Salvation by Character

Religion is the search for a feeling of reconnection to a healthy kind of wholeness. And the most enduring form of that health and wholeness is character, reconnecting individuals with their greater possibilities, and more responsible and vivid roles in their families, societies, and in history. The legitimate heir to dissipated deities is a religion of salvation by character, grounded in the noblest parts of our common humanity. We need to begin articulating a religious --- as opposed to merely a liberal political --- vision. Our "social action" outside the churches should be on behalf of this more inclusive vision, rather than the partisan marches for which we too easily settle.

The search for a religious center doesn't have to start from scratch. Even a cursory study of the world's great traditions shows us that religion does have an enduring and empirical subject matter. Its insights measure the quality of our lives and our worlds, for better and worse, whether we "believe in them" or not. Most of these truths do not seem to have changed much in recorded history. They seem to be species-specific traits and norms that most peoples of most times have recognized as inviolable, and which we also recognize as inviolable -- though we seldom articulate these facts:

• The Way we seek is older than the gods, as Lao-tzu said.
• We want to learn how to relish the transient pleasures of life without becoming limited and defined by them, and how to nurture our life-giving circles of friends --- as the Epicureans taught.
• We know that neither we nor any supernatural agencies can control what life brings our way, so we should learn how to control our responses to life --- as the Stoics taught.
• Most of us believe in "salvation through understanding," as the Buddhists have taught.
• All of us need to be reminded --- in the Roman Seneca's magnificent phrase --- that we are all limbs on the body of humanity, and we must learn to act accordingly.
• We know, but want to be reminded, that if only we could treat all others as our equals, our brothers and sisters, as "children of God," that we could transform this world into a paradise --- as Jesus taught in his concept of the "kingdom of God."

Character traits

The qualities of character that we admire in ourselves and others aren't a secret. We all know them. If you doubt it, think back on all the memorial services you have seen or done, and remember what we say in our eulogies, when we look for good and true things to say about someone who has died. We know exactly what has and does not have lasting worth. When we are trying to speak well of our dead, we don't speak of their power, sexual prowess, popularity, political correctness or wealth.

When we speak about character, we value the same things humans in all times and places have cared about: honesty, integrity, responsibility, authenticity, moral courage. We love good wit, spurn malicious intellects. We admire generosity, hate greed. We praise selfless caring, recoil from co-dependence. Selfishness and narcissism may be acknowledged in a eulogy because we know we must not lie, but they are acknowledged as faults, not gifts. We never approve of those who side with the stronger against the weaker, or who use others as "things" to serve their own personal hungers or ideological agendas. We don't regard anyone very highly who has no sense of owing something back to life or to those who loved or needed them.

And all of these traits point back to the one kind of salvation that noble people in all times and places have admired and eulogized: salvation by character. Not "self- esteem" or empty pride, but developing the kind of character of which we rightly can be proud. Not "feeling good" but the far harder and longer task of being good people.

Questions of character aren't fancy. They're very ordinary sorts of questions that extend our horizons beyond the biases of our little in-groups to reconnect us, through our common humanity, with all people in all times and places. They include questions like these:

• How am I becoming a better partner, parent, neighbor, citizen, and world citizen?
• How have I built bridges toward those whose religious or political beliefs will always differ from mine, yet who are, as I am, limbs on the body of humanity?
• How is my life a blessing to a world not made in my image?