Half-Truths And Morality

It is tempting to believe, for example, that the way to be a "moral" person is to obey strictly old verbal rules concerning human sexuality (with which a harsh nature has rather "educationally" saddled us). The rules carry a reverse twist though, suggesting subtly a fuller view of morality than commonly supposed.

Hawthorne's SCARLET LETTER explores this prospect symbolically. The unjust persecutors of heroin Hester were conforming slavishly to adultery laws. Indeed though a theme of great literature is that moral excellence may on occasion by marked more by non-conformity than by strict obedience.

The persecutors fell into a symbolic trap. While supposedly enforcing morality they were enacting roughly the reverse; as do all soft-mind believers throwing "rocks" at adulterers, gays and other "deviants" hurting no one but (possibly) themselves.

It is unnecessary to draw assumptions on whether this trap was deliberately devised by higher power(s). It is nevertheless an obvious feature in the actual operation of sexual codes. The apparent challenge of moral adulthood is to take them with a grain of salt; drawn verbally as they are in advance of the situational contexts within which people actually behave.

An ageless story unfolds here about the human condition guided by law. Rules verbalized in advance cannot anticipate all peculiarly rising exigencies. These must be met with "on the spot" rationality; guided perhaps by the rules if applied flexibly—with non-arbitrary discretion—as informed accordingly by common sense. Sometimes, nonetheless, the rules should be disregarded altogether in order to achieve personal dignity and justice toward others.

The Serpent's Deception About Naughty Nudity

Knowledge of good & evil as a "forked tree"
(From Cheyenne lore developed later)

The mighty mythology of Genesis might be reconsidered for symbolic lessons about the "forbidden fruit" (apparently language, which accentuates natural cravings). Before biting into this bait Adam and Eve were unashamed of nudity; which has been a big bugaboo "since." Just what is so "evil" anyway about running around in one's birthday suit?

Conceivably our ancestors were being taught some rudiments about the dignity is takes to be fully human. Learning to wear clothes was maybe an incident of natural education rather than some end thereof. Casting them off from time to time may indeed be a morally realistic application of old admonitions handed down from kill-joy moralists like "Saint" Augustine.

In a backhanded way he fostered our currently nasty-minded take on the sexuality and bodily functions bestowed by nature. We can grow beyond this childish nonsense in a grand quest for the adult dignity of self-control.