Back to Basics

Mahatma Gandhi beckons us to truth this morning with this quotation:

            “Seven Dangers to Human Virtue:

1.      Wealth without work

2.      Pleasure without conscience

3.      Knowledge without character

4.      Business without ethics

5.      Science without humanity

6.      Religion without sacrifice

7.      Politics without principle”

Virtue. Moral excellence. Perhaps excellence to a particular moral discipline.

In anyway we make it, virtue is following a path of purpose based on moral standards of and for good. Those standards will naturally differ among people and cultures. But overall they will gravitate toward consonance. Agreement. One with the other. A general consensus of good.

The basics. Honesty. Ethics. Principle. Virtue. Gandhi had it right. He was not alone. Many cultural gurus over the history of mankind have got it right. But oh so many did not.

We won’t dwell on them. Only the basics. The elements that guide us day by day, or in times of chaos, the truths which lead us out of darkness into the light. Whatever that is that works for you and yours. Those are the basics that I refer to today.

May this day be one in which the basics come readily to mind. May they guide you for many years.

Meanwhile, peace and calm be yours as we move toward Thanksgiving Day and count our blessings. Each and everyone.

November 10, 2012