Page 24 - Voices! - october 2015

TELL ME A STORY

Ethics as a Talisman

by Dr. Earnest Gule, Daylighters Toastmasters.

Within the first seconds of the Big Bang, the universe begins to cool.
As it cooled the original super-force split into four forces: gravity,
strong nuclear forces, weak nuclear forces, and electromagnetism.
When the universe was about 380,000 years old, small particles
like neutrons, protons and electrons emerged and coalesced to
form atoms. All the matter in the present universe was formed very
early, and comprises 4% of the total universe. The other 96% is a
combination of dark matter and dark energy, both unknown at this
time. In the 1950s, two scientists discovered that all the chemical
elements, which formed living structures on earth, actually
were formed in the heart of stars that eventually exploded into
supernovas, scattering those elements such as carbon, hydrogen,
and oxygen throughout our galaxy. In other words, all of us are
made of stardust.
Stardust became the basis of life on earth and eventually transformed with greater complexity into DNA. This is
the helical molecule that is the blue print for the tree of life. The human branch of this tree arose a mere 200,000
years ago in a universe that was 13.8 billion years old. All 7 billion of us today in the world belong to one family,
the human family.
A talisman is defined as anything whose presence exercises a remarkable or powerful influence on human feelings
or actions. One of the highest and most important achievements of humans is the articulation of ethical systems
that cultivate virtuous behavior and helps humans distinguish right from wrong. This philosophical development
by humans of an ethical talisman seeks to find the best way of life by resolving right from wrong, virtue from vice,
and justice from crime. Ethics is one outcome of the Big Bang and is one of the defining qualities of being human.
From the time when we were nomadic hunter- gatherers to the present, there has been a slow but steady advance
in our ethical systems and their impact on our lives. Steven Pinker, in his book The Better Angels of Our Nature,
argued and showed evidence that human conflict and violence have steadily declined over the centuries. An
ethical system is vital to eradicating conflict while at the same time promoting cooperation and tranquility. The
perfect ethical system is still a work in progress and continues to be part of our own evolution.
Neuroscience and anthropology have revealed that universal themes in ethics occur both in our earliest and our
more recent cultural traditions and across all religions. Most cultures have a version of the golden rule which
is a reflection of universality in societies. The philosophy and science of ethics are advancing rapidly through
breakthroughs in neurobiology. By understanding the brain at the neuron level, we’ve learned that we are
hardwired for ethical behavior from infancy. Children demonstrate empathy by the age of two. The environment
that one grows up in from infancy can determine whether those hardwired ethical behaviors are strengthened or
are weakened and lost altogether.
Every society has a responsibility to create and maintain an environment that cultivates and promotes ethical
thinking and behavior. Moral training is necessary to strengthen existing neural pathways as well as establish new
ones toward a higher standard of ethics and decision-making. The neuro-plasticity of the human brain ensures the
development of these new pathways and helps to hardwire them. Moral development awaits activation through
experience, much like the acquisition of language. Based on parental and societal influences, we develop an inner
voice for distinguishing right from wrong. This moral training also cultivates empathy, compassion, responsibility,
self-control, respect, and humility which are all drivers of ethical behavior and the common good.

24 Volume 2 Issue 4 - OCT 2015