106
Vinegar into Honey
This view of character suggests a spectrum of character types with two extreme poles and a middle ground. At one pole are persons who indulge their desires and aversions heedlessly with little regard for the consequences. Their selfishness is often offensive and creates problems for themselves and others. Because of the tendency to medicalize moral issues, these persons are often “diagnosed” as mentally ill with such labels as “psychopath,” “sociopath,” “antisocial personality,” “borderline personality,” and now, increasingly, “bipolar disorder.” The idea that their behavior is a moral problem is not usually considered. At the other pole are persons who renounce their desires, who open to or even invite pain, and who negate and subordinate themselves. The serene, ascetical monk may sincerely renounce the world in the belief that it is for the benefit of all sentient beings and his own salvation. Many ascetics have difficulty renouncing the egotistical desire to think of themselves, and to be thought of by others, as good people because they are unselfish. Some people benefit from their martyrdom, ostentatiously serving others before themselves, often with a display of pain that creates gratitude and sometimes guilt in their beneficiaries. The suicide martyr renounces life itself, ostensibly in the service of others, but with the expectation of divine praise and immortality. Those who renounce their desires are often admired, while those who indulge them are usually denounced. Most of us live in the middle ground, indulging where we can and renouncing where we must, constantly faced with the moral decision of what to do and how to do it. Most of our decisions are easy and we don’t think of them as moral choices. Nevertheless, we attach some “good” to whatever we choose, even between coffee and tea. Some choices are trivial and inconsequential. Others are heavy with meaning and consequence and become moral questions and prescriptions. In these cases, it is clear that choice is the essence of morality. The issues of ethics, morality, and character arise when our choices are obstructed by others, judged by others, or affect others.