide for the man’s basic needs. Choosing to help the man would not only help relieve his suffering for the time being, but it would add comfort, happiness, and peace of mind to his life in the moment because he is receiving food that he likely has been longing for some time and is being shown care and attention by another person. It shows that you recognize his value as a person living with God within them and think of him not as beneath you, but as a temple of God’s love. Your small action of sacrifice can thus be seen as moral on all accounts.

When we make moral choices we serve the good. This concept is universal and the good in the sense that I have been discussing it is beautifully captured in CCC 2052 where a man asks Jesus how he can receive eternal life. In this passage Jesus responds by outlining how the man can serve the good. He does this by relaying the 10 Commandments to him and emphasizing the importance of loving your neighbour as you love yourself. Again, I feel it important to stress that this does not mean treating all people as if they were the same, because our differences should be valued, but instead it means that we should treat all people with the same respect and dignity that we expect to receive. This is what makes actions moral: serving the good to others in a way that you yourself would like to be served, and in the same way that you would serve God. If your choice goes against how you would like to be served, then it is immoral and you need to reevaluate your course of action.

If you wish to read the Catechism mentioned in its entirety click on the link below.

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2.htm

[facingthetruthabouttheface]

We have a responsibility to others because God is present in each of us. It is this presence of God that calls us to act morally and love thy neighbour just as we love God. These two religion based charities uphold that doctrine and work to serve that responsibility we have to the rest of the world through direct action. By addressing issues surrounding local and global poverty, they are acting inline with ethical teachings and living out the good.

[facingthetruthabouttheface]

Lara Landon_I See God In You Music Video

GET THE ALBUM FOR ONLY 6.99!!! http://bit.ly/LL242 iTUNES "I See God In You" Official Video - Lara Landon Written, Filmed & Directed by: Fairlight Hubbard of...

It is so nice seeing young people recognize the presence of God in us. This song connects wonderfully with the basis of relational ethics; I definitely recommend listening to it. It tells the story of a woman speaking to her significant other and telling him her love for him by expressing how he brings her closer to God. It also recognizes the values of differences and how they are an expression of the trace of God within us in the opening line of “there’s something different in your eyes.” I feel it especially relevant that she chose to focus on the eyes because as I have previously mentioned, they are the windows to the soul. Her partner recognizes the responsibility he has to her because she is also an expression of God when she says that she can count on him to stand by her side. Lastly, she tells of how through getting to know her partner, she got to know God better too.

[facingthetruthabouttheface]

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 3:16 (via facingthetruthabouttheface)

The Bible tells us that not only does God lives within us, but that we are His temple. By using the word “temple” it conveys great importance and tells us that we are to treat ourselves and others with the utmost respect. God chooses to reside in each and every one us because we all have worth and to Him, are as valuable as a temple of the Lord. This is why when we look upon the face of another we see God; it is because He is present. The human face then, through the presence of God, takes on the authority of God, which is why when we see God in others we take action towards the good by working to serve them and better their lives; just as we would serve God Himself.

[facingthetruthabouttheface]

Western philosophy has tried to undermine the value of our differences and has told people to overlook others’ differences. If you follows such a doctrine you will never find and be awakened to the beauty that is the good inshrined in each of us by God. Our differences are to be celebrated and held in high regard, for it is through these differences that God reveals Himself to us. The good is held in and is our differences.

[facingthetruthabouttheface]

Relational Ethics Explained

The study of ethics and how ethics is applied in our daily lives is of vital importance, yet I believe that Western philosophy has fallen short in this area. Typical ideas have strayed so far from traditional Jewish beliefs that I do not think they are an accurate reflection of how we are called to live. Western philosophy tends think of being and life as living in homogenous unity, and fails to recognize the critical value of difference. These differences, I argue, are beautiful, sacred, and of the utmost importance.

To combat this, I have developed the principle of relational ethics that is founded on finding the good in the other and answering the call of God. When I say “finding the good in other” I am not speaking of simply looking for positive qualities among your peers. I am speaking of the more powerful good, the good that originates with God and that finding is central in our lives. Many attempts have been made to find the good, all with varying strategies. However, they all have one thing in common: they all inevitably lead us back to our neighbour. The reason for this is because God reveals Himself to us through the face of the other; especially through the eyes which can be seen as “windows to the soul.” In this way. we do not encounter God directly, but see Him daily in our interactions with fellow human beings. It is because of the presence of God within each of us that our differences become a thing of value and worth. We should cherish the things that make us different because they are expressions of God. The more we learn about another person and engage in deep encounters with them, the easier it will become to see the trace of God in them.

The presence of God seen in the face of others calls us to accept a degree of responsibility to the rest of humanity. In this sense it does not mean taking the fall if they make an immortal choice that produces negative consequences. It means you have a responsibility of service to others and to follow the call to love thy neighbour and take action when you see they’re suffering. The face of the other arouses the good within us and calls us to make moral choices that will lead to a more loving and respectful world. In this way, the face of the other also holds the authority of God because it holds a trace of God, meaning that we are to treat the needs of the other the same way we would treat a direct call from God to action. A call as profound and demanding as this one challenges us to do away with selfish thoughts and behaviours, and replace them with those of love and service.

This is why relational ethics is different from other forms of ethics. Instead of trying to personally achieve the good, you constantly asking yourself “where is the good” and working to serve it. So by these means the good is something awakened in ourselves when we serve others and God. It calls us to act morally and learn to act in the interest of the whole. It is once you learn to find the good in the face of the other that you can live your most complete life in the light of God.