[Below are my remarks for a ServiceSpace call held last weekend: Responding to Emergence]

“Virtue is the root; all else are the branches”.

It would seem that in this time of crisis, facts, science, data and common sense would be the most important thing all people turn to and want to rely on. But without trust, integrity, and selflessness (all root virtues) in leaders, “facts” are no longer facts, but ads and hype, dodges and spins delivered through isms and egos. Truth morphs into mere opinions and even worse— self-serving disinformation. People don’t know what to believe re: “shelter in place” “social distancing” “how bad it really is” “when to re-open” etc. not because they are dumb or uniformed, but because they ARE REALLY PAYING ATTENTION. And in paying attention, they have become jaded and cynical; skeptical, distrustful of authority, and rightfully so. We have lost the “root”—virtue.

Without virtue, there’s no trust; without trust, the center cannot hold,

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; . . .
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
—from W. B. Yeats (c. 1919)

Yeats wrote this in a similar time as ours now; of a world unraveling, a profound feeling of things falling apart. The falcon (people, the individual) frantically flying in off-center widening spins, unmoored, without compass of the falconer (our institutions, moral bearings). Untethered, where is the ‘center’?

People are glued to their tv’s social media, desperate to “hear the falconer” and get their bearings. The problem is, however, that this kind of approach (follow the orders/directives of the authorities) depends on virtue: trust, confidence, honesty, unselfishness, respect, compassion—all qualities that have been eroded and squandered by the misconduct and self-serving antics of the very people we now should be able to turn to for leadership and trust, starting at the top with (both here and abroad)—‘the best lack all conviction’

This is not a political indictment, but rather a moral remonstrance and reminder: cultivating oneself is the root of everything else; of being a person, a friend, a parent, a son/daughter, an official, a leader. Without virtue, the center will not hold. Almost more than the biological virus, this spiritual infection (lack of virtue) is the real pandemic. Up to our necks in “fake news” “alternate facts” conspiracy pandering, outright lying, greed, craven self-benefitting (‘the worst are full of passionate intensity’). . . now has created a pre-existing compromised immune system of the body politic, and so everyone is at a deeper level, “a vulnerable population.” It may seem to some that “cultivating virtue”—the very core of education at DRBU is old-fashioned, out of touch with the needs and dynamics of the “real world,” but I would argue it is right at the very root and heart of the matter. Mencius (c. 300 BCE) cautioned,

“Humaneness/virtue overcomes inhumaneness just as water overcomes fire. Those today who practice humaneness do it as if they were using a cup of water to put out the fire consuming a cartload of firewood, and then, when the flames are not extinguished, they say that water does not overcome fire. This is to make an enormous concession to what is not humane, and in the end, it must inevitably result in the destruction of humaneness.”

WE MUST NOT MAKE THIS “ENORMOUS CONCESSION TO WHAT IS NOT HUMANE.” Instead, we are enjoined to “return to the root; go back to the source.” —human goodness, intrinsic virtue, just being decent human beings. Then turn on its spigot and let it flow profusely. The greater the fire, the greater the water. We do not fight; but neither to we just belly up and yield. We will make no concessions to what is not humane and virtuous.

I once asked my Buddhist teacher,

Q: How do I get virtue?

Master: Don’t ask how to “get”; ask how you “lose” it. Wanting to get is the thief of virtue.

Q: How is it lost?

Master: through greed, fighting, not knowing when to stop, selfishness, lying, and ‘me, me, me’ (only seeking self-benefit).

Q: How much do we have?

Master: Cultivated, it is boundless; properly used, it is inexhaustible.

All things arise from the Dao
By virtue everything is nourished:
Developed, cared for,
Sheltered, comforted,
Grown, and protected.
Creating without claiming,
Doing without taking credit,
Guiding without interfering,
This is Primal Virtue. H
ow do I know this?
BY LOOKING! BY LOOKING!

“Virtue is the only knife than can cut without harming ... yet someone with virtue is like a newborn child.”