Moral Life - Essay Example

Firstly, we should figure out what ‘moral’ really means; so basically moral refers to a person’s sense of right and wrong. In other words, it can be called our ethics, virtue, principles, and goodness.  In the multi-cultural world that we live in today, morality has become a very complicated issue. Morality is a system of behavior in consideration of standards of right or wrong behavior. It speaks of three things, moral standards, moral responsibility, and moral identity. (Design. Morality 2013)

When we claim that we want to lead a moral life, it means that we want to lead a life that embodies our own moral commitments. When the person has a good conscience which is socialized by human contact, then the person automatically starts leading a good moral life. A moral person would always do the right thing for the reason without thinking of any laws or commandments. It is true that laws and commandments enforce morality on people making them lead a forced moral life, for instance, if the law forbids killing and a person still wants to do that despite knowing it's wrong, then that person is not moral by being. More importantly, these laws and commandments are at times not even the same in all parts of the world. Having said that, in a few countries of the world there are not enough laws related to all the wrong activities, so considering that if morality and moral life are reduced to just laws and commandments, then the people living in those countries where they are not enough laws will less likely be able to lead a moral life. The morality of a person should always come from within; it depends on the conscience of a person. If a person’s conscience doesn’t find killing or stealing a wrong deed then that person’s conscience is formed poorly and hence his moral judgments wouldn’t be trustworthy either. A good conscience also plays a major role in leading a moral life. Morality has an impact on our daily decisions and these decisions are directed by our conscience. We shall figure out from where this conscience really originates from. Some people think that conscience is just a matter of our hearts and that the concepts of right and wrong are programmed in each of us The general ability to know what is right and wrong including the concrete judgments that humans make regarding what should or should not be done is all represented by conscience. To follow or depart from reason and the divine law are the decisions which moral choices confront us; so a good conscience is what make makes judgments confirming reason. It is rightly said then that, a good conscience requires a lifelong formation as once it is developed properly, there is no way the person with a good conscience will not lead a good moral life based on personal decisions. A moral life that will inspire others and they would follow the same path too. All said and done, a moral person would always do the right thing for the reason without thinking of any laws or commandments.

 A moral character would neither act out of fear nor hope for any reward. So many people who are bound to follow the law are not leading a moral life but they are just ‘pretending’ to be moral because a moral person is ‘moral’ in being not in behavior. So personal feelings seem to play a bigger role and have a greater impact on the attempt to lead a moral life than laws and commandments. As only when a person feels from within about the good and the bad then only can that person strive to lead a better life, a moral life without any forced rules enforced on him. This is how we can lead a moral life based on our personal decisions, by imagining the right way of conducting our lives; by caring for others when they are in trouble in a way that makes us feel that we are doing well in this world. The first step to seeking a good moral life is to develop a good conscience so that one is aware of right and wrong; respond with protest and criticism if one comes across any wrong. The morality of an individual reflects his personal likes and dislikes, his personal choices and decisions, and most importantly whether he’s a good or a bad man. (Morality 2013; Kleinman Arthur 2006)

The people who claim that moral life should be reduced to laws and commandments are right somewhere as well because, in the materialistic world that we’re living in today where we hardly see people having good morality, a forced moral life is better because at least that way people would follow the right and would refrain from wrong despite their personal interests of doing the wrong. But then the question that arises is that what is the use of living a life and following a rule when you don’t believe in it? Changes shall be made by making people aware of what is right and what is wrong for them, they should be given a completely clear picture of right and wrong; only then will their personal decisions and feelings would be driven towards a moral life by ‘being’ not by behavior.