Christianity: The Great Lie

The two ethical imperatives

Wilber has spoken of the prime directive, a concept I believe has great merit. In fact I believe it is the central driving force behind any integral solution. If I disagree with any solution proposed by an integral theorist it will usually be on the grounds that the prime directive is better served by other solutions. In my writings on political economy I suggest that economic justice is vital to serving the prime directive and that some integral thinkers have not fully understood that capitalism, especially the neo-liberal version, does not lead to economic justice.

But there is also a second and equally important ethical imperative, the need to discover and tell the truth. No-one is served by lies, inaccuracy and incorrect theories. You cannot bake a cake with the wrong recipe. Any integral solution must be based on an accurate analysis – to push the metaphors even further – there’s no point going on a journey through New Zealand with a map of Tolkein’s Middle Earth; it’s a map of a place that doesn’t exist.

I know there’s considerable debate over the nature of truth, in fact I hope to write a future piece on how the integral community sometimes indulges in epistemological relativism and some shady theories about truth and the nature of reality. The truth does exist, even when we are not certain what the truth is precisely. Yes, there are enormous areas of uncertainty but at the same time there is a great deal of certainty and predictability. But even more important, there is falsity. Even if we are not certain about what is true we can be certain about what is false. Even though we may not know how the Kosmos was created we do know that it wasn’t created by the Giant Spaghetti Monster, or by Zeus – or really, seriously, by God in seven days.

When you consider the two primary ethical imperatives together you are compelled to act in a way that protects developmental evolution by honouring what is true. This also leads to the obvious point that developmental evolution cannot be helped by that which is false. To be even more direct, developmental evolution will be blocked and even reversed by that which is false. All ideologies based on falsity will end up causing a developmental pathology. They are false paths that lead to nowhere good.

Wilber has used the terms, the Good, the True and the Beautiful. In philosophy these three are linked, what is True is also Good and Beautiful. In understanding this we need to understand the origin of the word ‘Beautiful’ as perhaps being closer to the Latin concept of beatus, meaning blessed. We are talking here of a divine attribute, a radiance. The authentically spiritual is revealed through what is True, Good and Radiant.