Posts tagged with "ethics"

On a whim I borrowed Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot. I read it quickly. Afterward, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Based on the chorus of the townspeople and the speeches from the knights, was I supposed to side with Becket, or were his motives impure? There were a couple of memorable lines that stayed with me, but mostly detached from the story.

The first line, without context:

Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain: Temptation shall not come in this kind again. The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason. The natural vigour in the venial sin Is the way in which our lives begin. Thirty years ago, I searched all the ways That lead to pleasure, advancement and praise. Delight in sense, in learning and in thought, Music and philosophy, curiosity, The purple bullfinch in the lilac tree, The tilt-yard skill, the strategy of chess, Love in the garden, singing to the instrument, Were all things equally desirable. Ambition comes when early force is pent And when we find no longer all things possible. Ambition comes behind and unobservable. Sin grows with doing good…

The second line, without context:

Peace, and be at peace with your thoughts and visions. These things had to come to you and you to accept them. This is your share of the eternal burden, The perpetual glory. This is one moment, But know that another Shall pierce you with a sudden painful joy When the figure of God’s purpose is made complete. You shall forget theses things, toiling in the household. You shall remember hem, droning by the fire, When age and forgetfulness sweeten memory Only like a dream that has often been told And often been changed in the telling. They will seem unreal. Human kind cannot bear very much reality.

These lines were enough to pull me back in. I began reading from the second excerpt to the end of the book with focus and attention. Then I went back and read the first part and the remaining sections.

Relevant today

I was still uncertain what to make of the story. Motives remained unclear to me, both Becket’s and the knights’. Therefore, I interacted with the content further. In the end, I found the message fascinating, and relevant today.

Motives

The townspeople want not to rock the boat. Life is tough at times, but manageable. They get by.

Becket sees a higher role than the worldly affairs of king and country. The role he was placed in was compromising him. With conviction, he broke from the king to follow the higher calling, and he refused to shrink from the consequences.

The knights didn’t want to do it, but in their view Becket betrayed the king, whose agenda is to unite the country for everyone’s good.

Today

This leads me to ponder the state of today’s world. To what extent we’re living in an exceptional time, I’m not sure.

At my current stage in life, I see myself most similar to the townspeople. Life unfolds. There’s bad. There’s good. This is life. The pendulum will continue to swing back and forth, in my life and in the world. Sometimes it will swing too far for too long, but it will eventually adjust back.

The king proclaims he’s making decisions for the country’s good. The knights loyally back him up, maybe unquestioningly, even while it costs them tremendously. We tend to form a perspective of the world, then take action according to what we think is best.

Becket has his own perspective, higher than country. This perspective did not jibe with the king. He also acted according to what he thought was best. It cost him tremendously, too.

In the end

I think Eliot intends to hold Becket up as a noble example, inspiring the townspeople to desire something greater than the impure agenda of the king and his followers. I’m inspired. But I don’t think it’s that simple. I want it, but I fear it leads to more of the same.