Spirituality, Morality and Humour

For many years I was perplexed about the relationship between spirituality and morality. As with all such terms soul, mind spirit etc. – there seemed a lot of confusion, and a great deal of using one term when I thought the individual was talking about something else. (Is soul the consequence of spirit or vice versa – or are they the same reality?

For me, comparatively recently, the difficulty was solved when I heard this: ” Spirituality is the source of the will to act morally.”

 

Goodness is what matters, along with truth and beauty and above all justice. Goodness – write action, morality – is what matters because it leads to human happiness. This is true whether you are an atheist or a believer. What makes you good doesn’t matter. Whether your light comes from Ghandi or Plato or your Aunt Mary or the Buddha doesn’t matter. If you pretend a deep belief and relationship e.g. as a religious person but act badly the consequence is unhappiness.

 

What’s important is to stay focused on morality, the consequences of belief.

 

Another breakthrough came in reading in Ken Wilber about the idea that we communicate in one of the three voices, I, WE and IT. The I voice is the voice of the artist. The IT voice is the voice of the scientist. The WE voice is the voice of morality.

 

All serious communication is about what of these three human concerns. The rest is information.

 

However I’m wondering if we should add as a separate voice that of ‘play’, including the humourist and comedian. They nibble around the edges, may expose insights, transgress and cross boundaries – with good as well as ‘negative’ consequences.

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All postings to this site relate to the central model in the PhD. Summaries are HERE