--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Bennion, Milton collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 33 number: 8 published: 1930-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Milton Bennion, “A Spiritual Philosophy of Life,” *Improvement Era* 33, no. 8 (June 1930): 552–554." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3308unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera3308unse start_page: 552 end_page: 554 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1930-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3308unse publication_year: 1930 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1930, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Spiritual Philosophy of Life A Spiritual Philosophy of Life By MILTON BENNION Dean of the School of Education, University of Utah VII The Empirical Basis of Moral Ohli&ation What Is the Empirical Basis of Man's Moral Obligation to His Fellow-men? What Is the Nature of This Obligation? How May It Be Fulfilled? WHAT has made possible the type of life of the or- dinary man of today in a progressive, civilized community? What kind of life might he be liv- ing were it not for the accomplish- ments of his fellow-men since the dawn of civilization? To answer the last question first, it may be affirmed with certainty that even the simplest material benefits of civilization would not be avail- able to him. His shelter would be no better than that of some of the wild animals; his clothing, the un- tanned skins of wild animals; his food, the raw materials available in nature. All this because he would be without the use of fire, of tools, of domesticated plants and animals; in short, without the most rudimentary elements of civ- ilization. In spiritual goods he would be still more destitute, with no written language, literature, history, or biography; no scientific knowledge; no practical arts; no fine arts; nothing to appreciate ex- cept what nature provides un- touched by the imagination of a trained mind. What has enabled the man of today to escape from this gloomy situation? Is it not through the combined labors of his fellow-men through many gen- erations? It is in the very nature of civilization that it is of slow growth, and that this growth comes about only througli the con- tributions of many individuals and social groups, contributions to man's welfare that can be passed on from one generation to the next. Until such contributions have been made, accumulated, and become available to each new gen- eration there can be no civilization, and consequently no opportunity for the individual to enjoy its benefits. TTHE eighteenth century type of individualism carried over by Herbert Spencer and others into the nineteenth century, could nev- er have arisen had the facts of his- tory been given due consideration. That each individual is an inde- pendent unit under no obligation to his fellow-men, except as he, of his own volition, assumes such obligation is, in light of social facts, absurd. No one can grow up in a civilized community with- out being under obligation to his fellow-men for practically all that he is as a social and civilized being. If he lives in a better house than did his ancestors; if he enjoys the conveniences of plumbing fixtures, gas, electricity, telephone, radio, automobile, and a hundred other material conveniences of today, is he then under no obligation to anyone? Some one may answer, "He has worked, earned money, and paid for all these things." Could he have worked as he has and earned the money had not the conditions for this work been like- wise gradually developed and pass- ed on to him by his fellow-men? Furthermore, suppose by some miracle he otherwise obtained the money to buy, none of these con- veniences would be purchasable 1 HE nature and ethical signif- tcance of the social inheritance referred to brie fly in this article, are more fully elaborated in the author's book, "Citizenship/' An Introduction to Social Ethics, Chaps. I— VIII , and XIX. had they not first been invented, manufactured on a commercial scale, and distributed for sale, all of which involves the labors of thousands. The next question may well be, "Does he not give his own labor to his fellow-men in exchange for all of these bene- fits, and thus discharge his obliga- tion to them?" If he does, the answer is, yes, but he has received much before his life's labor be- gins. He must, therefore, begin his life's work with a great debt to discharge. What is the Nature of This Debt? "M"0 one can measure the extent ^ of his social debt nor count the millions to whom it is due. It is practically a limitless debt, and it is due to all humanity. The goods of civilization, often called the social inheritance, rightfully belong to humanity. They are its product. Do we owe a debt to Lincoln, Washington, Franklin, and Jefferson, to Fulton, Morse, Pasteur and Burbank? Yes, to all of these, and to multitudes of oth- er individuals that as individuals have passed beyond the possibility of our paying directly to them. Their contributions were made to humanity and so likewise must ours be made. We benefit from the past and the present; we pay back to the present and to the fu- ture. We have received not only all the material benefits of civiliza- tion but also our great spiritual in- heritance— highly developed lan- guages, world literature, master- pieces of art and music, free po- litical institutions, philosophy and religion, and whatever else may be named as part of our spiritual pos- sessions. If the man of today has a thousand times more knowledge than did his ancestors five centuries The Improvement Era for June, 1930 553 ago it is not because he is neces- sarily more brilliant than they, or even more industrious, but because he is profiting by what has been done by millions who have gone before him. In this age of rapid progress he may very quickly profit by the labors of his contempo- raries. New discoveries provide at once new conveniences, which he may use even though he may be very ignorant of the principle involved in these discoveries. No- table examples may be cited from the field of medicine and surgery. The non-medical man ordinarily wisely makes no pretense of un- derstanding exactly how the medi- cine prescribed for him operates toward curing him; nor does he attempt to decide, without medi- cal advice, whether or not he should undergo an operation or how the operation should be per- formed. On the contrary, his part is to have faith in the science of medicine and to have done for him what the best experts advise. In this age thousands of lives are thus saved. Do these men owe a debt to scientists and to the medi- cal profession? Some one may say, "Yes, but they pay the debt in full before the matter is finally settled." Do they? Can mere money pay for the saving of a life? Is not the debt deeper and more fundamental? Does it not call for using that life and that restored health and strength in return serv- ice to humanity? The knowledge and the skill utilized in saving a life are not the product or the pos- session of one man, however eminent he may be. The individ- ual physician, too, profits by the labors of others. He personally may be adequately paid by the financially well-to-do patient, but that is not the end of the obliga- tion for either the patient or the physician. As a licensed physician he is morally obligated to give the best service within his power to his patient, irrespective of the abil- ity or the inability of the patient to pay._ This is not an ethereal or impossible ideal. It is part of the code of ethics of the medical pro- fession and is often realized in medical practice. OlMILAR illustrations might be ^ drawn from other professions to illustrate the point that it is the primary business of each and ev- ery profession to serve fellow-men, and that financial reward should always be subordinate to this end. This ideal may be more difficult to realize in the legal than in some other professions. The tempta- tion comes too often to the lawyer to sell his services in a bad cause, and, unfortunately, some lawyers yield to this temptation, and so use their abilities "to make the worse appear the better reason," to thwart, instead of to promote jus- tice, contrary to the ethical stand- ards of their profession. This sit- uation, however, at once suggests great honor to the lawyer who lives up strictly to the standards of his profession. There are such. The principles of moral obliga- tion here applied to professional men also applies to business and industry. The primary object of any business or industry is serv- ice to fellow-men. On no other grounds can it be justified. TT is not uncommon to hear •*■ young men, and sometimes young women, ask about various forms of business with primary reference to the possibility of their use as means of making abnormal- ly large profits. This is specifical- ly the case with respect to the so- called "selling game," where the "get-rich-quick" individual may be looking for a commission to sell something in which there is "a big graft." In its worst forms this tendency in business is manifested in selling stocks in various pro- motion schemes in which the sales- man gets a large cash down com- mission while the purchaser gets what often turns out to be a worthless piece of paper; it may be beautifully engraved, but oth- erwise neither ornamental nor use- ful. If this kind of business is not judged to be a violation of one of the Ten Commandments, it is, at any rate a gross violation of the standards of ethics as here con- ceived. These are, however, the abnormalities of business. It is to forestall such business practices that our "blue sky" laws have been enacted. It should be noted that not only does the standard of morals require service as the pri- mary consideration, but so also do the laws of progressive states. It is not long since saloons for the sale of liquors were licensed by civil authority to do a business now publicly regarded as detri- mental to humanity. This fact, having taken hold of the public conscience, led to forbidding by law this form of business. The same is true of prostitution, of the sale of narcotics for other than strictly medical uses, of gambling houses, and exclusive gambling de- vices. All of these have been forms of business yielding profits to their owners or managers. Yet since they are not of real service, but, on the contrary, detrimental to mankind, conduct of any of these forms of business is made a crime. EGITIMATE business is con- cerned with delivering to peo- ple real values in response to their legitimate desires. Is not this true of "the butcher, the baker, and the candle stick maker," of the deal- ers in fuel, in electrical appliances, in plumbing fixtures, or what not that may and do contribute to hu- man welfare? Businesses such as these and many others require manufacturing establishments as a basis of supply. Thus in the pro- cess of meeting human needs thou- sands of forms of service come in- to being. Each of these forms of service offers opportunities to men and women to fulfil, in some meas- ure, their moral obligations to their fellow-men. These obliga- tions are sometimes discharged as owners and managers of the in- dustry or business; in more cases it is as an employee or agent of the industry or business. In any case both the owner and the employee should see the spiritual purpose underlying the work, a purpose which gives dignity and moral sig- nificance to what might otherwise be mere drudgery. HTHIS attitude and point of view may perhaps be more easily ac- quired in the professions having to do with the non-productive forms of service. Since, in such cases, the products of the service are them- selves spiritual it is easier for the worker to see the spiritual values in the whole process. Yet there are those in the professions, includ- ing even the profession of teach- ing, whose primary concern is with the financial reward they can get out of it. The writer is not ob- jecting to adequate financial re- wards to members of the profes- sions, including teaching. It does, however, seem like prostitution of these professions to make financial returns the primary consideration. 554 The Improvement Era for June, 1930 What, If Any, Are the Limits of Moral Obligation? '"FHERE is no limit except that set by nature to the power and the opportunities of the individual to serve. Is the individual then to starve or ruin his health through privations in order to discharge his debt to humanity? No, because he cannot give his best and greatest service by this method. He should take a long-range view of his ob- ligations. This will require that he spend the major portion of his childhood and youth in building up his powers of service; that in mature life he secure the nourish- ment, rest, and recreation neces- sary to keep his powers of service at their best, both as to their in- tensity and their duration through the period of a normal working lifetime. Thus can he render the greatest sum total of service to hu- manity. Most people are not like- ly voluntarily to deprive them- selves unduly of the necessities of life for the sake of social service. Multitudes, however, dissipate and squander both their physical and mental powers in self indulgence and thus greatly diminish their powers of service to others, to say nothing of starving out the dis- position to do so. In so behaving many of these people have the feel- ing that it is their privilege thus to indulge if they choose to do so. They are wholly unmindful of the great debt they of necessity owe to their fellows, and of the fact that they themselves are really defraud- ers of mankind. F\OES fulfilment of moral obli- gation as here conceived in- volve sacrificing the individual to humanity as a whole? No, the in- dividual can himself rise to the highest type of personality only by losing himself as a separate, self- centered individual, losing this narrow, inward looking self in the service of mankind; this is the meaning of love of fellow-men and of good-will toward mankind. It is the most basic and essential element in moral character, and is primarily responsible for develop- ing all the truly great men and women known to history. The principle is stated in striking form by the great master Teacher: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, ' the same shall save it."* *Mark 8:35. Putting the same thought in of character must lose himself in terms of modern ethics, it may be the service of mankind; thus only said: can he become a great moral char- acter; thus only can he realize the He that would attain perfection highest spiritual life. The Protection of Adolescents (Continued from page 545) should not be so difficult nor the hours so long as to injure the growing body. Good times are a necessity and are enhanced when both boys and girls are sharing them. Plenty of opportunities for boy and girl companionships of the right sort should be provided, preferably in each others homes and in groups. Any public amuse- ment places known to foster low standards and to permit lax con- duct should be avoided. Last and most important, our young people must be given high ideals as to the meaning of the family relationships and home building. The example of their parents will influence this — con- stant quarreling in the home will not help them. We may aid them in understanding that during the adolescent years, one com- mences to gather those qualities which may make or mar their own homes later on. To meet, to fall suddenly in love, and to live happily ever after is fairyland — not human life. But to pre- pare constructively for the great adventure of love and parenthood is likely to bring about the found- ing of more homes that will weath- er the stress and strain of modern life. This after all should be the great end and aim of our protec- tion of adolescence — that they may bear a brightly flaming torch to the next generation! Out of the Burning (Continued from page 550) packs and cold packs. The ele- ment of suspense ever present. Doctors' set, white faces; the strug- gle against death, supremacy of science over disease; complaints and moans. She early learned to distinguish between the stoical si- lence of genuine sufferers and the fretful wails of the near sick. Long hours and aching feet. Madden- ing repetition of insignificant de- tails. The strength of near moth- ers, the miracle of birth. The tiny mites of humanity, individualistic with their first breath. The diet kitchen. Here Pamela learned the reasons for the unsightly risings which marred so many of the mountaineers. No wonder! Hom- iny, dried beans, fatty pork, maca- roni, rice, Johnny cake! Pamela shuddered and increased her own consumption of green food. The clinic, with its poor, ignorant, eager mothers. The operating rooms, where life hung by a thread. The classes and lectures; the queer anatomical names, the rigid exam- inations. The close supervision; the long hours; the lack of recrea- tion. Often during those three years Pamela thought of her sister Portia. A star boarder in an ex- clusive school, learning superficial nothings, growing prettier and more polished, spending long va- cations in idleness. But Pamela had Dr. Locke's cheery smile, his humorous banter, his never failing faith. He gave you confidence in yourself. And there was Dr. Dick, his son. With the straight-for- ward eyes and contagious smile. The nurses nick-named him "The Shadow," because he was always in attendance upon his father. If you wanted the one, you looked for both! Ti HROUGH these years Pamela had daily need for the power of endurance which early privation had taught; and an in- ner urge prompted her resolve. She (Continued on page 562)