We are living in critical times, marked by a profound disorientation and the fall of certainties that for a long time we had taken for granted.
The world, convinced that it had archived war, tyrannies and great power conflicts forever, today finds itself dealing with a crisis that touches the very foundations of human coexistence.
It is not just an economic or political crisis. It is a deeper crisis, which affects the meaning, values, direction of life.
What we thought was definitively overcome — violence, tyrannies, great power struggles — re-emerges forcefully, accompanied by a widespread sense of bewilderment that crosses consciousnesses.
In this scenario, an essential, perhaps inevitable, question emerges:
What is Ethics for today?
Is it still a living reference, capable of orienting the human being, or an emptied word, good only for theoretical discourses?
Many believe that the current crisis is mainly the result of economic mistakes or wrong political choices. In reality, these are only outward manifestations of a deeper problem.
The crisis we are experiencing is first and foremost an ethical crisis, generated by a materialistic vision of existence that has progressively separated man from his inner and spiritual dimension.
Materialism, understood as the domination of matter over consciousness, has led to considering possession, consumption and external success as primary values.
Hence a social system based on “private property”, that is, “exclusive” and “separative” rather than on the ethics of relationships, on individualism rather than on shared responsibility.
When the human being loses contact with his inner dimension and with his evolutionary task, he loses the reference to the Laws that regulate Life and loses direction.
In order to seriously address the question of the meaning of Ethics today, it is essential to clarify an often confused distinction: that between morality and ethics.
Historically, humanity has always had morals.
Religions, in particular, have become the bearers of moral systems based on external, heteronomous rules that indicated to human beings how to behave. In a phase of consciousness that is still immature, these rules have played a fundamental evolutionary function, offering security and relative social stability.
The Ten Commandments, as well as the prescriptions of many other traditions, have constituted a sort of security fence within which to organize individual and collective life.
Morality establishes what is licit and what is not, introducing the concept of transgression as a violation of the rule.
Ethics, however, belongs to another level and is based on two fundamental pillars:
- Principles and values
- Free will
Principles and values represent the ability to understand.
Free will represents the ability to will.
Unlike morality, Ethics presupposes a human being who is truly “capable of understanding and willing”.
Without free will there is no Ethics, but only a system of social rules accepted or suffered to ensure an orderly coexistence.
Free will is inseparable from responsibility, the etymology of which indicates the ability to give an answer.
A personal, inner response, proportionate to the level of maturity of the consciousness of each individual.
Morality is addressed to the masses.
Ethics addresses the individual conscience and is not accessible to everyone in the same way, because it is linked to a precise level of maturity of conscience.
It grows with consciousness and deepens as the human being becomes capable of recognizing supra-personal principles and values.
In a society that has lost its references, it therefore becomes necessary for a growing number of individuals to embark on a path of growth of consciousness, so that they can become living witnesses of Ethics.
Ethics is born on the spiritual level and allows the human being to begin to live the dimension of Truth, Beauty, Goodness and Righteousness.
It cannot be imposed from the outside.
It is always the result of a free inner adhesion and requires a living contact with one’s deepest consciousness, in a process of inner evolution that is constantly renewed and expanded.
Ethics is based on autonomy, on being a law to oneself, as the etymology of the word “auto nomos” suggests.
Ethics is the inner will to live and manifest the True, the Beautiful, the Good and the Just in an ever broader way, in adherence to the Universal Laws.
Moral, on the other hand, represents the individual and social application of that amount of Ethics that a given society is able to recognize and accept in a given historical moment.
Ethics is fully manifested when the human being realizes respect for the great universal Laws.
The Law that includes them all is Love.
This is why we can say that Ethics is the application of Love in daily life.
Today humanity is in a phase of profound transition.
What we call “normality” is, in the depths of consciousness, increasingly perceived as an abnormal condition.
We are living in unusual, extraordinary times, which require a quantum leap in consciousness.
Ethics is no longer an ideal reserved for the few, but an evolutionary necessity, an adequate response to the complexity of the present.
In this time of transition, the human being is called to choose inwardly whether to continue to cling to outdated models or to open up to a broader vision, based on respect for the Universal Laws of Life.
Ethics is not applied in daily life because someone imposes it on us, but because we respond to an inner call that calls us to manifest it in concrete choices.
When this happens, Ethics ceases to be an abstract concept and becomes Living Ethics. It becomes the nourishment of the Soul and the bridge between the Soul and the personality, orienting thoughts, actions and relationships.
Every thought, every choice, every act contributes to creating the human and social climate in which we live. In this sense, Ethics is a daily practice of presence, discernment and responsibility.
What is the use, then, of Ethics today?
It serves to find orientation in a time of bewilderment.
It serves to live Life with intensity in all the areas that involve us.
It serves to bring the human being back to the center of his responsibility.
It serves to transform the crisis into an opportunity for growth and awakening.
It requires presence, coherence and willingness to undertake an inner journey.
We are in dire need of Ethics to restore meaning and direction to our lives and to consciously participate in the evolutionary effort of the entire planet, which proceeds according to its own Plan — a Plan that we often hinder more than we favor.
As Alessandro Bergonzoni said:
“I am for ethical surgery: we need to get our senses back.”
A joke that is only apparently light, which contains a decisive truth: today superficial reforms, regulatory adjustments or moral indignation are not enough. What is really required is an intervention on consciousness.
Ethics is not a concept to be discussed, nor an ideal to be admired from a distance. It is an Appeal to be responded to by committing ourselves to bringing the response by living a life guided by higher principles and values.
It does not come from the outside, but from the deepest core of consciousness. It does not ask for obedience, but for responsibility. It does not promise security, but truth.
It is the transition from separateness to Unity.
It is the way of Beauty, as a harmonious manifestation in all areas of life. It is the way of the Good, which includes without excluding. It is the way of the Righteous, founded on right inner and outer relationships. It is the way of Goodwill, which becomes impersonal Well-Being.
And it is only from this inner choice that a truer, better, more just and more beautiful world can be born.
Marcello Spinello