Weekly Reaction #9 - Humble Benevolence

To be honest, this week, I have been having trouble figuring out what I wanted to write about. The connections between chapter six of For the Beauty of the Earth and Thursday’s lecture are few and far between. I usually try to look at the week as a whole when I write my blogs and then, if possible, connect to the rest of the semester. Alas, this week has been more of a challenge since we weren’t in class on Tuesday! One of the only connections I could find came down to Aristotle’s means.
I was a bit amused and nostalgic when I was reading Bouma-Prediger’s chapter six. It reminded me a bit of last year’s whirlwind of philosophy and human-ness. What does it mean to be human? We heard those words so very often! I think this reading and, while I’m on the subject, this whole semester fits very nicely into that question. The whole premise of the recent subjects of sustainability and stewardship have to do with how we, as humans, are meant to take care of our place in creation. I particularly enjoyed how this week’s reading summed up a lot of what we have been wrestling with: how are we supposed to take care of our place in creation? Well, for a quick recap, here are the seven moral maxims that Bouma-Prediger wrote about:
1. Act so as to preserve diverse kinds of life
2. Act so as to live in your means
3. Act cautiously
4. Act in such a way that the ability of living creatures to maintain themselves and reproduce is preserved
5. Act in such a way that the creatures under your care are given their needful rest
6. Act so as to care for the earth’s creatures, especially those in need
7. Act so as to treat others, human or nonhuman, fairly (Bouma-Prediger, ch 6)
Now, the virtues and vices that go along with each of these is conveniently located at the end of the chapter, so there is no need for me list those off. I feel that so many of these moral maxims simply can be summed up with either humility or benevolence. The 3rd and 6th maxims specifically deal with these two. But living in our means, acting cautiously, and giving creation “needful rest” is a matter of putting aside our pride. We have gotten to a place culturally where we feel we are so important and knowledgable that we live however we want and do whatever we want with no thought about creation and, using the definition that Jesus used, our neighbors. And then there’s benevolence or, as Bouma-Prediger says, “the willingness to promote the well-being of another” (p 148). Making others, human and nonhuman, a priority pretty much covers the rest of those maxims. When I was first reading these, I felt a bit frustrated because, in my mind, these are all non-specific. I want something tangible to do! As I read, I began to realize that in actuality, these maxims are the mean between being and doing. My previous blogs probably talk too much about this being vs. doing theme of the semester. But, this makes sense! B. Prediger writes near the end of the chapter, “Therefore, while this subject is in one sense theoretical, it is in fact intensely practical for virtues, after all, should not only be studied but should also be put into practice” (p 153). Virtues are not actually virtues unless they are evident in your actions. In other words, who you are is made known by what you do.
Aristotle talked a lot about means and extremes. That is, almost every virtue has two extremes. We are supposed to find that middle ground between the two extremes.
Since I am foolishly determined to somehow connect Thursday’s excellent and eye-opening lecture to the reading, this is where I believe there might be such a connection. So much of what was talked about on Thursday had to do with how the economy and our country in general goes through cycles between extremes. For example, we talked about Kuznet’s curve. It compared income with pollution. In order for income to grow, pollution had to grow and vice versus. But, at some point, income is high enough that pollution no longer needs to “support” it. The curve started at one extreme, reaches the other extreme, and that heads back down to the original extreme. What I’m trying to say is that one of the biggest take-aways I got from Thursday was that most things come and go in cycles. What extreme are we at? I hope that we are at the peak of that Kuznet curve and will descend to a cleaner, more sustainable culture. One way for us, as humans, to collectively achieve this is to put on humility and benevolence by throwing off pride and selfishness.