Are Consequences Worse Than Intentions?
When I posted about my friend the evangelist, there were some excellent comments from Andrew, and the chaplain about whether intentions or consequences are more important in deciding what is moral.
Now, I think that from a purely practical point of view, you can’t separate the two. And I really don’t know what’s worse.
I’m currently thinking that having good intentions does mitigate you from the blame for bad consequences, and that there being no bad consequences, doesn’t mean that it’s ok that your intentions were bad. So that should mean that intentions determine morality most.
On the other hand, it’s actually the consequences that are important to everyone else, and really, it’s the impact on everyone else that I think we should concern ourselves with. So that would mean that it’s more important to limit the consequences of people’s actions than the intentions behind them.
This ethics and morality stuff gets confusing. On balance, I’d like to suggest aiming for good intentions - which is reasonably easy to control - and not bad consequences. Naturally if you do something with good intentions, then you are planning for there to be only good consequences, but minimising the (almost inevitable) bad consequences is probably more helpful than trying to force the good consequences.
I think it’s like “do as little harm as you can”. What does anyone else think?
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The Good Egg wants to be a Missionary
There’s a really nice guy that I went to school with. He’s the sort of person who is so nice, it’s not true. The son of a local vicar, they actually had to invent community service prizes for him at school, he did so many worthy things. He’s quite a good laugh, and the sort of person that it can be a privilege to know, he’s thoughtful, well-spoken, and willing to have interesting conversations. He’s also the sort of person that always asks after your mum and dad, and opens the door for everyone. An all round good egg.
It’s a pity therefore that he really *found* religion whilst at University. Not so much because he feels that it gives him purpose to his life - each to their own. The problem really is what this purpose is, in a practical sense. He’s currently working in a church near his old university, ministering to students, running Alpha courses, and leading small groups. He’s essentially indoctrinating people (who may well be slightly vulnerable) into Christianity.
This makes me a little uncomfortable. Although I know that The Great Commission is an essential tenet of evangelical Christianity, it has always felt a little too coercive to me. Especially when it is in the context of “come and be my friend in church” rather than a more intellectually honest approach.
From my point of view, it gets worse, his current ambition in life is to be a missionary. Perhaps in Africa, or in the Middle East. Maybe someone will tell me that missionaries are not like they were in Victorian times, when they went round destroying indigenous cultures, and spreading fear in their Christianity. Maybe they really do provide help and support to communities that wouldn’t otherwise receive it. But somehow I doubt it - it wouldn’t surprise me if they were still trampling on the local flavour of Christianity in the belief that their own is superior, much like the Byzantine Crusade.
At the end of the day, I think that proselytising borders on the immoral. I can be quite protective of people being introduced to things where they don’t necessarily have access to the other side of the coin. It’s a pity then, that the nicest guy I’ve ever met has decided to cast in his lot with the soothsayers of today. He really is a thoroughly good egg, but no longer in my mind, a really moral one.
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Have You Tried Meditation?
I’m incredibly busy at work at the moment, as well as pretty occupied blogging in the evenings, both here, and at my UK personal finance site. This is making me tired.
My day job is one of those sedentary office things, so I’m not physically tired, as much as mentally tired. Needing to think whilst I’m blogging, whilst fun, can also be draining.
Normally, one of the best cures for tiredness is sleep and I’m a big fan of sleep. Sadly, it hasn’t done much for me lately. Although I’m tired, my mind is too busy to feel sleepy, and when I do sleep I’m having dreams about work 
.
A friend of mine suggested that I try a meditation session. A natural born skeptic, I did slightly balk at the new age-ness of it but then I remembered that it almost certainly wouldn’t do any harm to try it once.
Somehow, I don’t think it was a proper Buddhist style meditation thing, which is probably just as well. We sat (on chairs) in a circle with some candles in the middle, someone read a story, and there were periods of music and silence.
Do you know what, it was really quite refreshing. I spent a lot of time concentrating on the candles, and not thinking. Normally I’m not very good at not thinking, but on this occasion it came quite easily. I felt a lot more relaxed afterwards.
Quasi-meditation. Better than sleep.
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