MORALS

BOOKS

The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being takes place mainly in Prague in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It explores the artistic and intellectual life of Czech society from the Prague Spring of 1968 to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union and three other Warsaw Pact countries and its aftermath. The main characters are: Tomáš, an adulterous surgeon; his wife Tereza, a photographer anguished by her husband's infidelities; Tomáš’s lover Sabina, a free-spirited artist; Franz, a Swiss university professor and lover of Sabina; and finally Šimon, Tomáš’s estranged son from an earlier marriage.

 

Philosophical underpinnings: Challenging Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of eternal recurrence (the idea that the universe and its events have already occurred and will recur ad infinitum), the story's thematic meditations posit the alternative: that each person has only one life to live and that which occurs in life occurs only once and never again – thus the "lightness" of being. Moreover, this lightness also signifies freedom; Tomáš and Sabina display this lightness, whereas Tereza's character is "weighed down". In the Constance Garnett translation of Tolstoy's "War and Peace" she gives us the phrase "strange lightness of being" during the description of Prince Andrey's death. In contrast, the concept of eternal recurrence imposes a "heaviness" on life and the decisions that are made – to borrow from Nietzsche's metaphor, it gives them "weight". Nietzsche believed this heaviness could be either a tremendous burden or great benefit depending on the individual's perspective.^[1]

In the novel, Nietzsche's concept is attached to an interpretation of the German adage Einmal ist keinmal ("one occurrence is not significant"), namely an "all-or-nothing" cognitive distortion that Tomáš must overcome in his hero's journey. He initially believes "If we only have one life to live, we might as well not have lived at all," and specifically (with respect to committing to Tereza) "There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison." The novel resolves this question decisively that such a commitment is in fact possible and desirable.

 

Crime and punishment:

Crime Doesn't Pay

This idiom is used to suggest that crime will ultimately not benefit a person.

Doing something illegal to get money may be tempting for some, but in fact crime doesn't pay

Does it pay to punish?

Most of the books and movies referring to criminality discuss the offenders point of view: Is crime rewarding? If one sets aside the ethic problem, as discussed by Dostoyevsky in “Crime and Punishment” one can say that crime is rewarding if you are not caught. However, the problem here is not if crime is rewarding but instead if punishment is rewarding or, in other words, if the expenses with police, lawyers, judges, prisons, prison guards, etc., compensate the wealth rubbed off by crime.

Examples of Morals

Morals are the rules that govern which actions are right and which are wrong. A morals can be for all of society or an individual’s beliefs. Sometimes a moral can be gleaned from a story or experience.

Morals in Society 

Here are some examples of morals in society:

• Do not gossip
• Tell the truth
• Do not vandalize property
• Have courage
• Do not have sex before marriage
• Keep your promises
• Do not cheat
• Treat others as you want to be treated
• Be trustworthy
• Do not judge
• Be dependable
• Respect others
• Be forgiving
• Keep your self control
• Have integrity
• Be accountable and take responsibility
• Have patience
• Be loyal
• Have respect for yourself
• Be tolerant of differences
• Seek justice
• Have humility
• Serve mankind
• Be generous

The Ten Commandments are the basis for many of society’s morals:

1. Do not have any gods before me
2. Do not make for yourself a graven image
3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy
5. Honor your father and mother
6. Do not kill
7. Do no commit adultery
8. Do not steal
9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor
10. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife or possessions

Morals in Literature

The most prolific source of stories with morals is "Aesop’s Fables."  Here is a sampling of them:

• Appearances often are deceiving. - From "The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"
• Avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease. - From "The Hawk, the Kite, and the Pigeons"
• Don't make much ado about nothing. - From "The Mountain in Labor"
• Every man should be content to mind his own business. - From "The Seagull and the Kite"
• Example is more powerful than precept. - From "The Crab and Its Mother"
• Familiarity breeds contempt. - From "The Fox and the Lion"
• He is not to be trusted as a friend who mistreats his own family. - From "The Master and His Dogs"
• He is wise who is warned by the misfortunes of others. - From "The Sick Lion"
• He who once begins to tell falsehoods is obliged to tell others to make them appear true, and, sooner or later, they will get him into trouble. - From "The Monkey and the Dolphin"
• He who seeks to injure others often injures only himself. - From "The Horse and the Stag"
• It is best to prepare for the days of necessities. - From "The Ant and the Grasshopper"
• It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds. - From "The Jay and the Peacock"
• It shows an evil disposition to take advantage of a friend in distress. - From "The Bull and the Goat"
• Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends. - From "The Bear and the Two Travelers"
• Necessity is the mother of invention. - From "The Crow and the Pitcher"
• No one should be blamed for his infirmities. - From "The Old Hound"
• Pride goes before destruction. -  From "The Fighting Cocks and the Eagle"
• The hero is brave in deeds as well as words. - From "The Hunter and the Woodman"
• There is no believing a liar, even when he speaks the truth. - From "The Shepherd’s Boy and the Wolf"
• Things are not always what they seem. - From "Bee-Keeper and the Bees"
• Those who assume a character which does not belong to them, only make themselves ridiculous. - From "The Crow and the Raven"

All of these different stories provide good examples of morals, each containing an important moral and an important lesson to learn. 

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