Recommit to Virtue: Part 10 of 10 - Virtuous Living Leads to Peaceful Living

Few of us possess this Gandhi-like commitment to change the world for the better, but all of us can personally polish off a rough edge or two.  Our greatest gift to the world is through the nurturing of the rising generation to the importance of virtue in their lives.  To avoid these eight societal mistakes, we must embrace a life of virtuous living.  We are so busy and carrying so many pressures in our daily lives that it is easy to lose sight of the importance of such a quest. 



Recommit to Virtue: Part 9 of 10 - Gratitude or Wrath

The mistake that Arun Gandhi added to his grandfather's original seven is rights without responsibility. Arun Gandhi’s insight in developing an eighth error of humanity revealed that each of the proceeding seven blunders began with what many would consider a human right. The eighth human error added the dimension of the responsibilities that accompany rights. In our self-absorbed society, rights are perceived and wrathfully demanded as an entitlement that is void of all personal responsibility. Each right is a freedom, but if used irresponsibly, will be lost. The synergy of rights can elevate us if balanced by a simple attitude of gratitude which nullifies the entitlement mentality because we accept accountability and responsibility for these privileges. In expressing thanks for all things we recognize the contribution of others to our own well-being and personal peace.



Recommit to Virtue: Part 8 of 10 - Integrity or Greed

Gandhi’s seventh societal blunder is politics without principle.  Principle-based integrity is built on sincere accountability.  In the political arena, those who seek power too often engage in actions deemed unethical, deceitful, and based on personal greed.  Leaders act without principle and assume that the end good will redeem the method of execution.  Gandhi’s greatest contribution was his ability to fuse his spiritual values with practical politics.  His objective was to spiritualize the political through a focus on humankind. 



Recommit to Virtue: Part 7 of 10 - Obedience or Gluttony



The sixth mistake of society as identified by Gandhi is worship without sacrifice.  The spirit of respect is lost when we begin to worship things. Gluttonous spending is now a cultural conviction with little thought of personal sacrifice.  We want it all, we want it now, and we want it without effort.  The attitude of justice and obedience is lost as many worship at the altar of the marketplace where consumption is king.  Without personal responsibility, many believe in the economist’s rhetoric of the “invisible hand” determining and controlling the flow of goods and services where the “end justifies the means.”  Free markets and consumerism can improve mankind, but only if treated as tools and methods used with discipline and sacrifice. 

Recommit to Virtue: Part 6 of 10 - Cleanliness or Lust

Science without humanity is the fifth of Gandhi’s blunders.  We must ask ourselves if all science, and the attending technological advancements, is positive?  Technology without clean, pure purpose leads to inhumanity.  Is the promised utopia helpful, or is production for the masses superior?  Hitler’s scientist performed with great efficiency, but was what they did truly beneficial?  American scientists indirectly killed thousands in Asia in the name of freedom.  Stem-cell research is driving “infant harvesting.”  In these and countless other examples, we wonder, who is considering the influence on humanity?  Who is monitoring the impact on our bodies, our environments, and our minds?  It is not the technology that is negative, but rather it is the lustful use of it that determines its morality.  As life gets faster, bigger, and increasingly more threatening, we must slow down and think about the personal and environmental impact of our scientific and technological breakthroughs.  We must demand order and purpose to ensure that science does not overshadow humanity.



Recommit to Virtue: Part 5 of 10 - Courage or Cowardice

Gandhi identified commerce without morality as a common societal mistake.  It requires courage to uphold moral values.  When we face our fears and challenges, we display courage.  Commerce, on the other hand, is capitalism, and by its very nature, if it goes unchecked, will lead to cowardice as displayed in corruption, abuse, manipulation, squandering, hording, subversion, and greed.  Business has become a religion for many; it is powerful, defiant, and worshipped by devout believers in the cause of making money.  The executive call of “fiduciary responsibility” places an amoral directive to unethical practices.  Depersonalized and debased, executives practice the craft of business, and then overcompensate themselves accordingly.  They tout ennobling mission statements without integrity and without morality.  They lack courage as they succumb to their passions.

Recommit to Virtue: Part 4 of 10 - Wisdom or Envy

The third societal blunder is knowledge without character.  Gandhi is one of the best know figures of the 20th century, and he is considered to be full of wisdom.  Yet, he held no title or position.  He is remembered because his life was a message of virtuous living.  Much of our existence today is embodied on empirical, rational, logical, and quantitative knowledge and information.  Knowledge, however, is not wisdom.  The virtues that build character and wisdom are often neglected in the popular pursuit of ever-changing data.  Likewise, fads and fashions promoted through the media dominate personal and business affairs.  In contrast, a business operating on virtuous intent focuses on placing products and services of value into the marketplace.

Recommit to Virtue: Part 3 of 10 - Humility or Vanity

Pleasure without consequence is the second of Gandhi’s societal blunders.  This societal error is the denial of responsibility, and the rejection of liability for actions; it is a complete lack of humility.  Pleasure can include gastronomic contentment, tactile gratification, or sexual satisfaction.  When these pleasurable activities are pursued without discipline or consequence, they become destructive.  In our lucrative society, money most often drives this thoughtless, lustful pleasure-seeking.  We “shop until we drop” or “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” with no thought of the significance of our actions or the outcome of our choices.  From corporate profits to physical ease and gratification, we pursue our whims and wishes without conscious conscience confirmation or reasonable reflection of our responsibility.  We submit to the passing impulses of our excessive vanity.

Recommit to Virtue: Part 2 of 10 - Industry or Sloth

The first societal blunder Gandhi identified is wealth without work.  In modern capitalism there are countless ways individuals and businesses seek to obtain wealth without work, or, as Dante described it, they exist in a state of sloth.  Disproportionate rewards for efforts invested through speculation and the leveraging of assets, as well as human capital, are the nature and foundation of profitable business.  Gandhi advanced the notion that the greater there is worker ownership in the effort, and a commitment to industry, the healthier will be the balance.