Essay 7 (11-6-03)

HOW TO CHANGE YOUR WORLD – AND YOUR CHURCH

The unexamined life is not worth living – Socrates

I agree with Socrates that only the examined life is worth living. It may be called the principle of self-improvement, and I am persuaded that is the only way to change our world or our church. Not by examining or judging others, but by examining and judging ourselves. We change others by changing ourselves! That is a domain over which we have some control, our own lives. We have no control – and should want no control – over the lives of others. To take on our own screwed up lives is task enough for any of us. There is wisdom in the simple prayer, "Lord, reform your church, beginning with me."

I refer to creative change– not coerced, and not brought about by pressure tactics or gimmickry. Coercive change is unauthentic and results only in conformity. We are to seek change that is the result of free choice, and that emanates from within the person. We want change that is inner-directed, not outer-directed -- which means transformation of character.

A thief who resolves to steal no more because he fears being caught is only outwardly changed. When he quits stealing because his heart and mind are changed, he is inwardly transformed. Now he will not steal because he does not want to – not even when he knows he would not be caught. He can now live creatively.

The change we effect may seem infinitesimal, but it may well influence generations yet unborn. If we influence but a few people, the results may be profound. The best chance parents have of getting a wayward child back on track is by being the kind of persons they want that child to be. The wife who wants to change her husband has only one real chance – by changing herself. The preacher who wants to change his church is wise to start with himelf.

When I taught ethics in the classroom I often exposed my students to what a British philosopher called "prima facie duties." He saw them as absolute – or near absolute -- moral principles. By "prima facie" he meant self-evident or "on the face of it." It is a meaningful lesson in ethics simply to expose oneself to them.

Duty of beneficence (to do good generally as opportunity allows)
Duty of non-maleficence (to do no harm, even if one cannot do good)
Duty of justice (a fair distribution of good done)
Duty of reparation (to undo wrongs done to others as much as possible)
Duty of gratitude (especially toward those who have helped you)
Duty to keep a promise (don’t make a promise unless you mean to keep it)
Duty of self-improvement (a lifetime moral responsibility)

The students were especially impressed with No. 2, recognizing that if only that one moral duty – do harm to no one – were generally practiced we would have a far different world. And they saw that in some moral dilemmas one duty might trump another – such as the duty to repay aging parents (No. 4) when more good might be done by doing No. 1. They agreed that No. 3 was absolute, and yet grossly ignored in our recreant world.

They seemed surprised to find No. 6 on the list, and they found it soul-searching -- Self-improvement a moral duty? We talk about improving our schools or improving our government, but not of improving ourselves. Pride and self-deceit keep us from seeing that it is morally wrong to be content with our spiritual, intellectual, or moral status at any given time. We are all inclined – given our fallenness – to be satisfied with ourselves. We see ourselves as quite adequate for the demands of life – rather well-informed in fact! Self-improvement? Perhaps it is for the other fellow, but it isn’t on our agenda.

Part of the problem is that we don’t realize how ignorant we are. The knowledge of the most intellectual person among us – an Einstein -- would not be one trillionth of what there is to be known -- and on any subject. Socrates had a way of saying, "I know nothing." He illustrated his point with a circle. If inside the circle represents what is known and outside the circle what is unknown, then the larger the circle the greater the area that touches the unknown. So, the more one learns the more he realizes how ignorant he is!

Socrates learned in his exchanges with the presumed wise men of Athens that they lived in a small circle, one that touched but little of the unknown. They were ignorant but didn’t know it. It turned out that the Oracle of Delphi was right in naming Socrates the wisest man in Athens – because he knew enough to realize that "I know nothing."

He claimed that he never taught anything to anyone. He was but "a midwife" who helped to give birth to ideas that were already there. He only helped people to teach themselves. But he was also a "gadfly," as they called him, because he disturbed their superficialities.

That is how Socrates changed his world rather substantially, even if it did cost him his life. The world has a way of poisoning – or crucifying – those who expose its pride, shallowness, and ignorance. Rare is the person who is willing to lay bare his soul. Self-scrutiny is too painful for many of us.

Self-improvement is a wonderfully liberating moral principle. It narrows our reformation efforts remarkably – to ourselves! If you find your world cruel and unjust, it will be less so when you are kind and just. If you find your church boring and irrelevant, it will be less so when you are excited and involved. Where there strife and bickering, you can be an instrument of peace. Where there is a divisive and factious spirit, you can be a dynamic presence of love and forbearance.

We don’t have to be specialists in attacking darkness – anti this or anti that. We don’t have to carry placards or stage demonstrations. We only need to let our light shine. Our children say it to us in song, "This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine." That is how to change your world or your church. Light extinguishes darkness!

God has a way of working with and through such ones, transforming them more and more into the likeness of his Son – the ultimate in self-improvement.

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