Charles R. Lightner

I’ve written previously on the issue, and the problem, of the Golden Rule, as typically stated, having a self-referential standard of proper behavior. It makes a person’s own desire and sense of the right and good, the standard against which he judges his own actions toward others. The risks of that are clear and have been apparent to those who have seriously considered the actual app...

I’ve suggested that the formula found in most religions, cultures and philosophies that holds that, in the words of Hillel “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow” should be viewed as a fundamental Ethic of Restraint. It is incorrect to view it as a “negative” formulation of the Golden Rule idea. While it is stated in terms of avoiding unwanted behavior, that avoidance...

Much of human life is repetition. Our days tend to acquire patterns determined by our life situation. When we are young, in grammar school for instance, our days will have a different shape and pattern than will be the case when we are teenagers. When we are college students our days will be different from those after our graduation. Our married lives before the arrival of children will ...

The first element in The Ethic of Repair is reflection. Reflection is the process through which we examine our behavior and identify the ways in which we have fallen short; the ways in which we have failed to act in accordance with the Ethics of Restraint and Respect. Identifying our shortcomings is, itself, a positive and powerful practice. But to accomplish repair, more is needed. ...

As I have continued work on the various expressions of The Ethic of Reflection I have come to believe that it cannot be the final element in our ethical structure. The reflective element found so powerfully in twelve-step programs includes both a “general” review of behavior (the fourth step) and a periodic review (the tenth step). These have been used by millions over the years as...

In a sense, the entirety of Confucius’ teaching relates to The Ethic of Reflection. His central subject is proper behavior: with respect to oneself, with respect to family, to disciples, to associates and to the state. His emphasis on the proper regulation of behavior assumes: 1) a set of principles against which ones’ behavior is to be measured, 2) a regular and disciplined proces...

Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit religious order and a saint of the Catholic Church, was well practiced in bad behavior as a young man. In the words of the contemporary Jesuit Father William Watson, SJ: “He had most of the emotional, intellectual, and psychological complexes that make people today fear any limit to the free expression of their instinctual drives: dysfunctional f...

Most of us will be familiar with the Japanese camera brand called Nikon. Most will not be familiar with the Japanese system of self-reflection, which is pronounced in the same way but is spelled Naikan. Naikan was developed in the 20th century by a Japanese businessman, Ishin Yoshimoto (1916 – 1988), whose religious roots were in the Jodo Shinshu tradition of Pure Land Buddhism. In th...

Human beings, all of us, act in ways that are irrational and contrary to our own interests. And we do so much more often than we’d expect. Yet many of the most influential philosophers, both moral and economic, base intricately constructed ethical and behavioral theories on the assumption of rational behavior. It is partially because we cannot trust others or ourselves to act ratio...