ETHOS&LUDOS:

Three Tenets of Morality:

1. To form convictions.

a.  Observing behavior in others.

b. Learning from one’s own experiences.

c.  Weighing choices against a stable tradition or goal.

2. To stand by convictions.

a.  Resisting temptation.

b. Prioritizing with consistency.

c.  Practicing habits.

d.Taking calculated risks.

3. To reform/update convictions.

a.  Understanding Deeper Principles, the player is then able to suspend short-term values for deeper, more enduring ones.

b. Adhering to a righteous habit, one travels through several iterations of the same enterprise while never drifting too far from the central course.

c.  Contradictions between opposing values are resolved internally and then carried out externally.

d.Emotional responses are understood clearly.

                                                           i.      Righteous indignation becomes informed self-interest.

                                                       ii.      The ability to comprehend intelligence in others as akin to one’s own produces win-win outcomes.

                                                   iii.      The sabotage of win-win outcomes produces longing for justice and redemption.

                                                    iv.      The synthesis of informed self-interest and selfless idealism combine to create an autonomous individual who is himself a Source of Moral Authority, no longer dependent upon external forces, whether those forces act as moral, immoral, or amoral agents.

Weaker characters:

-        Know the Right Thing to Do but still do not do it.

-        Do not concern themselves with Ethics.

-        Falsely believe themselves to be justified in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

-        Engage in unethical and/or deliberately misleading communications.

-        Take righteous words out of context, such as when the fight for liberty becomes a narcissistic expression of the will. (A.k.a. “stolen valour”.)

-        Get so absorbed in the theoretical aspect of moral discourse that they never develop conviction.

-        Become so involved in the execution of a principle that they never question conviction.

-        Allow public opinion to govern them.

-        Become cynical when injured.

-        Envy righteousness.

Permissible exceptions:

-        Avoiding situations wherein one is likely to become demoralized.

-        Using morality to get ahead (informed self-interest; passion.)

-        Doing the Right Things for the Wrong Reasons.

o  Right Things are ordinarily objective and physical, whereas

o  Reasons are nebulous and abstract, prone to manipulation and obscurity.

-        Defying conventional expectations in order to adhere to an internal conviction. This represents CONSTANCY over a LIFETIME. (Personal Growth.)

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